PART III.
MILITARY SYSTEM AND SCHOOLS IN AUSTRIA.
* * * * *
XV. MILITARY SYSTEM AND SCHOOLS IN AUSTRIA.
I. OUTLINE OF MILITARY SYSTEM.
The Austrian Army is recruited by conscription, the period of service being for eight years, with two years in addition for the reserve; but such soldiers as wish it may generally obtain leave after six years’ service. Those who serve eight years are understood to have a claim for employment on railways and in the custom-houses. Substitutes are allowed, but they are provided solely by the State, and the means used for supplying them is made an element towards securing good Non-Commissioned Officers for the Austrian Army, in the following manner.
The sum paid over by private individuals for avoiding service in the Army is £150 (1,500 florins,) and the Government, in providing a substitute, pays him the _interest_ of this sum during his period of service, and the _capital_ when it is completed. A good substitute is permitted to serve twice, and he may thus receive £300 (3,000 florins) when he quits the army. Generally speaking, the substitutes provided by the Government are good Non-Commissioned Officers, who by these means are induced to continue a length of time in the service.
The Officers are obtained during a state of peace, either from the Military Academies, or by direct entry as Cadets, after passing a slight examination, into the regiments of infantry and cavalry, in which capacity they perform the ordinary duties of soldiers, and no particular period of service is required in this grade. The entry as Cadets is by nomination, part by the Colonels, proprietors of Regiments; part consisting of those having claims on the Regiments; and part of those recommended from the ranks.
Those who join the Army from the Military Academies consist principally of the sons of military men, whose education is mainly provided for by the State, and of others who are placed there by means of funds provided by provinces, districts, municipalities, or private individuals.
Any Austrian subject has a _claim_ for admittance, on payment of the annual sum prescribed by the regulations.
There is no fixed proportion existing between the Infantry and Cavalry officers supplied from the Military Academies, and those entering regiments directly as cadets, but it is understood that the former do not amount to more than one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of the latter.
The Artillery and Engineers are now entirely supplied with officers from the Military Academies.
There is no difference in the pay of officers of the same rank in the various arms in Austria.
Officers when not required are placed on half-pay, which is rather less than the half of their actual pay whilst serving. When an officer dies, his widow is not entitled to a pension, but the state provides for the education of the children; and to prevent distress, an officer is not permitted to marry unless he has a certain income, independent of his pay, for the maintenance of his wife.
The promotion in the Infantry and Cavalry is regimental, and usually by seniority; but there is no doubt that promotion by selection also takes place, though not in the regiment itself, the officer selected being promoted into another regiment. The promotion in the Artillery and Engineers is also by seniority, and by corps, and, until the Hungarian war, was exceedingly slow.
Although not actually sanctioned by the authorities, cases have occurred in the Austrian service where officers have purchased steps from others serving in _different_ regiments to themselves in the following manner:--if any officer is about to retire from the service, the promotion in the regiment being by seniority, the officer whose turn it would be to obtain the promotion would frequently sell his right to a junior officer serving in another regiment, who would thus be promoted into the vacancy. We were informed that this system had formerly led to frequent duels between the officer obtaining the promotion, and those officers in the regiment whose prospects were directly injured, by the senior having sold his promotion, and thus stopped their advancement.
II. OUTLINE OF SYSTEM OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
Military education in Austria has been entirely remodeled since the Hungarian war, and is now conducted in a very regular and systematic manner under the sole control and supervision of the Fourth Section of the Supreme War Department, entitled “Military Schools.”
The establishment consists besides of--
2 Majors of Infantry. 1 Captain of Artillery. 2 Captains of Infantry. 2 Lieutenants of Infantry. 2 Employés belonging to the Administration. 6 Clerks. 6 Messengers.
To show the great importance of the Fourth Section, it will only be necessary to state that the disbursements of the government for Military Education in Austria for the current year are estimated at £281,440, (2,814,400 florins,) without taking into consideration the sums contributed for foundations by provinces, districts, and private individuals, or of those received for the education of paying students. This sum of 2,814,400 florins is apportioned in the following manner--
--------------------------------------------+-----------+----------- | | Number of | Florins.* | Students. --------------------------------------------+-----------+----------- Vienna Staff School, | 43,000 | 30 | | Officers. ACADEMIES-- | | Wiener Neustadt, for Infantry and Cavalry,| 256,000 | 400 | | Students. Znaim, Engineers, | 157,000 | 200 Olmutz, Artillery, | 122,000 | 200 Trieste, Marine, | 73,000 | 100 4 Cadet Houses, at 87,000f., | 348,000 | 800 | | SCHOOL COMPANIES-- | | 6 Infantry, at 33,000f., | 198,000 | 720 1 Cavalry, “ 39,000f., | 39,000 | 60 2 Frontier, “ 35,000f., | 70,000 | 240 | | SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL COMPANIES-- | | 5 Artillery, at 35,000f., | 175,000 | 600 1 Engineer, “ 36,000f., | 36,000 | 120 1 Pioneer, “ 36,000f., | 36,000 | 120 1 Flotilla, “ 22,000f., | 22,000 | 60 1 Marine, “ 40,000f., | 40,000 | 150 | | 1 NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS’ or | | TEACHERS’ SCHOOL, WIENER | | NEUSTADT. | 17,000 | 60 12 UPPER HOUSES OF EDUCATION, | | at 49,500f., | 594,000 | 2,400 12 UNDER HOUSES OF EDUCATION, | | at 25,700f., | 308,000 | 1,200 +-----------+----------- | 2,534,400 | 7,430 Bureau of the Fourth Section, | 280,000 | +-----------+----------- Total, | 2,814,400 |£281,440 | | --------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------
[* A florin is equal to two shillings of English money.]
So that the annual cost to the state for the education of an officer student, cadet, non-commissioned officer, and boy in these various schools is as follows:--
£ _s._ _d._ Student Officer at the Staff School, 143 6 0 Student at the Engineer Academy, 78 10 0 “ “ Artillery Academy, 61 0 0 “ “ Infantry and Cavalry Academy, 64 0 0 “ “ Marine Academy, 48 6 0 Cadets at the four Cadet Houses, 43 10 0
SCHOOL COMPANIES-- An Infantry School Company Student, 27 10 0 A Cavalry “ “ “ 65 0 0 A Frontier “ “ “ 29 4 0 An Artillery “ “ “ 29 4 0 An Engineer “ “ “ 30 0 0 A Pioneer “ “ “ 30 0 0 A Flotilla “ “ “ 36 12 0 A Marine “ “ “ 26 12 0 A Non-Commissioned Officer at the Teachers’ School, 28 6 0 A Boy at the Upper Houses of Education, 29 14 0 “ Lower “ “ 25 14 0
And thus, as the course of instruction is continued for four years in the Cadet Houses, four years in the Academies, and two years in the Staff School, the cost of training the Officers in the Austrian Army is--
£ For an Officer of Artillery, about 420 “ “ Engineers, 490 “ “ Infantry or Cavalry, 430 “ “ Marine, 370 “ “ the Staff, 710
From the Bureau of this Section at Vienna all orders for the management, maintenance, discipline, studies, and regulation of the various Schools and Academies are issued; and all details relating to the progress of the several students and the results of their examinations are periodically sent and regularly examined.
THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTIONS FOR MILITARY EDUCATION.[1]
[Footnote 1: The following account is translated from “_Die Kaiserlich-Königlichen Militär-Bildungs-Anstalten, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Vorschriften für den Eintritt in dieselben, Zusammengestellt aus den allerhöchst sanctionirten Reglements der Militär-Bildungs-Anstalten. Wien, 1854_.” (_The Imperial Military Institutions for Education_, with special reference to the conditions required for admission, compiled from the regulations sanctioned by His Majesty. Vienna, 1854)]
The Imperial institutions for Military Education, are divided into Three Classes. They are--
A. Such Institutions as are immediately intended for the education of pupils as Non-commissioned Officers; namely,
(1.) The Lower Military Houses of Education. (2.) The Upper Military Houses of Education. (3.) The School Companies.
B. Institutions in which it is intended to educate pupils as Officers; namely,
(1.) The Cadet Institutions. (2.) The Military Academies.
C. Such Institutions as partly give a special kind of instruction, and partly complete and carry out the previous education of Officers. These are--
(1.) The Institution for Military Teachers. (2.) The Higher Course for the Artillery and Engineers. (3.) The War School.
In the institutions of the first and second class, education as well as instruction is given, but those of the third class are limited to instruction; accordingly, all that is said in the following pages with regard to the admission of pupils, and with regard to beneficial foundations, has no reference to institutions of the third class.
Although each of the first-named classes forms a complete whole in itself, yet they stand in close mutual relation to each other, inasmuch as the most distinguished pupils of the Lower Houses of Education pass into the Cadet Institutions; and in the same way the most distinguished scholars of the Scientific[2] School Companies, viz., those of the Artillery, Engineers, Pioneers, Flotilla, and Marine Schools, may be transferred as attendant pupils[3] to the Academies; by this means they may obtain a right to a position in the Army as Officers.
[Footnote 2: _Techniche_ (technical) is the original word. Compare its use in another matter; there are in the Artillery two services, the ordinary Campaigning Artillery and the _Technical_ Artillery.]
[Footnote 3: _Frequentanten_, who frequent, attend, or visit the school.]
So, on the other hand, insufficient progress may be a reason for scholars being removed from the Cadet Institutions and the Academies into the Upper Houses of Education and the School Companies.
By these regulations a road is opened for the advancement of any talent that may gradually develop itself; and at the same time the pupils of the Institutions for Higher Military Education are submitted to that process of elimination which is requisite for the success of these Institutions.
The pupils in the Institutions for Military Education are either foundation pupils,[4] or paying pupils; the first are divided into the military or treasury foundation pupils, and the provincial and private foundation pupils.
[Footnote 4: _Stiftlinge_, foundationers, and _Zahlende_, paying pupils, the first, divided into, (1.) _Militär-Ararial_ foundationers, who are, as a rule, sons of Soldiers and Officers, and are maintained at the expense of the Military Treasury, the _Arar_, or _Ærarium_; (2.) Provincial foundationers, who are maintained by the interest of lands or money granted in favor of young men belonging to some particular province, Bohemia, Gallicia, the Tyrol, Upper or Lower Austria, either by the Central Government (the State,) or by the Estates or Parliament (_Stände_) of the province; (3.) Private foundationers, under which name are included not only those maintained by moneys left by private individuals, but those also whose payments come from grants made by municipal and local corporations.]
The military or treasury places belong to the army; the claim for these depends upon the nature of the institution and the position of the parents. As a general rule, it may be laid down that children of officers are expected to remain up to eleven years of age under the care of their parents, whereas those of common soldiers may in the eighth year of their age be taken under the protection of the State.
The provincial foundations are bestowed upon the sons of the nobility, or of distinguished _employés_ of the state belonging to the crown lands of the province. Private foundations are those established by private individuals or corporations, and the appointment to these depends upon the conditions laid down by the founder. The capital or property of these foundations is generally administered by the Supreme War Department.[5]
[Footnote 5: The _Ober-Militär Commando_, or _Commandership-in-chief_, the Fourth Section of which has the charge of Military Education. _Commando_ is the German word corresponding to Commander, as _Ministry_ does to _Minister_, and may signify one or more persons, a single Officer, or a Board of Commissioners.]
Every Austrian subject may claim admission as a paying pupil, if the other conditions of admission are fulfilled in his case.
In the Lower Houses of Education there are only military or treasury places.
In the Upper Houses of Education there are 1,800 military places; the remaining 600 are filled up by pupils upon provincial or private foundations, and by paying pupils.
In the School Companies the number of the foundation places and paying places is not fixed.
In the Cadet Institutions and the Academies there are 900 full and 200 half military places, and 520 places for pupils on provincial and private foundations, and for paying pupils.[6]
[Footnote 6: Making a total of 1,620, to which may be added about 80, reserved for _Frequentanten_ from the School Companies.]
A sum to cover the expenses is fixed in the case of the pupils on the provincial and private foundations, as also for the paying pupils, amounting in the Houses of Education and in the School Companies to 150 florins (15_l._) per annum; in the Cadet Houses to 400 florins (40_l._) per annum; in the Academies 600 florins (60_l._) for each of the three first years, and 800 florins (80_l._) for the last year. These payments will be subject to modifications, at considerable intervals of time, according to the price of articles of consumption, and will be drawn in the case of the pupils on the provincial foundations from the funds of the respective provinces, and in the case of the pupils of the private foundations, from the moneys belonging to the private foundations.
The capital for the provincial and private foundations must be duly secured and sufficient in amount to cover the fixed payments for the number of places determined upon. Supposing the sum contributed to be insufficient, the requisite sums must be obtained by deferring any further nominations.[7] The proper sums in discharge of these contributions must be paid in advance, half-yearly, on the 1st of October and the 1st of April. Those which belong to the provincial foundations, and such private ones as are administered by trustees, must be paid into the nearest Military Chest.[8] In the case of those pupils who pay for themselves, the money must be sent precisely on the above-mentioned days to the Commandant, or Director of the School, without reference to the day on which the pupil may have entered the school. On the other hand, in cases where a pupil either is removed from or otherwise quits the institution before the natural time, restitution will be made of the corresponding proportion of the sum paid in advance.
[Footnote 7: The interest, that is, will be allowed to accumulate, until a sufficient sum is provided to pay for the maintenance of a pupil.]
[Footnote 8: Such as exist in most large towns.]
For admission into a Military Educational Institution, the boy must first of all be of the age specified for the institution in question, and must further possess the proper bodily growth and strength corresponding to that age, and the prescribed amount of knowledge. Every boy who is to be offered as a candidate for a military place must first be registered, and this in the course of the same year for which his admission is desired. This registration must be made by the parents or guardians through the Commanding Officers of the Army,[9] or Army-Corps, or Military Government[10] within whose district they are domiciled, or in case of their living in foreign parts, through the Austrian Legation of the country.
[Footnote 9: There are four _Armies_; the First in the west, with its head-quarters at Vienna; the Second in Italy, with its head-quarters at Verona; and two others in the eastern provinces. Each of these is divided into a certain number of Army Corps. The particulars may be seen in Schematismus or Military Calendar, and briefly in the Almanach de Gotha.]
[Footnote 10: In those parts of the Empire, namely, in the so-called Military Frontiers, the old Turkish border, where the government is simply military.]
Applications thus made must state what is the institution, admission into which is desired, and must be accompanied by the following certificates:--1. Baptismal certificate. 2. Certificate of vaccination. 3. Certificate of bodily health, by a Military Surgeon. 4. The school certificate for the last half-yearly examination: And 5. On the reverse the following declaration:--
“I hereby pledge myself to surrender up my son (_or_ ward) to the Imperial Military Service, in case of his being admitted into a Military Educational Institution; and I declare that I will under no pretext require his return.”
The object of this declaration is, on the one hand, to secure permanent elements for the Military Educational Institutions, and to create in the minds of the relations of the candidates the seriousness of purpose so essential in the choice of a profession. The declaration will also serve to retain the pupils to a course, which they have usefully commenced, and to protect them from the consequences of hasty decisions on the part of their friends. On the other hand, if it appears manifest that a pupil has not the requisite inclination or qualification for the military service, his removal from the institution ensues with or without the request of his friends, as will be more fully explained further on.
The applications will be examined by the Commanding Officers of the Army, or the Army Corps, or Military Government, and after their revision the candidates will be registered and the petitioners duly informed.
Any changes which occur in the case of the registered candidate, or in his family circumstances, between the time of registration and of actual admission, are to be made known to the authorities before whom the application was brought.
The registers are to be submitted to the Supreme War Department in the middle of June, so that applications can be received by the Commanding Officers of the Army, or Army Corps, or Military Government, at the utmost only up to the end of May.
Appointments to the military places in the Houses of Education and the School Companies are made by the Supreme War Department; His Majesty the Emperor reserves for himself those in the Cadet Institutions and the Academies.
Vacancies in the provincial foundation places are advertised, and applications called for, by the Governors or by the Standing Committees of the Estates of the respective provinces.[11]
[Footnote 11: The Governor or Lord Lieutenant (the _Statthalter_) is the ordinary representative of the Emperor in the various provinces composing the Empire. In his hands resides the usual administration of the government. The provinces have also their ancient Estates or Parliaments, Standing Committees of which might, under certain circumstances, sit at times when the Estates were not assembled.]
All proposals made in this manner are forwarded to the Minister of the Interior, and submitted by him for the sanction of His Majesty.
Appointments to the private foundations are made by the person specified by the founder; decisions of this kind are submitted on or before the 15th of June, to the Supreme War Department for their approval of the candidates and distribution of them into the various institutions.
If a candidate in whose case the prescribed conditions of admission are not fulfilled is nominated to a private foundation, and his nomination consequently not approved, a new nomination must be made.
Pupils who pay are appointed by the Supreme War Department.
The sanction of the appointments and the distribution of the candidates appointed in the various institutions, in the case of the military and the paying pupils, will be made known to them by the Commanding Officers of the Army, or Army Corps, or Military Government; in the case of the provincial foundations by the Minister of the Interior; and in the case of the private foundations by the trustees.
Candidates living in a foreign country will be informed by the Legation in that country.
Upon the appointment made to an entirely gratuitous place in a military educational institution, all payments of allowances for the education of children cease.[12]
[Footnote 12: Small allowances, _e.g._ of 8_l._ for three years, are very generally made to the widows of officers, and occasionally to officers themselves, to assist them in securing a decent education for their children.]
The conveyance of military foundation pupils to the school to which they are appointed will, if not provided for by the friends of the pupils, be made at the expense of the Military Treasury by the ordinary means of locomotion.
Trustworthy Non-commissioned Officers from the nearest detachment of troops should be selected by the military authorities for the conveyance and charge of the pupils; four or five being, according to the circumstances, committed to the care of a single superintendent.
The conveyance of all other pupils must be provided for by their friends.
Admission into the Military Educational Institutions takes place only at the commencement of the school year. Candidates admitted must present themselves in their respective institutions between the 15th and the 30th of September.
The Commanding Officers of the Army, or Army Corps, or Military Government have to take care that every candidate admitted to a military place shall, before leaving to join the institution, be a second time examined by an Army Surgeon, and shall only be allowed to proceed to the institution in case of his bodily qualifications being found perfectly sufficient.
Finally, the candidate upon presenting himself must be re-examined by the chief Medical Officer of the institution, and if he is hereby found to be unqualified for military education, will not be received.[13]
[Footnote 13: Thus, it will be seen, all candidates appointed to the Military places in the schools are examined three times over by a medical officer. Where the State does not pay, in the case of provincial or private foundations, or of paying pupils, the same amount of precaution is not thought necessary.]
Any Military Surgeon or Medical Officer who incurs the guilt of neglect of his duty in this particular will be held responsible.
Every candidate upon presenting himself will moreover undergo the prescribed examination in his previous studies, and if his previous education appears insufficient, his appointment will be cancelled.[14]
[Footnote 14: The difficulties of traveling appear to be considered in Austria too great to allow of any examination (competitive or otherwise) before the candidates provisionally admitted actually arrive at the school to which they are appointed; if ill qualified, they are dismissed with the Chance of a second trial.]
Pupils admitted after a private education into a Military Institution are provided by this institution with new linen, and clothes. All clothes they bring with them are without exception to be returned to their friends, and an acknowledgment of the return given.
No pupil in any of the Military Institutions is allowed to possess any linen or clothes except what is provided; and the friends and relations are not to be called upon for any sort whatever of additional contribution. An amount of pocket-money, varying with the character of the institution, may be transmitted to the pupils through the hands of the authorities of the school; but this is entirely at the pleasure of the friends and relations; all necessaries being provided by the institution.
The pocket-money can only be paid to the pupil through the Commanding Officer of the Institution or of the Company.
The amount allowed must depend on the conduct of the pupil, but must not, even in the Academies, exceed three florins (six shillings) a month.
The course of instruction given in the Military Educational Institutions is fixed by special tables drawn up for each institution. Special text-books, to be followed in the courses, are also appointed.
The tables drawn up to regulate the course of instruction are subject to such modifications as may be called for by the requirements of science and by improvements in the methods of teaching.
The scholars will also receive in the course of the year, more particularly in summer, and after the close of the examination, practical instruction suitable to the arm of the service for which they are destined.
Every September the pupils pass into the next succeeding yearly course.
In the same month the scholars quit the institutions, and are either placed in the army or transferred to other institutions. The conditions under which this is done are given in detail in the account of each institution.
The expenses of the conveyance of the pupils from one institution to another are borne by the Treasury.
Pupils who make no progress in scientific studies will be required to enlist in the army[15] if old enough, and if not, will be removed to an inferior Military Educational Institution; or if they are already in one of the Houses of Education or School Companies, will be employed in learning some trade which will be of use in the army,[16] and when they have reached the proper age, will be enlisted.
[Footnote 15: Will be _assentirt_, will take the oath. They are considered old enough for this at sixteen.]
[Footnote 16: Even clothes and shoes being made by soldiers; a considerable number of soldiers were found thus employed, for example, at the Artillery Academy at Olmütz, under the superintendence of a master workman, bearing a non-commissioned grade, that of a _prima-planist_, for whom, see a Note further on.]
Pupils whose want of bodily qualification unfits them for the army will be sent back to their parents or guardians. Those holding military places in the Academies, if their parents are entirely unable to provide for them, will receive a yearly pension of 150 florins (15_l._) until they can be placed in some employment under the State at a salary at least equivalent to this sum.
Pupils out of the Military Houses of Education or School Companies, who are removed for want of bodily qualification, and whose parents are entirely unable to provide for them, will, according to their capacities, be placed either in the Accounts Department[17] or some similar Military Department, in the Geographical Institution, or as drummers or clerks in one of the higher Military Schools, or will be taught some trade for employment in the Outfit Department,[18] or will be made teachers. If, however, the pupil’s bodily disqualification be of a nature to incapacitate him for any of the above-mentioned employments, he will be removed at the expense of the Treasury into some Civil or Military Hospital.[19]
[Footnote 17: _Militär Rechnungs Branche._]
[Footnote 18: _Monturs Commission_, charged with the duty of providing arms, clothing, &c., for the army. There are several establishments in various parts of the Empire. One of the largest is at Stockerau, near Vienna.]
[Footnote 19: Into a _Siechen-haus_, a hospital for incurable cases; or an _Invaliden-haus_, for _Invalídes_.]
If in moral respects a pupil is found to be a mischievous member of the institution, he may at any time in the course of any year be removed.
Pupils who pay, in case of their removal being found, for whatever reason, necessary, will be sent home to their friends, the consent of the friends being required before they can be either engaged as soldiers or removed to one of the lower institutions. The expenses already incurred will be deducted from the payment made in advance, and the balance repaid to the parents or guardians.
A pupil who for whatever reason has once been removed from a Military School can never be afterwards admitted into any one of them, and in case of his either then or afterwards enlisting in the army, he can not, under any pretext whatever, obtain the rank of Officer before the pupils of the year to which he belonged. This rule, in the case of pupils who have been transferred from a higher to a lower institution, even when they pass out of this latter in the regular course, must be observed in reference to the pupils of the year to which they belonged in the institution from which they were removed.[20]
[Footnote 20: A pupil who was removed from the Academy at Wiener Neustadt might, for example, enter the army as a simple Cadet, under the patronage of the Colonel of a regiment, and might, but for this rule, receive rapid promotion, and become the senior in rank of his comrades of the same year at the School. In like manner, a pupil removed from a Cadet Institution and transferred into a School Company, might, upon leaving that, under certain circumstances, outstrip his late comrades at the Cadet Institution.]
A. SCHOOLS FOR NON-COMMISIONED OFFICERS
1. _The Lower Military Houses of Education._
The twelve Lower Military Houses of Education contain, as has been said, only military places.[21] These appertain, in the first instance, to the legitimate sons of all soldiers bearing arms,[22] whether born in marriage of the first, or in marriage of the second degree.[23] Subordinately to these, a lawful claim exists in the following cases:--
1. Sons of soldiers serving in the Trabant Body Guard, the Court Watch, the Outfit Commission, and other military bodies.[24]
2. Sons of fathers belonging to the Reserve,[25] without prejudice, however, to sons of soldiers in actual service.
3. Sons of invalided soldiers,[26] not only in cases where the father has already married at the date of his reception as invalided, but also in those where marriage has been subsequently permitted.
4. Sons of those who have either as substitutes or otherwise served double time, and are now in the employment in connection with the Court or Government, even in cases where marriage has been contracted after quitting the service.
5. Sons of men belonging to the military service, not included in the above-mentioned cases, namely, the sons of Prima-planists,[27] Employés, and Officers.
[Footnote 21: That is, all the pupils are of military or quasi-military birth, and the expense is borne by the State. Both these and the Upper Military Houses are to be reduced, it is said, to ten.]
[Footnote 22: The whole body (_Mannschaft_) of soldiers bearing arms (_Feuergewehrstand_.)]
[Footnote 23: Marriage of the first degree is that entered into with full permission. In this the wives live in the barracks, receive a certain amount of rations, their children are recognized, and in case of the father’s death are admitted into the Orphan Schools. Soldiers are, however, occasionally allowed to marry, on condition of surrendering every claim to the above-mentioned privileges. This constitutes marriage of the second degree.]
[Footnote 24: The _Trabanten-Leibgarde_ and the _Hofburgwache_ are Court troops. For the _Monturs Commission_, see a previous Note.]
[Footnote 25: Soldiers enlist for eight years, and after this to the end of the tenth year are on the Reserve.]
[Footnote 26: That is, belonging to the Hospitals or Hotels des Invalides, the _Invaliden-häuser_, of which there are several.]
[Footnote 27: Prima-planists, a name derived from _prima plana_, the first leaf of the list, is given to soldiers employed in various special duties, especially perhaps those not of a strictly military kind. The master tailors, master shoemakers, master farriers, are all _prima-planisten_. The surgeon’s assistant ranks as such. The grade is superior to that of sergeant, but those who hold it are excluded from promotion to a commission.]
In any large number of candidates special regard should be had to the sons of fathers who have been killed or invalided on the field; after these, to those who are orphans on both sides; then to the sons of substitutes and other soldiers in actual services; and last follow in order the sons of fathers either belonging to the Reserve or received as Invalides, or otherwise connected with the Military Service.
As the sons of Officers serving with the sword[28] have a large number of places reserved for their benefit in the Cadet Institutions and the Academies, their admission into Military Houses of Education, more especially into the Lower House of Education, is only allowable when no prejudice is caused to the above-mentioned claimants, and as a general rule can only take place when they are orphans, or under special circumstances.
[Footnote 28: This is a frequent phrase (_mit dem Degen dienende_) for active service.]
The age of admission is the completion of the seventh year. Children under this age who are orphans on both sides, or whose fathers being widowers, have to serve in the field, will be received into the Orphan House at Vienna, and be transferred on completing their seventh year to the Lower Houses of Education. Children who have passed the prescribed age for admission into the first class of the Lower Houses of Education can only be admitted, in case of their possessing the requisite amount of knowledge, into the classes corresponding to their age, and in case of there being places vacant in these classes; any addition to the prescribed numbers in the respective years is not allowable.
The number of pupils in each of the Lower Houses of Education is fixed at 100. These 100 pupils are divided into four years, each year being as nearly as possible of the same numerical strength.
The command is held by a Subaltern Officer, to whom are attached for the religious education, the medical care, the discipline, and the instruction--
1 House Chaplain, 1 Army Surgeon, 4 Sergeants and Instructors, 4 Honorary Sergeants[29] as Assistant Instructors, 1 Sergeant, as House Adjutant; and 6 Corporals, for the discipline.
[Footnote 29: _Feldwebel_, Sergeant; _qua Feldwebel_, Honorary Sergeant, with the title and distinction in the uniform, but without the pay.]
Additional assistance may be procured for managing the house and attending on the pupils.
To conduct the instruction (which will be almost entirely addressed immediately to the senses of the children) class-teachers will be provided for each yearly course; and these, with the house chaplain and the medical officer, aided by assistant teachers, will give the pupils instruction in the following subjects:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. German. 3. Natural History. 4. Geography. 5. Arithmetic, both ordinary and mental. 6. Writing. 7. Common Drawing. 8. First Notions of the Rules of Drill. 9. Gymnastic Exercises and Swimming.
2. _Upper Military Houses of Education._
These, twelve in number, form a continuation to the Lower Houses of Education, the pupils from which are admitted here at the close of their eleventh year.
At this age foundation pupils of every kind, as also paying pupils, may be admitted immediately from their parents’ homes, only, however, into the first year’s course, and after passing an examination in the subjects taught in the Lower Houses of Education, to the same extent up to which they are taught in the second class of the ordinary elementary school.
The claim to a military place in an Upper House of Education, is similar to that for a military place in a Lower House of Education.
The number of pupils is fixed at 200 in each Upper House of Education, divided in like manner into four yearly courses.
The command is intrusted to a Captain, who is aided, for purposes of instruction and superintendence, by--
2 Subaltern Officers. 1 House Chaplain. 1 Army Surgeon. 1 Surgeon’s Assistant. 4 Sergeants as Teachers. 2 Honorary Sergeants as Assistant Teachers. 1 Sergeant as House Adjutant. 8 Corporals, for discipline.
Additional assistance may be procured for managing the house and for attendance, upon the same scale as in the Lower Houses.
The instruction, as in all the Military Schools to be noticed henceforward, will be given by teachers specially assigned to each subject, and will include here the following subjects:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. German, with written compositions. 3. One of the other Languages of the Empire. 4. Natural History. 5. Geography. 6. History. 7. Arithmetic. 8. Military Rules and Regulations. 9. Rules of Drill, and first notions of the Rules of Military Exercise. 10. Writing. 11. Common Drawing. 12. Gymnastic Exercises, Single-stick,[30] Swimming.
[Footnote 30: _Stock-fechten_, or staff-fencing; a sort of military single-stick, the staff used resembling a musket and bayonet in one piece, all of wood.]
After completing their fourth year course, the pupils are transferred, according to their qualifications and their own wishes, into the School Company.
Entrance into the Marine School Company takes place at the end of the second year’s course.
3. _The School Companies._
The School Companies have the object of furnishing the different arms of the service with Non-commissioned Officers well educated, both practically and theoretically, and likely in the course of time to prove useful Commissioned Officers[31] in charge of the troops.
[Footnote 31: _Truppen-Officiere_.]
They are in all twenty in number:--
6 for the Infantry. 3 “ Cavalry. 2 for the Frontier Troops. 5 “ Artillery. 1 “ Engineers. 1 “ Pioneers. 1 “ Flotilla.[32] 1 “ the Marine Service.[33]
[Footnote 32: For service on the Lower Danube, the Po, and the Italian Lakes and Lagoons.]
[Footnote 33: Both for service in the Fleet and in the Coast Defenses.]
Under the general term of School Companies the School Squadrons (for the Cavalry) are included. The term Scientific[34] School Companies applies only to those of the Artillery, Engineers, Pioneers, Flotilla, and Marine.
[Footnote 34: _Technische_, Technical or Artificer Companies.]
The scholars in the School Companies are either pupils or attendants[35] The pupils are taken, as already described, from the Upper Houses of Education, after the close of their fourth year’s course, (or, in the case of the Marine School Company, after that of the second,) or they come direct from places of private education.
[Footnote 35: _Zöglinge_ and _Frequentanten_.]
The conditions for gratuitous admission from private educational institutions into the School Companies are similar to those for admission into the Houses of Education, with the difference, that in the School Companies the sons of officials in the civil service, who have served long and meritoriously, and are ill-provided for, may also claim military places.
The candidates must be not under fifteen and not above eighteen years of age; in the Marine School Company not under thirteen and not above fourteen.
The Attendant pupils (_frequentanten_) come from the soldiers of the Standing Army.[36] They exist only in the School Companies of the Artillery, Engineers, Pioneers, and Flotilla; to be admissible, they must, as a rule, have passed with credit through the Non-commissioned Officer Schools of the Artillery or Engineer regiments, or of the Pioneer Corps or Flotilla Corps; they must have been not more than two years in the service; and not at the utmost be above the rank of an Upper Cannoneer, an Exempt, or an Upper Pioneer.[37]
[Footnote 36: The _Mannschaft-stand_ is a term used to mean the whole body of Private Soldiers and Non-commissioned Officers.]
[Footnote 37: The Non-commissioned Officers in the Austrian service rank as follows:--
In the Infantry, Corporal, and Sergeant (_Feldwebel_:) In the Cavalry, Corporal, and _Wachtmeister_: In the Artillery, Corporal, and _Feuerwerker_:
But there are distinctions in addition. A private soldier who is exempted from certain duties, e.g. from standing sentry, bears the name of _Gefreite_, or Exempt, in the Infantry and in the Engineers; the corresponding rank to which in the Artillery is an Upper Cannoneer (_Ober-Canonier_,) and in the Pioneers, an Upper Pioneer (_Ober-Pionier_.) These are in no case Non-commissioned Officers, though in the way to become so. There are also Vice-Corporals (Lance Corporals,) with the badge but without the pay of Sergeants, and _qua Feldwebels_ or Honorary Sergeants, with the badge but without the pay of Sergeants.]
The admission of Attendants (_frequentanten_) can only be allowed without prejudice to the claims of candidates from the Upper Military Houses of Education and from places of private education.
Pupils who come direct from private education must, if they propose to enter one of the Scientific School Companies, be at least 4 feet 10 inches;[38] if one of the other School Companies, at least 4 feet 8 inches high. And these and the Attendant pupils alike must at their entrance into the School Companies pass an examination in the subjects of instruction taught in the Upper Houses of Education.
[Footnote 38: The Austrian foot or shoe (_schuh_) of 12 inches (_zoll_) is a little longer than the English: 80 Austrian make 83 English.]
A perfect knowledge of German is accordingly an indispensable condition for reception into the School Companies, and can only in the single case of the Marine School Company be under certain circumstances overlooked.
At his entrance into the School Company every pupil takes the military oath, and is from this day bound to eight years’ service in the Standing Army, and two years’ service in the Reserve.
Each School Company is commanded by a Captain; each School Squadron by a Captain of Cavalry.
They have attached to them for purposes of instruction and discipline,--
In each Infantry School Company, 3 Subaltern Officers “ School Squadron, 3 “ “ Frontier School Company, 6 “ “ Artillery “ 6 “ In the Engineer “ 6 “ “ Pioneer “ 6 “ “ Flotilla “ 4 “ “ Naval “ 4 “
Each institution is provided also with four Sergeants as teachers, together with a requisite number of additional persons required for management, discipline, and service.
Religious superintendence and instruction is intrusted to a local Ecclesiastic, and the medical duties to an Army Surgeon.
Scholars in the School Companies are to receive a practical as well as a theoretical training. This is to be regulated according to the branch of the service for which they are detained.
Each of the Infantry School Companies consists of 120 pupils, divided into two years, the subjects of instruction being--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. One of the National Languages. 3. Geography and History of the Austrian State. 4. Arithmetic. 5. Elements of Geometry. 6. Military Correspondence and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company.[39] 7. Pioneer Service.[40] 8. Knowledge of the Arms of the Infantry. 9. Rules and Regulations. 10. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 11. Calligraphy. 12. Military Drawing. 13. Gymnastics, Fencing, and Swimming.
[Footnote 39: _Manipulation._ See the account of the visits to the School Companies.]
[Footnote 40: This includes pontooning.]
After the close of the course the pupils who have done remarkably well enter the Infantry as Corporals, the pupils who have done well as Exempts, with the corporal’s badge; those who have done moderately, as Exempts; and those who have done either remarkably well, or well, will be, without further examination, named as Cadets[41] as soon as they pay down the sum required for outfit, or prove their legitimate claim to exemption from this outlay, they themselves being consenting parties.
[Footnote 41: Cadets in a regiment, _i.e._ candidates for a commission, like those appointed on the nomination of the colonels.]
The arrangements of the School Squadrons, with a number of 60 pupils in each, are analogous to those of the School Companies, special attention only being given to instruction in riding and practical exercise in the Cavalry service; for which purpose each Squadron is provided with 71 horses.
The first of the School Squadrons forms a Regiment of Dragoons, the second one of Lancers, and the third one of Hussars.
The subjects taught are as follows:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. One of the National Languages. 3. Arithmetic. 4. Elements of Geometry. 5. Geography and History of Austria. 6. Military Correspondence, and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Squadron. 7. Knowledge of Cavalry Arms. 8. Rules and Regulations. 9. Rules of Cavalry Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 10. Knowledge of Horses and Grooming, of Bridling, Saddling, and Shoeing. 11. Calligraphy. 12. Military Drawing. 13. Riding. 14. Gymnastics, Fencing, and Swimming.
On leaving, the pupils enter the Cavalry in the grades corresponding to those mentioned above for the Infantry.
The Frontier School Companies, each of 120 pupils, give three yearly courses.
In all essential points, these institutions are organized on the same plan with the Infantry School Companies. As, however, Officers and Non-commissioned Officers on the Military Frontiers are also intrusted with the general administration, and accordingly require of necessity a knowledge of political administration, of jurisprudence, and agriculture, the range of the plan of study in the Frontier School Companies is more extensive.
The following subjects are taught:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. The Wallachian or Illyrian Language. 3. Austrian Geography and History. 4. Arithmetic and Algebra. 5. Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, and Practical Mensuration. 6. Military Correspondence and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company. 7. Arms and Munitions. 8. Pioneer Service, Road and Bridge Making. 9. Elements of Civil Architecture. 10. Agriculture. 11. Frontier Law and Administration. 12. Rules and Regulations. 13. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 14. Calligraphy. 15. Military Drawing. 16. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming.
The pupils of the Frontier School Companies, at the close of their third year, enter the Frontier Troops, under the conditions already stated in the case of the Infantry School Companies.
The Artillery School Companies have a course of three years, and consist each of 120 scholars (pupils and attendant pupils.)
The subjects of study are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. The Bohemian Language.[42] 3. Austrian Geography and History. 4. Arithmetic and Algebra. 5. Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, and Practical Mensuration. 6. Popular Mechanics, First Elements of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. 7. Military Correspondence and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Battery or Company; Computation of Estimates. 8. Artillery. 9. Field Fortification. 10. Elements of Permanent Fortification; Attack and Defense of Fortresses. 11. Rules and Regulations. 12. Rules of Drill and Exercise. 13. Calligraphy. 14. Military Drawing. 15. Elements of Descriptive Geometry. 16. Grooming, Stable Duty, Harnessing. 17. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming.
[Footnote 42: Because of the large number of Bohemians in the Artillery.]
After the close of the complete course, pupils who have done remarkably well enter the Artillery as Corporals, those who do well as Bombardiers, the others as Upper Cannoneers.
The most distinguished scholars, however, pass at the close of their second year into the Artillery Academy free of cost, as Attendant Pupils (_frequentanten_,) with the rank of Lance-Corporals, to receive there the education which will fit them for the rank of officers.
The Engineer School Company contains 120 scholars, distributed in three yearly courses. The subjects taught are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. Austrian History and Geography. 3. Arithmetic and Algebra. 4. Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, Practical Mensuration. 5. Military Correspondence and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company. 6. Pioneer Service. 7. Sapping and Mining. 8. Elements of Permanent Fortification. 9. Civil Architecture. 10. Arms and Munitions. 11. Rules and Regulations. 12. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 13. Calligraphy. 14. Military Drawing. 15. Architectural Drawing. 16. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming.
The scholars enter the Corps of Engineers in the same way as has been described in the case of the other School Companies; the most distinguished passing as Attendant Pupils with the rank of Lance-Corporals, free of cost, into the Academy of Engineers.
The Pioneer School Company also contains 120 scholars, similarly divided into three yearly courses.
The instruction given is similar to that of the Engineer School Company, special attention being paid to pioneering duties.
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. The Bohemian Language. 3. Austrian History and Geography. 4. Arithmetic and Algebra. 5. Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, and Practical Mensuration. 6. Popular Mechanics. 7. Military Correspondence and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company. 8. Land Pioneering. 9. Water Pioneering.[43] 10. Arms and Munitions. 11. Rules and Regulations. 12. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœvring. 13. Calligraphy. 14. Elements of Descriptive Geometry. 15. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming.
[Footnote 43: Pontooning being included in the duties of the Pioneers.]
After the close of the third year, the scholars enter the Corps of Pioneers, under the various conditions already described. Scholars who specially distinguish themselves will at the close of the second year be received, free of cost, as Attendant Pupils (_frequentanten_) in the Academy of Engineers; and after completing the four years’ course there, be distributed as Officers in the Corps of Pioneers.
The number of scholars in the Flotilla School Company is 60; and the course of instruction three years in length. The subjects are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. Italian. 3. Austrian History and Geography. 4. Arithmetic and Algebra. 5. Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, Practical Mensuration. 6. Popular Mechanics. 7. Military Correspondence, and Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company. 8, 9, 10. Flotilla Navigation, Artillery, and Pioneering. 11. Rules and Regulations. 12. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 13. Calligraphy. 14. Military Drawing. 15. Elements of Descriptive Geometry. 16. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming, and Boating.
The most distinguished scholars are sent, free of charge, at the end of the second year, to the Artillery Academy, and after completing the four years there, enter the Flotilla Corps as Officers. The others leave at the end of three years under conditions similar to those already described.
The Marine School Company contains 150 pupils, and its course of instruction lasts four years.
The subjects are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. German. 3. Italian. 4. Illyrian. 5. Natural History. 6. Geography and History. 7. Arithmetic. 8. Algebra. 9. Geometry and Plane Trigonometry. 10. Popular Mechanics. 11. Military Correspondence and Management of the Affairs of a Company. 12. Artillery, Arms, and Munitions. 13. Rules and Regulations, by Land and Sea. 14. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring. 15. Calligraphy. 16. Common Drawing and Machine Drawing. 17. Military Drawing. 18. Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming.
The pupils will also be thoroughly exercised in boat manœuvring, in the use of sails, and of cannons, and after the end of each year’s examination, will pass some weeks on board a sailing vessel for practice.
Pupils who either through want of capacity or of diligence fall behind in the theoretical instruction, will at the end of the second year be sent on board ship as ship’s boys (_Schiffs-junge_.)
The other scholars go through the courses of the third and fourth year, and then pass, on the same plan as in the Infantry School Companies, into the Marine Infantry, or as Marine Artillerymen or as Engineering pupils[44] of the first class, into the Navy, or into the Arsenal Works Company, to devote themselves to Naval Architecture.
[Footnote 44: The Marine Infantry do not serve like our Marines on board ship, but only on the coast. The Marine Artillery and the Engineering pupils (_Maschinen-lehrlinge_) serve on board.]
The best scholars enter after four years instruction as Attendant Pupils in the Artillery Academy, and after completing their time there are admitted as Second Lieutenants of the second class into the Marine Artillery.
B. SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS.
1. _The Cadet Institutions._
The object of these is to prepare pupils for the instruction in military science given in the Academies.
They are four in number, with 200 pupils in each.
They contain military or treasury places, either wholly or half gratuitous; places on provincial and private foundations; and finally places for paying pupils.
The exact number of places open to pupils on provincial and private foundations, and to paying pupils, can not be determined, as in this respect the Cadet Schools form a single whole with the Academies, and the amount can only be fixed as a total for these institutions taken together. There are altogether 1,100 of these military places, which may be distributed in varying proportions amongst the Cadet Schools and the Academies; the number in any one of them can not be stated as a rule.
The military foundations are reserved for the sons of Officers serving or having served with the sword; the entirely gratuitous places for the sons of Officers in want, and the half gratuitous places for those of Officers provided with means of their own, or serving in higher positions.
Officers employed in the Outfit Department, Remounting[45] Department, the Department of Military Law and Jurisdiction[46] are thus excluded, unless they have previously served with the sword. But for the sons of these Officers, of the Military Judges, the Military Surgeons, and other Officials, having attained the eleventh or any higher allowance class,[47] there will be reserved eight entirely and eight half gratuitous places in the Cadet Schools and the Academies.
[Footnote 45: For the Outfit Department (_Monturs Commission_,) see a previous Note. The business of the Remounting Department or Remounting Establishments (_Remontirungs Anstalten_) is to supply the cavalry with horses. There are several of these great establishments for buying and breeding horses; the largest of all is in Gallicia.]
[Footnote 46: _Auditoriat._--There is an _Auditor_ or Military Judge in each regiment. He has passed through his course as a law student, and declared for this branch. In every province there is a central department. These law officials rise through all the grades from Lieutenant up to General.]
[Footnote 47: One of the marks of superior rank is the amount granted for _allowances_, for which there is a carefully graduated scale.]
Appointments to the military and provincial foundations are granted by His Majesty, the former on the recommendation of the Supreme War Department, the latter on that of the Minister of the Interior. Among the former are included, as already stated, the most distinguished pupils of the Lower Houses of Education, for whose transfer to the Cadet Schools the rules are laid down, the recommendation being annually submitted for His Majesty’s approval.
Special regard will be given to candidates whose fathers have been killed or invalided in the field; after these, to those who are orphans on both sides; to the sons of Officers of special merit, of Officers with large families, and the like.
Appointments upon provincial and private foundations, or as paying pupils, will be made in the manner already stated in the general account of the Educational Institutions.
The age of admission is the eleventh year completed, and twelfth year not exceeded, and the candidate will be expected to know the subject of instruction prescribed for the third class of the common (_normal_) schools.
A knowledge of German, however, will not be considered indispensable. Pupils who are not Germans will receive in the first half year of the first course special instruction in German.
The instruction continues during four yearly courses. The command is held by a Field Officer, assisted by--
1 Subaltern Officer as Adjutant. 2 Captains. 10 Subaltern Officers. 2 Ecclesiastical Professors. 1 Accountant. 1 Army Surgeon. 1 Surgeon’s Assistant. 12 Sergeants for Inspection. 4 Orderlies, together with the requisite number of mechanics and servants.
The subjects of instruction are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. German Language and Art of Speaking. 3. French. 4. Natural History. 5. Geography. 6. History. 7. Arithmetic. 8. Algebra. 9. Geometry and Plane Trigonometry. 10. Rules of Drill and Exercise. 11. Calligraphy. 12. Common Drawing. 13. Gymnastics, Single-stick, Swimming.
Those pupils who satisfactorily complete their four years’ course are transferred, according to their capacities, and as far as possible, to their own wishes, into one of the Military Academies. Entrance into the Marine Academy takes place at the close of the second year.
Pupils who do ill, will, at the close of any one of the three first years, be removed into the course of the following year at one of the Upper Houses of Education; or, at the close of the fourth year, into one of the Infantry School Companies.
This removal, in the case of paying pupils, will be dependent on the consent of the parents; failing which, they will be sent back home.
2. _The Military Academies._
The object in these is to educate Officers in the higher military subjects for the different arms of the service.
There are four Academies; the Neustadt Academy, the Artillery Academy, the Engineers’ Academy, and the Marine Academy.
The scholars in each are divided into four yearly courses of nearly equal numbers. In the Neustadt Academy each year is sub-divided into two parallel classes, the instruction being the same in both.
The pupils in the Military Academies are of the different kinds described in the account of the Cadet Houses, and the appointments similarly made; the Academies and the Cadet Houses in these respects forming a single body.
Candidates for admission into the Neustadt Academy, the Artillery Academy, or the Engineers’ Academy, must be nearly, if not quite, fifteen, and not above sixteen years old. For admission into the Marine Academy, they must be nearly, if not quite, thirteen, not above fourteen years old.
The Academies receive their pupils in the first instance from the Cadet Schools, after the satisfactory completion of the fourth (or, in the case of the Marine Academy, the second) year, and then, as already stated under the head of the School Companies, from the Artillery School Companies, and from the Engineer, Pioneer, Flotilla, and Marine School Companies, after the highly satisfactory completion of the second (or, in the Marine School, of the fourth) year.
Pupils from these School Companies, before entering the Academies, will take the Military Oath, receive the rank of Lance-Corporals, and be admitted free of charge as Attendant Pupils into the Academies, to receive their education for the rank of Officer. Scholars from the general body of soldiers, who are attending the School Companies, are to be treated, in respect of their transfer to the Academies, in the same way as the other pupils.[48]
[Footnote 48: In the School Companies there are two different sets of Scholars, those who have come from the Houses of Education or from private schools, and those who _attend_ after two years’ service in the Army. These are _frequentanten_ in the School Companies, but all alike, who come from the School Companies, are _frequentanten_ in the Academies.]
Entrance into the Academies is confined to the commencement of the first year.[49] Pupils admitted from places of private instruction are examined in the subjects taught in the Cadet Schools; those who wish to enter the Neustadt, the Artillery or Engineers’ Academy, in the following subjects, to the extent here described:--
1. German:--The Art of Speaking; Prosody; the Rules of Speaking; the various Rhetorical Styles. 2. Natural History:--General knowledge of the Three Kingdoms. 3. French:--General grammatical rules; Translation from German into French. 4. Geography. 5. History:--Ancient and of the Middle Ages. 6. Geometry and Rectilinear Trigonometry, with the Application of Algebra, and the Solution of Geometrical Problems. 7. Common Drawing.
[Footnote 49: It appears, however, that a transfer of pupils, for example, from the Engineers’ Academy to Wiener Neustadt, in consequence of incapacity for Mathematics, is allowed at a later standing. After passing a year at Znaim, a young man may enter the second year’s course at Neustadt.]
Candidates for the Marine Academy will be required to know,--
1. The German Grammar, including Syntax. 2. Zoölogy. 3. French:--The Auxiliary Verbs; the Four Conjugations; Reading. 4. General Geography. 5. Ancient History. 6. Arithmetic and Algebra as far (inclusively) as Equations of the First Degree, with two unknown Quantities. 7. Common Drawing.
Candidates from both institutions must also possess the degree of religious knowledge corresponding to their age, and must write a good current hand.
Pupils who are found negligent in the course of their academical studies, will at the close of the first, second, or third year be transferred to the classes corresponding to their age in the School Companies, or will be enlisted in the Army as Cadets if they possess the requisite bodily qualifications, in the manner already described.[50]
[Footnote 50: The wishes of the parents are, of course, consulted in the case of paying pupils, but it is said that their consent is very generally given.]
_The Neustadt Academy._
Wiener Neustadt having been the seat of this Academy for more than a century, the ancient name thence derived will be retained in its usual acceptation, though the Academies for the Artillery and the Engineers will also be placed in the same locality. The institution counts 400 pupils, designed primarily for the Infantry of the Line and of the Frontier, and secondly, for the Chasseurs and the Cavalry.
The Director of the Academy is a Colonel or General, attached to whom, for purposes of instruction, discipline, and general management, there are three field and thirty-four other Officers; for religious care and instruction, four Ecclesiastics; for medical attention, one Regimental Surgeon, one Army Surgeon, and one Surgeon’s Assistant; for the accounts, one Accountant, and four Accountant’s Assistants. The large number of pupils maintained in the institution requires, moreover, a proportionately large staff for superintendence, a numerous body of attendants, servants, and the like; so that the whole number to be added to that of the pupils does not fall short of 309 persons; 64 horses are allowed for the riding lessons.
The plan of study is based on that of the Cadet Schools, and embraces the following subjects:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. French. 3. Italian. 4. Bohemian. 5. Hungarian. 6. Logic and Psychology. 7. Geography. 8. History. 9. Analytical Geometry and Higher Analytical Mathematics. 10. Mechanics, Spherical Trigonometry, Mathematical Geography, Triangulation. 11. Natural Philosophy, Elements of Chemistry. 12. Practical Mensuration, taking Maps at Sight. 13. Descriptive Geometry. 14. Military Composition. 15. Positive International Law,[51] Austrian Civil Law (_Privat Recht._) 16. Military Penal Law and Procedure. 17. Pioneer Service, with Field Fortification. 18. Permanent Fortification. 19. Civil Architecture. 20. Arms and Munitions. 21. Study of Ground and Positions, and Military Drawing. 22. Rules and Regulations, and Military Administration. 23. Rules of Infantry Drill and Exercise. 24. Rules of Cavalry Drill and Exercise. 25. Manœuvring. 26. Riding. 27. Gymnastics. 28. Fencing. 29. Dancing. 30. Swimming.
[Footnote 51: The Law of Nations as it exists _de facto_ without consideration of its principles.]
Pupils who show a talent for general drawing will be practiced in it.
After the completion of the fourth year’s course, the pupils will be recommended by the Supreme War Department to His Majesty for nomination as Second Lieutenants of the second class.
In their distribution into the various regiments, &c., of the army, the choice of the pupils will, as far as possible, be considered.
The pupils upon leaving will be, without exception, fully equipped at the expense of the State. Only in the case of the pupils who wish to enter the Cavalry, the parents (or guardians) will be called upon to give security for the payment of 1,000 florins (100_l._) towards the expenses of the first equipment, and for a monthly allowance of 25 florins (2_l._ 10_s._)
3. _The Artillery and Engineers’ Academy._
The arrangements of these two Academies are in many respects similar, as required by the character of the two kindred sciences for which they are founded.
The number of scholars is fixed at 160 pupils, and 40 attendant pupils (_Frequentanten_) in each.
The command in each is intrusted to a General or a Colonel.
For the smaller number of scholars, fewer instructors, superintendents, and attendants are needed; the complete amount in each Academy is fixed at 200 men, in addition to the scholars. Each has thirty-two horses allowed to it.
The plan of instruction is in many respects identical in each.
The subjects taught in both are--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. French. 3. Italian.[52] 4. Logic and Psychology. 5. Geography. 6. History. 7. Analytical Geometry and Higher Analytical Mathematics. 8. Descriptive Geometry. 9. Mechanics and the Elements of the Study of Machinery. 10. Mathematical Geography. 11. Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. 12. Practical Mensuration, taking Plans at Sight. 13. Military Composition. 14. International Law; Austrian Civil Law. 15. Military Penal Law and Penal Procedure. 16. Military Drawing; Study of Ground and Positions. 17. Rules and Regulations, and Military Administration. 18. Riding. 19. Gymnastics. 20. Fencing. 21. Dancing. 22. Swimming.
[Footnote 52: This is at present, in point of fact, omitted for want of time.]
Common drawing will be treated, as it is at the Neustadt Academy, as an optional subject.
In the Artillery Academy the following additional subjects will be taught;--
1. Bohemian.[53] 2. Field Fortification and Permanent Fortification. 3. Tactics of the Three Arms. 4. Artillery. 5. Sieges, Construction of Batteries; Artillery. 6. Rockets. 7. Rules of Drill and Exercise in the Artillery and Infantry. 8. Instruction in shoeing horses, in judging of their Age, in judging of them at Sight, in Bridling, Saddling, and Grooming.
[Footnote 53: The Artillery is recruited very largely from Bohemia and Moravia. A knowledge of the Bohemian language (which is pretty nearly the same as Moravian) is therefore essential for an Officer in the command of Artillerymen.]
In the Academy of the Engineers the additional subjects are--
1. Arms and Munitions and Artillery. 2. Art of Fortification. 3, 4. Civil Architecture, Plain and Ornamental. 5. Pioneer Service. 6. Rules of Drill, Exercise, and Manœuvring.
The pupils of the two Academies enter in the same way as those at Neustadt, after the satisfactory completion of four years’ instruction, with the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Second Class, the respective services of the Artillery, and of the Engineers or Pioneers. Pupils for whom no vacancies can be found enter the Infantry.
4. _The Marine Academy._
This, like the other Academies, is in the charge of a Field Officer, or a General.
The pupils are 100 in number; the Teachers, other Officers, and attendants, 88.
One essential distinction here (explained by the necessity of habituating the pupils to the sea) is the admission at an age earlier by two years, and the proportionally earlier termination of the course.
The plan of instruction combines a continuation of the studies prescribed in the Cadet Schools, with the commencement of those specially required for the marine service, viz.:--
1. Religious Knowledge. 2. German. 3. Italian. 4. French. 5. English. 6. Geography. 7. History. 8. Algebra. 9. Geometry and Plane Trigonometry. 10. Analytical Geometry and Higher Analytical Mathematics. 11. Spherical Trigonometry and Nautical Astronomy. 12. Mechanics and Natural Philosophy. 13. Descriptive Geometry. 14. Navigation. 15. Military Composition. 16. International Law, Austrian Civil Law, Sea Law. 17. Military Penal Law, and Penal Procedure. 18. Artillery. 19. Fortification, Attack and Defense of Coast Fortifications. 20. Naval Tactics and Naval History. 21. Knowledge of Rigging, &c. (_Takelungslehre._) 22. Naval Manœuvres. 23. Naval Architecture. 24. Signals. 25. Rules and Regulations. 26. Rules of Drill and Exercise. 27. Calligraphy. 28. Military Drawing. 29. Common Drawing. 30. Swimming. 31. Gymnastics. 32. Fencing. 33. Dancing.
In addition to the practical instruction given in the course of the school year, the pupils of the three first years will in the months of August and September be sent in sailing vessels on a voyage for practice.
The pupils at the end of four years enter as Cadets into the Navy, the Flotilla Corps, or the Corps of Naval Architecture.
After completing a practical course of two years, they will receive their promotion as Second Lieutenants of the second class.[54]
[Footnote 54: Literally, “as _Frigate-Ensign_, or Second Lieutenant of the second class,” the former being in rank the same as the latter. The order of rank is,--
Captain of a Man-of-War equal to a Colonel in the Army. “ of a Frigate “ Lieutenant Colonel ditto. “ of a Corvette “ Major ditto. Lieutenant of a Man-of-War “ First Captain ditto. “ of a Frigate “ Second Captain ditto. Ensign in a Man-of-War “ First Lieutenant ditto. “ in a Frigate “ Second Lieutenant ditto.
In the Corps of Naval Architecture the ordinary military titles are used.]
C. SPECIAL SCHOOLS.
1. _The Military Teachers’ School._
The object here is a double one; first, to bring up good and serviceable teachers in the subjects of study prescribed for the Military Houses of Education; secondly to provide at the same time instructors in gymnastics and fencing for all the military schools and for the troops. The institution accordingly consists of two departments, each of thirty Attendant Pupils, receiving instruction in these two different branches.
Non-commissioned Officers are admitted after a service of at least two years. Candidates for admission into the Teachers’ department must, in addition, possess the required amount of knowledge in the subjects taught in the Military Houses of Education; and, as a rule, must know, besides German, one other of the Austrian national languages. Proficiency in every one of the subjects will not be considered essential. Candidates for admission to the Gymnastic and Fencing Department will be required to show a certain amount of readiness in the use of arms and in gymnastic exercises, and an evident capacity for acquiring greater skill.
Registration for admission is to be obtained in the usual course of the service from the Supreme War Department.
The Attendant Pupils receive, in addition to their ordinary pay, bread and the extra allowance; and for their better subsistence also an allowance corresponding to that granted for provision during a march.
The command is held by a Field Officer or Captain; six Subaltern Officers and four Sergeants act as teachers, the latter as assistants in the instruction in fencing and gymnastics, and as swimming master. The instructor in the art and methods of teaching may be a civilian.
The subjects of instruction in the Teachers’ Department are--
1. The Art and Methods of Teaching. 2. German. 3. Another Austrian Language. 4. Arithmetic and Geometry. 5. Geography. 6. Military Composition, and the Management of the Internal Affairs of a Company. 7. Calligraphy. 8. Common and Military Drawing. 9. Gymnastics, Fencing, and Swimming.
In the Gymnastic Department,--
1. Staff, Rapier, Sword, and Bayonet Fencing. 2. Gymnastics and Swimming. 3. Knowledge of Fire-arms.
In both Departments a certain number of hours weekly will be devoted to Military Exercise.
Instruction in all the subjects will be given with special reference to the methods to be pursued in teaching them in the various Military Schools.
The course in each Department lasts one year. Under certain circumstances particular pupils in the Teachers’ Department may remain for the further completion of their studies a second year in the institution.
In the Teachers’ Department, pupils who show no aptitude or liking for some particular subject, may be exempted from attending the lessons given in it, so as to allow them to give more thorough attention to other branches.
After passing the examination, the pupils are either sent immediately to undertake duty in the Military Schools, or return to their service in the troops, and pass, as occasion requires, into the Military Schools. Corporals who distinguish themselves by remarkably good progress will be promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
2. _The United Higher Course for the Artillery and Engineers_,
Has for its object the more advanced instruction of young Officers in a scientific and technical point of view, for service in the Artillery and Engineers.
Twenty Officers, of more than usual capacity, between twenty-one and twenty-six years of age, will be admitted from each of the two arms. They must be unmarried, and must have served with distinction during a period of not less than two years.
Officers in whose cases these conditions are satisfied, and who desire to be admitted to the course, apply for registration for admission to the examination, in the ordinary form, to the War Department.
Officers who, in the month of October, are summoned to attend, may charge their traveling expenses to the Treasury, and undergo an examination before the Professors attached to the Course, in the following subjects:--
1. Analytical Geometry and Higher Analytical Mathematics. 2. Mechanics and the Elements of the Study of Machinery. 3. Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. 4 Military Composition. 5. French. 6. Military Drawing, tested by the production of a Drawing of their own doing.
Candidates for the Artillery will be, moreover, examined in the Tactics of the three Arms, and in Artillery; and those from the Engineers, in the Art of Fortification and in Civil Architecture, both Plain and Ornamental.
The text-books used in the Academies of the Artillery and Engineers will serve as a measure for the range of attainment required. Pupils who passed with distinction through these Academies will thus be specially fitted for admission into the Higher Course after they have proved, during their time of service, their diligence in bringing the knowledge they have acquired into actual application.
On the close of this preliminary examination, the results will be submitted to the Supreme War Department, and the recommendations for admission laid before His Majesty.
A superior Field Officer, either of the Artillery or the Engineers, will be intrusted with the charge of the united course. The lectures will be given by the Professors of the Academy of the Artillery and Engineers. From the nature of the duties, partly common and partly distinct, which devolve upon the two corps, it follows that the course of the studies (which will be carried on during two years) will in like manner be partly common and partly separate.
The subjects of common instruction will be--
1. Mechanics in application to Machinery, combined with Machine Drawing. 2. Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, combined with practice in manipulation, in making experiments, and in analyzing. 3. Theory of Artillery, in reference to the constructions that occur in Artillery. 4. Higher Tactics. 5. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by the representation of campaigns, with special attention to the use of Artillery, as well in Attack and Defense of fortified places, as in the field.
Separate instruction will be given to Artillery Officers in--
1. Service in Workshops, Depôts, and Arsenals. 2. Knowledge of Foreign Artillery, of the requisites (_ausrüstungen_) for Field service and Sieges, and for furnishing fortified places.
To Engineer Officers, in--
1. Ornamental Architecture, combined with Architectural Drawing. 2. The Art of Fortification, special attention being given to working out projects.
The pupils receive in addition practical guidance and supervision in all subjects of a scientific nature connected with the Art of War.
The pupils of the second year undergo an examination in October. Upon the results of the examination the War Department decides on their promotion for the rank of Second to that of First Lieutenants.
3. _The War or Staff School._
The object of the War School is to give Officers of all arms an education for higher duties, especially for those of the Staff and of the Upper Adjutant Department.[55]
[Footnote 55: The Higher _Adjutantur_ or the Aide-de-Camp Department.]
Any Subaltern Officer of the active army, without distinction of arms, may claim admission into the War School, provided he is above twenty-one and under twenty-six years old, is unmarried, and has served as Officer uninterruptedly and with distinction two years at least with the troops, and, provided, finally, he has passed the prescribed preliminary examination.
For admission to the examination, registration, to be obtained in the usual form from the War Department, is requisite.
The examination is conducted between October 10th and 20th, in the War School buildings; the registered candidates will be summoned to Vienna at the beginning of October; traveling expenses will be paid by the Treasury. The subjects are--
1. Algebra and Geometry, including Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. 2. Geography. 3. History. 4. Arms and Munitions. 5. Field and Permanent Fortification. 6. Pioneer Service. 7. Rules of Drill and Exercise (in detail, for the arm in which the candidate has served, and generally for the other arms.) 8. Manœuvring. 9. Military drawing, tested by the production of a drawing of the candidate’s own doing. 10. Military Composition, tested by working out an exercise in the presence of the Commission. 11. French. And finally, 12, the candidate must be able to speak one of the national languages of the Austrian Empire, Slavonic, Hungarian, or Italian, and must write a good current and legible hand.
The amount of knowledge required in these subjects will be regulated by the range of the text-books prescribed for use in the Academy at Neustadt. Regard, however, will not so much be given to the minutiæ of knowledge possessed by the candidate, but rather to the evidence of his having a correct judgment and quick apprehension, and the power of expressing himself both orally and in writing.
Upon the results of the examination, formally drawn up by the authorities of the school, recommendations for admission will be submitted to the sanction of His Majesty.
The number of attendants in the War School is fixed at thirty, and the length of course is two years.
The attending pupils receive, in addition to their ordinary pay, a monthly allowance of twenty florins, rations, and allowance for two horses; when employed in taking surveys and reconnoitring, they have an extra allowance of thirty florins monthly.
The War School is commanded by a General or Superior Field Officer.
Five Field Officers or Captains, taken as a rule from the Staff, give lectures on the prescribed scientific subjects. One Field Officer or Captain of Cavalry takes the duty of riding-master; and one civil Professor that of instruction in the French language and literature. Necessary officers, attendants, and servants take the duty of adjutants, of the internal management, of the service, and of attending to the thirty horses.
The first year’s subjects of instruction are--
1. Military Drawing and the study of Ground and Positions. 2. Higher Tactics. 3. Staff and Superior Adjutant Duty. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
Those of the second year,--
1. Military Drawing, Ground and Positions. 2. Military Geography. 3. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by representations of some of the most instructive campaigns. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
The course begins on the 1st of November, and lasts to the end of September.
The Attendants at the War School must be practiced in those arms in which they have not served. They are for this purpose distributed into the various bodies of troops forming the garrison of Vienna, go through the exercises and manœuvres of these troops--in the first year with one, and in the second with the other arm. At the termination of these periods of practice, they will be called upon to undertake the command of a Battery, of a Squadron of Cavalry, and of a Division of Infantry.
In the month of May, the attendant pupils of the first year will go out upon a course of practical surveying; those of the second year will be similarly employed in reconnoitring, choosing sites for encampment, discovering, judging of, and describing proper points for taking up positions, forming _têtes-de-pont_, entrenched camps, and the like, and in performing other duties falling within the service of the Staff.
At the beginning of October, the pupils of the second year will undergo an examination, which will be conducted, both orally and by papers.
Upon the results of this the Supreme War Department will determine upon their promotion to the rank of First Lieutenants (if they are not already of that rank,) and this without any reference to their previous position, their position henceforth being simply determined by their merit.
The same grounds determine the cases of those who are admitted to the Staff, or who return to their respective arms.
Those who, after a satisfactory completion of the course, return to service with the troops, will, after three years’ meritorious service, be specially recommended for extraordinary promotion.
_Control of the Institutions._
The Upper and Lower Houses of Education, the Infantry School Companies, the Cavalry School Squadrons, and the Frontier School Companies, are under the orders of the Commanders of the Army, the Army Corps, or the military government in whose district they are situated. The Artillery and Engineer School Companies are under the orders of the General Artillery and Engineer Departments; the Pioneer and Flotilla School Companies, under those of the Quartermaster-General’s Department; the Marine School Company, under those of the Admiralty. Which functionaries, however, receive from the Supreme War Department all directions relating to organization and instruction.
The Cadet Schools, the Academies, the Military Teachers’ School, the Upper Artillery and Engineer Course, and the War School, are immediately under the orders of the Supreme War Department.
The general organization of all the military schools and places of instruction is once for all established by the regulations sanctioned by His Majesty. These regulations contain all that concerns the physical, moral, and intellectual training of the pupils, and all have the one object of rearing them up as worthy members of the Austrian army, and faithful supporters of the throne and of the honor of their country.
III. REMARKS ON THE AUSTRIAN MILITARY EDUCATION.
The English Commissioners in their General “_Report on the Education and Training of Officers for the Scientific Corps_” hold the following language:--
The magnitude of the Military Education of Austria entitles it to rank among the chief Institutions of the Empire. It has been remodeled since the wars of 1848, 1849. It is now centralized, and wholly directed by one of the four Co-ordinate Sections of the War Office, which is independent of the others, and reports directly to the Emperor. This Educational or “Fourth” Section has the control of between 300,000_l._ and 400,000_l._ yearly. It provides for the free or nearly free education of more than 5,000 pupils. The extent and completeness of the system will be best understood by a reference to the clear and valuable official account of the schools.[56]
[Footnote 56: See _Ante_, p 412-441.]
The military schools are divided by this document into (1) those which educate pupils for _Non-commissioned Officers_, (2) those which educate for _Officers_, (3) and those _Senior Schools_ which complete the education and extend the instruction of both classes. The method of training Non-commissioned Officers is a peculiar and remarkable part of the system.
1. No less than 5,730 pupils are in process of being educated for Non-commissioned Officers. They are received into a Military School at seven years old, and at that early age are devoted to the army, with a kind of solemnity, by their fathers, somewhat similar to the practice at Woolwich Academy :--“I hereby pledge myself to surrender up my son to the Imperial Military Service, in case of his being admitted into a Military Educational Institution, and I will under no pretext require his return.” This promise, as the official document states, may no doubt be recalled if the youth finds that he has mistaken his vocation; but it must exercise great influence (and such is its avowed object) in retaining him in it.
After passing successively through two Junior Institutions,--the Lower Houses of Education, where he continues till eleven years old, and the Upper Houses, where he remains till fifteen,--the boy receives his finishing course in one of what are termed the School Companies, the highest class of schools for training boys to become Non-commissioned Officers in all arms of the service. These are twenty in number, and scattered over the whole Empire, containing generally 120 pupils each, though in one case only sixty; and with a course of either two or three years, according to the nature of the service. The extent and the requirements of the Empire give a striking variety to their character. Thus, in the frontier School Companies, “the range of the studies is more extensive, because the Non-commissioned Officers on the Military Frontiers are intrusted with the general administration, and require of necessity a knowledge of Political Administration, of Jurisprudence, and Agriculture;” and thus also the Non-commissioned Officers for the responsible Flotilla Service of the mouths of the great rivers, the lagoons of the Po, the head of the Adriatic, and the lakes, are carefully educated and frequently promoted. Following the course of a pupil through these Upper Houses and School Companies, we were much struck by the sensible and vigorous character of the education, and the motives supplied for exertion. In the Upper Houses the boys compete for entrance to the School Companies which they prefer, and the more scientific companies are a special object of ambition, because it is more usual in these for young men to be raised by their talents to the Academies, and thus made Officers, “free of all cost:” according to the regulations, however, this is possible in all. It may be stated that from six to ten pupils from each of the more scientific School Companies,--the Artillery, Engineer, Pioneer, Flotilla, and Marine Companies,--are yearly transferred to the Academies, to complete their education there for the Officer’s Commission.
A system of this kind, supplying at once a good education and large opportunities of advancement, must necessarily operate as a great encouragement to young men educating for Non-commissioned Officers; and allowing for the social differences of the two countries, it resembles in spirit the French system, which throws open the gates of the Polytechnic and St. Cyr, and with them a proportion of the Commissions in the Army, to all.
This, however, is not all. The sums devoted to the education of Non-commissioned Officers, as well as Officers, are immense, and may be regarded as a spontaneous contribution of the National Feeling, no less than a State provision. A system both of public and private foundations (_Stiftungen_) prevails--part derived from the Emperor, part from the provinces, part from private gifts and legacies--by which 3,190 pupils are supported in the Houses of Education and the School Companies, and 1,320 in the Cadet Schools and Academies. The very large majority of these exhibitions supply a _complete_, about 200 a _partial_, maintenance. And it is curious to observe the aid to education which is so common in our own Universities, devoted in Austria to what may be termed the great National Institution--the Army,--and retaining all the limitations to the descendants of Founders or Natives of provinces which marked our own foundations. Some of these exhibitions have been founded by foreign soldiers for their own countrymen. Thus there are two bearing the name of the O’Gara and the O’Brady, to be held by any Irishmen of good family, one of which is in the gift of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. We should add that this system is still a living and popular one. Within three years the city of Brünn has founded such an exhibition “for sons of Austrian subjects in Moravia, and by preference in Brünn, in commemoration of His Majesty’s escape from assassination in 1853.” We ourselves heard a distinguished Officer express an intention of founding one of these Exhibitions. The comparison with the open _Bourses_ of the Polytechnic is remarkable; but the Austrian appointments to free places seem to be given, like the Prussian, solely as rewards for the service of the parent.
2. The education of young men for Officers is conducted upon the same principles which regulate that for Non-commissioned Officers. The age of admission to a Cadet School is about eleven. The pupils are pledged to the service with the same formalities which we have noticed in the Lower Houses of Education. Between fifteen and sixteen they enter one of the Academies for the Line, the Artillery, the Engineers, or the Marine, and after four years they pass to their respective services.
Thus, unlike the French system, that which is followed in Austria commits the pupil to the Army, and to a Military Education, from an early age, resembling herein the plan of the _Accademia Militare_ of Turin. But an attempt seems to be made to combine general with special teaching. Thus, although even in the two first years (from fifteen to seventeen,) at Wiener Neustadt, there is some introduction of successful practical military teaching, the chief weight is thrown upon mathematics, history, geography, drawing, and French; special military teaching has a greater, though far from an exclusive place, in the two last years. The studies are high, and (as far as we could judge) pursued carefully, and with excellent discipline.
The description we have given of the system pursued in the Schools for Non-commissioned Officers will have shown that there is a constant appeal to emulation. The same is found at Wiener Neustadt. There is a careful system of assigning credits during the whole school period, which itself argues competition. The chief immediate reward, indeed, is the choice of a regiment on leaving the school; but the prospect of entering the Staff School stands in no distant perspective, and this is filled with so many pupils from Wiener Neustadt, that it must be looked upon as the sure reward of a successful Neustadter. There are other inducements of a different character. The discipline being strict, pupils are constantly removed from Wiener Neustadt and the other Academies to the schools for Non-commissioned Officers, and though sometimes allowed to enter the army as Officers, it must always be as juniors to their contemporaries at Wiener Neustadt. We heard instances of great strictness in this matter.
The new course for the Special Arms in Austria is not yet completely in operation. It is at present carried on separately in the Academy of Olmütz for the Artillery, and that of Znaim, in Moravia, for the Engineers. There are 200 pupils in each Academy, and the courses of instruction, which are more special or technical than at Wiener Neustadt, last four years, from the age of fifteen to nineteen. The yearly examinations, the manner in which the marks of the monthly examinations tell on the final one, and the careful classification of the pupils in the order of merit, reminded us of the system of the Polytechnic more than any other school we have seen. And an inspection of the very high credits obtained by the first thirty pupils will prove the diligence with which the studies are pursued. We should add that several pupils of marked talents come from the scientific School Companies, A further fact bears witness to the vigor of the discipline. We have alluded to the dismissal of unpromising subjects from the Austrian Military Schools. In the course of three years, since the changes of 1850, it appears that nearly 100 pupils were removed from Znaim, as not coming up to the standard required for the Engineers by the new regulations.
3. The courses of instruction in the three Academies for Infantry and Cavalry, Artillery, and for Engineers, last for the same time, and run (as it were) parallel to each other. Each is, or is to be, completed by a senior department. The United Course for the Artillery and Engineers is not indeed yet combined in the magnificent buildings begun at Wiener Neustadt; but it is already organized in a provisional state at Znaim for the Engineers, and the plan of instruction drawn up is a solid one. The arrangements for the general Staff School require more remark.
In our report upon Austrian schools we have specially noticed this School as remarkable for its thorough and open competitive character from first to last, and its very sensible plan of study. Admission to it is by competition, open to Officers of all arms: the pupils are not unduly overburdened with work; perhaps, there is even room for one or two more subjects of importance; but what is done seems to be done thoroughly; the Officers are carefully ranked, on leaving the School, according as the abilities they have displayed, may be considered a criterion of their fitness for employment on the General Staff; and _in this order_ they enter the Staff Corps. The consequence is that every Officer knows distinctly, from the time that he first competes for admission until his final examination on leaving, that the order in which he will enter the Staff depends entirely on his own exertions and success at the school. It seemed to us that this open competition produced a spirit of confidence and energy in the students, as great, if not greater, than any we met with elsewhere.
The whole of the above system of education is directed by the Fourth Section of the War Department. In all the schools we found traces of its activity; and the energy and system which prevail in the Military Teaching of Austria appear in great measure to result from its being directed by this single head.
IV. THE STAFF OR WAR SCHOOL AT VIENNA.
[From Report of English Commissioners in 1856.]
The Staff School (Kriegs-Schule,) in Vienna, was established in 1851, and grew out of the experience of the Hungarian war, although a Staff-Corps had existed for more than a century in the Austrian army, and for many years past all the appointments in it have been made upon an examination, which was, in fact, one of competition. The process was formerly as follows:--
An officer desirous of becoming a candidate for a staff appointment, sent in his name to the colonel of his regiment, whose recommendation he was obliged to obtain as a preliminary step. If supplied with this, he began his course of staff study, and was sent for this purpose to some large garrison town as an _attaché_ to the staff. Whilst here he went through, for two years, the course of drawing, writing military memoirs, mapping the country, &c., and for two years more served on active staff duty with different bodies of troops. At the end of these four years a number of the officers thus employed in a particular country were brought together, and examined by the chief of the staff in the country, assisted by a board of officers appointed for the purpose. No actual list was drawn out of the order in which the candidates acquitted themselves, but it was understood that the best were chosen and put upon the general staff. The work upon this was exceedingly laborious; few except officers of real ability were candidates for it, and patronage in it was looked upon with great dislike. On the other hand, studies and reading were not made the first requisite; a ready intelligence and quick eye to make an officer a _Colonnen-führer_,--leader of a column on a march,--were always most valued.
Before describing this school, it may be as well to mention shortly the staff-corps and the corps connected with it.
1. The General Staff of the Austrian Army consists of:--
Twelve Colonels. Twelve Lieutenant-Colonels. Twenty-four Majors. Eighty Captains.
The _attachés_, to the number of eighty,--_i.e._, those who are expecting appointments, may be subalterns, but they obtain the rank of captain on joining.
The chief of the staff-corps is Field-Marshal Hess.
2. There has been created very lately a separate corps of adjutants or aids-de-camp, who are charged with the administrative duties, such as inspecting the bearing, equipment, carrying on the discipline, &c., of the troops. This consists of--
Eleven Generals. Eighteen Lieutenant-Colonels. Eighteen Majors. Fifty-eight First Captains. Ten Second Captains. Ten First Lieutenants.
There is no examination for entrance into this corps. Appointments are made by the generals, and we were told that there was some scope for “protection.”
3. There is also a smaller corps for the purpose of surveying, called the Corps of Geographical Engineers, connected with the staff, inasmuch as some of the staff officers draw the maps on a large scale, which it is the business of this corps to reduce. It is usually occupied on the Great Surveys of the Empire; at present it is employed on the Survey of the Principalities.
It consists of--
One Colonel, called the Director. Two Lieutenant-Colonels. Two Majors. Sixteen Captains. Sixteen Lieutenants. Four Sous-Lieutenants.
The staff school consists of thirty pupils taken from all arms of the service, fifteen being received each year, and the course of study lasting two years. It is under the direction of a general and a lieutenant-colonel; and, with few exceptions, such as might occur in the time of war, no appointments on the general staff are to be given to any officers who have not passed through the staff school.
In order to enter the school for the staff corps, an officer must have served at least two years with his regiment, and be unmarried, and above twenty-one and under twenty-six years of age. He may then forward to the chief of the staff, through his colonel, his claim to be admitted as a candidate at the entrance examination. Further inquiry is made, and a good many of the names sent in are struck off the list. Such, we were told, was the case last year when the names sent in were very numerous, but out of these only forty-five were allowed to compete, and out of these again only fifteen (the regular yearly number) were selected. The competition for entrance into the school is indeed said to have been very active ever since it was opened. Most of the students are _Neustadters_; the seven professors were all, with the exception of the professor of the French language, military men, and chiefly officers of artillery, formed in the long studies of the old Bombardier School.
The subjects in which the candidates for admission are examined are--
1. Algebra and Geometry, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. 2. Geography. 3. History. 4. Arms and Munitions. 5. Field and Permanent Fortification. 6. Pioneering. 7. Rules of Drill and Exercises. 8. Manoeuvring. 9. Military Drawing. 10. Military Composition. 11. French. 12. To be able to speak one of the Austrian national languages, and to write a good current and legible hand.
The most striking features in the system of this school, both at the entrance and throughout the course, are that it is distinctly competitive, that it admits very young officers, and that while the work is considerable, the subjects for study are not numerous. In these three points it differs considerably from the Prussian Staff School, in which the students are generally older, and the principle of competition is not so fully carried out. In the Austrian school, the students are placed on entering in the order which their entrance examination has just fixed. They are examined once a month during their stay. On leaving the school, their respective places are again determined, and they have a claim for appointments in the staff corps in the exact order in which they were placed on leaving the school.
Their relative places on leaving the school are assigned to them, as we were assured, very carefully, and, after much consultation in every case among the professors; but this is not done by marks, nor by any minute system of testing intellectual qualifications, but an estimate is formed upon the whole work of the two years, both on the studies in the school and the practice in the field,--of the student’s comparative fitness, _as an officer, for the work of the staff_. “We try to estimate the whole man,” was the expression used to us, “whether he will make a good _Colonnen-führer_” (a good man to direct a regiment on a march,) as was said elsewhere. This general estimate was preferred to that of marks, on the ground that the latter might give too much weight to the more appreciable, _i.e._, simply intellectual qualities.
The students do not at present live within the establishment, but are to do so when the new ones, building, are ready. They begin their lectures at half-past seven and end at one or three o’clock on alternate days, going to the riding-school in the afternoon on the days when their morning’s work ends at one. Thirty horses are kept for their use.
The subjects of instruction during the first year consist of--
1. Military Drawing and the Study of Ground and Positions. 2. Higher Tactics. 3. Staff Duties. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
And those of the second year are as follows:--
1. Military Drawing, and the Study of Ground and Positions. 2. Military Geography. 3. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by representations of some of the most instructive campaigns. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
The students are occupied at the school about eight hours daily and their chief work is military drawing and topography. We went into the room where the students of both years were working together at drawings and plans under an artillery officer, said to be one of the best draughtsmen in the army. Some of the plans were modeled in soap, the _hachures_ being marked very elaborately, so that the models and drawings might closely correspond. We also attended a lecture of the second class in military geography. A student traced out on the blackboard the line of the Western Alps, and was examined very closely on the smaller passes, the rivers, and the bases of operations for armies on both sides. The answers were very minute, and given with the greatest readiness; and we understood the question to be taken at random, and not to be a prepared one.[57]
[Footnote 57: It may be desirable to give some specimens, taken from the official account of the school, of the questions put at the examinations for admission,
I. _Viva voce._
1. Mathematics:-- Give an explanation of geometrical series, and a proof of the general formula. How is the circumference and area of a circle determined? How are the trigonometrical functions of the different quadrants of the circle indicated? 2. Geography:-- What is meant by the _backbone_ of Europe? What states does it pass through? The source of the Elbe; its principal feeders? 3. History:-- Describe generally the wars of Charles V. The political consequences of the Battle of Leipzig. 4. Arms and Munitions:-- What is the material of sword blades? how are they made and proved? How are gun carriages made for field and siege guns? What kinds of hollow shot are used in the Austrian artillery, and on what do their effects depend? 5. Field and Permanent Fortification:-- How is a trench made? How is a parapet built? What does a front of fortification consist of? what is the disposition of the several lines? what parts protect the principal rampart? what is the form of the flanks? and how is the main ditch made? What is meant by detached works? where are they placed? What are the best arrangements for the successful defense of a fortress? 6. Pioneer Service:-- How are two beams of the same dimensions fastened together in the same direction? How are suspension bridges put up? 7. Rules for Drill and Exercise:-- (_a._) Infantry. Wheeling during a march. Forming of close battalion column. (_b._) Cavalry. Marching in files and fours. Forming line from the flank to the front and rear. (_c._) Artillery. Intervals and distances in a battery.
II. Paper Work.
In Mathematics:-- 1. Prove that in every triangle the square of the one side is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides, less twice the product of these two, multiplied by the cosine of the angle they inclose. 2. If the hypothenuse is 33, and one angle 25° 48’ 12”, find the other angle and the perpendicular, &c.]
The student officers attending the school are called upon to serve in those arms to which they do not belong. For this purpose they join the troops of the garrison of Vienna during June, July, August, and September, and if they belong to the infantry they go through all the exercises of the cavalry in one year, and of the artillery in another. If they belong to the cavalry, they go in the same manner through the exercises of infantry and artillery. After going through this practice, they have to take command of a battery, of a squadron of cavalry, and of a division of infantry.
The month of May is devoted in the first year to an expedition for practice in surveying the country, and in the second, for making reconnaissances, &c.
October is a vacation in the first year. In the second it is taken up with the final examination before leaving.
The officers acting as professors receive 600 florins, about 60_l._ annually, besides their pay.
Immediately after the final examination, if there are any vacancies in the staff corps, the pupils receive appointments in order of merit, and are at the same time made captains. In proof of their receiving appointments on the earliest opportunity, we were told by Colonel Scudier that the last ten vacancies in the staff corps were filled up out of the twelve students who had just left the school. One of these was only a second lieutenant, and in order to make him a captain, (the rank required for the staff corps,) the Emperor promoted him to be a first lieutenant immediately, and to be a captain within three days afterwards. This double promotion was on the ground of great merit.
If an officer finds no vacancy in the staff corps ready for him, he must return to his regiment and wait as an attaché. But if a second lieutenant, he is entitled immediately to a step of rank, and if a lieutenant, after three years’ service he is made a captain, although he may not even then be attached to the staff corps.
There are to be eighty of these attachés to the staff. Their number at present amounts to only thirteen.
With regard to special aids-de-camp, generals are allowed to choose their own, without examination, but with this limitation, the officer chosen must not be a relation.[58]
[Footnote 58: The following shows the nature of the Report presented by the examiners upon an Officer examined for admission. It is called the _Prüfungs-Act_, and is sent into the Supreme War Department, that is, to the Fourth Section.
Form No. I. gives the name, age, rank, and length of service of the Candidate (Lieut. R. H.)
Form No. II.:--
_a._ Oral Examination.
1. Mathematics, Very good. 2. Geography, Very good. 3. History, Very good, knowledge thorough, statements logical. 4. Arms and Munitions, Excellent; acquainted with the very details. 5. Field and Permanent Fortification, Both satisfactory. 6. Pioneer Service, Very good. 7. Drill and Exercise Rules-- Infantry, Very good. Cavalry, Not thorough. Artillery, Good. 8. Manœuvring, Excellent. 9. French, Translates without difficulty from French into German, and German into French. Not much practice in speaking. 10. National languages, Speaks good Bohemian.
_b._ Paper Work--
1. Mathematics, &c. &c.
_c._ Accomplishments--
Writing. Military Drawing.
REMARKS.--Lieutenant R. H. is a pupil of the Neustadt Academy, of much natural talent, and quick apprehension. His way of expressing himself is quick and logical, and shows a clear head. He has a fair military bearing, and prepossessing appearance. He gives every hope of proving a useful Officer of the Staff, and deserves admission into the War School.
Form No. III. gives the questions actually put, as in the note on the preceding page.
(Signed) . . . . . .]
MILITARY EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS IN 1869.
PRINCIPLES OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
The disastrous results to the integrity of the empire and the reputation of the army, of the military operations of Austria in 1858, against the combined forces of France and Sardinia, and of the still more humiliating defeat in the brief but momentous campaign of 1866 against Prussia, forced the military authorities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a thorough investigation of her military system and the education of the officers of her armies. It was not difficult to account for ultimate defeat in the larger armies and better prepared in all the resources by which large armies are equipped, fed, and moved. But military critics were not slow in discovering that better preparation should have been made, the field should have been taken earlier, and the forces combined and moved with great certainty and skill.
In a Report by the Minister of War on the necessity of reorganizing the educational system of the Imperial army, and in the plan for such reorganization the author, Baron Kahn, starts with a principle which the great Empress Maria Theresa announced when she laid in 1748 the foundation of the earliest war school in Austria (Wiener Neustadt), and which Frederick the Great avowedly imitated in his War Academy in Berlin in 1764,--“In this school shall be formed _men_ only, and of them, _soldiers_.” The choice of the profession of arms must be postponed till a good general education, reaching the moral as well as the intellectual and physical qualities of the future officer, has been imparted. The separation of the military pupils from their families at an early age must be avoided, and hence the number of cadet boarding schools for young aspirants are diminished. The intellectual preparation required, the sharpening and hardening the mental faculties, must not be gained by an exclusive mathematical course, in special schools, but in the general training of the public schools, the Real Schools or Gymnasia, of the country. A more practical knowledge of the common studies,--of geography and national history and the whole science of public economy and the martial resources of the empire, must be gained before the special military instruction begins. Admission to the higher military schools must be given only to aspirants of mature age, of high moral qualities, and of thorough intellectual activity--ascertained by careful examination and tested by at least one year’s service in connection with a regiment.
PLAN OF REORGANIZATION.
The military schools are divided into two classes, viz.:--
(1.) Those which give a boy a general education, but prepare him at the same time for the military profession.
(2.) Those which educate boys only in military matters.
In the first class may be included (_a_) all those lower class institutions in which military orphans and sons of poor non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers are educated; (_b_) the middle (cadet) schools which prepare students for the military academies; (_c_) the military academies, viz, _Wiener Neustadt_, and the engineer and artillery academies. As pure military schools, may be mentioned the schools for non-commissioned officers in the infantry, engineer, artillery, and pioneer corps; the cadet and division schools in the infantry; the higher artillery and engineer courses.
(_a._) The lower schools for the education of military orphans of a tender age have the same system as the common schools of the like class (_Normal_ or _Volks Schulen_), where the moral qualities are to be chiefly inculcated on Christian principles; it is therefore necessary that children should not be taken from family influences earlier than can be helped. It will therefore only be necessary to take into these schools such children as are orphans, or sons of penniless parents, or at all events those whose families can not be induced to educate them at home even by pecuniary assistance. One school would be enough for such boys, in which the moral education would be the first object, as the necessary education required to prepare the scholars for the higher schools and regimental cadet schools may be obtained by their attending the public schools.
(_b._) As regards the middle cadet schools, they should be abolished, as they do not agree at all with the above-mentioned principles. Boys are torn from home at much too tender an age, and are not brought up in the path of morality. Should a reform only of these schools be intended, this would be so expensive that the improvement gained would be dearly paid for.
As the army is not only to be composed of drilled soldiers, but also of generally well educated men, in order to improve their intellectual position and the spirit of the army, and to prevent the undue growth of drill and mere formalities, it is of great necessity that the military schools should be brought into harmonious concert with the civil schools. The deficiencies of the latter are less than those of the former, and it may be expected that they will soon be removed. In accordance with these considerations (and there are yet many more), it is much to be recommended that these two institutions should be abolished, not only as being right in principle, but also in agreement with the laws of national economy.
By the laying down of the system of education to be taught at the common middle schools, as a condition of being allowed to enter a military academy, in connection with the influences of the moral development of the family circle, up to the fifteenth year of a boy’s life, it is to be hoped that the general above-named principles will be attained; and when the poor officers are allowed the means to educate their boys aspiring for the military academies by granting them pecuniary allowances, it may be hoped that they will not only be contented, and will care for the moral education of their children, but that the State also will find in the system the best means of attaining its object.
As regards the higher schools, especially military ones, the following may be observed:--
There are two establishments at present:
(_a._) The Military Academy and Wiener Neustadt for general education.
(_b._) The Engineer Academy, as a special school for the engineers, and for the instruction of officers in general.
The latter of the two is not efficient enough, for not more than eight or ten persons at most are instructed as engineers in it, the rest being detailed for the infantry, cavalry, &c. As by the establishment and organization of division schools a sufficient supply of officers aspirant is provided, and as the officers detailed from the above-named academies to the line are not more efficient than the scholars of the division schools (especially when the extra cost of the academy education is considered), the Engineer Academy must be looked upon as much too expensive. I agree, therefore, with those who recommend its abolition. On the other hand, the Neustadt Academy, which offers to its students a more general, and therefore a better founded education, and where highly instructed officers can be educated in larger numbers, may be allowed to remain, both in consideration of its efficiency and in honor of its serene foundress, the great Empress Maria Theresa, but on condition of its being reorganized in accordance with the principles laid down by that noble lady in the following words:--“That in this school shall be formed _men_ only, and of them _soldiers_.”
The said academy must, however, seek to attain to a higher degree of perfection than of late. The classics must be more cultivated, as also national economy and a general civilized education. It should be organized for a course of six years, and it should receive students, sons of officers or military officials, who have successfully passed two or three Latin or technical schools.
The following subjects should be taught, besides the military and mathematical sciences:--
(1.) The Latin language, sufficient to understand the Roman classics.
(2.) All human sciences; particular attention should be paid to style, as it has been observed that since Latin has not been taught in the Wiener Neustadt Academy, there has been a great falling off in this respect. Rhetoric is to be taught in a practical manner, as the knowledge of how to speak is of importance in our constitutional era.
(3.) Philosophy, two years; in the first year, psychology; in the second year, logic to its full extent, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and the history of philosophy.
(4.) Statecraft, state and international law, and the fundamental law of the Austrian monarchy.
(5.) The rudiments of economy and national economy.
As special schools for the army the following should be retained:--
(_a._) A special engineer and artillery school.
(_b._) A special school for the pioneer corps, where the special knowledge necessary for that arm, as well as other military matters, are taught. The scholars should be between the ages of 16 and 19 years.
The students of the institutions intended for the education of the engineers and artillery will be enrolled in their respective corps quartered in Vienna. They will there have to pass a proper course of high mathematics, natural philosophy, and architecture at the Polytechnic; after they have succeeded in this, they will be either detailed for two years’ active duty with their corps, or they may be at once ordered to pass through a higher combined course for artillery and engineers. If this will suffice for the due supply of technically instructed officers, the artillery and engineer academies may be abolished.
As regards the present school for the General Staff, it may be recommended that a general college for the whole army should be formed from it, wherein not only the higher military sciences should be taught, but also statecraft and national economy. It would be right to examine a candidate before he entered the college in the rudiments of natural philosophy and chemistry.
The student may obtain the time necessary for the cultivation of these two sciences by reducing the time till now assigned to sketching and surveying; the more so, as the student will have already attained a great perfection in this branch of his education by former study of it in the public and preparatory schools.
SYSTEM AS REORGANIZED IN 1869.
(A.)--ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH.
1. _Military Orphan Asylum._
Military orphans and other deserving candidates for the army are supported in this establishment. They are educated at the public schools.
The number of pupils is 150. They pass thence into the other institutions, according to their talents and final destination.
2. _Military Technical Schools._
At present four in number. It is proposed to reduce them to two. The course is of three years. Number of pupils, 150 in each school. They are educated for the Technical Academy, and to provide good non-commissioned officers for the Artillery and Engineers. They enter at 14 and leave at 16 years of age, at the end of their third year’s course of study. Those enter the Technical Academy who have most distinguished themselves; the others are sent either for a two years’ course to the Division Schools, or else to the Artillery Officers’ Aspirant Schools.
3. _The Military College._
The course is for two years. This is chiefly intended as a preparatory school for the Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt.
4. _The Military Academies._
These institutions are intended to provide the army with officers properly qualified for the various branches of the army.
(1.) _The Wiener Neustadt Academy._--The course is of four years. Number of scholars 100 per annum, or a total of 400. The academy is intended for the education of candidates for the Infantry Regiments of the Line and Military Frontier, the Jagers, and the Cavalry.
(2.) _The Technical Academy_ (established in Vienna) for the education of the best pupils of the technical schools for the artillery, engineer, and pioneer services. The course is of four years; 65 scholars in each year, or 260 total. Each year’s course of study is divided into two sections, one for artillery pupils, one for engineer pupils.
It is proposed that these officers should be attached to their respective corps in Vienna during their course of study, and should attend lectures at the Polytechnic at Vienna. When this course is over, they are to be attached for two years’ service with their corps, or sent direct to go through the higher artillery or engineer course.
(B.)--SCHOOLS ATTACHED TO REGIMENTS OR DIVISIONS.
1. _Regimental, Troop, and Cadet Schools._
Besides the troop schools in each regiment or independent battalion, there is one of the cadet schools for the education of all those, from the rank of sergeant downwards, who aspire to the rank of cadet, or who desire to acquire the preparatory knowledge necessary to be admitted into the schools for officers aspirant.
The number of pupils depends on the number of individuals qualified. The course is of two years.
2. _Regimental Schools for Officers aspirant._
(_a._) For the _Artillery_--The course is of two years; 50 scholars annually.
(_b._) For the _Engineers_--A two years’ course for each. _Pioneers_--Number of pupils according to demand.
3. _Divisional Schools for Officers aspirant._
There is a school of this sort in each of the 23 infantry and cavalry divisions, and for the country gendarmerie.
The course is of two years. Number of pupils not fixed (at present nearly 1,200), in addition to which is the special instruction for their respective arms; when they have successfully passed an examination at the end of the course, they become officers aspirant.
(C.)--ESTABLISHMENTS FOR MORE ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION.
1. _The Higher Courses for the Artillery, and_ (2) _Engineers_.
These are intended for the formation of highly scientific officers for the more important duties and higher command of these arms, and for the army in general. The course is of two years. The number of officer students is not fixed, but must depend on the number of highly qualified candidates of the above arms. They must have served for two years with their corps with distinction.
3. _War School_ (Staff College).
This institution is intended for the formation of officers for the general staff. The course is of two years. The number of students is 80.
An officer must have served at least three years with his corps with distinction before he can be admitted, and officers who have served longer will, as a rule, be preferred.
(4.) _Course for Military Frontier Instruction._
This is an academy for those who are already serving in the army. The course is of two years, and the number of pupils is regulated by the demand. The studies are as follows:--
State organization and frontier administration. Civil and military law and legal procedure. Agriculture, law of commerce, and exchange. Revenue law and institutions. Croatian language.
5. _Central Cavalry School at Vienna._
The object of this establishment is to prepare distinguished regimental officers for the higher commands in cavalry, and to instruct them in the theory and practice of that arm, and the _haute école_ of riding.
There are 41 students of the rank of captain (1st and 2d class), or one from each cavalry regiment. The course is of one year. The studies are as follows:--
Theoretical and practical riding, training of unbroken horses, service and drill regulations of cavalry, veterinary art, leaping, fencing, pistol-shooting, rudiments of strategy and history of war, tactics, field service, occupation of ground, surveying, army organization, knowledge of arms, pioneer and engineer service, practical drill, and field service and reconnaissances.
6. _Josephinum Academy for Medicine and Surgery_,
For the formation of students for the higher grades of the medical and surgical departments, from the rank of first lieutenant-surgeon.
This establishment ranks with the upper school of surgery at Vienna. The number of students from the army is fixed at 242. When there is accommodation there are, besides this, paying students.
7. _Military Veterinary Institution_,
Consisting of two sections:--(1.) Veterinary. (2.) Farriery.
Students who have passed the necessary examinations are entitled to their diploma and rights in the same way as students of the civil veterinary school in Hungary.
The students of the veterinary section are field surgeons and farriers.
The students of the farriery section are non-commissioned officers and soldiers and civilians. The number of soldier students depends upon the requirements of the army.
8. _Course for the Intendance._
This establishment, _when organized_, is intended to qualify captains or first-lieutenants on the active establishment of infantry or cavalry, captain auditors, and properly qualified clerks, for the administration of the Intendance of the army now in progress of formation.
COURSES OF STUDY IN THE MILITARY SCHOOLS.
(I.) COURSE OF SCIENCES TO BE TAUGHT AND LECTURED ON AT THE REGIMENTAL CADET SCHOOLS.
_Subjects._ _Course of Lectures during--1st Year._ _2d Year._
German Language and Style, 1 1 The Regimental Dialect, 1 1 Caligraphy, 1 1 Military Style, 1 1 Arithmetic, 1 0 Algebra, 0 1 Practical Surveying, 1 1 Mapping and Tracing, 1 1 Geography, 1 1 History, 1 1 Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 1 1 Service Regulations, 1 1 Field Service, 1 1 Pioneer Service, 1 1 Construction of Arms, 1 1 Hand Drawing, 1 1 Fencing, 1 1 Gymnastics, &c., 1 1 Target Practice, 1 1
(II.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS ASPIRANT.
A.--_Ordinary Course._ _1st Year._ _2d Year._
Military Style, 1 1 Military Essays, 1 0 Geometry and Trigonometry, 1 1 Higher Trigonometry and Conic Sections, 0 1 Mechanics, Natural History, and Chemistry, 0 1 Geometrical Drawing, 1 1 Practical Surveying, 1 0 Military Mapping, 0 1 Sketching and Tracing, 1 1 Geography, 1 1 Mathematical Geography, 0 1 History, 1 1 Military Administration, 1 1 Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 1 1 Service Regulations, 1 0 Army Organization, 1 1 Tactics, 1 1 Field Fortifications 1 0 Permanent do., 0 1 Construction of Arms, 1 0 Hand Drawing, 1 0 Fencing, 1 1 Athletic Games, 1 1 Target Practice, 1 1 Riding, if possible, 0 1
B.--_Course for the Pioneer Regiment._
High Mathematics. Higher Trigonometry. Practical do. Analytical Geometry. Mathematical Geography. Natural History and Chemistry. Military Economy and Finance. Geography. History. Construction of Arms. Fortification. Architecture. Mechanics. Drill, } Service, }Regulations. Manœuvre, } Pioneer Service. Surveying. Tracing. Athletic Games. Fencing. Swimming. Tactics.
(III.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR THE WIENER NEUSTADT ACADEMY.
[KEY] [_Hours per Week_--] 1st _1st Year._ 2d _2d Year._
_Subjects._ _1st_ _2d_
Religious Instruction 1½ 1½ Latin, 7 7 Greek, 3 3 French, 4 4 German and Literature, 3 3 History and Geography, 5 5 Mathematics, 5 5 Natural History, 0 3 * Short-hand Writing, 3 0 * Caligraphy, 2 2 * Drawing, 2 2 * Athletic Games, 2 2 Dancing, 2 2 Swimming, 0 0 --- --- Total hours per week, 39½ 39½
[* Subjects marked thus * are voluntary for scholars of classical schools, but are compulsory at the military schools.]
(IV.) COURSE AT THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR THE TECHNICAL ACADEMY.
_Subjects._ _1st_ _2d_ _3d_
Religious Instruction, 2 1 1 German, 4 3 3 French, 4 3 3 History and Geography, 4 4 4 Mathematics, 7 5 5 Analytical Geometry and Drawing, 3 4 3 Natural History, 2 2 2 Natural Philosophy, 0 3 5 Practical Chemistry, 3 3 0 Hand and Mathematical Drawing, 2 4 4 Caligraphy, 1 0 0 Military Style and Finance, 2 2 2 Artillery and Pioneer practice, 4 4 3 Service Regulations, 1 1 1 Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 2 2 3 Management of Horses, 0 0 2 Athletic Games and Fencing, 3 3 3 -- -- -- Total hours per week, 44 44 44
(V.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY AT WIENER NEUSTADT.
*_Subjects_ _1st_ _2d_ _3d_ _4th_
Religious Instruction, 1½ 1½ 0 0 Latin, 4 4 0 0 Greek, 3 2 0 0 French, 4 4 3 3 German and Literature, 3 3 3 0 History and Geography, 4 0 0 0 Physical Geography, 4 0 0 0 Preparatory Philosophy, 1½ 0 0 0 Philosophy, 0 4 0 0 Higher Mathematics, 5 6 0 0 Astronomy, 0 0 4 0 Analytical Geometry, 0 0 4 0 Practical ditto and Surveying, 0 3 0 0 Nat. Philos. and Fundamental Laws of Chemistry, 4 0 0 0 Theoretical Mechanics, 0 0 4 0 Review of Law and Statesmanship, 0 0 2 0 Cons’l Law of Austria, and its Adm’ive Org’tion, 0 0 3 0 European State and International Law, 0 0 0 3 Austrian Military Law (Criminal), 0 0 0 2 Military Finance, 0 0 2 3 Construction of Arms, 0 0 2 3 Pioneer Service, 0 0 3 0 Fortification, 0 0 0 4 History of War, 0 0 0 2 Drill Regulations, 2 0 0 0 Service do, 0 1½ 1½ 0 Manœuvre do, 0 0 1½ 1½ Cavalry do, 0 0 0 1½ Tactics, 0 0 0 6 Surveying, Tracing, and Mapping, 4 4 4 0 Riding, 0 0 0 6 Fencing, 2 2 2 2 Athletic Games and Dancing, 4 4 0 0 each 2 hours, -- -- -- -- Total hours per week, 42 41 41 41
[* To these should be added the Bohemian and Hungarian language for the 3d and 4th years.]
(VI.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE TECHNICAL MILITARY ACADEMY AT VIENNA.
[KEY] Prep. Preparatory. Eng. Engineer. Art. Artillery. _Subjects._--(_Courses_--United Preparatory, Engineer, Artillery.)
Prep. Eng. Art. Number of hours per week--Years-- 1. 2. 3. 4. 3. 4. Zoölogy and Botany, 3 0 0 0 0 0 Mineralogy, 1 0 0 0 0 0 Geology, 0 0 2 0 0 0 French, 3 3 3 2 3 2 Higher Math. 1, 2, 3, Higher Geodesy 4th yr. 8 5 2 4 2 4 Analytical Geometry 4 0 0 0 0 0 Sketching, 4 0 0 0 0 0 Practical Geometry, 0 4 0 0 0 0 Chemistry of Minerals, 3 0 0 0 0 0 Chemical Manufacture, 0 0 0 0 0 4 General and Technical Natural Philosophy, 2 3 0 0 0 0 Mechanical Technics, 0 0 2 0 2 0 Technical and Analytical Mechanics, 0 5 2 0 2 0 Construction of Machinery and Drawing, 0 0 4 0 0 0 Description of Machinery, 0 0 0 0 2 2 Mountain Roads, 0 4 0 0 0 0 Planning and Sketching, 0 0 5 6 0 0 Road and Water Communication, &c., 0 0 5 0 0 0 General Architecture, 0 0 0 0 3 0 Machine Making, 0 0 0 0 3 5 Building, 0 0 0 0 4 4 Ornamental Drawing, 0 0 0 4 0 0 Review of the Law, 0 0 0 2 0 2 Military Criminal Law, 0 0 0 1 0 1 Construction of Arms (Engineer), 0 2 0 0 0 0 Do. of Batteries (Artillery), 3 6 0 0 0 0 Pioneer service, 0 1 0 0 0 0 Fortification, 0 0 4 6 3 3 Sappers’ and Miners’ Duties, 0 0 0 2 0 0 Military Finance, 0 0 2 2 3 3 Drill Regulations, 2 0 0 0 0 0 Service ditto, 1½ 1½ 0 0 0 0 Manœuvre ditto, 0 0 0 2 3 0 Cavalry ditto, 0 0 0 0 0 2 Tactics, 0 0 2 2 2 2 Surveying and Tracing, 0 6 3 0 3 0 Riding, 0 0 3 3 6 6 Fencing, 2 2 2 2 2 2 Dancing, 2 2 0 0 0 0 --- -- -- -- -- -- Total hours per week, 40½ 41 43 43 51 50
(VII.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR ARTILLERY.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._ _2d Year._ French, 1 1 Practical Mechanics, 1 0 Construction of Machinery, 1 0 Fortification and Field Armaments, 0 1 Science of Higher Artillery, 1 0 Military Geography and Statistics, 1 0 Higher Tactics and Strategy, 0 0 National Economy and Finance, 1 0 Organization of the Constitution, and Administration, 0 1 State and International Law, 0 1 German Literature, 1 0 Active Duties of the General Staff, 0 1
(VIII.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE ENGINEERS.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._ _2d Year._ English, 1 1 Chemistry and Practical Technics, 1 1 The Mechanism of Building, 1 0 Fortification, 1 1 Architecture, 1 1 Ornamental Architecture, 1 1 Military History, 0 1 Science of Artillery, 0 1 Strategy, 1 0 National Economy and Finance, 1 0 Organization of the Constitution, and Administration, 0 1 State and International Law, 0 1 German Literature, 1 0
(IX.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE WAR SCHOOL.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._ _2d Year._ German Literature, 1 1 French, 1 1 Administrative Duties of the Staff, 1 1 Active Duties of the General Staff, 0 1 Tracing and Surveying, 1 1 Military Geography, 1 0 Higher Tactics, 1 0 Strategy, 0 1 Engineer Service, 0 1 Artillery Service, 0 1 Rudiments of State and International Law, 0 1 Rudiments of Nati’l Economy and Administrative Law, 0 1 Riding, 1 1
AUSTRIAN STAFF.
By recent ordinance the Special Staff Corps has been abolished. All the officers are borne on the army rosters according to their ranks, in particular branches of the service. No one will be allowed to enter the Staff School until he has served three or four years with the troops, and then captains and first lieutenants will be preferred to men of less service or rank. Having passed through the school course they will again join their regiments; and will then be appointed to the staff, as may be required. The period during which they are to remain on the staff will depend on their merits, their promotion, and the exigencies of the service; but as a principle they would generally rejoin their troop on promotion. There can be no doubt in the minds of those who have practically studied the question, that the system is sound. A special Staff Corps is never large enough to supply the demands of an army in the field for long, especially if the war is long and very active. The duties of a staff officer with an army actively engaged in the field, are so numerous and arduous that an _enormous number_ are used up in the course of a campaign; and when you have only the Staff Corps to draw from, the supply of practical officers is not equal to the demand. The French experienced this in the Crimean War. By educating a number of young officers endowed by nature with the qualifications indispensable to form an _efficient_ staff officer _on active service_, and by throwing them back into their regiments, they leaven the mass, and form a fund of selected and instructed officers from which can be drawn as occasion may require.--_Col. Crealock to Military Ed. Com._
CAVALRY BRIGADE SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS.
The following memorandum gives an account of an order lately issued, regulating Officers’ Brigade Schools in the Austrian cavalry.
The object of the Cavalry Brigade schools will be to secure a supply of efficient riding masters throughout the service capable of giving general instruction.
The Central Cavalry School will continue to be a higher military and scientific establishment, with (in addition to the theoretical education of the pupils) a course of instruction which insures a uniform system of equitation and of breaking horses. A certain number of its best pupils may be transferred, after a year’s attendance, to the _Kriegs-Schule_, with a view to their preparation for the staff.
Cavalry Officers’ Brigade Schools educate officers of that arm, theoretically as well as practically, in all their duties. After the termination of the autumn manœuvres one will be formed in each brigade. The annual course lasts six months, and should begin on the 1st of October.
It is the duty of the Brigadier to superintend the school, but it is also that of commanding officers of regiments to inform themselves of the progress of their officers, and consequently to visit it often.
Before the 15th of August the Brigadier proposes to the Minister of War the station at which the school should be established, also the names of the instructors and pupils. It rests with him to make all arrangements for setting it in operation; and as his supervision must be continual, he should (whenever practicable) place it at the head-quarters of his brigade. Above all, a covered riding school must be fitted up; then a drill ground, a manège with artificial fences, and a school, and fencing-room. Whenever possible the men and horses must be in barracks.
The best qualified officer in the brigade, of the rank of lieutenant-colonel or major, is to be selected for Commandant, and each school is to have two captains as instructors. One of them must have gone through the Central Cavalry School, and must have been reported as specially qualified to give instruction; the second must be considered one of the best horsemen in the brigade.
At the disposal of these officers there is the following staff:--one veterinary surgeon for instruction in the anatomy, diseases, and shoeing of horses; one sergeant in charge of the men and horses; one sergeant for quartermaster’s duties and accounts; one farrier; three corporals; one trumpeter; twelve men per regiment of the brigade; and the riders of the horses attached to the school.
If there is an auditor (_Judge Advocate_) available, he attends regularly to explain the Articles of War and give lectures on military law. Should there be none, this duty devolves upon one of the captain instructors.
Six officers from the rank of first lieutenant downwards are sent yearly from each regiment. Each of them brings with him, besides his own horses, the one allowed him by Government. Every regiment sends six remount horses that have passed the first stage of breaking, and six that have just joined.
The principal subjects of theoretical instruction are--1st, Regulations of the army; 2d, Tactics, particularly as referring to the handling of cavalry; 3d, Field movements, and especially outpost duty, which are to be illustrated by examples from the history of war; the pupils will also draw and describe a tract of country, and give written reports upon field operations; 4th, description of the anatomy and diseases of horses, with their management and feeding both in the stable and the field; shoeing theoretical and practical, in all its details; 5th, thorough practice in the use of cavalry weapons, a general acquaintance with the arms of the artillery and infantry of the principal military nations, and an accurate knowledge of those employed in the Imperial army; 6th, a general knowledge of field fortification and of the works to be executed by the Pioneer Corps in combination with cavalry; 7th, the study of tracts of country, extending to the observation of roads, streams, coverts, and undulations; the correct reading and understanding of maps.
The practical branch of education at these schools has for its main object the maintenance throughout the army of the best fundamental system of equitation, and the adoption of any improvements in the cavalry service in general which may appear advisable. To this is added practice in getting over long distances through every description of country, and in judging when and where halts should be made with most advantage to single horsemen, or to detachments of troops. These marches are to be combined with patrolling, reconnaissances, and posting piquets, and are to be practiced once a week.
After every such march the pupils will send in a brief report and rough sketch, either next morning or within forty-eight hours, as may be ordered. They are to practice making this sketch on horseback as well as on foot. They must perfect themselves in gymnastics, and in fencing and singlestick, both on foot and horseback.
The regulations issued to the Minister of War as to distribution of hours and reports will be strictly followed, and no deviation will be permitted except under particular circumstances. Sundays and holidays are observed. No leave of absence, except in cases of urgent necessity, can be granted to either instructors or pupils during the course.
At the end of the season of instruction (_i.e._ at the end of March) the Cavalry Officers’ Brigade School will be broken up; and all persons attached to it, and their horses, will return to their regiments.
EXPENDITURES ON MILITARY EDUCATION.
The appropriation for Military Education in Austria for 1870, was as follows:--
For non-commissioned officers and men, 504,000 florins (40,320_l_).
For officers, 978,000 florins (78,284_l_).
[Errata for Part III (Austria): [Footnote 23] Soldiers are, however, occasionally allowed to marry, Soldiers, are, 6. Geometry and Rectilinear Trigonometry, 5. [Footnote 58] _a._ Oral Examination. _missing . after “a”_ (4.) _Course for Military Frontier Instruction._ _anomalous parentheses in original_ [(VI.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE TECHNICAL MILITARY ACADEMY] Higher Geodesy 4th yr. Geodosy ]
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