Snake Featherston
Banned
These three men represented the *other* Germany's military. At least part of the issues of the WWI Austro-Hungarian state in a military sense must be put on Benedek, but there's the other two who are more strictly speaking worth grading on quality as well.
First, there's Radetsky, who was a Czech, and who was perhaps the great general of Franz Josef's Austria. He managed to derail the first attempt to establish a European united nation-state in a sequence of victories that saw skillful use of terrain and helped save Franz Josef's reign from falling apart at the very start. He was perhaps the greatest single general of the late Habsburg dynasty's era.
Archduke Albrecht, of course, was the guy who won Custoza. On the one hand he won one of the few land battles Austria actually won in that war, on the other hand he was facing Piedmont-Sardinia.
Then there's Benedek, who was promoted despite never having fought a battle. He was pretty much schooled by Moltke in the lead-in to Koniggratz, then failed entirely to follow through with the options he had during the battle to win it from sheer passivity. His leadership style consisted primarily of standing there on the field, and he made no real efforts to direct the Austrian side in what was the biggest battle in Europe since Leipzig. After the war he began the process of Dolchstosslegende that ensured that Austro-Hungarian officers never altered a number of the military defects in organization of 1866, which coupled with the profoundly sclerotic bureaucracy of the last days of the empire did not and could not end well.
So how do we rate these examples of the *other* Germany's generals?
First, there's Radetsky, who was a Czech, and who was perhaps the great general of Franz Josef's Austria. He managed to derail the first attempt to establish a European united nation-state in a sequence of victories that saw skillful use of terrain and helped save Franz Josef's reign from falling apart at the very start. He was perhaps the greatest single general of the late Habsburg dynasty's era.
Archduke Albrecht, of course, was the guy who won Custoza. On the one hand he won one of the few land battles Austria actually won in that war, on the other hand he was facing Piedmont-Sardinia.
Then there's Benedek, who was promoted despite never having fought a battle. He was pretty much schooled by Moltke in the lead-in to Koniggratz, then failed entirely to follow through with the options he had during the battle to win it from sheer passivity. His leadership style consisted primarily of standing there on the field, and he made no real efforts to direct the Austrian side in what was the biggest battle in Europe since Leipzig. After the war he began the process of Dolchstosslegende that ensured that Austro-Hungarian officers never altered a number of the military defects in organization of 1866, which coupled with the profoundly sclerotic bureaucracy of the last days of the empire did not and could not end well.
So how do we rate these examples of the *other* Germany's generals?