Archduke Joseph August of Austria

Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia (9 August 1872 – 6 July 1962) was a prominent member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who was a Feldmarschall (field marshal) of the Austro-Hungarian Army, and briefly the head of state of Hungary after World War I.

Early life Archduke Joseph August was born on 9 August 1872 at Alcsút in the Kingdom of Hungary. Born into the Hungarian or Palatinal branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, he was the eldest son of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria (1833–1905) and his wife Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846–1927). Joseph August's grandfather, Archduke Joseph of Austria (1776–1847), a younger son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, had been Palatine and Viceroy of Hungary.

Marriage

On 15 November 1893, in Munich, he married Princess Auguste Maria of Bavaria (1877–1964), daughter of Prince Leopold of Bavaria (1846–1930) and his wife Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856–1932).

Archduke Joseph August became thus from 1893 grandson-in-law to Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I. His wife's mother, Archduchess Gisela, was the eldest surviving daughter of Francis Joseph and Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi"). The young couple's children were born in their great-grandfather's lifetime.

They had six children: Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria, born on 28 March 1895; died on Archduchess Gisela Auguste Anna Maria, born on 5 July 1897; died on Archduchess Sophie Klementine Elisabeth Klothilde Maria, born on 11 March 1899; died on Archduke Ladislaus Luitpold, born on 3 January 1901; died on Archduke Matthias Joseph Albrecht Anton Ignatius, born on 26 June 1904; died on Archduchess Magdalena Maria Raineria, born on 6 September 1909; died on

Military career Joseph August began his military career in 1890 when he was commissioned into the 1st Infantry Regiment as a Leutnant. He was soon promoted to Oberleutnant and was transferred to 72nd Infantry Regiment in 1893. He was transferred to Dragoon Regiment #6 in 1894 and then transferred to the 1st Royal Hungarian Honvéd Hussars by the emperor and promoted to the rank of Major. He took command of this regiment in 1904 and then went on to command 79th Honvéd infantry brigade in 1908 then finally the 31st infantry division at Budapest in 1911.

World War I In 1914, he was involved in combat in the Galician theatre and took command of the VII Corps and was involved in fighting in the Carpathian Mountains for which he was awarded, among others, the Austrian Order of Leopold and the Prussian Iron Cross. After Italy became involved in the war, he was transferred to the Carinthian border and involved in fighting the Isonzo army. August remained on the front until the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo in 1916, a period in which once again he was highly decorated. Joseph August was highly popular among his troops, especially those of Hungarian nationality.

In November 1916, Joseph August was put in command of the Heeresfront fighting against Russian and Romanian forces, and in 1917, he was awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa and the Pour le Mérite. In January 1918 he was put in command of the 6th Army in the Southern theatre and that July took over the South Tyrolean Army Group, which was the 10th and the 11th Armies. Finally, on 26 October 1918, he was sent to the Balkans theatre to take command of the Heeresgruppe Kövess, which had lost Serbia, Albania and Montenegro. He was the last person to be appointed a Feldmarschall (Field Marshal) of the Austro-Hungarian Army, on 24 October 1918 as an attempt by his cousin, Emperor Charles I, to placate Hungarian nationalists.

Regent of Hungary On 27 October 1918, Emperor Charles made August the "Homo Regius" of Hungary, but August asked to be released from his oath of allegiance to the emperor. He then began negotiations and appointed Count János Hadik to build a new national government. However, the Aster Revolution broke out on 31 October 1918, deterring his plans. In November, the socialist Hungarian Democratic Republic was proclaimed, only to be replaced a few months later by the communist Hungarian Soviet Republic. The revolution failed; the popular Joseph August survived unharmed; and on 6 August, he became head of state of Hungary once again, officially as regent (Reichsverweser) for Charles. He appointed István Friedrich as Prime Minister. When it became apparent that the Allies would not recognise a Habsburg as Hungary's head of state, Joseph August was forced to resign on 23 August 1919.

Later life In 1920 the Archduke became the first knight of the Hungarian Order of Vitéz, in 1927 he became a member of the newly re-established House of Magnates. He later became an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and was its president from 1936–1944. He fled Hungary for the United States in 1944 but later returned to West Germany. In 1957, at the death of the former regent of Hungary, Miklos Horthy, he became the Captain General of the Order of Vitéz. He died in 1962 at Rain, near Straubing.

Legacy In the front, the Boroevic Throne, named after Svetozar Boroević, near Opatje selo in Slovenia. In the back, a fingerpost and a monument built by the 43rd Infantry Regiment in honour of Archduke Joseph. The Archduke Joseph Diamond, a 76.02 carat colourless diamond with internal flawless clarity, is named after the Archduke and officially recorded as his property.

Children His eldest son, Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria, had predeceased him, dying in 1957.

Thus, Joseph August's main heir was his eldest grandson, Archduke Joseph Árpád of Austria (1933–2017), the eldest son of Joseph Francis and his wife, Princess Anna of Saxony. Joseph Árpád married Princess Maria of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and had children in Joseph August's lifetime. His surviving eldest son is Archduke Joseph Karl (born 1960).

August's granddaughter Archduchess Ilona of Austria (1927–2011) married George Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg. Her son George Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg is the current head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Honours He received the following orders and decorations:

Ancestry