370 



GERMANY. 



model of 1888, and the Landwehr of the first 

 ban are expected to be supplied and trained be- 

 fore the end of 1801, the second ban and the 

 Landsturm taking the discarded repeaters. In 

 ballistic performance the new German rifle is 

 said to be as good as any, and in its mechanism 

 it is claimed to be technically superior to all 

 other systems. It is purely a magazine rifle, 

 with no arrangement for detaching the maga- 

 zine and using it as a single loader. Five car- 

 tridges in a brass holder are inserted at once, 

 and when all have been discharged, the holder 

 falls to the ground. With five cartridges in the 

 magazine, instead of ten, as in the old rifle, the 

 gun balances better and the aim is more certain. 

 To prevent injury from overheating the bore is 

 coated with a hard substance invented by Major 

 Mieg. The caliber is smaller than in the old 

 rifle, being 8 millimetres. The ball, of nickle- 

 coated steel, with a lead center, will penetrate a 

 thin brick wall or breastworks a yard thick, but 

 makes little impression on steel plates a third 

 of an inch in thickness. At 1,000 yards it will 

 pierce 10 inches of pine wood. 



The empire has till now been divided into 17 

 territorial districts, each capable of mobilizing 

 independently a complete army corps. The 

 Guards, garrisoning Berlin and Potsdam, con- 

 stitute another corps that is not territorially or- 

 ganized. The Fifteenth Corps, garrisoning Al- 

 sace-Lorraine, has been larger than the others. 

 In January, 1890, a law was promulgated creat- 

 ing two new corps and dividing the country into 

 19 army-corps districts. Instead of one corps of 

 unwieldy size in the Reichsland, Alsace and Lor- 

 raine each has its special corps, and in like man- 

 ner East and West Prnssia, on the eastern front- 

 ier, are made two separate army-corps districts. 



Wilhelm II, while endeavoring to realize his 

 ideas of personal government in social legisla- 

 tion, did not neglect the army, which was his 

 first care on coming to the throne. A Cabinet 

 order on the course of study in the school of ca- 

 dets, issued early in 1890, directs that in teaching 

 history the chief attention shall be given to mod- 

 ern times, and especially to all that concerns 

 Germany and her position in the world, and 

 that, by the side of the ancient classics, German 

 literature, Germanic legends, and the works of 

 national writers shall be cultivated, while other 

 modern languages are to be studied only for 

 practical purposes. Another order issued with 

 the object of putting a stop to the tyrannical 

 treatment of private soldiers by officers lays 

 down the principle that every soldier ought to 

 be treated with justice, and that his dignity 

 should be respected, for only thus can he be- 

 come inspired with love for the army, confidence 

 in his commanders, and the spirit of self-sacri- 

 fice; and directs generals to report all cases of 

 systematic maltreatment. On April 5 an impe- 

 rial rescript was published which affords a new 

 proof of the democratic tendencies of the Em- 

 peror, and of his desire to be a popular monarch. 

 Until now the corps of officers has been recruited 

 among the sons of noble families, members of 

 the bourgeois class being systematically excluded 

 from the artillery, engineers, and cavalry, and 

 admitted only exceptionally to the infantry. 

 Large private allowances are required for en- 

 trance- into many of the regiments, and some of 



the commanders require that candidates should 

 possess superior scientific attainments. The in- 

 crease of the caders creates a great number of 

 new commissions which can not be filled under 

 such exacting conditions. The Emperor con- 

 demns the growing tendency to luxury and ex- 

 travagant expenditure, and enjoins commanders 

 to set the example of a modest way of living, and 

 to require officers to restrict their personal ex- 

 penses to a moderate scale. Candidates for the 

 infantry, rifles, foot artillery, and pioneers must 

 not be required to pay from their private means 

 more than 45 marks a month ; candidates for the 

 field artillery are not expected to have a supple- 

 mentary allowance of more than 70 marks, and 

 cavalry officers not more than 150 marks. This 

 scale must not be exceeded except in the Guards 

 and in the officers' messes in some of the large 

 garrisons. The standard of educational acquire- 

 ments must not be made too strict. The spread 

 of education among the German people makes it 

 possible to widen the sphere in which officers 

 should be recruited. The nobility can not claim 

 at the present day the right of alone supplying 

 the army with officers. 



In June, 1890, the Reichstag was induced to 

 pass a new army bill raising the peace effective 

 to 486,983 men till April, 1894, 18,574 more than 

 had been agreed on when the septennial budget 

 was passed. The bill was long under discussion. 

 It was strongly opposed by the Liberalists, the 

 Democrats, and the Socialists, and the Central- 

 ists were with difficulty won over by the Gov- 

 ernment, 19 voting against it on its final pas- 

 sage. The chief reason for transcending the 

 limit fixed in 1887 was the recent augmentation 

 of the Russian and French forces. Gen. von 

 Verdy du Vernois, in introducing the measure, 

 acknowledged that it was only the first of a series 

 of proposals for the complete reorganization of 

 the imperial army. This was partly explained 

 by Chancellor von Caprivi. who intimated a pur- 

 pose of proposing next an army law by which 

 all the youth of the country who could bear 

 arms should undergo military training, without 

 reducing the five years' term of service, in return 

 for which the Government might accept quin- 

 quennial budgets fixing the strength of the forces 

 at the beginning of each Parliament. Dr. Wind- 

 thorst's resolution urging the Government to 

 desist from its intention of extending military 

 service to all who are capable of bearing arms, 

 and to abolish the septennate and shorten the 

 term of service, was adopted by a large majority, 

 National Liberals, Conservatives, and Clericals 

 who voted for it explaining that their vote was 

 conditional. From Oct. 1, 1890, the army is to 

 consist of 583 battalions of infantry, 465 squad- 

 rons of cavalry, 434 batteries of field artillery, 

 31 battalions of foot artillery, 20 battalions of 

 pioneers, and 21 battalions of train. The field 

 artillery is strengthened by 70 new batteries, or 

 420 guns, corresponding to the late additions to 

 the French artillery. Of the 6,000 additional 

 recruits that are to be drawn every year, those 

 who are needed for this purpose will be used to 

 complete the two new army corps stationed near 

 the frontiers, the Sixteenth in Alsace-Lorraine 

 and the Seventeenth in West Prussia, and to fill 

 the caders of the other corps that have been 

 weakened in order to form their framework. 



