One in five
only is taken, as there is more material than the country needs--the
fifth being selected for one of five branches: infantry, cavalry,
artillery, Genie corps, or the navy. The time of service in the
infantry is two years; in the cavalry three, in the artillery three,
in the Genie corps two, and in the navy three. Well-conducted men get
from two to four months of their time. This is by no means a charity
on the part of the authorities, but a well-thrashed and deep-laid
scheme to circumvent the Reichstag as it gives the Emperor another
75,000 men. A certain class of men passing an examination called
Einjahriges Zeugniss or possessing a diploma called Abiturienten
Examen (the equivalent of a B. A.) serve only one year in each branch.
This class provides most of the reserve officers. The active
officers, usually the scions of an aristocratic house or the sons of
the old military or feudal families in Germany, are mostly educated in
one of the state Kadetten-Anstalten, military academies, of which
Gross-Lichterfelde bei Berlin is the most famous. The real backbone
and stiffening of the German army and navy is the noncommissioned
officers recruited from the rank and file. In fact, this body of men
is the mainstay of the thrones in the German Empire, especially of
Prussia. These men, after about twelve years of service in an army
where discipline, obedience, and efficiency are the first and last
word, are then drafted into all the minor administrative officers of
the state, such as minor railway, post, excise, municipal, and police.
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