Why were Austrian forces in WW1 so second rate?

First of all, the Austrian leadership was horrendous. Many visiting German officers were appalled at the quality of recruits. As one British officer put it: I would rather face 5 Austrian divisions than two German ones. read more

This is especially significant when we look at the causes of casualties in modern wars such as WWI - about 3/4 of casualties were caused by artillery, so an artilleryless military was close to useless. This was the state of Austria-Hungary's military in 1914 and what differentiated it from the first rate militaries like Germany, France, and the UK. read more