, spouse =Rosa Kaltenbrunner
Gertrude Tomanek von Beyerfels-Mondsee
, issue =Claudia von Habsburg-Lothringen
Maximilian von Habsburg-Lothringen
, house =
Habsburg-Lorraine
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine (german: Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of ...
, father =
Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany ( it, Ferdinando IV, Granduca di Toscana; 10 June 1835 – 17 January 1908) was the last Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1859 to 1860.
Biography
Born at Florence, he was the son of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tus ...
, mother =
Alice of Bourbon-Parma
, birth_date =
, birth_place =
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, death_date =
, death_place =
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
Archduke Joseph Ferdinand of Austria (24 May 1872 – 28 August 1942) was an Austro-Hungarian
Archduke, military commander, from 1916
Generaloberst
A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was ...
, and early advocate of air power. He later retired to life as a common citizen of Austria, and was briefly imprisoned in
Dachau during the Nazi era.
Early life
Joseph Ferdinand was born in Salzburg to
Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany ( it, Ferdinando IV, Granduca di Toscana; 10 June 1835 – 17 January 1908) was the last Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1859 to 1860.
Biography
Born at Florence, he was the son of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tus ...
, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife,
Alice of Bourbon-Parma. As the fourth child and second son, he assumed the mantle of heir after his elder brother gave up the claim following numerous scandals. While his father had kept the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany after the abolition of the Dukedom in 1866, he had abdicated it in favor of the Austrian Emperor in 1870. Joseph Ferdinand did not pretend to the title of Grand Duke himself.
Education and career
Joseph Ferdinand attended the military Oberrealschule at
Hranice (in that time also known as Mährisch Weissenkirchen) and later the Maria Theresa Military Academy at
Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land Distr ...
. Upon graduating from the academy, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Tirol Jäger regiment on 18 August 1892. Following various assignments with Infantrie Regiment (IR) No's. 93, 17, 59 and the Tirol Jäger Regiment No. 4, he was attached to IR No. 27 as an Oberstleutnant in 1903. From 1895 until 1897, he attended the Kriegsschule in Vienna. From 1905 until 1908, the Archduke commanded IR No. 93 as an Oberst, then the Infantry Brigade No. 5.
The Archduke Joseph Ferdinand concerned himself with
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...
, which was not taken seriously in military circles at the time. He was fascinated by
balloons from an early age; in 1909, he arranged a balloon flight from his manor in Linz to
Dieppe
Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France.
Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...
in France, which lasted 16 hours. In January 1911, the Archduke received command of the 3rd infantry division in
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
, followed afterwards by his promotion to Feldmarschalleutnant on 1 May 1911.
World War I
In August 1914, he took the command of the XIV Corps, succeeding General der Kavallerie
Viktor Dankl von Krasnik, who had taken command of the First Army. His Corps was part of the Third Army of General
Brudermann. In early September 1914, the devastating battles at the Zlota and
Gnila Lipas practically destroyed the Third Army, and the Fourth Army under General
Auffenberg was also decimated following
Rawa Russka. The Archduke was chosen to replace Auffenberg on October 1. Meanwhile, the XIV Corps was taken over by Feldmarschalleutnant
Josef Roth on 30 September.
Joseph Ferdinand was to remain in command of the
Fourth Army until early June 1916. At this time, General
Aleksei Brusilov
Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov ( rus, Алексе́й Алексе́евич Бруси́лов, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ brʊˈsʲiɫəf; – 17 March 1926) was a Russian and later Soviet general most noted for the developme ...
launched the
Brusilov Offensive at the juncture of the Fourth and First Armies. The result was that Joseph Ferdinand's trenches were obliterated by the Russian bombardment and his troops surrendered en masse to the advancing Russians. In light of this massive set-back, the German High Command insisted on his removal from command. The Archduke went into retirement and was replaced by General
Tersztyanszky.
Following the accession of
Kaiser Karl in November 1916, Archduke Joseph Ferdinand was offered the post of Inspector General of the Imperial Air Force. The Archduke brought his interest in ballooning to the post, although the Army HQ immediately objected to the appointment. In spite of their reservations, the Archduke was appointed on 8 July 1917 and he remained there until 3 September 1918.
Theodore von Kármán
Theodore von Kármán ( hu, ( szőllőskislaki) Kármán Tódor ; born Tivadar Mihály Kármán; 11 May 18816 May 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronaut ...
, then an
Oberleutnant in the Austro-Hungarian Luftarsenal, found Joseph Ferdinand to be an "ignorant and pompous fellow." As Inspector General Joseph Ferdinand visited the
Austro-Daimler
Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909.
Early history
In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The ...
Company where he was shown the company's first
six-cylinder
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...
airplane engine by
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volksw ...
. In his autobiography von Kármán relates an exchange between Joseph Ferdinand and Porsche:
: "Is this a
four cylinder engine
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...
?" the Archduke asked.
: "Yes, Imperial Highness."
: "Well, then why are there six cylinders?" he demanded.
: Porsche with a side wink at me replied: "The last two cylinders are reserves."
[
]
Marriages and issue
He was married at
Maria Plain on 2 May 1921 to Rosa Kaltenbrunner (
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
, 27 February 1878 –
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
, 9 December 1929), who was not a noble; the marriage lasted until their divorce in 1928, without issue.
In Vienna on 27 January 1929, Joseph Ferdinand married again, this time to Gertrude Tomanek, Edle von Beyerfels-Mondsee (
Brünn
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
, 13 April 1902 –
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
, 15 February 1997). He had two children from this marriage;
* Claudia Maria Theresia von Habsburg-Lothringen, born in Vienna on 6 April 1930, unmarried and without issue,
* Maximilian Franz Joseph Karl Otto Heinrich von Habsburg-Lothringen, born in Vienna on 17 March 1932 and married in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 3 September 1961 to Doris Williams, born in
Blundell Sands,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, on 24 December 1929, by whom he had an only daughter, Maria Camilla von Habsburg-Lothringen, born in
Wimbledon on 29 May 1962, unmarried and without issue.
End of the Monarchy
When the Germans occupied Austria in 1938, Joseph Ferdinand was arrested along with more than 70,000 other Viennese. He was interrogated by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
and sent to
Dachau concentration camp, where he was imprisoned for three months. The conditions in the camp ruined his health permanently. Joseph Ferdinand was released by the petition of
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
and
Olga Göring[William Hastings Burke,]
Albert Göring, Hermann's anti-Nazi brother
in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' dated 20 February 2010 online at guardian.co.uk, accessed 17 September 2021 and lived an isolated existence thereafter, under continual observation by the Gestapo. After his release, he settled in Vienna as a commoner. He died on 28 August 1942 in Vienna.
Ancestry
References
The Austro-Hungarian army
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph Ferdinand Of Tuscany, Prince, Archduke
1872 births
1942 deaths
Military personnel from Salzburg
Field marshals of Austria
Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Austro-Hungarian Army officers
Austro-Hungarian Air Service personnel
Military aviation leaders of World War I
Austrian princes
Grand Masters of the Order of Saint Joseph
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria
Theresian Military Academy alumni
Burials at the Imperial Crypt