Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/944

 588 GERMAN EMPIRE

II. Army.

The 63rd Article of the Constitution of 1871 enacts that 'the whole of the land forces of the Empire shall form a united army in war and peace, under the orders of the Kaiser.' The Prussian War Office discharges also the functions of an Imperial War Office, but Bavaria, Saxony, and Wiirttemberg have War Ministers of their own. The military budgets of the two last named are, how- ever, prepared in Berlin, and Bavaria is obliged to vote military supplies in a fixed proportion to the other budgets. The Sovereigns of these three Kingdoms have the right to select the lower grades of officers, and the King of Bavaria, by a convention signed November 23, 1870, reserved to himself the special privilege of superintending the general administration of the Bavarian contingent to the German army. But the approval of the Kaiser must be obtained to all appointments, and nothing affecting the superior direction of the troops of any State of the Empire can be done without his consent. All German troops are bound by the Constitution to obey unconditionally the orders of the Kaiser, and must swear accordingly the oath of fidelity. But this oath to the Kaiser is not imposed upon the Bavarian troops in time of peace. Art. 65 of the Constitution gives the Emperor the right of ordering the erection of fortresses in any part of the Empire ; and Art. 68 invests him with the power, in case of threatened disturbance of order, to declare any country or district in a state of siege. The constitution of the army is regulated by various military laws passed between 1867 and 1893 ; the Prussian military legislation before 1871 being extended to the Empire.

By the Constitution of April 16, 1871, it is enacted that 'every German is liable to service — and no substitution is allowed.' Every German capable of bearing arms has to be in the standing army (or navy) for six years (seven years for the cavalry and field horse-artillery) as a rule from the finished twentieth till the commencing twenty-seventh year of his age, though liability to service begins on the completion of the seventeenth year. Of the six years, two must be spent in active service (three for the cavnhy and liekl horse-artillery), and the remaining four in the army of reserve. Alter quitting the army of reserve, the conscript has to form part of the Landwehr for another five years in the first class or ' ban ' (four years for the cavalry and field horse-artillery), and seven years in the second 'ban.'

About 400,000 young men reach the age of twenty every year, and when the numbers of those morally or physically unfit to serve, of volunteers, and of emigrants, are deducted, about 360,000 are left liable for service. Of these, however, owing to the legal limitation of the peace strength, only a certain number (chosen l»y lot) join the ainiy, the remainder are drafted into the