Gunther Rothenberg for Purdue A paperback reprint of the 1976 original this is a very useful history of the army (though not its campaigns) from Metternich to the collapse of the Empire. The themes of nationalism and the service-ethic of the army are met by the changing foreign-policy stances of the empire. The Austrian response to warfare was almost without exception the wrong one: they had the wrong leaders and the wrong plans. The constant sparring with Magyar nationalism and the missed chance of incorporating the south Slavs then seemed to doom efforts. Yet the army hung together extremely well, and one wonders if von Hötzendorf had not been there and the army better shepherded whether it would have held firmer a lot longer. But even breaks were not for the k.u.k. More Old Duffer's Book Corner (book reviews) Exercise of Arms: Warfare in the Netherlands 1568-1648 The Anglo-Scots Wars 1513-1550 Seapower and Naval Warfare 1650-1830 The Making of A World Power The Punic Wars The Roman Army At War 100BC – AD200 The Collapse and Recovery of the Roman Empire The Victory of Seapower: Winning the Napoleonic War 1806-1814 Vittoria 1813 The Battle of Koniggratz 1866 and The History of K.u.K Infantry Regiment Graf Khevenhuller-Metsch Nr 35 Patton The Navy At War 1939-1945 Medieval Warfare From Louis XIV to Napoleon: The Fall of A Great Power The Army of Francis Joseph Back to Perfidious Albion #100 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com