WITH DRAWN SWORD

Austro-Hungarian sidearms from 1848 to 1918 in over 1,two hundred photographs. From the publisher of the superb "The Emperor's Coat" and "German Army in the First World War" (also available from Barbarossa Books), comes this fantastic study of Austro-Hungarian sidearms. It contains detailed descriptions of every sabre, sword and dagger used in the Austrian Monarchy. Some of the most beautiful and rare edged weapons in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna and the Hungarian Army Museum in Budapest have been photographed for this book. More than 540 pages cover everything from infantry, cavalry and technical troops, through Gendarmes and officials, to the navy and various Imperial Guards. The sabres belonging to famous historical figures are particularly interesting; for instance the sabre presented to the German Emperor Wilhelm II to his KuK hussar regiment, the sabre owned by Emperor Karl I, and the stunning work of a skilled goldsmith on the sabre presented to the Austrian Field-Marshal Radetzky during the Revolution in 1848, by Vienna's National Guard. Open this book and follow the development of Austro-Hungarian edged weapons, from the simple cut-and-thrust weapons of the 19th Century to the elaborately decorated status symbols of the then KuK Army.