Before getting into the niceties of uniforms, tactics etc., it is essential to understand the background. Peter Lawson's comment that the history of Imperial absolutism needn't be considered, (FE 16) was unfortunate as what after all is any army but a manifestation of the state which created it? The problems over finance and manpower he alluded to can only be understood if enthusiasts know something of the political/economic background.

Like today's politicians/historians, many Austrian writers had an axe to grind, especially in material written just prior to the end of the Empire in 1918, so many writings also have to viewed in the context of the time in which they were written.

Economically, the Empire moved from financial crisis to financial crisis, so although for example a new musket and unifortir partern were introduced along with the Helm in 1798, it was some years before all the troops received them.

The starting point is: Gunther Rothenberg: 'Napoleon's Great Adversaries: Arch-duke Charles & the Austrian Army 1792-1814', (1982), a concise overview of the period. at 220pp with plates and maps. In such a short space, there cannot be much detail, but that essential structure is clearly explained. Also a guide for those whose main interests are elsewhere, but who want a good reference. Spellmount will be reprinting it on 8th April 1995 at £ 18.95 Out of print for some time, plans are afoot to reprint it in the early part of 1995, of which more soon hopefully. In conjunction, Chris Duffy's 'The Army of Maria Theresa' (1977 and republished in 1990 at £ 25) is a useful basic guide to the force, which underwent little change prior to 1806.

For a detailed review of the political background: C. A. Macartney, 'The Habsburg Empire 1790-1918' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) (1969). The first 200 pages cover our period - it's heavy going, but interesting once you get to grips with it. Above all, it has maps and details of the places and provinces, together with interesting material on the population groups from which Vienna drew its troops.

Specifically on the Military Frontier, Dr. Rothenberg's 'The Military Frontier in Croatia 1740-1881' (1966) is a detailed but clear exposition of this turbulent region. A delightful read on Viennese political and social life is Stella Musulin: 'Vienna in the Age of Metternich', (1975), albeit a lack of research produces some military errors. There are a few pages to introduce Austria's small seagoing force in Sokol: 'The Imperial & Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy' (1972 USNI), but this is a subject that could do with much more research. Von Pivka's 'Navies of the Napoleonic Wars'(1980) has some interesting material, but poor research produces too many major errors to make this of any great worth. L. Sondhaus "The Habsburg Empire and The Sea" (1989) (Purdue University) covers Napoleonic policy and operations in its first 42 pages.

Campaign Histories

Ken Trotman Ltd. did us all a favour by reprinting Stutterheim's 'Battle of Austerlitz' and Muller's 'Relation of the Operations and Battles of the Austrian and French Armies in the Year 1809' in their mid-1980s Military History Monographs series. Stutterheim's account is a standard work, but Muller's is based on official bulletins ('Relation') issued during the campaign and so, is interesting as a contemporary account, but not wholly accurate.

A strange choice at first sight: R. W. Phipps: 'The Armies of the First French Republic' (1929) comprises 5 volumes, of which volumes 1,2 & 4 cover the First Coalition and Vol 5 covers the Second. This is a classic work on the subject, which also contains plenty on the Austrian operations, sourced from such things as Archduke Charles' own campaign analyses.

More recent/republished material focuses on the French version of events. A. B. Rodger: 'The War of the Second Coalition 1798-1801: A Strategic Commentary' (1964) has a heavy Anglo-French bias, but is an interesting introduction to this lesser-known campaign. Chris Duffy's 'Austerlitz 1805' (1977) concentrates on France and Russia, but includes Austrian material in one of the best unts of the campaign. Likewise Colonel Furse's republished account of 'Marengo and Hohenlinden', mostly covers the French, but includes amongst its sources, the French version of the Austrian Military Newsletter. Not wholly accurate and a little stilted but detailed.

Petre's famous accounts are currently being republished, again with a heavy Bonapartist bias, but with some interesting material usually only available in German. 'Napoleon and the Archduke Charles' (1809) reveals the point about viewing some German material in the context of when it was written. Angeli's biography of Archduke Charles, written at the end of the 19th century under the sponsorship of the Archduke's descendants, inevitably skates over his failings and likewise Hoen, (who aided Kriegelstein), is rather biased. Thus there is also unfair criticism of Miller at Ebelsberg and the 'epileptic fits' alleged to have been suffered at convenient moments by the Archduke. 'Napoleon's Last Campaign in Germany 1813' covers the Wars of Liberation. Both of these accounts were produced just before the relevant Austrian Staff History and lack accuracy. Petre provides plenty of useful material, but it gets lost in the French bias and some failings in his understanding of the Austrian army.

E. B. Hamley: 'The Operations of War' (1907), which covers the 1796 campaign in Germany in great detail as well as some of the more famous later campaigns is an analytical work best read after the campaign histories, but written clearly and in balanced terms.

The Osprey 'Campaign' series: 'Austerlitz 1805' by Dr. Chandler and 'Leipzig 1813' by Peter Hofschroer were reviewed by John Cook in FE18, but essentially they don't have enough space to say much about Austria. 'Leipzig' is however a very good introduction to the Wars of Liberation generally.

Ian Castle's 'Aspem & Wagram 1809' has more space and it is well researched/written to produce the best guide in English so far, using much material previously only available in German and some rarer prints.

Other material on 1809 has reached both ends of the scale. It is hard to be original about Jack Gill's excellent 'With Eagles to Glory' (1992), except to say it contains a lot of useful material on Austria, (FML Nordmann gets killed off a day early, which perhaps shows we all make mistakes).

Bowden & Tarbox: 'Armies on the Danube' covering 1809, (1988 latest edition) is unreliable. Material originating from 'Krieg 1809' Vol. 1, of Krieg is used in the introduction, but the O/Bs are full of er-rors, despite claims to have drawn them from original documents. The first O/B is actually for the Austrian army in its initial positions in Bohemia and doesn't reflect the changes following the shift south and the Marchfeld O/Bs are a couple of days before each battle. Units are confused and some invented.

The Krieg 1809 Material comes from George Nafziger, but Bowden and Tarbox haven't looked at it. Cited as 6 volumes, it is in fact only 4. Two additional volumes in the series 'Kriege unter Regierung des Kaisers Franz' actually relate to 1792-3. Such would have been obvious to anyone who actually looked at the books. There is plenty of myth from Marbot etc., and maps, which ignore whole Austrian formations, (notably three Korps on the wings at Wagram). It is money better spent on Rothenberg, despite the regular quotation of B&T in other books.

Another American book regularly quoted in the USA is Arnold: 'Crisis on the Danube' (1990). While it is interesting to see Stutterheim's account, (note: from the French translation), most of the Austrian material comes from Petre and Rothenberg - try comparing the operations bits of Petre with the text in Arnold and even then, some of Petre is not copied properly, notably at, Teugen-Hausen, where the fighting raged across the whole area between the villages.

Most authors use unconsulted minor works to pad out their bibliography and they are always useful references, but to claim to have read major works like Krieg 1809, Criste and Angeli to give authority to a book, when they haven't even been looked at, is a practice to be heavily criticised. (There are no footnotes from these books and the text would have been very different had they been used). The uniform and unit names errors plus the use of B&T O/Bs, when the accurate ones are in Krieg make this worthless on Austria aside from the events in which Stutterheim was personally involved. The political. material, based almost solely around Metternich, also proves the lack of work on the standard German texts and suggests the later Chancellor was responsible for it all! Epstein's "Napoleon's Last Victory" (1994) Similarly relies on Rothenberg and does show any real understanding of Napoleon's opponents.

Uniforms and Weapons

The Osprey Campaign booklets are good, but the MAAs are not, being essentially Rothenberg/Ottenfeld & Teuber (1879) rehashes with some rarer black and white prints. Teuber was a poor military historian and relies on the regulation rather than the reality - the classic example being German infantry of 1806 in shakos. when they were still in helmets in 1809 and some beyond! Many of the infantry titles and some colours are wrong, (notably IR 14 Klebek which had this Inhaber from 1788,and IR7 Schroder had brown facings from the start of the period), while the Freikorps list is incomplete and misleading. We also get the 1798 musket in brown instead of black. The author doesn't understand his subject, largely because he can't read German or even be bothered to look at the contemporary Schematis. The cavalry and artillery booklets are better, because there were fewer changes, but would a jump from 1802 to 1820 for Kurassier details be acceptable for French or British heavy cavalry?

K.K. Infanterie-Regiment Hoch- und Deutschmeiste

(The much described multicolour Kurassier Regiment of 1798 actua took the title of 6th Melas, as the 12th Kavanagh Kurassiers alrea existed). The Artillery/Specialists book reveals a similar lack of research.

Despite being double the price of an Osprey, the Italian De Be booklet: 'L'Escertio Austriaco 1805-15: Fanteria' in Italian with English notes is a far better assessment of the infantry, with just a few errors. It has been researched from Wrede, the Schernatis etc., as well as Ottenfeld, and contains additional basic information to supplement Rothenberg, together with photographs of weaponry.

For weapons, Krenn: Die Handfeuerwaffen des oesterreichisch Soldaten (Graz Exhibition catalogue) (1985) is the catalogue to exhibition of muskets, rifles and handguns, which has photos of all the main exhibits. The supporting notes in German are easy enough for anyone with some command of the language. Useful for all weapon enthusiasts at just £ 10.50 from Ken Trotman only.

The available print collections come from the Italian Rivista Militaire: Gli Ultimi Soldati del Sacro Romano Impero (The Last Troops the Holy Roman Empire) is a 1987 reprint of 24 of Kininger's prints originally published by Tranquillo Mollo and Mansfeld covering the 1798-1806 uniforms. Invaluable although the colour reproduction is not good. Their second booklet 'Austrian Troops of the 19th Centul reprints 17 colour Ottenfeld pictures, (8 Napoleonic, which are familiar from the b/ws in Osprey).

All this material, aside from Krenn, Sokol and the plates, accessible in the UK via the Interloan Library System for about 60p request, but most can be bought from the specialist booksellers. The annual Schematis and many of the standard German texts are in the British Library, while Ottenfeld and some Knotel is in the National Library in the V&A, London. Nonetheless, it is worth trying to learn some German, not least as it is the most useful European language.