Osprey Men-at-Arms 223 : Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars

In the later 18th century the Austrian artillery had been the finest in Europe, and was held up as an example to the world. The inferiority of the arm in the War of the Austrian Succession had been the cause of a complete overhaul, dating from the appointment of Prince Liechtenstein in 1744 as Director-General of Artillery. He established the artillery school at Budweis and redesigned the ordnance to produce lighter and more manoeuvrable guns, so that when thus equipped in the Seven Years' War the arm became predominant in Europe, and was imitated by other nations. Prussia adopted the Austrian 12-pdr., and as late as 1803 France copied Liechtenstein's howitzer. Gribeauval himself served in the Austrian artillery from 1756 to 1762 and probably based his overhaul of the French artillery on what he had learned in Austrian service. However, no reforms had been instituted in the later 18th century, so that the artillery was overtaken in quality by that of other nations; and whilst the personnel remained excellently trained they were always too few in numbers, and desperately hampered by the outdated system of tactics which Austria employed in at least the first half of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic conflict. Philip Haythornwaite examines the famed Austrian artillery and other specialist troops of the Napoleonic Wars, examining their organisation and uniforms accompanied by a wealth of illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Bryan Fosten.

Contents

• The Artillery
• Transport
• The Engineer Services
• Pioneers
• Pontooneers
• Medical Services
• General Staff
• The Plates