Austria
Marengo: 14 June 1800 redux PartĀ II
Situation at the beginning of the French counter-attack āThe French counter-attack,ā wrote A. G. Macdonnell, āwas, by chance, one of the most perfectly timed tactical operations by combined infantry, artillery and cavalry in the whole history of warfare.ā First came Marmontās bombardment with his eighteen guns which lasted for some twenty minutes. Then Desaix went forward with his infantry ā…
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The Loss of SzentĀ Istvan
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ANCONA, MAY 23-24, 1915 After receiving word of the Italian declaration of war on the evening of May 23, 1915, Admiral Haus sailed from Pola with the largest Austro-Hungarian naval force to put to sea during the war. His plan was to attack the Italian east coast,…
Wallensteinās Army
It was typical of Ferdinand II that while these āBohemian martyrsā were brought to the gallows, the Habsburg went on a pilgrimage to the great Marian shrine of Mariazell in his native Styria specifically to pray for their souls. In the years that followed, prayer and sword moved in perfect…
The French invasion of GermanyĀ 1688
A rare contemporary depiction from the Nine Years War (1689-1697), this painting has been hailed as Jan Wyckās masterpiece. Siege of Philippsburg 1688 The āreunionsā As we have seen above, the Turks launched their assault on Vienna just as the Emperor was preoccupied with the situation in the west. After…
Austria Rebels AgainstĀ Napoleon
Napoleon at Wagram, painted by Horace Vernet Archduke Charles with his staff during the battle Aspern. The Lightning Campaign of Five Days (APRIL 19-24, 1809) Without a formal declaration of war, the Austrian army opened hostilities on April 8, 1808, by invading Bavaria. Yet again, Napoleon had to leave his…
THE DREADNOUGHT CLUB
Austro-Hungarian battleships 1 Division K.u.K. Tegetthoff Class. Pola 1917. BY Andrew South In 1906 there was a new club in town. One that only the richest and most powerful of nations could really afford to join. Its chief asset was bigger, faster, shapelier and more powerful than all that had…
Habsburg Eastern Strategies
Prince Eugene of Savoy by Jacob van Schuppen A meeting of the Privy Conference in 1711 concluded that āif the tsar is victorious he could throw himself into Turkish territory as far as the Danube and possibly force his way to Constantinople, an outcome much more menacing in its long-term…