Fritz L’Allemand: Emperor Franz Joseph on the garden steps at Schönbrunn Palace on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Order of Maria Theresa, oil painting, 1857

The famous words ‘In deinem Lager ist Österreich’ from the poet Franz Grillparzer’s eulogy to Field Marshal Radetzky celebrate the Imperial and Royal Army as the supreme embodiment of the Habsburg Monarchy: ‘There in your encampments, behold her: Austria!’. Nor did the uniformly white-coated soldiers of the multi-ethnic army serve the state: they served Emperor Franz Joseph, who was ‘Supreme War Lord’.