States and the Army part one
The German Army had four distinct elements: Prussian, Württemberg, Saxon, and Bavarian armies. Because they were separate armies, the terminology used by each is often confusing. Even Otto v. Bismarck was confounded by the varying references. He admitted that it was not constitutionally correct, but rather than name each individual army, as a Prussian, he elected to use the expression “Imperial Army” for the sake of succinctness. Reichsheer was the term favored by the Kaiser.
According to the imperial Constitution, the empire covered the expenses of the Prussian, Württemberg, and Saxon components. Bavaria had to cover the peacetime expenses of its army from its own resources. Only upon mobilization did Bavaria receive financial support from the Reichstag. Article 53 of the Imperial Constitution declared that the navy of the Empire was united and under the Supreme Command of the Kaiser. It was written, in part, because of all the 25 states, only Prussia had a navy prior to the Constitution. The navy was an internal indivisible organization set forth in the constitution.
Article 63, on the other hand, stated: “The entire land force of the Empire shall constitute a united army, which in war and in peace shall be under the command of the Kaiser.” It was legal language, but had many loopholes. There was no united imperial Army but simply contingents of the member states. The army was a collective unit and its unity did not cancel the existence of state contingents. The term “imperial German Army” is an improper collective phrase that is, nevertheless, often used through ignorance or simply as a type of shorthand.
When the states joined the German Empire, they ceased to be sovereign but did not cease to be states. Nowhere did the states give up sovereignty more completely than in military affairs. Most states had their own armies but each army was recruited, organized, equipped, and drilled not in conformity with state regulations but rather by the rules of the empire, which in turn were determined by Prussia. Formally, the state possessed military supremacy, but the content and extent of that supremacy was determined by the military conventions between the states and Prussia. In July 1860, the Prussians began numbering their regiments, but modified the structure in 1861. After the War of 1866, the states that Prussia annexed had their armies integrated into the numbering system. Bavaria had its own numbering system that was completely separate from that of Prussia. There appears to have been no standardization to the numbering. So, you had the integration of the Hanseatic States, Hanoverian regiments, the old electoral Hesse (Kurhessen), Schleswig-Holstein, and Nassau. That accounted for regiment numbers up to 88. In 1867, the other states of the North German Confederation and Saxony joined the numbering system, but it was not continuous nor did it follow any particular chronology. The order was the Mecklenburg Grand Duchies, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Anhalt, Saxe-Weimar, the Saxon duchies, and the other Thuringian states, covering numbers 89 to 96. The numbers for infantry regiments 97-99 were reserved for future Prussian units, which were not created until 1881. Saxony added their regiments to the mix beginning at number 100. This military convention preceded the convention of some other states—Militärkonvention zwischen dem Norddeutschen Bunde und Sachsen vom 7 Februar 1867. Baden’s numbering started at 109 with Militärkonvention zwischen dem Norddeutschen Bunde und Baden vom 25 November 1870. Hesse and Württemberg followed—Militärkonvention zwischen dem Norddeutschen Bunde und Hessen vom 13 Juni 1871. Militärkonvention zwischen dem Norddeutschen Bunde und Württemberg vom 25 November 1870. Both the regimental numbers and the seniority of the regiments were combined. Hanoverian regiments retained their original founding date, while other regiments traced their founding date to their parent organization. An analysis of regimental names and the movement of regiments led to some interesting anomalies. For example, infantry regiment 67 (4. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.67) was originally from Prussian Saxony and called “Magdeburgisch.” It later relocated to Metz and drew its recruits mainly from the Rhineland that had nothing to do with Prussian Saxony.