WWI From the Austro-Hungarian Perspective | Animated History

hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian the murder of archduke franz ferdinand and his wife sophie at the hands of gavrilo princep is widely considered the inciting incident of the first world war but while austria-hungary is depicted as a lead player in the prologue to the conflict popular understanding paints them as a junior partner to the german empire once the conflict begins akin to mussolini's fascist italy 20 years on in reality austria-hungary was an active participant in the conflict fighting brutal engagements against the russian empire on the eastern front and taking an active role in the campaign against italy today we will examine the first world war from the austro-hungarian perspective fittingly today's video is sponsored by supremacy 1914 a free online pvp strategy game that lets you control many different nations during the great war including austria-hungary and fight in weeks-long real-time battles with up to 500 players simultaneously my favorite feature is the historically accurate unit roster featuring tanks infantry cavalry and even biplanes the game is also cross-platform letting you fight or forge alliances on both pc and mobile devices armchair historian fans can get 15 000 gold and one month of premium subscription for free by signing up using the link in the description below stay tuned for info on a special match set up for channel viewers at the end of this video the shooting of the heir to the austro-hungarian throne and his wife by the serbs a people the archduke had spent much of his political career trying to peacefully integrate into the wider empire sent shockwaves through the austrian court franz ferdinand was a proponent of reorganizing the austro-hungarian empire creating a union of ethnic states that would grant the many peoples of the empire more autonomy and a greater sense of linguistic and ethnic identity a plan that ferdinand's death permanently derailed and in the aftermath the war hungary in vienna made their move conrad von hutzendorf chief of staff of the austro-hungarian army and navy maintained that austria-hungary had a stain on their military record after their humiliating defeat in 1866 against the prussians at koenig greats only military victory would redeem the empire in conrad's mind and he pushed for a war of retribution with serbia to bring this absolution emperor franz joseph of austria-hungary assented to conrad's warmongering in the wake of his nephew's murder believing that the survival of the habsburg monarchy was at stake the austro-hungarians sent a laundry list of outrageous demands to the serbian government implicating them in the assassination and outlining a list of ways to make recompense that would certainly be rejected just as austria-hungary wanted but serbia took the austro-hungarians off guard by agreeing to a majority of their demands and formally requesting international arbitration to discuss the few stipulations that they held issue with undeterred by this sudden display of reason the austro-hungarians remained determined to go to war serbia broke off negotiations on july 25th and so the austro-hungarians cheerfully declared war on the 28th and celebrated the upcoming conflict by shelling belgrade that same day but for all her bluster and bloodlust austria-hungary was not a nation ready for war the empire fielded three vastly different armies during the war the land there from austria the honvaid from hungary and the common or imperial and royal army the third army was an ill-equipped and ethnically diverse force with its core units of conscripts consisting of czechs slovaks hungarians and other groups with differing languages and customs but this diversity posed unique challenges for every 1 000 soldiers under the austro-hungarian banner 267 spoke german 223 spoke the magyar language of hungary 135 spoke czech 85 spoke polish 81 ukrainian 67 bosnian croatian montenegrin serbian 64 romanian 38 slovak 26 slovene and finally 18 soldiers spoke italian their austrian leadership spoke german exclusively creating inherent communications difficulties throughout the war but all the men in the world whether they can communicate or not can do little without proper arms and equipment most of the empire's artillery had not been updated since 1899 and bureaucrats within the imperial court had long prevented the allocation of funds to modernize and expand the armed forces this stagnation can be readily seen in austria's two abortive flirtations with armored warfare in 1905 a prototype armored car was demonstrated for the general staff only for the project to be cancelled by emperor franz joseph after the machine spooked his horse in 1911 inventor gunther burstin approached the general staff with a tank design far in advance of the british mark 1 a machine the austrians were happy to adopt if bursting would cover all of the production costs himself despite these military deficiencies the austro-hungarian empire pursued its goal of domination over serbia with zeal the german empire threw their law in with austria-hungary after the declaration of war militarily underwriting the empire's balkan adventure through the infamous blank check this support from the germans led emperor franz joseph to remark now we can no longer hold back it will be a terrible war britain and france declared war on germany after german troops entered belgium while italy swore neutrality in the conflict for now with her western border secured by the german empire austria-hungary was left with only serbia and her russian defender to deal with the austrians launched their first defensive against serbia in august 1914 and were able to take some serbian territory for 13 days the stinginess of the empire's bureaucrats reared its head and the soldiers on the ground were forced to fight with antiquated rifles and little ammunition despite their logistical shortcomings the austro-hungarians were able to enact a campaign of terror in their briefly held territory enacting brutal reprisals on resistant serbian civilians austria's tactics proved to be a serious shortcoming for their initial invasion of serbia the goal was to wage a conflict constantly on the move pressing forward and engaging the enemy line or attacking enemy fortifications reconnaissance was left to the austrian cavalry who were to simultaneously screen the advance reconnoiter and serve as messengers and orderlies for command detachments the result of this was infantry marching into unknown territory under the impression that cavalry had scouted ahead however the cavalry had no time to actually mount their reconnaissance missions and as for the artillery they didn't communicate with either of them in november the austrians launched a second invasion that broke through to belgrade before being turned back by serbian forces a serb counter-attack caught the austro-hungarians in the middle of a military parade through the city and austrian artillery was stationed too far from the front to break up the serbian advance the two sides met in battle at the kalubara river where the serbians handed the austrians a decisive defeat the third time proved to be the charm for austria-hungary in october 1915 a combined offensive by the austrians germans and bulgarians overran serbian defenses and drove deep into the country for the serbs part they had been promised significant aid from the british and french including additional troops which had failed to materialize and this lack of support meant that they could do little in the face of three armies at once the serbian government was driven from the country by the combined offensive and austria-hungary occupied the entirety of serbia and declared total victory austria-hungary would have a harder time on the eastern front against the russian empire they began the war defensively unsuccessfully attempting to turn back a russian invasion of the galicia region an early defeat at tanenburg in the summer of 1914 nearly led to the annihilation of russia's forces but the russians were able to recover by the year's end and put the austrians to route 1915 saw the germans and austro-hungarians recover territory and establish a defensive line running from riga to tarnopol a line that they would hold until the collapse of the russian empire in 1917 saved for an incursion by the russians during the brucilla offensive which resulted in anywhere from six hundred thousand to nine hundred thousand austro-hungarian casualties finally the entry of italy into the war on the side of the ontant in 1915 forced the austrians to withdraw their troops from the southern portion of the eastern front what austro-hungarian forces were left attempted along with their german allies to turn back the aforementioned brazilian offensive that same year which proved to be a much needed success for these artists and motivated romania to join the war on the russian side this would prove romania's undoing as the 1916 romanian offensive into austro-hungarian territory drew the attention of every nation opposed to them a combined force of austro-hungarian german bulgarian and even turkish troops invaded romania from all sides not so much defeating as annihilating them the central powers were able to divide up romania's oil and grain stocks amongst themselves giving the germans and austro-hungarians a desperately needed boost to their flagging wartime economies the russians would spend the rest of the war on the back foot and the russian revolution brought these soviets into power ending the war in the east the final theater austria-hungary was involved in was the italian front italy reconsidered her neutrality in 1915 motivated by a border dispute with austria dating back to 1815 and overtures made by britain and france including promises of territory upon their victory over germany and austria-hungary the italians began the war with a three-to-one numerical advantage but this leg up was countered by the austro-hungarian's geographical advantage the austro-hungarian's positions along the alps and the karst plateau forced the invaders into a literal uphill battle the italians launched attack after attack winning little in terms of territory or initiative but succeeding in sapping austrian resources by 1917 the germans were able to reinforce their austro-hungarian allies and the two launched an offensive beginning the battle of caporeto the germanic armies pushed the italians back over 19 kilometers or roughly 12 miles but were stopped short after they exceeded their supply lines it was on the italian front that the bold austro-hungarian navy saw most of its combat the empire's adriatic fleet spent the first year of the war bombarding serbian and montenegrin positions it was not until italy's declaration of war that the austrians saw naval combat in earnest and they continued their successful strategy of shooting at people who can't shoot back along the italian coast austro-hungarian ships would see little other action for the rest of the war the italian front reached its climax in 1918 when the austrians attempted one last major push they were stopped by italian forces at the piave river where information fed to the italians by austrian deserters allowed them to array their forces in a perfect counter to the austrian attack there was little need for it however as by this point the austro-hungarian empire was tearing itself apart the italians just had to dig in and watch their opponent disintegrate after the death of the austro-hungarian emperor in 1916 the successor carl the first enlisted his brother-in-law sixtus to meet with the french as an officer in the belgian army sixtists could make contact with french officials without arousing suspicion sixtus embarked on his mission in 1917 shortly before the collapse of the russian empire he returned to carl with terms the return of alsace lorraine to france the restoration of belgian independence the grant of independence to serbia and the annexation of constantinople by the russian empire carl agreed to all of these concessions in a letter written to the french prime minister but when the russian empire left the war the austrian foreign minister made a fiery speech denouncing the french as an obstacle to peace across europe france responded by publishing carl's letter a possible german occupation of austria was only stopped by carl sending the kaiser his word of honor that sikdes had completely acted independently and that the letter was not an accurate representation of his wishes the austro-hungarian empire entered its final collapse in the summer of 1918. her armies completely defeated and racked with ethnic strife and insubordination her population utterly fatigued and battling malnutrition and disease infrastructure rotting away due to neglect and the stresses of war the dual monarchy was poised for destruction it came with hungary's declaration of independence on october 28th carl the first seeded all political power on november 11th the same day the armistice was signed in a public proclamation carl asserted the right of the austrian people to determine their own future [Music] the first world war was over and so was the austro-hungarian empire [Music] the end of austria-hungary fundamentally changed europe a bevy of new states were created from the territory ruled by the deposed habsburgs including the now liberated poland austria and hungary were left to install new governments and begin the process of repairing their ravaged economies while the balkans were carved into a confederation of disparate ethno-states that set the stage for future conflict and crimes against humanity nevertheless austria-hungary's performance in the first world war is a far cry from the junior partner that popular history remembers them as and their contribution to the central powers should not be understated [Music] thanks again to supremacy 1914 for sponsoring this video don't forget to join our special game by looking for the armchair historian and using the password the armchair historian as shown on screen join this free world war one online pvp strategy game within 30 days and claim 15 000 gold and 1 month of premium subscription for free [Music] so you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

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Length: 16min 38sec (998 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 23 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/COMPUTER1313]

On a side note, Being X could have seriously trolled Tanya by putting her in the equivalent of Austria-Hungary.

• Where the army had about a dozen different languages and already had serious disunity between the ethnic groups before the war even kicked off

• Declared war on Serbia despite the military being underfunded for years and this many of its artillery obsolete

• Had ammunition shortages and other logistics problems due to the underfunding

• Cavalry was suppose to be conducting reconnaissance, but it was lacking and thus the infantry often marched into surprises.

• Artillery units had poor communication with infantry and cavalry.

• During a military parade in a captured city, the Serbians counter-attacked and the Austrian-Hungarian artillery was too far away to support.

• Rejected two tank prototype projects. One of them because the prototype spooked the emperor's horse, and the other one because the tank designer was told to pay for the production costs himself (he would later go on to play a major role in Nazi Germany's early tank designs)

• Austria-Hungary defiantly refusing early peace terms even as their country begin to implode from ethnic tensions, fueled by food shortages and extreme war fatigue.

Or put her in pre-revolution Russia where the army becomes increasingly filled with "communist radicals" as casualties skyrocket and the replacements aren't too interested in being fed into the meat grinder, especially with everything being in short supply (e.g. food, ammo, equipment).

Or put her in Italy, with her having to deal with the alternate of Luigi Cadorna, such as partaking in the grinding 12 Battles of the Isonzo where over half of Italy's WW1 casualties occurred: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_the_Isonzo

Luigi Cadorna sacked a few hundred senior officers during his position. I wouldn't be surprised if he would consider sacking Tanya for not toeing the line.

He was also surprised by an Austrian-Hungarian offensive that was so obvious to everyone, that the newspapers reported about the planned offensive. He did sack multiple officers that warned him about the impending offensive. That resulted in his army being routed as they were completely unprepared: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LI2a6qtvwg

As some of the Youtube comments summed up the situation:

• Conrad Von Hotzendorf Vs Luigi Cadorna, a stoppable force meeting a movable object

• Finally, von Hötzendorf encounters an opponent as stupid as himself. It was only a matter of time before he found someone able to make mistakes on a scale rivaling his own.

• And thus the great battle to decide who was the most incompetent chief of the general staff of WW1 started.

• If Hötzendorf outwitts you, I recommend the japanese tradition of sepuku.

• An army of 15 divisions still has the element of surprise after detailed plans were published in Italian and French newspapers? That sounds impossible! But... nothing is impossible, with Cadorna on your side...