A White Death Among the Ranks. Tuberculosis in the Austro-Hungarian Army, 1882–1914

This article is devoted to the incidence of tuberculosis in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial-Royal Army between the years 1882 and 1914, with a special focus on the region of Cisleithania. The first part of the article discusses the organisation of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, drawing attention to those features of the organisation that may prove informative when researching the health status of the wider population as a whole. The question of the extent of the threat of tuberculosis in Austria-Hungary is then addressed, which shall allow us to move on to the incidence of the disease in the Imperial Royal Army. Drawing on archivally collated statistics, I consider the morbidity-mortality curves and the susceptibility to the disease of the soldiers of each army type. The next part of the paper considers a possible crossover between the incidence of tuberculosis in civilian society and in the army, using the example of selected regiments billeted in Cisleithania. The last part of the article shall discuss the preventive measures taken by military authorities, such as dismissing those struck down with the disease from active service and the implementation of a more rigid hygienic regime.