(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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Conrad was born on November 11, 1852 in Penzing, a suburb of Vienna, to an Austrian officers' family. His father Franz Xaver Conrad was a retired colonel of Hussars, originally from southern Moravia, who had fought in the Battle of Leipzig and took part in the suppression of the Vienna Uprising of 1848, whereby he was severely wounded.
Advancing rapidly in the Austro-Hungarian army, Conrad became chief of staff in 1906 on the recommendation of the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose military views he shared. A staunch conservative, Conrad distrusted the expansionist tendencies of Serbia and Austria’s ally Italy, advocating preventive wars against both. His vociferously aggressive stance toward Italy in 1911 caused his temporary dismissal, but he returned to head the General Staff in 1912. He devised two plans for an eventual war in the East. If Russia remained neutral, he would throw preponderant forces against Serbia; but, if Russia became involved, Austria would concentrate its strength on that front.
Upon Russia’s entry into World War I, most Austrian troops faced that enemy. As a result, Conrad’s invasion of Serbia failed; that country was not finally subdued until the end of 1915, and then only with German aid. His offensives on the Russian front also were repulsed, in part because of his late redeployment of Austria’s strategic reserve to the East, but more because of Conrad’s insistence on attacking a numerically superior enemy. Only German intervention saved Austria from disaster. The Austro-German offensive of 1915, planned by Conrad, succeeded, but by this time the Austrian army had become increasingly subordinated to the German General Staff and had virtually lost its independence. His Italian offensive of 1916 also came close to success, but troop withdrawals to the threatened Russian front again cost him victory. When the new emperor, Charles I, took over command in 1916, he dismissed the strong-willed Conrad, who commanded an army group on the Italian front until the summer of 1918.
Retiring after the war, Conrad wrote his memoirs, Mein Anfang 1878–82 (1925; “My Beginnings 1878–82”) and Aus meiner Dienstzeit 1906–18, 5 vol. (1921–25; “My Service 1906–18”).
He was an Austrian Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Navy 1906–1917. He was the Empire's chief of staff during the 1914 July Crisis that led to the outbreak of World War I. H was awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Military Merit Cross, 1st class with war decoration, Gold Military Merit Medal ("Signum Laudis"), War Medal Medal for 35 years of military service for officers, Bronze Medal for the 50th year of the reign of Franz Joseph.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
He argued persuasively for preventive war against Serbia, saying it was needed to hold together his polyglot empire on the verge of breaking down.
A gifted but unlucky soldier, Conrad failed mainly because he advocated ruthless military solutions, ignoring human factors and the political realities of Austria-Hungary.
Conrad married Wilhelmine le Beau in 1886, with whom he had four sons. He would later marry Virginia von Reininghaus in 1915, against the wishes of his children.
