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This book is not very useful. Its thesis is dubious: that the Austro-Hungarian army was "reborn" after the disastrous Austro-Prussian War of 1866, substantially reformed, and vastly improved. The facts-some of which the author confronts, many of which he ignores or passes lightly over-indicate otherwise.
In fact, the Austro-Hungarian army declined inexorably after 1866. This was owed to the ever larger role played by the Hungarians in the Dual Monarchy, which was established in 1867. Most Hungarian politicians distrusted the Habsburg dynasty and annually strove to restrain the growth and modernization of the common, German-officered "imperial-royal" army, which Magyars viewed as a repressive instrument. Since Austro-Hungarian military affairs had to be approved by delegations from both halves of the monarchy, the Hungarians were able to oust Austrian war ministers-like Heinrich Pitreich in 1906-and...