Armored Reichsstand

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In the Holy Roman Empire of the 17th and 18th centuries, those members of the empire who had a standing army were referred to as armed imperial estates or armed princes .

history

In place of mercenary troops , as they were still used in the Thirty Years' War , permanent troops increasingly appeared. There had already been approaches during and after the Thirty Years' War. They had existed in Kurbrandenburg since 1644, even if most of the troops were demobilized after 1648. Even after the war, the emperor kept a troop of 10,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 horsemen under arms and stationed them mainly on the border with the Ottoman sphere of influence . A corresponding administrative organization also remained with the Court War Council . It was different with most of the imperial estates, which largely disarmed after the war and only kept small contingents, for example for fortress service or as bodyguards.

The standing army was a hallmark of the absolutist state. In the last imperial adoption of 1654, the sovereigns were given the opportunity to set up a standing army without the estates being able to prevent this. In order to implement this possibility, however, the princes had to break or limit the power of the estates, as happened particularly clearly in Brandenburg. This provision was also noteworthy because very few imperial estates at that time had any permanent troops.

In the Defensional Order of 1681 it was stipulated that the smaller territories could relinquish their obligation to provide their own troops for the defense of the empire through corresponding payments to larger imperial estates. From then on, to distinguish between armed and non-armed imperial estates. The juxtaposition of armed and non-armed classes made the extreme differences in power in the empire particularly apparent.

In the Holy Roman Empire, the threat posed by Louis XIV in particular caused standing troops to emerge. Since the 1680s in particular, more permanent units have been formed. Some armed imperial estates united in the Magdeburg Concert in 1688 and formed a common army against Louis XIV. Unlike before, the parts used for offensive purposes were also preserved after a peace agreement. The process of forming standing armies was largely complete with the end of the War of the Spanish Succession .

One of the first German sovereigns to have a standing army was the Great Elector . After beginning in the 1640s, the establishment of a permanent army was reinforced around 1660. This troop comprised 8,000 men in 1660 and was increased to 31,000 men by the death of the elector. Austria also had an important army since the 1680s. Further armed estates in the following period were: Electoral Saxony , Braunschweig , Bavaria , Hessen-Kassel , Sachsen-Gotha , Hessen-Darmstadt , later also larger spiritual territories such as Kurmainz , Kurköln , Kurtrier or the Bishopric of Würzburg and the Archbishopric of Salzburg . In Württemberg the estates successfully defended themselves against a standing army. It was not formed until the War of the Spanish Succession.

The own financial means and the payments of the non-armed estates were mostly insufficient to maintain a permanent army. In many cases, the armed imperial estates were dependent on subsidies from foreign powers. Last but not least, many alliances served to finance the army. The leasing of the troops to other classes or foreign powers also often served to maintain the army.

literature

  • Bernhard R. Kroener : “The war has a hole.” Reflections on the fate of demobilized mercenaries after the Thirty Years' War. In: The Peace of Westphalia. Diplomacy, political caesura, cultural environment, reception history . Munich 1998, p. 629
  • Bernhard Sicken: The Thirty Years' War as a turning point. Warfare and army structure in the transition to miles perpetuus. In: The Peace of Westphalia. Diplomacy, political caesura, cultural environment, reception history . Munich 1998, pp. 581-598
  • Gerhard Taddey (ed.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-81302-5 , p. 59.
  • Johannes Burckhard: German history in the early modern times. Munich 2009, p. 83
  • Axel Gotthard : The old empire 1495–1806. 4th edition, Darmstadt 2009