MILITARY EDUCATION. The foun dation of all military education is the school, ranging from the school of the soldier or grenadier to the school of the battalion. Re cent wars have demonstrated that it is necessary to organize schools for specialists and schools for command where officers and men of all grades can be instructed in the essential prin ciples of modern war and in the proper em ployment of different military means and en gines. By these schools the complete harmony between the different arms and between the commander and his troops can be secured. The organization of all military instruction must provide for instruction in the essential principles of war and the combination in combat of the different arms employed, and the condi tion of permanence and of continuity is neces sary in all such instruction if the best possible results are to be obtained. As practised in the schools of Europe (patterned largely after the United States Military Academy) the in struction of troops gives them indispensable intellectual training and information on the pro cedure in battle and assists the officers in ob taininF from them their best efforts. The in struction of specialists employs such methods as give the men full confidence in their army and weapon, a confidence based upon results obtained by employing it under the conditions of battle. The schools which correspond most nearly to the United States Military Academy are the Military Schools of Italy, the Bcole Militaire de Belgique, or Military Academy at Ixelles, the Theresa Military Academy of Wie ner-Neustadt, the Technical Military Academy of Vienna, the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, the Royal Military College at Sand burst, the Cleole Polytechiuque at Paris, the ficole Speciale Militaire at Saint Cyr and the Upper Cadet School of Gros-Lichterfelde.
The military schools of Italy are divided into three classes, viz.: (1) The Collegi Mili tari, or military preparatory schools of which there are five, established at Naples, Florence, Milan, Rome and Messina. (2) The military schools for the training of officers and non commissioned officers, known as the Military School of Modena, the Military Academy of Tunis, the Military Sanitary School of Applica tion in Florence and the Non-Commissioned Officers' School in Caserta. (3). The military
schools of application proper, for officers, known as the War School (Scuola di Guerra), in Turin ; the School of Application of Artil lery and the Engineers, in Turin; and the School of Cavalry, in Pinerola. There are, in addition to the foregoing, schools for artillery and musketry practice, a school of fencing, and batteries and platoons of instruction for train ing non-commissioned officers.
The Ecole Militaire, or Military Academy, at Ixelles, supplies officers to the infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers. The length of the course of instruction is two years for the infantry and cavalry section, and four years for the artillery and engineer section. All students, on commencing the second year's course, contract to serve for eight years, and there are no admissions to the school except by competition. The Minister of War decides upon the persons who are to be admitted to the military academy, in accordance with the results of the competitions.
The Theresa Military Academy of Wiener Neustadt educates officers for the infantry, rifles and cavalry; the Technical Military Acad emy of Vienna educates officers for the artil lery, engineers and technical troops (including the railway and telegraph troops). The dif ferent kinds of places at these military acad emies are Ararial (imperial or treasury) places, wholly or half free; Stiftungs (foundation or endowment) places; and paying places. These different kinds of places are at the disposal of the Imperial War Ministry or the ministries of national defense of Austria and Hungary. The places for which there are endowment of private funds are disposed of in accordance with the stipulations of the letter of donation. The Ararial places were formerly given di rectly by the emperor. In awarding these places preference is given to the sons of offi cers, and then to the sons of officials. The Stiftungs places are disposed of by competi tive examination, the persons who are allowed to compete being designated by the state, coun try or other authorities.