Prussian Uniforms in the Wars of Liberation
Colored plates taken from:
Great General Staff, Military History Department II, The Prussian Army in the Year 1812, Berlin 1912.
Great General Staff, Military History Department II, The Prussian Army in the Year 1812, Berlin 1913.
Implementing provisions for general conscription of 29 March 1815.
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Organisation
A contribution to the history of the Old Prussian Infantry Regiment Duke Friedrich Ferdinand of Brunswick-Öls (IR No. 12).
The Infantry Regiment No. 12 was formed - from detachments of seven field regiments - in 1685 in Potsdam and initially bore the name Markgraf Philipp.
Heeressoziologie
The Prussian Army under Frederick William I (1713 - 40) - Chapter 6 - The Technical Troops
Artillery was, alongside infantry and cavalry, the youngest of the three arms, although its origins in Prussia go back to the 14th century. The handling of the firearms and cannons was initially performed by masters who gradually formed their own guild. Only under the Great Elector (1640–88) was the artillery subordinated to officers and thus turned into a regular military formation. On 1 Jan. 1672 the Great Elector issued an “Articuls-Brieff vor die Artillerie-Bediente in denen Chur-Fürstlichen Brandenburgischen Vestungen” [1], which, in addition to the oath formula for the gunsmith, contained detailed requirements and rules of conduct for the artillery personnel. In 1683 one bombadier and four gunner companies were established, and thus the artillery actually first emerged as an independent arm. King Frederick I also promoted the artillery and on 20 Dec. 1697 appointed Margrave Philip of Brandenburg‑Schwedt (1669–1711) as Generalfeldzeugmeister and Chief of the Artillery. He strove for its organization and training. Under his aegis the artillery received service regulations. These were confirmed by the King on 15 Mar. 1704 and in 12 articles regulated the internal affairs of the arm [2].
Heeressoziologie
The Prussian Army under Frederick William I (1713 - 40) - Chapter 9 - The Military Replacement System - Recruitment.
Numerous abuses are associated with recruitment at home and abroad, and the excesses connected with the intense hunt by Prussian recruiting detachments for tall recruits permanently damaged the image of the Prussian state in the eyes of contemporaries and posterity. However, the use of foreigners for army replacement was a problem for all armies of the 18th century and characteristic of the age of mercenary armies. A contemporary reports: „The recruitments both within and outside the country were under King Frederick William incessantly pursued with the utmost severity. No school was exempt from this, only the universities. As long as the student remained at the university and within its walls, he was considered in a free city. The Dessau infantry regiment was quartered in Halle, and it captured before the gates, in the villages, and sometimes even in the town at night many a student. They hurried with them to Dessau until the clamor and tumult that was sent there subsided among the students. As soon as one left the university, one was safe nowhere; even the candidates, when they traveled to ordination in Magdeburg, Stendal, Berlin, etc., were in danger of being stopped at the gate and taken away. For only the actual preachers were safe from the recruiters, but no candidate iam vocatus, nor any school servant, was safe from the recruiters. Here in Atzendorf a detachment of soldiers occupied the school at night and dragged the organist Franken from his bed and led him to Calbe. But because he had described the officer to be much larger than he actually was, the inspector Theune, who followed him, immediately brought him back from there. The Prussian officers and non-commissioned officers sent abroad for recruitment did no better. Every regiment selected for this purpose the most cunning and deceitful heads. If these could not persuade a big fellow to enlist and take the bounty, they sought by cunning and force to seize him. Nothing was too difficult for them, nothing too dangerous; they risked everything and let it come to what would happen. They broke in, dragged the big fellow from his bed, often bound and gagged him in his nightshirt, put him on a ready wagon and hurried with team horses to reach the border and our provinces“1. The abuses in domestic and foreign recruitment are also explained by the enormous performance pressure weighing on the responsible officers. The regulations of 1726 spoke clearly on this point: „If the captains recruit handsome men without complaints and acts of violence with good manners, the colonels good regiments, and the captains good companies present men in good order; then they will recommend themselves best to His Royal Majesty; on the contrary those who have bad regiments and companies will recommend themselves in the worst possible manner“.