Customer Reviews

The army of Maria Theresa: The Armed Forces of Imperial Austria, 1740-1780 (Historic armies and navies)

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Mr. Duffy created this fine work some years ago (1977) as a companion piece to his much lauded "The Army of Frederick The Great". Since publication, both books have become the gold standard in English on the Austrian and Prussian Armies of the Seven Years War. I recommend both of these books, in fact anything written by Mr. Duffy, with the highest possible endorsement. His scholarship is clean, even and well researched. His enthusiasum for the subject matter only increases the readers level of interest. His style of writing is very approachable and never leaves one wondering what was meant.

Cover to cover, "The Army of Maria Theresa" is full of very useful information for the serious scholar, the casual reader, the wargamer and the modeler. It is replete with wonderful anecdotes concerning the Empress Queen, her political and military leaders and very neatly covers virtually every aspect of the Austrian Army, its soldiers and civilians. Good biographies of the major players are included as is an excellent coverage of the major campaigns of this army. There are some thorough descriptions of ordanance, weapons, uniforms and equipment, good discussions of wheeled vehicles and their horsepower and an excellent discussion of the soldiers life from his induction to his end, either on the battlefield or in peacetime. Medical services and religious needs are presented in some detail as well. A snapshot of regimental histories was greatly appreciated and the bibliography is also very useful providing almost five pages of source material and additional research opportunities.

A perusal of this work will provide even the casual reader an excellent overview of the Army that not only nearly stopped Frederick The Great, but also went on to provide Napoleon Bonaparte with his most contentious enemy.

His newer, two volume study of the Theresian Austrian Military, "Instrument of War" and "By Force of Arms" seem to be a greatly expanded version of this book, but there are still nuggets to be gleaned from this book that do not show up in the newer works.

I am hoping that perhaps a two volume reappraisal of "The Army of Frederick The Great" may be just around the corner. I have both the original edition and the updated version of that work. Duffy is a master and both books are very useful.

"The Army of Maria Theresa" belongs on the bookshelf of every military scholar either academic or casual.

The Army of Maria Theresa is a book that is well written and well worth reading. Anyone interested in European warfare in the 18th century will enjoy this work. Christopher Duffy clearly explains the evolution of the Army under Maria Theresa to including an expose on all of the ethnic components. He explains order of battle, uniforms, grooming standards, equipment and weapons and patterns of life of the Soldiers. He also does a fine job describing the commanders and campaigns they fought under Maria Theresa. In reading about the campaigns one discovers that in her many battles against Frederick the Great her armies gave as good as they got and sent Frederick scurrying off the battlefield on more than one occasion. A great book, glad I read it.