Hesse-Darmstadt Army

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Hesse-Darmstadt Chevaulegers around 1812

The Hessen-Darmstadt Army was the army of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt and its successor of the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt from the beginning of the army as a standing army from the early 17th century until its incorporation into the Prussian army in 1866/71.

history

Landgraviate

As an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire, Hessen-Darmstadt had the right to its own troops since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (“jus armorum et foederum”). Like the neighboring Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel , the Landgraves of Hessen-Darmstadt built their own army. The beginning of the army was formed by the foundation of a regiment by Landgrave Ludwig V on March 11, 1621, with which the later so-called Leibgarde Infantry Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 115 was set up as a simple infantry regiment. In 1914 it was the oldest active regiment in Germany.

The military had been organized as a standing army since the middle of the 18th century and was therefore always available to the absolutist ruling rulers as a means of exercising power and representing them in times of war and peace . As with most of the states of the Ancien Régime of the early modern period , the Hesse-Darmstadt army consisted in large numbers of recruited mercenaries . From them the line troops were recruited , of which it was towards the end of the reign of Louis IX. there were four infantry regiments with a total of six battalions , half of them stationed in Pirmasens .

In addition, there was a militia system for national defense, consisting of four so-called land battalions and the "old committee". The militia system was a preliminary stage of modern conscription . Since the Landgrave Ludwig IX. interested only in infantry , there were no cavalry during his reign, apart from a few small, numerically insignificant cavalry units, including the Pirmasens Leibhusarenkorps .

Grand duchy

In 1803 compulsory military service was introduced, creating a permanent military presence. That was the decisive contribution to securing a political existence in the alliance with France. Hessen-Darmstadt was now interesting for France as a supplier of troops. By joining the Rhine Confederation , the new Grand Duke of the enlarged state, the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt , undertook to provide a contingent of 4,000 soldiers. These were divided into three infantry regiments, three fusilier battalions , a Chevauleger regiment and three artillery companies. Troops from Hesse-Darmstadt were involved in the fourth coalition war against Prussia , in the coalition war of 1809 against the Austrian Empire , but above all in the Spanish and Russian campaigns of 1812 . The blood toll of the army was very high in all of these battles. Of the 5,000 army soldiers who took part in the Russian campaign, only 316 returned.

After the Battle of Leipzig in the Wars of Liberation , Hessen-Darmstadt withdrew from the Rhine Confederation and joined the anti-French alliance. These immediately demanded the position of 8,000 men, 4,000 line troops and landwehr each . The Hessian soldiers were only used once again, in 1815 near Strasbourg on the Upper Rhine, in a battle against the French. The army's reputation was considered good.

In 1848 Hessian regiments were involved in the suppression of the first Baden Revolution and in 1849 the Hessian army provided contingents to the Neckar Corps , which helped to suppress the third Baden Revolution .

During the German War of 1866, the 3rd (Hessian) Division was part of the VIII Corps of the Federal Army . The federal corps, consisting of four divisions , was under the command of Alexander von Hessen-Darmstadt . The Hessian division lost 175 dead, 394 wounded and 115 prisoners in the battle near Frohnhofen . In the battle at Tauberbischofsheim the division was in reserve at Großrinderfeld . After the battle, the 8th Bundeskorps was thrown back behind the Tauber and united with the Bavarian troops advancing from Würzburg . An armistice was agreed in Würzburg on July 30, 1866.

On January 1, 1872, the troops were accepted into the Association of the Prussian Army :

The regiments and their names were retained, but the legal status as a state army disappeared.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ An unofficial list of names of the wounded and prisoners can be found in the Wormser Zeitung No. 116 of July 22, 1866 digitized version of the Darmstadt University and State Library