Hat 8233 Napoleonic Austrian Landwehr

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. In 1808, Landwera (German: Landwehr) was established, that is mainly foot units made up of men physically incapable of serving in regular units. Landwera was established separately for Austria and separately for Hungary. Like other infantry, Landwera was formed into regiments, divided into battalions and companies. Due to poor training, it was used for secondary tasks. Simplifying, it can be assumed that the Austrian Landwer used two types of rifles: Infanteriegewehr M1798 and M1807, the weight of which ranged from 4.2 to 4.6 kilograms. However, its units also had other, older, flintlock rifles.