The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918

The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918 PDF

Author: Lawrence Sondhaus

Publisher: Purdue University Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 9781557530349

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Austro-Hungarian navy warrants recognition because it functioned far better than most organs of the multinational Habsburg state. Ultimately, in the pre-World War I age of navalism, the fleet provided a unique common cause for a wide variety of nationalities and political parties. Dramatic funding increases fueled the expansion of the fleet, and lucrative naval contracts, judiciously distributed, reinforced and further broadened the navy's base of support. Though often criticized by its German ally, the Austro-Hungarian navy succeeded in defending the Adriatic throughout World War I, in the process requiring the constant attention of a significant share of enemy sea power; as late as the spring of 1918, an American admiral characterized the Adriatic as "an Austrian lake." The navy collapsed only when Austria-Hungary as a whole disintegrated, in the last days of the war. This detailed study charts the uneven growth of the Austro-Hungarian navy from its high point following Archduke Ferdinand Max's administration and the War of 1866 to its ultimate dissolution after World War I. In following this development, Sondhaus not only relates the operational aspects of the Habsburg navy but also traces the growth of popular navalism in Austria-Hungary, the role of naval expansion in stimulating industrial development, and the peculiar difficulties of navy commanders in dealing with the Habsburg nationality problem and the cumbersome politics of Austro-Hungarian dualism. Drawing on a vast variety of archival sources and government documents and protocols, Sondhaus analyzes economic factors carefully and shows how these tended to complicate, perhaps even to override, political divisions. He ably demonstrates how such varied factors as the wavering policy of Italy, French naval theory, the need for consensus within the Dual Monarchy, and the general European escalation in naval armaments influenced the fortunes of the fleet.

Tactics and Procurement in the Habsburg Military, 1866-1918

Tactics and Procurement in the Habsburg Military, 1866-1918 PDF

Author: John A. Dredger

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-08-11

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 331957678X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book reveals the primary causes of Habsburg defeat both in the Austro-Prussian War and the First World War. The choice of offensive strategy and tactics against an enemy possessing superior weaponry in the Austro-Prussian War, and opponents with superior numbers and weapons in the Great War, resulted in catastrophe. The inferiority of the Habsburg forces in both conflicts stemmed from imprudent spending decisions during peacetime, rather than conservatism or parliamentary stinginess. The desire to restore the sunken prestige of Austria-Hungary and prove Habsburg’s great power status drove the military to waste money on an expensive fleet, and choose offensive tactics to win great victories. This study shows the civil-military interaction in regard to funding and procurement decisions as well as the deep intellectual debates within the army, which refute the idea that the Habsburg military remained opposed to technology or progress

The Vienna Coffeehouse Wits, 1890-1938

The Vienna Coffeehouse Wits, 1890-1938 PDF

Author: Harold B. Segel

Publisher: Purdue University Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9781557530332

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Segel's extensive introduction provides a wealth of information concerning the social, political, and cultural background of turn-of-the-century Vienna. The eight artists assembled here are concerned with their world, Austria and particularly Vienna. They exchange ideas, argue, gossip, tell stories, read each other's works and even write in the coffeehouse.

Artillery in the Great War

Artillery in the Great War PDF

Author: Paul Strong

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2011-05-18

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1844682463

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A year-by-year examination of key WWI battles and how the ongoing advances in artillery shaped strategy, tactics, and oprations; includes battlefield maps! World War I is often said to have been an artillery war, yet the decisive role artillery played in shaping military decisions—and therefor the war itself—has rarely been examined. Artillery in the Great War traces the development of this all-important technology, the differing approaches to its use, the many innovations it underwent on both sides, and how those approaches and innovations in turn effected key battles such as the Battle of the Somme. This highly readable and informative history is perfect for any reader interested in understanding the legacy of World War I, or the evolution of modern warfare.

The Burning of the World

The Burning of the World PDF

Author: Bela Zombory-Moldovan

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2014-08-05

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1590178092

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Publishing during the 100th Anniversary of the First World War An NYRB Classics Original The budding young Hungarian artist Béla Zombory-Moldován was on holiday when the First World War broke out in July 1914. Called up by the army, he soon found himself hundreds of miles away, advancing on Russian lines and facing relentless rifle and artillery fire. Badly wounded, he returned to normal life, which now struck him as unspeakably strange. He had witnessed, he realized, the end of a way of life, of a whole world. Published here for the first time in any language, this extraordinary reminiscence is a powerful addition to the literature of the war that defined the shape of the twentieth century.

Hell in the Trenches

Hell in the Trenches PDF

Author: Paolo Morisi

Publisher: Helion and Company

Published: 2018-11-02

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1912866161

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Austro-Hungarian Stormtroopers and the Italian Arditi of World War I were elite special forces charged with carrying out bold raids and daring attacks. These units were comprised of hand-picked soldiers that possessed above-average courage, physical prowess as well as specific combat skills. Many military historians have argued that the First World War was mainly a static conflict of positional attrition, but these shock troops were responsible for developing breakthrough tactics of both fire and movement that marked a significant change to the status quo. Both armies used special assault detachments to capture prisoners, conduct raids behind enemy lines and attack in depth in order to prepare the way for a broad infantry breakthrough. This account traces the development of Austrian and Italian assault troop tactics in the context of trench warfare waged in the mountainous front of the Alps and the rocky hills of the Carso plateau. It not only examines their innovative tactics but also their adoption of vastly improved new weapons such as light machine-guns, super-heavy artillery, flamethrowers, hand grenades, daggers, steel clubs and poison gas. This book offers a narrative of the organizational development of the shock and assault troops, of their military operations and their combat methods. The bulk of the chapters are devoted to a historical reconstruction of the assault detachments' combat missions between 1917-18 by utilizing previously unreleased archival sources such as Italian and Austrian war diaries, official manuals, divisional and High Command reports and the soldiers' own recollections of the war. Finally, it offers a comprehensive description of their uniforms, equipment, and weapons, along with a large number of illustrations, maps and period photographs rarely seen. This epic trial of military strength of these special stormtroops cannot be properly understood without visiting, and walking, the battlefields. The appendix thus offers the reader a series of walks to visits key high mountain fortifications in the Italian Dolomites, many of which have attained almost legendary status.

King of Battle: Artillery in World War I

King of Battle: Artillery in World War I PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2016-01-12

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9004307281

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In King of Battle: Artillery in World War I a distinguished array of authors examines the centrepiece of battle in the Great War, artillery. Going beyond tables of calibres and ranges, they look at organization, training, personnel, doctrine, and technologies.

Fall of the Double Eagle

Fall of the Double Eagle PDF

Author: John R. Schindler

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2015-12

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 1612348068

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Although southern Poland and western Ukraine are not often thought of in terms of decisive battles in World War I, the impulses that precipitated the battle for Galicia in August 1914—and the unprecedented carnage that resulted—effectively doomed the Austro-Hungarian Empire just six weeks into the war. In Fall of the Double Eagle, John R. Schindler explains how Austria-Hungary, despite military weakness and the foreseeable ill consequences, consciously chose war in that fateful summer of 1914. Through close examination of the Austro-Hungarian military, especially its elite general staff, Schindler shows how even a war that Vienna would likely lose appeared preferable to the “foul peace” the senior generals loathed. After Serbia outgunned the polyglot empire in a humiliating defeat, and the offensive into Russian Poland ended in the massacre of more than four hundred thousand Austro-Hungarians in just three weeks, the empire never recovered. While Austria-Hungary’s ultimate defeat and dissolution were postponed until the autumn of 1918, the late summer of 1914 on the plains and hills of Galicia sealed its fate.