I hope that no one will argue that under the Hapsburgs Vienna became the second capital of Europe. The second in all respects (let's not shove Russia into this company, then you will understand why) is the European empire, whatever one may say. Yes, Britain was larger in area and population, but was it European … Personally, it seems to me that it was not.
France … Well, yes. Charm, shocking, yes, Paris at the beginning of the 19th century was the capital. But the second city was Vienna. Not so riotous, not so licentious … Well, it's not Berlin to stage, is it? These Prussians are such dorks … And the Viennese opera is yes … And we don't even stutter about Italy, this is so, for those who did not have money for Paris and Vienna, that's where they go. To Corfu or Venice.
In general, the huge empire of the Habsburgs, aka Austria-Hungary. A huge federal formation. Honestly, these Habsburgs, they were more than funny guys. Mix this in one pan …
Before I start talking about the army, I will give you one picture. This is the language map of the empire. This is something that is difficult to understand. This is a federation where people in the right corner absolutely could not understand those who live in the left.
But the empire is, first of all, not the Grand Opera, but the army, which must protect the interests of the empire.
Now just think how this Babylon, somehow from the Tigris and the Euphrates (these are such rivers) turned out to be slightly to the northwest, in the Danube region? But nevertheless, judging by the map, it is already becoming pity for all the military leaders of Austria-Hungary.
But no. Strange, but in the decaying and crumbling (according to Yaroslav Hasek) empire there were adequate people who understood that if something happened, then their heads would fly. And they came up with a very clever, from my point of view, system, which, I will notice right away, not that it turned out to be a panacea, but even in the conditions of the First World War allowed for some time, in general, quite decently to fight. Although, in general, the result for Austria-Hungary was sad.
So, how did these guys manage to equip their army so that it was controllable and combat-ready?
There are several secrets here. And let's go in order, and we will define the order as it was accepted in Austria-Hungary. That is, glove and orderly at the same time.
As such, the army of Austria-Hungary was, like the empire itself, a complex piece. Its main part was the general imperial army, recruited in general from all subjects of Austria-Hungary and financed (which is important) from the general budget.
The second component was the parts of the second line. Territorial. Moreover, there were two and a half of these components: the landwehr in the Austrian half and the Honved in the Hungarian half. And inside the Honved, there was still a housekeeping, which was recruited from the Croats.
It is clear that the Honved and the Landwehr were not very friendly with each other, because the budget from which they were financed was already local. A kind of competition, who is cooler, but cheaper at the same time. And the Croats were almost on their own.
The all-imperial army and its personnel reserve were managed by the all-imperial minister of war, the Austrian landwehr - by the minister of national defense of Austria, and the Hungarian Honved - by the minister of national defense of Hungary.
The size of the general imperial army alone before the war was about 1.5 million people. This is despite the fact that the entire population of Austria-Hungary was about 52 million. And all this very motley team had to somehow get around in terms of distribution.
Babylon sample 1910-1911 looked like this:
- German-speaking soldiers: 25.2%
- those who speak Hungarian - 23.1%;
- in Czech - 12.9%;
- Polish - 7, 9%;
- Ukrainian - 7.6%;
- Serbo-Croatian - 9%.
It was, let's say, the main amount. And plus a bunch of other language groups: Rusyns, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Italians, and so on to the point of exhaustion.
Territorial system
We all know what it is. Passed in the Soviet army. This is when a man from Kiev simply had to serve in Khabarovsk, and a boy from Tashkent had to be sent to Murmansk. Well, so that you don't feel like going home, and in general …
A frankly stupid system, of course. And expensive.
Austria-Hungary also had a territorial system. But its own. According to this system, each unit located in a certain area was recruited with conscripts from that area.
Thanks to such a system, something intelligible was obtained from the very beginning.
The units were formed from the natives of the same territory, who a priori understood each other. The issue of command will be considered separately, but the formation according to the territorial-linguistic principle turned out to be a successful solution. Moreover, they even managed to give the units a national identity.
Starting from 1919, I note that out of 102 infantry regiments of the all-imperial army, 35 were formed from the Slavs, 12 from the Germans, 12 from the Hungarians, and 3 Romanian regiments. A total of 62 regiments. That is, the remaining 40 had a mixed composition.
The figure, let's say, is not entirely encouraging; after all, 40% is a lot. But nevertheless, we found a way to cope with this problem.
Language as a control tool
In such a multinational organization as the general imperial army, the language issue was … well, not just, but in full. In general, the point was not in the language, but in their quantity. It is clear that it was simply unrealistic to do with one, if only because there was no single language as such in Austria-Hungary. This is not Russia.
In 1867, the rather amusing concept of "three languages" was adopted. It turned out to be double, since it was simply impossible to implement everything in three languages.
For the general imperial army and the Austrian Landwehr, the official and command language was, of course, German. In Hungarian Honved, they spoke Magyar (Hungarian), and finally, in the Croatian landwehr (domobran), which was a part of Honved, Serbo-Croatian was the official and command language.
Move on.
The same German language (see above, all citizens of the empire were taken into the general imperial army) was also divided into three categories.
The first, "Kommandosprache", "command language" was a simple set of about 80 commands that any conscript could learn and remember. Considering that in those days they served for 3 years, even a very gifted person could remember 80 command expressions. Well, he could not - for that there were non-commissioned officers and corporals, they would have helped.
Second category: "Dienstsprache", that is, "official language". In fact, it was the language for clerical reports and other papers.
The third category (the most interesting): "Regiments-Sprache", otherwise the regimental language. That is, the language spoken by the soldiers of a particular regiment recruited in a particular area.
The regimental languages officially numbered 11, and unofficially 12. German, Hungarian, Czech, Croatian, Polish, Italian, Romanian, Ruthenian (Ukrainian), Slovak, Slovenian and Serbian.
The twelfth, unofficial, was a variant of the Serbo-Croatian language spoken by the natives of Bosnia. The Bosnians went to serve with pleasure, and, judging by the reviews, the soldiers were not bad. Therefore, I had to recognize their right to assemble in units on a linguistic basis.
According to the law, men in Austria-Hungary were required to complete three years of military service (then the term was reduced to two years), regardless of nationality. And here, too, the system worked: if there were more than 25% of speakers of a language in a regiment of the general imperial army, then for this regiment this language became a regimental one.
Naturally, in order to facilitate the preparation and training of military affairs, the command tried to collect soldiers in mono-ethnic units. So, for example, in those regiments that were in the Czech Republic, two languages were used: Czech and German, and the soldiers did not mix and spent all the time serving in their usual linguistic environment.
Interesting empire, isn't it? Speaking at the service in their native language was a privilege that, as you can see, not everyone had.
Above the private
Naturally, there was a connecting layer, which was the command staff. It was also interesting here, because non-commissioned officers were also recruited on a linguistic basis. It is clear that in the general imperial army and the Austrian landwehr non-commissioned officers were recruited mainly from those who spoke German.
This, by the way, instilled a certain Prussian flavor and gave some cohesion in the units. It is clear that not all of the other linguistic groups were happy, but this is still an army, and not somewhere.
Yes, it is quite natural that the non-commissioned officers in Honveda and housekeeping were selected from the respective nationalities, that is, Hungarians and Croats.
Officers … Officers are very, very much for the army. I specifically avoid the epithets "core", "base", "head" and the like. But the fact is that without officers, an army is just a herd without a shepherd. Sheepdogs (sergeants and non-commissioned officers) are half the battle, but officers are what propels the army somewhere.
Among the officers of the general imperial army, German speakers dominated. In 1910, from the statistics on which we proceeded above, there were 60.2% of reservists, and 78.7% of career officers. That is, the overwhelming majority.
However, as everyone knows (and some on their own skin), the lot of an officer is to change units in connection with career growth. This is fine. But getting into the part where they use another language is not quite.
It is clear that none of the officers could fully master all twelve languages. Accordingly, when making transfers (especially with a promotion), the offices had to take into account with whom the officer could find a common language and with whom he could not. It is clear that in such conditions German began to dominate.
But situations could well have developed when the officer could not convey his thoughts to his subordinates at all. In the general imperial army, before the collapse of Austria-Hungary, there was a shortage of commanders who were fluent in the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) language or who spoke German and Hungarian equally well.
Natural result
But that was in peacetime. But when the First World War broke out, this is where it began.
Naturally, time trouble hit. And on the head of the bureaucracy. Accordingly, they began to send reservists to the front, who had completely forgotten the "command language", or, worse, did not know it at all. Recruits who spoke only one native language.
With non-commissioned officers and officers, everything was about the same. Lacking normal language training, they simply could not communicate with the multinational army contingent.
And here the defeat of Austria-Hungary was a matter in general decided, because if the officers are not able to properly control their soldiers, such an army is simply doomed to defeat.
And so it happened. In days of peace, all this variety with a creak, but it existed. But as soon as serious battles began (with the Russian army, and you can't go for a walk), the system staggered.
Someone will say that the system of the Austro-Hungarian army was poor from the beginning. I disagree. Yes, as soon as the real war began, the system degraded, but up to this point it really worked.
In general, the problem of the general imperial army was so serious that I do not even know with whom it can be compared. Perhaps with the army of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Of course, when, after big battles, it was impossible to place different regiments and battalions under the same command just because the personnel of these units did not understand the direct commanders and even more, hated them precisely because of their language, it was unrealistic to do something really effective. …
As for the reservists, they often simply did not have the opportunity to refresh their knowledge in terms of languages. Which was not good.
If you carefully examine the memoirs and memoirs of the participants in that war, it will not be difficult to find the answer to the question of why the units where the Germans and Hungarians served were most quoted. That is, mono-ethnic units, in the effectiveness of which one could be sure.
But in fact it is worth saying that the whole system finally failed in 1918, when at the end of this terrible year the multinational regiments simply fled to their native corners, spitting on the empire.
A logical result, if that. But there is no patchwork quilt in terms of languages.
