Austrian Armed Forces
armed forces of the Republic of Austria
The Austrian Armed Forces (Austrian German: Bundesheer, lit. 'Federal Army') are the combined military forces of Austria.
The military consists of 16,000 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 1.0% of national GDP (including pensions) or €3.317 billion (2023, without pensions).
History
Interwar
In 1918, the Republic of German-Austria established a military known as the German-Austrian People's Militia or Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr ("People's Defence"). Volkswehr forces took part in military confrontations with Royal Yugoslav Army troops which occupied parts of Carinthia that Austria claimed as its own. In 1920, after the Republic of German-Austria transitioned into the First Austrian Republic, the new regime changed the military's name to the Bundesheer ("Federal Army"), which it has been known by ever since. In 1938, Bundesheer officers led by Alfred Jansa developed a military operation plan to defend against a potential invasion by Nazi Germany, which ultimately went unused due to a lack of political willpower when the Germans annexed Austria in the same year during the Anschluss. Under German rule, the Bundesheer was disbanded, and many Austrians served during World War II in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS (Austrian SS).
World War II role of the "Bundesheer":
Elements of Austrian Army became 9th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
Elements of Austrian Army became 44th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
4th Austrian Division became the 45th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
5th and 7th Austrian Divisions became the 3rd Mountain Division (Wehrmacht)
6th Austrian Division became the 2nd Mountain Division (Wehrmacht)
In 1955, Austria issued its Declaration of Neutrality, meaning that it would never join a military alliance. The Austrian Armed Forces' main purpose since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Austrian Armed Forces” is armed forces of the Republic of Austria. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Austrian, Armed and Forces, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q248710. VIAF identifies the subject as 147166546. The Library of Congress control number is n50070872. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023, 1918, 1920 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Austrian Armed Forces” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.