Austria
Submarine Warfare – Central Powers II
Now converted to Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, Holtzendorff produced a memorandum of December 22, 1916, based on statistics and projections from a group of economic experts (Department B1). The report, which predicted the demise of Britain by unrestricted submarine warfare, held that wheat imports were the Achilles’ heel of the British economy and estimated…
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Reicharmeen
The Reich proudly considered itself an independent body politic and refused to serve merely as a passive tool in the hands of its formal head, the Habsburg Emperor. Despite these structural limitations and the paralysing effects of confessional strife during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Reich’s financial and military…
VIENNA 27 September–14 October 1529
An Ottoman depiction of the siege from the 16th century, housed in the Istanbul Hachette Art Museum Forces Engaged Austrian: 16,000 troops and 72 guns. Commander: Philip, count palatine of Austria Ottoman: c. 120,000–125,000 (some sources claiming 300,000) Commander: Sultan Suleiman. Importance Turkish defeat at Vienna was the high-water mark…
French Military 1850-80 Part I
Napoleon III Takes Power That year revolutions ignited by economic distress swept Europe. Paris, that powder keg of revolutionary passions, erupted in February. King Louis-Philippe, despised for his cautious and inglorious foreign policy, abdicated and fled to England. The Second Republic was proclaimed by Paris radicals, but France became embroiled…
French Military 1850-80 Part II
Napoleon III Watches the Rhine In setting out to coerce Austria out of Germany, Bismarck knew that the diplomatic situation continued to favour Prussian ambitions. Neither Russia nor Britain was inclined to an active role in European politics. France, however, remained a key piece on his chessboard. Before making any…
An Alternative Battle of Austerlitz, 1805
Napoléon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by François Gérard (Galerie des Batailles, Versailles) Allied (red) and French (blue) deployments at 1800 hours on 1 December 1805 The decisive attacks on the Allied center by St. Hilaire and Vandamme split the Allied army in two and left the French in a…
PRINCE EUGENE AND THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION I
Prince Eugene of Savoy and his General Staff at the Battle of Zenta The ‘first age of heroes’ Confidence, that critical of military factors, allowed the Habsburgs’ army to assume the offensive rapidly. As it rolled the Turks out of central and eastern Europe, the army became better disciplined and…