GERMANY. The King of Prussia is the head of the German army by right of his position as Emperor of the German confederated nations. ln war time his authority is supreme and abso lute; but in times of peace Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurttemberg still retain considerable local control. The Imperial War Office under the Prus sian war minister discharges all the real mili tary functions of the Federation, except in the three kingdouis mentioned, which still have war ministers of their own. As a matter of fact, the military budgets of Saxony and Wfirttem berg are prepared in Berlin; even Bavaria re ceives instructions from there as to the quota of men, supplies, etc., which will be demanded of it. Under the constitution, all German troops (with the exception of the Bavarians, who do so only in time of war) are obliged to take the oath of fidelity to the Emperor, swearing obedience to him unconditionally in peace and war.
Liability to military service commences with the end of the seventeenth year of age and con tinues to the end of the forty-fifth year; the period being divided between active service and service in the Landsturm. Active service may he in the standing army or its reserve, the Land wehr, or the Ersatz reserve. In the cavalry and horse artillery the service is three years with the colors and four with the reserve. In in fantry and kindred branches, two years are spent with the colors and five with the reserve. On the expiration of this period most of the men serve five years in the first levy; the remainder of the time of active service being passed by all arms in the second levy. All men excused from active service for physical or special reasons, as well as men temporarily unable to serve, spend twelve years in the Ersatz reserve. According to the army organization of 1902, the members of the Ersatz reserve arc largely employed in the administrative and medical branches (d the army. The Landsturm can only be used in case of invasion or for purposes of home defense, and has not been employed on active service since the Napoleonic wars. At a crisis, or after long exhausting wars, it would be employed to fill up vacancies in the regular army, as in the instance of the closing days of the Franco-Prus sian War. The Landsturm is divided into two levies, to the first of which are assigned men until March 31 of their thirty-ninth year; the remainder constituting the second levy. Besides these divisions there are two other classes known as the one-year volunteers; and the two-, three-, and four-year volunteers. (See VOLUNTEERS.)
The first-named are well-educated young men, serving at their own charge and supplying their own horses. At the end of one year's service they are transferred to the reserve. Two-, three-, and four-year volunteers are men desirous of adopting the army as their profession. who vol unteer for either of these periods and then re engage. The vast majority of the under officers of the army are recruited from this class. There are no public official statistics of the German army on a war footing, hut it is popularly sup posed that in the last extremity the present organization would supply a war strength of over 3,000,000 trained men. The idea] of Fred erick the Great has never been effaced; and at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Ger man army was universally conceded to be un equaled in point of organization, discipline, training, and general efficiency. The rank and file possess the highest educational standard in Europe. while the army as a whole is particn larly distinguished for the national spirit which pervades all ranks. The German officer is edu cated technically to a point of efficiency excelled in no other nation and approached nowhere in Europe unless it. be in France.
The organization in detail, is as follows: Infantry.-The normal establishment is as fol lows: A company consists of 4 officers and 145 rank and file. There are 4 companies to a battalion and 3 battalions to a regiment. Two regiments constitute a brigade. Caralry.-There are 93 regiments of regular cavalry, each with 5 squadrons. There is little, if any, difference be tween the peace and war strength of squadrons, which is given as 5 officers, 150 men, and 165 horses. Artillery.-There are 105 regiments or ganized in brigade divisions of 3 batteries each. The horse artillery is divided into 20 brigades of 2 batteries each. In all, there are 500 bat teries, of which 47 are horse and the remainder field. Batteries at war strength consist of 6 guns with 5 officers and about 170 rank and file. In 1901 the artillery was in process of re organization as to men and matilriel. The fol lowing summary includes the aggregate number and genera] divisions of the German army on a peace footing in 1901: Rank and File, Branch. Officers. including Special Total.
Service Officers.
Infantry (all branches) 13,393 387,342 400,735 Cavalry (all branches) 2,433 67,674 70,107 Artillery fall branches) 3,955 89,370 93,325 Pioneers, Trains, Special and Staff Corps 4,364 35,6'37 40,001 24,145 580,023 604,168