"Imperial Reichsarmee in the 1730s" Topic

Does anyone knows the composition of the Reichsarmee during that decade? (By the time of the War of the Polish Succession, some units are depicted on the Gudenushandschrift of 1734). A list of regiments of each circle would be nice, but any help is welcome.

I have information on the 7 years war reichsarmee, but I am not sure it would be accurate for this earlier date?

link

herkybird, I know a little about the 7 years war reichsarmee, but I'm not sure if it was the same during the 1730s…

I would recommend Peter Wilson's book. The question you ask is so complex let alone what you are meaning the Reicharmee. Is this the force raised against the Turks, Poles etc…

Many of the Regiments raised for the War of Polish Succession were taken into the Austrian and Prussian pay so the list of regiments would be different.
Stephen

Ok, changing a little my question, does anyone have a list of regiments raised by the imperial circles during for the war of polish succession? Like the one at kronoskaf, but for the 1730s period.

Take a look at Nafziger's OOBs online here: cgsc.edu/carl/nafziger.asp

Using the Finding Aid PDF, I found several OOBs relevant to the WPS.

734FAA Imperial Army, Battle of Parma, 29 June 1734
734GAA Imperial Army in Lager by Bruchsal, July 1734
734HAA Imperial Army in Italy, 9 August 1734
734HAB Imperial Army on the Rhine, August 1734
735FAA Imperial Field Army On the Rhine, 24 June 1735
735XAB Imperial Army of the Moselle, 1735

A quick glance through these suggests the Reichstruppen were concentrated in the Western theater, no surprise. The two OOBs relevant to Italy seem to be all the familiar Austrian regiments, but a more careful review might reveal otherwise.

To my understanding, Gudenus pictured all the contingents raised for the western campaign, i.e. the siege of Philippsburg 1734/35. From you OP you seem to have the booklet published in 1985. If not, I'd be happy to type out the list here?

Reiter, Husaren und Grenadiere – Die Uniformen der Kaiserlichen Armee am Rhein 1734, Zeichnungen des Philipp Franz Freiherrn von Gudenus – Bearbeitung und Texte von H. Bleckwenn – mine is Dortmund 1979.

You have to remember that most reichsarmee Regimente are raised for the occasion either from existing state units or a combination of existing companies/regiments and new recruits, most states only commit to supplying X number of men and only worry about where they come from when they are actually called.
The Peter Wilson book is an excellent introduction to the complex field of the German military states.

To supplement Graf Bretlach's comments, Bacchus offer uniform information of some of these regiments on CD.

link

Cheers,

Good question.
In theory, there are the 10 circles: schwäbischer, fränkischer, oberrheinischer, kurrheinischer, westfälischer, niedersächsischer, obersächsischer, bayerischer, österreichischer, burgundischer Kreis. Every circle formed regiments (Kreisregimenter) out of the contingents of the Kreisstände („territories"), this regiments made up the Reichsarmee (based on the 1681 Reichsdefensionalordnung, the Matrikel more or less based on the 1521 Wormser Matrikel).

But… some of the principialities paid money to the emperor instead of sending troops, some acted as independent powers keeping their contingent in teir own regiments (Brandenburg-Preußen (with Brandenburg forming part of the upper saxon circle), Hessen-Kassel (part of Oberrhein)), some were anti-Habsburg (Electoral Bavaria, Electoral Cologne…), some gave whole regiments into imperial pay (Bamberg-Würzburg) and, of course, the Habsburg parts of the austrian circle were represented by – not specified – imperial (kaiserliche) regiments.

In 1734, there were the franconian, swabian and upper rhine circles present in full, the other circles only in parts (meaning not all the Kreisstände sending in their contingents).
This is in short Bleckwenn's description in „Reiter, Husaren und Grenadiere". His source, by the way, is titled „… kaiserliche, Reichs- und Hülfs-Völker…": Imperial (the Emperor's, i.e. Habsburg private), the Empire's (the contingents of the Reichsstände according to Reichs-law), and auxiliary (e.g. prussian) armies.

You might find the regiments' „genealogy" in german wikipedia (try „regimenter") or in Tessin.

Thank you enfant perdus I had forgotten about (could not locate) the nafziger lists for some time.

salut