Austrian Wars of the 19th century

Dated: January 2, 2001.

Here is a contribution of Austrian troops from Mr. Kattinger of Austria.

"Being Austrian myself I want to present some figures depicting the different wars Austria fought in the 19th century (after the Napoleonic wars) - thanks also to the ideas put forward by contributor Andreas Kopp."

1848/49 Revolution, in Northern Italy, Budapest, Prague and in the heart of the Austrian Empire - the capital Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand had to flee and abdicated in favor of young Franz Josef, the minister of war, count Latour, was killed by an angry mob in Vienna. Austrian troops quelled the discontent in Italy for one last time and had to bombard and storm Vienna, which was defended by citizens' and students' guards and regular troops who had changed sides.

Pic 1848_1 The uniforms of the time still looked Napoleonic, but the Napoleonic Austrians available are of a too early period. I used napoleonic British, as they don't wear gaiters as did the troops in 1848. On to these i added French napoleonic heads/chakos. First a regular "german" officer, a trooper in greatcoat (hät young guard), a "hungarian" grenadier (from the Austrians set, only the shape of the bearskin-cap altered), a Jäger (Prussian from the Italeri Austrian/Prussian set with a head from the Avant-Garde with some plumes added), a Grenzer (many Hungarian and Grenzer troops were used to recapture Vienna, most of the regular "german" troops fighting in Italy and they were probably also considered to be more apt to fight the Viennese) and a Cheveaux-Legers. The defenders of Vienna (I don't find material on the Italian uniforms of the time)


Pic 1848_2 a regular trooper and some citizens' and students' guards (ACW Confederate officer and 3 IMEX Alamo defenders), but they could probably also fight as insurgents in Italy.


1859 war in Northern Italy again, against Sardinia-Piedmont this time supported by France; the Austrians lost the province of Milan after loosing the battle of Solferino, fought under the personal command of young emperor Franz Josef (on which the former emperor Ferdinand reportedly commented: "THAT I could have done myself as well")

Pic 1858 The typical "kittel" style uniform with cross-belts only is best represented by the napoleonic Prussian Landwehr (HäT/former Airfix) with heads of the British rifles. Blue trousers and white belts for line infantry, grey trousers and black belts for Jägers. The French are French foreign-legion with ACW kepi, napoleonic Young Guard with kepi (I love the pose), an ACW Zouave (I have to admit although I like HäT for the range they offer, the Italeri Zouaves included in the ACW Union set are of better detail, perhaps you HäT guys could do a little better on the forms) and finally a Piedmontese (ACW body with Rifles head).


1866 War against Prussia and Italy, Austria loses against Prussia and loses the province of Venetia as well, although having won the battles against the Italians.

Pic 1866 Austrian infantry in the white uniform tunic (ACW with an Airfix napoleonic British infantry head, the cap shortened), in the grey buttoned-back greatcoat (French foreign-legion with head as before- although the faces are of rather inferior quality), an artilerist (ACW), a Jaeger (avant-garde with plumes on the hat with shortened brim); the Prussian being an original WW I figure repainted. Again no info on the Italian uniforms.


1878 onwards, occupation of Bosnia-Hercegovina by Austria (yes, we simply had to have Sarajewo!)

Pic 1878 The new Austrian uniform of dark blue tunic and a soft cap (ACW with a cap like provided with Afrika-Korps figures but with the peak in black depicting leather instead of the WW II German cloth) and two Bosnian insurgents (an ACW with a Bosnian tasseled hat and an IMEX Alamo defender with also an altered headgear).


Many thanks to Mr. Kattinger for sending in this contribution.

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