Army of the Holy Roman Empire The Army of the Holy Roman Empire ( German " Reichsarmee " , " Reichsheer " or " Reichsarmatur " ; Latin " exercitus imperii " ) was the army of the Holy Roman Empire . Created in 1422 , it came to an end even before the Empire was wound up in 1806 , as the result of the Napoleonic Wars . It must not be confused with the Imperial Army ( " Kaiserliche Armee " ) of the Emperor . The Army of the Empire did not constitute a permanent standing army which was always at the ready to fight for the Empire . When there was danger , an Army of the Empire was mustered from among the elements constituting it , in order to conduct an imperial military campaign or " Reichsheerfahrt " . In practice , the imperial troops often had stronger local allegiances than their loyalty to the Emperor . History . Prompted by the threat posed by the Hussite s , the Imperial Diet of 1422 held in Nuremberg created the Army of the Empire by demanding specific contingents of troops from the various parts of the Empire . The Hussite Wars continued from 1420 to 1434 , by which point the army had proved its worth . Over the next hundred years , the size of the Army was controlled either by the number of serving men being strictly regulated or by limits on the money that paid for it . At the Diet of Worms in 1521 a commitment was made to keep the strength at 20 , 063 infantry and 4 , 202 cavalry . This was later simplified to 20 , 000 and 4 , 000 . The monthly cost of paying for an army of this size was known as the " Römermonat " . The Imperial Register ( " Reichsmatrikel " or " Heeresmatrikel " ) determined the contributions of the individual states making up the Empire , the first being the Register of 1422 . Contrary to popular belief , the Army of the Empire did not take part in the Thirty Years ' War of 1618 to 1648 . The Emperor participated in this war with the Imperial Army ( " Kaiserliche Armee " ) instead . The Constitution of the Army of the Empire ( " Reichsdefensionalordnung " ) of 1681 finally determined the composition of the army , fixing the contingents to be provided by the various Imperial Circles . The simple total strength ( called in Latin the " Simplum " ) was now fixed at 40 , 000 men , consisting of 28 , 000 infantry and 12 , 000 cavalry , including 2 , 000 dragoon s ( that is , mounted infantry ) . In emergencies , the size of the army could be increased by doubling or tripling the contingents . Such multiples were called in Latin the " duplum " and the " triplum " . The figures for the contingents to be supplied by each Imperial Circle were little altered until the demise of the Empire . In practice , they were organized into a number of separate regiment s . In some cases , money was provided instead of men to fulfil these military obligations to the Emperor . End . The army came to an end even before the Holy Roman Empire was wound up in 1806 , as the result of the Napoleonic Wars . In 1804 , the imperial forces originating from the lands of the new Emperor of Austria , a title created that year , became the Imperial and Royal Army ( " Kaiserlich - königliche Armee " ) , which was defeated by the French at the battles of Ulm and Austerlitz in 1805 . In 1806 the victorious French organized much of the former empire into the Confederation of the Rhine , a grouping of client state s of the French Empire , with a common federal army .