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| Army of Austria-Hungary | |
|---|---|
| Landstreitkräfte Österreich-Ungarns (German), literally "Land Forces of Austria-Hungary" Császári és Királyi Hadsereg (Hungarian), literally "Imperial and Royal Army" | |
.svg) | |
| Active | 1867-1918 |
| Country |  Austria-Hungary |
| Allegiance |  Emperor of Austria |
| Branch |
|
| Type | Army |
| Size | 7,800,000c. 1917 |
| Part of | Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Commander-in-chief | Emperor of Austria |
TheAustro-Hungarian Army, also known as theImperial and Royal Army,[A. 1] was the principalground force ofAustria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: theCommon Army (German:Gemeinsame Armee, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), theImperial-Royal Landwehr (recruited fromCisleithania) and theRoyal Hungarian Honvéd (recruited fromTransleithania).
In the wake of fighting between theAustrian Empire and theKingdom of Hungary and the subsequent two decades of uneasy co-existence, Hungarian troops served either in ethnically mixed units or were stationed away from Hungarian regions. With theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Austro-Hungarian Army was brought into being. It existed until the disestablishment of Austria-Hungary in 1918 following the end ofWorld War I. Common Army units were generally poorly trained and had very limited access to new equipment, because the governments of the Austrian and Hungarian parts of the empire often preferred to generously fund their own units instead of outfitting all three army branches equally. All Landwehr and Honvéd regiments were composed of threebattalions, while Common Army regiments had four.
The long-standingwhite infantry uniforms were replaced in the later half of the 19th century withdark blue tunics,[1] which in turn were replaced bycadet grey uniforms during the initial stages of World War I. In September 1915,field gray was adopted as the new official uniform colour.[2] As the Common Army was plagued with supply shortages, when field gray uniforms were first introduced, remaining stocks of the preexisting cadet grey uniforms remained in use alongside the newer colour. The last known surviving member of the Austro-Hungarian Army wasFranz Künstler, who died inBad Mergentheim in May 2008 at the age of 107.
The major decisions 1867–1895 were made byArchduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen, who was the cousin of the Emperor Franz Joseph and his leading advisor in military affairs. According to historiansJohn Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft:
In the wake of defeat in the 1866Austro-Prussian War Austria-Hungary avoided major wars in the era between 1867 and 1914 but engaged in a number of minor military actions. Nevertheless, the general staff maintained plans for major wars against neighboring powers, especially Italy, Serbia and Russia. By contrast, the main enemies Russia and Serbia had engaged in large scale warfare in the decade before the First World War.[4]
In the late 19th century the army was used to suppress unrest in urban areas of the empire: in 1882 and 1887 in Vienna[5] and notably against German nationalists at Graz and Czech nationalists in Prague in November 1897.[6] Soldiers under the command of Conrad von Hotzendorf were also used against Italian rioters inTrieste in 1902.[7]
The most significant action by soldiers of the Dual Monarchy in this period was theAustro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 1878. When troops under the command ofJosip Filipović andStjepan Jovanović entered the provinces expecting little or no resistance, they were met with ferocious opposition from elements of both Muslim and Orthodox populations there. Despite setbacks atMaglaj andTuzla,Sarajevo was occupied in October. Austro-Hungarian casualties amounted to over 5,000 and the unexpected violence of the campaign led to recriminations between commanders and political leaders.[8]
In 1868, the number of active-duty troops in the army was 355,000, and the total could be expanded to 800,000 upon mobilization. However, this was significantly less than the European powers ofFrance, theNorth German Confederation andRussia, each of which could field more than one million men.[9] Though the population of the empire had risen to nearly 50 million by 1900, the size of the army was tied to ceilings established in 1889. Thus, at the start of the 20th century, Austria-Hungary conscripted only 0.29% of its population, compared to 0.47% inGermany, 0.35% in Russia, and 0.75% inFrance.[10] The 1889 army law was not revised until 1912, which allowed for an increase in annual conscriptions.[11]
The ethnic make-up of the enlisted ranks reflected the diversity of the empire the army served; in 1906, out of every 1000 enlisted men, there were 267Germans, 223Hungarians, 135Czechs, 85Poles, 81Ruthenians, 67Croats, 64Romanians, 38Slovaks, 26Slovenes, and 14Italians.[12]
To aid communication between the multitude of ethnicities, the army developed a simple language calledArmy Slavic, based primarily on Czech.[citation needed]
From a religious standpoint, the Austro-Hungarian army officer corps was dominated byCatholics. In 1896, out of 1000 officers, 791 were Catholics, 86Protestants, 84Jews, 39Greek-Orthodox, and oneUniate. Of the pre–World War military forces of the major European powers, the Austro-Hungarian army was almost alone in its regular promotion of Jews to positions of command.[13] While the Jewish population of the lands of the Dual Monarchy 4.4% includingBosnia and Herzegovina), Jews made up nearly 18% of the reserve officer corps.[12] There were no official barriers to military service for Jews, but in later years this tolerance eroded to some extent, as important figures such asConrad von Hötzendorf andArchduke Franz Ferdinand sometimes expressed anti-Jewish sentiments. Franz Ferdinand was also accused (by Conrad) of discriminating against Protestant officers.[14]
TheAustro-Hungarian Empire often suffered from a lack of militaryinterpreters, and this proved to be a major force in the partialdysfunctioning and blunders of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Nearly all officers of the upper ranks spokeGerman (specificallyAustrian German), and because only afraction of soldiers spoke German, this produced alogistical obstacle fororganizing the military. Likewise the lack ofmutual intelligibility between speakers ofHungarian andGerman led to a feeling of resentment by many non-Austrian soldiers. The delivery oforders was particularly ineffective, and thebureaucratic anddysfunctional system led to individualethnic units becoming isolated from the overallhigh command.[15]
This in turn led toethnic tensions andpolitical violence in the empire, as such language battalions began instigatingmutinies andrevolts against the Austrian commanders, whom they saw as out of touch.Desertions and revolts were most common amongst Slavic battalions, particularly theCzech-Slovakian battalions; however, all battalions during thewar suffered from these logistical challenges. The battalions' use of languages that were not understood by theAustrian commanders also led to it being extremely difficult to impossible to discover attempts at desertion or revolt.[16]
Following the 1867 constitutional arrangements, theReichsrat was dominated by German Liberals, who generally regarded the army as a relic of feudalism. In Budapest, legislators were reluctant to authorize funds for the joint army but were generous with the Hungarian branch of the army, theHonvédség. In 1867 the military budget accounted for about 25% of all government spending, but the economic crash of 1873 hit Austria-Hungary hard and foreign observers questioned whether the Dual Monarchy could manage a major war without subsidies.[17] Despite increases throughout the 1850s and 1860s, in the latter half of the century Austria-Hungary was still spending less on its army than were other major European powers.[17] While the budget continued to rise—from 262 million crowns in 1895 to 306 million in 1906—this was still far lessper capita than for other major European states, including Italy, and about on par with Russia, which had a much larger population.[18] Further contributing to the monarchy's military weakness was the low rate of conscription: Austria-Hungary conscripted only 0.29% of its population annually, compared to 0.47% in Germany and 0.75% in France. Attempts to increase the yearly intake of recruits were proposed but repeatedly blocked by officials in Budapest until an agreement was reached in 1912.[10]
In the emerging field ofmilitary aviation, Austria-Hungary lagged behind other European states. Whileballoon detachments had been established in 1893, they were mostly assigned to the fortress artillery, except for a brief period from 1909 to 1911 when they were under command of the multifaceted Verkehrs Brigade.[19] Realization that heavier-than-air machines were necessary or useful came late, and Austria-Hungary acquired only five airplanes by 1911. In 1914 the budget for military aviation was approximately1⁄25th the amount spent by France. Austria-Hungary entered the war with only 48 first-line aircraft.[19]
Austria-Hungary had a complex military structure. The country had three main distinct ground forces. As a union the Monarchy had a common government of three ministers (Minister of the Imperial Household and Foreign Affairs; Minister of War and Minister of Finance). The Imperial Minister of War had authority over the Common Army and the Navy.
The Common Army was the premier land force. It was the best equipped and had the main role to secure the borders of the Monarchy. In case of war it was to absorb the Austrian Landwehr and the Hungarian Honvéd within its command structure. For that reason the Common Army was organised in army corps even in peacetime, while the Landwehr and Honvéd were organised in territorial districts. The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina were governed as a condominium between the Austrian and the Hungarian parts of the dual monarchy. As such the local troops of Bosnian Riflemen were subordinated through the Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Imperial Minister of War. The general peacetime order of battle of the Common Army included:
The Austrian part of the monarchy (officially calledKingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, unofficially and for shortCisleithania) had its own government. It included the Imperial and Royal Ministry of National Defence (completely independent from the Imperial War Ministry). In peacetime it had complete authority and responsibility for theImperial-Royal Landwehr and its:
The Hungarian part of the monarchy (officially calledLands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, unofficially and for shortTransleithania) also had its own government. One of its ministries was theRoyal Hungarian Honvéd Ministry (also completely independent from the Imperial War Ministry). In peacetime it had complete authority and responsibility for the:
Official designations were as follows:
After war was declared, 3.35 million men (including the first call-up of the reserves and the 1914 recruits) gathered for action.
The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army was officially under the control of the Commander-in-Chief, EmperorFranz Josef. By 1914, however, Franz Josef was 84 years old and the chief of staff,Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, effectively had more power over the armed forces. Conrad favored an aggressive foreign policy and advocated the use of military action to solve Austria-Hungary's territorial disputes withItaly andSerbia.[21]
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen was appointed Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian army by Franz Joseph on July 11, 1914. It was thought he would not interfere with the operational and tactical plans of Conrad von Hötzendorf. Friedrich remained Supreme Commander until February 1917, when EmperorCharles I decided to assume the office himself.
TheCommon Army (k.u.k.—kaiserlich und königlich) consisted of:
TheImperial-Royal Landwehr (k.k. or kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch) was the standing army of Austria responsible for the defence of Austria itself.
The mountain infantry had the following units:
TheRoyal Hungarian Landwehr (königlich ungarische Landwehr) or Royal Hungarian Honvéd (k.u. Honvéd) was the standing army of Hungary. A part of the Honvéd was theRoyal Croatian Landwehr (Kraljevsko hrvatsko domobranstvo), which consisted of 1 infantry division (out of 7 in Honvéd) and 1 cavalry regiment (out of 10 in the Honvéd).
The infantry regiments of the k.u.k. army had four battalions each; the infantry regiments of the k.k. and k.u. Landwehr had three battalions each, except the 3rd Regiment of the "Tiroler Landesschützen" (Tyrolian fusiliers), that had also four battalions.
In 1915 units that had nicknames or names of honour lost them by order of the War Ministry. Thereafter units were designated only by number. For instance, thek.u.k. Infanterie-Regiment (Hoch und Deutschmeister) Nr. 4 becameInfanterie-Regiment No. 4 (4th Infantry Regiment).
TheLandsturm consisted of men aged 34 to 55 who belonged to the Austria k.k. Landsturm and the Hungarian k.u. Landsturm. The Landsturm formed 40 regiments totaling 136 battalions in Austria and 32 regiments totaling 97 battalions in Hungary. The Landsturm was a reserve force intended to provide replacements for the first line units. However, the Landsturm provided 20 brigades who took to the field with the rest of the army.
TheStandschützen (singular:Standschütze[A. 2]) were originally rifle guilds and rifle companies that had been formed in the 15th and 16th centuries, and were involved time and again in military operations within the borders of the AustrianCounty of Tyrol. AStandschütze was a member of aSchützenstand ("shooting club"), into which he was enrolled,[A. 3] which automatically committed him to the voluntary, military protection of the state ofTyrol (andVorarlberg). In effect they were a type of Tyrolean localmilitia or home guard.
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The rank insignia ofcommissioned officers.
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank insignia |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| German | Feldmarschall | Generaloberst | General der Waffengattung | Feldmarschall-Leutnant | Generalmajor | Oberst | Oberstleutnant | Major | Hauptmann /Rittmeister | Oberleutnant | Leutnant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hungarian | Tábornagy | Vezérezredes | Tábornok | Altábornagy | Vezérőrnagy | Ezredes | Alezredes | Őrnagy | Százados / Kapitány | Főhadnagy | Hadnagy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.
| Rank group | Senior NCO | Junior NCO | Private | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank insignia |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| German | Stabsfeldwebel | Feldwebel | Zugsführer | Korporal | Gefreiter | Infanterist |
| Hungarian | Törzsőrmester | Őrmester | Szakaszvezető | Tizedes | Őrvezető | Honvéd |
see:Category:Military coats of Austria-Hungary
