New Prussian Uniforms in the Year 1820

Heeressoziologie

The Prussian Army under Frederick William I (1713 - 40) - Chapter 10 - The military replacement system - the canton system

The replenishment of the Prussian army took place—as already evident from the previous chapter on recruitment—by voluntary recruitment at home and abroad and by the levying of local conscripts, the latter method initially developing in practice over the years and only later being formally recognized by the king. Foreign recruitment, however, had always been only an auxiliary means in the earlier history of the Prussian army; primarily the army was supplemented by recruiting locals. Under the Great Elector the army was not a people's army, “but an army of professional soldiers, who were not levied but recruited, though mostly local lads”1. The Great Elector was aware that the service of locals within the framework of a national armament was the better and above all the cheaper form of army replenishment than the recruitment of foreign mercenaries. Efforts to reorganize the feudal and provincial levy of the nobility and estates failed due to the regular resistance of those affected. Although the Great Elector repeatedly called the people to arms, the result was unsatisfactory because of the estates’ and population’s lack of commitment to compulsory service. The provincial levy was used only in the war against Sweden (1674/75), but without support from regular troops it had no effect. The provincial levy was also called to arms during the Swedish invasion of East Prussia. Frederick III, later I, did not initially change the replacement mode, but attempted to place a territorial militia alongside the standing army. The so‑called territorial militia was introduced in 1701 on the Schatull estates, in 1703 in the Amt villages, and in 1705 (07.05.) in the towns. The knightly estates were not touched by this, since the nobility successfully invoked their feudal obligations. Those enrolled in the territorial militia were exempt from quartering, marching duties, running messages, participation in wolf hunts and similar corvée services and public burdens, and were not allowed to be recruited by the regiments. Only young, strong unmarried men were enrolled, though also married men without property and sustenance. The term of service lasted 5–6 years. The territorial militia was intended to create a reserve army and was based on the still valid conscription duty of the subjects. In wartime the standing army was to be relieved from service in the country by the territorial militia; however, the militia soldiers received only poor training, so their military value was rather low. Before the introduction of the territorial militia voluntary recruitment was supplemented by internal levies, whereby voluntariness was increasingly suppressed during the long war periods under Frederick III/I. From 1688 recruits for the standing army were to be provided by the provinces and estates, and from 1691 recruitment was again carried out by the regiments. Both methods of replenishment had disadvantages: recruits provided by the provinces and districts often were of poor quality, with the lower social strata overrepresented. Recruitment by the regiments often paid little heed to the personal circumstances of those levied; violence and arbitrariness unsettled the population and harmed the economy. The “Interim regulation and constitution, as it shall be observed with the recruitment of the regiments both mounted and foot” of 1693 (20.11.) finally standardized replenishment on the basis of a territorial system. From then on the regiments reported their need for replacement men to the state administration, which distributed the requirement among the various provinces and districts that were assigned to the regiments as fixed recruitment districts. The recruits had to be provided by the provinces and districts at a specified time, otherwise the regiments could complete themselves.

Organisation

Frederick the Great and his influence on the development of the Prussian cavalry in the Silesian Wars.

Neue Militärische Blätter, 1884, pp. 437 ff.

Heeressoziologie

The provisioning system in the Seven Years' War.