Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/664

602 engaging. Although the price of exemption was fixed as high as 92, on an average 23,000 were claimed annually, and in 1859 as many as 42,000 were granted. Thus gradually the conscription became rather subsidiary to voluntary enlistment, and in 1866, out of a total establish ment of 400,000, only 120,000 were conscripts. Changes had also taken place in the constitution of the army. On the Restoration its numbers were reduced to 150,000, the old regiments broken up and recast, and a royal guard created in place of the old imperial one. When the revolu tion of July 1830 had driven Charles X. from his throne, the royal guard, which had made itself peculiarly obnoxious, was dissolved ; and under Louis Philippe s reign the army was augmented to about 240,000 with the colours: Under the Provisional Government of 1848 it was further in creased, and in 1854, when France allied herself. with England against Russia, the army was raised to 500,000 men. The imperial guard was re-created, and every effort made to revive the old Napoleonic traditions in the army. In 1859 Napoleon III. took the field as the champion and ally of Italy, and the victories of Montebello, Magenta, and Solferino raised the reputation of the army to the highest pitch, and for a time made France the arbiter of Europe. But the campaign of 1866 suddenly made the world aware that a rival military power had arisen, which was prepared to- dispute that supremacy. From this time a trial of strength between France and Prussia was looked forward to as inevitable, and both sides prepared for the coming struggle. Niel, the then War Minister of France, saw clearly that the organisation which had with difficulty maintained 150,000 men in Italy, was no match for that which had within a month thrown 250,000 into the very heart of Austria, while waging a successful war on the Maine against Bavaria and her allies. In 1867, therefore, he brought forward a measure for the reorganisation of the army, by which he calculated to raise the military force to 800,000 men half of them with the colours and half in reserve besides forming a separate army for home defence in case of need. It is not necessary to dwell on the law of 1868, for it remained but two years in real operation. To complete Niel s scheme many years were required : but Niel himself died within a year, and the next year saw the French army annihilated, or existing only as prisoners of war in Prussia. At the outbreak of the great Franco-German war the French field troops consisted of 368 battalions, 252 squadrons, and 984 guns. The strength of the entire army on peace footing was 393,000 men ; on war footing, 567,000. The forces immediately available for the war on the Rhine were estimated at 350,000, but they actually fell short of 300,000. They formed 8 corps d armee, each composed of from two to four infantry divisions and one cavalry division, making a total of 26 infantry divisions of 13 battalions each, 11 cavalry divisions of from 4 to 7 regiments each, and 756 guns. Within seven weeks the whole of this army, with trifling exceptions, was either captive in Germany or hopelessly shut up in Metz. But the spirit of the nation rose to the occasion, and though, as the result proved, extemporised armies can do little against veteran ones, the efforts of the people and the creative energy of her rulers will always command admira tion. The next year s contingent of recruits was called out and hastily trained. Fourth battalions were formed from the depot cadres, and organised into regiments de marche. The gardes mobiles were mobilised, and by successive decrees and inder various names nearly all the manhood of the country called to arms. The regular troops raised as regiments de marche, &c., amounted to 213,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 10,000 artillery. The parde mobile exceeded 300,000, and the mobilised National Guard exceeded 1,100,000 of whom about 180,000 were actually in the field and 250,000 in Paris ; the remainder in camps or depots.- Altogether the new formations amounted to nearly 1,700,000, and if to that be added the army existing at the beginning of the war, the total forces developed by France during the struggle reach the enormous amount of 2 The reorganisation of the army took precedence of all other questions when the conclusion of peace with Germany and the suppression of the communist revolt gave rest once more to the country. By the law of recruiting of 1872 compulsory personal service was introduced, and substitu tion or purchase of exemption was abolished. The period of liability was fixed at twenty years five years of the time to be passed in the regular army, four years in the reserve of the regular army, five years in the territorial army, and six in the reserve of the territorial army. The annual contingent is not a fixed one, or determined by the actual requirements of the army, but includes all capable of bearing arms ; certain exemptions in favour of only sons of widows, sole supports of families, teachers, and theo logical students excepted. But as the peace establishment, governed by financial considerations, would not admit of re taining the whole of five years contingents with the colours, it was provided that the contingent should be divided by lot into two classes, the first to serve the full five years, the second to be sent home after six months or a year s training. One-year volunteers are admitted on conditions similar to those existing in Prussia. In the calculations on which the law was based it was estimated that about 300,000 annually came of age, of whom about one-half would be rejected as unfit, or exempted on personal or family grounds. Of the remaining 150,000, one-half would serve for the full five years, the remainder for six months or a year only ; and the peace army would thus comprise four yearly contingents of 75,000 and one of. 150,000. Deducting the one-year volunteers, a percentage for casual ties, and the men of the fifth year who would usually be sent home on furlough, the remaining four classes give about 350,000 ; and adding 120,000 to this for the per manent part of the army, the total of 470,000, being the proposed peace establishment, is obtained. The organisation of the army was made the subject of a separate law passed in 1873. The land forces are divided into the active army and the territorial army or landwehr. The active army consists of 18 corps d armee, besides a special corps for service in Algeria ; each corps is composed of two divisions of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, a brigade of artillery, a battalion of engineers, and a squadron of the military train, and retains its organisation permanently in peace and war. The total strength of an army corps is about 40,000 of all ranks, or about 30,000 combatants, with 108 guns. The country is divided into 18 &quot; regions,&quot; and each region has always a corps stationed within it, and is provided with magazines and stores of all sorts required to equip the corps for the field, and to furnish out the depot and territorial army as well. The army corps are not per manently localised, but are moved from district to district and on mobilisation they draw their reserves and stores from the districts in which they happen to be stationed. Recruiting is partly general and partly regional ; those recruits who are drawn for five years being distributed throughout the army, while those who have to serve one year only are attached to the corps stationed in their dis trict. For recruiting and for purposes of mobilisation the &quot;regions&quot; are subdivided, each subdivision compris ing one or more recruiting offices, in which the recruiting lists, as well as the registers of all furlough or reserve men, and men -belonging to the territorial army, are kept. As a rule, each such office corresponds to a battalion of the 