Background
As son of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, he was born in Újszőny, (today Komárom, Hungary).
As son of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, he was born in Újszőny, (today Komárom, Hungary).
Körner attended the military school in Mährisch Weißkirchen (Hranice), the military academy, and became lieutenant in 1894.
Family legend has it that he was related to the poet of the same name, but these stories are not proven. During World War I, he was an active commander on the Italian front. He resigned from his military career in 1924 as a General.
He served as Chairman of the Federal Council of Austria between December 1933 and February 1934.
The civil war in Austria and the installation of the austro-fascist dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss ended Körner"s career as a politician. During World World War II, Körner was again imprisoned, this time by the Nazis.
After the war, in April 1945, Körner became Mayor of Vienna in the newly erected Second Republic. Körner was responsible for rebuilding and reconstructing Vienna, which was heavily destroyed due to the bombing during the war.
He therefore became the first President of Austria directly elected by the people.
Körner died in Vienna, in office, the second consecutive President to do southern Körner had a profound knowledge of military sciences and wrote about military theory. In Vienna, there is a street named after him, as is the Theodor Körner Prize, an Austrian award for science and art
Always interested in politics, he joined the social democrats and became a member of parliament in 1924. He was arrested, like other members of his party, by the authoritarian government that banned all opposition parties and put their representatives into prison.
He served as an officer in Agram (today Zagreb, Croatia) and was promoted to major in 1904, in which year he became a member of the Austrian staff