Separate Hungarian and Austrian armies in 1914?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

Sort of keeping with this other thread I did that didn't get much attention:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=366743
What if part of the Ausgleich in 1907 was the formation of separate armies and not having a unified military? So Austria and Hungary each had their own armies under Vienna's command in wartime after 1907? A serious issues was funding, which had fallen victim to politics during the run up to WW1. What if from 1907 on both sides of the Habsburg Empire got to spend what it wanted on its military without needing the other side to approve it? How big and equipped could their military have been then in 1914 and what difference would it have made to the war?
 
Sort of keeping with this other thread I did that didn't get much attention:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=366743
What if part of the Ausgleich in 1907 was the formation of separate armies and not having a unified military? So Austria and Hungary each had their own armies under Vienna's command in wartime after 1907? A serious issues was funding, which had fallen victim to politics during the run up to WW1. What if from 1907 on both sides of the Habsburg Empire got to spend what it wanted on its military without needing the other side to approve it? How big and equipped could their military have been then in 1914 and what difference would it have made to the war?
What was Royal Hungarian Honved? As far as I know it was separate Hungarian Army. They had even own defense minister in Budapest. Over 30 infantry regiments, 10 cavalry and 9 artillery regiments.
 
What was Royal Hungarian Honved? As far as I know it was separate Hungarian Army. They had even own defense minister in Budapest. Over 30 infantry regiments, 10 cavalry and 9 artillery regiments.
I don't think he's asking about that but instead asking what if the k.u.k Army was disbanded and its resources and funding partitioned out to the Landswehr and Honved.
 
Very bad for Austria-Hungary. OTL the Hungarians were reluctant to fight until Russian troops crossed over from Galicia and Romanians arrived in Transylvania. If their was no k.u.k. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hungarians refused to mobilize troops for the first year or so of the war. Also, the Hungarians will most likely refuse to participate in any invasion of Russia unless the are at least given Galicia first.

If Hungary tries to make a separate peace with the Entente you can bet that the Austrians/Germans will attempt a coup. If they remain in the war until 1918, they will simply become a de facto part of the German Army like the K.U.K became OTL.
 

yourworstnightmare

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Donor
The lack of a unified command structure would have been bad. Also ASB, since giving the Hungarian half the army would just never be accepted (neither would it be accepted to give the other half to the Landswehr, the Habsburgs would NEVER have signed away the army).
 

Deleted member 1487

What was Royal Hungarian Honved? As far as I know it was separate Hungarian Army. They had even own defense minister in Budapest. Over 30 infantry regiments, 10 cavalry and 9 artillery regiments.
I meant as their sole army, so a Honved and Landwehr, no KuK Heer

Very bad for Austria-Hungary. OTL the Hungarians were reluctant to fight until Russian troops crossed over from Galicia and Romanians arrived in Transylvania. If their was no k.u.k. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hungarians refused to mobilize troops for the first year or so of the war. Also, the Hungarians will most likely refuse to participate in any invasion of Russia unless the are at least given Galicia first.

If Hungary tries to make a separate peace with the Entente you can bet that the Austrians/Germans will attempt a coup. If they remain in the war until 1918, they will simply become a de facto part of the German Army like the K.U.K became OTL.

The Hungarians would have to be in it due to their military alliance as part of the deal; so they'd have to fight.

The lack of a unified command structure would have been bad. Also ASB, since giving the Hungarian half the army would just never be accepted (neither would it be accepted to give the other half to the Landswehr, the Habsburgs would NEVER have signed away the army).
They'd have the same deal as IOTL: unified command in times of war. As it was the Honved IOTL wasn't part of a peace time command structure.
 

BooNZ

Banned
Very bad for Austria-Hungary. OTL the Hungarians were reluctant to fight until Russian troops crossed over from Galicia and Romanians arrived in Transylvania. If their was no k.u.k. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hungarians refused to mobilize troops for the first year or so of the war. Also, the Hungarians will most likely refuse to participate in any invasion of Russia unless the are at least given Galicia first.

If Hungary tries to make a separate peace with the Entente you can bet that the Austrians/Germans will attempt a coup. If they remain in the war until 1918, they will simply become a de facto part of the German Army like the K.U.K became OTL.

Enlightened self interest would require the Hungarians to fund its military substantially better than its military contributions OTL. Similarly Austria would do likewise to keep Italy in check. Aside from potential duplication in some areas and possible co-ordination issues, the combined forces would have been substantially stronger than A-H OTL - OTL was a very low bar.

Hungary and Austria had more in common and less to fear from each other than the rest of their neighbours. That should bind them together in defence, but extravagant offensives might be tricky...
 
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