Viktor Dankl Von Krasnik - Resignation, Later Career, and Retirement

Resignation, Later Career, and Retirement

Dankl was criticized both by Army Group Command (Archduke Eugen) and by the Austro-Hungarian Supreme Command (Conrad). He had ignored an order given by Archduke Eugen to advance at a faster pace, disregarding the lack of artillery. How much Dankl's slow and steady style contributed to the stalling of the Asiago offensive is debatable. These charges and complaints, coupled with his very real health problems, caused the general to send a letter of resignation. On June 17, 1916 he was dismissed from command. His Eleventh Army chief of staff, Major General Pichler, was also relieved of his position.

After undergoing an operation on his throat, specifically a goitre, he was assigned command of the First Arcièren-Leibgarde, part of the Imperial Guards, on January 21, 1917. Dankl rose to commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards in February 1918 until he was replaced at that post by Conrad, his former superior officer during his time at the front, the following summer. He returned to the First Arcieren-Leibgarde, where he remained until the end of the Habsburg rule over Austria-Hungary. He was retired from the army on December 1, 1918 and moved to Innsbruck.

In 1925 Dankl would assume the chancellorship of the Maria Theresa Order. This time he would be replacing a position held by Conrad, who left the vacancy upon his death that year. For the next six years he would be in charge of decorating Austro-Hungarian soldiers from World War I. He undertook this task with much enthusiasm, becoming an outspoken apologist of not only his fellow veterans but of Austria-Hungary in general. He even went so far as to advocate the return of the monarchy, putting himself at odds with Austria's growing support for Hitler and Germany. He was a firm opponent of the Anschluss, favoring an Imperial Austria, not an Imperial German Reich, until the end.

On January 8, 1941, Viktor Dankl died at the age of eighty-six. His wife had died a mere three days earlier. He was buried in Wilten cemetery in Innsbruck and his grave can still be visited. The Wehrmacht chose not to honor Dankl with any sort of military ceremony. By the time of his death he was a stark anachronism, out of step with this new period marked by totalitarianism, fascism, and the Second World War.