The Rise of the Empire

The so-called freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and the so-called embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in an ant's nest. On the surface, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also a big European country with a land area of ​​650,000 square kilometers and a population of 50 million before the war! How come it's just like a broiler when you really fight? So much so that the Austro-Hungarian Empire canceled the title of some honorary troops during the war. The reason is simple, it's too embarrassing to play!

As the saying goes, success and victory are not achieved overnight, and there is a reason why a weak chicken with such a good appearance can become a weak chicken! The tragedy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not caused by a certain factor, because no factor in the world has such a powerful effect!

Speaking of the tragedy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, anyone who has a little understanding of history will talk about the tragic ethnic issues in Austria-Hungary. Take the outbreak of World War I in 1914 as an example, there were 11 ethnic groups whose population accounted for more than 3% of the total population, and the two most important ethnic groups, Germans and Hungarians, accounted for 23% and 21% respectively! Even if the population of these two so-called main ethnic groups is within their own country, they still account for less than half of the total population!

Then Czechs 12%, Poles 11%. The Czechs are better, they are old subjects of the Habsburg royal family, and the Poles joining the Austro-Hungarian Empire are the product of the three divisions of Poland! Serbs and Slovenians together account for 9% of the total population. These people are the same ethnic group as the Russians. Coupled with Serbia's agitation, the tendency to separate is becoming more and more serious. Where did Archduke Ferdinand go in history? Then what happened again, everyone knows! Therefore, the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire is a mess in terms of nationality!

The question of the nation naturally affects the question of the army. Armies are made of people, after all! No nation can be trusted as the main nation in the army. How to strengthen the internal control function of the army while ensuring the size of the army became a problem that Emperor Fritz had to face.

Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian Empire divided its troops into two types, one is the Imperial Defense Forces, and the other is local troops. The former is the elite troops and mobile forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which serve as the pillars of external combat and internal suppression. Most of their commanders were chosen from among the nobles, and loyalty to the royal family was guaranteed from the command. This unit is the most trusted unit of the Austrian Emperor.

However, this army, which was regarded as elite, reliable, and vigorously cultivated by the Austrian Emperor, was still messed up by ethnic issues. According to the regulations, this army was divided into two types according to the common language, namely the Austrian regiment and the Hungarian regiment. This method of distinguishing troops by the language they speak is unprecedented!

But don't forget that neither of these ethnic groups are half as numerous! The Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Slavs, and Magyars you recruited from all over the world have their own languages! In addition, various dialects are rampant. As a result, even if a certain language was unified as the standard language, the command troops were still ineffective. At that time, the level of education was very limited, especially the troops with temporary symptoms after the war began. How high is the fighting power?

On the contrary, the local troops are much better at least in terms of language and ethnicity. At least everyone is from one place and speaks the same language. The relationship is very good, the so-called father and son soldiers, but the performance is better in the future.

In addition to the most basic command issues, as the scale of the war continued to erupt, various national trends of thought and other issues were stimulated and magnified by the brutal war! The Imperial Defense Force, which was originally expected to be high, encountered various serious problems as the war progressed. Previous settings and preventive measures proved useless!

Noble officers are still reliable, but with the continuous sacrifice of experienced noble officers in the war, it is hard to say whether the new officers are reliable or not, and it is also hard to say how much affection they have for the empire. Imperial soldiers who enjoy higher treatment are also reliable at first. But the middle and lower class people of various ethnic groups that are supplemented are completely different from reliable! Why was the Brusinov offensive successful? And many ethnic soldiers are weak in resistance,

Surrendering without a fight has a lot to do with it! It's not that the Russians are too fierce, but that Austria-Hungary is too watery!

Similarly, when the Imperial Defense Forces performed poorly, the local garrison guarding the homeland performed well in defensive operations, such as the Tyrolean archers. When the Italians suddenly declared war, this force was almost too poor to The situation of measurement dragged down the attack of the Italian army, and was awarded the title of Royal Archer by the Austro-Hungarian government. However, while defending their hometown with extraordinary bravery, this army is equally indifferent to the battle situation in other battlefields. If they were not fooled by the commander, they would not even be willing to support friendly forces in adjacent theaters!

So the Austro-Hungarian Empire with such an army dared to fight a world war, and the travelers had to express their admiration for the self-confidence and arrogance of old Fritz! It is not easy for an army without national cohesion, no common belief, various divisions and national trends to persist for 4 years!

In addition to the human problem, the equipment problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also very serious. Take the beginning of the war as an example, you can know the level of the Austro-Hungarian army by looking at the ratio of the number of troops and artillery in the Austro-Hungarian Empire! Leaving aside the Western Front, there are elite troops from Britain, France and Germany gathered. Using these troops to compare the Austro-Hungarian troops is bullying it! In terms of the Eastern Front alone, the Austro-Hungarian troops are not even as good as Russia!

At the beginning of the Eastern Front, the German Eighth Army under the command of Prittwitz had a total of 4 armies and several independent division-level units, with a total strength of 16 divisions, 200,000 people and 1,044 artillery pieces. (The number of heavy artillery is less, only 156 in total.) A division has an average of 65 various artillery pieces.

The Russians concentrated 6 armies, with a total of 52 infantry divisions and 21 cavalry divisions, with a total of 3,203 artillery pieces, an average of 43 artillery pieces per division. Among them, the Second Army, the most powerful, has 14 divisions and 702 artillery pieces.

Well, let's start to look at the Austro-Hungarian Army now! No matter what, Austria-Hungary is also a big country on the surface, and the posture it puts on is quite scary! There are 4 group armies lined up, 35.5 divisions of infantry and 11 divisions of cavalry, with a total strength of 850,000! However, the artillery, which is the most important supporting firepower, only has 1728 artillery pieces! On average, there are only 37 artillery pieces per division! And just such a force is filled with a large number of old artillery.

Then the two sides had their first collision in the Galicia area. On the station line of 320 to 400 kilometers, the forces of 5 Russian armies and one detachment confronted the forces of 4 Austrian-Hungarian armies and 1 reserve army. During the months of fighting, the Austro-Hungarian troops lost 400,000 troops, of which 100,000 were captured! And Russia lost 230,000. From the perspective of Germany, France, and Britain, Russia, whose equipment is not good and the quality of its troops is not good, finally found confidence in the Austro-Hungarian Empire! You know, these troops were the most elite troops in Austria-Hungary back then! (This data comes from Maozi data, but after comparing other data, it feels similar.)

I was so cowardly at the beginning, and then I became even more cowardly! The inventory of artillery is pitiful. When Italy entered the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire even had to use a 65MM bronze gun that was manufactured at some unknown time.... Because of this, Ruprecht believes that the arms market of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is still promising....

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