The army of the German state of Württemberg was until 1918 known in Germany as the ''Württembergische Armee''. Its troops were maintained by

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

for its national defence and as a unit of the

Swabian Circle The Circle of Swabia or Swabian Circle (german: Schwäbischer Reichskreis or ''Schwäbischer Kreis'') was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former German stem-duchy of Swabia. However, it di ...

(district) of Holy Roman Empire, the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria a ...

, the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

and finally of the Imperial German Army. In addition, particularly in the 18th century, there were also regiments that were lent to other dukes and foreign powers. This practice was often criticized as "soldier trading" or "

Soldatenhandel (German: 'soldier trade') was a practice of European states to raise and lease armed forces for compensation, especially in the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. It has been described as "military entrepreneurialism", where fiscal-military ...

"; a form of mercenary service. When the Imperial German Army was established around the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the cor ...

in 1871, the incorporated Württemberg Army remained an independent contingent (like the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of t ...

and the

Saxon Army The Royal Saxon Army (german: Königlich Sächsische Armee) was the military force of the Electorate (1682–1807) and later the Kingdom of Saxony (1807–1918). A regular Saxon army was first established in 1682 and it continued to exist until the ...

). It was formed into the

XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps The XIII (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps / XIII AK (german: XIII. (Königlich Württembergisches) Armee-Korps) was a corps of the Imperial German Army. It was, effectively, also the army of the Kingdom of Württemberg, which had been integrated ...

until 1918, mainly comprising the 26th and 27th infantry divisions and the 26th dragoon regiment.

Notes

Military history of Württemberg

{{Germany-mil-unit-stub

See also

Notes