Upper Rhenish Circle
Imperial Army of the Seven Years’ War, 1757–1763
The Upper Rhenish Circle, the fourth of the six Imperial Circles established in 1500, comprised the following territories under the final 1521 division: the bishoprics of Worms, Speyer, Strasbourg, Basel, Besançon, Sion, Geneva, Lausanne, Metz, Toul, and Verdun; the abbeys of Fulda and Hersfeld; Savoy, Lorraine, Sponheim, Palatinate-Zweibrücken, Hesse-Kassel, the Nassau lands (excluding Nassau-Dietz), and Waldeck; as well as 24 cities. Circle assemblies were held in Worms, and from the beginning of the 18th century, in Frankfurt am Main. As a result of the Peace of Westphalia and the peace treaties of Nijmegen, Ryswick, and Baden, the Circle lost the greater part of its territories situated on the left bank of the Rhine; the remainder of the left bank fell to France under the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, while the remnants of the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle were subsequently incorporated into the Upper Rhenish Circle.
Source: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6. Auflage 1905–1909
The Upper Rhenish Circle contributed two infantry regiments from the Electoral Palatinate, one infantry regiment from Hesse-Darmstadt, and one palatinal cavalry squadron to the Imperial Army. Kreis-Regiment Hessen-Darmstadt distinguished itself at the Battle of Roßbach, 5 November 1757, while the combined French and Imperial Army fled the field of battle in panic. Infantry Regiment Hesse-Darmstadt also fought at Torgau, Erfurt, Maxen, and Kunersdorf.
Oberrheinischer Kreis
- Kreis-Regiment Hessen-Darmstadt
- Kreis-Regiment Nassau-Weilburg
- Kreis-Regiment Pfalz-Zweibrücken
Bibliography
- Gudenus, Philipp Franz Freiherr von: Reiter, Husaren und Grenadiere (Dortm. 1979)
- Süss, Gustav Adolf: Geschichte des Oberrheinischen Kreises und der Kreisassoziationen in der Zeit des spanischen Erbfolgekrieges (1696–1714); in: Zeitschrift für Geschichte des Oberrheins (103/104) 1955/56.
- Tessin, Georg: Die Regimenter der europäischen Staaten im Ancien Régime des XVI. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts (Osnabr. 1986–1995)