Imperial and Royal Uhlans

Colonel Maximilian Ritter von Rodakowski and the 13th Uhlans in the Battle of Custoza. (1908 painting by Ludwig Koch. Oil on linen, Army History Museum, Vienna)

Together with the Dragoons and Hussars, the Imperial and Royal Uhlans (German: k.u.k. Ulanen), made up the cavalry of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1867 to 1918, both in the Common Army and in the Austrian Landwehr, where they were known as the Imperial-Royal Landwehr Uhlans (k.k. Landwehr-Ulanen).

The Austrian monarchy, weakened by losing the war against Prussia in 1866, effectively had to guarantee the autonomy of the Kingdom of Hungary in the so-called Compromise of 15 March 1867. As a result, the Hungarian half of the Empire immediately began to establish its own army, the Royal Hungarian Landwehr (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvédség).

Following the signing of the Compromise, the Austrian half of the Empire also started to build an army, the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (German: k.k. Landwehr). The two new Landwehr forces thus existed alongside the Common Army (Gemeinsame Armee), the imperial army of the whole Empire. In effect this meant that Austria-Hungary had three separate armies at the same time.


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