Armies -- Europe -- History -- 19th century; Europe -- Armed Forces -- History -- 19th century
[Footnote 17: It may be taken as 36,582 officers, 1,493,690 combatants,
27,000 non-combatants, 331,904 horses, 2,952 guns.—_Tr._]
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
The next on the list is Germany’s powerful neighbour, friend, and ally
on her southern frontier, Austria-Hungary.
There is in the Austro-Hungarian Army a varied assemblage of different
races: the honest Austrian, the proud and fiery Hungarian, the smart
Czech, the true-hearted Tyrolese, the thin onion-eating Wallachian, the
hot-blooded Croat, the nomad Slowak, the homeless gipsy, etc., etc.,
are all represented in its ranks. All these have been welded together
by the iron bands of discipline into the “Imperial and Royal” Army.
The Emperor is Commander-in-Chief, and with him rests the decision for
peace or war.
After the disastrous campaign of 1866 the Austrian Army was entirely
reorganised. The reorganisation is now almost completed, and the
Army now takes its place as one of the foremost in the world. The
division of the Empire into Cis- and Trans-Leithania—_i.e._ this side,
the Austrian, and that side, _i.e._ the Hungarian, of the Leitha, a
tributary of the Danube, is only partially carried out in the military
system.
[Sidenote: +Terms of Service.+]
According to the conscription law of December, 1868, universal
conscription is now the rule; in the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire, and
exemption by purchase, formerly allowed, is now abolished. The forces
are divided into the Standing Army, the Ersatz Reserve, the Landwehr,
and the Landsturm.
About 103,000 recruits are yearly admitted into the Standing Army,
of which Cis-Leithania contributes 54,000. Those able-bodied young
men who are not taken into the Standing or Active Army are sent for
ten years to the Ersatz Reserve, which is intended, as in Germany, to
provide reinforcements for the Active Army. Service in the latter is
for three years with the Colours and seven years in the Active Reserve.
Service in the Landwehr is for two years for those who have served ten
years in the Active Army and Reserve or in the Ersatz Reserve, and for
twelve years for those who have been sent straight thither, for various
reasons, on conscription. After the Landwehr service, the soldier is
sent for five years to the 1st Class Landsturm, and for five years more
to the 2nd Class Landsturm. By this time he is forty-two years of age.
The one-year Volunteers are enlisted in the same manner as in Germany
(q. v.).
[Sidenote: +Organisation.+]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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