Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
FRIED, Marvin Benjamin: Feldmarschall Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf: A Memoir Analysis
Marvin Fried Central Powers of pre-war Europe. Conrad views war as an “accepted method for the adjustment between states and peoples,”146 and as a legitimate response to “murder,”147 in this case of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Continuing to defend himself by attacking the timing of the war, Conrad argued that “the armed forces are to be used for the good of the state at the right moment,”148 this being one of the “primary duties of politics.”149 Thus, he criticizes the politicians of a state in which the army is controlled by civilians, believing that, as an instrument of policy, the leadership during the war should be in the hands of the military, not in the hands of supposedly incompetent diplomats. While fatalist and militarist but not dangerous on this theoretical level, Conrad holds these ideals in a position in which he is able to push, and does not deny it, towards a war as soon as possible. Later, following his failures and the failure of his allies, these views become what can be seen as virtually fascist. (ii) Conrad progresses in his ideologies from a ‘greater Austrian’ as we have seen in the previous two sections to a ‘greater German,’ as is evident in this chapter. Following massive criticism of the Germans both militarily and politically, Conrad then begins to identify the Germans as a western European nation and criticizes the Entente for destroying Germany and Austria-Hungary’s attempts at defending Europe from the “Bolshevist east.”150 He believes in the superiority of the Western and Central European cultures over the Eastern European ones. Moreover, Conrad passionately identifies German Austrians with Germany, demanding the “Anschluß”151 or annexation of the post-1919 rump state of Austria to Germany. Finally, following all of these clearly racist views, he adds an element of fascism to complete his borderline National-Socialist ‘Weltanschauung’ a decade before it would come to power in Germany. Conrad accuses the Entente of having caused the “demise of the European culture,”152 by being materially selfish and forming the “unnatural”153 alliance with Russia. He names “French revanchisme and French hatred”154 against the Germans as the causes of the war, and views Austria-Hungary’s intervention against Serbia as a “fight for the European culture.”155 Conrad gleefully compensates the destruction of his empire by pointing to the “Russian colossus which is shattered on the 146 Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz: Private Aufzeichnungen, Pg. 152. 147 Ibid, Pg. 152. 148 Ibid, Pg. 170. 149 Ibid, Pg. 170. 150 Ibid, Pg. 129. 151 Ibid, Pg. 129. 152 Ibid, Pg. 164. 153 Ibid, Pg. 164. 154 Ibid, Pg. 158. 155 Ibid, Pg. 164. 240
