THE GERMAN ARMY. Historical Outline.— Modern military systems trace their origin back to the general introduction of fire arms, which toward the end of the 15th century rendered the knight in armor and the whole consequent structure of feudalism obsolete. France organized companies of mounted order lies, forming the first germ of the standing army, Spain created a large army and armies of German and Swiss mercenaries appeared. The feudal levy was displaced as a military force by armies of hirelings, particularly dur ing the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), of a licentious character.
In Brandenbcrg and Prussia the idea of re cruiting the army from the people began early to take form. The Great Elector (1640-88) was the first to assign regiments to definite dis tricts from which their recruits and reserves were to be drawn in time of war. The Great Elector laid the foundations for the future power of Prussia by rigid economy in civil and military administration, and the raising of the national spirit of the Germans which had fallen to a very low ebb. His son and grandson, Frederick I and Frederick William I, continued his policies until the army was augmented to 84,000. The corps of the officers was selected from the nobility and carefully educated, form ing the mainstay of the system.
When Frederick the Great came to the throne in 1740 Prussia thus had an excellent army and a good system of recruitment which enabled him to keep up his forces under the strain of the Seven Years' War, inspired as it was with a strong national feeling and enthu siam by the monarch, in opposition to the enormous odds of the coalition of Austria, France and Russia.
After his death, however, abuses having crept in, the spirit of the army departed, and Napoleon, the great master of the art of war, with a national army, new methods, implements and strategy, destroyed the superannuated Prussian armies and humbled the state. By the Treaty of Tilsit, Prussia agreed to keep her army down to 42,000 men.
Reforms were introduced, recruits were dis charged after one year's training, and in 1814 universal obligation to military service was in troduced, so that by 1815 the armies under Blucher, Gneisenau and York rose to 250,000 men.
In the slow period of recuperation after the Napoleonic wars progress was only gradually made. In 1859 the standing army consisted of 140,000 men and in 1860 the reorganization raised the annual levy from 49,000 to 63,000. In the wars of 1864 and 1866 Prussia was able to bring 600,000 men under arms and become for the second time in history the model for the armies of the world. In the war of 1870-71 with France, considerable over a million men were placed in the field, and on 18 Jan. 1871 the German Empire was proclaimed in the halls of Versailles. The essential details of the German military system only can be given here.
Liability to Service and the System of Its Application.-- Every male German is liable to military service. Only members of the ruling family and mediatized princely houses are exempt. Evasion of service by means of sub stitutes is not permitted. The obligation to service exists between the ages of 18 and 45 years inclusive, and contemplates service either (1) in the army, navy or (2) in the Landsturm.
Service in the army begins at the end of the 20th year and terminates on the 31 st of March of the calendar year in which the man com pletes his 39th year of age.
The first levy of the Landsturm consists of all men from the end of the 17th year to the 39th year who have not served in the standing army in peace times. The second levy includes all up to the end of the 45th year, whether they have or have not served in the army. The Lansturm is intended for home defense, but in extraordinary cases may be utilized to recruit the army.
Service with the army may be with the colors, followed by the reserve and first and second levies of the Landwehr or in the Ersatz reserve. The periods of service in times of peace are as follows: Men in reserve are simply on furlough and return to the colors when called for.