Bavarian Army

TheBavarian Armywas the army of theElectorate(1682–1806) and thenKingdom(1806–1918) ofBavaria. It existed from 1682 as thestanding armyof Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (Wehrhoheit) of Bavaria into that of the German State in 1919. The Bavarian Army was never comparable to the armies of the Great Powers of the 19th century, but it did provide theWittelsbachdynasty with sufficient scope of action, in the context of effective alliance politics, to transform Bavaria from a territorially-disjointed small state to the second-largest state of the German Empire afterPrussia.
TheReichskriegsverfassungof 1681 obliged Bavaria to provide troops for theImperial army. Moreover, the establishment of a standing army was increasingly seen as a sign ofnation-statehoodand an important tool ofabsolutistpower-politics. At a field camp in Schwabing on 12 October 1682, the newly recruited troops, under the command ofHannibal von Degenfeld, were officially taken into Bavarian service. Sevenregimentsofinfantry, two regiments ofdragoonsand two ofcuirassierswere set up, along with anartillerycorps. The traditional mid-blue colour was already in wide use among the Bavarian infantry and would be used throughout from 1684. The cuirassiers and artillery wore light grey tunics, while the dragoons wore red or blue tunics. The army distinguished itself underMaximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavariaduring theGreat Turkish War, particularly during theSiege of Belgrade.
During theWar of the Spanish Succession, Bavaria fought on the side ofFrance. Following defeat at theBattle of Blenheim, the Bavarian Army ceased to exist as a coherent fighting force, though small remainders continued to fight until the end of the war. Bavaria was occupied by Austrian forces during the war, which led to a rising of the people, bloodily put down at the so-called "Murderous Christmas of Sendling" (Sendlinger Mordweihnacht). By 1701, the composition of the army was the same as that during the Turkish wars, only now with three regiments each of cuirassiers and dragoons.
The attempt by the ElectorCharles Albertto gain the Imperial crown during theWar of the Austrian Successionwas initially successful, but the campaign ended once again with an Austrian occupation of Bavaria.
At the beginning of theSeven Years' War, the army consisted of eight infantry, two dragoon and three cuirassier regiments, and a brigade of artillery. In 1757, one of the cuirassier regiments was disbanded and its men distributed among the other regiments, while only one company of dragoons in each regiment was mounted. Infantry regiments consisted of two battalions with four Füsilierkompanien (each of 130 men) and one infantry company (100 men) as well as two four-Pounderbattalion guns. The nominal strength of approximately 1,800 men for each regiment was never reached in the field. While the Lifeguard regiment had three battalions, only two stood in the field. Ten battalions of infantry were made available to theHabsburgsaccording to Bavaria's Imperial military obligations. They fought unsuccessfully at Schweidnitz,BreslauandLeuthenin 1757, as well as at Troppau,Olmützand Neiße in 1758.
The unification between the Wittelsbachs and thePalatinateline added eight regiments to the infantry in 1777, and the Palatine troops brought with them a lighter blue tunic colour. TheWar of the Bavarian Successionis often known as the "Potato War" due to the amount of time and effort the sides expended in securing food supplies and denying them to the enemy, and the war actually passed relatively uneventfully for the Bavarian army.
In 1785, the infantry's uniform changed to white, and the cuirassiers abandoned their traditional armour.
1790 brought a fundamental reform of the Bavarian Army. All field troops received an identically-cut uniform, including a leather helmet with a horsehair plume, known as the "Rumford Casket" after the then Minister for WarCount Rumford. However,Maximilian IVfound the army in abject condition on his accession to the throne in 1799: hardly any of the units were at full strength, the Rumford uniforms were unpopular and impractical, and the troops were badly-trained. The young Prince-Elector, who had served under theAncien Régimein France as a colonel in theRoyal Deux-Pontsregiment, made the reconstruction of the army a priority.
The line infantry was reduced to ten regiments, which were made up to their full strength. The twoJägerregiments were divided into fourlight infantrybattalions. The cavalry consisted of three regiments of light cavalry and two each of dragoons and cuirassiers. The infantry returned to their traditional light blue and, in 1801, all branches of service introduced theRaupenhelm, a helmet with a fore-and-aft horsehair plume, which became characteristic of the Bavarian army. Capable generals, such as Deroy, Wrede andTriva, reformed the army along French lines, and it soon became the most modern in Germany, and the first in Germany to abolish flogging. The field army was based largely on compulsory military service. A national guard with three classes was also developed (1st class: Reserve battalions of the Line regiments; 2nd class: Territorial army; 3rd class: Citizen levy).
In 1800, Bavaria reluctantly fought on Austria's side against France in theWar of the Second Coalition, but in 1805 when Austria attacked Bavaria for the third time in 100 years in theWar of the Third Coalition, they found a powerful army. The Bavarians initially retreated, but only in order to link up withNapoleon's advancing army and to prepare the counter-attack, which took place quickly, methodically and thoroughly. 30,000 Bavarian troops took part in the successfulSiege of Ulmand the consequent liberation of Bavaria. At theBattle of Austerlitz, the Bavarians secured the flanks and supply lines of Napoleon's armyand in 1806-7 they forced several Prussian forts to surrender.
Bavaria was awarded the Austrian province ofTyrolas a reward, but unrest erupted into a full-blown rebellion underAndreas Hoferin 1809, which could only be put down with French assistance. When Austria attacked Bavaria once more that same year in theWar of the Fifth Coalition, Napoleon's army was concentrated inSpain, and it was troops of theConfederation of the Rhine, predominantly Bavarian, which led the early campaigning against Austria. At theBattle of Wagram, the contribution of Bavarian forces was decisive to the outcome.
In theRussian Campaign, the Bavarian army suffered terrible losses - of about 33,000 men (including following reinforcements) who marched in 1812, only 4,000 returned. Pressed by theCrown Princeand GeneralWrede, King Maximilan I Josef turned with a heavy heart away from the French and changed to the Allied camp shortly before theBattle of Leipzig. The attempt by Wrede to stop the victory of theGrande Arméein 1813 at theBattle of Hanauended in a narrow defeat for his Austro-Bavarian corps. The campaign of 1814 began badly for the Allies, but Wrede made up for his earlier defeat with valuable victories over his former allies at the battles ofArcis-sur-AubeandBar-sur-Aube.
In 1814, the Bavarian Army consisted of a Grenadier Guard regiment, 16 regiments of Line Infantry, two battalions of Jäger, seven regiments of light cavalry (of which one was territorial), one regiment ofUhlans, two Hussar regiments, one regiment of Garde du Corps (mounted royal bodyguard), two regiments of foot artillery and one of horse-artillery.
In 1815, the 7th (National) Light Cavalry regiment was formed into two Cuirassier regiments. The Hussars and Uhlans were disbanded in 1822. Following the recommendations of the Military Savings Commission in 1826, one infantry regiment was converted into two Jäger battalions, and the Grenadier Guard regiment into an Infantry lifeguard regiment. The Garde du Corps became the 1st Cuirassier Regiment, and the former 1st Cuirassier Regiment was merged into the 2nd Regiment.
The mobilisation of the army for theAustro-Prussian Warof 1866 was only concluded on 22 June, by which time the Prussian Army was almost inBohemia. The war went very badly for the Bavarians. The Bavarian Commander-in-ChiefPrince Karl, who also commanded the southern forces of theGerman Confederation, was hurrying to the aid of theKingdom of Hanoverwhen he heard of the Hanoverians' surrender after theBattle of Langensalza. The rapid Prussian advance meant that Karl was unable to link up with the western forces of the Confederation underPrince Alexander of Hesse, so the Bavarian troops withdrew toBad Kissingen. After fierce fighting, the Bavarians withdrew toSchweinfurtandWürzburg(of which only the fortress and part of the city could be held). On 1 August, a Prussian reserve corps occupiedNuremberg.
The difficulties of the Bavarian Army were attributed mainly to the BavarianLandtag(parliament), and to the military leadership. Thanks to constant cuts in the military budget, the Bavarian war ministry did not see itself in a position to accomplish manoeuvres above the brigade level. Apart from Prince Karl, and General vonThurn und Taxis, no Bavarian general had ever commanded a division before. The newspapers also criticised the role ofvon der Tann.
Due to this criticism, KingLudwig IIappointed the battle-hardened veteran GeneralSiegmund von Pranckhas the new War Minister on 1 August. Von Prankh already had political experience asadjutantto War Minister von Lüder, and contributed crucially to the modernisation of the Bavarian Army with hisreforms.
When the candidacy to the Spanish throne ofLeopold, Prince of Hohenzollernled to a worsening in relations between Prussia and France in 1870, von Prankh mobilised the two Bavarian army corps on 14 July. The Bavarian Army Corps fought in theFranco-Prussian Waras part of the III Army underCrown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm(the I Army Corps under von der Tann, and the II Army Corps underJakob Freiherr von Hartmann).
The Bavarians underJakob von HartmannstormedWissembourgand took part in the Battles ofWörth,Beaumont,Sedanand theSiege of Paris. Over 5,000 Bavarian soldiers died during the Franco-Prussian War.
In theConstitution of the German Empire, Bavaria was able to secure for itself extensive rights, in particular regarding military sovereignty. Not only did the army retain, like the kingdoms ofSaxonyandWürttemberg, its own troops, War Ministry and military justice system, but it was also excluded from the Empire-wide regimental re-numbering of the army regiments and would only come under Imperial control in times of war. Bavaria also kept its light-blue infantry uniforms, theRaupenhelm(until 1886), the Light Cavalry and some other peculiarities. The officers and men of the Bavarian Army continued to swear their oaths to the King of Bavaria and not theGerman Emperor. Nevertheless, the uniform cut, equipment and training was standardised to the Prussian model. When field-grey uniforms were introduced, only thecockadeand a blue-and-white lozenge edging to the collar distinguished Bavarian units.
At the beginning ofWorld War I, the Bavarian Army had an effective strength of 87,214 men including 4,089 officers, physicians, veterinarians and officials; and 83,125 NCOs and other ranks, plus 16,918 horses. With the beginning of mobilisation on 1 August 1914, the supreme command of the Bavarian field army passed from the 4th Army Inspectorate to the German Emperor. Units in Bavaria remained under the command of the Bavarian War Ministry. The Bavarian Army — consisting of the three Bavarian Army Corps, the Bavarian Cavalry Division  — was bolstered by the addition of the XXI Corps (of two divisions, recruited largely in theRhinelandandWestphalia), and transported to the Western Front as theGerman 6th Armyunder the command ofCrown Prince Rupprecht.
The Bavarian Army fought at theBattle of the Frontiers, the last time that it fought together as a single unit: the exclusive Bavarian command of Bavarian forces began to be diluted from theImperial German Armyreorganisations in Autumn 1914 onwards. Rupprecht held command for the duration of the war and was promoted toField Marshalin 1916 largely on account of his outstanding ability; however, after Frontiers, the units under his command came largely from outside Bavaria.
Although theGerman Empirefell in theGerman Revolution of 1918–19, and KingLudwig IIIwas forced to abdicate, Bavaria retained its military sovereignty. However, the rise of theBavarian Soviet Republicand the confusion surrounding its overthrow and the defeat of its "Red Army" persuaded the drafters of the Bamberg Constitution of 1919 to relinquish military sovereignty to theWeimar Republic. At any rate, the regular Bavarian troops had been demobilised after the war to the extent that most of the fighting against the Red Army was done byFreikorpsunits and other German troops from outside Bavaria.
During World War I, around 200,000 soldiers of the Royal Bavarian Army were killed.
Bavaria placed at first two and later three army corps in the army of the German Empire:
Corps
Divisions
Bavarian cavalry:
Bavarian infantry:
Bavarian reserve:
Bavarian Landwehr:
Bavarian Ersatz:
Mountain Troops:
The Bavarian Army had a smaller proportion of aristocratic officers than the Prussian Army: in 1832 there were 1.86 common officers for every one noble; by 1862 it was 2.34 commoners for every noble and by the outbreak of the First World War 5.66. Since the dissolution in 1826 of the Lifeguard unit, there was no specific Guard regiment. Only in the following units was the proportion of aristocratic officers considerably higher than average:
The Bavarian NCO Corps consisted of long-serving and career soldiers, usually recruited from those completing military service. There was a strict career separation between officers and NCOs. This led to substantial social problems during World War I, because qualified NCOs were blocked from promotion to officer ranks.
According to the Constitution of 1808, recruitment was according to a system ofconscription. The system offered the possibility for men to buy exemption from conscription by means of paying a substitute, called anEinsteher("Proxy") orEinstandsmann("Stand-In"), to serve in their place (which had to be for a longer time).
Thereforms of 1868abolished the use of substitutes, introduced compulsory conscription for three years, and instituted the {{lang|de|Einjährig-Freiwilliger}} ("One Year Volunteer")system.
In 1809, after the French model, the territorial forces were converted into a national guard, which from 1814 to 1868 was known as theLandwehrof the Kingdom of Bavaria. During the 1868 reforms, the older classes of reserves became known as theLandsturm. TheLandwehralso took responsibility for supervising the veterans' associations.
The bulk of the Bavarian Army was housed in fortresses, secularised monasteries and former castles. The first co-ordinated programme of barracks-building took place in 1806 (such as the New Isar Barracks), and after atyphoidoutbreak in 1881, modern buildings with married quarters were built (such as thePrince Leopold Barracks). In 1838, Bavaria maintained seven fortresses, with another under construction:
Bavaria also maintained troops in the German Confederation fortresses ofLandauandUlm.The fortress of Germersheim was de-fortified according to theTreaty of Versailles.
The museum for the Bavarian Army was moved from the Hofgarten in Munich into theNew Castlein Ingolstadt.