AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



51 



The Army. The present military law was 

 adopted in Austria and Hungary in 1889. The 

 age of obligatory service begins at twenty-one. 

 The period of active service in the regular army 

 is three years, at the end of which the soldier is 

 enrolled for seven years in the reserve, then for 

 two years in the Landwehr, and after that for 

 ten years in the Landsturm. Those who are not 

 drafted into the regular army are enrolled for ten 

 years in the Ersatz Reserve or for twelve years 

 in the Landwehr. The Landwehr is separately 

 organized in the two halves of the monarchy and 

 can be mobilized only at the command of the Em- 

 peror. From the Ersatz reserve men are drawn 

 for the army and the Landwehr in time of war. 

 All men who are not enrolled in the army, navy, 

 Ersatz reserve, or Landwehr belong to the Land- 

 sturm, which can be sent out of its own territory 

 only by special statute. Men can be drafted from 

 the Landsturm to fill gaps in the army or the 

 Landwehr. The annual recruit of the army is 

 103,100 men 60,389 from Austria and 42,711 

 from Hungary. There is an annual contingent 

 of 10,000 for the Austrian and 12,500 for the 

 Hungarian Landwehr, and of 2,740 and 2,250 re- 

 spectively for the Ersatz reserve. The strength 

 of the Austro-Hungarian army in 1889 is ex- 

 hibited in the following tabular statement : 



infantry and 8 of cavalry. Austria-Hungary is 

 so rich in horses that 91,000 cavalry can be 

 placed in the field, of which number 70,000 are 

 counted in the troops of the first line. The sub- 

 sistence department has as many divisions as 

 there are army corps, and the depot troops consist 

 of 250 battalions, with a number of reserve Land- 

 wehr battalions. Tyrol and Dalmatia are spe- 

 cially protected by their territorial establish- 

 ments, while 210 territorial Landsturm battal- 

 ions, besides a number of recruiting camps, a/e 

 distributed in other parts of the country. 



The infantry are now armed with the new 

 small-caliber Mannlicher repeating rifle, which 

 has been proved capable of resisting the gas 

 pressure of the smokeless powder. The new 

 powder has been found to increase the point- 

 blank range from 500 yards to twice or three 

 times that distance, rendering it unnecessary for 

 soldiers to readjust their sights during action. 



The Nary. The war navy in 1889 consisted 

 of 2 armored turret ships, 8 casemated battery 

 ships, and 1 plated frigate, making 11 armor-clad 

 line-of-battle ships, 1 ram cruiser, 7 torpedo cruis- 

 ers, 3 torpedo vessels, 3 avisos, 48 torpedo boats, 

 2 monitors, 4 training ships, and 39 other vessels, 

 or altogether. 118 vessels, carrying 415 guns, be- 

 sides 312 machine guns. The most powerful 



In case of war about 4,000,000 men can be 

 called out to serve in the Landsturm. The 

 number of guns in peace -is 856 ; in war, 2,008. 

 The comprehensive reform of the military sys- 

 tem which began with the army law of 1868 and 

 has been completed by the Landsturm law of 

 1887 and the recruiting law of 1889 enables Aus- 

 tria to hold. ready a reserve equal to one fourth 

 of the strength of the active army and to call 

 into the field great masses of troops of the second 

 line. The empire has more than 2,000,000 trained 

 men. The formations that can be called to arms 

 in case of war number about 1,750,000 men, of 

 whom 1,250,000 can be mobilized in the first line 

 and 500,000 in the second line. Besides these the 

 Landsturm is expected to receive an efficient 

 organization, and is likely to have the number 

 of army corps into which it is divided in- 

 creased by one half, and even then have nu- 

 merous troops to spare for local and garrison serv- 

 ice. The field army is organized in 14 corps 

 (Tarmee, of 2 divisions each. The army corps con- 

 sists of 30 battalions, 28 squadrons, and 96 guns, 

 having a total strength of 36,000 foot and 

 7,000 horse. As many infantry divisions of 

 Landwehr as there are army corps in the regu- 

 lar army can be called to arms in case of war, 

 and besides these there are 7 reserve divisions of 



vessels are the barbette ships " Stephanie " and 

 ' Kronprinz Rudolf," plated with 9 and 12 inches 

 respectively of steel-faced armor, and carrying 

 the former 2 and the other 3 48-ton guns. They 

 were launched in 1887. The fleetest ship is the 

 ram-cruiser " Kaiser Franz," launched in 1889, 

 carrying 8 15|-ton guns, and capable of steam- 

 ing 18i knots. The " Kaiserin Elisabeth," now 

 building at Pola, will have the same speed. The 

 eight sea-going torpedo cruisers recently built 

 are the fastest of their class. The "Panther" 

 and "Leopard," built at Elswick, of 1,530 tons 

 displacement, have attained a speed of nearly 19 

 knots when fully armed and equipped. A third, 

 the " Tiger," built at Trieste, has a displacement 

 of 1,675 tons and engines of 4,000 horse power. 



The Delegations. The session of the Dele- 

 gations began at Buda-Pesth on June 4. The 

 budget estimates the ordinary expenditure for 

 1891 at 119.231,893 florins and the extraordinary 

 at 16,402,339 florins, making a total of 135,634,- 

 232 florins. The credits asked for included sums 

 for the purchase of smokeless powder, for the 

 creation of a new regiment of cavalry, and for 

 the reorganization of the fortress artillery. Baron 

 Bauer, the Minister of War, when criticised for 

 adding 2,526 men to the peace establishment and 

 20,000,000 florins to the military budget so soon 



