The *Military of Austria-Hungary*, comprising the Armed Forces, War Office, and intelligence organisations of the Dual Monarchy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_Monarchy>served as one of the Empire's core unifying institutions and primary instruments for defense as well as external power projection<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projection>. The history of the Austro-Hungarian<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary>military begins when the Habsburgs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburgs> established hereditary rule over Austrian lands in the *13th century and stretches until the fall of the Habsburgs, at the end of **World War I*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I> *,* during which time their armies were among the largest and most significant in Europe <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe>. Though not as powerful as some of its contemporaries, the military of Austria-Hungary's scale, resources, organization, technology and training were one of the central factors determining conferral of 'great power'<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power>status on the empire for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. *(Note from Aida: please note the time of the Austrian empire's existence which was from the 13th century to WW1 1918, while Germany was not more than just a conglomerate of Duchies and small Kingdoms of which Bavaria was the largest. Germany as a "country" only existed during the first Reich, which was the holy Roman Empire and included Austria**(911–1806), the second "Reich" was under the ** Prussian **House of Hohenzollern*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Hohenzollern> *, known in English as the **German Empire*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Empire> * (1871–1918) after that came the** republic informally called the **Weimar Republic* <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic>* (1919–33), and the third Reich was a National Socialist State under Hitler **(1933–45) who attempted to annex all Germanic lands as they existed under the First Reich of 911-1806 in attempt to unify the country as it existed from 911-1806, after all German lands were split away from the motherland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1918 after WW1).* * **Military in Austria Hungary:* It was composed of three parts: the joint army (Gemeinsame Armee - Common Army - 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 Army" (kaiserlich und königliche Armee or k.u.k.) 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. In the late 19th century the army was used to suppress unrest in urban areas of the empire: in 1882 and 1887 in Vienna[4] and notably against German nationalists at Graz and Czech nationalists in Prague in November 1897[5]. Soldiers under the command of Conrad von Hotzendorf were also used against Italian rioters in Trieste in 1902.[6] The most significant action by soldiers of the Dual Monarchy in this period was the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 1878. In 1868 the number of active-duty troops in the army was 255,000, and the total could be expanded to 800,000 upon mobilization. However, this was significantly less than the European powers of France, the North German Confederation and Russia, each of which could field more than one million men.[8] 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 turn of the century Austria-Hungary conscripted only 0.29% of its population, compared to 0.47% in Germany, 0.35% in Russia and 0.75% in France.[9] The 1889 army law was not revised until 1912, which allowed for an increase in annual conscriptions.[10] -- *Ethnic and religious composition *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, 223 Hungarians, 135 Czechs, 85 Poles, 81 Ruthenians (or Ukrainians), 67 Croats and Serbs, 64 Romanians, 38 Slovaks, 26 Slovenes, and 14 Italians.[11] >From a religious standpoint, the Austro-Hungarian army officer corps was dominated by Catholics. In 1896, out of 1000 officers, 791 were Catholics, 86 Protestants, 84 Jews, 39 Greek-Orthodox, and one Uniate. 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.[12] While the Jewish population of the lands of the Dual Monarchy was about 5%, Jews made up nearly 18% of the reserve officer corps.[13] 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 Hotzendorf and Franz Ferdinand sometimes expressed anti-Jewish sentiments. Franz Ferdinand was also accused (by Conrad) of discriminating against Protestant officers.[14]Austro-Hungarian Army in July 1914 30,000 Officers 410,000 NCOs and troops 87,000 horses (estimate) 1,200 artillery pieces Official designations were as follows: regiments of the joint army were designated Imperial and Royal (German: "kaiserlich und königlich" (k.u.k.); Hungarian: "Császári és Királyi") Austrian Landwehr regiments were Imperial/Royal (German: "kaiserlich/königlich" (k.k.) (which stands for *Imperial Austrian / Royal Bohemian (kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch));* Hungarian: "császári/királyi") Hungarian Honvéd regiments, or "Honvédség", were called Royal Hungarian (German: "königlich ungarisch"; Hungarian: "Magyar Királyi") The soldiers generally had to serve 2 years, after they finished their apprenticeships or educaton. They were "mustered" between the ages 18 and 22. For general reading I have copied this for you from the Internet, but you may read it in more detail at the link below, where you can also have a look at the individual uniforms : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian Army\ Submitted by Aida