Dezső Kolossváry de Kolosvár (or Desiderius Kolossváry de Kolosvar) (1 May 1854 – 5 April 1919) was a
Hungarian military officer in the Austro-Hungarian service and (briefly) a politician.
Biography
He was born in
Veszprém
Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county (comitatus or 'megye') of ...
on 1 May 1854. His father was Joseph Kolossváry, a lawyer and landowner, his mother was Carolina Nedeczky.
He enrolled at the military academy in Vienna, graduating in 1876 and serving as a lieutenant in the 10th Hussars regiment.
In 1881 he was assigned to the General Staff, and promoted to captain in 1884 and to major in 1891.
In 1896 he became a lieutenant colonel (full colonel in May 1897) and was the director of the
Evidenzbureau
The k.u.k. Evidenzbureau (modernized spelling ''Evidenzbüro'') was the directorate of military intelligence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
Foundation
Founded in 1850 as the first permanent military intell ...
(Austro-Hungarian
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
) between 1896 and 1898. This was followed in May 1898 by appointment as chief of the Operations Bureau (Bureaus für operative Generalstabsarbeiten).
In 1901 Kolossváry left the Austro-Hungarian General Staff and moved to the
Royal Hungarian Honvéd
The Royal Hungarian ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvédség) or Royal Hungarian (german: königlich ungarische Landwehr), commonly known as the (; collectively, the ), was one of the four armed forces (german: Bewaffnete Macht, links=no or ) of ...
, the Territorial Army based in his native Hungary, in which he took command of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade. In May 1903 he was promoted to the rank of major general. However, only a month later, in June of the same year, he accepted the position of Hungary's
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...
in the short-lived, crisis-ridden cabinet headed by
Khuen-Héderváry between June and November 1903. Part of the crisis, left unresolved when Kolossváry's short foray into politics ended, concerned a controversial conscription bill.
Kolossváry's successor as defence minister, Major General
Sándor Nyiry, agreed to let him return to active military service.
In 1904 he commanded the 14th Cavalry Brigade in
Rzeszów
Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...
. In August 1906 he commanded a division located in
Stanislav (now
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk O ...
).
The remaining years of Kolossváry's military career were spent in the environs of
Lemberg
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
(
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
), the chief city of
Galicia. In November 1907 he was promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed to command of the 30th Infantry Division based in Lemberg. On 31 October 1912 he advanced to command of the 11th Army Corps in the same area.
As such, Kolossváry took part in the
Battle of Galicia
The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and ...
in the early stages of the First World War, subordinate to
Rudolf von Brudermann
Rudolf Nikolaus Ritter von Brudermann (from 1919 Rudolf Brudermann; 9 January 1851 Gyöngyös, Hungary – 21 January 1941 Kaltenleutgeben, Lower Austria, Austria) was an Austro-Hungarian ''General der Kavallerie'' (general of the cavalry) during ...
, who led the Austria-Hungarian 3rd army. Following the disastrous Austria-Hungarian defeat in that battle, and specifically the loss of Lemberg to the Russians, Kolossváry was in September 1914 removed from command of the 11th Army Corps. He got no further appointment, going on an indefinite
leave of absence
The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they are ...
on 1 February 1915, and having no further part in the war.
He died on 5 April 1919 at the age of 65, in
Sopron
Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...
.
References
Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolossvary, Dezso
1854 births
1919 deaths
People from Veszprém
Hungarian soldiers
Defence ministers of Hungary
Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I
History of Lviv