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Reichskrieg
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Reichskrieg
A Reichskrieg ("Imperial War", pl. Reichskriege) was a war fought by the Holy Roman Empire as a whole against a common enemy. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Reichskrieg was a formal state of war that could only be declared by the Imperial Diet.
There were two kinds of Reichskrieg with two different legal bases. The first was a Reichsexekutionskrieg, a military action of the empire against one of its own Imperial Estates (Reichstände). This could only be done after one of the empire's two supreme courts, the Imperial Chamber Court or the Imperial Aulic Council, had found the offending estate to be in breach of the peace, and the estate was too powerful to be subdued by the Imperial Circle to which it belonged. The second kind of Reichskrieg was that against another sovereign state that had violated the empire's rights or frontiers. After 1519, the emperors were bound to get the support of the Imperial Electors prior to declaring war on another state. From 1648, they required the approval of the diet for both kinds of war.
The only state against which a formal Reichskrieg was ever declared was France. The diet declared war on France in 1689, 1702, 1734, 1793 and 1799. The declaration created a state of war, but it was still necessary for the emperor by a series of orders to begin the decentralised process of forming the Reichsarmee (Army of the Holy Roman Empire) out of the Imperial Circles' troops. What each estate owed in both money and men was determined by the Imperial Military Constitution. Following the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (1803), the six imperial cities that remained were pledged to perpetual neutrality even during a Reichskrieg.
In the Middle Ages, the formal mechanisms of imperial war did not yet exist. Historians still sometimes speak of imperial wars, such as the war against the Count of Württemberg in 1311–1312; that declared by the Emperor Sigismund against Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1434; or that declared against the Armagnacs by the Emperor Frederick III in 1444.
At the Diet of Worms in 1495, the emperor was prohibited from making war in the name of the empire without first consulting the Imperial Diet. His right to make war in his own name and with his own resources was not restricted. This was the first restriction on the emperor's war-making powers, and it introduced the concept of a war fought by the whole empire as distinct from a war fought privately by the emperor.
The 1495 diet also declared an Eternal Peace and instituted a supreme court, the Imperial Chamber Court. These acts outlawed private warfare and feuds, and created a binding judicial mechanism for dispute resolution. This had the effect of making civil wars a matter of breaching the imperial peace (Reichsfriedensbruch) to be resolved by the courts. It was illegal for any Imperial Estate to assist another that was breaching the peace. Following court rulings, the emperor could issue an "advocates' mandate" (mandatum advocatorium) that identified estates in breach of the peace as "enemies of the empire" (Reichsfeinde) and required other estates to act to bring the enemy to heel. Thus, after a judicial process, the empire could make war on one of its own members that was in breach of the peace.
Charles V in his Wahlkapitulation (electoral capitulation) of 1519 agreed not to declare war without the consent of the electors. This represented a loosening of the restriction imposed in 1495.
In the early modern period, a fundamental difference was introduced to the empire between wars against fellow Christians and wars against non-Christians, which, in the imperial context, meant the Ottoman Turks. Between 1529 and 1699, the empire was in a constant state of war with the Ottomans, punctuated only by temporary truces that usually involved the payment of tribute to the Ottomans. This permanent state of war followed from the Ottoman division of world between the lands of Islam and the "house of war". These wars attracted support from both Catholic and Protestant Europe. Although they had the support of the Papacy, they were never declared crusades.
Hub AI
Reichskrieg AI simulator
(@Reichskrieg_simulator)
Reichskrieg
A Reichskrieg ("Imperial War", pl. Reichskriege) was a war fought by the Holy Roman Empire as a whole against a common enemy. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Reichskrieg was a formal state of war that could only be declared by the Imperial Diet.
There were two kinds of Reichskrieg with two different legal bases. The first was a Reichsexekutionskrieg, a military action of the empire against one of its own Imperial Estates (Reichstände). This could only be done after one of the empire's two supreme courts, the Imperial Chamber Court or the Imperial Aulic Council, had found the offending estate to be in breach of the peace, and the estate was too powerful to be subdued by the Imperial Circle to which it belonged. The second kind of Reichskrieg was that against another sovereign state that had violated the empire's rights or frontiers. After 1519, the emperors were bound to get the support of the Imperial Electors prior to declaring war on another state. From 1648, they required the approval of the diet for both kinds of war.
The only state against which a formal Reichskrieg was ever declared was France. The diet declared war on France in 1689, 1702, 1734, 1793 and 1799. The declaration created a state of war, but it was still necessary for the emperor by a series of orders to begin the decentralised process of forming the Reichsarmee (Army of the Holy Roman Empire) out of the Imperial Circles' troops. What each estate owed in both money and men was determined by the Imperial Military Constitution. Following the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (1803), the six imperial cities that remained were pledged to perpetual neutrality even during a Reichskrieg.
In the Middle Ages, the formal mechanisms of imperial war did not yet exist. Historians still sometimes speak of imperial wars, such as the war against the Count of Württemberg in 1311–1312; that declared by the Emperor Sigismund against Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1434; or that declared against the Armagnacs by the Emperor Frederick III in 1444.
At the Diet of Worms in 1495, the emperor was prohibited from making war in the name of the empire without first consulting the Imperial Diet. His right to make war in his own name and with his own resources was not restricted. This was the first restriction on the emperor's war-making powers, and it introduced the concept of a war fought by the whole empire as distinct from a war fought privately by the emperor.
The 1495 diet also declared an Eternal Peace and instituted a supreme court, the Imperial Chamber Court. These acts outlawed private warfare and feuds, and created a binding judicial mechanism for dispute resolution. This had the effect of making civil wars a matter of breaching the imperial peace (Reichsfriedensbruch) to be resolved by the courts. It was illegal for any Imperial Estate to assist another that was breaching the peace. Following court rulings, the emperor could issue an "advocates' mandate" (mandatum advocatorium) that identified estates in breach of the peace as "enemies of the empire" (Reichsfeinde) and required other estates to act to bring the enemy to heel. Thus, after a judicial process, the empire could make war on one of its own members that was in breach of the peace.
Charles V in his Wahlkapitulation (electoral capitulation) of 1519 agreed not to declare war without the consent of the electors. This represented a loosening of the restriction imposed in 1495.
In the early modern period, a fundamental difference was introduced to the empire between wars against fellow Christians and wars against non-Christians, which, in the imperial context, meant the Ottoman Turks. Between 1529 and 1699, the empire was in a constant state of war with the Ottomans, punctuated only by temporary truces that usually involved the payment of tribute to the Ottomans. This permanent state of war followed from the Ottoman division of world between the lands of Islam and the "house of war". These wars attracted support from both Catholic and Protestant Europe. Although they had the support of the Papacy, they were never declared crusades.