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, image = Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806).svg , image_size = 150 , caption = , dates = 1422–1806 , country = , allegiance = , branch =
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, size = , command_structure = , garrison = Vienna , garrison_label = Headquarters , nickname = , motto = , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = Ottoman–Habsburg wars
Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War (french: Guerre de Hollande; nl, Hollandse Oorlog), was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Nor ...

Nine Years' War
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Great French War, were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars again ...

War of the Polish Succession , anniversaries = , decorations = , battle_honours = , commander1 = , commander1_label = , commander2 = , commander2_label = , notable_commanders =
Nicholas, Count of Salm Nicholas, Count of Salm (Vielsalm, Belgium 1459 – Salmhof, Marchegg, Lower Austria, 4 May 1530) was a German soldier and an Imperial senior military commander (German: ''Feldherr''). His greatest achievement was the defense of Vienna du ...

Charles V
Johann Tserclaes von Tilly Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly ( nl, Johan t'Serclaes Graaf van Tilly; german: Johann t'Serclaes Graf von Tilly; french: Jean t'Serclaes de Tilly ; February 1559 – 30 April 1632) was a field marshal who commanded the Catholic League's ...

Albrecht von Wallenstein
Raimondo Montecuccoli
Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg
Eugene of Savoy
Count de Mercy
Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller Ludwig Andreas Khevenhüller, Graf von Aichelberg-Frankenburg (en: Louis Andrew Khevenhüller, Count of Aichelberg-Frankenburg) (30 November 1683 – 26 January 1744) was an Austrian field-marshal who came of a noble family that was originally ...

Leopold Joseph von Daun
Ernst Gideon von Laudon Ernst Gideon von Laudon, since 1759 Freiherr von Laudon (originally Laudohn or Loudon; 13 February 171714 July 1790), was a Baltic German-born Austrian generalisimo and one of the most successful opponents of the Prussian king Frederick the Great ...

Franz Moritz von Lacy
Archduke Charles , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = , identification_symbol_2 = , identification_symbol_2_label = The Army of the Holy Roman Empire (german: Reichsarmee, ''Reichsheer'' or ''Reichsarmatur''; la, exercitus imperii) was created in 1422 and came to an end when the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
was dissolved in 1806 as a result of the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
. The Army of the Empire did not constitute a permanent
standing army A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars or ...
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'' during an
Imperial War A ''Reichskrieg'' ("Imperial War", pl. ''Reichskriege'') was a war fought by the Holy Roman Empire as a whole against a common enemy. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a ''Reichskrieg'' was a formal state of war that could only be declare ...
(''Reichskrieg'') or an Imperial Execution (''Reichsexekution''). It could only be deployed with the consent of the Imperial Diet and should not be confused with the Imperial Army (''Kaiserliche Armee'') of the Emperor. In practice, the various forces of the Army of the Empire often had stronger local allegiances than their loyalty to the Emperor.


History

Prompted by the threat posed by the Hussites, the Imperial Diet of 1422 held in
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
created the Army of the Empire by demanding specific contingents of troops from the various parts of the Empire. The
Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, Eur ...
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 Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
and 4,202
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...
. 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 Roman Month (''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 The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
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 dragoons (that is,
mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely speciall ...
). 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 A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...
s. In some cases, money was provided instead of men to fulfil these military obligations to the Emperor.


Campaigns

Between the 1590s and the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Great French War, were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars again ...
, the Army fought in the wars directly affecting the Empire, usually with units of the Imperial Army of the Empire and other local territorial forces. It did not take part in the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
of 1618 to 1648. * Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) *
Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War (french: Guerre de Hollande; nl, Hollandse Oorlog), was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Nor ...
(1673–1679) * Nine Years' War (1688–1697) *
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
(1701–1714) * War of the Polish Succession (1734–1735) *
War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...
(1792–1797) *
War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...
(1798–1801)


End

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 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 ...
, a grouping of
client state A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite sta ...
s of the French Empire, with a common federal army.Michael Hughes, ''Early modern Germany, 1477-1806'' (1992), p. 182


Further reading

*Vladimir Brnardic, Darko Pavlovic, ''Imperial Armies of the Thirty Years' War'' (2009) *John G. Gagliardo, ''Reich and nation: the Holy Roman Empire as idea and reality, 1763-1806'' (Indiana University Press, 1980) *Winfried Dotzauer, ''Die deutschen Reichskreise (1383–1806)'' (Stuttgart 1998, ) *Max Jähns, 'Zur Geschichte der Kriegsverfassung des deutschen Reiches' in ''Preußische Jahrbücher'' 39 (1877) *Karl Linnebach, 'Reichskriegsverfassung und Reichsarmee von 1648 bis 1806' in Karl Linnebach, ''Deutsche Heeresgeschichte'' (Hamburg 1943, 2nd ed.) *Helmut Neuhaus, 'Das Reich im Kampf gegen Friedrich den Großen - Reichsarmee und Reichskriegführung im Siebenjährigen Krieg' in Bernhard Kröner, ''Europa im Zeitalter Friedrichs des Großen - Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Kriege'' (Munich, 1989), pp. 213–243 *Martin Rink, Harald Potempa, 'Der Zusammenbruch des Alten Reichs (962-1806) und des alten Preußen im Jahre 1806' in ''Militärgeschichte'' March 2006 *Hanns Weigl, ''Die Kriegsverfassung des alten deutschen Reiches von der Wormser Matrikel bis zur Auflösung'' (Bamberg, 1912)


See also

*'' Hofkriegsrat'' * List of Lieutenant Field Marshals of the Holy Roman Empire


Notes


External links

{{commons category, Military of the Holy Roman Empire Military history of the Holy Roman Empire 1420s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1422 establishments in Europe Military units and formations established in the 15th century