1.
Austria-Hungary
–
The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
2.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
Romania
–
Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
4.
Aceh War
–
The war was part of a series of conflicts in the late 19th century that consolidated Dutch rule over modern-day Indonesia. The campaign drew controversy in the Netherlands as photographs and accounts of the toll were reported. Isolated insurgencies continued as late as 1914 and popular resistance continued into the World War II era, for much of the 19th century, Acehs independence had been guaranteed by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 and its status as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century. During the 1820s, Aceh became a political and commercial power, supplying half of the worlds pepper. Growing European and American demand for pepper led to a series of skirmishes between the British, French and Americans. During the reign of Sultan Alauddin Ibrahim Mansur Syah, the Aceh Sultanate brought the regional rajas under its control, however, this southward trend clashed with the northwards expansion of Dutch colonialism in Sumatra. In return, Britain gained control of the Dutch Gold Coast in Africa, Dutch territorial ambitions in Aceh were fuelled by a desire to exploit its natural resources, especially black pepper and oil, and to eliminate an independent native state player. The Dutch also sought to ward off other rival colonial powers that had ambitions in Southeast Asia, particularly the British, the Dutch tried one strategy after another over the course of decades. In 1873 they tried a single attack, but it failed. They then tried a naval blockade, reconciliation, concentration within a line of forts, reaching 15 to 20 million guilders a year, the heavy spending for failed strategies nearly bankrupted the colonial government. In 1873, negotiations took place in Singapore between representatives of the Aceh Sultanate and the local American Consul over a potential bilateral treaty, the Dutch saw this as a violation of a prior agreement with the British in 1871 and used this as an opportunity to annexe Aceh militarily. An expedition under Major General Johan Harmen Rudolf Köhler was sent out on 26 March 1873 and it was the intention of the Dutch to attack and take the Sultans palace, which would also lead to the occupation of the entire country. The Sultan requested and possibly received military aid from Italy and the United Kingdom in Singapore, in any case the Aceh army was rapidly modernised and enlarged with figures ranging from 10,000 to 100,000. Underestimating the military abilities of the Acehnese, the Dutch made some tactical errors and these defeats undermined Dutch morale and prestige. Forced to retreat, the Dutch imposed a blockade of Aceh. In an attempt to preserve Acehs independence, Sultan Mahmud appealed to the other Western powers and Turkey for help, while the American Consul was sympathetic, the American government remained neutral. Due to its position in the international political stage, the Ottoman Empire was impotent. Meanwhile, the British refused to intervene due to their relations with the Dutch while the French declined to respond to Mahmuds appeal, in November 1873, a second expedition consisting of 13,000 troops led by General Jan van Swieten was dispatched to Aceh
5.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
6.
Centerfire ammunition
–
A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component, centerfire cartridges have supplanted the rimfire variety in all but the smallest cartridge sizes. The stronger base of a cartridge is able to withstand higher pressures which in turn give a bullet greater velocity. Larger caliber rimfire cartridges require greater volumes of priming explosive than centerfire cartridges, reducing the amount of priming explosive would reduce the reliability of rimfire cartridge ignition, and increase the probability of misfire or dud cartridges. Economies of scale are achieved through interchangeable primers for a variety of centerfire cartridge calibers. The expensive individual brass cases can be reused after replacing the primer, gunpowder, the forward portion of some empty cases can be reformed for use as obsolete or wildcat cartridges with similar base configuration. Modern cartridges larger than.22 caliber are mostly centerfire, actions suitable for larger caliber rimfire cartridges declined in popularity until the demand for them no longer exceeded manufacturing costs, and they became obsolete. An early form of ammunition, without a percussion cap, was invented between 1808 and 1812 by Jean Samuel Pauly. This was also the first fully integrated cartridge, true centerfire ammunition was invented by the Frenchman Clement Pottet in 1829. However, Pottet would not perfect his design until 1855, the centerfire cartridge was improved by Benjamin Houllier, Gastinne Renette, Charles Lancaster, George Morse, Francois Schneider, Hiram Berdan and Edward Mounier Boxer. The identifying feature of centerfire ammunition is the primer which is a cup containing a primary explosive inserted into a recess in the center of the base of the cartridge. The firearm firing pin crushes this explosive between the cup and an anvil to produce hot gas and a shower of incandescent particles to ignite the powder charge, Berdan priming is less expensive to manufacture and is much more common in military-surplus ammunition made outside the United States. Berdan primers are named after their American inventor, Hiram Berdan of New York who invented his first variation of the Berdan primer and patented it on March 20,1866, in U. S. A small copper cylinder formed the shell of the cartridge, and this system worked well, allowing the option of installing a cap just before use of the propellant-loaded cartridge as well as permitting reloading the cartridge for reuse. S. Berdan primers have remained essentially the same functionally to the present day, Berdan primers are similar to the caps used in the caplock system, being small metal cups with pressure-sensitive explosive in them. Modern Berdan primers are pressed into the pocket of a Berdan-type cartridge case. Inside the primer pocket is a bump, the anvil, that rests against the center of the cup. Berdan cases are reusable, although the process is rather involved, the used primer must be removed, usually by hydraulic pressure or a pincer or lever that pulls the primer out of the bottom
7.
Smokeless powder
–
Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery that produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the black powder they replaced. The basis of the term smokeless is that the products are mainly gaseous. Despite its name, smokeless powder is not completely free of smoke, while there may be little noticeable smoke from small-arms ammunition, since the 14th century gunpowder was not actually a physical powder, and smokeless powder can be produced only as a pelletized or extruded granular material. Smokeless powder allowed the development of modern semi- and fully automatic firearms and lighter breeches, burnt black powder leaves a thick, heavy fouling that is hygroscopic and causes rusting of the barrel. The fouling left by smokeless powder exhibits none of these properties and this makes an autoloading firearm with many moving parts feasible. However, they are used as propellants, in normal use. Before the widespread introduction of smokeless powder the use of black powder caused many problems on the battlefield, Military commanders since the Napoleonic Wars reported difficulty with giving orders on a battlefield obscured by the smoke of firing. Verbal commands could not be heard above the noise of the guns, unless there was a strong wind, after a few shots, soldiers using black powder ammunition would have their view obscured by a huge cloud of smoke. Snipers or other concealed shooters were given away by a cloud of smoke over the firing position, black powder is also corrosive, making cleaning mandatory after every use. Likewise, black powders tendency to produce severe fouling caused actions to jam, nitroglycerine was synthesized by the Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1847. Nitroglycerine is also sensitive, making it unfit to be carried in battlefield conditions. A major step forward was the discovery of guncotton, a nitrocellulose-based material and he promoted its use as a blasting explosive and sold manufacturing rights to the Austrian Empire. Guncotton was more powerful than gunpowder, but at the time was once again somewhat more unstable. John Taylor obtained an English patent for guncotton, and John Hall & Sons began manufacture in Faversham, English interest languished after an explosion destroyed the Faversham factory in 1847. Small arms could not withstand the pressures generated by guncotton, Abel patented this process in 1865 when the second Austrian guncotton factory exploded. After the Stowmarket factory exploded in 1871, Waltham Abbey began production of guncotton for torpedo, in 1863, Prussian artillery captain Johann F. E. Schultze patented a small-arms propellent of nitrated hardwood impregnated with saltpeter or barium nitrate. Prentice received an 1866 patent for a powder of nitrated paper manufactured at Stowmarket. In 1871, Frederick Volkmann received an Austrian patent for a version of Schultze powder called Collodin
8.
Service rifle
–
The service rifle of a given army or armed force is that which it issues as standard to its soldiers. In modern forces, this is typically a highly versatile and rugged assault rifle, battle rifle or carbine suitable for use in all theatres. These may include urban warfare and jungle warfare environments, most armies also have service pistols/side arms. Originally, rifles used in combat were not standard-issue weapons like the service rifles of today. Rifles were for specialist marksmen only, whilst the ordinary infantry were issued less accurate smoothbore muskets which had a rate of fire, with bore diameters as high as 19 mm. By the middle of the 19th century, however, rifles were becoming more and more common on the battlefield, originally, these combat rifles were single-shot muzzle-loading weapons, but as technology advanced through the 18th and 19th centuries, so too did the technique of loading rounds. By this time almost all prominent armies in the world had some sort of service rifle. During the Second World War, there was yet another leap forward in design which was to influence service rifles even today. That is, the use of a fired cartridges gas emissions to automatically rechamber rounds into the once a bullet had been fired. These weapons were known as gas-operated firearms and these rifles usually fired a full-sized cartridge, such as the. 30-06 Springfield or.303 British, as opposed to an intermediate rifle cartridge. The first of these was the Sturmgewehr 44, used by Nazi Germany in the stages of the Second World War. The StG44 was not issued in numbers, and was never adopted as Germanys service rifle. The Haitian Army was disbanded by the United States, and replaced in 1915 by the Gendarmerie dHaïti, the Haitian Army was again disbanded in 1995. Tibet was de facto independent from 1912 until the 1950s, and fielded the Tibetan Army List of assault rifles
9.
Geweer M. 95
–
The Dutch Mannlicher, also known as the M.95, was the service rifle of the Armed forces of the Netherlands between 1895 and 1945 which replaced the obsolete Beaumont-Vitali M1871/88. At first it was produced by Steyr for the Dutch, but after 1904 and it was based on the earlier Mannlicher 1893 Model that was submitted to and won the Romanian rifle trials. The M1893 was itself a modernized version of the German Gewehr 1888. Both Dutch and Romanian rifles fired the same rimmed 6. 5×53 mmR cartridge often referred to as Romanian or Dutch 6.5, the Dutch issued about 470,000 M. 95s. Its cartridge also saw limited success as a round, including use by the elephant hunter W. D. M. Bell. M95 rifles arrived at the disposal of German forces and were used under the designation Gewehr 211, the M.95 was fairly modern when adopted, but painfully obsolete by the end of its service life. The Dutch military lacked the funds to replace it, and as such it remained in service for 47 years, nine variants were produced, these were largely carbines differing only in sling swivels. M.95 Loopgraafgeweer, a Periscope rifle version of the M.95, around 1930, new models of No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4 were introduced, in 1936 a shorter No.5 carbine model was introduced
10.
Clip (firearms)
–
A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit, ready for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process of loading and reloading the firearm as several rounds can be loaded at once, several different types of clips exist, most of which are made of inexpensive metal stampings that are designed to be disposable, though they are often re-used. Detachable magazines are often referred to as clips. The defining difference is that clips are used to load magazines, a stripper clip or charger is a speed-loader that holds several cartridges together in a single unit for easier loading of a firearms magazine. A stripper clip is used only for loading the magazine and is not necessary for the firearm to function, several rifle designs utilize an en bloc clip to load the firearm. The en bloc clip was invented by two firearms inventors working on lines, James Paris Lee for his Lee rifle of 1890. Original Austrian Mannlicher clips were often uni-directional, but already the Gewehr 88, John Pedersen at first developed an irreversible clip for his rifle, later he redesigned the clip to be reversible. This design was utilized for the competing designs by John Garand. A moon clip is a ring-shaped or stellate piece of metal designed to hold a full cylinder of ammunition for a revolver together as a unit. Therefore, instead of loading or extracting one round at a time, a similar device known as the half-moon clip is semi-circular and designed to hold a half cylinder of ammunition —in which case two clips are necessary to fully load the cylinder. Such devices have most often used to chamber rimless semi-automatic pistol cartridges in a revolver
