The Imperial and Royal General Staff (; ) of Austria-Hungary was part of the Ministry of War. It was headed by the Chief of the General Staff for the Whole Armed Forces (Chef des Generalstabes für die gesamte bewaffnete Macht; Az egész Fegyveres Erők Vezérkari Főnöke), who had direct access to the Emperor.
Responsibilities The general staff was responsible for planning and preparations, while the Armeeoberkommando (AOK) was the operational high command. In fact, since the AOK was under the direct command of the Emperor and the Chief of the General Staff was his chief adviser, in practice the AOK was under the control of the Chief of the General Staff.
List of chiefs of the general staff † denotes people who died in office.
Timeline
See also Supreme Commander of the Imperial and Royal Armed Forces
Further reading Lackey, Scott W. The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. Greenwood Press, 1995. Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Army of Francis Joseph. Purdue University Press, 1998. Sondhaus, Lawrence. Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf: Architect of the Apocalypse. Humanities Press, 2000.