Austria-Hungary
From Kaiserreich
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| Motto Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter (Indivisible and inseparable) | ||||
| Anthem Volkshymne (People's Anthem) | ||||
| Official languages | German, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Italian, Polish, Ruthenian | |||
| Capital | Vienna and Budapest | |||
| Head of State | Emperor Otto | |||
| Establishment - 1867 Augsleich | May 29, 1867 | |||
| Government | Parliamentary monarchy | |||
| Currency | Austro-Hungarian krone | |||
| Area | Approx 690 000 km² | |||
| Population | About 61,5 millions | |||
Austria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy, is a state in Central Europe ruled by the House of Habsburg, constitutionally a monarchic union between the Crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The state is a result of the Ausgleich or Compromise of 1867, under which the Austrian Habsburgs agreed to share power with a separate Hungarian government, dividing the territory of the former Austrian Empire between them.
After the renegotiations of the Ausgleich in 1927, the constituent parts of Austria–Hungary are:
- Austria, a primary constituent of the Dual Monarchy
- Hungary, a primary constituent of the Dual Monarchy
- Bohemia, a secondary constituent of the Dual Monarchy under the control of the Austrian Crown
- Galicia-Lodomiera, a secondary constituent of the Dual Monarchy under the control of the Austrian Crown
- Croatia, a secondary constituent of the Dual Monarchy under the control of the Hungarian Crown
- Bosnia, a secondary constituent of the Dual Monarchy under the control of the Austrian Crown
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Military
Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army has been the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy since 1867. It is composed of the joint Imperial and Royal army (k.u.k. Armee - recruited from all parts of the country), the Austrian Landwehr (recruited from Cisleithania), and the Hungarian Honvédség (recruited from Transleithania).
The joint Imperial and Royal units are poorly trained and had very limited access to new equipment because the governments of the cisleithanian and transleithaian parts of the empire often prefer to generously fund their own units instead of outfitting all three army branches equally.
Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy is the naval force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its official name in German is Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine (Imperial and Royal Navy, abbreviated and better known as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine). It is completely composed of Austrian units.
The Austro-Hungarian Navy suffer the fact that it is not considered a priority among the armed forces and the lack of funding prevented the harbours of Venice and the Dalmatian coast from producing many units. The Navy's problems are also exacerbated by the twelve different ethnic groups comprising the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Officers has to speak at least four of the languages found in the Empire. Germans and Czechs generally are in signals and engine room duties, Hungarians are gunners while Croats and Italians are seamen or stokers.
Air Force
The Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen) is the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it relies almost completely on Austrian units.
The Air Service began in 1893 as a balloon corps (Militär-Aeronautische Anstalt) and was later be re-organized in 1912 under the command of Major Emil Uzelac, an army engineering officer. The Air Service would remain under his command until the end of the Weltkrieg in 1921. The first officers of the air force were private pilots with no prior military aviation training. At the outbreak of the war the Air Service was composed of a mere 10 observation balloons, 85 pilots, and around 35 to 40 aircraft. Although all of the European powers were quite unprepared for modern air warfare in the beginning of the conflict, Austria-Hungary was one of the most disadvantaged. This was mainly due to the empire's mostly traditionalist military and civilian leadership.
