Before 1867, the territories under the control of the
Habsburg monarch in
Vienna used or the hyphenated interchangeably. Neither of the spellings defined a hierarchy among the Habsburg dynastic kingdoms, principalities, duchies, and other bodies politic. The Habsburg monarchs ruled the kingdoms of
Hungary,
Croatia and
Bohemia as their Kings. The title
Emperor applied to their role as heads of the conglomerate of the mostly German states called the
Holy Roman Empire until 1806. The same title,
Emperor, came to identify their role as rulers of the newly named
Austrian Empire that the Habsburgs attributed so from 11 August 1804. The name "Imperial-Royal Army" was used from 1745, as "Royal" referred to the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, which was not part of the
Holy Roman Empire, but under
Habsburg rule. After the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Hungarians insisted on the ('and'), not the hyphen, in all usage in line with the new autonomous status of the kingdom within the Habsburg lands. Use of the phrase was decreed in a letter written by the Emperor on October 17, 1889 for the military, the navy and the institutions shared by both parts of the empire. Subsequently, the abbreviation only referred to the institutions of the "Austrian" part of Austria-Hungary (
Cisleithania). The abbreviation (), or (German: ), both meaning 'Royal Hungarian', was applied in reference to the governmental bodies of the Kingdom of Hungary (
Transleithania). In official documents, the abbreviation used provides information on the lands targeted: • or , meaning "imperial (Austria) – royal (Bohemia)", pertains to the Austrian Empire before 1867 and to the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867–1918 • , meaning "imperial (Austria) and royal (Hungary)", pertains to the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867–1918 == Other uses ==