The Formation of the Imperial German Army.

At the end of the 30 Years War in 1648, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia recognised the sovereignty of the Member States of the old Empire, permitting them to make treaties with foreign powers. For a century and a half Germany remained fragmented in over 1800 political entities - there were 77 major principalities, 51 Imperial cities, 45 Imperial villages & 1475 territories ruled by Imperial knights, still bound to the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire which lacked the strength to unite them. In the 18th Century Prussia under the rule of The Great Elector began to rise in power taking East Prussia, after which Frederick the Great then aquired Silesia (1742), East Friesland (1744), East Prussia and Ermland (1772). Then in 1795 Prussia ceded its territories west of the Rhine to Napoleon, while the Hapsburgs followed suit 2 years later with their Rhenish possesions as well as others. A second defeat to Austria in 1800 by Napoleon brought changes to the German Diet, supressing over 100 smaller entities and bringing Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg to the fore. The 3rd Coalition war in 1805 produced the split of the west German states into the Confederation of the Rhine. Then in 1806, the Prussian defeat at Jena and Tilsit saw them lose their territory west of the Elbe to the Kingdom of Westphalia, and their eastern territories again to Poland. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 Austria took the permanent Presidency of the new German Confederation at the Congress of Vienna. By 1839 the German Confederation was made up of 33 states, although it did not include all of Germany's or Austria's territories.

In 1858 Frederick Wilhelm IV's brother Wilhelm became Regent at the age of 63. Then in 1859 France and Sardinia defeated Austria in a war to gain Italy's unity from Austria. Although Prussia had mobilised to defend Federal Territory, Austria refused to give either its forces or their leadership over into Prussian hands. Whilst the war clearly showed what lengths Austria would go to to thwart Prussia and that Austria was a military liability to the Confederation, Prussia's slow mobilisation also convinced Wilhelm that her military system needed to be overhauled drastically. The Reforms were introduced in the Parliament in January, 1860: providing for an increase in the standing Army from 200,000 to 371,000 or 39 new Infantry Regiments and 10 Cavalry Regiments, and to lengthen the period of Military Service from 2 to 3 years, increasing annual expenditure to 9,5 million Thalers. The Landwehr or Militia suffered a reduction in importance and strength and the Army was to be re-equipped with modern weapons. These reforms were to double the power of Prussia's Army.

Formation of the German Empire, 1864-71Two years after Denmark ceded Schleswig-Holstein to Austria and Prussia in 1864, Prussia and Austria mobilised against each other as a consequence. Bismarck's machinations had brought the question to a point where by March 1866 both Powers had begun a partial mobilisation. By June 1st Austria was reluctant to carry the ongoing costs of mobilisation any longer and took a line against Prussia in the Confederation's Diet, proposing that the Diet should determine Schleswig-Holstein's fate. Prussia declared that Austria had broken The Treaty of Gastein, in which the two Powers had reserved this decision before the Danish War by mutual agreement only - and marched Prussian forces into Holstein. Austria then proposed a Federal mobilisation against Prussia, which was supported by Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Hanover, Baden Hesse and Nassau. Prussia then declared the Confederation at end.

Prussian forces met with great success in the following Six Weeks' War. Hanover was overrun by the end of June, the main Austrian force was beaten decisively on the 3rd of July in Bohemia. Prussia obtained full sovereignty over Schleswig-Holstein and annexed Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau and Frankfurt. Prussia's territory stretched from east to west unbroken, she was now in control of the new North German Confederation founded in 1867. Saxony and the southern States were left intact and were given free choice if they wished to take part in the Confederation, only Austria was excluded.

The Franco-Prussian War began on the 9th of July, 1870. Supported by  Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden, and equipped with the experience of the recent conflict of 1866, Prussia again was victorious in a little over six weeks. The main French Army was shut up in the Metz and Napoleon surrendered at Sedan in August. An armistice was finally signed on the 29th January, 1871, which ceded Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. For on the 18th January King Wilhem of Prussia had been proclaimed the German Emperor. Earlier negotiations with the southern States had procured their support for the 2nd Empire.

The new empire or Reich founded in 1871 was basically a furthering of the North German Confederation - a state, in which the King of Prussia held the title of Emperor or Deutscher Kaiser. The fundamental clauses of the Prussian Constitution concerning the army passed into the new Empire's constitution virtually unaltered. All of Germany should contribute in peacetime towards one single army. For this reason the Imperial method of numbering the Regiments was introduced; the Army also adopted the basic colours and cut of uniform standardised along the lines of the Prussian model.

The components that it was forged out of were:

The Prussian army increased in size by the absorbtion of the armies of Hesse and Baden at the time of Unification. Two new Army Corps came into being in this fashion, the 14th Corps was formed from the Baden Army and Prussian troops; the 15th Corps was then formed from Prussian Regiments, the Saxon 92nd Infantry Regiment & Bavarian troops. Further units were added through the resizing of the Army in 1881, 1887, 1890, and in the period from 1897 to 1913. The 16th and 17th Corps came into being in 1890, the 18th and 19th (Saxon) Corps was formed in 1899. Then in 1900 Bavaria added a 3rd Corps to her Army.

The King of Bavaria retained command of the Bavarian Army in peactime – it was not until time of war that Bavarian troops fell directly under command of the Kaiser. Organisation, training and equipment had been standardised to a degree, but the Bavarian Army continued to enjoy a greater amount of independance within the German Army as well as being numbered separately - and so being they are also listed separately. The Bavarian and Saxon Armies retained separate promotion lists for their Officers, while those on the lists of Württemberg and Prussia were interchangeable.  They were published annually and promotions, appointments and transers were gazetted officially. Promotion was the perogative of the Rulers of the four Kingdoms, which maintained their own Armies still, as well as retaining their own War Ministries. They were liable under the constitution to furnish a fixed proportion of the Imperial Army according to their population:

According to the constitution, the peace-time strength of the standing Army should have corresponded to ca. one percent of Germany's population. This was revised at times to reflect the growth of population; in 1871 the population of Germany was ca. 42 million, which had climbed to ca. 67 million by 1913. The peacetime strength of the army rose correspondingly from 400,000 in 1874 to 506,000 by 1913. On account of France's introduction of a 3 year period of national service it was considered necessary to raise the standing Army's strength again in early 1913 to 663,000. This did not have time, however, to come fully into effect before the outbreak of World War I.*

Shortly before the Great War the total of Regiments at the Army's disposal stood at 217 Infantry Regiments, 18 Jäger Battalions, 110 Cavalry Regiments, 100 Field-Artillery and 19 Foot-Artillery Regiments. In addition there were 35 Pioneer Battalions, as well as Machinegun-detachments, Railway, Telegraph, Airship, Flying,  Motorised Transport Troops and the Train Battalions. There was also the Jäger zu Pferd or Mounted Infantry Regiment(s) which were formed in 1901 from the Meldereiterabteilungen, which themselves had been forming since 1895. Thus the German Army fielded 50 Active Divisions in August 1914 - 48 Infantry Divisions and 2 Guards Divisions. (A 3rd Guards Division was also constituted when the Guards Training Battalion was expanded into a Training Regiment.)
*"The German Army Handbook, April 1918" quotes the peacetime strength of the Army as being 840,000 all ranks in 1914.

Germany was eventually divided into 24 Army Corps Districts which were identified with Roman numerals. Each separate Army Corps administered (and recruited from) their own district as well as garrisoning it during peace time. (Apart from the XV., XVI., and a part of the XXI. Corps which were stationed in Alsace-Lorraine and recruited in part from other districts.) The Guard Corps was stationed in Berlin although they were recruited from Prussia and Alsace-Lorraine. Corps Districts were usually subdivided again for recruiting purposes into Brigade Districts. The Corps Commander was directly commanded by the Kaiser - or the King of Bavaria in the three Bavarian Corps' cases. He was only responsible for the tactical training of his troops - not the technical side - but administered his district independantly.
An Army Corps consisted of the following components: Each Corps was comprised of 2 Divisions as a rule. Each Division consisted then of 2 or 3 Infantry Brigades – which were made up each of 2 Infantry Regiments. To this a Corps would also have had a Brigade of Cavalry nominally attached as well as one of Field Artillery. In addition there would be a Regiment of Foot Artillery, a Jäger and a Pioneer Battalion, as well as non-combatant units such as Administrative, Clothing, Medical departments and a Train Battalion.
 

Trivia: The minimum permissible height for Army recruits was 1,54 meters and for the Guards was 1,70 meters.
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