I know the HRE extended from tha Baltic to north Italy, and within this there were various city states, principalities, duchies etc, some who formed 'circles'. Am I right in saying Austria is the most important state within the HRE because of the Hapsburgs? I also can't understand the relation ship Austria-Imperial. Are Imperial troops Austrian, vice versa, sometimes, never? I'm thinking of my next bns being from one of the circles, how do they fit in?
~X( :-/ #-o
The holy roman empire was more or less just a title.
the classic quote is that it wasn`t holy , roman or an empire.
alot of the small german states couldn`t of cared less about being in it and couldn`t be trusted to provide troops.
I would just think of them as Austrian with some of Hungarians and bits of the balkans thrown in when thinking about an army.
There would of been some belgians fighting for them but I wouldn`t have a clue about them.
My favourite version of the famous "not Roman.." was discussing politics, and complaining it was the failures of far left that allowed the Far Right to win. The comment about the Socialist Workers Party was "They're not socialist, they don't work, and they certainly don't know how to party"
Technically it should be refered to as the HRE, with varuios minor states "voting" for the Emperor, but the Hapsbergs had bit tied up from 17th century ?. It was one of the Great Powres even after disovled by napoleon, the becoming the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Till the Revolutionary wars it owned Belgium, and most of Italy, so troops from these regions can be used.
IanS
Hussar
I think the Circle Regiments fought for both the Austrians and the Maritime Powers. I will see what I can find in OOB's I have.
The following regiments were also in Austrian service (source:The Imperial Infantry 1691-172 - Sapherson):
Walloon Regts: Arenberg, Hartopp, Liedemanns, L'Asping, Sarrablanca, Devenitz, Maldeghem and D'Avila
Danish Regts (1 Btn each): Dronningens Livregt, Prins Georg, Prins Christian, Prins Carl, Sjaellans, Jylland and Marine
Prussian (2 Btns each ): Kanitz, Prinz Phillip, Anhalt Dessau, Prinz Christian Ludwig
Prussian (1 Btn each): Holstein-Beck, Jung-Dohna, Waldburg, Prinz Albrecht Friedrich, Sclabrendorff, and Cournaud
Pfalz (1 Btn each): Isselbach, Sachsen-Meinigen, Sulzbach and Freudenburg
Wurzburg (1 Btn Each): Fechenbach, Dalberg, Eyb and Tostung
Saxe-Gotha (1 Btn each): Prinz Georg and Prinz Friedrich.
Hope this is of use.
Chad
Hussar
Another nationality you might think about are the Saxons. The infantry at 1st Hochstadt was Prussian and Saxon and there were Saxon units at Malplaquet as part of Eugene's Imperial forces.
Chad
Hussar,
I don't mean to be facetious, but Wikipedia is a pretty good primer on this (did I really just type that?), and has a separate entry on the Circles. Bavaria at least, and I think Saxony as well, maintained Kreis regiments in addition to their own standing armies, and many smaller states provided contingents which together made up battalions in the Kreis regiments. For the SYW there is a very helpful book on the Reichsarmee in the Pengel and Hurt series, with a lot on organisation as well as uniforms. Not sure if anyone does a similar one for the WSS. In answer to your specific question, not all Imperial troops are Austrian, and not all of the Hapsburg's possessions were in the Empire (the most notable exceptions being Hungary, and Lombardy and Venetia). The Hapsburgs were the elected Emperors from 1415 to 1740, when the male line died out and the Elector of Bavaria became Emperor. This only lasted until his death in 1745, when Maria Theresa's husband was elected and the title returned to Austria. One of the interestinfg side effects of this little interregnum is that the imperial insignia disappeared from the flags of the army issued in those years, and they instead featured the arms of Hungary, which at the time was the Hapsburgs' senior title. So no imperial eagle from 1740-45.
Mollinary
The Editions Brokaw booklets provide the organisation and uniform information covering the Palatinate, Cologne, the Imperial Circles of Swabia and Franconia, Wurzburg and Ansbach. There are also CDs covering the Palatinate, Holstein-Gottorf, Mecklenburg Schwerin, Kur-Koln, Hessen Darmstadt, the Oberreinische Kreis, Hessen Kassel, Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel and Luneburg-Celle/Hanover. Some of these have German text, but I just about get by.
Chad