Why did Austria-Hungary do so badly in WWI?

[Felix C]

Originally Posted by Devlost

I have been watching some stuff about WWI and when AH comes up it seems to just be one problem after another. Ill-equipped troops, generals/leaders that consistently make horrible tactical/strategic decisions, and Germany having to constantly save their butt in battle and for all intents and purposes doing the good majority of the grunt work while picking up AH slack.

Hell, they weren't even able to really take Serbia facing just some guerilla fighters.

For such a large and seemingly competent nation at least on the outside why was AH so bad/incompetent at...pretty much everything they did?

The AH army suffered extensive casualties in early campaigning which limited their ability to improve as the war progressed. As any army on the attack experienced in WW1 particularly in the early campaigning when brute force was used to storm positions. Extensive ethnic groups meant a lack of homogeneity which meant lessened training proficiency and resolve.

They did fail significantly against the Russians in a number of campaigns. But they did creditably against the Serbians and Italians. Serbia was overrun with German help and Italy was held in the Julian Alps for years.(The terrain tremendously aiding the defender) German troops leading/stiffening the Austrians in 1917 lead to the Caporetto disaster.

Very Good reading here regarding German and Austria: http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Worl.../dp/0340573481

[AuburnAL]

Originally Posted by Felix C

The AH army suffered extensive casualties in early campaigning which limited their ability to improve as the war progressed. As any army on the attack experienced in WW1 particularly in the early campaigning when brute force was used to storm positions. Extensive ethnic groups meant a lack of homogeneity which meant lessened training proficiency and resolve.

Indeed. At one point in the war they fielded a group of language that spoke English as their lingua d'guerre. The officers had been English professors before the war, and the enlisted troops were miners and factory workers who were learning English so they could emigrate to the US.