# Hofkriegsrat

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Central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy

For the Bavarian *Hofkriegsrat* that existed from 1620 until 1808, see [Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria)](/source/Ministry_of_War_(Kingdom_of_Bavaria)).

*Hofkriegsrat* building in Vienna, 1775

The ***Hofkriegsrat*** (or **Aulic War Council**, sometimes **Imperial War Council**) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the [Habsburg monarchy](/source/Habsburg_monarchy) until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian [Ministry of War](/source/Minister_of_War_(Austria-Hungary)). The agency was directly subordinated to the Habsburg [emperors](/source/Holy_Roman_Emperor) with its seat in [Vienna](/source/Vienna).

## History

Permanent councils of war had already been summoned by the [Habsburg](/source/House_of_Habsburg) emperor [Maximilian I](/source/Maximilian_I%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) about 1500. The council was initially called a regiment, and later a secret body, state government, court council or state council. In 1529 it was considered necessary to establish an independent war council but the negotiations remained unsuccessful for a long time. On February 25, 1531, [Ferdinand I](/source/Ferdinand_I%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) issued an instruction in [Linz](/source/Linz), which ordered the compilation of an independent war council consisting of four war councilors.

Founded on 17 November 1556 during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I, the *Steter Kriegsrat* (Permanent War Council) was a council of five generals and senior civil servants. It oversaw the entire Habsburg military system in war and peace and decided on fortress construction, army equipment, salary issues and the purchase of supplies, as well as the planning and implementation of wars. It also handled civil and military administration of the border region of [Croatia](/source/Kingdom_of_Croatia-Slavonia).[1] On 31 December 1556, all military authorities were ordered to submit to the War Council. The title *Hofkriegsrat* was first used in 1564. The *Hofkriegsrat* submitted to the Imperial Chamber as a financial authority and to the Imperial Chancellery as a point of political coordination.

With the establishment of a [standing](/source/Standing_army) [Imperial Army](/source/Imperial_Army_of_the_Holy_Roman_Emperor) in the 17th century, the *Hofkriegsrat* was the bureaucracy charged with managing the permanent military force. It served as the central military administrative agency and a military [chancery](/source/Chancery_(medieval_office)), provided a [staff](/source/General_Staff) for the emperor, and directed and coordinated field armies.[2] Additionally, it conducted relations with the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) and administered the [Military Frontier](/source/Military_Frontier) (*Militärgrenze*).[2]

All generals had to apply for authorisation for any strategic decisions, except for the *[generalissimo](/source/Generalissimo)*, a rule that ensured coordinated action but proved disadvantageous facing an aggressive opponent like the [Prussian](/source/Kingdom_of_Prussia) king [Frederick the Great](/source/Frederick_the_Great). Emperor [Joseph II](/source/Joseph_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) further centralized the body and gave it supreme authority over all branches of the military administration. Field Marshal [Alexander Suvorov](/source/Alexander_Suvorov) became bogged down in Italy during his [1799 expedition](/source/Italian_and_Swiss_expedition_of_1799) due to the instructions of the *Hofkriegsrat*, which called for ["trench" warfare](/source/Siege) instead of ["lightning" warfare](/source/Maneuver_warfare). When the reforming [Archduke Charles](/source/Archduke_Charles%2C_Duke_of_Teschen) was appointed president of the *Hofkriegsrat* by Emperor [Francis II](/source/Francis_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) in 1801, he divided the agency into three departments, dealing with military, judicial, and administrative matters.

Following the [Napoleonic Wars](/source/Napoleonic_Wars), the *Hofkriegsrat*, as one of four components of the governing State Council (*[Staatsrat](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staatsrat_of_the_Habsburg_monarchy&action=edit&redlink=1)*), continued to exert control over the military to the will of the [Emperor of Austria](/source/Emperor_of_Austria). Its bureaucracy was cumbersome and decisions were often arrived at only after much argument and circulation of papers.[3] While the presidents were always officers, section heads were frequently civilians and there was often tension between them. The military men resented interference by what [Radetzky](/source/Joseph_Radetzky_von_Radetz) would later call a civilian "[despotism](/source/Despotism)". An additional problem was presented in the fact that in a time when the [general staff](/source/General_staff) was growing in importance in other countries (notably [Prussia](/source/Prussia)), in Austria it remained only a subordinate section of the *Hofkriegsrat*.[3]

Amidst the growing nationalist troubles leading up to the [1848 Revolutions](/source/Revolutions_of_1848_in_the_Habsburg_areas), the *Hofkriegsrat* investigated the reliability of units with suspect loyalties. In 1833 it ruled that all soldiers in the imperial army belonging to [Mazzini's](/source/Giuseppe_Mazzini) Italian nationalist [Young Italy](/source/Young_Italy_(historical)) movement were guilty of high treason and were to be [court-martialed](/source/Court-martial). In the 1840s it investigated even the traditionally loyal [South Slav](/source/South_Slavs) *[Grenzer](/source/Grenzer)* but determined that they would likely act as ordered, especially if in action against the Hungarians.[4]

With effect from 1 June 1848 the *Hofkriegsrat* was turned into the Austrian Ministry of War. According to the [Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867](/source/Austro-Hungarian_Compromise_of_1867), it became one of the three common ministries of the [dual monarchy](/source/Dual_monarchy).

## Presidents

[Hans Freiherr von Mollard](/source/Hans_Freiherr_von_Mollard), President of the Hofkriegsrat from 1610 to 1619, as Austrian ambassador to the Porte in 1618, Istanbul

1. Ritter Ehrenreich von Königsberg 1556–1560

1. Gebhard Freiherr von Welzer 1560–1566

1. Georg Teufel, Freiherr von Guntersdorf 1566–1578

1. Wilhelm Freiherr von Hofkirchen 1578–1584

1. David Ungnad, Freiherr von Weißenwolf 1584–1599

1. Melchior Freiherr von Redern 1599–1600

1. Count Karl Ludwig Sulz 1600–1610

1. [Hans Freiherr von Mollard](/source/Hans_Freiherr_von_Mollard) 1610–1619

1. [Johann Kaspar von Stadion](/source/Johann_Kaspar_von_Stadion) 1619–1624

1. [Ramboldo, Count of Collalto](/source/Ramboldo%2C_Count_of_Collalto) 1624–1630

1. Hans Christoph Freiherr von Löbel 1630–1632

1. [Count Heinrich Schlick](/source/Heinrich_von_Schlick) 1632-1649

1. [Wenzel Fürst Lobkowitz, Duke of Sagan](/source/Wenzel_F%C3%BCrst_Lobkowitz%2C_Duke_of_Sagan) 1649–1665

1. [Annibale (Hannibal), Prince Gonzaga](/source/Annibale_Gonzaga) 1665–1668

1. [Raimondo Montecuccoli](/source/Raimondo_Montecuccoli) 1668–1681

1. [Hermann of Baden-Baden](/source/Hermann_of_Baden-Baden) 1681–1691

1. [Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg](/source/Ernst_R%C3%BCdiger_von_Starhemberg) 1692–1701

1. [Heinrich Franz von Mansfeld](/source/Heinrich_Franz_von_Mansfeld), Prince of Fondi 1701–1703

1. [Prince Eugene of Savoy](/source/Prince_Eugene_of_Savoy) 1703–1736

1. [Dominik von Königsegg-Rothenfels](/source/Dominik_von_K%C3%B6nigsegg-Rothenfels) 1736–1738

1. [Johann Philipp von Harrach](/source/Johann_Philipp_von_Harrach) 1738–1761

1. [Count Leopold Joseph von Daun](/source/Count_Leopold_Joseph_von_Daun) 1762–1766

1. Count [Franz Moritz von Lacy](/source/Franz_Moritz_von_Lacy) 1766–1774

1. Count [Andreas Hadik von Futak](/source/Andr%C3%A1s_Hadik) 1774–1790

1. Count [Michael Johann Wallis](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Johann_Ignatz,_Count_Wallis&action=edit&redlink=1) 1791–1796

1. [Friedrich Moritz, Count Nostitz-Rieneck](/source/Friedrich_Moritz%2C_Count_Nostitz-Rieneck) 1796

1. Count Ferdinand Tige 1796–1801

1. [Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen](/source/Archduke_Charles%2C_Duke_of_Teschen) 1801–1809

1. [Count Heinrich von Bellegarde](/source/Count_Heinrich_von_Bellegarde) 1809–1813

1. [Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg](/source/Karl_Philipp%2C_Prince_of_Schwarzenberg) 1814–1820

1. [Count Heinrich von Bellegarde](/source/Count_Heinrich_von_Bellegarde) 1820–1825

1. [Friedrich Franz Xaver Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen](/source/Friedrich_Franz_Xaver_Prince_of_Hohenzollern-Hechingen) 1825–1830

1. Count [Ignaz Gyulai](/source/Ignaz_Gyulai) 1830–1831

1. Count [Johann Maria Philipp Frimont](/source/Johann_Maria_Philipp_Frimont) 1831

1. [Ignaz Count Hardegg](/source/Ignaz_Count_Hardegg) 1831–1848

1. [Count Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont](/source/Count_Karl_Ludwig_von_Ficquelmont) 1848

## In fiction

In [Tolstoy](/source/Tolstoy)'s *[War and Peace](/source/War_and_Peace),* a retired Russian officer, Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonski, calls it the *Hof-kriegs-wurst-schnapps-rat,* mocking it by adding the well-known German words *Wurst* (sausage) and *Schnapps* (booze).

". . .and that's for all the world like the old Austrian Hofkriegsrath, as far as I can judge of military matters, that is. On paper, they'd beaten Napoleon and taken him prisoner and there in their study they worked it all out in the cleverest fashion. But look you, [General Mack](/source/Karl_Mack_von_Leiberich) surrendered with all his army -- he-he-he. . ."—Porfiry Petrovitch (*Crime and Punishment*, Dostoevsky)

## See also

- [Cabinet wars](/source/Cabinet_wars)

## Bibliography

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Holmes, Richard, ed. (2001). *The Oxford companion to military history*. p. 411.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERothenberg19764_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERothenberg19764_2-1) [Rothenberg 1976](#CITEREFRothenberg1976), p. 4.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERothenberg197610_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERothenberg197610_3-1) [Rothenberg 1976](#CITEREFRothenberg1976), p. 10.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERothenberg197619_4-0)** [Rothenberg 1976](#CITEREFRothenberg1976), p. 19.

- [Rothenberg, Gunther E.](/source/Gunther_E._Rothenberg) (1976). [*The army of Francis Joseph*](https://archive.org/details/armyoffrancisjos00gunt). [West Lafayette, Indiana](/source/West_Lafayette%2C_Indiana): [Purdue University Press](/source/Purdue_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0911198416](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0911198416). [LCCN](/source/LCCN_(identifier)) [75016051](https://lccn.loc.gov/75016051).

## Further reading

- Eysturlid, Lee W. *The Formative Influences, Theories, and Campaigns of the Archduke Carl of Austria* (Greenwood, 2000).

- Regele, Oskar. *Der österreichische Hofskriegsrat, 1556-1848* (Verlag der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei, 1949).

- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Croatian Military Border and the Rise of Yugoslav Nationalism." *Slavonic and East European Review* 43#100 (1964): 34-45.

- Schwarz, Henry Frederick and John Insley Coddington, *The Imperial Privy Council in the Seventeenth Century* (Oxford, 1943).

v t e Habsburg monarchy articles History Military history Ottoman–Habsburg wars Rebellions Politics House of Habsburg Hofkriegsrat Habsburg Military Frontier Colonial policy Flag Economy Economy Hofkammer Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hofkriegsrat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofkriegsrat) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofkriegsrat?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.