The regular Austro-Hungarian army, meaning the Imperial and Royal Army, was the joint army of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Together with the divisions of Landwera, Honwed and Landsturm, it formed the land forces of the Danube monarchy (Ger. Landstreitkrräfte). This army was based on the principle of universal military service for men. In 1912, the rules of conscription were changed, according to which a soldier in active service was to serve 2 years, in the case of service in horse artillery and cavalry - 3 years. On the other hand, the duration of the provision was set at 10 and 7 years, respectively. The porób concerned all men aged 19-50 or 55 in Hungary. On the eve of World War I, it was assumed that Austria-Hungary, after universal mobilization, would raise an army of approximately 1.8 million people, compared to approximately 2.8 million in the German army and nearly 3.5 million in the Russian army. In August 1914, 6 armies were mobilized, divided into 18 army corps, which in total corresponded roughly to the mobilization plans. A single corps usually consisted of two infantry divisions and one division of Landszturm or Honved. This also includes: sapper and communications sub-units and an artillery component consisting of 8 150 mm guns.
The Russian infantry, as well as the entire Russian armed forces, underwent changes after the defeat in the war with Japan in 1904-1905. First of all, efforts were made to improve the training of privates, but also non-commissioned officers and officer cadres, and efforts were also made to use the bloody experience in tactics and operational art. Although efforts were made to improve the state of affairs in the period 1905-1914, the effects were often far from the expected. Just before World War I, the Russian army counted around 1.3 million people on the peace rate, and after mobilization this number increased significantly. It is estimated that by the end of October 1914, about 6 million soldiers were mobilized, and during the entire First World War, about 12 million people were mobilized, although these data are often divergent in various studies. The Russian infantry, just before the Great War, was divided into 122 infantry divisions and constituted about 80% of the land army of the tsarist empire. These units were divided into 1st-throw divisions with higher manpower in peacetime and 2nd-tier divisions. In total, the Russian armed forces had around 6,900 guns and mortars at the outbreak of World War I. Generally, it can be said that the Russian infantry soldier was a tough and resistant to numerous hardships infantryman, who, however, most often gave way in terms of training or armament to his German and - less often - Austro-Hungarian opponent. Communication, the quality of the commanding staff, and in the declining period of the war, also supply, were also compromised in the Russian infantry.
At the start of World War I, in August 1914, the army of imperial Germany was considered the best and most efficient in the Old Continent. Such a conviction resulted mainly from the fame of the victories won in the course of the wars with Austria in 1866 and with France in the years 1870-1871. Also, many organizational solutions used at that time in the Prussian army, and later in the German army (e.g. strategic railway lines or mobilization techniques) were copied in other European countries. As in the French and Russian armies, the largest number of armed forces in the German army in 1914 was infantry. The German infantryman at that time was his main armament with the successful 7.92mm Mauser Gewehr 98 rifle, and on his head he wore the famous pickelhaub - so mercilessly used as a symbol of German militarism in the caricature of the Entente countries. It is worth adding that the German infantry uniform was much less colorful than its French counterpart. At the outbreak of the Great War, the German corps consisted of the headquarters, 2 infantry divisions, a heavy artillery squadron (16 150 mm caliber howitzers), a communications battalion, a searchlight company and an air company. The infantry division in turn consisted of two brigades, each of them two infantry regiments. On the other hand, a single infantry regiment consisted of 3 battalions and a machine gun company of 6 heavy machine guns. It is worth adding that the infantry division was supported by an artillery brigade of 72 guns. Of course, in the course of World War I, the German infantry underwent far-reaching changes. First of all, a steel helmet (German Stahlhelm) was introduced into the weaponry, which, with minor changes, survived in the German armed forces until the end of… World War II! Hand grenades, gas masks and light machine guns (German: leichte Maschinengewehr - abbreviated as lMG) also began to be used on a large scale. Branches such as Stosstruppen also appeared.
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