Despite its reputation as disorganised and reactionary, the Habsburg Army was a pioneer in the collection of statistical data. Already by the mid-eighteenth century, the Austrian military administration was using standardised tables and pre-printed forms to record the personal data of its officers and soldiers. The War Department (Kriegsarchiv) of the Austrian State Archives in Vienna holds a separate series (MLST) of more than twelve thousand cartons preserving the original manpower records of the years 1740 to 1820. Between them, these records preserve the personal data of several millions of soldiers and their families.

The project of Ilya Berkovich, researcher at the Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), combines this untapped treasure throve of lives and histories with another neglected aspect of Austrian history. It is all but forgotten that the Habsburg Monarchy was the first state in modern history to draft its Jewish population into the army. From Joseph II’s conscription edict to the final defeat of Napoleon, some 35,000 Jewish soldiers took part in Austria’s wars. Through meticulous archival work, Berkovich began unearthing their service itineraries. Following the publication of several focused studies dealing with specific units (for example, mercenaries , Freikorps soldiers, and Kaiserjäger), he has merged all his research data into a comprehensive open-access database hosted on CERN’s Open repository ZENODO.

2,500 Entries in Open-access Database

This month, the database celebrates a major milestone – having reached more than 2,500 entries for individual Jewish soldiers. When information about family members is included, the total number of individuals in the database approaches 3,500 persons. This material of timeless relevance to anyone interested in the integration of ethnic and religious minorities into the civil service and mainstream society. At the same time, they offer a unique insight into the experiences of ordinary people whose perspectives are often lost in mainstream studies that focus on institutions and the “great men of history”.

When considered together, these materials reveal an important yet overlooked step in the history of Jewish Emancipation. Military jurisdiction treated Jewish soldiers as equal. Their service in combat roles visibly challenged established cultural stereotypes. Like other deserving soldiers, Jews could be promoted and receive command authority (Befehlsgewalt), including the right to inflict summary punishment, as described by Ilya Berkovich in the Blog "Geschichte Österreichs" by DER STANDARD. Such direct power of a Jew over a Christian was unthinkable in contemporary civilian society. Furthermore, through military service in garrisons spread across the Habsburg Lands, these soldiers re-established a stable Jewish presence in areas where Jews had previously been banned for centuries. By comparison, equality in mainstream society had to wait until the Dual Monarchy and the Constitution of 1867. The Military was three generations ahead of its time.