Salzburg Military History Museum (SWGM)

With its extensive collection of exhibits and information, the Salzburg Military History Museum (SWGM), located in the Schwarzenberg barracks in Wald-Siezenheim, provides a thorough look into two millennia of military history from all historically relevant eras.Apart from gear, decorations, medals, and uniforms, the major items are weapons and ammo.

Beginning with the gladius of a Roman legionnaire, it moves through a wide range of historical weaponry, including rifles, pistols, and flintlocks, before ending with weapons from the First World War and now.

The Austrian Armed Forces are the focus of several museum exhibits, such as the present peacekeeping efforts based on UN resolutions, Salzburg’s military history under the Prince Archbishops, the military in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and the military in the First Republic.Books, photos, uniforms, old and modern weaponry, maps, ammunition, regulations, major equipment like tanks and cannons, vehicles, media, equipment, records, and much more are all gathered, exhibited, and recorded in relation to it—a total of well over 11,000 pieces.Large pieces of Federal Army equipment from previous decades are on display in the outside area.

There are a ton of more displays to view.Rare papers are among them; one such document is the Austrian Chief of Staff Josef Graf Radetzky’s Trachtenberger war plan, which is extremely uncommon from a military-historical perspective.

Salzburg, Austria