Austria continued to gain control of additional lands from a series of wars in the 1700 and 1800s. When they partitioned Poland with Prussia and Russia, Austria took over the southern section of Poland which was known as Galicia. They also gained the northern section of Italy in wars with the French and, as the Ottomans were driven out of Balkans, Austria and Hungary took over Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It is important to recognize that during this initial period, all these regions were now part of the Austrian Empire and all the ethnic groups were Austrian subjects. As such, all men had a military obligation to the Emperor and could be conscripted to serve in the Austrian Army. Hungary, however, had a unique status. Although the Austrian Kaiser was also the King of Hungary, the Hungarians were allowed to maintain their own parliament and could manage their Kingdom with their own set of laws. Hungary was also allowed to rule over the Slovaks, Ruthenians, Croatians and people in the former area of Transylvania which were all part of greater Hungary at that time. Austria maintained direct control over the Czech regions, Galicia and northern Italy. But most importantly, Austria controlled the armies within the Empire.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of ethnic unrest and the army was used, not only for protection against external threats, but also to maintain control of the various ethnic groups within. Over the years, it was necessary for Austria to use the army to put down a number of internal revolts including one in Hungary in 1848. As a result of this revolt, Austria took direct control over Hungary.