Education
Theresian Military Academy.
Theresian Military Academy.
Auffenberg entered the army at age 19. As a young staff officer, he served in the army which occupied Bosnia in 1878. He later commanded the XV. Army Corps at Sarajevo.
In 1910 he reached rank of general.
His active spirit led him to take a vigorous part in the internal politics of the monarchy, his knowledge of the Hungarian and more especially of the Southern Slav question being intimate. He had attracted the attention of the heir to the throne, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who had, in spite of much opposition, secured his appointment as Minister of War of the Empire in 1911, where he served until 1912, when he was obligated to resign after only a little over a year.
Among the few successes was an increase of military budget. He was blamed for the defeat, dismissed from the command and replaced by the Archduke Josef Ferdinand.
Auffenberg never held a command again.
On April 22, 1915, Emperor Franz Joseph I awarded him noble title "von Komarow," in recognition of his victory at the battle of that name.
In this position, he tried to modernize the army obtaining many political enemies in the process. In April 1915, he was arrested, being suspected that, as War Minister, he delivered to an unauthorized person a copy of military instructions with a view to speculation on the stock exchange, but the court acquitted him.