The Austrian Army 1740-80 (2): Infantry

Description

At the accession of Maria Theresa in 1740, the Austro-Hungarian army included 52 infantry regiments, of which three were Hungarian, three Netherlandish and one Italian. The remainder drew their recruits not only from the Habsburg territories, including Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia (the last being lost to Prussia in 1742), but from the autonomous states of the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. The proportion of Hungarian raised regiments was set to rise in the coming years though indeed 'foreign' personnel comprised an important part of the military etablishment. This title, the second in a sequence of three, details the organisation, uniform and equipment of the cosmopolitan Austrian Army from 1740-80, focusing on infantry troops.

Philip Haythornthwaite is an author and historical consultant specialising in the military history, uniforms and equipment of the 18th and 19th centuries. His main area of research covers the Napoleonic Wars. He has written some 40 books, including more than 20 Osprey titles, and innumerable articles and papers on military history - but still finds time to indulge in his other great passion, cricket. Bill Younghusband was born in 1936. He has been interested in all things military since childhood, an interest compounded through the reading of authors such as G.A. Henty. In 1954 he joined the Life Guards and saw service in Egypt and Cyprus. Bill is a respected military illustrator of many years' experience, and has illustrated numerous Osprey books on 18th and 19th-century subjects. He is married, and lives in Ireland.