"Austrian Empire Motto?" Topic

Hi Folks,

Does anyone know what motto was used by the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Era?

Thanks!

Well one of the mottoes of the House of Hapsburg was

"Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry"

:)

"We're still here!"

"Absolutism, tempered by sloppiness"

Austriae Est Imperare Orbi Universo, although there are other slight variants

Mike

AEIOU

See

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.E.I.O.U.

"We are too relevant!"

"We already bought the vowels"?

The other white coats.

Rich:

Hope you weren't hoping for a serious, informative, educational answer…

Michael

I don't think that there was one, Rich. I've never seen a motto scroll with any Imperial coat-of-arms shields. The flags didn't carry a motto, just the Imperial cyphers like MT for Maria Theresa or FII for Francis II. The important thing was the coat-of-arms itself that would change with the monarch and what lands were controlled.

Maybe there's a motto for the Order of the Golden Fleece that you could use for whatever your purposes are?

"Try, try, try again"

"Better luck next time"

"If at first you don't succeed, disband the landwehr"

"Nuke then from orbit, it's the only way to be sure"

:-)

"At least we're not Germany"

Quicker to fail but easier to paint.

Thanks for all the replies, serious and otherwise. From what I've been able to determine, the one first offered by Mike (Gefreiter1) might be the best bet for my purposes but as others have suggested, there probably wasn't one like the Prussian "Pro Gloria et Patria" or the British "Dieu et mon droit".

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

"If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your thing".

"He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day."(or at least up to 1921 when the whole ramshackle thing fell into pieces)

""Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry"

Whoever said this clearly has never been married.

"Motivated by a desire to avoid defeat" has often been said of them. Actually, not as crazy as it sounds from a strategic perspective. Survival of the Dynasty was what it was all about for them.

We won…..eventually!!

Heraldic motto :
Съ нами Богъ !
S nami Bog !
God with us !

Government motto (actually coined 1833):
Православие – Самодержавие – Народность
Pravoslavie – Samoderzhavie – Narodnost
Orthodoxy – Autocracy – Nationality

Guess who ?
:-)

Liechtenstein?

Metternich?

I'll be Back!!

"Liechtenstein?"
I was thinking Monaco, but ….
:-)

It appears that "Narodnost" was a little controversial, a little modern or even "Romantic" and possibly dilutive of the key points : Pravoslavie & Samoderzhavie

You see, conquering and oppressing other people in the name of the ethnic group dominating the nation was perhaps just a little too "populist".

Charming, no ?

French was the international language of Courts, then.
Was not 'Dieu et mon doigt' ('God and my finger') the motto of more than one Empress?

Why would the Austrians be using Cyrillic lettering?

Abdul666lw,
Do you know how much I want to make a joke about the "Dieu et mon doigt" and an Austrian/French/or any other nations Princess? I mean really, really want to make a joke? (I will probably delete this message in about 3 minutes!).

3 minutes later….er, how do you delete a message?

I have never figured it out either! <;^}

"Just Win ONCE PLEASE!"

Okay, here's my dilemma. I want to add a Prince Eugene mug to the new line of Generals Mugs (link below) but can't find a motto for Austria. England, Prussia, Russia and France are all covered, but poor Austria appears to be "mottoless". Looks like I'll go with "Austriae Est Imperare Orbi Universo".

link

Seriously, the only Austrian motto I know is K&K- Kaiserlich und Koeniglich.
Above cyrillic mottoes are Russian Empire…

By placing gen Platov on the mug- shouldnt the motto be Steak Tartar or Bistro-Bistro :-)

@ Matratmatt: leave it… it's an English speaking board, anyway!
Everybody: sorry for the mistake, the motto I quoted was obviously that of some 'Virgin Queen' – perhaps Elizabeth I, though she's said to have been more successful as a Queen than as a Virgin…

Jean-Louis
aka Louys de Monte-Cristo
link

Rich,

Yes, go with the real thing!

Mike

OK …. if you want to be fussy about details, ataman Platov and the cossacks were not (strictly) Russian, and the Don cossacks fought not under the Russian national flag but under there own, and the ataman had his own motto. The relationship was rather feudal, a little like Burgundians fighting for the King of France in the middle ages. Or you could think of it as a little like the treaty arrangements made by the USA with some Native Peoples which included alliance and service with the Federal government in exchange for land tenure.

Платов граф Матвей Иванович – атаман войска Донского, генерал от кавалерии
« Верность, храбрость и полезные труды »

Platov graf Matvey Ivanovich – ataman voyska Donskogo, general ot kavalerii
« Vernost, hrabrost i poleznye trudy »

Count Matvey Ivanovich Platov – Chieftain of the Don Host, General of Cavalry
« Fidelity, bravery and useful service »

Good motto for cossacks, no ?

picture
picture
Don Host banner as granted by the Russians, with the image of the Russian state coat of arms in gold in the panel, surrounded by from below palm and olive branches, and on top by an arched ribbon of the order of Saint George, on which is embroidered the inscription: "Вернолюбезному Войску Донскому, за оказанные заслуги в продолжении кампании против Французов 1807 года" ; on the other side, in a silver panel, the Cross with rays and with the same adornments and inscription as on the first side; in the angles the monogram of the name of Emperor, in palm and olive branches. It is granted in 1811 for the exploits during the second French war in Prussia, in which participated thirteen Don regiments under ataman Platov.
(Replaced in 1817 by a banner for service 1812-1814.)

picture
picture
Pennant of the Don ataman

Note: there was also a banner for the ataman regiment of Don cossacks.

Chasseur- I was just making a joke- Poshutil.
But you are correct in that pic of Raevskiy or Bagration might be more suitable for the motto and infantry color on the mug. But that is indeed fussy. :-)

Sergeis – yes, yes … I was writign after looking at the mug, not in response to your post.
For you, moe droog, the fussy response would be :
"s/b steak Tatar"
Anyway, the old Cyrillic on the mug is way cool.
:-)

Austrian motto:

"Die Lage ist hoffnungslos, aber nicht verzweifelt."

Greetings from Graz.

Austria – Spritual Home of the Sound of Music.

Maria even married the Duke of Wellington at the end of the film … ahhhhh.

How about the old joke describing the different attitudes to military affairs between Prussia and Austria?

'In Prussia, the situation is often serious, but not hopeless. In Austria the ituation is often hopeless, but not serious'

In seriousness I think that AEIOU was Franz Josef's personal motto, not that of the Empire as a whole. I am sure Franz I had one too, although I am not sure what it was.

K

@Khevenhuller

My last post was yours but in German :-))

Ulenspiegel

Ulenspiegel

Sorry, missed it

K

K&K- Kaiserlich und Koeniglich – Imperial and Royal was a description applied to the armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

138
Exactly, post 1867 it becomes K & K, the '&' is significant as it is part of the Dualism agreement with Hungary.

Before that it is just KK

K