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World War I (1914-1918)


Guns & Cannons


Guns & Cannons


Howitzers

Mortars

Cannon Wagons

Flak Wagons

ICBM

Locomotives

Rolling Stock


Armored Trains

In 1914 the kuk Imperial and Royal Army did not possess any armored trains. The first armored trains were improvised in Galicia to carry out enemy reconnaissance. First with lightly armored locomotives, later with cover in lightly armored wagons. The first units consisted of one or two armored locomotives with two or three armored cars. In addition, there was a material wagon with superstructure material and a team wagon. The armor protected against pointed projectiles, small fragments of explosives and shrapnel filler balls. Later armored trains were equipped with one or two 7cm L/30 SFKn rapid-fire guns and two to eight machine guns. Machine guns and rifles fired from loopholes. The kuk armored trains therefore had a high firepower and were used in reconnaissance raids, to repair damage to the railway superstructure, to destroy railway facilities, or often used to cover retreating units.



Troop Transport

Hospital Trains

Draisine

Narrow Gauge



On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian-backed terrorist. During the crisis that followed, Europe's leaders made a series of political, diplomatic and military decisions that would turn a localised conflict in south-east Europe into a global war.


Austria-Hungary, with German encouragement, declared war on Serbia on 28 July. Russia's support of Serbia brought France into the conflict. Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August and France on 3 August. Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality and British fears of German domination in Europe brought Britain and its empire into the war on 4 August.