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Imperial Army (Latin: Exercitus Imperatoris, [1] German : Kaiserliche Armee) or Imperial Troops (Kaiserliche Truppen or Kaiserliche) was a name used for several centuries, especially to describe soldiers recruited for the Holy Roman Emperor during the early modern period. The Imperial Army of the Emperor should not be confused with the Army of the Holy Roman Empire (Exercitus Imperii (Romani), Reichsarmee, Armée du Saint-Empire), which could only be deployed with the consent of the Imperial Diet. The Imperialists effectively became a standing army of troops under the Habsburg Emperors from the House of Austria, which is why they were also increasingly described in the 18th century as "Austrians", although its troops were recruited not just from the Archduchy of Austria but from all over the Holy Roman Empire.
The Habsburg monarchy supplied almost all the Holy Roman Emperors during the Early Modern Period. Their title of Emperor was one that was bound not so much to a territory, but to a person.
Accordingly, the Imperial Army was a force established by the Emperor, with privileges in the whole of the Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor was not permitted to raise troops in the electoral states, but had inter alia the right to recruit soldiers in the imperial cities and in all other territories.
Independent of the Emperor's ability to raise his own army, the Imperial Diet could establish the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, the "troops of the empire" in the event of a Reichskrieg.
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 War of the Austrian 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 1745 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. [3]
Prussian and Protestant journalists increasingly lost interest in a universal Reich concept, which, for a long time, had earned the imperial troops their special position. Even Maria Theresa's son, Emperor Joseph II, with his centralizing reforms that promoted an Austrian territorial state, encouraged Imperial politics less and less. In 1804, the Austrian imperial crown was created. Only two years later, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor dissolved the increasingly defunct Holy Roman Empire.
During the Early Modern Period, the Imperial Army fought in all the wars affecting the Empire, usually allied with the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and other territorial forces. These include:
The Thirty Years' War led to an unusually strong arming of the Emperor. In 1635, the Imperial Army reached a peak of 65 regiments of foot, with a nominal strength of 3,000 men each. During the course of the war, 532 regiments were formed and disbanded. In 1648 only 9 regiments of foot, 9 regiments of horse and a regiment of dragoons remained. The Army's paper strength in 1625 was 61,900 (16,600 cavalry), rising to 111,100 in 1626 (25,000 cavalry), 112,700 in 1627 (29,600 cavalry), 130,200 in 1628 (27,300 cavalry), 128,900 in 1629 (17,900 cavalry), and 150,900 in 1630 (21,000 cavalry). Due to disease and desertion, the amount of effectives available at any given time often deviated from paper strength; depending on the year, anywhere from 60 to 85 percent of paper strength was actually usable. By the end of the war, the Imperial Army's effective strength had been reduced to 42,300. The Imperial Army figures do not include soldiers on the side of the Emperor who marched to war under their own princes; for example, at the end of the war, the 42,300 soldiers of the Imperial Army were supported by 35,500 soldiers from the Westphalian and Bavarian circles. [4]
Gradually, a standing imperial army evolved as a result of the many wars. Of the 49 regiments raised for the Second Northern War, 23 remained in 1660. The 1760s saw 28 new regiments being formed, and the following decade saw a further 27.
The annual average strengths of the Emperor's military forces throughout mid 17th to early 18th century are as follows: [5]
The Habsburgs were infrequently successful at convincing the rest of the Empire to shoulder the burden of the army. Their greatest success in this respect was during the War of the Spanish Succession. Total expenditure was 650 million florins across 1701–14, including the cost of the official contingents and additional auxiliaries provided by the imperial states, as well as their other directly incurred war expenditures. About 90 million of this (14% of the total) was covered by subsidies from the Empire’s British and Dutch allies. The remainder was divided roughly one-third for the Habsburgs (187 million, 29% of the total) and two-thirds for the remaining imperial estates (373 million, 57% of the total). The Empire’s overall effort exceeded Britain’s military and naval expenditure by 237 million florins. [6]
For the period after 1867:
Charles VI was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative, Charles II. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children: Leopold Johann, Maria Theresa, Maria Anna, and Maria Amalia.
Friedrich Heinrich Reichsgraf von Seckendorff was a Franconian field marshal and diplomat, in the service of the imperial Habsburg monarchy of Austria. Later he served as commander of the Bavarian army and fought Austria.
The phrase Imperial and Royal refers to the court/government of the Habsburgs in a broader historical perspective. Some modern authors restrict its use to the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918.
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm, was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is also referred to as the Austrian monarchy or the Danubian monarchy.
The Imperial-Royal or Imperial Austrian Army was the armed force of the Habsburg monarchy under its last monarch, the Habsburg Emperor Francis II, composed of the Emperor's army. When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, it assumed its title of the troops of the Austrian Empire under the same monarch, now known as Emperor Francis I of Austria.
Joseph Maria Frederick Wilhelm of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke in Saxony, was a German officer, Generalfeldmarschall of the Imperial Army and Reichsgeneralfeldmarschall (Reichsgeneralfeldzeugmeister) of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire. He is best known for commanding the Franco-Roman-German at the Battle of Rossbach, losing to the Prussian Army.
Austria and Prussia were the most powerful German states in the Holy Roman Empire by the 18th and 19th centuries and had engaged in a struggle for supremacy among smaller German kingdoms. The rivalry was characterized by major territorial conflicts and economic, cultural, and political aspects. Therefore, the rivalry was an important element of the German question in the 19th century.
The Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces or Imperial and Royal Armed Forces were the military forces of Austria-Hungary. It comprised two main branches: The Army (Landstreitkräfte) and the Navy (Kriegsmarine). Both of them organised their own aviation branches – the Army's Aviation Troops and the Navy's Naval Aviation. The Army in turn consisted of its own three branches: The Common Army, the Imperial-Royal Landwehr and the Royal Hungarian Honvéd.
George Oliver Walsh, Count of Wallis was a field marshal of Irish descent in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and last regent of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1738–1739). Born into an exiled Irish family, he distinguished himself in Sicily by his capture of Messina. He then commanded on the Rhine (1733), then in Italy and Hungary. He lost the decisive Battle of Grocka against the Ottoman Empire in 1739, thus leading to the peace of Belgrade, which was unfavourable to Austria and thus led to his disgrace.
The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry, commonly called the Bosniaken, were a branch of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Recruited from within the two regions of the Dual-Monarchy having a significant Muslim population, these regiments enjoyed a special status. They had their own distinctive uniforms and were given their own numbering sequence within the Common Army (KuK).
Johann Bernhard Stephan, Graf Pálffy de Erdőd was a Hungarian noble, Imperial Field marshal and Palatine of Hungary.
The Army of the Holy Roman Empire was created in 1422 and came to an end when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.
The regiment was a cavalry unit raised in the 17th century for the Imperial Habsburg Army. Over time, this unit became the 8th Bohemian Dragoons (Count Montecuccoli's) (Böhmischen Dragoner-Regiment „Graf Montecuccoli“ Nr. 8) within the "Common Army" that formed part of the Austro-Hungarian Army. From 1888 the unit was to bear this new title "in perpetuity".
The Common Army as it was officially designated by the Imperial and Royal Military Administration, was the largest part of the Austro-Hungarian land forces from 1867 to 1914, the other two elements being the Imperial-Royal Landwehr and the Royal Hungarian Honvéd. However, it was simply known as the Army (Heer) by the Emperor and in peacetime laws, and, after 1918, colloquially called the k.u.k. Armee.
Together with the Dragoons and Hussars, the Imperial and Royal Uhlans, made up the cavalry of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1867 to 1918, both in the Common Army and in the Austrian Landwehr, where they were known as the Imperial-Royal Landwehr Uhlans.
The adjective kaiserlich means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the Kaiser ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control.
The grand title of the emperor of Austria was the official list of the crowns, titles, and dignities which the emperors of Austria carried from the foundation of the empire in 1804 until the end of the monarchy in 1918.
A Reichskrieg was a war fought by the Holy Roman Empire as a whole against a common enemy. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Reichskrieg was a formal state of war that could only be declared by the Imperial Diet.
The Imperial Austrian Army formed the land forces of the Austrian Empire. It arose from the remains of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor after its dissolution and in 1867 was reformed into the Common Army of Austria-Hungary and the Imperial-Royal Landwehr after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. In addition to the army, there was also the Austrian Navy. The army took part in the Napoleonic Wars until 1815, the First Italian War of Independence, the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Second Italian War of Independence, the Second Schleswig War, the Third Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War. Notable generals were Josef Radetzky, Karl Philipp of Schwarzenberg, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, Frederick Bianchi and Julius von Haynau.
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