Bücher von Enrico Acerbi

Maria Teresa d'Austria fu, con Federico il Grande, certamente una delle figure più importanti della storia europea. In questo lavoro parlerò, essenzialmente, solo del primissimo periodo in cui l'armata imperiale austriaca fu, in senso propriamente detto "teresiano", cioè dal 1740 fino alla fine della "guerra degli Otto anni", ovvero il 1748. Un aspetto particolarmente tragico di quel periodo fu che una donna, Maria Teresa, in origine certamente poco avvezza a tutto quando comprendeva l'attività bellica, fu costretta, da circostanze straordinarie, a far tesoro, da sola, dell'eredità del padre. Col passare del tempo, però, divenne così legata al suo esercito tanto che, dopo la morte del marito, quando consegnerà le "chiavi" militari al figlio, ebbe a dire: "Questo ramo dell'amministrazione dello Stato era l'unico di cui veramente mi interessavo." Nel secondo volume saranno completati tutti gli altri argomenti e la bibliografia.

Maria Theresa of Austria was, with Frederick the Great, certainly one of the most important figures in European history. In this paper, I will essentially only discuss the very first period in which the Austrian imperial army was, in the proper sense, 'Theresian', i.e. from 1740 until the end of the 'Eight Years' War', i.e. 1748. A particularly tragic aspect of that period was that a woman, Maria Theresa, originally certainly unaccustomed to anything when it came to the business of warfare, was forced by extraordinary circumstances to treasure her father's inheritance on her own. As time went by, however, she became so attached to her army that, after her husband's death, when she handed over the military 'keys' to her son, she said: "This branch of state administration was the only one in which I was really interested." All other topics and the bibliography will be completed in the second volume.

Maria Teresa d'Austria fu, con Federico il Grande, certamente una delle figure più importanti della storia europea. In questo lavoro parlerò, essenzialmente, solo del primissimo periodo in cui l'armata imperiale austriaca fu, in senso propriamente detto "teresiano", cioè dal 1740 fino alla fine della "guerra degli Otto anni", ovvero il 1748. Un aspetto particolarmente tragico di quel periodo fu che una donna, Maria Teresa, in origine certamente poco avvezza a tutto quando comprendeva l'attività bellica, fu costretta, da circostanze straordinarie, a far tesoro, da sola, dell'eredità del padre. Col passare del tempo, però, divenne così legata al suo esercito tanto che, dopo la morte del marito, quando consegnerà le "chiavi" militari al figlio, ebbe a dire: "Questo ramo dell'amministrazione dello Stato era l'unico di cui veramente mi interessavo." Nel secondo volume saranno completati tutti gli altri argomenti e la bibliografia.

Maria Theresa of Austria was, with Frederick the Great, certainly one of the most important figures in European history. In this paper, I will essentially only discuss the very first period in which the Austrian imperial army was, in the proper sense, 'Theresian', i.e. from 1740 until the end of the 'Eight Years' War', i.e. 1748. A particularly tragic aspect of that period was that a woman, Maria Theresa, originally certainly unaccustomed to anything when it came to the business of warfare, was forced by extraordinary circumstances to treasure her father's inheritance on her own. As time went by, however, she became so attached to her army that, after her husband's death, when she handed over the military 'keys' to her son, she said: "This branch of state administration was the only one in which I was really interested." All other topics and the bibliography will be completed in the second volume.

Even when a History writer would have wanted to celebrate, maybe the greatest European power (on land), namely the Austrian Empire, he certainly would not had chosen the terrible year 1809. What for the military apparatus in Vienna could have been a beginning of a Great Military Reform, the triumph of the Generalissimus Archduke Charles, became one of the worst nightmares of Habsburg history.In short, after a series of unfortunate events and bad military conduct, Austria disappeared from the European scene, losing further important territories but, above all, losing its mighty armies. The author chooses to tell about that period, evaluating the military organization, starting from the recruitment, up to the details of the various units, because that army, was the largest army fielded by Austria before the Great War: man told about 600,000 men, including the Levies of regional volunteers, called Landwehr (in the territories of the Austrian Crown) and Insurrectio (in the territories of the Crown of St. Stephen).......At the end, Austria entered into war with the most powerful military force of the whole Napoleonic Period (in numbers of fighters), an effort which hardly seemed possible and which surprised the world. Unfortunately its three armies (and the Landwehr) did not surprised Bonaparte, who kicked.

The great reorganization of the Cavalry came with the end of the year 1801 and matched in a reduction of the Regiments, with the increase in the number of Squadrons, now eight, in order to form four divisions of two Squadrons each. With the mentioned increase of the divisions, in 1802, every German regiments had a second Major, which fact established the fourth division, as it already was effective among Hussars and Uhlans, calling it the "second majors-division". Each regiment had officially a Leib (1st) or Obrist division, a Lt. Colonel division and the 1st-2nd Major divisions.Curassiers and Dragoons became the official Heavy Cavalry, abandoning the devious term of Light Dragoons, while Chevauxlegers, Hussars and Uhlans became the Light Cavalry. After the 1805 campaign (Verordnung of August 1, 1806), the second Major-divisions were disbanded, in the German Heavy Cavalry regiments, which took again the stand of six squadrons (in War there was always a reserve Escadron acting as a Cadre formation, as before).The uniforms' confusion mounted in 1802, in the occasion of the renewed conversion of some Dragoon Regiments, into Chevauxlegers regiments, when it was prescribed, for both types of branches, the white rock colour and equal Facing either for Dragoons, or for Chevauxlegers Regiments, apart that the former had white buttons, instead of golden ones. But in 1807, again was ordered a green rock colour for three Chevauxlegers regiments.In this somewhat ambiguous manner, the Austrian cavalry entered the 1809 campaign, in which it had multiple opportunities to honor the battlefield.This volume also mentions the various Service's Army Branches, which, in any case, were the most stable structures of K.K Wehrmacht during the Napoleonic Wars.

Even when a History writer would have wanted to celebrate, maybe the greatest European power (on land), namely the Austrian Empire, he certainly would not had chosen the terrible year 1809. What for the military apparatus in Vienna could have been a beginning of a Great Military Reform, the triumph of the Generalissimus Archduke Charles, became one of the worst nightmares of Habsburg history.In short, after a series of unfortunate events and bad military conduct, Austria disappeared from the European scene, losing further important territories but, above all, losing its mighty armies. The author chooses to tell about that period, evaluating the military organization, starting from the recruitment, up to the details of the various units, because that army, was the largest army fielded by Austria before the Great War: man told about 600,000 men, including the Levies of regional volunteers, called Landwehr (in the territories of the Austrian Crown) and Insurrectio (in the territories of the Crown of St. Stephen).......At the end, Austria entered into war with the most powerful military force of the whole Napoleonic Period (in numbers of fighters), an effort which hardly seemed possible and which surprised the world. Unfortunately its three armies (and the Landwehr) did not surprised Bonaparte, who kicked.