Bavarian Army

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Flag of the Royal Bavarian Army

The Bavarian Army (later Royal Bavarian Army) was the army of the Electorate of Bavaria and, from 1806, the army of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

History

Prinzregent Luitpold (top), Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria (I. Armee-Korps, left), Karl Freiherr von Horn (Minister of War, right), Alfred Graf Eckbrecht von Dürckheim-Montmartin (II. Armee-Korps, center) and Luitpold Freiher von der Tann-Rathsamhausen (III. Armee-Korps, bottom)
Bavarian Uhlans (1st Uhlan Regiment) and Chevaulegers (medium-heavy cavalry) around 1885 (shortly before the introduction of the Pickelhaube in the Bavarian Army.)
Adolf Hitler with comrades of the Königlich Bayerisches Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 16 of the Bavarian Army during World War One.

It existed as a standing army from 1682 until the transfer of military sovereignty from Bavaria to the German Reich in 1919 (Reichswehr). The HRE Reichskriegsverfassung[1] of 1681 obliged Bavaria to provide troops for the Army of the Holy Roman Empire (German: Reichsarmee).

Since the Bavarians gained the imperial crown with Charles VII from 1742 to 1745, the Electoral Bavarian troops received the status of the “Imperial Army” (this was also supported by new flags with imperial double eagle and gold badge). Only with the coronation of Franz I Stephen did the army of the Archduchy of Austria regain its imperial status as Kaiserliche Armee in the first German Empire, which it retained until it relinquished the imperial crown in 1806.

WWI

During the First World War, the Bavarian Army (infantry, cavalry, artillery, etc.) was subordinate to the Imperial Army of the German Empire. The Bavarian Army also had it's own Fliegertruppe (founded 1912), but never a navy (several Bavarians joined the Imperial German Navy).

Notable engagements

Great Turkish War

The first successes of the Christian states against the Ottoman Empire were brought by the Great Turkish War (Großer Türkenkrieg) from 14 July 1683 to 26 January 1699, which began with the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna. In total, 384,000 soldiers and civilians died during these fifteen and a half years of conflict. During the Turkish War, all of Hungary was wrested away from the Ottomans. In 1686 Buda fell and in 1687 Mohatsch. In 1688, the troops of the Reichsarmee under Elector Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria conquered Belgrade. In 1691, the leader of the Roman-German Reichsarmee (since 1689), Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm I of Baden, also known as “Türkenlouis”, was victorious at Szlankamen, thereby opening the way to the southeast for the Reichsarmee. Eugene of Savoy defeated the Ottoman army at Zenta in 1697. In the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699, the parts of Hungary previously under Turkish control fell under German administration. Likewise Slavonia and Transylvania.

Officer ranks

  • Unterlieutenant (2nd Lieutenant)
    • 14 February 1872 renamed Second-Lieutenant[2]
    • 1 January 1899 renamed Leutnant
  • Oberlieutenant (1st Lieutenant)
    • 14 February 1872 renamed Premier-Lieutenant
    • 1 January 1899 renamed Oberleutnant
  • Rittmeister/Hauptmann (Captain)
    • until 1872 Rittmeister/Hauptmann II. Klasse (equivalent to the Stabskapitän)
    • until 1872 Rittmeister/Hauptmann I. Klasse
  • Major
  • Oberstlieutenant (Lieutenant Colonel)
    • 1 January 1899 renamed Oberstleutnant
  • Oberst (Colonel)
  • General-Major
    • as of 1899 written Generalmajor
  • General-Lieutenant
    • 1 January 1899 renamed Generalleutnant
  • General (General der Waffengattung), Infantry (GdI), Cavalry (GdK), Artillery (GdA)
  • General-Oberst (GObst)
    • also Colonel General with the rank as Generalfeldmarschall; Examples:
      • Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf Prince of Bavaria, General-Oberst der Kavallerie mit dem Range als Generalfeldmarschall, promoted on 9 February 1896
      • Franz Joseph Arnulf Adalbert Maria Prince of Bavaria, General-Oberst der Infanterie mit dem Range als Generalfeldmarschall, promoted on 9 September 1903
  • Generalfeldmarschall; Examples:

See also

Further reading

Hof- und Staats-Handbuch

Verordnungs-Blatt

Historical books

External links

References

  1. ↑ The Imperial Military Constitution (German: Reichsheeresverfassung, also called the Reichskriegsverfassung) was the collection of military laws of the Holy Roman Empire. Like the rest of the imperial constitution, it grew out of various laws and governed the establishment of military forces within the Empire. It was the basis for the establishment of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsarmee, created in 1422), which was under the supreme command of the Emperor but was distinct from his Imperial Army (Kaiserliche Armee, emerged in the 17th century), as it could only be deployed by the Imperial Diet. The last Imperial Defence Order (Reichsdefensionalordnung), entitled Reichsgutachten in puncto securitatis, of 13/23 May 1681, completed the military constitution of the Holy Roman Empire.
  2. ↑ Verordnungs-Blatt des Königlich Bayerischen Kriegsministeriums 1872
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