The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal

ground force ''Ground Force'' is a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh. Production The series was created b ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the

Common Army The Common Army (, ) as it was officially designated by the Imperial and Royal Military Administration, was the largest part of the Austro-Hungarian land forces from 1867 to 1914, the other two elements being the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (of Au ...

(, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), the

Imperial-Royal Landwehr The Imperial-Royal 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 counterpart was the Royal Hungarian Land ...

(recruited from

Cisleithania Cisleithania, officially The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council (), was the northern and western part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in the Compromise of 1867—as distinguished from ''Transleithania'' (i.e., ...

) and the

Royal Hungarian Honvéd The Royal Hungarian () or Royal Hungarian (), commonly known as the (; Mass noun, collectively, the ), was one of the four Austro-Hungarian Army, armed forces ( or ) of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918, along with the Imperial-Royal Landw ...

(recruited from

Transleithania The Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (), informally Transleithania (meaning the lands or region "beyond" the Leitha River), were the Hungarian territories of Austria-Hungary, throughout the latter's entire existence (30 March 1867 – 16 ...

). In the wake of fighting between the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

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 the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (, ) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereign ...

, the Austro-Hungarian Army was brought into being. It existed until the disestablishment of Austria-Hungary in 1918 following the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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 three

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

s, while Common Army regiments had four. The long-standing

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

infantry uniforms were replaced in the later half of the 19th century with dark blue tunics, which in turn were replaced by cadet grey uniforms during the initial stages of World War I. In September 1915, field gray was adopted as the new official uniform colour. 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 was

Franz Künstler Franz Künstler (, 24 July 1900 – 27 May 2008) was, at age 107, the last known surviving veteran of the First World War who fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following the death of 110-year-old Ottoman veteran Yakup Satar on 2 April 2008 ...

, who died in

Bad Mergentheim Bad Mergentheim (; Mergentheim until 1926; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Märchedol'') is a town in the Main-Tauber-Kreis district in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It has a population of around 23,000. An officially recogniz ...

in May 2008 at the age of 107

From the Compromise of 1867 to the World War

Planning and operations

The major decisions 1867–1895 were made by

Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen Archduke Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf Dominik of Austria, Duke of Teschen (3 August 1817 – 18 February 1895), was an Austrian Habsburg general. He was the grandson of Emperor Leopold II and one of the chief military advisors of Emperor Francis ...

, who was the cousin of the Emperor Franz Joseph and his leading advisor in military affairs. According to historians

John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...

and Andrew Wheatcroft: : He was a firm conservative in all matters, military and civil, and took to writing pamphlets lamenting the state of the Army's morale as well as fighting a fierce rearguard action against all forms of innovation…. Much of the Austrian failure in the First World War can be traced back to his long period of power…. His power was that of the bureaucrat, not the fighting soldier, and his thirty years of command over the peacetime Habsburg Army made it a flabby instrument of war. In the wake of defeat in the 1866

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

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. In the late 19th century the army was used to suppress unrest in urban areas of the empire: in 1882 and 1887 in Vienna and notably against German nationalists at Graz and Czech nationalists in Prague in November 1897. Soldiers under the command of Conrad von Hotzendorf were also used against Italian rioters in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

in 1902. The most significant action by soldiers of the Dual Monarchy in this period was the

Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The campaign to establish Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasted from 29 July to 20 October 1878 against the local resistance fighters, Muslims and orthodox Serbs, supported unofficially by troops of the Ottoman Empire. The Austro ...

in the summer of 1878. When troops under the command of

Josip Filipović Josip Filipović, ''Freiherr'' (Baron) von Philippsberg, also Josef von Philippovich or Joseph Philippovich (28 April 1819 – 6 August 1889), was a Croatian nobleman, who rose to the rank of Austrian-Hungarian general ('' Feldzeugmeister''). L ...

and

Stjepan Jovanović Stjepan Jovanović (Stephan ''Freiherr'' (Baron) von Jovanovich; 5 January 1828 – 8 December 1885) was a military commander of the Austrian Empire from the Croatian Military Frontier. Biography Jovanović was born in the village of Pazariš ...

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 at

Maglaj Maglaj (Маглај) is a town and municipality located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, south of Doboj. It has a popu ...

and

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

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.

Size and ethnic and religious composition

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 of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, each of which could field more than one million men. 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% in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 0.35% in Russia, and 0.75% in

. The 1889 army law was not revised until 1912, which allowed for an increase in annual conscriptions. 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 267

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, 223

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, 135

Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...

, 85

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, 81

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

, 67

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

, 64

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

, 38

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

, 26

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, and History of Slove ...

, and 14

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

. To aid communication between the multitude of ethnicities, the army developed a simple language called Army Slavic, based primarily on Czech. From a religious standpoint, the Austro-Hungarian army officer corps was dominated by

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. In 1896, out of 1000 officers, 791 were Catholics, 86

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, 84

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, 39 Greek-Orthodox, and one

Uniate The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

. 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. While the Jewish population of the lands of the Dual Monarchy 4.4% including

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

), Jews made up nearly 18% of the reserve officer corps. There were no official barriers to military service for Jews, but in later years this tolerance eroded to some extent, as important figures such as

Conrad von Hötzendorf Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) * Saint Conrad (disambiguation) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washington Elsewher ...

and

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fran ...

sometimes expressed anti-Jewish sentiments. Franz Ferdinand was also accused (by Conrad) of discriminating against Protestant officers.

Linguistics and translations

The

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

Empire often suffered from a lack of military

interpreters Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

, and this proved to be a major force in the partial dysfunctioning and blunders of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Nearly all officers of the upper ranks spoke

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(specifically

Austrian German Austrian German (), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), Austrian High German (), or simply just Austrian (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria and South Tyrol. It has the highest prestige ( ...

), and because only a fraction of soldiers spoke German, this produced a logistical obstacle for organizing the military. Likewise the lack of

mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelli ...

between speakers of Hungarian and

led to a feeling of resentment by many non-Austrian soldiers. The delivery of

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

was particularly ineffective, and the

bureaucratic Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

and

dysfunctional In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

system led to individual

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

units becoming isolated from the overall high command. This in turn led to ethnic tensions and

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...

in the empire, as such language battalions began instigating

mutinies Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, b ...

and

revolts In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...

against the Austrian commanders, whom they saw as out of touch.

Desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

s and revolts were most common amongst Slavic battalions, particularly the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

n battalions; however, all battalions during the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

suffered from these logistical challenges. The battalions' use of languages that were not understood by the Austrian commanders also led to it being extremely difficult to impossible to discover attempts at desertion or revolt.

Funding and equipment

Following the 1867 constitutional arrangements, the Reichsrat 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, the Honvédség. 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. 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. While the budget continued to rise—from 262 million crowns in 1895 to 306 million in 1906—this was still far less ''

per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". Social statistics The term is used in a wide variety of social science, social sciences and statistical research conte ...

'' than for other major European states, including Italy, and about on par with Russia, which had a much larger population. 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. In the emerging field of

military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...

, Austria-Hungary lagged behind other European states. While

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

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. 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 approximately th the amount spent by France. Austria-Hungary entered the war with only 48 first-line aircraft.

Command Structure

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: * General Staff (

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) ** I. Army Corps (

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

) ** II. Army Corps (

) ** III. Army Corps (

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

) ** IV. Army Corps (

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) ** V. Army Corps (

Pozsony Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

) ** VI. Army Corps ( Kassa) ** VII. Army Corps ( Temesvár) ** VIII. Army Corps (

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) ** IX. Army Corps ( Leitmeritz) ** X. Army Corps (

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

) ** XI. Army Corps (

Lemberg Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

) ** XII. Army Corps (

Nagyszeben Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Buch ...

) ** XIII. Army Corps (

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

) ** XIV. Army Corps (

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

) ** XV. Army Corps (

) and ** XVI. Army Corps (

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

) The Austrian part of the monarchy (officially called ''Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council'', unofficially and for short ''

'') 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 the

and its: *

Landwehr ''Landwehr'' (), or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national army, armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fo ...

High Command (

) ** Landwehr Garrison Command in

** Landwehr Command in

** Landwehr Command in Leitmeritz ** Landwehr Command in

** Landwehr Command in

Ragusa Ragusa may refer to: Places Croatia * Ragusa, Dalmatia, the historical name of the city of Dubrovnik * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Ragusa Vecchia, historical Italian name of Cavtat, a t ...

** Landwehr Defence Command in

** Higher Authority for National Defence in

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

and

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

(command of higher status and autonomy) The Hungarian part of the monarchy (officially called ''Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen'', unofficially and for short

) also had its own government. One of its ministries was the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Ministry (also completely independent from the Imperial War Ministry). In peacetime it had complete authority and responsibility for the: * Honvéd High Command (

) ** Royal Hungarian I.

Honvéd District Command ** Royal Hungarian II.

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

Honvéd District Command ** Royal Hungarian III. Kassa Honvéd District Command ** Royal Hungarian IV.

Honvéd District Command ** Royal Hungarian V.

Kolozsvár Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Honvéd District Command ** Royal Hungarian VI.

Croat-Slavonian District Command (the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (; or ; ) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Kingdom of Croatia (Habs ...

was in personal union with Hungary, including a local Croat-Slavonian Homeguard (Landwehr in German), incorporated into the Honvéd as its sixth territorial district)

Austro-Hungarian Army in July 1914

* 36,000

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

s * 414,000 NCOs and troops * 120,000 horses (estimate) * 1,200 artillery pieces Official designations were as follows: * regiments of the

common army The Common Army (, ) as it was officially designated by the Imperial and Royal Military Administration, was the largest part of the Austro-Hungarian land forces from 1867 to 1914, the other two elements being the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (of Au ...

were designated Imperial and Royal (''German: "kaiserlich und königlich" (k.u.k.); Hungarian: "Császári és Királyi"'')'','' in which Imperial stands for the ''Kaiser of Austria'', who was also ''King of Hungary''. * Austrian Landwehr regiments were Imperial-Royal (German: ''kaiserlich-königlich'' (k.k.), in which Imperial stands for the Kaiser of Austria, who was also ''King of Bohemia'' in the Austrian part of the dual monarchy (''kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch'')); Hungarian: ''császári/királyi'') *

Hungarian Honvéd Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians/Magyars, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the ...

regiments were called Royal Hungarian for the Kaiser's title of ''Apostolic King of Hungary'' (German: ''königlich ungarisch''; Hungarian: ''Magyar Királyi''). Within the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary the monarch was also ''King of Croatia-Slavonia'', this was however not included in the titles of the Honvéd's units. 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, Emperor

Franz Josef Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

. By 1914, however, Franz Josef was 84 years old and the chief of staff,

Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, 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 with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen (Friedrich Maria Albrecht Wilhelm Karl; 4 June 1856 – 30 December 1936) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and the Supreme Commander of the Imperial and Royal Armed Forces of the Austro-Hungaria ...

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 Emperor

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

decided to assume the office himself.

Common Army

The

(''k.u.k.—

kaiserlich und königlich The phrase Imperial and Royal (, ) refers to the court/government of the Habsburgs in a broader historical perspective. Some modern authors restrict its use to the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. During that period, it ind ...

'') consisted of: * 16 corps * 49 infantry divisions: 76 infantry brigades, 14 mountain brigades * 22 cavalry divisions: 44 cavalry brigades * 102 infantry regiments (each of four battalions), including 4 Bosnian-Herzegovinian (''Bosnisch-Hercegowinische'') infantry regiments (each of four battalions) * 4 Imperial Tyrolian rifle regiments (''Tiroler Kaiserjäger'') (each of four battalions) * 32 rifle battalions (''Feldjäger''), including 1 Bosnian-Herzegovinian rifle battalion (''Bosnisch-Hercegowinisches Feldjäger Bataillon'') * 42 field artillery regiments (''Feldkanonen-Regimenter''), including 14 field howitzer regiments (''Feldhaubitz-Regimenter'') * 15 mounted artillery battalions (originally named ''Reitende

Artillerie Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

Division''), 14 heavy howitzer battalions (originally named '' schwere Haubitz-Division'') * 11 mountain artillery regiments (''Gebirgsartillerie Regimenter'') * 6 fortress artillery regiments (''Festungsartillerie Regimenter''): 8 independent fortress artillery battalions (''selbst. Festungsartillerie Bataillone'') * 15 regiments of

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

(''Dragoner''), 16 regiments of

hussars A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

(Husaren), 11 regiments of

lancers A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

(Ulanen) * 16 transport battalions (railway) * 23

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

battalions (''Sappeure/Pioniere''), 1 bridge construction battalion (''Brücken Bataillon''), 1 railway regiment (''Eisenbahn-Regiment''), 1 telegraph regiment (''Telegraphen-Regiment'')

Imperial-Royal Landwehr

The

(''k.k. or kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch'') was the standing army of Austria responsible for the defence of Austria itself. * 35 Landwehr infantry regiments: each of 3 battalions (''Landwehr Infanterie-Regimenter'') * 6 Landwehr regiments of

(uhlans) * 8 Landwehr field artillery battalions (''Feldkanonen''), 8 Landwehr field howitzer battalions (''Feldhaubitz'') The mountain infantry had the following units: * 2 Landwehr mountain infantry regiments (''Gebirgsinfanterie-Regimenter''), the 4th and 27th * 3 Tyrolean rifle regiments (''Tiroler Landesschützen Regimenter'')—from January 1917 named "imperial rifles" (''Kaiserschützen'') * 1 mounted Tyrolean rifle battalion (''Reitende Tiroler Landesschützen'') * 1 mounted Dalmatian rifle battalion (''Reitende Dalmatiner Landesschützen'')

Royal Hungarian Landwehr

The

Royal Hungarian Landwehr Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

(''königlich ungarische Landwehr'') or Royal Hungarian Honvéd (''k.u. Honvéd'') was the standing army of Hungary. A part of the Honvéd was the Royal 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). * 6 Landwehr districts (''honvéd katonai kerület'') * 2 infantry divisions (''honvéd gyalogos hadosztály'') * 9 cavalry divisions (''honvéd lovassági hadosztály'') * 4 infantry brigades (''honvéd gyalogosdandár'') * 12 independent infantry brigades (''honvéd önálló gyalogdandár'') * 18 cavalry brigades (''honvéd lovasdandár'') * 32 infantry regiments (''honvéd gyalogezred'') * 10 regiments of hussars (''honvéd huszárezred'') * 8 field artillery regiments (''honvéd tábori tüzérezred'') * 2 horse artillery battalion (''honvéd lóvontatású tüzérosztály'') 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, the ''k.u.k. Infanterie-Regiment (Hoch und Deutschmeister) Nr. 4'' became ''Infanterie-Regiment No. 4'' (4th Infantry Regiment).

Landsturm

The

Landsturm In various European countries, the term Landstorm (, Swedish and , roughly "land assault", ) was historically used to refer to militia or military units composed of conscripts who are not in regular army. It is particularly associated with Pru ...

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.

Standschützen

The

Standschützen The ''Standschützen'' (singular: ''Standschütze''The German nouns, German noun ''Standschütze'' is a so-called nominal composition, composed of the nouns ''Stand-'' (en = social position, standing, status) and ''-Schütze'' (en = rifle man). ...

(singular: ''Standschütze''The German word ''Standschütze'' is derived from ''Schützenstand'' or ''Schießstand'', which means "firing point" or "firing range", and generally refers to the members of a local shooting club – the ''Schießstand'', ''Schützenstand'' or ''Schützenverein'' – in German-speaking countries. These were in essence volunteer militia. They still exist today, albeit their role is purely social and ceremonial.) 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 Austrian

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...

. A ''Standschütze'' was a member of a ''Schützenstand'' ("shooting club"), into which he was enrolled,''enrolliert'' is the Austrian military jargon for "enrolled" (from the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th

(and

). In effect they were a type of Tyrolean local militia or home guard.

Ranks and rank insignia

Commissioned officer ranks

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

Other ranks

The rank insignia of

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

s and

enlisted personnel An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States ...

Types of uniforms

see
Military coats of Austria-Hungary
File:K.u.k. Bosnisch-Herceowinischer Infanterist in Paradeadjustierung.png,

Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bosanskohercegovačka pješadija, Босанскохерцеговачка пјешадија), commonly called the ''Bosniaken'' (German for Bosnians), were a branch of the Aus ...

File:K.u.k. Hauptmann der deutschen Infanterie in Dienstadjustierung.png, Infantry officer in service dress File:K.k. Gebirgsinfanterie in Marschadjustierung nach 1907.png, Mountain Rifles soldier in battle dress File:K.u. Honved Husar.png, Hussar of the Honvéd File:Olt gardeinf Kopie.png, Captain of the Life Guard Infantry File:K.u.k. Sanfw.png, Master-Sergeant of the Medical Corps File:Unterjäger der k.u.k. Jägertruppe in Parade.png, Unterjäger in parade uniform File:K.u.k. Flügeladjutant.png, Adjutant of His Majesty the Emperor File:K.u.k. Sappeur in Marschadjustierung.png, Engineer in battle dress File:K.u.k. Feldartillerie - Marschadjustierung bis 1910.png, Field artillery officer File:HptmMPWachk.png, Captain of the Military Police Corps File:K.u.k. Dragoner in Marschadjustierung.png, Dragoon (battle dress and parade dress for enlisted men) File:K.u.k. Dragoneroffizier in Parade.png, Dragoon officer File:Kuk-Feldmarschall Gala 1918.png, Field Marshall Dress/Gala uniform File:Kuk-Feldmarschall Dienst 1918.png, Field Marshall Service uniform, 1918

Notes

References

External links

A webpage, which is devoted to Austro-Hungarian Army. Detailed information about: Organisation, biographies of the leaders, uniforms, and detailed weapon statistics, by Glenn Jewison & Jörg C. Steiner

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080228163548/http://www.oesta.gv.at/Docs/2007/6/5/K_k_%20bzw_%20k_u_k_%20Generale%201816-1918.pdf Generals of Austria and Hungary, 1816-1918
Antique Photography & Postcards of Austro-Hungarian army 1866-1918
{{Military of Austria-Hungary 1867 establishments in Austria-Hungary Military units and formations disestablished in 1918 Military units and formations established in 1867