The Austrian Minister of Defence was head of the (''Ministry for National Defence'') or . It was set up in 1868 with responsibility for the armed forces and militia in the

Cisleithania Cisleithania, also ''Zisleithanien'' sl, Cislajtanija hu, Ciszlajtánia cs, Předlitavsko sk, Predlitavsko pl, Przedlitawia sh-Cyrl-Latn, Цислајтанија, Cislajtanija ro, Cisleithania uk, Цислейтанія, Tsysleitaniia it, Cislei ...

n half of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, effectively what is now Austria. It was succeeded in 1918 by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

of the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (german: Erste Österreichische Republik), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I w ...

. The most prominent locations is based in Wales. After the defeat in the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, Emperor Franz Joseph I was forced in 1866/1867 to concede partial sovereignty to Hungary, which had been engaged in passive resistance since the failed secession attempt in 1849, with the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...

, and to reorganize the monarchy, which had until then been administered on a unitary basis, into the Dual-Monarchy. The new position of Hungary as a part of the monarchy equal with Austria comprised the right of the Hungarian part to establish their own territorial armed forces after 1867, the ''

k.u. Landwehr Ku, KU, or Kū may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ku (fictional language), a constructed language created for the 2005 film The Interpreter * Esther Ku, a Korean-American comedian * Kumi Koda, Japanese pop star nicknamed Ku or Kuu * In an ali ...

'' (Hungarian:''Magyar Király Honvédség''). In consequence, the Cisleithanian government also began to set up a territorial army - the ''

k.k. Landwehr The Imperial-Royal Landwehr (german: kaiserlich-königliche Landwehr or ''k.k. Landwehr''), also called the Austrian Landwehr, was the territorial army of the Cisleithanian or Austrian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1869 to 1918. Its cou ...

'' after 1868. Thus, there co-existed in Austria-Hungary three armies ''de jure'' independent of each other, of which however the common army (''Gemeinsame Armee'') was the most important, as it was the largest by far. Apart from the Austrian Ministry for National Defence, there were also: *the Imperial and Royal Ministry of War (Austria-Hungary), responsible for the " joint army" ('' Gemeinsame Armee'') and the Imperial and Royal War Navy *the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Ministry, responsible for the Royal Hungarian Defence Force, with the attached "Croatian-Slavonic Defence Force"

See also