TheWaroftheAustrianSuccession,1740-48,sawtheAustrianarmyfaringbadlyagainstthePrussians,andMariaTheresa,ArchduchessofAustria,lookedforwaysofimprovingherarmy'sperformance.
Oneday,watchinghertroopsparading,MariaTheresanotedthattheircoatsweretoolong,makingtheminconvenientforthemenonthemarch.ShesuggestedshorteningtheircoatsonthePrussianmodel.TheAustrianofficers,whohadvestedinterestsinthesupplyofuniforms,objectedthatthecoatshadtobelongtokeepthemenwarmatnight,andsaidthePrussiansdidnotneedlongcoatsastheyallsleptintents.MariaTheresarejoinedthathersoldiersmusthavetentsaswell.Thenextdaytheofficerssubmittedgrosslyexaggeratedestimatesofthecostofnewcoatsandtents.ThebillwassoenormousthatMariaTheresahadtogiveuptheidea.
一七四○年至四八年奧地利王位繼承戰之中，奧地利軍隊被普魯士重創。奧國女大公瑪麗亞．德利莎希望改善軍隊表現。
有一天，她檢閱列隊行進的軍隊，見他們戰袍太長，阻礙行進，建議以普魯士軍服為模式，把戰袍改短。奧國軍官在軍服供應上有既得利益，反對這建議，說戰袍不長，晚上不足以禦寒，又說普魯士軍隊都睡在營帳裏，所以軍服可以短些。瑪麗亞．德利莎反駁說，奧軍也須有營帳。第二天，那些軍官遞上新軍服和營帳的估計價錢，誇大了很多，金額之鉅，使瑪麗亞．德利莎不得不打消改革軍服的念頭。
【附注】Rejoin是「回答」，一般帶不滿或批評含義，例如："That'snotso!"Irejoined（我反駁說：「不是這樣！」）