Austro-Hungarian Army in July 1914
- 30,000 Officers
- 410,000 NCOs and troops
- 87,000 horses (estimate)
- 1,200 artillery pieces
Official designations were as follows:
- regiments of the joint army were designated Imperial and Royal (German: "kaiserlich und königlich" (k.u.k.); Hungarian: "Császári és Királyi")
- Austrian Landwehr regiments were Imperial/Royal (German: "kaiserlich/königlich" (k.k.) (which stands for Imperial Austrian / Royal Bohemian (kaiserlich österreichisch/königlich böhmisch)); Hungarian: "császári/királyi")
- Hungarian Honvéd regiments, or "Honvédség", were called Royal Hungarian (German: "königlich ungarisch"; Hungarian: "Magyar Királyi")
After the war was declared, 3.35 million men (including the first call-up of the reserves and the 1914 recruits) gathered for action.
The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army was officially under the control of the Commander-in-Chief, Emperor Franz Josef. By 1914, however, Josef was 84 years old and the chief of staff, Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, effectively had more power over the armed forces. Conrad favored an aggressive foreign policy and advocated the use of military action to solve Austro-Hungary's territorial disputes with Italy and Serbia.
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen was appointed Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian army by Franz Joseph on July 11, 1914. It was thought he would not interfere with the operational and tactical plans of Conrad von Hötzendorf. Friedrich remained Supreme Commander until February 1917, when Emperor Charles I decided to assume the office himself.
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