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152-934: Before 1867, the Imperial Austrian Navy or simply the Austrian Navy , saw action in the French Revolutionary Wars , the Napoleonic Wars , the Austrian expedition against Morocco (1829) , the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War , the First and Second Wars of Italian Independence , the Second Schleswig War , and the Third War of Italian Independence . Following Austria's defeat by Prussia and Italy during

304-661: A "Kingdom of Italy". The revolution in Vienna sparked anti-Habsburg riots in Milan and Venice. Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky was unable to defeat the Venetian and Milanese insurgents in Lombardy-Venetia, and had to order his forces to evacuate western Italy, pulling his forces back to a chain of defensive fortresses between Milan and Venice known as the Quadrilatero . With Vienna itself in

456-856: A Prussian counter-attack in September. Otherwise this sector of the front was largely quiet over the course of the year. At sea, the French Atlantic Fleet succeeded in holding off a British attempt to interdict a vital cereal convoy from the United States on the Glorious First of June , though at the cost of one quarter of its strength. In the Caribbean, the British fleet landed in Martinique in February, taking

608-633: A commander for the fifth time in as many months. In the aftermath of the loss of Venice, the Austrian Navy reorganized itself under the temporary command of General Count Franz Gyulai . Gyulai recalled every Austrian ship in the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and in the Levant. Due to Trieste's close location to the parts of Italy revolting against Austrian rule at the time, Gyulai also chose the small port of Pola as

760-571: A crew of 8,000 men. Following the end of the Ostend Company however, a committee was set up in 1738 by the Emperor to examine the status of Austria's Adriatic fleet. Its report concluded that the fleet "had little usefulness, caused great expense, and stood in danger of being defeated in case of attack". This report eventually led to Charles VI scrapping his Adriatic fleet and transferring most of officers and crew members to Austria's Danube Flotilla. Upon

912-472: A crowd stormed the Tuileries Palace , seizing the king and his family. The Commune of Paris later assumed the powers of the municipality. On 19 August 1792, the invasion by Brunswick's army commenced, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun . The invasion continued, but at Valmy on 20 September, the invaders came to a stalemate against Dumouriez and Kellermann in which

1064-622: A day in order to prevent the outbreak of any disease. The most notable regulation imposed directed naval officers to learn German. At the time, most Austrian naval officers were Italian or Spanish, and Italian remained the main language of the officer corps until 1848. This policy change however reflected Austria's desire to re-order its multi-ethnic Empire more towards the German states of the Holy Roman Empire . On 17 March 1802, Archduke Charles of Austria , acting in his role as "Inspector General of

1216-578: A global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula , the Low Countries , and the Rhineland due to its very large and powerful military, which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and

1368-556: A great victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter. Spain and Portugal entered the anti-French coalition in January 1793. Britain began military preparations in late 1792 and declared that war was inevitable unless France gave up its conquests, notwithstanding French assurances they would not attack Holland or annex

1520-530: A land-based war for Austria, which led to naval affairs being neglected by the newly crowned Maria Theresa, who spent the entirety of the war preoccupied with securing her inheritance of the throne of Austria as opposed to rebuilding her father's former fleet in the Adriatic. By the time the Seven Years' War began in 1756, Austria still lacked a proper navy. Enemy pirates and privateers , as well as Barbary corsairs severely hampered Austria's merchant marine, to

1672-523: A majority of Austria's ships were constructed by domestic shipyards. Ferdinand Max's next construction project was the last Austrian ship-of-the-line, Kaiser . She was commissioned into the Austrian Navy in 1859 after being constructed at the newly built Pola Navy Yard between 1855 and 1858. As a result of these construction projects, the Austrian Navy grew to its largest size since the War of Austrian Succession over 100 years prior. Despite these efforts however,

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1824-729: A peacetime strength of 20,000 personnel, seeing action in the Boxer Rebellion and other conflicts before World War I. During most of World War I , the Allied Powers maintained the Otranto Barrage to bottle up the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine in the Adriatic Sea. Largely tasked with defending the Empire's 1,130 nautical miles (2,090 km; 1,300 mi) of coastline and 2,172.4 nautical miles (4,023.3 km; 2,500.0 mi) of island seaboard,

1976-636: A series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain , Austria , Prussia , Russia , and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed

2128-544: A significant role in transporting troops across the Danube as well as denying Turkish control over the strategically important river. Significant portion of the Danube flotila were made up by Serb Šajkaši . Austria remained without a proper seagoing navy, however, even after the need for one became apparent with the French Navy bombardment of the port of Trieste during the War of Spanish Succession . Lacking any sea power, Austria

2280-485: A very small naval force, which with an average of just three guns and 21 crew members per ship, was largely unable to project power outside of the Adriatic or protect Austrian shipping in the Mediterranean. When the Austrian Army took Ancona in 1799, three former Venetian ships of the line, Laharpe , Stengel and Beyrand , were seized by the Austrians. Despite having 74 guns per ship, far more than any other vessels in

2432-635: A year of Ferdinand Max's promotion to Oberkommandant , the Austrian Navy consisted of four frigates, four corvettes, and two paddle steamers in active service in the Mediterranean Sea. Ferdinand Max followed up on this progress however by purchasing the steam frigate Radetzky from the United Kingdom in 1856. Her design was used for the construction of future ships of the Navy, and marked the beginning of Austria's modern shipbuilding industry. From 1856 onward,

2584-709: A year, French armies under Napoleon destroyed the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching toward Vienna , the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio , ending the First Coalition against the Republic. The War of the Second Coalition began in 1798 with the French invasion of Egypt , headed by Napoleon. The Allies took

2736-455: Is a military rank of the highest degree , superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. The word generalissimo ( pronounced [dʒeneraˈlissimo] ), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of generale ( 'general' ) thus meaning "the highest-ranking of all generals". The superlative suffix -issimo itself derives from Latin -issimus , meaning "utmost, to

2888-677: The Western Front in 1918 or Joseph Stalin on the Eastern Front in 1945), or if a senior military officer becomes a chief of state or a head of government (like Chiang Kai-shek in the Republic of China or Francisco Franco in Spain ). The rank generalissimus of the Soviet Union would have been a generalissimo but some sources assert that Joseph Stalin refused to accept the rank. In fact

3040-453: The Apennines near Altare to attack the enemy position of Ceva . The Montenotte Campaign opened after Johann Beaulieu 's Austrian forces attacked the extreme French eastern flank near Genoa on 10 April. Bonaparte countered by attacking and crushing the isolated right wing of the allied armies at the Battle of Montenotte on 12 April. The next day he defeated an Austro-Sardinian force at

3192-648: The Atlantic Ocean , such as Ghent , Antwerp , Bruges and Ostend . However, the economy of the Austrian Netherlands was very disconnected from the rest of Austria, and most Habsburg rulers paid little attention to the province. Even Prince Eugene of Savoy, upon being appointed Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands in June 1716, chose to remain in Vienna and direct policy through his chosen representative, Hercule-Louis Turinetti, marquis of Prié . The success of

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3344-577: The Battle of Arcole southeast of Verona . The French then turned on Davidovich in great strength and chased him into the Tyrol. Wurmser's only sortie was late and ineffectual. The rebellion in the Vendée was also finally crushed in 1796 by Hoche , but Hoche's attempt to land a large invasion force in Ireland was unsuccessful. On 14 February, British admiral Jervis met and defeated a Spanish fleet off Portugal at

3496-622: The Battle of Cape St. Vincent . This prevented the Spanish fleet from rendezvousing with the French, removing a threat of invasion to Britain. However, the British fleet was weakened over the rest of the year by the Spithead and Nore mutinies , which kept many ships in port through the summer. On 22 February French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from the La Legion Noire (The Black Legion) under

3648-596: The Battle of Millesimo . He then won a victory at the Second Battle of Dego , driving the Austrians northeast, away from their Piedmontese allies. Satisfied that the Austrians were temporarily inert, Bonaparte harried Michelangelo Colli 's Piedmontese at Ceva and San Michele Mondovi before whipping them at the Battle of Mondovì . A week later, on 28 April, the Piedmontese signed the Armistice of Cherasco , withdrawing from

3800-461: The Battle of Rovereto . Then he followed Wurmser down the Brenta valley, to fall upon and defeat the Austrians at the Battle of Bassano on 8 September. Wurmser elected to march for Mantua with a large portion of his surviving troops. The Austrians evaded Bonaparte's attempts to intercept them but were driven into the city after a pitched battle on 15 September. This left nearly 30,000 Austrians trapped in

3952-562: The Battle of Valmy in September. This victory emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy . A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793. The French suffered additional defeats in the remainder of the year and these difficult times allowed the Jacobins to rise to power and impose the Reign of Terror to unify

4104-741: The Capitulation of Franzburg and the subsequent siege with assistance of Danish, Scottish and Swedish troops, a blow that denied him access to the Baltic and the chance of challenging the naval power of the Scandinavian kingdoms and of the Netherlands . Wallenstein's assassination at the hands of his own officers in 1634 prevented the development of any Austrian navy in either the North or Baltic Seas . The next incursion Austria took into naval affairs occurred on

4256-452: The Caribbean , Africa, and especially Asia . The most profitable voyages of the Ostend Company were to Canton , as rising tea prices resulted in high profits for ships conducting trade with China . Between 1719 and 1728, the Ostend Company transported 7 million pounds of tea from China , roughly half of the total amount brought to western Europe at the time, placing the company on par in

4408-682: The Crimean War in October 1855. Dévastation signalled the beginning of the emergence of ironclad warships over the course of the next decade. Indeed, the French Navy's technological and numerical edge proved to be decisive in driving the Austrian Navy to port shortly after the outbreak of the Second War of Italian Independence . After the failure of the First Italian War of Independence, Sardinia began

4560-706: The Danube River rather than at sea. During the Great Turkish War , Prince Eugene of Savoy employed a small flotilla of ships along the Danube to fight the Ottoman Empire, a practice which the House of Habsburg had employed previously during the 16th and 17th centuries to fight during Austria's numerous wars with the Ottomans . These river flotillas were largely manned by crews who came from Austria's coastal ports, and played

4712-468: The Declaration of Pillnitz , which threatened severe consequences should anything happen to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette . After Austria refused to recall its troops from the French border and to back down on the perceived threat of using force, France declared war on Austria and Prussia in the spring of 1792; both countries responded with a coordinated invasion that was eventually turned back at

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4864-712: The Dutch , British and French East India Companies throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries however led the merchants and shipowners of Ostend to want to establish direct commercial relations with the East Indies . In December 1722, Charles VI granted a 30-year charter to the Ostend Company to conduct trade with the East and West Indies , as well as Africa . The Ostend Company proved to be immensely profitable, and between 1724 and 1732, 21 company vessels were sent out to conduct trade in

5016-415: The Flanders Campaign , the Austrians and French both prepared offensives in Belgium, with the Austrians besieging Landrecies and advancing towards Mons and Maubeuge . The French prepared an offensive on multiple fronts, with two armies in Flanders under Pichegru and Moreau , and Jourdan attacking from the German border. The French withstood several damaging but inconclusive actions before regaining

5168-489: The Illyrian provinces . Between 1809 and 1814, there was no Austrian coastline and subsequently no navy to defend it. Following the Congress of Vienna and the 1815 Treaty of Paris , Austria's coastline was restored. Under the conditions of the Congress of Vienna, the former Austrian Netherlands were transferred to the newly created United Kingdom of the Netherlands , while Austria received Lombardy-Venetia as compensation. These territorial changes gave Austria five ships of

5320-413: The March of Istria , western Carinthia with East Tyrol , and the Croatian lands southwest of the river Sava to the French Empire. West Galicia was ceded to the Duchy of Warsaw , and Tarnopol was given to the Russian Empire . These terms eliminated Austria's coastline along the Adriatic, thus destroying the Austrian Navy, with its warships being handed over to the French to guard the newly formed

5472-412: The Mediterranean and weakening the French Navy. Napoleon's arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire , with Napoleon installing himself as Consul . Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This brought a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, after which

5624-446: The Oriental Crisis of 1840 . After his victory over the Ottoman Empire during the First Egyptian-Ottoman War , Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquered large parts of Syria . In 1839, the Ottomans attempted to reclaim these territories but after a decisive defeat at the Battle of Nezib , the Ottoman Empire appeared on the verge of collapse. Through the Convention of London , the United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, and Russia intervened to save

5776-399: The Seven Weeks' War , the Austrian Empire reformed itself into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and the navy also became the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Largely neglected by the Empire in its early years, the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine expanded along with Austro-Hungarian industrialization into one of the largest navies in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. By 1914, the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine had

5928-410: The Thirty Years War , Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein was awarded the Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow as well as given the title "Admiral of the North and Baltic Seas" by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in 1628 after scoring several military victories against Denmark–Norway in northern Germany. However, Wallenstein failed to capture Stralsund , which resisted

6080-403: The Treaty of Pressburg , weakening the Austrian Empire and reorganizing Germany under a Napoleonic imprint known as the Confederation of the Rhine . Believing his position as Holy Roman Emperor to be untenable, Francis abdicated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, and declared the Holy Roman Empire to be dissolved in the same declaration. This was a political move to impair

6232-457: The Treaty of Trianon , Austria and Hungary became landlocked, and the Empire's most important ports of Trieste , Pola , Fiume and Ragusa became part of Italy and Yugoslavia. The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine's main ships were turned over to the Allies, who scrapped most of them in the 1920s during the era of naval disarmament. The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine was not formally established until the 18th century, but its origins can be traced back to 1382, with

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6384-432: The War of the Fifth Coalition . Following Austria's defeat at the Battle of Wagram , the Empire sued for peace. The resulting Treaty of Schönbrunn imposed harsh terms on Austria. Austria had to hand over the Duchy of Salzburg to the Kingdom of Bavaria and lost its access to the Adriatic Sea by ceding the Littoral territories of Gorizia and Gradisca and the Imperial Free City of Trieste , together with Carniola ,

6536-420: The first attempt by Austria to establish overseas colonies . Within the next two years, Bolts established factories on the Malabar Coast , on the southeastern African coast at Delagoa Bay , and at the Nicobar Islands . These ventures ultimately failed however due to pressure from other colonial powers such as Portugal and Denmark-Norway, both of which forcefully evicted Bolts and his colonists from Africa and

6688-411: The sovereign . Alternatively, those of imperial blood or the commanders-in-chief of several allied armies could gain the title. The military leader Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1632 became the first imperial generalissimo (general of the generals) of the Holy Roman Empire . Other usage of the title has been for the commander of the united armies of several allied powers (such as Ferdinand Foch on

6840-434: The 18th century, preventing the Austrians from using its major rivers to gain access to the sea. Following the War of Spanish Succession, Austria's greatest outlet to the sea lay in the newly acquired Austrian Netherlands. While non-contiguous with the rest of Austria, the Austrian Netherlands lay within the boundaries of the Habsburg-dominated Holy Roman Empire . The territory also possessed numerous ports with easy access to

6992-406: The Adriatic, the Austrian Navy lacked experience against the combined Italian forces and Gyulai decided to withdraw his ships to Pola. After the Austrians moved back to Trieste due to the fact that Pola's small and undeveloped dockyards could not handle the size of the Austrian fleet, a stalemate ensued in the Adriatic. The Austrian fleet was too small to go on the offensive against the Italians, while

7144-489: The Adriatic, the Austrian government chose to sell the ships for breaking rather than incorporate them into the Navy. At the end of the 18th century, several new regulations were also imposed regarding naval activity. These included instructing officers to refrain from excessive shouting when giving sailing commands, directing the captains of each ship in the navy not to conduct business transactions on their own behalf, and ordering surgeons to fumigate their ships several times

7296-441: The Austrian Navy in the years following the Congress of Vienna were largely driven by political necessities, as well economic conditions. The marriage between Archduchess Maria Leopoldina and Emperor Pedro I of Brazil in 1817 marked the first time a ship from the Austrian Navy crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, with the Archduchess traveling with the frigates Augusta and Austria to Rio de Janeiro . Three years later,

7448-473: The Austrian Navy up to that point in time. Under Joseph II's successor, Leopold II , the Austrian Navy was formally located out of the port of Trieste. In 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria which ended the War of the First Coalition , Austria ceded to France the Austrian Netherlands and certain islands in the Mediterranean, including Corfu and the other Ionian Islands . The Republic of Venice and its territories were divided between

7600-402: The Austrian Navy was the loss of Venice's naval dockyards, warehouses, its arsenal, as well as three corvettes and several smaller vessels to the Venetian rebels. The loss of Vice-Admiral Martini was also a blow to Austrians, as the Navy had gone through no less than four Commanders-in-Chief within three months of the death of Archduke Friedrich in late 1847. Martini's capture left the Navy without

7752-440: The Austrian Navy, and the Austrian merchant marine, and named Count Matthias von Wickenburg its head. Under this new system, Ferdinand Max continued to be the Oberkommandant , but he was no longer responsible for the political management of the fleet. In addition to obtaining support for the creation of Ministry of Marine, Ferdinand Max was given great freedom by the Emperor to manage the navy as he saw fit, especially with respect to

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7904-433: The Austrian frigate Guerriera , bombarded the port of Sidon with British support. The Austrians and British landed in the city and stormed its coastal fortifications, capturing it on 28 September. After capturing Sidon, Austria's naval squadron sailed on to Acre which bombarded the city in November, destroying its coastal fortifications and silencing the city's guns. During the storming of the city, Friedrich personally led

8056-409: The Austrians acquired several warships which were under construction or already seaworthy. Most of these ships were added to the strength of the Austrian Navy, increasing the size and strength of the Navy considerably by the year 1850. In Venice the naval shipyard was retained. Here the Austrian screw-driven gunboat Kerka (crew: 100) was launched in 1860 (in service until 1908). In the final months of

8208-415: The Austrians withdrew from the peninsula once again. Another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, Britain found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleon's government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. However,

8360-594: The Austrians. The Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies both joined the war on the side of Sardinia, the later sending a naval force into the Adriatic in cooperation with Sardinia to help seize Venice. This Italian fleet consisted of five frigates and several smaller vessels acquired by the Italian nationalists in Venice. Against this force, the Austrian Navy counted three frigates of 44 to 50 guns, two corvettes of 18 and 20 guns, eight brigs of six to 16 guns, 34 gunboats with three guns each, and two steamers of two guns. Despite its relatively large size for navies in

8512-402: The Austro-British landing party and hoisted the Ottoman, British, and Austrian flags over the Acre's citadel upon its capture. For his leadership during the campaign, Archduke Friedrich was awarded the Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa . In 1844, Archduke Friedrich was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and become Commander-in-Chief of the Navy at the age of 23, but his tenure as

8664-416: The Bay of Bengal respectively. Furthermore, the Austrian government did not wish to provoke other foreign powers after having to fight two major continental wars in the span of just 20 years. Vienna was also unwilling to lend much monetary support to either the company or towards the creation of a navy sufficiently large enough to protect its interests. This was partially because the Austrian government expected

8816-405: The Empire largely sought to establish their own independent kingdom or republic, which resulted in a revolution in Hungary . Competing national ideas in the South Hungary saw combat in the Šajkaška region, primarily populated by Serbs who served in the Danube flotila. Italians within the Austrian Empire likewise sought to unify with the other Italian-speaking states of the Italian Peninsula to form

8968-411: The French armies. On the Alpine frontier, there was little change, with the French invasion of Piedmont failing. On the Spanish border, the French under General Dugommier rallied from their defensive positions at Bayonne and Perpignan , driving the Spanish out of Roussillon and invading Catalonia . Dugommier was killed in the Battle of the Black Mountain in November. On the northern front in

9120-455: The French king's cousin, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé , the leader of an émigré corps within the Allied army , which declared the Allies' intent to restore the king to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law . This, however, had the effect of strengthening the resolve of the revolutionary army and government to oppose them by any means necessary. On 10 August,

9272-410: The French took Milan . Bonaparte then advanced eastwards again, drove off the Austrians in the Battle of Borghetto and in June began the Siege of Mantua . Mantua was the strongest Austrian base in Italy. Meanwhile, the Austrians retreated north into the foothills of the Tyrol. During July and August, Austria sent a fresh army into Italy under Dagobert Wurmser . Wurmser attacked toward Mantua along

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9424-435: The French. The Dutch fleet was captured , and the stadtholder William V fled to be replaced by a popular Batavian Republic , a sister republic which supported the revolutionary cause and signed a treaty with the French, ceding the territories of North Brabant and Maastricht to France on 16 May. With the Netherlands falling, Prussia also decided to leave the coalition, signing the Peace of Basel on 6 April, ceding

9576-465: The Greek rebellion against Ottoman rule. During the same time period, Barbary corsairs continued to prey upon Austrian shipping in the Western Mediterranean. These two threats greatly stretched the resources of Austria's naval forces, which were still rebuilding after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1829, two Austrian corvettes, a brig , and a schooner under Lieutenant Commander (German: Korvettenkapitän ) Franz Bandiera sailed Morocco's Atlantic coast to obtain

9728-509: The Italian naval commander, Rear Admiral Giovanbattista Albini, was under orders not to attack the port of Trieste as its location within the German Confederation may draw in other powers in central Europe against Sardinia. Austrian efforts to purchase additional warships from the United Kingdom, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and from Egypt, all ended in failure as the funds to purchase the ships were instead used to fight Austria's many land battles with Hungarian and Italian nationalists, as well as

9880-438: The Italian peninsula. The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine, and Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up in Tyrol and march on Vienna . Jourdan and Moreau advanced rapidly into Germany, and Moreau had reached Bavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September, but Jourdan was defeated by Archduke Charles at Amberg , and both armies were forced to retreat back across

10032-423: The Low Countries. Britain expelled the French ambassador following the execution of Louis XVI and on 1 February, France responded by declaring war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic . France drafted hundreds of thousands of men , beginning a policy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the autocratic states could manage to do (first stage, with a decree of 24 February 1793 ordering

10184-527: The Mediterranean Sea. By the 1830s, an attempt to modernize the Navy had begun. The Austrian government granted new funding for the construction of additional ships and the purchasing of new equipment. The most notable change which was undertaken was the incorporation of steamships, with the first such ship in the Austrian Navy, the 500-tonne (492-long-ton) paddle steamer Maria Anna , being constructed in Fiume. Maria Anna ' s first trials took place in 1836. In 1837, Archduke Friedrich Leopold enlisted into

10336-440: The Navy chose to rely on its U-boats to attack Allied shipping rather than risk the destruction of its battleships , cruisers and other surface vessels. In June 1918, it attempted to break the Otranto Barrage with a large naval fleet, but the attack was called off after the battleship Szent István was sunk by an Italian torpedo boat on 10 June. Five months later, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire facing collapse and defeat in

10488-477: The Navy drastically undermanned, it prevented any wide-scale disintegration within the Navy which the Austrian Army had repeatedly suffered from in Italy. The loss of so many Italian crew members and officers meant that the remaining ships which did not fall into rebel hands in Venice were lacking many crews. Out of roughly 5,000 men who were members of the Austrian Navy prior to the revolution, only 72 officers and 665 sailors remained. Further complicating matters for

10640-407: The Navy was still considerably smaller than its French, British, or Sardinian counterparts. Indeed, the Austrian Navy was still attempting to catch up to the technological developments which had emerged during the first half of the 19th century with respect to steam power, when the emergence of the French iron-platted floating battery Dévastation gained international attention following its use during

10792-466: The Navy", ordered the formation of the "Imperial and Royal Naval Cadet School" in Venice (German: k.u.k. Marine-Kadettenschule ). This school eventually moved to Trieste in 1848 and changed its name to "Imperial and Royal Naval Academy" (German: k.u.k. Marine-Akademie ). Austria again fought against France during the Second and Third Coalitions , when after meeting a crushing defeat at Austerlitz , Holy Roman Emperor Francis II had to agree to

10944-543: The Navy. The third son of Archduke Charles, a famous veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, Friedrich's decision to join the Navy greatly enhanced its prestige among the Austrian nobility and public. During his time in the Navy, Friedrich introduced many modernizing reforms, aiming to make the Austrian Navy less "Venetian" in character and more "Austrian". Friedrich and the Austrian Navy had their first major military encounter during

11096-561: The Ottoman Empire. The Convention offered Muhammad Ali hereditary rule of Egypt while nominally remaining part of the Ottoman Empire if he withdrew from most of Syria. Muhammad Ali hesitated to accept the offer however and in September 1840 the European powers moved to engage Muhammad Ali's forces. The British and Austrian navies subsequently blockaded the Nile Delta and bombarded Beirut on 11 September 1840. On 26 September, Friedrich, commanding

11248-617: The Pillnitz Declaration as a non-committal gesture to placate the sentiments of French monarchists and nobles, it was seen in France as a serious threat and was denounced by the revolutionary leaders. France eventually issued an ultimatum demanding that Leopold renounce any hostile alliances and withdraw his troops from the French border. The reply was evasive, and the French Assembly voted for war on 20 April 1792 against Francis II ,

11400-559: The Revolution with equanimity, but became more disturbed as the Revolution became more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August 1791, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia , in consultation with emigrant French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz , which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of King Louis XVI of France and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw

11552-529: The Rhine. Napoleon, on the other hand, was completely successful in a daring invasion of Italy . He left Paris on 11 March for Nice to take over the weak and poorly supplied Army of Italy , arriving on 26 March. The army was already being reorganised and supplied when he arrived, and he found that the situation was rapidly improving. He was soon able to carry out the plan for the invasion of Italy that he had been advocating for years, which provided for an advance over

11704-541: The Second War of Italian Independence, Ferdinand Max proposed an even larger naval construction program than the one he had initiated upon his appointment as Oberkommandant . This fleet would be large enough not only to show the Austrian flag around the world, but also to protect its merchant marine as well as thwart any Adriatic ambitions from the growing Kingdom of Sardinia. However, constitutional reforms enacted in Austria after

11856-577: The Second War of Italian Independence, Sardinia ordered two small ironclads from France in 1860. While these ships were under construction, the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi began his campaign to conquer Southern Italy in the name of the Kingdom of Sardinia. He quickly toppled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , the largest state in the region in a matter of months. On 17 March 1861, Victor Emmanuel II

12008-475: The Two Sicilies pulled out of the war. Austrian reinforcements bolstered Radetzky's forces in the Italian peninsula and following the Battle of Custoza in July 1848, the tide of the war turned in Austria's favor. On 9 August, an armistice was signed between Sardinia and Austria, and a month later, Admiral Martini was released in a prisoner exchange and returned as head of the Navy. While Martini unsuccessfully lobbied for

12160-546: The Venetian navy, the Austrian Navy only consisted of the two cutters purchased in 1786, as well as several armed merchant vessels and gunboats. While Venice had suffered under French occupation, the ships Austria acquired from the city's annexation still allowed the Austrian Navy to grow to some 37 vessels by the start of the War of the Second Coalition in 1799. These ships mostly consisted of small coastal craft, with some 111 guns and 787 crew members between them. This still remained

12312-690: The armies on the Pyrenees free to march east and reinforce the armies on the Alps , and the combined army overran Piedmont. Meanwhile, in Africa and Asia, the Dutch Cape Colony and Ceylon were invaded by the British. Meanwhile, Britain's attempt to reinforce the rebels in the Vendée by landing troops at Quiberon failed, and a conspiracy to overthrow the republican government from within ended when Napoleon Bonaparte 's garrison used cannon to fire grapeshot into

12464-517: The attacking mob (which led to the establishment of the Directory ). On the Rhine frontier, General Pichegru , negotiating with the exiled Royalists , betrayed his army and forced the evacuation of Mannheim and the failure of the siege of Mainz by Jourdan . This was a moderate setback to the position of the French. In northern Italy, victory at the Battle of Loano in November gave France access to

12616-488: The blockade of Venice, the Danish-born Hans Birch Dahlerup was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy. Emperor Franz Joseph I selected Dahlerup due to his desire to replace Italian influence within the Navy. Dahlerup introduced many personal reforms, such as reorganizing the command structure of the Navy, establishing new service regulations, and setting up a school for naval officers. He also began

12768-450: The city ). Quasdanovich was overcome at Lonato on 3 August and Wurmser at Castiglione on 5 August. Wurmser retreated to the Tyrol, and Bonaparte resumed the siege. In September, Bonaparte marched north against Trento in Tyrol, but Wurmser had already marched toward Mantua by the Brenta valley, leaving Paul Davidovich 's force to hold off the French. Bonaparte overran the holding force at

12920-565: The command of Irish American Colonel William Tate landed near Fishguard (Wales). They were met by a quickly assembled group of around 500 British reservists , militia and sailors under the command of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor . After brief clashes with the local civilian population and Lord Cawdor's forces on 23 February, Tate was forced into an unconditional surrender by 24 February. Generalissimo Generalissimo ( / ˌ dʒ ɛ n ( ə ) r ə ˈ l ɪ s ɪ m oʊ / JEN -(ə-)rə- LIS -ih-moh ), also generalissimus ,

13072-465: The construction and acquisition of new warships. Ferdinand Max immediately went to work expanding the Austrian Navy. Fears of over-dependence upon foreign shipyards to supply Austrian warships enabled him to convince his brother to authorize the construction of a new drydock at Pola , and the expansion of existing shipyards in Trieste. Furthermore, Ferdinand Max initiated an ambitious construction program in

13224-628: The death of Charles VI on 19 October 1740, Saxony , Prussia , Bavaria , and France all repudiated the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 which had paved the way for Charles' daughter Maria Theresa to succeed him. Frederick II of Prussia almost immediately invaded Austria in December 1740 and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the seven-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession . This conflict proved to be primarily

13376-539: The declaration of war, French soldiers deserted en masse and in one case murdered their general, Théobald Dillon . While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, a mostly Prussian Allied army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine . The duke then issued a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto (July 1792), written by

13528-465: The defeat, as well as the recent introduction of ironclads into the navies of the world, made the proposal more expensive than he had initially intended. While the Archduke had previously been given free rein over naval affairs, and had enjoyed an unprecedented allocation of new funds to complete his various expansion and modernization projects, Austria's recent military defeats and financial difficulties in

13680-471: The disintegration of the Austrian Navy. The Austrian commander of the Venetian Naval Yard was beaten to death by his own men, while the head of the city's Marine Guard was unable to provide any aid to suppress the uprising as most of the men under his command deserted. Vice-Admiral Anton von Martini, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, attempted to put an end to the rebellion but was betrayed by his officers,

13832-553: The draft of 300,000 men, followed by the general mobilization of all the young men able to be drafted, through the famous decree of 23 August 1793). Nonetheless, the Coalition allies launched a determined drive to invade France during the Flanders Campaign . France suffered severe reverses at first. They were driven out of the Austrian Netherlands, and serious revolts flared in the west and south of France. One of these, at Toulon ,

13984-470: The east side of Lake Garda , sending Peter Quasdanovich down the west side in an effort to envelop Bonaparte. Bonaparte exploited the Austrian mistake of dividing their forces to defeat them in detail, but in so doing, he abandoned the siege of Mantua, which held out for another six months ( Carl von Clausewitz mentioned in On War that the siege might have been able to be kept up if Bonaparte had circumvallated

14136-592: The end of the year, large new armies had turned back foreign invaders, and the Reign of Terror , a fierce policy of repression, had suppressed internal revolts. The French military was in the ascendant. Lazare Carnot , a scientist and prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety , organized the fourteen armies of the Republic , and was then nicknamed the Organizer of the Victory. The year 1794 brought increased success to

14288-461: The establishment of the Ostend Company in order to increase Austria's merchant marine and establish a proper navy to protect it. This included constructing a new road through the Semmering Pass in order to link Vienna to Trieste, and declaring Trieste and Fiume free ports in 1719. In order to help protect Austrian merchants from piracy in the Adriatic and Mediterranean, Charles VI also purchased

14440-571: The first half of 1859, the Franco-Sardinian forces quickly defeated the Austrians on land, culminating in the Battle of Solferino , while the French Navy blockaded the Adriatic Sea and forced the Austrian Navy to remain in port, preventing its use for the duration of the war. After the defeat at Solferino, Austria ceded most of Lombardy and the city of Milan to France under the Treaty of Zürich , who transferred it to Sardinia in exchange for Savoy and Nice. In response to Austria's quick defeat during

14592-596: The first of its kind to travel the Mediterranean on a voyage between Trieste and Constantinople. In 1836, the Austrian Lloyd (German: Österreichischer Lloyd ) was established. While Austria's merchant marine grew throughout the 1820s and 1830s, the Austrian Navy grew alongside it in order to provide protection on the high seas. During the Greek War of Independence , the Austrian Navy engaged Greek pirates who routinely attempted to attack Austrian shipping in order to help fund

14744-451: The fortress. This number rapidly diminished due to disease, combat losses, and hunger. The Austrians sent yet another army under József Alvinczi against Bonaparte in November. Again the Austrians divided their effort, sending Davidovich's corps from the north while Alvinczi's main body attacked from the east. At first they proved victorious over the French at Bassano , Calliano , and Caldiero . But Bonaparte ultimately defeated Alvinczi in

14896-497: The founding and development of colonies , and the chartering of overseas trading companies during the early 18th century. Austria's largest obstacle in engaging in overseas trade and naval enterprises however lay in the country's geography. Despite Austria having a lengthy coastline along the Adriatic Sea, the major ports it possessed along its main coastline were isolated from Vienna by the large Austrian Alps . Furthermore, there were no major rivers linking Austria's Adriatic ports to

15048-555: The frigate Carolina escorted Austria's ambassador to Brazil across the Atlantic, before sailing on to China, marking the first time a ship from the Austrian Navy had traveled to East Asia . During the 1820s and early 1830s, Austrian trade along the Danube and within the Mediterranean grew rapidly. In 1830, the Austrian Danube Steam Navigation Company was founded and in 1834, its steamship Marie Dorothee became

15200-516: The grade was established by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet , which did not need the approval of Stalin. The rank of generalissimo for Stalin was used also by Western diplomacy. In the 20th century, the term came to be associated with military officers who took dictatorial power in their respective countries, especially due to the Spanish leader Francisco Franco having this rank. As such, it

15352-2053: The growing strength of the Regia Marina, the Imperial Austrian Navy subsequently ordered two Drache -class ironclads in 1860. In the years immediately after the unification of Italy, Austria and Italy engaged in a naval arms race centered upon the construction and acquisition of ironclads . This arms race between the two nations continued for the rest of Ferdinand Max's tenure as Oberkommandant . French Revolutionary Wars First Coalition : French victory Second Coalition : French victory [REDACTED] Catholic and Royal Armies [REDACTED]   Holy Roman Empire [REDACTED]   Great Britain (until 1801) [REDACTED]   United Kingdom (from 1801) [REDACTED] Spain (1793–1795) [REDACTED]   Dutch Republic (1793–1795) [REDACTED]   Sardinia [REDACTED]   Old Swiss Confederacy (1798) [REDACTED]   Naples [REDACTED] Order of Saint John (1798) [REDACTED] Malta (1798–1800) [REDACTED]   Ottoman Empire [REDACTED] Portugal [REDACTED]   Russia (1799) Other Italian states [REDACTED] Southern Netherlands peasants ( Peasants' War ) [REDACTED] Saint-Domingue rebels ( Haitian Revolution ) (1791–94) [REDACTED] Kingdom of France (until 1792) [REDACTED] French Republic (from 1792) [REDACTED] Louis XVI   [REDACTED] Austrians (1792–97) 94,700 killed in action 100,000 wounded 220,000 captured Italian campaign of 1796–97 27,000 allied soldiers killed Unknown wounded 160,000 captured 1,600 guns French (1792–97) 100,000 killed in action 150,000 captured Italian campaign of 1796–97 45,000 killed, wounded or captured (10,000 killed) The French Revolutionary Wars ( French : Guerres de la Révolution française ) were

15504-482: The head of the Austrian Navy ended just three years after his appointment when he died in Venice at the age of 26. After a successful revolution in France in February 1848 toppled King Louis Philippe I and established a Second French Republic , revolutionary fervor broke out across Europe . In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich resigned his post and went into exile to London while Emperor Ferdinand I

15656-491: The high seas, Ferdinand Max proved to be among the most effective and successful commanders of the Austrian Navy in history. He was described by Lawrence Sondhaus in his book The Habsburg Empire and the Sea: Austrian Naval Policy, 1797–1866 as "the most gifted leader the navy had ever had, or ever would have". Anthony Sokol describes Ferdinand Max in his book The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy as "one of

15808-572: The highest grade". Similar cognates in other languages include generalísimo in Spanish , generalíssimo in Portuguese , généralissime in French , and generalissimus in Latin. The Russian word генералиссимус , generalissimus comes from Latin. Historically, this rank was given to a military officer leading an entire army or the entire armed forces of a state, usually only subordinate to

15960-466: The highly professional French artillery distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it gave a great boost to French morale. Further, the Prussians, finding that the campaign had been longer and more costly than predicted, decided that the cost and risk of continued fighting was too great and, with winter approaching, they decided to retreat from France to preserve their army. The next day,

16112-470: The hostilities. On 18 May they signed the Treaty of Paris (1796) , ceding Savoy and Nice and allowing the French bases to be used against Austria. After a short pause, Napoleon carried out a brilliant flanking manoeuvre, and crossed the Po at Piacenza , nearly cutting the Austrian line of retreat. The Austrians escaped after the Battle of Fombio , but had their rear-guard mauled at Lodi on 10 May, after which

16264-550: The immediate aftermath of the war stalled his plans for further construction projects. Despite these obstacles, the initiation of the Italian ironclad program between 1860 and 1861, coupled with Austrian fears of an Italian invasion or seaborne landing directed against Venice, Trieste, Istria, and the Dalmatian Coast, necessitated an Austrian naval response to counter the growing strength of the Italian Regia Marina. After

16416-514: The incorporation of Trieste into the Duchy of Austria . During the 13th and 14th centuries, Trieste became a maritime trade rival to the Republic of Venice , which occupied the Adriatic port city for intermittent periods between 1283 and 1372. Under the terms of the Peace of Turin in 1381, Venice renounced its claim to Trieste and the leading citizens of Trieste petitioned Leopold III, Duke of Austria , to make

16568-507: The initiative at the battles of Tourcoing and Fleurus in June. The French armies drove the Austrians, British, and Dutch beyond the Rhine, occupying Belgium, the Rhineland , and the south of the Netherlands. On the middle Rhine front in July, General Michaud's Army of the Rhine attempted two offensives in July in the Vosges , the second of which was successful but not followed up, allowing for

16720-661: The interior of the country. Austria also enjoyed three major navigable rivers which flowed through the country, the Elbe , the Oder , and the Danube. However, the Elbe and the Oder flowed through the Kingdom of Prussia before emptying into the North and Baltic Sea respectively, while the mouth of the Danube lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Both of these nations remained major rivals of Austria throughout

16872-466: The left. Prior to this, Austrian ships flew the yellow and black flag of the Habsburg Monarchy . Joseph II's Marineflagge remained the naval ensign of Austria, and later Austria-Hungary, until the middle of World War I. The onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and the subsequent French Revolutionary Wars greatly changed the political face of Europe and resulted in the largest expansion of

17024-533: The legitimacy of the Confederation of the Rhine. Two years earlier, as a reaction to Napoleon making himself an Emperor of the French , Francis had raised Austria to the status of an empire . Hence, after 1806, he reigned as Francis I, Emperor of Austria. This move meant that the naval forces under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire were now reconstituted as solely being a part of the Austrian Navy. Three years later Austria again declared war on France, beginning

17176-414: The line, two frigates, one corvette , and several smaller ships which had been left in Venice by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. The decades of warfare Austria had participated in since 1789 however had left the Empire on the verge of bankruptcy, and most of these ships were sold or abandoned for financial reasons. By the end of the decade however, the Austrian Navy began to be rebuilt. The growth of

17328-541: The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, and the Napoleonic Wars began over a year later with the formation of the Third Coalition , continuing the series of Coalition Wars . When the French Revolution started at the end of the 18th century the European continent had five great powers, these being Great Britain , France , Austria , Russia , and Prussia . Weak European states included Sweden , Spain , Poland , Holland , and Turkey . Western Germany

17480-426: The majority of whom were Venetians, and subsequently captured and held prisoner. By the end of March, the Austrian troops in Venice were forced from the city and the Austrian Navy appeared to be collapsing as many of the Austrian sailors and officers were of Italian descent. Fearing mutinies, Austrian officers ultimately relieved these Italian sailors of their duty and permitted them to return home. While this action left

17632-547: The middle of an uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire appeared on the brink of collapse. On 23 March 1848, just one day after Radetzky was forced to retreat from Milan, The Kingdom of Sardinia declared war on the Austrian Empire, sparking the First Italian War of Independence . Venice was at the time one of Austria's largest and most important ports, and the revolution which began there nearly led to

17784-545: The monarchy was formally abolished as the First Republic was declared (21 September 1792). Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying Savoy and Nice , which were parts of the Savoyard state , while General Custine invaded Germany, occupying several German towns along the Rhine and reaching as far as Frankfurt . Dumouriez went on the offensive in the Austrian Netherlands once again, winning

17936-615: The most talented of the Habsburg princes...He used his prestige, youthful enthusiasm, and love of the Service to promote it in every way possible." Ferdinand Max worked hard to separate the Austrian Navy from its dependence upon the Austrian Army, which had nominal control over its affairs. On 14 January 1862, Franz Joseph I agreed to establish the Ministry of Marine, which oversaw the affairs of both

18088-788: The nation. In 1794, the situation improved dramatically for the French as huge victories at Fleurus against the Austrians and Dutch and at the Black Mountain against the Spanish signaled the start of a new stage in the wars. By 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic . The French also put Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel . A hitherto unknown general named Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796. In less than

18240-424: The new base for the Austrian Navy. This marked the first time the city had been used as an Austrian naval base, and from 1848 onwards the city continued to serve as a base for Austrian warships until the end of World War I. In late April, this fleet began a blockade of Venice in order to assist Austria's army currently fighting the Italian nationalists who had seized the city. Meanwhile, fortunes continued to fade for

18392-616: The opportunity presented by the French effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they gradually pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland – racking up victories at the battles of Magnano , Cassano , and Novi along the way. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, which caused Russia to drop out of

18544-569: The point that most of Austria's sea trade had to be conducted in foreign ships. The lack of any naval force to protect Austria's shipping led Count Kaunitz to push for the creation of a small force of frigates to protect the Adriatic Sea. However, the Seven Years' War forced Vienna to pay much more attention to Austria's land border with Prussia and its coastline along the Adriatic Sea, preventing Kaunitz's program from achieving success. In 1775, another attempt to formulate an overseas trading company

18696-525: The port part of his domains. The agreement incorporating Trieste into the Duchy of Austria was signed at the castle of Graz on 30 September 1382. While Austria had a port with the incorporation of Trieste, the city was granted a large degree of autonomy and successive Dukes of Austria paid little attention to the port or the idea of deploying a navy to protect it. Until the end of the 18th century, there were only limited attempts to establish an Austrian navy. During

18848-468: The ports of Pola, Trieste, and Venice, the largest the Adriatic had seen since the Napoleonic Wars. Pola in particular saw a considerable amount of attention as its natural harbor and strategic location along the Adriatic coastline of Austria enabled ships docked there to provide protection for Trieste as well as the Dalmatian Coast. While it had been used as a base for the Navy during the Revolutions of 1848,

19000-500: The ports of Trieste and Fiume to bear the cost of constructing and maintaining a fleet. The Austrian Navy was finally established in 1786, with Emperor Joseph II purchasing two cutters in Ostend, each armed with 20 guns, and sending them to Trieste. Joseph II also introduced Austria's Naval Ensign , which consisted of a red-white-red standard with the crown of the Archduchy of Austria on

19152-496: The process of replacing Italian with German as the spoken de facto language of the Austrian Navy. However, Dahlerup's command style clashed heavily with the prevailing culture within the Austrian Navy and he resigned after just over two years. After a two-year interim period in which Lieutenant General Count Franz Wimpffen commanded the Navy, in September 1854 Emperor Franz Joseph I promoted his younger brother, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (commonly referred to as Ferdinand Max), to

19304-530: The purchase of new steam ships to re-establish a blockade of Venice, Sardinia resumed the war with Austria on 12 March 1849. This led to the disastrous Sardinian defeat at the Battle of Novara ten days later. The decisive defeat forced King Charles Albert of Sardinia to abdicate the throne of Sardinia in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel II and brought the First War of Italian Independence to an end in August 1849. Venice

19456-422: The rank of Rear Admiral and named him Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy. At the age of 22, Ferdinand Max became the youngest Oberkommandant in the history of the Austrian Navy, being a year younger than when Archduke Friedrich of Austria assumed command of the navy ten years earlier. Despite his age, the fact that he had only been in the Navy for four years, and his lack of experience in battle or command on

19608-538: The release of an Austrian merchant ship which had been captured by pirates. While the mission resulted in the return of the ship's crew, the Moroccans refused to return the ship, resulting in the Austrian bombardment of Larache . This action resulted in Morocco returning the captured Austrian ship, as well as pay damages to Vienna. The bombardment of Larache resulted in the end of North African pirates raiding Austrian shipping in

19760-655: The search for potential allies. Sardinian Prime Minister Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , found French Emperor Napoleon III supportive of an alliance with Sardinia following the Crimean War, in which France and Sardinia were allies against the Russian Empire. After the Plombières Agreement of 1858, Napoleon III and Cavour signed a secret treaty of alliance against Austria whereby France would assist Sardinia in return for Nice and Savoy being ceded to France. During

19912-466: The short-lived Anglo-Corsican Kingdom . By the end of the year French armies had won victories on all fronts, and as the year closed they began advancing into the Netherlands. The year opened with French forces in the process of attacking the Dutch Republic in the middle of winter. The Dutch people rallied to the French call and started the Batavian Revolution . City after city was occupied by

20064-538: The small dockyards and port facilities, coupled with surrounding swampland had hindered its development. In addition to Pola's new drydock, Ferdinand Max had the swamps drained and constructed a new arsenal for the city. By 1855, a screw-powered ship-of-the-line was under construction in Pola after failed bids to construct the ship with British and American shipbuilding firms, while two screw-frigates and two screw-corvettes were being built in Trieste and Venice respectively. Within

20216-434: The spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. As early as 1791, the other monarchies of Europe looked with outrage at the revolution and its upheavals; and they considered whether they should intervene, either in support of King Louis XVI , to prevent the spread of revolution, or to take advantage of the chaos in France. Austria stationed significant troops on its French border and together with Prussia, issued

20368-488: The strength of the Regia Marina. The Italians believed that building a strong navy would play a crucial role in making the recently unified kingdom a Great Power . These actions captured the attention of the Austrian Empire , which viewed Italy with great suspicion and worry, as irredentist claims by Italian nationalists were directed at key Austrian territories such as Venice , Trentino , and Trieste . In response to

20520-422: The successor of Leopold II, after a long list of grievances presented by foreign minister Charles François Dumouriez . Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands , where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule as they had earlier in 1790 . However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the army, and the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. Following

20672-409: The tea trade with the East India Company . The Ostend Company proved to be short lived however, as Charles VI suspended the charter of the company due to British diplomatic requests following the Treaty of Vienna , with the company ceasing operations in 1731. Believing that "Navigation and commerce are the foremost pillars of the state," Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI engaged in other projects beyond

20824-428: The three-decker 80-gun third rate ship of the line Cumberland from the United Kingdom in 1720. The ship was renamed San Carlos and stationed out of Naples . On the Adriatic, Charles VI constructed even more ships, usually employing Italian and Spanish officers to man them. This Adriatic fleet consisted of three ships of the line, one frigate, and several galleys . In total, this Adriatic fleet had 500 guns and

20976-399: The two states, and Austria received the city of Venice along with Istria and Dalmatia . Venice's naval forces and facilities were also handed over to Austria and became the basis of the formation of the future Austrian Navy. The Treaty of Campo Formio resulted in Austria becoming the largest, and indeed the only, naval power in the Adriatic. Prior to the incorporation of the remnants of

21128-412: The war with Sardinia. Early experimentation on the use of a self-propelled explosive device—forerunner to the torpedo—to attack the Italian ships also failure due to the technological constraints of the time. Additional proposals to break the Italian fleet by using fire ships was rejected as an "inhumane" way of fighting. The stalemate in the Adriatic came to an end as the Papal States and the Kingdom of

21280-399: The war, the Empire decided to transfer most of its navy to the newly declared State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs on 31 October, effectively bringing the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine to an end. Three days later, the Empire's military authorities signed the Armistice of Villa Giusti , pulling the rapidly disintegrating empire out of the war. With the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and

21432-458: The war. Meanwhile, Napoleon's forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids , Mount Tabor , and Abukir . These victories in Egypt further enhanced Napoleon's popularity back in France, and he returned in triumph in the autumn of 1799, although the Egyptian campaign ultimately ended in failure. Furthermore, the Royal Navy had won the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of

21584-407: The west bank of the Rhine to France. This freed Prussia to finish the Third Partition of Poland . The French army in Spain advanced in Catalonia while taking Bilbao and Vitoria and marching toward Castile . By 10 July, Spain also decided to make peace, recognizing the revolutionary government and ceding the territory of Santo Domingo , but returning to the pre-war borders in Europe. This left

21736-487: The whole island by 24 March and holding it until the Treaty of Amiens , and in Guadeloupe in April, where they captured the island briefly but were driven out by Victor Hugues later in the year. In the Mediterranean, following the British evacuation of Toulon , the Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli agreed with admiral Samuel Hood to place Corsica under British protection in return for assistance capturing French garrisons at Saint-Florent , Bastia , and Calvi , creating

21888-406: The years before 1848, the Navy was largely considered to be a "local affair of Venice". In the years after 1848, most of the navy's officers corps hailed from the German-speaking parts of the Empire, while most of the sailors came from Istria and the Dalmatian Coast, leading to Croats, Germans, and even Hungarians to begin to be represented among the ranks of the Austrian Navy. After retaking Venice,

22040-459: Was cut short by their loss to Spain in 1734 during the War of Polish Succession , these territories as well as the new Austrian Netherlands gave Austria greater access to the sea than ever before. Following the War of Spanish Succession, Austria once again developed interest in establishing a proper navy in order to protect its now numerous coastal possessions. This coincided with the majority of European nations' growing interest in mercantilism ,

22192-456: Was divided into hundreds of tiny principalities, cities, and minor states, some of which were independents while others were effectively controlled by Austria. The great powers had agrarian industries , except for Great Britain which was wealthy because of trade . The key figure in initial foreign reaction to the French Revolution was Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II , brother of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Leopold had initially looked on

22344-404: Was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his nephew, Franz Joseph. Across the Austrian Empire, nationalist sentiments among Austria's various ethnic groups led to the revolutions in Austria to take several different forms. Liberal sentiments prevailed extensively among the German Austrians, which were further complicated by the simultaneous events in the German states . The Hungarians within

22496-420: Was proclaimed King of Italy . With the unification of Italy , the various navies of the former Italian states were merged into a single military force, named the Regia Marina (Royal Navy). By the time the two Formidabile -class ironclads had been commissioned, they formed the first broadside ironclads of the Italian Regia Marina. Following up on these ships, Italy launched a substantial program to bolster

22648-409: Was the first serious taste of action for an unknown young artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte . He contributed to the siege of the city and its harbour by planning an effective assault with well-placed artillery batteries raining projectiles down on rebel positions. This performance helped make his reputation as a capable tactician, and it fueled his meteoric rise to military and political power. By

22800-492: Was the last Italian nationalist holdout to fall on 27 August 1849. The Revolutions of 1848 marked a turning point in the history of the Austrian Navy. Up until that time, the Navy had been dominated by the Italian language, customs, and traditions. Prior to the revolution, the Austrian Navy was mostly made up of Italian crew members, the Italian language was the primary language, and even Italian ship names were used over German ones, such as Lipsia rather than Leipzig . Indeed, in

22952-404: Was unable to protect its coastal cities or project power into the Adriatic or Mediterranean Seas. The war ended with the treaties of Utrecht , Rastatt , and Baden . Under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt, Austria gained the Spanish Netherlands , the Kingdom of Naples , the Kingdom of Sicily , the Kingdom of Sardinia , and the Duchy of Milan . While Austria's control over Sardinia and Naples

23104-493: Was undertaken with the establishment of the Austrian East India Company . Headed by William Bolts , the company's first voyage to India began on 24 September 1776 with Bolts sailing aboard the Indiaman Giuseppe e Teresa from Livorno in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , which was ruled by Maria Theresa's son Leopold . Bolts was also granted a 10-year charter to trade under the flag of the Holy Roman Empire with Persia, India, China and Africa. The Austrian East India Company marked

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