ABSTRACT
Several rulers had maintained small numbers of troops even before 1618, but it was not until after the Peace of Westphalia that the first true ter r itorial ar mies emerged alongside the larger forces that had long existed in the Habsburg lands. The appearance of these ar mies had significant consequences for all levels of imperial politics as well as changing Ger man relations with neighbour ing states. Terr itor ial absolutism was entrenched at the expense of estates’ privileges and local particular ism, while the gap between the armed and unar med princes replaced sectarianism as the main division within imperial politics. With absolutism came a new belligerence inimical to the traditional pacific culture and reflecting the princes’ deter mination to secure international recognition of their autonomy and ambitions.
