People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity(set)
Any Political and party leadership 2 Government and administration 2 Legislature and state representation 1 Monarchs and royalty 3 Military command 2 Diplomacy and international organization 2 Agriculture and land policy 1 Social movements and organizing 1 Scholarship and theory 1
Affiliation

Most people

Any Austria state institutionsstate 1 Nazi party and regime 1

All 2 affiliations

Austria

Austria state institutionsstate 1

Germany

Nazi party and regime 1
Position
Any Counter-revolutionary forces 1 Fascists and Nazis 1 Monarchy and royalism 1
Citizenship(set)
Any Soviet Union 233 Russia 39 France 37 Germany 34 United States 24 Hungary 22 United Kingdom 17 China 15 Japan 13 Poland 9 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 6 Finland 5 Lithuania 5 Spain 5 Turkey 5 Italy 4 Vietnam 4 Yugoslavia 4 Angola 3 East Germany 3 Greece 3 Romania 3 South Africa 3 Austria 2 Czechoslovakia 2 Ukraine 2 Uzbekistan 2 Afghanistan 1 Argentina 1 Armenia 1 Belgium 1 Cambodia 1 Cuba 1 Czechia 1 Estonia 1 Ethiopia 1 Laos 1 Latvia 1 Mongolia 1 Nicaragua 1 Somalia 1 South Korea 1 Yemen 1
Background
Any Austria 2
Era
Any

People of the wider world

The age of the Internationals and empires1820–1917 1 The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 1
Military command Citizenship: Austria Clear all

Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand
Austria state institutions Monarchy and royalism Austria Austria 1863–1914 ✕ Assassinated in Sarajevo

Heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary whose assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 was the immediate cause of the First World War

Born in Graz, the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, he became heir presumptive after Crown Prince Rudolf’s suicide in 1889 and his father’s death in 1896. His morganatic marriage to Sophie Chotek was allowed only after he renounced his descendants’ rights to the throne. He exerted great influence over the armed forces and in 1913 became their inspector general. Clericalism, anti-democratic views and anti-Hungarianism were the cornerstones of his politics; he advocated more autonomy for the empire’s Slav peoples, but urged caution towards Serbia for fear of conflict with Russia. On 28 June 1914 he and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, setting off the July Crisis and the war.

Career timeline
  • 1896Heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary
  • 1900Morganatic marriage to Sophie Chotek
  • 1913Inspector general of the armed forces
  • 1914.06.28Assassinated in Sarajevo

Otto Skorzeny

Otto Skorzeny
Nazi party and regime Fascists and Nazis Austria Austrian 1908–1975 ○ Natural causes

A Nazi commando leader magnified by propaganda

Standing before Mussolini at Gran Sasso, Skorzeny became the face of a victory whose command credit belonged elsewhere.

Born in Vienna, Skorzeny became a Waffen-SS officer who directed sabotage and commando operations for Nazi Germany. In the 1943 Gran Sasso raid, he helped locate Benito Mussolini and led an SS detachment at the landing site, but the operation as a whole was planned and commanded by the airborne officers Harald Mors and Kurt Student. Nazi propaganda presented him as Mussolini's liberator, while he also took part in the overthrow of Hungary's government and the Ardennes deception operation. Acquitted at a postwar war-crimes trial, he later lived in Spain amid far-right networks.

Career timeline
  • 1932Joined the Austrian Nazi organisation
  • 1938Served with the SS during the Anschluss
  • 1943Led the RSHA sabotage and commando section
  • 1943Led an SS detachment in the Gran Sasso raid
  • 1944Took part in Operation Panzerfaust in Hungary
  • 1944Commanded Operation Greif in the Ardennes
  • 1947Acquitted at the Dachau military trial
  • 1953Military adviser to Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser