Army of Francis Joseph

A Note on Ranks and Names

A Note on Ranks and Names The highest rank in the Habsburg armies was Feldmarschall, followed either by Feldzeugmeister for officers of the artillery, infantry, or engineers, or General der Kavallerie for mounted troops. In 1908 the designation General der Infanterie was introduced, and in September 1915 the rank of Generaloberst, between Feldzeumeister and Feldmarschall, was established. The lower commissioned and the enlisted ranks generally followed the pattern of other European armies. Officers are introduced with the rank they held at the time mentioned, and the first textual reference includes their full name. In the interest of brevity, however, the noble title usually has been rendered in abbreviated form; for example, Feldmarschall Leutnant Josef Count Radetzky will be used instead of Feldmarschall Leutnant Josef Count Radetzky von Radetz. The rendition of geographical and personal names is one of the difficulties in dealing with a multinational empire with fourteen different languages. The author decided to adopt a rough-and-ready solution; German was the official army language and therefore the German version has been used, except where any location has a name in common English usage such as Vienna or Prague or Milan. The spelling of personal names also has been simplified. In general, as far as possible, the version actually used by the individual has been employed, except that the author has not followed the Hungarian custom of putting the surname first. When a person is so familiar to English readers that there exists an English version of this name-Francis Joseph, Charles, or Francis Ferdinand-this version has been used. Xlll ...