Austria-Hungary formalizes its Danube flotilla after 1866

Austria-Hungary's two capitals were linked by the Danube, yet its river forces remained ad hoc until the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War. Formal organization as part of the navy followed in 1867. The war is characterised as logistically riverine because its campaigns moved from one waterborne supply route to another. The American Civil War provides a parallel for this dependence on rivers during the 1860s. Heavy reliance on motor vehicles came much later, and waterways still carried large quantities of supplies during the Second World War. A permanent river force therefore served a transport system on which the state already depended.