||This article includes a list of references, related reading or
external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
inline citations. (August 2012)| Rudolf, graf Montecuccoli degli
Erri (22 February 1843-16 May 1922) was chief of the Austro-
Hungarian Navy from 1904 to 1913 and largely responsible for the
modernization of the fleet before the First World War.
Montecuccoli was born in Modena in 1843, a descendant of the
famous imperial Feldmarschall, Raimondo Montecuccoli
(1609–1680). Raimondo Montecuccoli's only son died in 1698, but
the title of count descended through his daughters to two lines,
Austrian and Modenese. When Rudolf Graf Montecuccoli was born,
Modena was still an Austrian Habsburg possession, ruled by the
house of Austria-Este. During the 1859 Italian campaign,
however, the last Habsburg Duke of Modena, Francesco V, fled to
Austria following the Austrian defeat at Magenta (4 June).
Italian patriots seized control, demanding union with the
Kingdom of Sardinia. This was confirmed by