The Ministry of War (german: Kriegsministerium) was a ministry for military affairs of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

, founded as ''Ministerium des Kriegswesens'' on October 1, 1808 by King

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (german: Maximilian I. Joseph; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) ...

. It was located on the

Ludwigstraße The Ludwigstraße in Munich is one of the city's four royal avenues next to the Brienner Straße, the Maximilianstraße and the Prinzregentenstraße. Principal was King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the avenue is named in his honour. The city's grandest ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Today the building, which was built by

Leo von Klenze Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784, Buchladen (Bockelah / Bocla) near Schladen – 26 January 1864, Munich) was a German neoclassicist architect, painter and writer. Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, Leo ...

between 1824 and 1830, houses the Bavarian public record office, ''Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv und Staatsarchiv München''.

History

The ministry was the successional institution of the royal Bavarian ''Hofkriegsrat'' (court war council, founded in 1620) and its follow-on institutions that were responsible for the military: * ''Oberkriegskollegium'' (upper war council, after 1799) * ''Kriegsjustizrat und Kriegsökonomierat'' (war justice council and war economic council, after 1801) * ''Geheimes Kriegsbureau'' (privy war bureau, after 1804) The name of the ''Ministerium des Kriegswesens'' changed to ''Staatsministerium der Armee'' in 1817, and finally to ''Kriegsministerium'' in 1825.Rainer Braun
''Bayerisches Kriegsministerium''
German, Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, June 16, 2008. From 1801 to 1817,Wilhelm Volkert, Richard Bauer
p. 330 ff
King

by himself held full command of 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 ...

. In 1817 General von Triva was made the real head of the Ministry by him, but the administration of justice and economics of the military was part of the ''Oberadministrativkollegium'' and the ''Generallazarettinspektion''. In 1822 Maximilian I assigned General von Wrede as commander-in-chief of the army, and the ''Staatsministerium der Armee'' also became responsible for the administration of justice and economics. After 1829 the tasks and responsibilities of the supreme command of the army (Oberkommando, existing from 1822 to 1829) were transferred to the Minister of War, so that he was additionally commander-in-chief of the army. After acquiring command of the army, the Bavarian war minister had far more extensive responsibilities compared to ministers of other countries, such as the

Prussian Minister of War The Prussian War Ministry was gradually established between 1808 and 1809 as part of a series of reforms initiated by the Military Reorganization Commission created after the disastrous Treaties of Tilsit. The War Ministry was to help bring the ...

. After the breakdown of the Bavarian kingdom in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

, the Kriegsministerium was replaced by the ''Ministerium für militärische Angelegenheiten'' (ministry of military affairs). Due to the

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...

, from 1919 onwards the Bavarian Ministry of TransportWilhelm Volkert, Richard Bauer
''Handbuch der bayerischen Ämter, Gemeinden und Gerichte 1799-1980''
(German), 1983, p. 3, and the Ministry for Military Affairs were both disbanded. The former archive of the ministry, which was founded in 1885, became a section of the ''Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv und Staatsarchiv München''. The military troops of Bavaria were subordinated to the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

, which was under the command of the Reichspräsident. Therefore, the Ministry of War was replaced by the ''Reichswehrbefehlsstelle Bayern'' (Reichswehr commanding office Bavaria) until September 1919.

Ministers

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of War (Kingdom Of Bavaria)

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Military of Bavaria Politics of Bavaria Kingdom of Bavaria History of Munich Bavaria, War Maxvorstadt Leo von Klenze buildings 1808 establishments in Bavaria