Background
Moritz Baron Auffenberg von Komarow was born in Troppau on May 22, 1852, the son of a circuit court president.
Moritz Baron Auffenberg von Komarow was born in Troppau on May 22, 1852, the son of a circuit court president.
Auffenberg attended the Theresa Military Academy as well as the War Academy (1875-77), and he saw action during the occupation of Bosnia in 1878; two years later he was attached to the General Staff in the grade of captain, being promoted major general in 1900 and field marshal in 1905. Auffenberg penned a treatise on the South Slav question for General Oskar Potiorek in 1904 in which he came out in favor of trialism and, if need be, a violent break with the Hungarian Magyars. Auffenberg's views on the minority question underwent several changes thereafter: at first he sought the creation of a South Slav state within the Dual Monarchy, but later he adhered to a utopian scheme of a legal federation of Austria-Hungary with the Kingdom of Serbia. And although he was a close personal friend of General Conrad von Hotzendorf, chief of the General Staff, Auffenberg did not share Conrad's fervent desire for a preemptive strike against Serbia. By 1910 Auffenberg had fully identified himself with Archduke Francis Ferdinand's plans for a truly dynastic army and for reducing the entrenched privileges of Hungary within the empire.
In part owing to this, Auffenberg, in August 1911, was forced by the heir presumptive to accept the post of war minister. Here the soldier distinguished himself. Auffenberg carried out a much-needed rejuvenation of the army's artillery, replacing antiquated siege artillery of Uchatius design with 30.5 cm mobile mortars from the Skoda works in Bohemia; seventy-six new field batteries were created under his tutelage. However, Auffenberg's continued antipathy towards the Hungarians made him a distinct political liability, and on December 10, 1912, Emperor Francis Joseph rather brusquely ordered the war minister to submit his resignation.
Auffenberg then languished in the rather ceremonial post of inspector of the army. While in the War Ministry at the Babenberger Burg Am Hof, Auffenberg supported Conrad von Hotzendorf’s desire to be rid of the alliance with the "hereditary enemy" Italy. With the outbreak of war in 1914, Auffenberg was given command of the Fourth Army, and on August 26, defeated the Russian Fifth Army at Komarow. However, in September the Fourth Army was involved in the general defeat at Lemberg as the Russians drove a wedge between Auffenberg and General Viktor Dankl; Archduke Frederick took this opportunity to relieve Auffenberg of command of the Fourth Army. On April 25, 1915, Auffenberg was raised to the baronage and given the title von Komarow. The former war minister had viewed the outcome of the war pessimistically since July 1914, believing that Conrad von Hötzendorf had chosen the wrong moment to humble Serbia; this state of gloom was deepened in 1916 when Auffenberg was accused of having made public secret information while defending a friend during his years as war minister. Although a special court of honor cleared him of the charges, his career in the army was beyond repair. Auffenberg retired to Vienna as a publicist and died there on May 18,1928.