Maximilian ascended the throne of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1494. The army of the Empire at that time consisted of a jumble of feudal sections, sections from the free cities of the Empire, sections of ecclesiastical lords, etc. em>
Maximilian, as ruler of the Habsburgs, became involved in the Swabian Wars in the 1480s. He then found that the troops at his disposal were not capable of prevailing against serious opponents. He lacked proper armament, training and above all discipline and faith in his person. So before he even ascended the imperial throne he began to reform the army, creating the Landsknecht corps.
But when he ascended the imperial throne he decided to reorganize the army, relying on mercenary units. In 1494 Maximilian's army had a large number of German feudal cavalry divisions. These divisions consisted of noble knights, with strong armor and excellent equipment, but also horsemen completely unarmored, equipped with draft horses, poor equipment and no training. S usually these divisions of the feudal cavalry were lined up in great depth, with the knights forming the front yokes and the more poorly equipped forming the rear yokes.
The ineffectiveness of these horsemen was evident in the conflicts with the Swiss. Thus Maximilian was forced to hire Burgundian knights, who carried similar armaments as their German counterparts, but were also well trained. At the same time, Maximilian formed units of elite light cavalry.
German light horsemen wore chain mail and were equipped with light crossbows and swords. They fought in a strafing formation, striking the enemy from afar, but always being willing to advance against an opponent who showed signs of sagging morale.
Another type of cavalry that Maximilian used extensively were horsemen equipped with firearms. Initially these horsemen, the so-called "Petronels" wore heavy armor and were equipped with a heavy early firearm, something between a light cannon and a rifle. These horsemen were the ancestors of the Knight Riders, the main type of cavalry in Renaissance Europe.
Maximilian's infantry consisted of the famous Landsknecht mercenaries. These were organized into regiments of 4,000 men, consisting of 10 companies of 400 men each. ¼ of the men were equipped with lances and “double swords” – swords up to 1.5 meters long that were wielded with both hands. The other ¼ were equipped with arquebuses and the rest were equipped with sarissas.
The Landsknechts fought in very closed formations, with the sarsiformes drawn up to 24 fathoms deep, the men with the lances and swords behind the phalanx and the arquebusiers in front in a strafing formation. In some cases a part of the spearmen advance in front of the friendly phalanx with the intention of confronting the opposing phalanx, cutting or breaking the enemy's sarisis.
Of course, this tactic was particularly dangerous, which is why these sections had received the ominous title "without hope". From 1507 onwards, however, independent divisions of arquebusiers were also developed, who were trained to fight both in an acrobolism arrangement and in dense lines, with a depth of up to 10 yokes, who placed successive yokes.
Maximilian also developed his artillery. The old bombers began to be gradually replaced by more modern and relatively agile guns. At the same time, the multi-barreled light guns, the so-called "church organs", were developed. These guns had from 3 to 24 barrels, usually of small caliber, which were particularly effective at short distances, against personnel.
The reborn Imperial Army gradually emerged as the most powerful war machine in Europe. However, this truth was seen mainly during the time of Maximilian's successor, Charles V, who elevated the empire to a world power, after the union of the Austrian and Spanish thrones.