Research about officers of the k.u.k. Austrian - Hungarian army

All information on military persons is archived at

Österreichisches Staatsarchiv

Kriegsarchiv

Nottendorfergasse 2

A-1030 Wien

Phone: +43 (01) 795 40

Requests for search can be made at the archive, and there is a large library which can be accessed. I found three main sections the most interesting for genealogy research:

1. Schematismus
2. Regimentsgeschichten
3. Adelsverzeichnis

1. Schematismus:

The Schematismus is a handbook of all units of the army. It appeared once per year starting about 1830/50 up to the first World War.

The Schematismus lists the unit, the location of the unit and the officers in this unit. It shows an index of all names, so that with the name you can find the unit and the place where this officer lived in that year. Going year by year, you can trace the career of an officer.

2. Regimentsgeschichte (history of the units):

A collection of the history of the units allows you to look up the historical background of the life of the officer. You can see if the unit was involved in war and special exploits.

This link gives a collection of different histories, it is not necessarily complete nor all those books are available at the Kriegsarchiv.

3. Adelsverzeichnis:

If your ancestors have been nobilitated, which happened often for officers or businessmen, you can look them up in the different registers of nobility. These registers are perfect for genealogical research. The collection in the Kriegsarchiv look quite complete.

 

Attention:

According to information I received, the military records of those people from areas that later became independent are in the successor state, e.g. Poland for Galician's. Officers would still show in the Schematismus.