Austro-Italian ironclad arms race
Seizing upon the decline of the Regia Marina in the years immediately after the Battle of Lissa, Tegetthoff worked to continue the efforts of Archduke Ferdinand Max of expanding the ironclad fleet of the now Austro-Hungarian Navy. Tegetthoff found political allies in the Austro-Hungarian Minister of War Carl von Franck and retired Admiral Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Wüllerstorf's and Franck's primary arguments in favor of continuing with the ironclad program Austria had engaged in prior to the Seven Weeks War lay largely along economic grounds. The two believed that constructing new ironclad warships would rejuvenate Austria-Hungary's economy following the defeat at the hands of Prussia and Italy, and that such a fleet would help to open up new commercial opportunities in the Levant and the Middle East. These proposals would be shelved however while Austria continued to reel from the military defeats inflicted by Prussia, and several cabinet reshufflings by Emperor Franz Joseph I resulted in a government more interested in pursuing revenge against Prussia than constructing new ironclads, which would be of little use in a hypothetical second war with Prussia.
Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire)
During the imperial interregnum of 1740-1742, Habsburg troops no longer formed the army for the Emperor, but that of the Queen of Hungary. During the Austrian War of Succession, Queen Maria Theresa and the Austrian House of Habsburg, fought for their survival within the European system of power. She initially lost her battle for the imperial crown for her husband, Francis Stephen of Lorraine. With the acquisition of the crown by Charles VII of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, units from the Electorate of Bavaria formed the Imperial Army for a short time, from 1742 to 1745. A year after the loss of the imperial crown, the Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary directed her troops to wear green instead of gold for officers' sashes and for the regimental flags. Gold has always been considered an imperial attribute.
After the imperial election of Maria Theresa's husband, Francis I, the Habsburg troops were given back their imperial status. Although Maria Theresa took the title of empress, she put no value on her coronation as empress. This was reflected in the title of her army, which was now called "Roman Imperial-Royal" ("römisch kaiserlich-königlich"). The colloquial, shorter term, "Austrian", established itself during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and subsequent conflicts in the War of Bavarian Succession (1778/1779), the Russo-Austrian war against the Turks (1787-1792) and the Napoleonic Wars.