By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Austrian Army was suffering terribly. Conniving counsels and incompetent aristocratic noblemen took command of the armed forces, and led them into collapse. Obsolete tactics were constantly modified with totally absurd clarifications, which far from removing the old problems, created new ones.
The organization and management system became so complex and fluid that even the higher authorities were confused. Battle training and regimentation of the Austrian infantry was quite erratic. As a result of reducing the size of the army in times of peace, its professionalism and effectiveness were drastically affected.
The main priority in soldier training was the bayonet attack with marksmanship being considered a low secondary priority (only ten rounds per year were allocated to practice firing). All this was aggravated by a profound lack of uniforms, footwear and even firearms.
However, even in such conditions, Austrian soldiers managed to maintain their discipline, patriotism and stood resolute in battles. It was only due to the personal qualities of each Austrian soldier that the army was able to provide stiff resistance against Napoleon's army - the most progressive army of the period.