Improve Austria-Hungary military by 1914

[Mountain]

How could the Austrian-Hungarian empire military be improved starting in 1900 so that they stand a chance of defending the empire and even going on the offensive successfully without need for their allies (Germany) bail them out from attacks from other major powers like Russia, Italy and even have a decent chance against Germany( as asb as it is) by 1914?

 

[marathag]

So get the Hungarians to go along with improving the artillery for the Honved, Landwehr, and KuK main Army. Note the Austrians really didn't want to spend more either.

that, and overall more defense spending. Of all the Great powers, only the USA spent less.
Franz Ferdinand put Conrad on top, as a reformer. And he was, compared to his predecessor.

One thing, have a common uniform, not separate for each half of the Empire

 

[ShockTrooper262]

Sometime before 1905 check up on Alfred Redl and discover that he's been sending the Russians all of your plans, from there plug the gaps if there's any and either double cross system him, or remove him from play.

​

 

[A Piece of History]

The Empire needs to have a standard railway gauge across all of it's territories. In OTL, the gauges varied so widely that when World War I began, the trains were forced to move at 10 miles per hour, which was the speed of a bicycle. Also, the Empire had so few locomotives that it couldn't feed the civilian population, so the Empire should invest in a up-to-date railway network and stock.

 

[von Adler]

As marathag wrote, spending as a percentage of GDP on par with the other great powers would help immensly.

1. Doctrinal change of defence against stronger opponents to knock weaker ones out, ie remain on the defensive against Russia, try to take Serbia out.
2. Spend more money on the artillery. If focusing, it should be possible to start replacing all artillery with 76,5mm field guns and 100mm howitzers with steel rather than bronze barrels by 1910-1912.
3. Invest more in MGs.
4. A more long-term plan on railroad usage beyond the initial mobilisation - one of the problems plaguing Austria-Hungary was the fact that they lost a large percentage of their pre-war stock of locomotives and rolling stock in Galizia, where it had moved the troops, equipment and supplies for the mobilisation. The lack of that equipment hampered the country for the rest of the war.
5. Some kind of realisation of the strength of the defensive and attritional/industrial warfare would help a lot - the lack of Russian artillery ammunition production meant that after the pre-war stocks were used up, the otherwise excellent Russian artillery was limited to 2 shots per gun and day.

So in essence, more money to get better artillery, more industrial and logistics planning, a defensive focus against Russia and the rest should just start piling on - not losing the locomotives and rolling stock in Galizia, not losing the whole pre-war army in Galizia, meaning they are in a much stronger position when it is time for Gorlice-Tarnow. Which might mean Italy stays neutral, which allows for importing important goods, especially food. No near collapse late 1914 and during the Brusilov offensive might also mean that Romania stays out, which keeps oil and food imports open there too.

Better logistics, the economy and food situation in a much better shape, Russia worse for wear and the prestige of the Austrian arms intact or even improved by a slightly earlier defeat of Russia might even lead to some kind of negotiated peace int he west.

 

[marathag]

The Empire needs to have a standard railway gauge across all of it's territories. In OTL, the gauges varied so widely that when World War I began, the trains were forced to move at 10 miles per hour, which was the speed of a bicycle. Also, the Empire had so few locomotives that it couldn't feed the civilian population, so the Empire should invest in a up-to-date railway network and stock.

You need to go far back, and rather than having 80% of all rail owned by the Government, have more private companies involved to build out the network

 

[anotherlurker]

OTL Austria-Hungary overslept the general European arms race that has been going on since at least the mid 1890s, everyone has been spending at their limits and A-H was the last one to join in. Necessary reforms and modernizations were only began around 1910 and barring a war would have taken til 1916 or 18 to see results (more modern artillery and machine guns, the queens of the battlefield at the time).
The Boer wars and Russo-Japanese wars offer a good opportunity to see some modern-ish war in action and initiate reforms, so you can plausibly accelerate the schedule for modernization by 5 to 8 years.

 

[A Piece of History]

You need to go far back, and rather than having 80% of all rail owned by the Government, have more private companies involved to build out the network

What was the main problem blocking the formation of private railway companies?

 

[anotherlurker]

What was the main problem blocking the formation of private railway companies?

Here's a list of companies in Austria-Hungary, more than half of them are railway companies or related to railways.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:K.k._privilegiertes_Unternehmen

If anything less is needed, bigger, more consolidated companies have easier access to funding and you get a more standardized network of railways out of it. Remember, this is pre 1900s, large scale standardization wasn't really practiced yet.

 

[Some Bloke]

An Army commander who can make plans based on resources available would also be invaluable. C-H's plans were good, but had no basis in reality.

 

[marathag]

Here's a list of companies in Austria-Hungary, more than half of them are railway companies or related to railways.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:K.k._privilegiertes_Unternehmen

If anything less is needed, bigger, more consolidated companies have easier access to funding and you get a more standardized network of railways out of it. Remember, this is pre 1900s, large scale standardization wasn't really practiced yet.

But A-H had over 80% Nationalized as it was. And they were not funded well for peacetime

More private companies is inefficient, as that gets you multiple routes to the same area.
But that's what you need in wartime, multiple routes

Modern rails, it takes 13 hours to get from Innsbruck to Lviv(old Lemberg) one end of the once empire to the other
In WWI, that trip time is doubled, and that was a major destination, not the hinterlands where troops needed to be supplied

 

[anotherlurker]

But A-H had over 80% Nationalized as it was. And they were not funded well for peacetime

More private companies is inefficient, as that gets you multiple routes to the same area.
But that's what you need in wartime, multiple routes

Modern rails, it takes 13 hours to get from Innsbruck to Lviv(old Lemberg) one end of the once empire to the other
In WWI, that trip time is doubled, and that was a major destination, not the hinterlands where troops needed to be supplied

Innsbruck to Lemberg goes through multiple mountains, even today that's not an easy route. Can't get a direct route from Innsbruck to Lviv form the railway site, but it's about 9 hours from Innsbruck to Prague and Lviv is still a bit further out. I'd say 13 hours even today would not be unreasonable for the distance and terrain.

Google maps routes tool gives me 20 to 28 hours for that train ride, holy hell...

Anyway, militarily useful railways have 4 tracks, and to get militarily useful railways you need to get the politicians to open up the tap for military spending which proved quite an issue in A-H leading to all these well documented yet easily avoidable problems.