Military Order of Maria Theresa

History

Insignia

• The badge of the order was a gilt, white-enamelled cross. The central disc is also in enamel, bearing the coat-of-arms/national flag of Austria, surrounded by a white ring bearing the motto "Fortitudini".
• The star of the order was a silver faceted cross of the same shape as the badge, with a wreath of green-enameled oak leaves between the arms of the cross. The central disc is the same as the one on the badge.
• The ribbon of the order was red-white-red, from the national flag of Austria.

Recipients of the Order (examples)

Grand Cross

• Field Marshal H.I.& A.M. Franz Joseph I, emperor and king of Austria-Hungary.
• Count Eduard Clam-Gallas was an Austrian General.
• Count Leopold Joseph von Daun, later Prince of Thiano, Austrian field marshal, was born at Vienna, as son of Count Wirich Philipp von Daun.
• András Hadik de Futak was a Hungarian Count. He was commander of a Habsburg army corps in the Seven Years' War under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
• Paul von Hindenburg was a German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934.
• Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen, born August Mackensen, was a German soldier and field marshal. He commanded with success during the First World War and became one of the German Empire's most prominent military leaders.
• Archduke John of Austria was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, an Austrian field marshal and German Imperial regent.
• Johann Josef (Joseph) Wenzel (Anton Franz Karl) Graf Radetzky von Radetz was a Czech nobleman and Austrian general, immortalised by Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March. General Radetzky was in the military for over 70 years, until his death at age 91, and is known for the victories at the Battles of Custoza and Novara during the First Italian War of Independence.
• H.I.&.R.M. Wilhelm II, German Emperor was the last German emperor and king of Prussia.

Commander's Cross

• Feldmarschall Johann Karl, Graf von Kolowrat-Krakowsky was an Austrian Field Marshal general who fought against Napoleon and also was the last governor of the Kingdom of Serbia in 1791.
• Feldmarschalleutnant Emanuel Cvjetićanin. In the war of 1878–1882, Cvjetićanin was the main organizer of the gendarmerie in Sarajevo. He received numerous decorations, including the Order of Maria Theresa, and the title of baron. He was the first adjutant of Emperor Franz Josef I.
• Count Eduard Clam-Gallas was an Austrian General.
• Svetozar Boroević von Bojna was an Orthodox Croat Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal during World War I.
• Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli was an Austrian general during World War I.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, Graf von Dennewitz was a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars.
• Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik was a highly decorated career Austro-Hungarian officer who reached the pinnacle of his service during World War I with promotion to the rare rank of Colonel General.
• Anton Haus was an Austrian naval officer.
• Julius Jacob von Haynau was an Austrian general.
• Heinrich Hermann Josef Freiherr von Heß, Austrian soldier, entered the army in 1805.
• Count Josip Jelačić von Bužim was the Ban of Croatia between 23 March 1848 and 19 May 1859.
• Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia was for a short period head of state of Hungary, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and the eldest son of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria
• Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza was the final, and completely ceremonial, Commander-in-Chief of Austria-Hungary. He served as a generally competent and unremarkable commander in the Austro-Hungarian Army and was close to retirement in 1914 when The First World War broke out and he was given a command post.
• Laval Graf Nugent von Westmeath was a soldier of Irish birth who fought in the armies of Austria and the Two Sicilies.
• Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straussenburg 16 June 1857 – 1 June 1935, was an Austro-Hungarian Colonel-General and last Chief of General Staff to the Austro-Hungarian Army.
• Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, also known as Lord Uxbridge. Commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Anglo-Allied Army at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
• Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, Lord Hill commanded the II Corps of the Anglo-Allied Army at Waterloo.

Knight’s Cross

• Feldmarschalleutnant Emanuel Cvjetićanin. In the war of 1878–1882, Cvjetićanin was the main organizer of the gendarmerie in Sarajevo. He received numerous decorations, including the Order of Maria Theresa, and the title of baron. He was the first adjutant of Emperor Franz Josef I.
• Karl Baron von Urban was a Feldmarschall-leutnant who distinguished himself in the fight for unity and survival of the Austrian Empire during the Years of Revolutions in 1848-49, as well as at the Second Sardinian War, adopting in both occasions tactics of high mobility against stronger forces - Promotion CLIII on 6 February 1849.
• Count Eduard Clam-Gallas was an Austrian General.
• Major-General Sir Robert Henry Dick, KCB, KCH – 73rd Foot – died of wounds, 10 February 1846.
• Sir John Elley, British officer in the Napoleonic Wars.
• Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich was an Austrian soldier. He is best remembered as the commander of the Austrian forces defeated and captured by Napoleon's Grande Armée in the Battle of Ulm in 1805.
• Tadeusz Rozwadowski, known in Austria as Thaddäus Ritter Jordan-Rozwadowski von Groß-Rozwadów, was a Polish military commander, diplomat, and politician, a general of the Austro-Hungarian Army and then the Polish Army. His family came from Lwow, Galicia, the part of Poland ruled by Austria-Hungary. He was a Feldmarschall-Leutnant and became the commanding officer of the 43rd Infantry Division, which he led during the victorious battle of Gorlice. After World War I he was one of the founders of the modern Polish State and Army and is credited as one of the victors of the Battle of Warsaw (1920).
• Korvettenkapitän Georg Ludwig von Trapp. Father of the famous Von Trapp family that inspired the movie The Sound of Music. He was awarded the order for becoming "the dread of the Adriatic" for sinking 13 ships as a submarine commander during the First World War. Born on 4 April 1880, he died of lung cancer in Vermont on 30 May 1947. He received lung cancer from the toxic fumes emitted from his submarine during the war. Out of all the medals he was awarded, this one was his favorite, and the only one he was able to smuggle out of Austria.
• Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau, General in the Austro-Hungarian army while World War I, military governor of Montenegro between 1916 and 1917 and head of the Austro-Hungarian armistice commission
• Ferdinand, Freiherr of Wintzingerode was a German nobleman and officer in several different armies of the Napoleonic Wars, finally ending up as a general in the Imperial Russian army and fighting in the War of the Sixth Coalition against the French invasion of Russia and the subsequent campaigns in Germany and France. He appears in Tolstoy's War and Peace.
• Eugen Count Wratislaw von Mittrowitz-Nettolitzky was an Austrian Fieldmarshal.
• Maximilian Daublebsky Freiherr von Sterneck zu Ehrenstein was an Austrian admiral who served as the chief administrator of the Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1883 until his death.
• Feldmarschalleutnant Nikolaus Esterházy, Prince Esterházy of Galantha. Universally recognized for his patronage of the Austrian Composer Joseph Haydn. He received the Order upon his bravery in the Battle of Kolín
• Andreas O'Reilly von Ballinlough was an Austrian soldier and military commander of Irish origin. His military service extended through the Seven Years' War, War of the Bavarian Succession, Austro-Turkish War, French Revolutionary Wars, and Napoleonic Wars. He retired from the army in 1810 and died at age 89.
• Johann Iskrić who received the Knight's cross for his conduct and bravery in the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo in the World War I.
• Josef Bartos was a Czech commander of an Austrian Artillery unit that was surrounded by Czarist Russians after their offensive broke through Austrian lines in Galacia, and successfully fought their way out of the encirclement.
• Miklós Horthy was a Hungarian naval officer, commanding officer of the SMS Novara received the Knight's Cross in 186th promotion on 10 March 7, 1921. for the Battle of the Strait of Otranto.
• Oberleutnant IR.102 Theodor Wanke who received the Knight's cross for his conduct and bravery in the 8th Battle of the Isonzo in the World War I. in 186th promotion on 10 March 1921
• Oberleutnant IR 102 Johan Fousek who received the Knight's cross for his conduct and bravery in the 7th Battle of the Isonzo in the World War I. in March 1921
• Hauptmann IR 16 Gottlieb Vojáček who received the Knight's Cross for his conduct and bravery in the Battle near Dolina in the World War I. in 187th promotion on 10 June 1921
• Linienschiffskapitän Gottfried von Banfield, K.u.K. Kriegsmarine top ace in WW1, received the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 17 August 1917. Banfield was the last surviving member of the Military Order, dying in 1986, 69 years after his medal was awarded.