Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten

Infobox Military Person
name= Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstatten
lived= birth date|1861|04|26 – Death date and age|1921|5|12|1861|4|26|


caption= Stöger-Steiner as War Supremo
nickname=
placeofbirth= Pernegg an der Mur, Austrian Empire
placeofdeath= Graz, Austria
allegiance= flagicon|Austrian Empire Austrian Empire
flagicon|Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary
branch= Army
serviceyears= 1878 – 1918
rank= Generaloberst
unit= 4th Infantry Division
Gruppe Stöger-Steiner
XV Corps
commands= Galician Front
Isonzo Front
battles= Galician Campaign
Battles of the Isonzo
World War One
awards= Order of Leopold
Prussian Iron Cross
Golden Imtiaz medal
Military Merit Cross
Order of the Iron Crown
relations=
laterwork= War Academy Instructor

Rudolf Freiherr Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten (26 April 1861 – 12 May 1921) was a Colonel-General in the Austro-Hungarian army and served as the last Imperial Minister for War not only to the Austro-Hungarian Empire but to the ancient Habsburg monarchy which sat at its head.

Background and early life

Born as Rudolf Stöger in the village of Pernegg an der Mur, Styria, in the then Austrian Empire in 1861, Stöger-Steiner's father died when he was a young boy leading his mother to marry a then Oberleutnant in the Austrian Army, Joseph Steiner. Stöger-Steiner's stepfather, a veteran of the Danish campaign where he had been mentioned in dispatches to the Kaiser, had a profound influence on the young man's development and encouraged him to enlist in the Army.cite web | title=Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten | work=The Colonel Generals |url= http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/biog/stoeger.htm | accessdate=2008-06-14]

Joseph Steiner saw that his stepson entered service as a cadet in the 9th Feldjägerbataillon upon joining the Army so as to prevent him being sent off to active service in Bosnia as a war volunteer but rather than join his stepfather's old unit, Stöger-Steiner was accepted into the Infantry cadet institute at Liebenau for officer's training.

Having passed through officer training school with "good effort", the young Stöger-Steiner was as a lieutenant with the 9th Feldjägerbataillon on November 1st, 1880.

Accepted into the Imperial Kriegsschule in Vienna, he graduated and was appointed to the general staff with the rank of Oberleutnant in 1886 before serving in the 50th infantry brigade, the 8th mountain brigade and the 18th infantry division before being promoted to Captain in 1890.

In 1891 he was formally adopted by his stepfather and changed his name to Stöger-Steiner, which allowed him succeed to his father's noble title, "Edler von Steinstätten". Joseph Steiner transferred his nobile title and coat of arms to his son on October 25th, 1892 and the same year the newly enobled young Stöger-Steiner married Maria Link in Graz with whom he was to have a son and daughter.

Career

In the early 1890s, Stöger-Steiner held a number of staff appointments at the headquarters of a number of army corps as well as an interval as company commander back at the 9th Feldjägerbataillon. From 1896 to 1899 he returned to serve as an instructor at the Kriegsschule in Vienna where his efforts saw him receive promotion to the rank of Major and a command post in the 12th Infantry Regiment. For the six years between 1901 and 1907 he worked on the screening board the Kommission zur Beurteilung der Stabsoffiziersaspiranten, which determined the suitability of persons for appointment to senior ranks in the Officer Corps. Having been promoted to the rank of Oberst in 1903, he was once again given a command role over an infantry regiment (the 74th) in 1907, and then the 56th Infantry brigade at Görz in 1909. Stöger-Steiner's next appointment to Generalmajor in 1909 saw him soon return to war-academy instruction as head of the Army School of Marksmanship (Armeeschießschule) in Bruck an der Leitha. In 1912 Stöger-Steiner received command of the 4th Infantry Division stationed at Brünn and promotion to the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnant.

With wars outbreak following the July Crisis, now well connected in court, Pope, S. & Wheal, E.A.(1995): "The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World War" Macmillan: London.] Stöger-Steiner remained in command of the now mobilized fourth Infantry posted to Galicia as part of Auffenberg's fourth army. In Galicia, the fourth infantry took part in the Battles of Krasnik, Zamość, Komarów and the retreat to Tuckow for Stöger-Steiner received decorations in recognition of his initiative and outstanding leadership. In late 1914 the 4th infantry was redeployed to Krakow and attached to the First Army before being enlarged to become "Kombinierte Division Stöger-Steiner", a combined tactical force which took part in 1915's May Offensive and captured Annopol and Josefów.

Transferred from the Russian front, on July 26th 1915 he took command of the newly constituted Gruppe Stöger-Steiner at the Isonzo in May 1915cite web | title=Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten | work=Austrian Commanders |url= http://www.geocities.com/veldes1/steiner.html | accessdate=2008-06-02] only to be promoted to the command of XV Corps (also on the Isonzo) that same summer. Over the next two years XV Corps was to take part in 8 of the 12 battles of the Inzo, and its commander, Stöger-Steiner, was promoted to the rank of General der Infanterie in late 1915.

In 1916 as part of his evaluation of Stöger-Steiner's performance, his commander Feldzeugmeister Scheuchenstuel stated the General was:

"A versatile useful senior general with a comprehensive military education with outstanding leadership qualities. Quiet, determined, full of self confidence. Has proved his worth in difficult situations. Owing to his special qualities he is also especially suited for a senior position within the military command."

The General received a number of decorations for his role in commanding his unit on the Isonzo and on June 4th 1916 was honored with the title of Geheimer Rat (Privy Councillor), while in his 1917 evaluation, his now commanding officer Generaloberst Boroević agreed with Scheuchenstuel's 1916 comments and once more recommended he be promoted to a more senior position. By this phase of the war, Stöger-Steiner's health had already begun to decline and it was felt this may have been a reason why he was recommended for a position in Military Administration as opposed to field command.

Minister of War

Stöger-Steiner remained as a Corps commander on the Isonzo front until April 12, 1917 when he was recalled from front-line duties and promoted to become Imperial Minister for War. Thrust into a central and highly political role in steering the war effort, his selection was driven by divisions at court where theretofore in a relatively obscure role, he emerged as compromise candidate suitable to the new Emperor who sought to appoint his ministers from the ranks of "persons not previously involved in any politics". [web cite| title= "General Rudolf Stoger-Steiner von Steinstatten "| work= Who's Who of the First World War| url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/stogersteiner.htm| accessdate=2008-06-01]

The role into which he had been appointed had diminished much in terms of power as Armeeoberkommando (Military High Command) became more powerful in politics and Emperor Karl tinkered with Parliamentary politics despite the war situation, while powerful Hungarian politicians also attempted to split the common army into two wholly-separate entities.

Energetically, Stöger-Steiner set about his task and reorganized the ministry with the creation of operationally independent offices such as the Zentraltransportleitung, (central transport department) the Kriegsüberwachungsamt (war supervisory office), the Kriegsfürsorgeamt (war welfare office), the Zentralevidenz (central intelligence) and Generalinspektorat für das Heimkehrerwesen (general inspectorate for repatriated POW's) as well as introducing new officers into the departments he created. Generally held to be highly competent he was again decorated for his work in the War Office were he assured the Emperor that Austria Hungary would not suffer the same fate as that of Russia in the winter of 1917, while he faced the same problems as von Krobatin of ensuring continued supplies of food and arms in the face of mounting war fatigue and the need to retain law and order among the populous.

In political matters Stöger-Steiner's extensive military training served him poorly for facing professional politicians often with conflicting interests in the Ministerrat (ministerial council) and the Reichsrat (parliament) while he battled deteriorating health. He often considered retiring from his position, especially given that he felt Hungarian politicians tried constantly to thwart his efforts, Stöger-Steiner's oath to the Kaiser left him to consider he had no choice but to continue working and in April 1918 he was granted the noble title of "Freiherr von", in an upgrading of his former title. While promoted to the new rank of Colonel-General he had become convinced of the inevitability of defeat by the beginning of 1918, and was forced to withdraw some seven front-line divisions to maintain internal order in the early part of 1918.

Through the course of 1918 the situation deteriorated further as ration increases to the army could not prove possible and interruptions to supply of foodstuffs to the cities of industrial Austria led to increasing strikes which only served to further undermine war production.

On October 30th, 1918, as Stöger-Steiner traveled to the last meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Empire, a mob surrounded his car, smashed its windows, tore off the passenger's headgear and ripped off the Royal Cockade - an act not directed against him but symptomatic of the decline of law and order in the Imperial capital itself in the last days of the empire.

Retirement

As the situation deteriorated throughout autumn 1918 and government authority waned in the face of events, with revolution sweeping across the Habsburg lands and the failure of an attempt to bring about an orderly demobilization his position technically ceased to exist in early November, 1918, following Hungary's dissolving the Austro-Hungarian union and the Emperor's gave up absolute authority over his realms. While the Imperial Government largely ceased to exist by mid-November, Karl sent a handwritten message to Stöger-Steiner, ordering him to continue in his post and supervise further demobilization of the Military. He was finally forced to retire by the authorities of the new Austrian Republic on December 1st, 1918 over two weeks following Karl's abdication. Generaloberst Rudolf Stöger-Steiner Freiherr von Steinstätten retired into private life to Graz and continued to battle the illness which had haunted him since the early days of the war. He died in Graz on May 12, 1921. [ "Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten" in Spencer Tucker (2005): "The Encyclopedia of World War I. A Political, Social and Military History", Santa Barbara, ISBN 1-85109-420-2]

Service Record

Selected awards and decorations

*Serbian Takowo order 5th class (1887)
*Persian Order of the Sun and the Lion 4th class (1890)
*Military merit cross (1899)
*3rd class of the Order of the Iron Crown (1906)
*The Commander's Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (1910)
*

Star to the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (1911)
*2nd grade of the 2nd class of the Chinese Order of the Double Dragoon (1911).
*

Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold (1912)
*2nd class of the Ottoman Osmanje order (1913)
*Military Merit Cross 2nd class with war decoration (1915)
*Prussian Iron Cross 2nd class (1915)
*

Grand cross of the Order of the Iron Crown with war decoration (1916)
*1st class of the merit decoration of the Society of the Red Cross with war decoration (1917)
*1st class of the Order of Leopold with war decoration and swords (1917)
*Prussian Iron Cross 1st class (1917)
*Ottoman Golden Imtiaz medal (1917)
*

Iron Crescent and the War cross of Lippe (1917)
*

Swords for all previously given Austro-Hungarian orders with war decoration (1917)
*

Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis) with the ribbon of the military merit cross (1917)
*

Merit star of the Society of the Red Cross with war-decoration (1917)
*1st class of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle with swords
*

Grand cross of the Bavarian Military Merit Order with swords
*

Grand cross with the Golden Star and Swords of the Saxon Order of Albrecht
*

Grand cross with swords of the Order of the Crown of Württemberg
*

War Merit Cross of Schaumburg-Lippe
*Neck badge of the Marianerkreuz of the Deutschen Ritterorden
*

Magistral-Großkreuz of the Malteser Ritterorden

Other awards

Appointed Privy Counsellor to the Emperor, June 4th, 1916
Elevated to Baron, April 28th, 1918

Notes

It has been claimed that Stöger-Steiner would have received the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Imperial Austria's highest military decoration for his actions in 1914, and in engaging the 4th infantry in the battle of Krasnik in particular had he submitted a claim and not died so soon after the war.

Notes and references