Together with the Dragoons and Uhlans, the Imperial and Royal Hussars (German: k.u.k. Husaren), made up the cavalry of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1867 to 1918, both in the Common Army and in the Hungarian Landwehr, where they were known as the Royal Hungarian Hussars (k.u. Husaren).
The Austrian monarchy, weakened by losing the war against Prussia in 1866, had to effectively guarantee the autonomy of Kingdom of Hungary in the so-called Compromise of 15 March 1867. As a result, the Hungarian half of the Empire immediately began to establish its own army, the Royal Hungarian Landwehr (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvédség). The cavalry of the Hungarian Landwehr was made up of the Landwehr Hussars.
Following the signing of the Compromise, the Austrian half of the Empire also started to build an army, the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (German: k.k. Landwehr). The two new Landwehr forces thus existed alongside the Common Army (Gemeinsame Armee), the imperial army of the whole Empire. In effect this meant that Austria-Hungary had three separate armies at the same time.
The Common Army had 16 hussar regiments and the Royal Hungarian Landwehr had ten. By tradition, the majority of the hussars were recruited from the Hungarian lands (modern-day Hungary, Slovakia and parts of Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Austria and Poland). The regiments, with a few exceptions, were all stationed there.
A list of the Imperial and Royal Hussars regiments in 1914 is given below by short title (i.e. "1st Hussars" as opposed to "1st Regiment of Hussars").
The regiments listed below were part of the Royal Hungarian Hussars, also known as the Royal Hungarian Honved Hussars (k.u. Husaren), Honvéd being Hungarian for "Home-defender". English sources usually refer to regiments simply as e.g. the "1st Hussars" or "1st Honved Hussars".:
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