BELGIANS IN THE HABSBURG ARMY Regiments and Military Personnel of the Austrian Netherlands, 1756-18151

These units distinguished themselves during the Seven Years War (1976-1763) against Frederick II’s Prussians. The Austrian victories at Kolin, Hochkirch, Domstadtl and Adelsbach, amongst others, were due in large parts to them. Against Revolutionary France , the “national regiments” -as they were called in the Austrian Netherlands- were notably engaged at Neervinden, Valenciennes, Fleurus, Wurzburg, Stockach, Trebbia and Marengo. Beyond the glorifying historiography of the 19th century, the archives and the testimonies of the opponents confirm their value and professionalism. The Belgian contribution was also intellectual, which was never sufficiently recognises. Prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne, as we know, was arguably one of the most important Austrian military thinker of the 18th century, but many other Flemish, Walloon and Brussels officers were employed by the Habsburg army for their talent as technicians, engineers, draftsmen or cartographers. There was a Belgian specificity related to the advanced education and material prosperity of the Netherlands within the multiple possessions of the Habsburgs.
This book tells the story of all these unjustly forgotten men in a completely new way, drawing not only on first hand sources but also on an iconography never collected before. This is all the more valuable because the Austrian monarchy did not subsidised many “battle paintings”, as was done in France. Nor, unlike Prussia, did it see to it that uniforms of its armies were preserved. The Royal Museum Of Army and Militatry History in Brussels, however, holds a large amount of material, printed and manuscript evidence of that period: it is all on display in this book. The castles of Belgium, in particular the Chateau Beloeil, have authorised the reproduction of their family treasures: portraits, colour battle plans, weapons, piece of equipment and uniforms. The University of Namur holds in its library two collections of ancient works relating to Charles-Joseph de Ligne, field marshal and writer. The Museum of Military History in Vienna joined the adventure with other Austrian, Belgian, Luxembourg and German institutions to make this book a veritable catalogue of collectibles and the most complete pictorial sum of the powerful Habsburg army in the second half of the 18th and early 19th century.