Baden Army

The Baden Army (German: Badische Armee) was the military organisation of the German state Baden until 1871. The origins of the army were a combination of units that the Baden margraviates of Baden-Durlach and Baden-Baden had set up in the Baroque era, and the standing army of the Swabian Circle, to which both territories had to contribute troops. The reunification of the two small states to form the Margraviate of Baden in 1771 and its subsequent enlargement and elevation by Napoleon to become the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1806 created both the opportunity and obligation to maintain a larger army, which Napoleon used in his campaigns against Austria, Prussia and Spain and, above all, Russia. After the end of Napoleon's rule, the Grand Duchy of Baden contributed a division to the German Federal Army. In 1848, Baden troops helped to suppress the Hecker uprising, but a year later a large number sided with the Baden revolutionaries. After the violent suppression of the revolution by Prussian and Württemberg troops, the army was re-established and fought in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 on the side of Austria and the southern German states, as well as in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 on the German side. When Baden joined the German Reich in 1870/71, the Grand Duchy gave up its military sovereignty and the Baden troops became part of the XIV Army Corps of the Imperial German Army.

Thirty Years' War[]

Matthäus Merian: The Battle of Wimpfen

During the , George Frederick of Baden-Durlach was able to reunite the two parts of Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach and, around 1600, generate a force of 200 cavalry, 600 foot soldiers and 40 guns. The Protestant margrave, whose territory was in the vicinity of the Habsburg Further Austria and who was in inheritance disputes with the Catholic Baden-Baden line, joined the Protestant Union in 1608 and increased the size of his army to 15,000 men around 1617.

For his sons Frederick, Charles and Christopher, George Frederick wrote his own book on military operations from 1614 to 1617, which he never published.^[1] He also relied on the military academy known as the School of War (Ritterliche Kriegsschule), founded in 1616 by John VII of Nassau-Siegen in Siegen.^[2][3]

At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War he sided with the "Winter King", Frederick V of the Palatinate. After Spanish troops occupied the Palatinate and the Protestant Union had dissolved, George Frederick wanted to unite his now 20,000 strong army with the troops of Ernst von Mansfeld who were fighting in the Palatinate against the Catholic troops under Tilly. However, the Margrave and von Mansfeld did not agree on who should be in command of the united army, so a merger did not come about. Instead, the Baden armed forces fought on 6 May 1622 without Mansfeld's troops against Tilly and were defeated in the Battle of Wimpfen, one of the bloodiest battles of the Thirty Years' War. George Frederick's army was smashed in the process, the margrave himself escaped, according to tradition, only through a sacrifice made by 400 men of Pforzheim who covered his retreat and all died in the process, with the exception of the standard bearer. As a result of the defeat, the was reversed, parts of Baden-Durlach were also occupied and plundered by troops of the League.^[4]

George Frederick also carried around 70 so-called pike or pointed wagons in his army. The pointed wagons are described as an invention of his.^[5] These are wagons with two or three axles, on which two beams are attached so that the wheels can be easily and widely rotated. Small swivelling howitzers (sometimes also referred to as mortars) were attached to the beams, as well as iron pikes (hence the name) which were pointed outwards, in particular to ward off enemy cavalry.

It was not until 1631 that George Frederick's son and successor Frederick V Was financially able to raise his own troops again, but this was prevented by the invasion of Bavarian troops. The Baden regions remained a theatre of war in the years that followed, mainly due to fighting between Swedish troops (which Frederick allied with) and imperial troops. From 1634, the imperial family gained the upper hand, Frederick lost his territory and was only able to get it back in the course of the Treaty of Westphalia, but without the Baden-Baden territories, which went back to the Catholic line. In Baden's case, the Peace of Westphalia did not restore the state to its pre-1618 borders, but rather to that before the occupation of Upper Baden.^[6]

Baden Ministers of War[]

In 1808 the responsibility of the former War Commission (Kriegskommission) was transferred to the newly created Ministry of War (Kriegsministerium).^[7] The following Ministers of War held office:^[8]

• 7 March 1808 to 17 September 1808 Karl von Geusau
• 1808–1814 Karl Friedrich von Fischer (management)^[9]
• 16 August 1814 to 4 Dezember 1833 Konrad von Schäffer
• 09 December 1833 to 22 March 1848 Karl Wilhelm Eugen von Freydorf
• 22 March 1848 bis 9 June 1849 General Friedrich Hoffmann
• 16 June 1849 to 7 April 1854 August von Roggenbach
• 17 May 1854 to 13 February 1868 Damian Ludwig
• 13 February 1868 to 29 June 1871 Gustav Friedrich von Beyer

The Grand Duch of Baden Ministry of War was disbanded by statute on 27 December 1871.^[10]

References[]

Literature[]

• Philipp Röder von Diersburg, ed. (1864): Denkwürdigkeiten des Generals der Infanterie Markgrafen Wilhelm von Baden aus den Feldzügen 1809 bis 1815. Nach dessen hinterlassenen eigenhändigen Aufzeichnungen. Mit Noten und Beilagen. A. Bielefeld’s Hofbuchhandlung, Karlsruhe, Baden Army is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Frank Engehausen (2008). Kleine Geschichte des Großherzogtums Baden. G. Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe, ISBN 978-3-7650-8328-0
• Frank Engehausen (2010). Kleine Geschichte der Revolution 1848/49 in Baden. G. Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe, ISBN 978-3-7650-8596-3.
• Siegfried Fiedler: Das Militärwesen Badens in der Zeit Napoleons. In: Baden und Württemberg im Zeitalter Napoleons. Württembergisches Landesmuseum (Hrsg.), Aufsatzband, Stuttgart 1987, pp. 255–273.
• Hans-Joachim Harder: Militärgeschichtliches Handbuch Baden-Württemberg. Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (ed.), Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-17-009856-X.
• Angelika Hauser-Hauswirth (producer): Wege der Revolutionäre. Wanderrouten Deutsche Revolution in Baden 1848/49. LpB Baden-Württemberg 1998.
• Adam Ignaz Valentin Heunisch, Joseph Bader: Das Großherzogthum Baden, historisch-geographisch-statistisch-topographisch beschrieben. Heidelberg 1857, Baden Army is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Armin Kohnle: Kleine Geschichte der Markgrafschaft Baden. Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-7650-8346-4.
• Karl Stiefel: Baden – 1648–1952. Band II, Karlsruhe 1979, pp. 989–1039.
• Max Ritter von Xylander: Das Heer-Wesen der Staaten des deutschen Bundes. Vol. 1. 2nd edn. Kollmann, Augsburg 1842; Baden Army is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Ludwig Scharf: Uniformes du Grand-Duché de Bade, 1835–1851. gallica
• Bernhard von Poten: Geschichte des Militär-Erziehungs- und Bildungswesens in den Landen deutscher Zunge. Hofmann, Berlin 1889–1900, Band 1 (1889), Allgemeine Übersicht, Baden, Bayern, Braunschweig, Colmar. hier S. 17–50; Baden Army is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Veteranen-Chronik der Krieger Badens. Karlsruhe 1843 Digitalisat der UB Freiburg
• Karl-Heinz Lutz: Das badische Offizierskorps 1840–1870/71. 1997, In: Veröffentlichung der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Series B: Forschungen. 135th Vol., ISBN 978-3-17-013146-0.
• Das großherzogliche Armeekorps im Jahre 1843. In: Universal-Lexikon vom Großherzogthum Baden. 2., wohlfeile Ausgabe, bearbeitet und herausgegeben von einer Gesellschaft von Gelehrten und Vaterlandsfreunden. Karlsruhe, 1847. Spalte 75–105 Google digitalisation
• Wehrgeschichtliches Museum Rastatt (publ.) Unter dem Greifen – Altbadisches Militär von der Vereinigung der Markgrafschaften bis zur Reichsgründung 1771-1871 – Rastatt 1984

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military of Baden.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Baden - Militär

• Internetauftritt der Ausstellung Baden! 900 Jahre Zeugnisse badischen Militärs des Wehrgeschichtlichen Museum Rastatt.
• Hörbeispiele badischer Militärmusik auf dem Internetauftritt der Deutsche Gesellschaft für Militärmusik
• Military Convention between the North German League and Baden dated 25 November 1870 verfassungen.de retrieved 6 November 2013