Two Austrian officers, period print by Tranquillo Mollo. The one on the left a field officer denoted by his cuff lace, the other a subaltern

Re-enacting a KK Officer

Introduction

There is a lot of information about re-enacting a rank and file soldier. In virtually all armies of the period the issues and responsibilities are broadly similar, as is social background. For the Austrian army, the rank and file was generally made up of the urban proletariat and the younger sons of poor farmers - education was low and illiteracy was high (even in 1865 it was estimated only 10% of the rank and file could read and write) in a society that was deferential and structured on the basis of social class.

The officer has received less attention, presumably as there are less of them, but there is also a lot more information about them in the historical record. This behoves re-enactors to research more in order to more accurately reflect the officer corps if we are going to fulfil our educational remit and strive for ever greater accuracy. If this involves us becoming familiar with some aspects of fringe theatre (avoiding grandstanding and Grand Guignol approaches) then so be it. The important factor to recognise is that the general public, through local taxation or paying for entry to events, pays for our hobby. We owe a responsibility to provide entertainment and education whilst at the same time enjoying ourselves into the bargain.

In this light I have tried to draw together some issues that the experienced re-enactor should consider when portraying a Habsburg officer. It is important that any portrayal should involve a credible 'back story' for living history purposes, a personality put on like the uniform, and within this mindset behaviour should flow more naturally.

Social and ethnic background

The Habsburg officer corps was undoubtedly the most ethnically diverse in the period. Much of this was a function of the nature of the Monarchy itself, stretching as it did from Milan to Debrecen, Prague to Zagreb and that does not include the Austrian Netherlands or the Vorlande around Freiburg. But it does not end there. Minor princes of the Empire, Imperial nobility and even Germans from larger states within the Reich joined the Habsburg army. This natural extension was stretched yet further to encompass Alsatians, mid and southern Italians, Irishmen and Swiss. There was even an Englishman, who joined at 16 and finished his career a general and governor of Milan. During the wars were added a considerable number of Emigre officers from France fleeing the revolution and terror.

Socially, though, the structure was more closed. The Habsburg army was a traditional monarchical force that owed its traditions to the 18th century and before. In consequence the army as a whole was dominated by the nobility. At the higher echelons Archdukes rubbed shoulders with Reich princes and ancient nobility, but even here more professional officers from the minor nobility could be found, even commoners like Mack and Bianchi could rise to the highest levels of command.

However, given our structure we are more concerned with the regimental level: Officers of Field Grade and subalterns. Here the pattern is much more mixed. There were several routes to becoming an officer in the army, as will be outlined below, but minor nobility was more likely to be found in fashionable and snobby cavalry regiments than they were in the Grenz or artillery. Technical troops were even less likely to attract noble officer candidates as the nature of the job meant a greater emphasis on education and booklearning rather than equitation and dancing. Landwehr units were also less likely to see noble leadership, with NCOs often being commissioned to command them.

What is important for the re-enactor is that the social class and ethnic origins not only match up to each other, but also to the role being played. It is, for example, very unwise to style oneself a young noble, yet be a lieutenant in a Landwehr unit, or an old noble and still a lieutenant in a line unit.

Education and training

There were several routes to becoming an officer in the army. The most professional route was to come from the military academy at Wiener Neustadt or the artillery school at Budweis, or the Engineering Academy. These institutions were responsible for turning out the professionally trained officers that were then assigned to their regiments.

The Weiner Neustadt Academy had more the atmosphere of a public school than a professional military institution. Set up by Maria Theresa as a school for the sons of officers, it had an annual intake of 100 or so boys per year of eleven or twelve years of age and kept them on for seven or eight years, with them mustering out as Lieutenants. Much of the teaching, particularly for younger boys, was done by Calasantian monks, and the whole atmosphere was a curious cross between a monastery and a barracks. The curriculum emphasised technical knowledge: mathematics, geometry, German, French, history, geography and natural history were all graded subjects. To this should be added lessons in fencing, dancing, riding and music. Students studied a minimum of 35 hours a week. Most students had free places, but parents could enroll their sons for the annual fee of 800 gulden, a startlingly large sum.

On commissioning a student could express his preference as to which unit he would like to join, but this was not honoured automatically.

If this sounds frightening, then the more adult academies for artillery and engineering were even more demanding of higher technical knowledge, especially mathematics and physics, on top of the usual expectations of what it took to be a good officer. The study period to become an artillery officer was seven years, five years if you wanted to become a senior NCO. Socially these officers tended to be more middle class and highly respected for their technical knowledge.

Not surprisingly, the wealthier nobility and the well connected found other routes that involved far less work. This would involve enlisting as a cadet with a specific regiment. Often this was arranged by parents with connections to specific units who happened to know the Inhaber, a senior officer or a company or squadron commander. Some regiments occasionally had an examination to join the regimental cadet corps, but these seem to have been farcical at best. One boy was asked to name the Kaiser, the Kaiser's predecessor and write a fictional letter to his parents asking to join the regiment, not an overwhelming demand for a 17 year old!

Cadets had to provide their own equipment, and many regiments took in huge numbers of them. The problem was that often, especially in peacetime, there were no positions in the regimental officer corps open to them. During the Napoleonic wars, though, with the army fighting several wars opportunities opened up more regularly. What the cadets actually learned was patchy at best. The cost of equipment was often thrown onto the parents, so it is easy to see that the wealthier, noble, and better connected cadets often ended up in the more sumptuous cavalry regiments, one of the reasons why pay and bounties could be lower in the cavalry than in other branches.

For candidates for the military border there was a different route. Because the Grenz regiments were territorial as well as military entities, and compulsory elementary education had been introduced under Maria Theresa, boys there got a head start over their bretheren in the rest of the Empire. Sons were taught to read and write in their native tongue and in German, and ones with aptitude were sent off to a 'Grenzschule' where no tuition fees were paid. This made him suitable as an NCO. He could then apply to be a cadet in Grenz regiment.

A third route would be from the ranks through acts of conspicuous bravery. This way, 'von der Pike auf', was quite common, particularly for junior subalterns. Commissions in the field were confined to the very end of the wars, but recommendations to the Inhaber or Hofkriegsrath to commission a brave NCO were common.

In theory at least, a cadet joining a cavalry regiment had to spend some years as an NCO to sharpen his skills operating outposts and other 'kleine krieg' duties. Possibly a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance, it certainly meant that promotion to officer rank was likely to be faster in light cavalry regiments.

So, as a re-enactor you need to decide the background of your officer and how he came to the regiment. A graduate from the Academy, for example, is likely to be a well polished regular officer with a fairly high level of knowledge and education but little practical experience of the common soldiery. Equally, a wealthy noble officer could have little knowledge of his men, but would possibly relate to them as he would to Estate workers and tenants or maybe horses and dogs. At the other extreme, a ranker made good would know an awful lot about the human material he was expected to command, whilst a regimental cadet could have a lot of knowledge or a little depending on how diligent the regimental cadet corps trainers had been.

 

A Landwehr Officer and NCO. The officer on the left is wearing a sash, not allowed for Officers of the Landwehr unless they had previously served as officers in a regular regiment.

Promotion

Promotion was also a layered and complex state of affairs. Purchase was allowed for subaltern ranks. Such a decision would theoretically be taken by the regimental Inhaber, but most seem to have simply been rubber stamped based on the recommendation of the regimental Oberst and company commander. Again, it is easy to see that our wealthy son of a noble could buy his way upwards, often changing regiments on the way and commissioning an agent to find opportunities. Some agents became professionals at this becoming rich in the process.

The less wealthy cadet would be looking for dead men's shoes within the regiment itself, hoping that his turn would come and he would not get gazumped by a wealthier colleague. In this way lieutenants and captains could be quite elderly, particularly in branches where promotion was slow like the artillery.

Officers in the Grenz were different again. There was no opportunity to purchase and officer promotions were entirely down to the Hofkriegsrath. This,and the 'hardship post' of the Military Border plus the neo-feudal nature of officership there conspired to make these regiments distinctly unfashionable and the officers themselves fairly hard bitten professionals.

Within the regimental family there was also the internal politicking that is notorious in any similar organisation. Those whose families were well connected with the Oberst, or whose families had a long connection with the regiment were likely to be looked on more favourably, and money talked.

For officers of Field Grade (Majors, Oberstleutnants and Obersts) promotion was the responsibility of the Hofkriegstrath. In this they would be guided by the 'Conduite-Listen', records kept diligently of all officer's abilities, suitability or non suitability for certain posts and roles. As purchase was not possible at these ranks merit, influence and expediency were the critical factors. Again, some units were officered by younger Field Grade officers, whereas others would plateau at that rank. The rank of Major, in particular, was considered a difficult post, as he was effectively responsible for much of the nuts and bolts of running the regiment and was often overworked. Many officers who had ability but lacked influence seem to have 'stuck' at this level.

Positions within the Quartiermeisterstab were also open at all officer grades. This institution did not gain any fashionable cachet or pre-eminence until after the war of 1866, but for officers who aspired to higher command it was an important stepping stone. The demands of staff work, such as administrative skill, knowledge of topography and an ability to draw put off many officers from the 'thruster' school of thought, who instead preferred to be selected as a General's adjutant from their own regiment (the nuts and bolts of admin left to the official General-Adjutants).  Even so staff officers were rarely there for the whole of their career, varying staff service with regimental postings but often recalled to the staff on the outbreak of war.

So, for our re-enactor it is equally important to trace a 'career path' for the character which holds water when described to the public. An old Hauptmann in an infantry regiment, for example, may have risen from the ranks, or enlisted as a regimental cadet and climbed the ladder very slowly. An old Hauptmann in the artillery is far less remarkable, as promotion was very slow and the initial training very long. On the other hand, a young Hauptmann in an infantry or cavalry regiment may have acquired his commission by purchase, having needed to remain at the previous rank for only a year before jumping to the next.

Conditions and postings

Where a unit was posted was of real interest to an officer. For an infantry regiment, the posting around the Empire of the two field battalions was an annual event, but the depot and recruiting area still retained a considerable number of officers too. Most attractive were obviously Vienna, where the entertainments in the capital offered many diversions, and Italy where the climate was good and the population was not as hostile as it came to be later in the 19th century. At the other end of the spectrum Galicia was the ultimate hardship post, with bad roads, mud and very little to do: one historian has described it as a place to 'get drunk and stay drunk'. Many officers did just that. Posting to the Military Border was almost as bad, with the additional complication of being an effective estate manager, civil governor and teacher.

Officers posted to a regiment were expected to learn the language of their men, and this was recorded on their Conduite Liste. In practice communication often took place in 'Armee-Slawisch' (a melange of German and whatever slavic words were necessary) and 'Kauderwelsch', the linguistic melange that passed for an internal language in the army. Layered on top of this was a short list of commands in German that the troops were drilled to know.

Officers conspired to make their own entertainment, which seems to have involved a lot of gambling and drinking, with those posted near cities like Vienna, Prague or Milan able to enjoy the theatre and the opera as well as balls and parties.

This addiction to gambling added to a common problem, that of debt. Officers pay had not really shifted since the time of Maria Theresa: a junior lieutenant would be expected to manage on 19 gulden per month, whereas an Oberst was paid 150 gulden. Generous in the 1760's, these sums were worth far less by 1815 due to the crippling inflation the Monarchy suffered from throughout the wars. Officers had to purchase their equipment, buy their food, furniture and so on, and simply could not manage without sinking into debt. The situation was so bad that officers posted to Vienna in 1815 had their pay doubled so they could present a worthy appearance (standesmassiges Auftreten). So, again, unless your family was wealthy, officers often lived in a sea of debt, hoping to clear this as they reached more senior ranks with better pay and other financial opportunities. Even food was often too expensive, the post of Regimental Adjutant being a plumb posting as it allowed the officer to eat at the Colonels table, as he was allowed a sum of money called Tafelgeld so he could entertain in style. Officers messes were not introduced until 1868.  Even the horse was a burden, the fodder allowance usually being insufficient to keep the blameless quadruped in food.

Marriage was another area of expense. Only a certain number of officers were allowed to marry, and they had to hand over a deposit (Caution) before doing so. This was a large sum and the more junior the officer the larger it was: ten year's annual salary for a lieutenant, five years' for a Hauptmann for example. The result was the wealthy could marry whenever, older grades because they could afford to and the rest not at all unless they bagged a wealthy wife who could pay instead.  The interest on the Caution was then paid to the married couple, it being considered a source of income for the widow and children if the officer was killed in action. An order of 1812 set the Caution at income, rather than an investment: similarly the decree limited the number of regimental officers that could be married to one sixth of the total.  As the income could come from an Estate or investments the wealthy once again won out. In reality concubinage and the prevalence of mistresses seem to have been widely accepted, particularly on campaign.

So, if you are playing a subaltern in particular, one Living History aspect that can easily be portrayed is gambling! But it also means that an officer's food would actually be of fairly meagre quality, unless of course it was looted. An officer eating at the table of an Oberst or General, or someone portraying that rank, should have more sumptuous fayre. As for marriage, well, if you are playing a youthful officer with an 'officer's lady' you need to be wealthy in order to portray her as your wife. Otherwise...

Young men of the Landwehr off to war: a later picture but one that brings home the sense of loss felt by tha family, although the young boy on the right seems far more focussed on the dog.

Relations between officers, men and NCOs

The relationship between officers and men could best be described as distant. Command was exercised through the rather sparse NCO structure so professional contact was very limited. One area where there was direct contact was the field of instruction. Curiously, initial instruction seems always to have been carried out by officers rather than NCO's, so new recruits would see their officer far more frequently than an experienced ranker. With sergeants taking care of drill, the officer became a rather ethereal figure unless an issue like punishment was involved.

Corporal punishment seems to have been very common in the army. Although ameliorated a little by the Archduke Charles' 1807 regulations (and not possible at all in the artillery and technical branches) the use of the cane to beat a soldier on the buttocks was widely used. The number of strokes allowed to be administered was not regulated until 1838. Meanwhile, although Charles and Maria-Theresa stipulated that soldiers be treated with dignity, this seems to have been broadly ignored with Officers and NCOs cursing, humiliating and even hitting the rank and file in an attempt to break their spirit. Again, the artillerymen seem to have been exempted from this (though not the Handlanger) presumably because the rank and file were more skilled and better educated.

Other than that contact would be minimal, with communication through NCOs unless in extremis. Relations with the NCO himself seems to have varied by branch as well as the nature of the individuals themselves. NCO's seem to have got a better deal from Regimental Cadets and graduates of the Academy than from those promoted from the ranks (who needed to create distance artificially) and the purchasers of commissions where the gulf in terms of class and money was huge.

But there were exceptions. In the artillery senior NCOs (Feuerwerker) and officers attended the same school, indeed the difference was only two years of study. The more technical grounding of this arm and the initiative and skill demanded of the men plus the more middle class nature of the officers made for a less rigid structure. The Grenz were different again. A Grenz officer was not simply a military figure, but was also responsible for matters as diverse as marriages, education and agricultural management. With many Grenz officers coming from rank and file Grenz families, the relationship here was much more nuanced than in regular regiments.

Officers have written little about their relationship with their men, indeed there is virtually nothing from our period. Even later in the 19th century comment is rare, with one exception: the batman. The most familiar batman is, of course, Schweik, who despite apparently good intentions infuriates his master to the point of distraction. From officer's memoirs a particularly stupid or particularly valuable batman is worthy of mention. Getting one seems to have been fairly easy, drawing from the pool of invalid soldiers within the regiment or getting the regimental doctor to attest to a soldier being an invalid so he could be employed as one. Officers with more money could instead employ a civilian servant, who would be more expensive but arguably more competent. A batman's duties would be the same as any period you care to name: care of the officer, his baggage and undertaking duties such as laundry and running errands. In an army where an officer was not allowed to carry even a small package (unless it looked like a gift) having a dogsbody to do all of this was invaluable!

So, and this is possibly the most difficult, but relationships between officers and men should generally be rigid and cold. This is not the French army where an officer and a ranker would converse in camp. So, while 'on duty' our budding re-enactment officer needs to play the part of being distant, patronising and arrogant. There were later attempts, encouraged by Archduke Charles, to create a more paternalistic atmosphere, even to the extent of being encouraged to get advice from their own veteran soldiers if needed.

For the most part the social class structure ensured that they knew they were better than their men.  Those who came up from the ranks had to synthetically create this relationship. This was seen as an issue of discipline and respect.

Understanding that we are playing a part, though, means we can make up for it in the beer tent by buying the first round!

The way officers related to each other is actually hard to ascertain. Certainly the more junior officers, despite the poverty they found themselves in, borrowed heavily to fund a rather louche lifestyle whenever they could. The peculiar KK tradition of officers referring to each other with the less formal 'du' rather than 'Sie' seems to have started during the Napoleonic wars and became universal thereafter. This apparent informality should not mask the respect that went with rank, with officers taking their cue from 'the old man' at table and not leaving until after he did. With no officer's messes and central barracks quite rare (they were often former monasteries taken over by the state in the 1780's, and rather gloomy and forbidding buildings) the opportunity to get to know all of the officers in the regiment was limited to attendance at Church and large parades. Even then, with the regiment split in at least three locations (Depot, field battalions and Grenadier companies going their separate ways) this was not wholly the case. There were the usual examples of jealousy and conflict, resolved in most cases by the medium of duelling. Although officially illegal, the law was comprehensively flouted, with very few cases, even fewer convictions and Francis I quite happy to issue pardons in the rare cases which led to a conviction. Reasons for a duel look, in our eyes, to be totally trivial and give the impression of an extremely thin-skinned bunch of officers. Reasons ranged from calling someone a liar, an 'ordinary person', to 'staring at someone while playing with a horse whip'.  Ladies of impeccable reputation had their honour defended as an absolute obligation on the part of an officer. Indeed, so ingrained in the KK Armee was duelling as a tradition it continued even in successor armies: Poland and Hungary in particular saw a continuation of the practice.

Officer's relationships with each other is also a bone of some contention. Officers in the KK Armee during this period had already started to refer to each other as 'Du' rather than 'Sie' but how widespread this was is open to question. This informality, though, would be followed by the rank: 'Du, Herr Hauptmann' for example. This seems to have been honoured irrespective of the rank held by the speaker. For more formal address, particularly to those of higher rank, the term 'Wohlgeboren' (well-born) would be used to subalterns, 'Hochwolgeboren' (highly well born) for officers of Field Grade

and finally 'Excellenz' (Excellency) for general ranks, predicated by Sie to emphasise the greater formality. No heel clicking, though, this is not the army of Kaiser Wilhelm. This combination of informality coupled with aching politeness offers us all a behavioural challenge.