Description
When Maria Theresa of the Habsburgs took the throne in 1740, she inherited from her father (Emperor Charles VI) an army of not the best quality. Virtually all of its weapons remained in a far from optimal condition, often training and equipment were inadequate, as well as command. The shortcomings in the latter matter could already be felt during the two Silesian wars (1740-1742 and 1744-1745). To remedy this, as early as 1745 Maria Teresa started the work of military reforms, which she continued in the period 1748-1756. At that time, great exercises of the Austrian army began to be practiced, following the Prussian model, which increased the command capacity of the Austrian officer cadre. It is also worth adding that in 1752 a cadet school was established in Wiener Neustadt, and in 1769 (i.e. after the Seven Years' War) a War Academy was established in Vienna. The Austrian officer corps during the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) consisted largely of foreigners, and in this respect it differed significantly from the nationally highly homogeneous Prussian officer corps. Thus, in Maria Theresa's army, both Germans, Hungarians and Slavs served as officers, but also the Dutch, Italians, French and Irish. However, it is worth emphasizing, following the literature on the subject, that the gap between an Austrian officer and an Austrian private at that time was much smaller than in the Prussian army. If we were to point to the best Austrian officers of that time, we would first of all have to point out the field marshals of Daun. Browne and Lauodon. The latter, together with Piotr Sałtykow, defeated the Prussian army near Kunersdorf in 1759.
