Let's Build a Properly Funded Habsburg Army (1914)!
Alright, this is a scenario that is politically impossible because of structural problems with the Habsburg monarchy, but one that I think would be an interesting thought experiment.
Historically AH spent less proportionally on their military than any major power in Europe:
http://books.google.com/books?id=2c...age&q=habsburg military spending 1914&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=ld...age&q=habsburg military spending 1914&f=false
AH apparently even spent less than Italy (!) on defense, despite having a much larger population (3rd largest in Europe) and GDP and with more men under arms. AH also conscripted far fewer men than any other country in Europe and only had a standing army of <450k, about half that of Germany and only 78% larger than Italy. Russia had about 1,500,000 peacetime soldiers in over 100 divisions and Serbia had 52k.
AH was also badly outnumbered in the quantity of artillery pieces and was far behind in modernized artillery, mainly having bronze (!!!!) barrels that did not have a modern recoil system or adequate stocks of shells, nor domestic shell production, having bought her shells in peacetime from Germany.
Comparisons:
GDP spending on military:Germany 3.5%, Britain 3.1%, France 3.9%, Russia 4.6%. AH 2.8% (including special spending bills to increase size of navy and modernize army).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_Army#Funding_and_Equipment
While the budget continued to rise — from 262 million crowns in 1895 to 306 million in 1906 — this was still far less per capita than for other major European states, including Italy, and about on par with Russia, which had a much larger population.[16] Further contributing to the monarchy's military weakness was the low rate of conscription: Austria-Hungary conscripted only 0.29% of its population, compared to 0.47% in Germany and 0.75% in France. Attempts to increase the yearly intake of recruits were proposed but repeatedly blocked by officials in Budapest until an agreement was reached in 1912.[9]
In the emerging field of military aviation, Austria-Hungary lagged behind other European states. While balloon detachments had been established in 1893, they were mostly assigned to the fortress artillery, except for a brief period from 1909 to 1911 when they were under command of the multifaceted Verkehrs Brigade.[17] Realization that heavier-than-air machines were necessary or useful came late, and Austria-Hungary acquired only five airplanes by 1911. In 1914 the budget for military aviation was approximately 1/25th the amount spent by France. Austria-Hungary entered the war with only 48 first-line aircraft.[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_Army#Size_and_ethnic_and_religious_composition
Though the population of the empire had risen to nearly 50 million by 1900, the size of the army was tied to ceilings established in 1889. Thus, at the turn of the century Austria-Hungary conscripted only 0.29% of its population, compared to 0.47% in Germany, 0.35% in Russia and 0.75% in France.[9] The 1889 army law was not revised until 1912, which allowed for an increase in annual conscriptions.[10]
Edit:
It has been estimated that if AH had German levels of conscription they could have had 80 divisions in 1914.
Whoops, that was for French level spending and conscription...the German level would mean about 60-65 divisions.
So:
supposing the Austro-Hungarian military in the 20th century was properly funded, that is had proportionally equal spending to that of the German military and conscripted an equal proportion of her population, what would it have looked like by the time 1914 rolled around?
I'm going to hold my ideas until I've given others a chance to present ideas first.
Historical peacetime forces 1914:
30,000 Officers
410,000 NCOs and troops
87,000 horses (estimate)
1,200 artillery pieces (about half were without steel barrels or modernized recoil systems including about nearly off of the howitzers; only the field guns had been modernized)
(AH also had only 42 artillery pieces per division, compared to the 48 of Russia or 72 of Germany, while having no howitzers at division level; both Germany and Russia had howitzers in their divisions, AH had them only at corps level and only 16 corps, compared to the 25 of Germany, and 51 of the Russians.
16 Corps
49 Infantry Divisions - 76 Infantry Brigades - 14 Mountain Brigades
8 Cavalry Divisions - 16 Cavalry Brigades
The common Army (k.u.k. - Kaiserlich und königlich)
16 Corps
49 Infantry Divisions - 76 Infantry Brigades - 14 Mountain Brigades
8 Cavalry Divisions - 16 Cavalry Brigades
102 Infantry Regiments (four battalions each) - 4 Bosnian-Herzegovinian (Bosnisch-Hercegowinische) Infantry regiments (four battalions each)
4 Imperial Tyrolian Rifle Regiments (Tiroler Kaiserjäger) (four battalions each)
32 Rifle-Battalions (Feldjäger) - 1 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Rifle Battalion (Bosnisch-Hercegowinisches Feldjäger Bataillon)
42 Field Artillery Regiments (Feldkanonen-Regimenter) - 14 Field Howitzer Regiments (Feldhaubitz-Regimenter)
11 Mounted Artillery Battalions (originally named Reitende Artillerie Division) - 14 Heavy Howitzer Battalions (originally named schwere Haubitz-Division)
11 Mountain Artillery Regiments (Gebirgsartillerie Regimenter)
6 Fortress Artillery Regiments (Festungsartillerie Regimenter) - 8 independent Fortress Artillery Battalions (selbst. Festungsartillerie Bataillone)
15 Regiments of Dragoons (Dragoner) - 16 Regiments of Hussars (Husaren) - 11 Regiments of Lancers (Ulanen)
16 Transportation Battalions (Railroad)
23 Engineers Battalions (Sappeure/Pioniere) - 1 Bridge Construction Battalion (Brücken Bataillon) - 1 Railroad Regiment (Eisenbahn-Regiment) - 1 Signal Regiment (Telegraphen-Regiment)
k.k. Landwehr (kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch)
The k.k. Landwehr was the standing army of Austria entended to be responsible for the defense of Austria itself.
35 Landwehr Infantry Regiments - 3 battalions each (Landwehr Infanterie-Regimenter)
6 Landwehr Regiments of Lancers
8 Landwehr Field Artillery Battalions (Feldkanonen) - 8 Landwehr Field Howitzer Battalions (Feldhaubitz)
The Mountain Infantry with the following units:
2 Landwehr Mountain Infantry Regiments (Gebirgsinfanterie-Regimenter) No. 4 and No. 27
3 Tyrolian Fusiliers Regiments (Tiroler Landesschützen Regimenter) - since January 1917 named Kaiserschützen
1 Mounted Tyrolian Fusiliers Battalion (Reitende Tiroler Landesschützen)
1 Mounted Dalmatian Fusiliers Battalion (Reitende Dalmatiner Landesschützen)
k.u. Honvéd (königlich ungarische Landwehr)
The k.u. Honvéd was the standing army of Hungary. A part of the Honvéd was the Royal Croatian Landwehr ( Kraljevsko hrvatsko domobranstvo ), which consisted of 1 infantry division (out of 7 in Honved) and 1 cavalry regiment (out of 10 in Honved).
6 k.u. Honvéd Landwehr Districts (Distrikte)
2 k.u. Honvéd Infantry Divisions (Infanterie Truppendivisionen)
2 k.u. Honvéd Cavalry Divisions (Kavallerie Truppendivisionen)
4 k.u. Honvéd Infantry Brigades (Infanteriebrigaden) - 12 independent k.u. Honvéd Infantry Brigades
4 k.u. Honvéd Cavalry Brigades (Kavalleriebrigaden)
32 Honvéd Infantry Regiments (Infanterie-Regimenter)
10 Honvéd Regiments of Hussars (Husaren-Regimenter)
8 Honvéd Field Artillery Regiments (Feldkanonen Regimenter) - 1 Honvéd Mounted Artillery Battalion (Reitende Artillerie Abteilung)
Mobilized the Habsburg army historically had 1,338,000 men under arms.
Resources:
http://www.austrianphilately.com/dixnut/index.htm
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/oob.htm
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/orb14.htm
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/div1918.html
http://www.wien-vienna.com/austrohungary.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_Army
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemeinsame_Armee
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Österreichisch-Ungarische_Landstreitkräfte_1867–1914
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Österreich-Ungarns_Armee_im_Ersten_Weltkrieg
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armia_Austro-Węgier
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizacja_Armii_Austro-Węgier_w_1914
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storia_dell'esercito_austriaco_dopo_le_riforme_di_Francesco_Giuseppe