FOR GOD AND KAISER i ii FOR GOD and KAISER the imperial austrian army from to richard bassett YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON iii Copyright © 2015 Richard Bassett All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers. For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact: U.S. Office:
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[email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk Typeset in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bassett, Richard. For God and Kaiser : the Imperial Austrian Army, 1619–1918/Richard Bassett. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-300-17858-6 (cl : alk. paper) 1. Austria. Armee—History. 2. Austria—History, Military. I. Title. UA672.B37 2015 355.009436'0903—dc 3 2014047021 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 iv For Gottfried Pils (Akad.Maler) v vi All the peoples of the monarchy have found a common home in the army. For that reason it has been enabled to accomplish so much. The Emperor Charles I, 24 October 1918 vii viii CONTENTS List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 Part 1 The Habsburg Connection 1 The Kaiser’s Cuirassiers: A Dynasty Saved