and the II Army Corps under Jakob Freiherr von Hartmann). The Bavarians under Jakob von Hartmann stormed Wissembourg and took part in the Battles of Wörth, Beaumont, Sedan and the Siege of Paris. Over 5,000 Bavarian soldiers died during the Franco-Prussian War. 1871–1918: The German Empire In the Imperial Constitution, Bavaria was able to secure for itself extensive rights, in particular regarding military sovereignty. Not only did the army retain, like the kingdoms of Saxony and Württemberg, its own troops, War Ministry and military justice system, but it was also excluded from the Empire-wide regimental re-numbering of the army regiments and would only come under Imperial control in times of war. Bavaria also kept its light-blue infantry uniforms, the (until 1886), the Light Cavalry and some other peculiarities. The officers and men of the Bavarian Army continued to swear their oaths to the King of Bavaria and not the German Emperor. Nevertheless, the uniform cut, equipment and training was standardised to the Prussian model. When field-grey uniforms were introduced, only the cockade and a blue-and-white lozenge edging to the collar distinguished Bavarian units. At the beginning of World War I, the Bavarian Army had an effective strength of 87,214 men including 4,089 officers, physicians, veterinarians and officials; and 83,125 NCOs and other ranks, plus 16,918 horses. With the beginning of mobilisation on 1 August 1914, the supreme command of the Bavarian field army passed from the 4th Army Inspectorate to the German Emperor. Units in Bavaria remained under the command of the Bavarian War Ministry. The Bavarian Army — consisting of the three Bavarian Army Corps, the Bavarian Cavalry Division — was bolstered by the addition of the XXI Corps (of two divisions, recruited largely in the Rhineland and Westphalia), and transported to the Western Front as the German 6th Army under the command of Crown Prince Rupprecht. The Bavarian Army fought at the Battle of the Frontiers, the last time that it fought together as a single unit: the exclusive Bavarian command of Bavarian forces began to be diluted from the German Army reorganisations in Autumn 1914 onwards. Rupprecht held command for the duration of the war and was promoted to Field Marshal in 1916 largely on account of his outstanding ability; however, after Frontiers, the units under his command came largely from outside Bavaria. Although the German Empire fell in the German Revolution of 1918–19, and King Ludwig