page_title: Austro-Italian ironclad arms race
section_title: The Austrian ironclad debate
hierarchical_section_title: Austro-Italian ironclad arms race / Escalation of the arms race / The Austrian ironclad debate
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die österreichische Panzerfregatte "Don Juan d'Austria", 1864.
context_page_description: A naval arms race between the Austrian Empire and Italy began in the 1860s when both ordered a series of ironclad warships, steam-propelled vessels protected by iron or steel armor plates and far more powerful than all-wood ships of the line. These ships were constructed to establish control over the Adriatic Sea in the event of a conflict between the two countries.
  The unification of much of Italy in this time period resulted in the amalgamation of the various navies of the former Italian states into the Regia Marina. The Sardinian component included two Formidabile-class ironclads, ordered from France in 1860, which became Italy's first broadside ironclads. The country quickly began a substantial construction program to bolster the Regia Marina, as the Italians believed that a strong navy would play a crucial role in making the recently unified kingdom a great power.
  These actions captured the attention of the Austrian Empire, which viewed Italy with great suspicion and worry, as irredentist claims by Italian nationalists were directed at key Austrian territories such as Venice, Trentino, and Trieste.
context_section_description: While Emperor Franz Joseph I's support enabled Ferdinand Max's project to proceed despite the objections of several Austrian ministries and the Reichsrat, the political damage caused by the Oberkommandant der Marine circumventing the traditional budget process threatened the future development of the Imperial Austrian Navy. Calls were made from within the Reichsrat for Ferdinand Max to be placed under the supervision of the government. As both the operational and administrative head of the Imperial Austrian Navy, the Archduke had considerable leeway to carry out objectives which he himself had the freedom to set. Not even the Imperial Austrian Army had this sort of political and bureaucratic freedom. Ferdinand Max ultimately agreed to a reshuffling of the roles he held within the Imperial Austrian Navy on the condition that a naval ministry would be formed to preserve the achievements he had made over the past half-decade. In January 1862, Franz Joseph I established a new ministry which would oversee the affairs of both the Imperial Austrian Navy, and the Austrian merchant marine, and named Count Matthais von Wickenburg its head. Under this new system, Ferdinand Max continued to be the Oberkommandant der Marine, but he was no longer responsible for the political management of the fleet. This move was made once again in opposition to the wishes of the Imperial Austrian Army, and the Reichsrat.
  In order to address the gap between naval expenditures and construction plans with the will of the Reichsrat, which had rejected Ferdinand Max's ambitious proposals the year before, Emperor Franz Joseph I accepted a proposal from War Minister Count August von Degenfeld to convene a special commission to look at the role of the Imperial Austrian Navy in Austrian foreign and military policy. The commission would also examine the various proposals for the direction of the navy, to include Ferdinand Max's ironclad project. The Emperor convened this commission in February. The key question Franz Joseph I asked the commission was whether or not it was essential to maintain the Imperial Austrian Navy in order for Austria to remain a Great Power in Europe, if it was necessary for the navy to expand to the same size as the Regia Marina, and whether or not it the navy should transition towards prioritizing coastal defense, as opposed to wrestling control of the Adriatic or Mediterranean Seas from Italy in the event of war.
  Two camps quickly formed: Those who supported Ferdinand Max's ironclad program and wished to continue the arms race with Italy, and those who supported transitioning the Imperial Austrian Navy into a coastal defense force centered upon protecting the Austrian Empire from naval invasion as opposed to securing the Adriatic against the Regia Marina. Political and nationalist lines helped to divide the two camps. Among those opposing the navy's ironclad program were German liberals from the Austrian interior and the Sudetenland, as well as other nationalities hailing from the inland parts of the Empire who had little interest in expanding Austrian sea power. The leader of the anti-ironclad, pro-coastal defense faction was Karl Möring, a former Austrian Army engineer with experience in heavy artillery. Möring argued that new fortifications and coastal artillery would be sufficient to defend Austria's limited maritime interests and its coastline, and that the large sums of money Ferdinand Max supported spending on constructing ironclad warships would be better spent elsewhere. Möring went so far as to publish a pamphlet attacking the Archduke's program outright, calling it a waste of Austrian finances and resources, while also arguing that an ironclad battle fleet would be of no value against Italy in the event of a war, as the decisive engagements Austria would fight in such a conflict would be on land.
  At the commission's meeting in March 1862, Degenfeld disagreed with Möring's analysis and declared that it was imperative for the Imperial Austrian Navy possess an ironclad fleet as powerful as the Regia Marina. Matthais von Wick
caption: The Kaiser Max-class ironclad Don Juan d'Austria. She and her sister ships were designed as Austria's response to the Italian Re d'Italia-class ironclads.
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