Baden Army

The Baden Army was the military organisation of the German state of Baden until 1871. The origins of the army were a combination of units that the Badenese 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, Badenese 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 side of the Germans. When Baden joined the German Empire in 1870/71, the Grand Duchy gave up its military sovereignty and the Badenese troops became part of the XIV Army Corps of the Imperial German Army.

Thirty Years' War

During the Occupation of Upper Baden, 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. He also relied on the military academy known as the School of War, founded in 1616 by John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen in Siegen.
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 Badenese 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 Upper Baden Occupation was reversed, parts of Baden-Durlach were also occupied and plundered by troops of the League.
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. 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 were attached to the beams, as well as iron pikes 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 and Imperial troops. From 1634, the Imperial side 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.

Swabian Imperial Circle and other territorial units to 1780

Under the leadership of Circle Field Marshal Louis William of Baden-Baden and the Duchy of Württemberg the Imperial Swabian Circle decided to set up a standing body of circle troops for which the different regions of the Circle had to provide certain contingents. Between 1732 and 1796 this 'circle army' consisted of five regiments that were set up separately based on their Christian denominations. The Protestant Margraviate of Baden-Durlach provided 23 dragoons for the circle's regiment of dragoons and 121 infantrymen for the 1st Circle Infantry Regiment. Members of the Baden-Durlach ruling house held the command of the same 1st Infantry. The Catholic Margraviate of Baden-Baden provided 19 cuirassiers for the Circle Curassiers Regiment and 122 infantrymen for the 3rd Circle Infantry. In addition to the two Badenese margraviates, the Duchy of Württemberg, the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg and the Imperial cities mainly bore the major cost of the circle army, but even smaller counties and lordships had to provide contingents.
File:Knötel I, 49.jpg| thumb|Uniforms of the various Baden associations, late 18th C. L to R: Fusilier officer, two officers of the Life Guard Infantry Regiment, NCO of fusiliers, grenadier of the Life Guards, musketeer of the Infantry Life Guards, fusilier. Drawing: Richard Knötel
Besides the circle troops, both Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach had their own troops, so-called household troops, which included the Life Guards. In Baden-Durlach, a grenadier battalion of four companies and a dragoon squadron was set up in 1752, Baden-Baden was followed in 1763 with an equally strong grenadier battalion, a cuirassier company and a squadron of hussars. After the death of the last Baden-Baden margrave, Augustus George Simpert, Frederick of Baden-Durlach finally reunited the two states into the Margraviate of Baden. United Baden now had a population of around 257,000, and although Charles Frederick had taken on the debts of the old Baden-Baden margraviate which he had to pay off, he was also able to enlarge the army. In 1780, he united the Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach Grenadier Battalions to form the Life Guard Infantry Regiment consisting of a battalion of musketeers and a battalion of grenadiers. The hussar squadron remained as an independent unit, the Baden-Baden Cuirassiers and Baden-Durlachian Dragoons formed the Garde du Corps and on top of that two fusilier battalions were set up. Together with a garrison company and four three-pounder guns, the Baden Army comprised 1,125 men and the military budget in 1782/83 was a little more than 105,000 Baden gulden.
The illegitimate son of Margrave Charles Frederick, Charles Frederick Hermann of Freystedt created a militia system and is considered the pioneer of general conscription. With a reform of Baden's military law, he also ensured a certain protection of the soldiers from the arbitrariness of their superiors in 1782.

Napoleonic Wars and Confederation of the Rhine

The French Revolution and resulting tensions between France and the great powers of the Holy Roman Empire put Baden in a difficult situation. On the one hand, in the course of the revolution, it finally lost control of its possessions on the left bank of the Rhine; and on the other hand it was situated on the Upper Rhine, wedged between France and Further Austria and exposed to the danger of becoming a theatre of war as it had been during the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648.

First Coalition War

In the autumn of 1792, the Margraviate joined the anti-French coalition and undertook to provide 1,000 soldiers. In return, the coalition promised to return the occupied left bank of the Rhine to Baden when a peace treaty was agreed and to reimburse its war costs. In addition to its regular forces, Heinrich Medicus organised a Baden state militia consisting of single 19–50 year olds, so that the military strength of the Margraviate grew to around 16,000 men. Military spending also rose drastically, the average ten-year defence budget between 1789 and 1798 was around 158,000 gulden.
As a result of its defeat in the War of the First Coalition, however, the coalition's promises were not fulfilled and Baden's left bank of the Rhine was finally lost de facto in 1794. Prussia reached an accommodation with France in 1795, and the Margrave of Baden also committed to peace: in 1796 a separate treaty was signed, Baden left the coalition and gave up its left bank territory. However, since Austria continued the war, Baden, which was actually neutral, became a theatre of war: there were battles at Emmendingen and Schliengen in October 1796 and parts of South Baden were plundered by the French armies.

Second Coalition War

In the War of the Second Coalition, Margrave Charles Frederick remained neutral. As a result of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803 and the Treaty of Pressburg, Baden increased its territory: in addition to land ruled by the Church and former Imperial cities, the Electoral Palatine and the Breisgau became part of the Margraviate which, in 1803, was elevated to become an Electorate and, in 1806, a Grand Duchy. Many of the new Baden territories had previously raised their own small military forces which now became part of the Baden Army. This grew and included the following in 1806:

Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
One life guard regiment and three line regiments	The Garde du Corps	Three batteries
One independent battalion of grenadiers and one of Jägers	One regiment of dragoons
Four garrison regiments	One regiment of hussars

The total strength of the army was 14 battalions of infantry, 10 squadrons of cavalry and three batteries of artillery. The Electorate/Grand Duchy was divided into four cantons along the lines of the Prussian model.