(P. A. A.)
Army.—The system of the “nation in arms” owes its existence to the reforms in the Prussian army that followed Jena. The “nation in arms” itself was the product of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, but it was in Prussia that was seen the systematization and the economical and effective application of the immense forces of which the revolutionary period had demonstrated the existence (see alsoArmy;Conscription;French Revolutionary Wars, &c.). It was with an army and a military system that fully represented the idea of the “nation in arms” that Prussia created the powerful Germany of later days, and the same system was extended by degrees over all the other states of the new empire. But these very successes contained in themselves the germ of new troubles. Increased prosperity, a still greater increase in population and the social and economic disturbances incidental to the conversion of an agricultural into a manufacturing community, led to the practical abandonment of the principle ofuniversalservice. More men came before the recruiting officer than there was money to train; and in 1895 the period of service with the colours was reduced from three to two years—a step since followed by other military powers, the idea being that with the same peace effective and financial grants half as many men again could be passed through the ranks as before.
In 1907 the recruiting statistics were as follows:
Number of young men attaining service age (including those who had voluntarily enlisted before their time)
Men belonging to previous years who had been put back for re-examination, &., still borne on the lists
Deduct—Physically unfit, &c.
Struck off
Voluntarily enlisted in the army and navy, on or before attaining service age
Assigned as recruits to the navy
Put back, &c.
Available as army recruits, fit
Of these, (a) Assigned to the active army for two or three years’ service with the colours
(b) Assigned to the Ersatz-Reserve of the army and navy
(c) Assigned to the 1st levy of Landsturm
Thus only half the men on whom the government has an effective hold go to the colours in the end. Moreover few of the men “put back, &c.,” who figure on both sides of the account for any one year, and seem to average 660,000, are really “put back.” They are in the main those who have failed or fail to present themselves, and whose names are retained on the liability lists against the day of their return. Many of these have emigrated.
By the constitution of the 16th of April 1871 every German is liable to service and no substitution is allowed. Liability begins at the age of seventeen, and actual service, as a rule, from the age of twenty. The men serve in the active army and army reserve for seven years, of which two years (three in the case of cavalry and horse artillery recruits) are spent with the colours. During his four or five years in the reserve, the soldier is called out for training with his corps twice, for a maximum of eight weeks (in practice usually for six). After quitting the reserve the soldier is drafted into the first ban of theLandwehrfor five years more, in which (except in the cavalry, which is not called out in peace time) he undergoes two trainings of from eight to fourteen days. Thence he passes into the second ban and remains in it until he has completed his thirty-ninth year—i.e.from six to seven years more, the whole period of army and Landwehr service being thus nineteen years. Finally, all soldiers are passed into theLandsturm, in the first ban of which they remain until the completion of their forty-fifth year. The second ban consists of untrained men between the ages of thirty-nine and forty-five. Young men who reach a certain standard of education, however, are only obliged to serve for one year in the active army. They are called One-Year Volunteers (Einjährig-Freiwilligen), defray their own expenses and are the chief source of supply of reserve and Landwehr officers. That proportion of the annual contingents which is dismissed untrained goes either to the Ersatz-Reserve or to the 1st ban of the Landsturm (the Landwehr, it will be observed, contains only men who have served with the colours). The Ersatz consists exclusively of young men, who would in war time be drafted to the regimental depots and thence sent, with what training circumstances had in the meantime allowed, to the front. Some men of the Ersatz receive a short preliminary training in peace time.
In 1907 the average height of the private soldiers was 5 ft. 6 in., that of the non-commissioned officers 5 ft. 6½ in., and that of the one-year volunteers 5 ft. 9½ in. A much greater proportion of the country recruits were accepted as “fit” than of those coming from the towns. Voluntary enlistments of men who desired to become non-commissioned officers were most frequent in the provinces of the old Prussian monarchy, but in Berlin itself and in Westphalia the enlistments fell far short of the number of non-commissioned officers required for the territorial regiments of the respective districts. Above all, in Alsace-Lorraine one-eighth only of the required numbers were obtained.
Peace and War Strengths.—German military policy is revised every five years; thus a law of April 1905 fixes the strength and establishments to be attained on March 31, 1910, the necessary augmentations, &c., being carried out gradually in the intervening years. The peace strength for the latter date was fixed at 505,839 men (not including officers, non-commissioned officers and one-year volunteers), forming—633battalions infantry.510squadrons cavalry.574batteries field and horse artillery.40battalions foot artillery.29battalions pioneers.12battalions communication troops.23train battalions, &c.The addition of about 25,000 officers and 85,000 non-commissioned officers, one-year men, &c., brings the peace footing of the German army in 1910 to a total of about 615,000 of all ranks.As for war, the total fighting strength of the German nation (including the navy) has been placed at as high a figure as 11,000,000. Of these 7,000,000 have received little or no training, owing to medical unfitness, residence abroad, failure to appear, surplus of annual contingents, &c., as already explained, and not more than 3,000,000 of these would be available in war. The real military resources of Germany, untrained and trained, are thus about 7,000,000, of whom 4,000,000 have at one time or another done a continuous period of service with the colours.6This is of course for a war of defenceà outrance. For an offensive war, only the active army, the reserve, the Ersatz and the 1st levy of the Landwehr would be really available.A rough calculation of the number of these who go to form or to reinforce the field armies and the mobilized garrisons may be given:Cadres of officers and non-commissioned officers100,000From 7 annual contingents of recruits (i.e.active army and reserve)1,200,000From 5 contingents of Landwehr (1st ban)600,000From 7 classes of Ersatz reserve called to the depots, able-bodied men400,000One-year volunteers recalled to the colours or serving as reserve and Landwehr officers100,000————2,400,000These again would divide into a first line army of 1,350,000 and a second of 1,050,000. It is calculated that the field army would consist, in the third week of a great war, of 633 battalions, 410 squadrons and 574 batteries, with technical, departmental and medical troops (say 630,000 bayonets, 60,000 sabres and 3444 guns, or 750,000 men), and that these could be reinforced in three or four weeks by 350 fresh battalions. Behind these forces there would shortly become available for secondary operations about 460 battalions of the 1st ban Landwehr, and 200 squadrons and about 220 batteries of the reserve and Landwehr. In addition, each would leave behind depot troops to form the nucleus on which the 2nd ban Landwehr and the Landsturm would eventually be built up. The total number of units of the three arms in all branches may be stated approximately at 2200 battalions, 780 squadrons and 950 batteries.Command and Organization.—By the articles of the constitution the whole of the land forces of the empire form a united army in war and peace under the orders of the emperor. The sovereigns of the chief states are entitled to nominate the lower grades of officers, and the king of Bavaria has reserved to himself the special privilege of superintending the general administration of the three Bavarian army corps; but all appointments are made subject to the emperor’s approval. The emperor is empowered to erect fortresses in any part of the empire. It is the almost invariable practice of the kings of Prussia to command their forces in person, and the army commands, too, are generally held by leaders of royal or princely rank. The natural corollary to this is the assignment of special advisory duties to a responsible chief of staff. The officers are recruited either from the Cadet Corps at Berlin or from amongst those men, of sufficient social standing, who join the ranks as “avantageurs” with a view to obtaining commissions. Reserve and Landwehr officers are drawn from among officers and selected non-commissioned officers retired from the active army, and one-year volunteers who have passed a special examination. All candidates, from whatever source they come, are subject to approval or rejection by their brother officers before being definitively commissioned. Promotion in the German army is excessively slow, the senior subalterns having eighteen to twenty years’ commissioned service and the senior captains sometimes thirty. The number of officers on the active list is about 25,000. The under-officers number about 84,000.The German army is organized in twenty-three army corps, stationed and recruited in the various provinces and states as follows: Guard, Berlin (general recruiting); I. Königsberg (East Prussia); II. Stettin (Pomerania); III. Berlin (Brandenburg); IV. Magdeburg (Prussian Saxony); V. Posen (Poland and part of Silesia); VI. Breslau (Silesia); VII. Münster (Westphalia); VIII. Coblenz (Rhineland); IX. Altona (Hanse Towns and Schleswig-Holstein); X. Hanover (Hanover); XI. Cassel (Hesse-Cassel); XII. Dresden (Saxony); XIII. Stuttgart (Württemberg); XIV. Karlsruhe (Baden); XV. Strassburg (Alsace); XVI. Metz (Lorraine); XVII. Danzig (West Prussia); XVIII. Frankfurt-am-Main (Hesse Darmstadt, Main country); XIX. Leipzig (Saxony); I. Bavarian Corps, Munich; II. Bavarian Corps, Würzburg; III. Bavarian Corps, Nuremberg. The formation of a XX. army corps out of the extra division of the XIV. corps at Colmar in Alsace, with the addition of two regiments from Westphalia and drafts of the XV. and XVI. corps, was announced in 1908 as the final step of the programme for the period 1906-1910. The normal composition of an army corps on war is (a) staff, (b) 2 infantry divisions, each of 2 brigades (4 regiments or 12 battalions), 2 regiments of field artillery (comprising 9 batteries of field-guns and 3 of field howitzers, 72 pieces in all), 3 squadrons of cavalry, 1 or 2 companies of pioneers, a bridge train and 1 or 2 bearer companies; (c) corps troops, 1 battalion rifles, telegraph troops, bridge train, ammunition columns, train (supply) battalion, field bakeries, bearer companies and field hospitals, &c., with, as a rule, one or two batteries of heavy field howitzers or mortars and a machine-gun group. The remainder of the cavalry and horse artillery attached to the army corps in peace goes in war to form the cavalry divisions. Certain corps have an increased effective; thus the Guard has a whole cavalry division, and the I. corps (Königsberg) has three divisions. Several corps possess an extra infantry brigade of two 2-battalion regiments, but these, unless stationed on the frontiers, are gradually absorbed into new divisions and army corps. In war several army corps, cavalry divisions and reserve divisions are grouped in two or more “armies,” and in peace the army corps are divided for purposes of superior control amongst several “army inspections.”The cavalry is organized in regiments of cuirassiers, dragoons, lancers, hussars and mounted rifles,7the regiments having four service and one depot squadrons. Troopers are armed with lance, sword and carbine (for which in 1908 the substitution of a short rifle with bayonet was suggested). In peace time the highest permanent organization is the brigade of two regiments or eight squadrons, but in war and at manœuvres divisions of three brigades, with horse artillery attached, are formed.The infantry consists of 216 regiments, mostly of three battalions each. These are numbered, apart from the eight Guard regiments and the Bavarians, serially throughout the army. Certain regiments are styled grenadiers and fusiliers. In addition there are eighteen chasseur or rifle battalions (Jäger). The battalion has always four companies, each, at war strength, 250 strong. The armament of the infantry is the model 1898 magazine rifle and bayonet (seeRifle).The field (including horse) artillery consists in peace of 94 regiments subdivided into two or three groups (Abteilungen), each of two or three 6-gun batteries. The field gun in use is the quick-firing gun 96/N.A. (seeOrdnance:Field Equipments).The foot artillery is intended for siege and fortress warfare, and to furnish the heavy artillery of the field army. It consists of forty battalions. Machine gun detachments, resembling 4-gun batteries and horsed as artillery, were formed to the number of sixteen in 1904-1906. These are intended to work with the cavalry divisions. Afterwards it was decided to form additional small groups of two guns each, less fully horsed, to assist the infantry, and a certain number of these were created in 1906-1908.The engineers are a technical body, not concerned with field warfare or with the command of troops. On the other hand, the pioneers (29 battalions) are assigned to the field army, with duties corresponding roughly to those of field companies R.E. in the British service. Other branches represented in Great Britain by the Royal Engineers are known in Germany by the title “communication troops,” and comprise railway, telegraph and airship and balloon battalions. The Train is charged with the duties of supply and transport. There is one battalion to each army corps.Remounts.—The peace establishment in horses is approximately 100,000. Horses serve eight to nine years in the artillery and nine to ten in the cavalry, after which, in the autumn of each year, they are sold, and their places taken by remounts. The latter are bought at horse-fairs and private sales, unbroken, and sent to the 25 remount depots, whence, when fit for the service, they are sent to the various units, as a rule in the early summer. Most of the cavalry and artillery riding horses come from Prussia proper. The Polish districts produce swift Hussar horses of a semi-eastern type. Hanover is second only to East Prussia in output of horses. Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg do not produce enough horses for their own armies and have to draw on Prussia. Thirteen thousand four hundred and forty-five young horses were bought by the army authorities during 1907. The average price was about £51 for field artillery draught horses, £65 for heavy draught horses, and £46 for riding horses.The military expenditure of Germany, according to a comparative table furnished to the House of Commons by the British war office in 1907, varied between £36,000,000 and £44,000,000 per annum in the period 1899-1902, and between £42,000,000 and £51,000,000 per annum in that of 1905-1909.Colonial Troops.—In 1906 these, irrespective of the brigade of occupation then maintained in north China and of special reinforcements sent to S.W. Africa during the Herrero war, consisted of theGerman East Africatroops, 220 Europeans and 1470 natives; theCameroontroops, 145 European and 1170 natives;S.W. African troops, entirely European and normally consisting of 606 officersand men active and a reserve of ex-soldier settlers; the Kiao-Chau garrison (chiefly marines), numbering 2687 officers and men; and various small police forces in Togo, New Guinea, Samoa, &c.Fortresses.—The fixed defences maintained by the German empire (apart from naval ports and coast defences) belong to two distinct epochs in the military policy of the state. In the first period (roughly 1871-1899), which is characterized by the development of the offensive spirit, the fortresses, except on the French and Russian frontiers, were reduced to a minimum. In the interior only Spandau, Cüstrin, Magdeburg, Ingolstadt and Ulm were maintained as defensive supporting points, and similarly on the Rhine, which was formerly studded with fortresses from Basel to Emmerich, the defences were limited to New Breisach, Germersheim, Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne and Wesel, all of a “barrier” character and not organized specially as centres of activity for field armies. The French frontier, and to a less extent the Russian, were organized offensively. Metz, already surrounded by the French with a girdle of forts, was extended and completed (seeFortification and Siegecraft) as a great entrenched camp, and Strassburg, which in 1870 possessed no outlying works, was similarly expanded, though the latter was regarded an instrument of defence more than of attack. On the Russian frontier Königsberg, Danzig, Thorn, Posen, Glogau (and on a smaller scale Boyen in East Prussia and Graudenz on the Vistula) were modernized and improved.From 1899, however, Germany began to pay more attention to her fixed defences, and in the next years a long line of fortifications came into existence on the French frontier, the positions and strength of which were regulated with special regard to a new strategic disposition of the field armies and to the number and sites of the “strategic railway stations” which were constructed about the same time. Thus, the creation of a new series of forts extending from Thionville (Diedenhofen) to Metz and thence south-eastward was coupled with the construction of twelve strategic railway stations between Cologne and the Belgian frontier, and later—the so-called “fundamental plan” of operations against France having apparently undergone modification in consequence of changes in the foreign relations of the German government—an immense strategic railway station was undertaken at Saarburg, on the right rear of Thionville and well away from the French frontier, and many important new works both of fortification and of railway construction were begun in Upper Alsace, between Colmar and Basel.The coast defences include, besides the great naval ports of Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea and Kiel on the Baltic, Danzig, Pillau, Memel, Friedrichsort, Cuxhaven, Geestemünde and Swinemünde.
Peace and War Strengths.—German military policy is revised every five years; thus a law of April 1905 fixes the strength and establishments to be attained on March 31, 1910, the necessary augmentations, &c., being carried out gradually in the intervening years. The peace strength for the latter date was fixed at 505,839 men (not including officers, non-commissioned officers and one-year volunteers), forming—
The addition of about 25,000 officers and 85,000 non-commissioned officers, one-year men, &c., brings the peace footing of the German army in 1910 to a total of about 615,000 of all ranks.
As for war, the total fighting strength of the German nation (including the navy) has been placed at as high a figure as 11,000,000. Of these 7,000,000 have received little or no training, owing to medical unfitness, residence abroad, failure to appear, surplus of annual contingents, &c., as already explained, and not more than 3,000,000 of these would be available in war. The real military resources of Germany, untrained and trained, are thus about 7,000,000, of whom 4,000,000 have at one time or another done a continuous period of service with the colours.6This is of course for a war of defenceà outrance. For an offensive war, only the active army, the reserve, the Ersatz and the 1st levy of the Landwehr would be really available.
A rough calculation of the number of these who go to form or to reinforce the field armies and the mobilized garrisons may be given:
Cadres of officers and non-commissioned officers
From 7 annual contingents of recruits (i.e.active army and reserve)
From 5 contingents of Landwehr (1st ban)
From 7 classes of Ersatz reserve called to the depots, able-bodied men
One-year volunteers recalled to the colours or serving as reserve and Landwehr officers
These again would divide into a first line army of 1,350,000 and a second of 1,050,000. It is calculated that the field army would consist, in the third week of a great war, of 633 battalions, 410 squadrons and 574 batteries, with technical, departmental and medical troops (say 630,000 bayonets, 60,000 sabres and 3444 guns, or 750,000 men), and that these could be reinforced in three or four weeks by 350 fresh battalions. Behind these forces there would shortly become available for secondary operations about 460 battalions of the 1st ban Landwehr, and 200 squadrons and about 220 batteries of the reserve and Landwehr. In addition, each would leave behind depot troops to form the nucleus on which the 2nd ban Landwehr and the Landsturm would eventually be built up. The total number of units of the three arms in all branches may be stated approximately at 2200 battalions, 780 squadrons and 950 batteries.
Command and Organization.—By the articles of the constitution the whole of the land forces of the empire form a united army in war and peace under the orders of the emperor. The sovereigns of the chief states are entitled to nominate the lower grades of officers, and the king of Bavaria has reserved to himself the special privilege of superintending the general administration of the three Bavarian army corps; but all appointments are made subject to the emperor’s approval. The emperor is empowered to erect fortresses in any part of the empire. It is the almost invariable practice of the kings of Prussia to command their forces in person, and the army commands, too, are generally held by leaders of royal or princely rank. The natural corollary to this is the assignment of special advisory duties to a responsible chief of staff. The officers are recruited either from the Cadet Corps at Berlin or from amongst those men, of sufficient social standing, who join the ranks as “avantageurs” with a view to obtaining commissions. Reserve and Landwehr officers are drawn from among officers and selected non-commissioned officers retired from the active army, and one-year volunteers who have passed a special examination. All candidates, from whatever source they come, are subject to approval or rejection by their brother officers before being definitively commissioned. Promotion in the German army is excessively slow, the senior subalterns having eighteen to twenty years’ commissioned service and the senior captains sometimes thirty. The number of officers on the active list is about 25,000. The under-officers number about 84,000.
The German army is organized in twenty-three army corps, stationed and recruited in the various provinces and states as follows: Guard, Berlin (general recruiting); I. Königsberg (East Prussia); II. Stettin (Pomerania); III. Berlin (Brandenburg); IV. Magdeburg (Prussian Saxony); V. Posen (Poland and part of Silesia); VI. Breslau (Silesia); VII. Münster (Westphalia); VIII. Coblenz (Rhineland); IX. Altona (Hanse Towns and Schleswig-Holstein); X. Hanover (Hanover); XI. Cassel (Hesse-Cassel); XII. Dresden (Saxony); XIII. Stuttgart (Württemberg); XIV. Karlsruhe (Baden); XV. Strassburg (Alsace); XVI. Metz (Lorraine); XVII. Danzig (West Prussia); XVIII. Frankfurt-am-Main (Hesse Darmstadt, Main country); XIX. Leipzig (Saxony); I. Bavarian Corps, Munich; II. Bavarian Corps, Würzburg; III. Bavarian Corps, Nuremberg. The formation of a XX. army corps out of the extra division of the XIV. corps at Colmar in Alsace, with the addition of two regiments from Westphalia and drafts of the XV. and XVI. corps, was announced in 1908 as the final step of the programme for the period 1906-1910. The normal composition of an army corps on war is (a) staff, (b) 2 infantry divisions, each of 2 brigades (4 regiments or 12 battalions), 2 regiments of field artillery (comprising 9 batteries of field-guns and 3 of field howitzers, 72 pieces in all), 3 squadrons of cavalry, 1 or 2 companies of pioneers, a bridge train and 1 or 2 bearer companies; (c) corps troops, 1 battalion rifles, telegraph troops, bridge train, ammunition columns, train (supply) battalion, field bakeries, bearer companies and field hospitals, &c., with, as a rule, one or two batteries of heavy field howitzers or mortars and a machine-gun group. The remainder of the cavalry and horse artillery attached to the army corps in peace goes in war to form the cavalry divisions. Certain corps have an increased effective; thus the Guard has a whole cavalry division, and the I. corps (Königsberg) has three divisions. Several corps possess an extra infantry brigade of two 2-battalion regiments, but these, unless stationed on the frontiers, are gradually absorbed into new divisions and army corps. In war several army corps, cavalry divisions and reserve divisions are grouped in two or more “armies,” and in peace the army corps are divided for purposes of superior control amongst several “army inspections.”
The cavalry is organized in regiments of cuirassiers, dragoons, lancers, hussars and mounted rifles,7the regiments having four service and one depot squadrons. Troopers are armed with lance, sword and carbine (for which in 1908 the substitution of a short rifle with bayonet was suggested). In peace time the highest permanent organization is the brigade of two regiments or eight squadrons, but in war and at manœuvres divisions of three brigades, with horse artillery attached, are formed.
The infantry consists of 216 regiments, mostly of three battalions each. These are numbered, apart from the eight Guard regiments and the Bavarians, serially throughout the army. Certain regiments are styled grenadiers and fusiliers. In addition there are eighteen chasseur or rifle battalions (Jäger). The battalion has always four companies, each, at war strength, 250 strong. The armament of the infantry is the model 1898 magazine rifle and bayonet (seeRifle).
The field (including horse) artillery consists in peace of 94 regiments subdivided into two or three groups (Abteilungen), each of two or three 6-gun batteries. The field gun in use is the quick-firing gun 96/N.A. (seeOrdnance:Field Equipments).
The foot artillery is intended for siege and fortress warfare, and to furnish the heavy artillery of the field army. It consists of forty battalions. Machine gun detachments, resembling 4-gun batteries and horsed as artillery, were formed to the number of sixteen in 1904-1906. These are intended to work with the cavalry divisions. Afterwards it was decided to form additional small groups of two guns each, less fully horsed, to assist the infantry, and a certain number of these were created in 1906-1908.
The engineers are a technical body, not concerned with field warfare or with the command of troops. On the other hand, the pioneers (29 battalions) are assigned to the field army, with duties corresponding roughly to those of field companies R.E. in the British service. Other branches represented in Great Britain by the Royal Engineers are known in Germany by the title “communication troops,” and comprise railway, telegraph and airship and balloon battalions. The Train is charged with the duties of supply and transport. There is one battalion to each army corps.
Remounts.—The peace establishment in horses is approximately 100,000. Horses serve eight to nine years in the artillery and nine to ten in the cavalry, after which, in the autumn of each year, they are sold, and their places taken by remounts. The latter are bought at horse-fairs and private sales, unbroken, and sent to the 25 remount depots, whence, when fit for the service, they are sent to the various units, as a rule in the early summer. Most of the cavalry and artillery riding horses come from Prussia proper. The Polish districts produce swift Hussar horses of a semi-eastern type. Hanover is second only to East Prussia in output of horses. Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg do not produce enough horses for their own armies and have to draw on Prussia. Thirteen thousand four hundred and forty-five young horses were bought by the army authorities during 1907. The average price was about £51 for field artillery draught horses, £65 for heavy draught horses, and £46 for riding horses.
The military expenditure of Germany, according to a comparative table furnished to the House of Commons by the British war office in 1907, varied between £36,000,000 and £44,000,000 per annum in the period 1899-1902, and between £42,000,000 and £51,000,000 per annum in that of 1905-1909.
Colonial Troops.—In 1906 these, irrespective of the brigade of occupation then maintained in north China and of special reinforcements sent to S.W. Africa during the Herrero war, consisted of theGerman East Africatroops, 220 Europeans and 1470 natives; theCameroontroops, 145 European and 1170 natives;S.W. African troops, entirely European and normally consisting of 606 officersand men active and a reserve of ex-soldier settlers; the Kiao-Chau garrison (chiefly marines), numbering 2687 officers and men; and various small police forces in Togo, New Guinea, Samoa, &c.
Fortresses.—The fixed defences maintained by the German empire (apart from naval ports and coast defences) belong to two distinct epochs in the military policy of the state. In the first period (roughly 1871-1899), which is characterized by the development of the offensive spirit, the fortresses, except on the French and Russian frontiers, were reduced to a minimum. In the interior only Spandau, Cüstrin, Magdeburg, Ingolstadt and Ulm were maintained as defensive supporting points, and similarly on the Rhine, which was formerly studded with fortresses from Basel to Emmerich, the defences were limited to New Breisach, Germersheim, Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne and Wesel, all of a “barrier” character and not organized specially as centres of activity for field armies. The French frontier, and to a less extent the Russian, were organized offensively. Metz, already surrounded by the French with a girdle of forts, was extended and completed (seeFortification and Siegecraft) as a great entrenched camp, and Strassburg, which in 1870 possessed no outlying works, was similarly expanded, though the latter was regarded an instrument of defence more than of attack. On the Russian frontier Königsberg, Danzig, Thorn, Posen, Glogau (and on a smaller scale Boyen in East Prussia and Graudenz on the Vistula) were modernized and improved.
From 1899, however, Germany began to pay more attention to her fixed defences, and in the next years a long line of fortifications came into existence on the French frontier, the positions and strength of which were regulated with special regard to a new strategic disposition of the field armies and to the number and sites of the “strategic railway stations” which were constructed about the same time. Thus, the creation of a new series of forts extending from Thionville (Diedenhofen) to Metz and thence south-eastward was coupled with the construction of twelve strategic railway stations between Cologne and the Belgian frontier, and later—the so-called “fundamental plan” of operations against France having apparently undergone modification in consequence of changes in the foreign relations of the German government—an immense strategic railway station was undertaken at Saarburg, on the right rear of Thionville and well away from the French frontier, and many important new works both of fortification and of railway construction were begun in Upper Alsace, between Colmar and Basel.
The coast defences include, besides the great naval ports of Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea and Kiel on the Baltic, Danzig, Pillau, Memel, Friedrichsort, Cuxhaven, Geestemünde and Swinemünde.
(C. F. A.)
Navy.—The German navy is of recent origin. In 1848 the German people urged the construction of a fleet. Money was collected, and a few men-of-war were fitted out; but these were subsequently sold, the GermanBundestag(federal council) not being in sympathy with the aspirations of the nation. Prussia however, began laying the foundations of a small navy. To meet the difficulty arising from the want of good harbours in the Baltic, a small extent of territory near Jade Bay was bought from Oldenburg in 1854, for the purpose of establishing a war-port there. Its construction was completed at enormous expense, and it was opened for ships by the emperor in June 1869 under the name of Wilhelmshaven. In 1864 Prussia, in annexing Holstein, obtained possession of the excellent port of Kiel, which has since been strongly fortified. From the time of the formation of the North German Confederation the navy has belonged to the common federal interest. Since 1st October 1867 all its ships have carried the same flag, of the national colours—black, white, red, with the Prussian eagle and the iron cross.
From 1848 to 1868 the increase of the navy was slow. In 1851 it consisted of 51 vessels, including 36 small gunboats of 2 guns each. In 1868 it consisted of 45 steamers (including 2 ironclads) and 44 sailing vessels, but during the various wars of the period 1848-1871, only a few minor actions were fought at sea, and for many years after the French War the development of the navy did not keep pace with that of the empire’s commercial interests beyond the seas, or compete seriously with the naval power of possible rivals. But towards the end of the 19th century Germany started on a new naval policy, by which her fleet was largely and rapidly increased. Details of this development will be found in the articleNavy(see alsoHistorybelow,ad fin.). It will be sufficient here to give the statistics relating to the beginning of the year 1909, reference being made only to ships effective at that date and to ships authorized in the construction programme of 1907:
Administration.—In 1889 the administration was transferred from the ministry of war to the imperial admiralty (Reichsmarineamt), at the head of which is the naval secretary of state. The chief command was at the same time separated from the administration and vested in a naval officer, who controls the movements of the fleet, its personnel and training, while the maintenance of the arsenals and dockyards, victualling and clothing and all matters immediately affecting thematériel, fall within the province of the secretary of state. The navy is divided between the Baltic (Kiel) and North Sea (Wilhelmshaven) stations, which are strategically linked by the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal (opened in 1895), across the Schleswig-Holstein peninsula. Danzig, Cuxhaven and Sonderburg have also been made naval bases.Personnel.—The German navy is manned by the obligatory service of the essentially maritime population—such as sailors, fishermen and others, as well as by volunteers, who elect for naval service in preference to that in the army. It is estimated that the total seafaring population of Germany amounts to 80,000. The active naval personnel was, in 1906, 2631 officers (including engineers, marines, medical, &c.) and 51,138 under-officers and men, total 53,769. In addition, there is a reserve of more than 100,000 officers and men.
Administration.—In 1889 the administration was transferred from the ministry of war to the imperial admiralty (Reichsmarineamt), at the head of which is the naval secretary of state. The chief command was at the same time separated from the administration and vested in a naval officer, who controls the movements of the fleet, its personnel and training, while the maintenance of the arsenals and dockyards, victualling and clothing and all matters immediately affecting thematériel, fall within the province of the secretary of state. The navy is divided between the Baltic (Kiel) and North Sea (Wilhelmshaven) stations, which are strategically linked by the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal (opened in 1895), across the Schleswig-Holstein peninsula. Danzig, Cuxhaven and Sonderburg have also been made naval bases.
Personnel.—The German navy is manned by the obligatory service of the essentially maritime population—such as sailors, fishermen and others, as well as by volunteers, who elect for naval service in preference to that in the army. It is estimated that the total seafaring population of Germany amounts to 80,000. The active naval personnel was, in 1906, 2631 officers (including engineers, marines, medical, &c.) and 51,138 under-officers and men, total 53,769. In addition, there is a reserve of more than 100,000 officers and men.
(P. A. A.)
Finance.—The imperial budget is voted every year by the Reichstag. The “extraordinary funds,” from which considerable sums appear annually in the budget, were created after the Franco-German War. Part of the indemnity was invested for definite purposes. The largest of these investments served for paying the pensions of the invalided, and amounted originally to £28,000,000. Every year, not only the interest, but part of the capital is expended in paying these pensions, and the capital sum was thus reduced in 1903 to £15,100,000, and in 1904 to £13,200,000. Another fund, of about £5,200,000, serves for the construction and armament of fortresses; while £6,000,000, known as theReichskriegsschatz—or “war treasure fund”—is not laid out at interest, but is stored in coined gold and bullion in the Juliusturm at Spandau. In addition to these, the railways in Alsace-Lorraine, which France bought of the Eastern Railway Company for £13,000,000, in order to transfer them to the control of Germany, are also the property of the empire.
During the years 1908 and 1909 considerable public discussion and political activity were devoted to the reorganization of German imperial finance, and it is only possible here to deal historically with the position up to that time, since further developments of an important nature were already foreshadowed.
In 1871 the system accepted was that the imperial budget should be financed substantially by its reliance on the revenue from what were the obvious imperial resources—customs and excise duties, stamp duties, post and telegraph receipts, and among minor sources the receipts from the Alsace-Lorraine railways. But it was also provided that, for the purpose of deficits, the states should, in addition, if required by the imperial minister of finance, contribute their quotas according to population—Matrikular Beiträge. It was not expected that these would become chronic, but in a few years, and emphatically by the early ’eighties, they were found to be an essential part of the financial system, owing to regular deficits. It had been intended that, in return for theMatrikular Beiträge, regular assignments (Überweisungen) should be returned to the states, in relief of their own taxation, which would practically wipe out the contribution; but instead of these theÜberweisungenwere considerably less. Certain reorganizations were made in 1887 and 1902, but the excess of theMatrikular Beiträgeover theÜberweisungencontinued; the figures in 1905 and 1908 being as follows (in millions of marks):—
These figures show how natural it was to desire to relieve the states by increasing the direct imperial revenue.
Meanwhile, in spite of the “matricular contributions,” the calls on imperial finance had steadily increased, and up to 1908 were continually met to a large extent by loans, involving a continual growth of the imperial debt, which in 1907 amounted to 3643 millions of marks. The imperial budget, like that of most European nations, is divided into two portions, the ordinary and the extraordinary; and the increase under both heads (especially for army and navy) became a recurrent factor. A typical situation is represented by the main figures for 1905 and 1906 (in millions of marks):
The same process went on in 1907 and 1908, and it was necessarily recognized that the method of balancing the imperial budget by a regular increase of debt could not be satisfactory in a country where the general increase of wealth and taxable capacity had meanwhile been conspicuous. And though the main proposals made by the government for new taxation, including new direct taxes, resulted in a parliamentary deadlock in 1909, and led to Prince von Bülow’s resignation as chancellor, it was already evident that some important reorganization of the imperial financial system was inevitable.
Currency.—The German empire adopted a gold currency by the law of the 4th of December 1871. Subsequently the old local coinages (Landesmünzen) began to be called in and replaced by new gold and silver coins. The old gold coins, amounting to £4,550,000, had been called in as early as 1873; and the old silver coins have since been successively put out of circulation, so that none actually remains as legal tender but the thaler (3s.). The currency reform was at first facilitated by the French indemnity, a great part of which was paid in gold. But later on that metal became scarcer; the London gold prices ran higher and higher, while silver prices declined. The average rate per ounce of standard silver in 1866-1870 was 605⁄8d., in January 1875 only 57½d., in July 1876 as low as 49d. It rose in January 1877 to 57½d., but again declined, and in September 1878 it was 505⁄8d. While the proportion of like weights of fine gold and fine silver in 1866-1870 averaged 1 to 15.55, it was 1 to 17.79 in 1876, 1 to 17.18 in 1877, and, in 1902, in consequence of the heavy fall in silver, the ratio became as much as 1 to 39. By the currency law of the 9th of July 1873, the present coinage system was established and remains, with certain minor modifications, now in force as then introduced. The unit is the mark (1 shilling)—the tenth part of the imperialgold coin(Krone = crown), of which last 139½ are struck from a pound of pure gold. Besides these ten-mark pieces, there are Doppelkronen (double crowns), about equivalent in value to an English sovereign (the average rate of exchange being 20 marks 40 pfennige per £1 sterling), and, formerly, half-crowns (halbe Kronen = 5 marks) in gold were also issued, but they have been withdrawn from circulation. Silver coins are 5, 2 and 1 mark pieces, equivalent to 5, 2 and 1 shillings respectively, and 50 pfennige pieces = 6d. Nickel coins are 10 and 5 pfennige pieces, and there are bronze coins of 2 and 1 pfennige. The system is decimal; thus 100 pfennige = 1 mark, 1000 pfennige = the gold krone (or crown), and 1d. English amounts roughly to 8 pfennige.Banking.—A new banking law was promulgated for the whole empire on the 14th of March 1875. Before that date there existed thirty-two banks with the privilege of issuing notes, and on the 31st of December 1872, £67,100,000 in all was in circulation, £25,100,000 of that sum being uncovered. The banking law was designed to reduce this circulation of notes; £19,250,000 was fixed as an aggregate maximum of uncovered notes of the banks. The private banks were at the same time obliged to erect branch offices in Berlin or Frankfort-on-Main for the payment of their notes. In consequence of this regulation numerous banks resigned the privilege of issuing notes, and at present there are in Germany but the following private note banks, issuing private notes, viz. the Bavarian, the Saxon, the Württemberg, the Baden and the Brunswick, in addition to the Imperial Bank. The Imperial Bank (Reichsbank) ranks far above the others in importance. It took the place of the Prussian Bank in 1876, and is under the superintendence and management of the empire, which shares in the profits. Its head office is in Berlin, and it is entitled to erect branch offices in any part of the empire. It has a capital of £9,000,000 divided into 40,000 shares of £150 each, and 60,000 shares of £50 each. The Imperial Bank is privileged to issue bank-notes, which must be covered to the extent of 1s. 3d. in coined money, bullion or bank-notes, the remainder in bills at short sight. Of the net profits, a dividend of 3½% is first payable to the shareholders, 20% of the remainder is transferred to the reserve until this has reached a total of £3,000,000, and of the remainder again a quarter is apportioned to the shareholders and three-quarters falls to the imperial exchequer. If the net profits do not reach 3½%, the balance must be made good from the reserve. Private note banks are not empowered to do business outside the state which has conceded them the privilege to issue notes, except under certain limitations. One of these is that they agree that their privilege to issue private notes may be withdrawn at one year’s notice without compensation. But this condition has not been enforced in the case of such banks as have agreed to accept as binding the official rate of discount of the Reichsbank after this has reached or when it exceeds 4%. At other times they are not to discount at more than ¼% below the official rate of the Reichsbank, or in case the Reichsbank itself discounts at a lower rate than the official rate, at more than1⁄8% below that rate.The following table shows the financial condition of the note-issuing banks, in thousands of marks, over a term of years:Liabilities.Year.Banks.Capital.Reserve.Notes inCirculation.Total, includingother Liabilities.19008219,67248,3291,313,8552,237,01719017231,67254,9011,345,4362,360,45319026216,00056,6841,373,4822,353,95119036216,00060,1311,394,3362,365,25619046216,00064,3851,433,4212,378,845Assets.Year.Banks.Coin andBullion.Notes of Stateand other Banks.Bills.Total.19008899,63051,9311,036,9612,239,56419017990,26260,770990,9502,360,355190261,052,39154,389901,4082,354,25319036973,95354,231984,6042,356,51119046996,60166,372947,3582,379,234The total turnover of the Imperial Bank was, in the first year of its foundation, 1¾ milliards pounds sterling; and, in 1899, 90 milliards. Eighty-five per cent of its bank-notes have been, on the average, covered by metal reserve.The total value of silver coins is not to exceed 10 marks, and that of copper and nickel 2½ marks per head of the population. While the coinage of silver, nickel and copper is reserved to the state, the coinage of gold pieces can be undertaken by the state for the account of private individuals on payment of a fixed charge. The coinage takes place in the six mints belonging to the various states—thus Berlin (Prussia), Munich (Bavaria), Dresden (in the Muldenerhütte near Freiberg, Saxony), Stuttgart (Württemberg), Karlsruhe (Baden) and Hamburg (for the state of Hamburg). Of the thalers, the Vereinsthaler, coined until 1867 in Austria, was by ordinance of the Bundesrat declared illegal tender since the 1st of January 1903. No one can be compelled to accept more than 20 marks in silver or more than 1 mark in nickel and copper coin; but, on the other hand, the Imperial Bank accepts imperial silver coin in payment to any amount.The total value of thalers, which, with the exception of the Vereinsthaler, are legal tender, was estimated in 1894 at about £20,000,000.Bibliography.—Cotta,Deutschlands Boden(2 vols., 1853); H.A. Daniel,Deutschland(1896); J. Kutzen,Das deutsche Land(Breslau, 1900); Von Klöden,Geographisches Handbuch, vol. ii. (1875); G. Neumann,Das deutsche Reich(2 vols., 1874); O. Brunckow,Die Wohnplätze des deutschen Reiches—auf Grund der amtlichen Materialien bearbeitet(new ed., Berlin, 1897);Handbuch der Wirtschaftskunde Deutschlands(4 vols., Leipzig, 1901-1905);Gothaischer genealogischer Hofkalender auf das Jahr 1907(Gotha); A. von W. Keil,Neumanns Ortslexikon des deutschen Reiches(3rd ed., Leipzig, 1894); Meyer,Konversations-Lexikon(1902 seqq.); Brockhaus,Konversations-Lexikon(1900 seqq.); J. Kürschner,Staats- Hof- und Kommunal-handbuch des Reiches und der Einzelstaaten(Leipzig, 1900); P. Hage,Grundriss der deutschen Staats- und Rechtskunde(Stuttgart, 1906), and for Statistical matter chiefly the following:Centralblatt für das deutsche Reich. Herausgegeben im Reichsamt der Innern(Berlin, 1900);Die deutsche Armee und die kaiserliche Marine(Berlin, 1889);Gewerbe und Handel im deutschen Reich nach der gewerblichen Betriebszählung, vom 14. Juni 1895(Berlin, 1899);Handbuch für das deutsche Reich auf das Jahr 1900, bearbeitet im Reichsamt der Innern(Berlin);Handbuch für die deutsche Handelsmarine auf das Jahr 1900; Statistik des deutschen Reichs, published by theKaiserliches Statistisches Amt(including trade, navigation, criminal statistics, sick insurance, &c.);Statistisches Jahrbuch für das deutsche Reich(Berlin, 1906) andVierteljahrshefte für Statistik des deutschen Reichs(including census returns, commerce and railways). See also among English publications on geographical and statistical matter:Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the Year 1899(London, 1900); and G.G. Chisholm,Europe, being vols. i. and ii. of Stanford’sCompendium of Geography and Travel(London, 1899 and 1900). The fullest general account of the geology of Germany will be found in R. Lepsius,Geologie von Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebieten(Stuttgart, first volume completed in 1892). Shorter descriptions will be found in E. Kayser,Lehrbuch der geologischen Formationskunde(Stuttgart, English edition under the titleText-book of Comparative Geology), and H. Credner,Elemente der Geologie(Leipzig).
Currency.—The German empire adopted a gold currency by the law of the 4th of December 1871. Subsequently the old local coinages (Landesmünzen) began to be called in and replaced by new gold and silver coins. The old gold coins, amounting to £4,550,000, had been called in as early as 1873; and the old silver coins have since been successively put out of circulation, so that none actually remains as legal tender but the thaler (3s.). The currency reform was at first facilitated by the French indemnity, a great part of which was paid in gold. But later on that metal became scarcer; the London gold prices ran higher and higher, while silver prices declined. The average rate per ounce of standard silver in 1866-1870 was 605⁄8d., in January 1875 only 57½d., in July 1876 as low as 49d. It rose in January 1877 to 57½d., but again declined, and in September 1878 it was 505⁄8d. While the proportion of like weights of fine gold and fine silver in 1866-1870 averaged 1 to 15.55, it was 1 to 17.79 in 1876, 1 to 17.18 in 1877, and, in 1902, in consequence of the heavy fall in silver, the ratio became as much as 1 to 39. By the currency law of the 9th of July 1873, the present coinage system was established and remains, with certain minor modifications, now in force as then introduced. The unit is the mark (1 shilling)—the tenth part of the imperialgold coin(Krone = crown), of which last 139½ are struck from a pound of pure gold. Besides these ten-mark pieces, there are Doppelkronen (double crowns), about equivalent in value to an English sovereign (the average rate of exchange being 20 marks 40 pfennige per £1 sterling), and, formerly, half-crowns (halbe Kronen = 5 marks) in gold were also issued, but they have been withdrawn from circulation. Silver coins are 5, 2 and 1 mark pieces, equivalent to 5, 2 and 1 shillings respectively, and 50 pfennige pieces = 6d. Nickel coins are 10 and 5 pfennige pieces, and there are bronze coins of 2 and 1 pfennige. The system is decimal; thus 100 pfennige = 1 mark, 1000 pfennige = the gold krone (or crown), and 1d. English amounts roughly to 8 pfennige.
Banking.—A new banking law was promulgated for the whole empire on the 14th of March 1875. Before that date there existed thirty-two banks with the privilege of issuing notes, and on the 31st of December 1872, £67,100,000 in all was in circulation, £25,100,000 of that sum being uncovered. The banking law was designed to reduce this circulation of notes; £19,250,000 was fixed as an aggregate maximum of uncovered notes of the banks. The private banks were at the same time obliged to erect branch offices in Berlin or Frankfort-on-Main for the payment of their notes. In consequence of this regulation numerous banks resigned the privilege of issuing notes, and at present there are in Germany but the following private note banks, issuing private notes, viz. the Bavarian, the Saxon, the Württemberg, the Baden and the Brunswick, in addition to the Imperial Bank. The Imperial Bank (Reichsbank) ranks far above the others in importance. It took the place of the Prussian Bank in 1876, and is under the superintendence and management of the empire, which shares in the profits. Its head office is in Berlin, and it is entitled to erect branch offices in any part of the empire. It has a capital of £9,000,000 divided into 40,000 shares of £150 each, and 60,000 shares of £50 each. The Imperial Bank is privileged to issue bank-notes, which must be covered to the extent of 1s. 3d. in coined money, bullion or bank-notes, the remainder in bills at short sight. Of the net profits, a dividend of 3½% is first payable to the shareholders, 20% of the remainder is transferred to the reserve until this has reached a total of £3,000,000, and of the remainder again a quarter is apportioned to the shareholders and three-quarters falls to the imperial exchequer. If the net profits do not reach 3½%, the balance must be made good from the reserve. Private note banks are not empowered to do business outside the state which has conceded them the privilege to issue notes, except under certain limitations. One of these is that they agree that their privilege to issue private notes may be withdrawn at one year’s notice without compensation. But this condition has not been enforced in the case of such banks as have agreed to accept as binding the official rate of discount of the Reichsbank after this has reached or when it exceeds 4%. At other times they are not to discount at more than ¼% below the official rate of the Reichsbank, or in case the Reichsbank itself discounts at a lower rate than the official rate, at more than1⁄8% below that rate.
The following table shows the financial condition of the note-issuing banks, in thousands of marks, over a term of years:
Liabilities.
Assets.
The total turnover of the Imperial Bank was, in the first year of its foundation, 1¾ milliards pounds sterling; and, in 1899, 90 milliards. Eighty-five per cent of its bank-notes have been, on the average, covered by metal reserve.
The total value of silver coins is not to exceed 10 marks, and that of copper and nickel 2½ marks per head of the population. While the coinage of silver, nickel and copper is reserved to the state, the coinage of gold pieces can be undertaken by the state for the account of private individuals on payment of a fixed charge. The coinage takes place in the six mints belonging to the various states—thus Berlin (Prussia), Munich (Bavaria), Dresden (in the Muldenerhütte near Freiberg, Saxony), Stuttgart (Württemberg), Karlsruhe (Baden) and Hamburg (for the state of Hamburg). Of the thalers, the Vereinsthaler, coined until 1867 in Austria, was by ordinance of the Bundesrat declared illegal tender since the 1st of January 1903. No one can be compelled to accept more than 20 marks in silver or more than 1 mark in nickel and copper coin; but, on the other hand, the Imperial Bank accepts imperial silver coin in payment to any amount.
The total value of thalers, which, with the exception of the Vereinsthaler, are legal tender, was estimated in 1894 at about £20,000,000.
Bibliography.—Cotta,Deutschlands Boden(2 vols., 1853); H.A. Daniel,Deutschland(1896); J. Kutzen,Das deutsche Land(Breslau, 1900); Von Klöden,Geographisches Handbuch, vol. ii. (1875); G. Neumann,Das deutsche Reich(2 vols., 1874); O. Brunckow,Die Wohnplätze des deutschen Reiches—auf Grund der amtlichen Materialien bearbeitet(new ed., Berlin, 1897);Handbuch der Wirtschaftskunde Deutschlands(4 vols., Leipzig, 1901-1905);Gothaischer genealogischer Hofkalender auf das Jahr 1907(Gotha); A. von W. Keil,Neumanns Ortslexikon des deutschen Reiches(3rd ed., Leipzig, 1894); Meyer,Konversations-Lexikon(1902 seqq.); Brockhaus,Konversations-Lexikon(1900 seqq.); J. Kürschner,Staats- Hof- und Kommunal-handbuch des Reiches und der Einzelstaaten(Leipzig, 1900); P. Hage,Grundriss der deutschen Staats- und Rechtskunde(Stuttgart, 1906), and for Statistical matter chiefly the following:Centralblatt für das deutsche Reich. Herausgegeben im Reichsamt der Innern(Berlin, 1900);Die deutsche Armee und die kaiserliche Marine(Berlin, 1889);Gewerbe und Handel im deutschen Reich nach der gewerblichen Betriebszählung, vom 14. Juni 1895(Berlin, 1899);Handbuch für das deutsche Reich auf das Jahr 1900, bearbeitet im Reichsamt der Innern(Berlin);Handbuch für die deutsche Handelsmarine auf das Jahr 1900; Statistik des deutschen Reichs, published by theKaiserliches Statistisches Amt(including trade, navigation, criminal statistics, sick insurance, &c.);Statistisches Jahrbuch für das deutsche Reich(Berlin, 1906) andVierteljahrshefte für Statistik des deutschen Reichs(including census returns, commerce and railways). See also among English publications on geographical and statistical matter:Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the Year 1899(London, 1900); and G.G. Chisholm,Europe, being vols. i. and ii. of Stanford’sCompendium of Geography and Travel(London, 1899 and 1900). The fullest general account of the geology of Germany will be found in R. Lepsius,Geologie von Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebieten(Stuttgart, first volume completed in 1892). Shorter descriptions will be found in E. Kayser,Lehrbuch der geologischen Formationskunde(Stuttgart, English edition under the titleText-book of Comparative Geology), and H. Credner,Elemente der Geologie(Leipzig).
Archaeology
From an archaeological point of view Germany is very far from being a homogeneous whole. Not only has the development of the south differed from that of the north, and the west been subjected to other influences than those affecting the east, but even where the same influences have been at work the period of their operation has often varied widely in the different districts, so that in a general sketch of the whole country the chronology can only be a very rough approximation. In this article the dates assigned to the various periods in south Germany are those given by Sophus Müller, on the lines first laid down by Montelius. As regards north Germany, Müller puts the Northern Bronze age 500 years later than the Southern, but a recent find in Sweden bears out Montelius’s view that southern influence made itself rapidly felt in the North. The conclusions of Montelius and Müller are disputed by W. Ridgeway, who maintains that the Iron age originated in central Europe, and that iron must consequently have been worked in those regions as far back asc.2000B.C.
Older Palaeolithic Period.—The earliest traces of man’s handiwork are found either at the end of the pre-Glacial epoch, or in an inter-Glacial period, but it is a disputed point whether the latter is the first of a series of such periods. A typical German find is at Taubach, near Weimar, where almond-shaped stone wedges, small flint knives, and roughly-hacked pieces of porphyry and quartz are found, together with the remains of elephants. There are also bone implements, which are not found in the earliest periods in France.
Palaeolithic Transition Period(Solutré).—More highly developed forms are found when the mammoth has succeeded the elephant. Implements of chipped stone for the purposes of boring and scraping suggest that man worked hides for clothing. Ornaments of perforated teeth and shells are found.
Later Palaeolithic Period(La Madeleine).—The next period is marked by the presence of reindeer. In the Hohlefels in the Swabian Achthal there is still no trace of earthenware, and we find the skull of a reindeer skilfully turned into a drinking-vessel. Saws, needles, awls and bone harpoons are found. It is to be noticed that none of the German finds (mostly in the south and west) show any traces of the highly developed artistic sense so characteristic of the dwellers in France at this period.
The gap in our knowledge of the development of Palaeolithic into Neolithic civilization has recently been partially filled in by discoveries in north Germany and France of objects showing rather more developed forms than those of the former period, but still unaccompanied by earthenware. It is a disputed point whether the introduction of Neolithic civilization is due to a new ethnological element.
Neolithic Age(in south Germany tillc.2000B.C.).—Neolithic man lived under the same climatic conditions as prevail to-day, but amidst forests of fir. He shows advance in every direction, and by the end of the later Neolithic period he is master of the arts of pottery and spinning, is engaged in agricultural pursuits, owns domestic animals, and makes weapons and tools of fine shape, either ground and polished or beautifully chipped. Traces of Neolithic settlements have been found chiefly in the neighbourhood of Worms, in the Main district and in Thuringia. These dwellings are usually holes in the ground, and presumably had thatched roofs. Our knowledge of the later Neolithic age, as of the succeeding periods, is largely gained from the remains of lake-dwellings, represented in Germany chiefly by Bavarian finds. The lake-dwellings in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia are of a different type, and it is not certain that they date back to the Stone age. Typical Neolithic cemeteries are found at Hinkelstein, Alzey and other places in the neighbourhood of Worms. In these graves the skeletons lie flat, while in other cemeteries, as at Flomborn in Rhine-Hessen, and near Heilbronn, they are in a huddled position (hence the nameHockergräber). Necklaces and bracelets of Mediterranean shells point to a considerable amount of commerce. Other objects found in the graves are small flint knives, stone axes, flint and lumps of pyrites for obtaining fire, and, in the women’s graves, hand-mills for grinding corn. The earthenware vessels usually have rounded bottoms. The earliest ornamentation consists of finger-imprints. Later we find two periods of zigzag designs in south Germany with an intermediate stage of spirals and wavy lines, while in north and east Germany the so-called string-ornamentation predominates. Towards the end of the period the inhabitants of north Germany erect megalithic graves, and in Hanover especially the passage-graves.
Bronze Age(in south Germany fromc.2000-1000B.C.).—In the later Stone age we note the occasional use of copper, and then the gradual appearance of bronze. The bronze civilization of the Aegean seems to have had direct influence along the basins of the Danube and Elbe, while the culture of the western parts of central Germany was transmitted through Italy and France. No doubt the pre-eminence of the north, and especially of Denmark, at this period, was due to the amber trade, causing southern influence to penetrate up the basin of the Elbe to Jutland. The earlier period is characterized by the practice of inhumation in barrows made of clays, stones or sand, according to the district. Bronze is cast, whereas at a later time it shows signs of the hammer. From the finds in Bavarian graves it appears that the chief weapons were the dagger and the long pointedPalstab(palstave), while a short dagger fixed like an axe on a long shaft is characteristic of the North. The women wore two bronze pins, a bracelet on each arm, amber ornaments and a necklace of bronze tubes in spirals. One or two vases are found in each barrow, ornamented with finger-imprints, “string” decoration, &c. The later period is characterized by the practice of cremation, though the remains are still placed in barrows. Swords make their appearance. The women wear more and more massive ornaments. The vases are highly polished and of elegant form, with zigzag decoration.
Hallstatt Period(in Germany 8th-5th centuryB.C.).—The Hallstatt stage of culture, named after the famous cemetery in upper Austria, is marked by the introduction of iron (seeHallstatt). In Germany its centre is Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg, with the Thuringian forest as the northern boundary. In Brandenburg, Lusatia, Silesia, Posen and Saxony, where there was no strong Bronze age tradition, Hallstatt influence is very noticeable. In west Prussia the urns with human faces deserve notice. The dead are either buried in barrows or cremated, the latter especially in north and east Germany. In Bavaria both practices are resorted to, as at Hallstatt. The pottery develops beautiful form and colour. Fibulae, often of the “kettle-drum” form, take the place of the Bronze age pin.
La Tène Period(4th-1st centuryB.C.).—Down to this time there is very little evidence concerning the racial affinities of the population. When our records first begin the western and southern portions of Germany seem to have been inhabited by Celtic peoples (see below “Ethnography”). La Tène, in Switzerland, has given its name to the period, of which the earlier part corresponds to the time of Celtic supremacy. It is interesting to note how the Celts absorb Roman and still more Greek culture, even imitating foreign coins, and pass on their new arts to their Teutonic neighbours; but in spite of the strong foreign influencethe Celtic civilization can in some sort be termed national. Later it has a less rich development, betraying the political decay of the race. Its centres in Germany are the southern districts as far as Thuringia, and the valleys of the Main and Saar. The ornamentation is of the conventionalized plant type: gold is freely used, and enamel, of a kind different from the Roman enamel used later in Germany, is applied to weapons and ornaments. Chariots are used in war, and fortified towns are built, though we must still suppose the houses to have consisted of a wooden framework coated with clay. In these districts La Tène influence is contemporary with the use of tumuli, but in the (non-Celtic) coast districts it must be sought in urn-cemeteries.
Roman Period(from the 1st centuryA.D.).—The period succeeding to La Tène ought rather to be called Romano-Germanic, the relation of the Teutonic races to the Roman civilization being much the same as that of the Celts to classical culture in the preceding period. The Rhine lands were of course the centre of Roman civilization, with Roman roads, fortresses, stone and tiled houses and marble temples. By this time the Teutonic peoples had probably acquired the art of writing, though the origin of their national (Runic) alphabet is still disputed. The graves of the period contain urns of earthenware or glass, cremation being the prevalent practice, and the objects found include one or more coins in accordance with Roman usage.
Period of National Migrations(A.D.300-500).—The grave-finds do not bear out the picture of a period of ceaseless war painted by the Roman historians. On the contrary, weapons are seldom found, at any rate in graves, the objects in which bear witness to a life of extraordinary luxury. Magnificent drinking-vessels, beautifully ornamented dice and draughtsmen, masses of gay beads, are among the commonest grave-finds. A peculiarity of the period is the development of decoration inspired by animal forms, but becoming more and more tortuous and fantastic. Only those eastern parts of Germany which were now occupied by Slavonic peoples remained uninfluenced by this rich civilization.
The Merovingian Period(A.D.500-800) sees the completion of the work of converting the German tribes to Christianity.Reihengräber, containing objects of value, but otherwise like modern cemeteries, with the dead buried in rows (Reihen), are found over all the Teutonic part of Germany, but some tribes, notably the Alamanni, seem still to have buried their dead in barrows. Among the Franks and Burgundians we find monolithic sarcophagi in imitation of the Romans, and in other districts sarcophagi were constructed out of several blocks of stone—the so-calledPlattengräber. The weapons are thespatha, or double-bladed German sword, thesax(a short sword, or long knife,semispathium), the knife, shield, and the favourite German axe, though this latter is not found in Bavaria. The ornaments are beads, earrings, brooches, rings, bracelets, &c., thickly studded with precious stones.