Italeri 6093 Austrian Infantry 1798-1805

When the wars with revolutionary France broke out (1792-1799), the Austrian army was perceived as one of the largest and strongest in Europe. It is true that she suffered a number of defeats during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), but during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) she was able to keep the field of the great Prussian army, and even (though rarely) deal defeats - as in the Battle of Kolin in 1757. The Austrian army also performed well during the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-1779). However, despite the reforms carried out during the reign of Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and Joseph II (1780-1790), the Austrian army turned out to be inferior in the field to the troops of revolutionary and Napoleonic France, which was clearly demonstrated by the Italian campaign of 1796-1797 and such battles as Austerlitz (1805) or Wagram (1809). Given the above, it is not surprising that during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) the Austrian army underwent changes and reforms (similarly to the Prussian army after 1806), and these changes most often affected the Austrian infantry. Its core was still line infantry composed of the so-called German regiments and Hungarian regiments. At the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, the number of German regiments ranged from 44 to 46, while the Hungarian regiments were 11-12, and by 1809 this number increased to 46 German and 15 Hungarian regiments. In 1813, however, there were a total of 52 line infantry regiments. After 1805, the Austrian line infantry regiment set off into the field with the strength of 3 battalions, which were probably the most numerous in Europe at that time and numbered as many as 1,200 people (for comparison, the French battalion consisted of approx. 840 men). Such a large number meant that the Austrian battalion was divided into six companies. After 1809, the 3rd Battalion was abolished, and the infantry companies and the battalions themselves were quite clearly reduced. Simply put, it can be assumed that the Austrian line infantry in the period 1799-1815 used mainly two types of rifles: Infanteriegewehr M1798 and M1807, the weight of which ranged from 4.2 to 4.6 kilograms. The traditional color of the Austrian infantry uniforms was white.