Often overlooked by the student of the military uniform the Austrian Empire and the long reigning Hapsburgs had a long and illustrious military history. Austrian forces were involved in nearly every conflict on the European continent from the 1600's until the final dissolution of the Empire at the end of World War one. Few other countries with the exception of Russia exhibit such a wide variety of styles and colors of uniforms from the wild and colorful Pandures or Pandors of the Seven Years War to the elegant and stylishly practical uniforms of the First World War.