Feldzeugmeister
Encyclopedia
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
in particular used the title Feldzeugmeister to describe a high ranking general officer.
Origin of the word
The word is German, and translates to 'Field-train-master'. Field means the battlefield, as used in the title Field MarshalField Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
, and train refers to the baggage train or artillery train that accompanies an army. It must be noted that the expression has been used since Philip VI of France
Philip VI of France
Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...
, before guns or cannons were used on the battlefield.
Military rank
Originally, the ranks above Feldzeugmeister were Feldhauptmann and Feldmarschall. The third most important person in the army was the Feldzeugmeister. Although the expression was common in the German artilleryArtillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, Austrian, Hungarian and French militias used the title as well. The position of a Feldzeugmeister differed by German states.
In 1898 the Ministry of War of the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
created the position of a Feldzeugmeister which was comparable to the commander of a division. The Feldzeugmeister was in charge of delivering weapons, ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
and personnel.
In Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
of 1906 the inspection of weapons was organised by the department of the Feldzeugmeister.
In the Austrian and Hungarian service, Feldzeugmeister (in Hungarian Táborszernagy) had a different meaning. During the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, the Feldzeugmeister held the rank just above Feldmarschallleutnant and just below Feldmarschall (Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
). It was a roughly equivalent rank to full general. Feldzeugmeister was equal to the General of the Infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
(General der Infanterie
General der Infanterie
General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer and refers to:* General of the Infantry * General of the Infantry...
) and the General of the Cavalry (General der Kavallerie). It remained the second highest rank of the Austrian army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
until the creation of Colonel-General (Generaloberst) in 1915.
Originally members of the infantry and artillery were given this rank, while members of the cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
would become Generals of the Cavalry. From 1908 onwards the rank Feldzeugmeister was given to members of the artillery only.
History
A list of the most important Feldzeugmeisters is difficult to be created as the number of Feldzeugmeisters within the past 400 years is extremely large and the success of a Feldzeugmeister cannot only be measured by loss or victory during a battle. Therefore the Austrian Feldzeugmeister Eugéne Guillaume Alexis, Graf von Mercy-Argenteau should be mentioned as atypical example. He joined the army as a man aged 17. His ancestor
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
s had been successful combatants in previous wars and it was obvious that he would rise in the hierarchy of the Austrian army. His first successful military operation was made at the age of 17, followed by his promotion to the rank of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
when he was 30 years old. In the next years his bravery
became well known and he became Feldzeugmeister, serving Joseph Nikolaus Freiherr de Vins during the war in Italy. Eugéne Guillaume Alexis became a highly decorated major general. After the end of the war he retired. It has to be mentioned that many Feldzeugmeister didn't retire but lost their lives during battles.