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
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
- War of the Spanish Succession
- War of the Austrian Succession
- Seven Years' War
- War of the Bavarian Succession
- Napoleonic Wars
- Austro-Prussian War
- Franco-Prussian War
- World War I
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)
- 1872 renamed Second-Lieutenant
- 1 January 1899 renamed Leutnant
- Oberlieutenant (1st Lieutenant)
- 1872 renamed Premier-Lieutenant
- 1 January 1899 renamed Oberleutnant
- Hauptmann (Captain)
- 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
- also Colonel General with the rank as Generalfeldmarschall; Examples:
- Generalfeldmarschall; Examples:
- Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf Prince of Bavaria, promoted on 1 January 1905
- Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, promoted on 25 July 1916
See also
Further reading
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1864
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1887
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1889
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1895
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1901
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1905
- Ranking lists of active officers and officers à la suite of the Royal Bavarian Army, 1908
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1909
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1911
- Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria (Abbreviations for Orders and Decorations), 1914
- Ranking list of officers in the Royal Bavarian Army, ed. as of 21 April 1917
- Ranking list of officers in the Royal Bavarian Army, ed. as of 15 April 1918
- Numerous medals and rankings from the Bavarian, Prussian and Saxon armies as well as the Imperial Navy
Hof- und Staats-Handbuch
- Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern für das Jahr 1904
- Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern für das Jahr 1908 (PDF)
- Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern für das Jahr 1910
- Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern 1906 to 1914
Verordnungs-Blatt
References
- ↑ 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.