Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck (1918–2017)

"Tu felix Austria, nube." Austria's successes on the battlefield are few and far between. Most of its sucesses such as Radetzky's 1848 campaigns in Northern Italy might be better termed colonial wars, as Austria, in contrast to most other European powers, restricted its empire to Europe (apart from the fated Mexican excursion). The time period selected for this lavishly coffee table book is somewhat strange as institutionally the 1848 army is the post-Napoleonic force. The core of the book is about the garrison years between 1867 and 1914 when the Austrian army in its unique division into k.k., k.u.k. and k.u. units disappeared into its rabbit hole of uniformology with ten different shades of red, six shades of green, etc. to distinguish the different units Small pay and spartan living conditions at the limits of civilization meant that the army attracted few of the best and brightest. The book ends with the sad army marching to its sunset in the First World War. A two volume split with 1815-1867 and 1867-1918 might have done the subject better justice. Overall, it is still a nice coffee table book.… (mer)