Dr Jiri Hutečka, Associate Professor at the Institute of History, University of Hradec Králové, talks about the motivation and morale of Czech soldiers fighting in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Great War. In July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Army had 36,000 officers and 414,000 NCOs spread across regular and territorial defence force, the landwehr. During the conflict, the army expanded to around 7.8million in 1917. Like the Austro-Hungarian empire, the army was composed of many ethnic, religious and national groupings. Czech soldiers made up around 10% of the total force, the…