Der Begriff '''Regiment''' (lat. ''regimen'', Formation.

Ein Regiment besteht aus zwei bis vier Kompanien, in der Kavallerie üblicherweise 5 Eskadrons (od. Schwadronen), die in der Regel zur selben Waffengattung gehören. Kommandeur ist meist ein Oberst. Das taktische Zeichen auf der NATO-Signatur sind drei senkrechte Striche.

Bis Truppenverband des deutschen Pioniertruppe, in der Jägerregiment 1 in der Luftbeweglichen Brigade 1.

Die Schweizer Armee schaffte mit der Reform Armee XXI per Beginn 2004 die Stufe Regiment ab. Neu sind die Bataillone, wie bei der Bundeswehr, direkt den Brigaden unterstellt.
Das Österreichische Bundesheer stellte bereits mit der Strukturanpassung 1998 von Regimentern auf den Brigaden unterstellte Bataillone um.

Die übergeordnete Einheit eines Regiments ist zuerst die Brigade, dann die Division, die untergeordnete Einheit ist zuerst das Kompanie.

In vielen Armeen, in denen die Regimenter eigentlich abgeschafft sind, existieren sie dennoch weiter, um im Gattung, die ansonsten gemischten Brigaden unterstellt sind, zusammenzufassen. Dies betrifft insbesondere die US-Armee. In der britischen Armee sind Adlige dann oft Regimentsinhaber, was aber rein repräsentativer Natur ist. Auch haben die Regimenter der britischen Armee eher die Aufgabe der Traditionspflege. Die Regimenter der US-Armee stellen demgegenüber eher eine alternative, gattungsreine Organisation der Bataillone dar, die aber hierarchisch nicht unbedingt anderen Divisionen unterstehen. Disziplinarisch unterstehen die Bataillone auch hier direkt den Brigaden.

Bei der Luftwaffe bei den fliegenden Verbänden wird die äquivalente Einheit als Geschwader bezeichnet.
In der Marine bezeichnete Geschwader meist einen (Groß-) Kampfverband, vergleichbar der Regimentsebene.

== Historie ==

Mit dem Niedergang der klassischen Kompanie, eine Verwaltungseinheit und kein taktischer Truppenkörper. Diese wurden damals deutsch mit Gewalthaufen oder Gevierthaufen, ab der Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts auch ''international'' als Bataillon bezeichnet <ref>zitiert nach Fuchs, S. 196</ref> <ref>zitiert nach Ortenburg, S. 183</ref>. 

Die Inhaber eines Regiments waren Kriegsunternehmer, die im Auftrag der kriegführenden Fürsten auf eigene Rechnung Dreißigjährigen Krieg, der für den Kaiser sogar ein Heer von 200.000 Mann nach diesem Muster organisierte.

thumb|1st Battalion, The [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment]]

A '''regiment''' is a divisions. The modern regiment's size varies in number, scope, and administrative role from country to country (and might not exist in some military forces) and sometimes even within the military of the same nations.

==Historical origin==

The French term ''régiment'' entered military usage in  line of battle, and to recruit from specific places, the cantons. The oldest, extant regiment is the Swedish Life Guards, although the French claim that their 1st Infantry Regiment the eldest, being created in 1479 from the ancient "Bandes de Picardies".

In the 18th century brigades were formed as combined arms units (infantry, cavalry, artillery) that were more effective than the older, single-arms regiments; in many armies, brigades replaced regiments.

==Regimental system==

thumb|left|200px|Standard [[NATO pictograph for an ally infantry regiment.]]

The regimental army organisation system often is contrasted to the "continental system" (adopted by European armies). In the continental system, the division is the functional army unit, and its commander the administrator of every aspect of the formation: his staff train and administer the soldiers, officers, and commanders of the division's subordinate units. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, a battalion commanding officer is just another officer in a chain of command; soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required.

In the regimental system, each regiment is responsible for recruiting, training, and administration; each regiment is permanently maintained, therefore, the regiment will develop its unique ''esprit de corps'' because of its unitary history, traditions, recruitment, and function. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administrating a soldier's military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both.

Some regiments were designated geographic areas from which to recruit, and usually incorporated the place name to its regimental title. In other cases, regiments would recruit from a given age group within a nation (e.g. Zulu The Parachute Regiment (British Army), and the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment.

The benefits of the regimental system are weighed against such drawbacks as hazardous regimental competition, a lack of interchangeability between units of different regiments, and more pronounced "old boy networks" within the military that may hamper efficiency and fairness.

Another key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the key tactical building block. This flows historically from the colonial period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous, but is easily adapted to a number of different purposes. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions (e.g. infantry or artillery) of different origins (e.g. regular or reserve).

Within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty. In addition to combat units, other organizations are very much part of the regimental family: regimental training schools, serving members on "extra-regimental employment", regimental associations (retirees), bands and associated cadet groups. The aspects that an administrative regiment might have in common include a symbolic colonel-in-chief (often a member of the royal family), a colonel of the regiment or "honorary colonel" who protects the traditions and interests of the regimental family and insists on the maintenance of high standards, battle honours (honours earned by one unit of an administrative regiment are shared by the whole regiment), ceremonial uniforms, cap badges, peculiarities of insignia, stable belts, and regimental marches and songs. The regiment usually has a traditional "home station", which is often a historic garrison that houses the regimental museum and regimental headquarters. The latter has a modest staff to support regimental committees and administer both the regular members and the association(s) of retired members.

==Commonwealth armies==

In the Australian, the Canadian, the Indian and the Pakistani), the term ''regiment'' is used confusingly in two different ways: it can mean an administrative identity and grouping or a tactical unit. The modern British regimental system came about as a result of the 19th century Cardwell Reforms.

In the United Kingdom, until recently there existed a number of administrative "divisions" in the infantry that encompassed several regiments, such as the Guards Division, the former Scottish Division (now a single regiment), or the Light Division (now also compressed into a multi-battalion single regiment). The down-sizing and consolidation of British infantry regiments that began in the late 1950s and concluded in 2006 has resulted in a system of administrative regiments each with several battalions, a band, a common badge and uniform etc.

In other Commonwealth countries such as India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada the large administrative regiment has been the normal practice for many years. In the case of India "large regiments" of four to five battalions date from 1923 and since the 1950s many of these have expanded even further. As an example the Punjab Regiment has expanded from four battalions in 1956 to its present strength of 20, while in Pakistan several regiments have over 50 battalions. More typically of Commonwealth armies with smaller establishments, in Australia there is but one administrative infantry regiment, the Royal Australian Regiment, consisting of all eight regular infantry battalions in the Army, including mechanised, motorised, light and para infantry.

In Pakistan the word regiment is an administrative grouping. While different battalions may have different roles (for example different battalions of the Frontier Force Regiment may be mechanized infantry, para infantry or mountain troops) the regiment is considered to encompass all of them.

===British Army===

In the British Army, for most purposes, the regiment is the largest "permanent" organisational unit. Above regimental level, organisation is changed to meet the tasks at hand. Because of their permanent nature, many regiments have long histories, often going back for centuries; the oldest British regiment still in existence is the Honourable Artillery Company, established in 1537. The Royal Scots, formed in 1633, was the oldest infantry regiment. It now forms part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.<ref>These claims are contested on various points of precedence; see [http://regiments.org/about/faq.htm FAQ: Regiments, in general] and especially: [http://regiments.org/about/faq/oldest.htm FAQ: Oldest Regiment in the British Army]</ref>

In the British regimental system the tactical regiment or battalion is the basic functional unit and its Commanding Officer more autonomous than in a continental system. Divisional and brigade commanders generally do not immerse themselves in the day-to-day functioning of a battalion – they can replace the commanding officer but will not micro-manage the unit. The regimental sergeant major is another key figure, responsible to the CO for unit discipline and the behaviour of the NCOs.

===Advantages and disadvantages===
The regimental system is generally admired for the ''esprit de corps'' it engenders in its units' members, but efforts to implement it in countries with a previously-existing continental system usually do not succeed. The system presents difficulties for military planners who must deal with the problems of trying to keep soldiers of a regiment together throughout their careers and of administering separate garrisons, training, and mess facilities. The regimental community of serving and retired members often makes it very difficult for planners to restructure forces by moving, merging or re-purposing units.

In those armies where the system exists, the regimental system is criticized as parochial and as creating unnecessary rivalry between different regiments. The question is also raised as to whether it is healthy to develop soldiers more loyal to their regiment than to the military in general. It is worth noting that the United Kingdom, for example, has never suffered a military coup, or even seriously faced the prospect of one – this could be attributed to the "tribal" nature of the regimental system, which makes it nearly impossible for a charismatic leader to command the loyalty of the entire army. Commonwealth-style regiments have proven their worth throughout history in war and through lengthy and difficult policing missions. Regiments recruited from areas of political ferment (such as Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Quebec, India, etc.), tend to perform particularly well because of the loyalty their members exhibit to the regiments. Generally, the regimental system is found to best function in countries with small- to medium-sized military forces where the problems of administering vast numbers of personnel are not as prevalent. The regimental system works particularly well in an environment where the prime role of the army is small-scale police actions and counterinsurgency operations, requiring prolonged deployment away from home. In such a situation, co-ordination between regiments is rarely necessary, and the esprit de corps of the regiment provides an emotional substitute for the sense of public approval that an army receives at home. This is particularly relevant to British experience during the days of the empire, where the army was virtually continuously engaged in low-intensity conflict with insurgents, and full-scale warfare was the exception rather than the rule. 