Introduction

Generaloberst Rudolf Baron Stöger-Steiner von SteinstättenThe land forces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were essentially composed of three separate armies; the common army, which was recruited from both the German and Hungarian portions of the empire, the Austrian Landwehr, which was recruited from the so-called German provinces of the empire, which in practice contained Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenians and Czechs and the Hungarian Landwehr (Honvéd), recruited from the Hungarian administered provinces of the empire. It should be stressed that the latter two organisations were in no way second line or militia forces. Its members, like those of the common army were either professionally enlisted soldiers or conscripts performing their military obligation in the normal fashion. The existence of three separate forces was a throwback to an earlier political decision of 1867 in which the right was conceded to the Hungarians to raise and maintain their own armed forces. This force was known as the Hungarian Landwehr (Honvéd). A similar balancing force was then raised in Austria and named the Landwehr. In practice, during wartime all three forces fought side by side together, the only difference actually being the nomenclature of the individual regiments. The regiments of the common army were designated "Imperial and Royal" - kaiserlich und königlich or k.u.k. The Austrian Landwehr regiments were titled "Imperial Royal" - kaiserlich königlich or k.k. Finally the Landwehr (Honvéd) were styled "Royal Hungarian" - königlich ungarisch or k.u.
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Jörg C. Steiner's Publications

Books available from Jörg C. Steiner. Click on a book to go directly to the catalogue page


Books wanted. Glenn is always on the look out for quality books and rank lists on the Austro-Hungarian  armed forces. For a list of current wants click here.

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Further Reading and Sources

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