We have referred to Frederick and his school rather to show the interest he felt in military education, than because his institution was very important. Military education was still very imperfect, and it completely languished in Prussia till Scharnhorst established it on its present footing.
Scharnhorst was himself an Hanoverian, but entered the Prussian service, and had seen by experience the defects of their system in the campaigns of 1792, 1793, and 1805. He had long devoted especial attention to military education and to all the scientific part of his profession. Along with Blucher and Gneisenau, he was considered one of the first generals of the army, and, on the exhaustion of Prussia after Jena, he was selected to remodel its whole system. He did not live to complete his work, having been killed early in 1812; but his statue near the bridge at Berlin, remarkable for its noble and thoughtful expression, records the gratitude of Prussia to its greatest scientific soldier.
“The perfection of the French military organization,” says Mr. Alison,appearedto him in painful contrast beside the numerous defects of that over which he presided. * * * * Boldly applying to the military department the admirable principles by which Stein had secured the affections of the burgher classes, he threw open to the whole of the citizens the higher grades of the army, from which they had been hitherto excluded. * * * * And every department of the public service underwent his searching eye.”
The work began with the commission of 1807, of which both Stein and Scharnhorst were members. And the regulation of 1808 laid down the principle broadly, that the only claim to an officer’s commission must be, “in time of peace, knowledge and education; in war, courage and conduct.”
On these principles, during the next three years, Scharnhorst laid the foundations of the present education. He abolished most of the existing juvenile schools, with the exception only of the Cadet Houses, intended almost solely for the sons of officers. He changed the previous war school into a sort of schoold’Elite, consisting of a senior and junior department, in which the younger soldiers of all arms were to be imbued with such knowledge as might give them a scientific interest in their profession, and in which senior officers (also of all arms) were to have a higher course of a similar nature, success in which was to form a recommendation for employment on the staff. He began the plan of the division schools, where all candidates for commissions, but not yet officers, might conduct theirmilitary studies along with the practice of their profession. Its idea was to make some military studynecessary, and successful studyhonorable, in the army. Finally, he began the present system of careful examination on entering the army.
The following historical noticeof the origin and successive changes of the division schools is taken from a communication by Col. Von Holleben, and a member of the General Inspection of Military Instruction to the English Commission.
The cabinet order of the 6th of August, 1808, laid the foundation of the present system of military education. It regulates the appointment of Swordknot ensigns and the selection of officers, and declares that the only title to an officer’s commission in time of peace shall be professional knowledge and education, and in time of war distinguished valor and ability.
The cabinet order of the 6th of August, 1808, could only come gradually into operation; the system of military examinations had to be created, and the educational institutions had to receive a new organization, under the superintendence of a general officer. Four provincial boards of examination were successively established, and on the 1st December, 1809, a body of instructions, still very vague and general, was issued for their guidance.
A cabinet order of the 3rd of May, 1810, remodeled the military schools, directing, in addition to the cadet schools at Berlin and Stolpe, the formation of three military schools for Swordknot ensigns, (Portepée-Fähnriche,) one at Berlin for the marches (Die Marken,) and Pomerania, a second at Königsberg, for east and west Prussia, and a third at Breslau, for Silesia; and the formation of a military school at Berlin for officers. All these institutions were placed under the general superintendence of Lieutenant-General Von Diericke, who had also the special superintendence of the boards of examination. A board of military studies was created and intrusted, under his control, with the task of carrying the regulations into effect.
Before, however, the new institutions attained to any stability the war years of 1813-14-15 intervened, and the operations of the board of examinations ceased.
Soon after the conclusion of peace directions were given that the examinations should recommence, with an equitable consideration of the claims of the Landwehr officers, ensigns, and other young persons who had grown up during the war.
At first there was only one board of examination at Berlin, with large discretionary powers as to their mode of procedure. In April,1816, a cabinet order was issued to form boards of examination for the Swordknot at every brigade, as the present divisions were then called, besides the existing board at Berlin, for the examination for an officer’s commission.
Contemporaneously with the nine boards of examination, the board of military studies, by an order of January, 1816, directed the establishment of schools for every brigade, and attempted to gradually regulate the instruction they gave. The schools contained two classes, the lower to prepare candidates for the Swordknot, the higher to prepare candidates for the rank of officer. As, however, no standard of attainment was required for admission into the schools, their instruction had to commence with the first elements, and was charged with more work than it could perform. The weaker scholars stayed two, three, or more years in the lower class, and the education of the better scholars was impeded.
During this and the following period the authority over the examination boards (thePræsidium,) was distinct from that over the schools, (the general inspection,) and it was not till later that both authorities were vested in a single person. This division of powers, intended to secure the independence and impartiality of the examinations, led to the result that the two authorities were occasionally led, from a difference of principles, to labor in different directions. Still, in the infancy of military education, the rivalry it occasioned, was favorable to a rapidity of development.
An order of the 16th of March, 1827, added French to the studies for the ensigns’ examination, and fixed a higher standard of attainments in military sciences for the officers’ examination.
Nearly at the same time, a cabinet order of the 27th of March, 1827, directed that there should be only one class for Swordknot ensigns in the division schools, and that after October, 1829, the candidate should obtain a testimonial of fitness for the rank of Swordknot ensign previous to admission as a student.
Accordingly young men had to be prepared for examination for the Swordknot at their entrance into their corps, or might prepare themselves by private studies and instruction during their service.
The task of the schools, still very comprehensive embracing all the liberal sciences as well as the military, was accomplished during this period in two courses of nine months, in a higher and a lower class.
A cabinet order of the 31st of January, 1837, introduced the entrance examination, instead of the examination for theSwordknot,being declared that every candidate for the commission of an officer, after his reception into a corps, should prove in an examination his possession of the knowledge requisite for a Swordknot ensigncy before his actual appointment. At the same time a regulation of the ministry of war, of the 17th of December 1836, remodeled and more precisely defined both the entrance (Swordknot ensign) examination, and that for the commission of an officer. This regulation, while it essentially modified the instruction given at the division schools, furnished them at the same time with a more certain clue for their guidance. The preparation of youths for the Swordknot examination during their service in the corps was discontinued. But the standard of the entrance examination was still too low, requiring only a small portion of the branches of a general liberal education, and that not in the shape in which they are taught in our gymnasia. Hence the evil result, that young men, previous to their entrance into a corps, had usually to prepare for the military profession at private institutions instead of at the gymnasia, and nevertheless brought with them a very defective amount of preparatory training; on the other hand, the demands of the officers’ examination were very multifarious. It still required the general scholastic sciences by way of formal education, and the military sciences as a special education for the military profession. Thus the task of the division schools continued overwhelming, and an aim was set before them which they could not attain.
A regulation of the 4th of February, 1844, reformed simultaneously the whole system of military examination and education.
The views which guided these reforms, the improvements and advantages which were hoped to be thereby obtained, were, in general, the following:—
1. The military profession, like every other, requires a general school education intended generally to cultivate the mind, distinct from the subsequent special and professional education for which the former is the necessary groundwork.
The former is tested in the examination for the Swordknot, the latter in the officers’ examination.
2. The preparatory education required from the candidate for a Swordknot is the function of the ordinary schools of the country. Nothing but what they can impart is required, and from consideration of the youthful age of the candidates (seventeen years,) the amount of preparatory training required is not the attainment of the highest class of the gymnasium, but only that required for admission into the Prima.
3. The required previous training not only gives the candidate a more certain basis for his subsequent military education, but, as being the groundwork of all professions, leaves him afterwards at liberty to cultivate the special knowledge requisite for any profession that he may prefer.
4. The division schools are freed from a multifarious course of instruction in the scholastic sciences, a task beyond their power: the result of which was that the majority of scholars were very little advanced in formal and general education, and but superficially grounded in the elements of the professional sciences, while they spent years in being drilled for an examination, instead of being educated for life.
5. If the division schools have an able staff of military teachers, they can give a good professional education. The younger officers, even if they never received the full training of the gymnasium, may still, by their professional training, raise themselves above their subordinates, (a class in Prussia often highly educated,) and are started with an excellent preparation for their professional career.
6. By the amount of liberal education required in the examination for the Swordknot, the friends of those destined for the military profession are admonished to provide them an education equal to that received by the members of other professions.
7. By the method pursued in the examinations the power is retained of raising or lowering the standard according to circumstances. When the supply of officers is deficient, the standard can be lowered; at other times, as at present, it may be raised. Since the above-mentioned regulations, the following essential alterations have been introduced:—
1. The examination for the Swordknot is again placed after admission into the corps, but no one can be admitted to attend the division schools without a testimonial of fitness for the rank of Swordknot ensign.
2. A testimonial of fitness for the university,i.e., to have passed the abiturient examination, dispenses with the examination for the Swordknot. In consequence of this rule fifty abiturients on an average annually enter the army. These, as well as the selectaner of the cadet corps, must be considered, in point of scientific education, an excellent supply of officers. From the powerful impulse that military instruction has received in the last fifty years, it may be expected that the time is not distant when the candidate for an officer’s commission, instead of passing the Swordknot examination,will have to bring the finished training of the gymnasium; in other words, to have passed the abiturient examination.
3. Instead of the seventeen division schools there are now by the regulation of 1844, only nine, and a further reduction of their number to four or three is contemplated, with an improvement of the staff of teachers and a stricter supervision of the scholars.
The standing army composed in the manner and under the circumstances already described, is supplied with officers who must have a good general education, and have served in the ranks, or have obtained a certain amount of professional instruction. The usual course is as follows:—
Young men obtain a nominationfrom the colonel of a regiment. This nomination admits them merely to service in the regiment as privates, with a recognition of their being candidates,aspirantenor aspirants, for the rank of officer. Before they obtain that rank, the following conditions must be fulfilled. They must pass an examination in the common subjects of a good general education, such as the sons of well-born or wealthy civilians may be supposed to receive. They must serve six or nine months with the troops; they must attend nine months at a division school, or twelve months in the artillery and engineer school, where they receive a course of special military instruction; and they must pass an examination in professional subjects before a board sitting at Berlin. They are then eligible for a vacancy. In order to obtain a commission they require further the recommendation of the officers of the regiment.
It is obvious to remark, that in obtaining a commission in the Prussian service the candidate’s chance depends greatly on the recommendation of the colonel and the after assent of the officers. The effect of this is to maintain an exclusive character in the army. Above two-thirds of the commissions are obtained by the course described above; the remainder are granted to those who pass through the cadet schools.
Of these there are five altogether, four junior establishments, situated in certain provincial towns, and one senior or upper school at Berlin, to which the others are merely preparatory. They are all supported by the state; mainly for the purpose of educating the children of meritorious officers in want of assistance; but they are also open to others. With the exception of the highest class of the upper school, theSelectaabove mentioned, the instruction given is of a perfectly general character, and there is no obligation even forthose who have received the most ample pecuniary assistance to enter the military profession. The discipline, however, is military, the teachers are mostly officers, the pupils are regularly drilled, and most of them actually go into the army. This they do in ordinary cases without going through the highest or select class in which professional instruction is given; they merely pass the same preliminary examination as the candidates nominated by the colonels of regiments; they enter the army without their commissions, and have to obtain them in the same manner as the other candidates, by serving six or nine months with the troops, and by following their professional studies in the division or artillery and engineer schools, and by passing the officers’ or second examination before the examining board at Berlin. Those who do remain to go through the highest or select class receive their professional instruction in it instead of in the division or artillery and engineer schools, and they are examined for their commissions by the board while still at the cadet school.
Thus, in the course usually followed, three requisites are exacted in Prussia before a commission is given; first, a good general education; secondly, some actual military service; and, thirdly, professional knowledge gained by something like a year of military study. But the military service is not required from the upper thirty students of theSelectaof the Cadet House.
It will be well to mention, at the commencement, the names of the two examinations. The first, the preliminary examination, merely testing the general education, admits to a particular grade among non-commissioned officers; those holding it rank between sergeants and corporals, and in consideration of their being candidates (aspiranten) for a commission wear a different sword-knot, and hence have the name of Swordknot ensign orPortepée-fähnrich. The first or preliminary examination is accordingly called thePortepée-fähnrichexamination. The second, the professional one, is the officers’ examination, for the commission of secondlieutenant.
These two examinations, for the grade ofPortepée-fähnrichand for the officer’s commission, are either conducted or controlled by the Supreme Military examinations Board, (Ober-Militair-Examinations-Commission) in Berlin, a body partly composed of military officers, partly of eminent civilians.
The various examining boards, the central and the local ones, which conduct these two examinations, are quite independent of the military schools, and were formerly presided over by a differenthead; but in order that the system should be uniformly carried out, and as Colonel von Holleben expresses it, that “the examinations should exercise a salutary influence on education, and that their standard should be adjusted to the capacities of the schools,” they have now been placed under the same control as the military schools.
The whole departmentof military education is therefore now under the control of a single high functionary, bearing the title of the general inspector of the military schools, military education, and military studies (das Militair Erziehungs-und-Bildungswesen,) who reports direct to the king on all subjects relating to examination and instruction. He submits his proposals on matters of administration to the minister of war, who issues the necessary orders to the boards charged with the financial control of the various schools.
The general inspector is assisted by a supreme council or board of military studies, composed of field officers of the general staff and of the special arms, the directors of the war school, of the supreme board of military examinations, of the artillery and engineers school, the commander of the cadet corps, some of the consultative assessors (Vortragenden Räthen,) of the minister of worship, and of individuals selected from the general body of learned men (professors.)
The principal military schoolsof Prussia may be divided into five classes:—
I. Those which give a good general education to the sons of meritorious officers, but which are open to others, such as—
1. The Cadet Houses or Cadet Schools (Cadetten-Häuser,) which supply a certain amount of instruction in military professional subjects.
II. Such as supply professional instruction to young men who are candidates for the rank of officer in the Prussian army. These are—
2. The Division Schools (Divisions-Schule,) nine in number, one for each army corps.
3. The artillery and engineers schools in Berlin.
III. Those which afford professional instruction to officers already in the service, to qualify them for special duty, limited to—
4. The War School or Staff School (Kriegs-Schule,) in Berlin.
IV. Those intended to give special instruction for the training of non-commissioned officers and men. Such as—
5. The School Division or Non-commissioned Officers School (Schulabtheilung,) at Potsdam.
6. The Regimental Schools (Regiments und Bataillons Schulen.)
7. The Music and the Swimming Schools, and the Central Gymnastic School in Berlin (Central Turn-Anstalt.)
8. The Veterinary School (Thierarzeneischule.)
V. Those intended to give gratuitous education to the children, boys and girls, of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, whose parents are too poor to provide for them. Such are,—
9. The Military Orphan Houses (Militair-Waisenhäuser,) at Annaburg, Potsdam, and Pretzsch.
10. The schools for soldiers’ children.
In addition to these might be mentioned the Medical Institution, particularly the Frederick-William’s Institution at Berlin, and the Knight Academy (Ritter-Academie,) or Noble School, in Liegnitz.
The annual cost to the state of the military schools in 1856, appears to be as follows:—
* A Prussian dollar is equal to three shillings of English money, and 70 cents of United States currency.
The sums will come out right if the first-row total is corrected to 6122,and4 is added to some item in the middle column (and hence the third-column total).
Or about £38,236 annually, exclusive of the charge for buildings and repairs, and the original outlay for their first establishment. The pay of the student officers, and the pay and allowances of the military professors and teachers, are, however, drawn from their corps, so that the above-mentioned seems only to include the extra pay granted to the professors, &c.
The expenses of the Non-commissioned Officers School, of the military orphan houses, and of the schools for soldiers’ children, are not given in the printed paper from which these details have been extracted.
Two examinations, one in general and the other in professional knowledge are required of all candidates for a commission upon or soon after their entrance into the army, unless they can bring a certificate of having successfully completed the regular course of a gymnasium, in which case they are excused from the first.
These two examinations, through which alone admission is obtained to the rank of officer, are so important, and hold so prominent a position in the Prussian military system, that we propose to preface our account of the nature and extent of each of these examinations by a short tabular statement of the circumstances under which the candidates for each arm of the service respectively pass them.
Those presented by the Colonels of Regiments,
Before, after, or during (usually before) six months’ service with the Troops, before the local Division Board;
After nine months’ military instruction in the Division School.
Those coming at the usual time from the Cadet House (from the class calledPrima,)
On quitting the Cadet House, before the Supreme Board at Berlin;
After six months’ service with the troops, and nine months’ military instruction in the Division School.
Those who stay an extra year in the Special or Select class (Selecta) of the Cadet House,
Before admission to the Special or Select class (Selecta,) before the Supreme Board at Berlin;
On quitting the Cadet House, after one year’s instruction in the Select classSelecta.
Those for the Artillery or Engineers, except when they came from the Special or Select class, (Selecta,) of the Cadet House,
After nine months’ service with the Troops, and three months’ stay at the Artillery and Engineers School, before the Supreme Board at Berlin;
After one year’s stay at the Artillery and Engineers School.
According to a special law, any young man above seventeen and a half and under twenty-three years of age, whether he be a private or a corporal, if he has served six months in the army, and can obtain from the officers of his company a certificate of good conduct, attention, and knowledge of his profession, may claim to beexamined for the grade of ensign or (Portepée-fähnrich.) If he succeed in this examination, he is recognized as a candidate, anaspirantfor a commission; but his prospect of obtaining a commission is subject to a variety of subsequent conditions.
In practice, a young man who aspires to a commission applies to the colonel of the regiment and usually obtains a nomination before he actually joins; and, as the examination is entirely of a civil character, he is usually glad to try and pass it at once. Having recently come from school, he feels probably better prepared than he is likely to be at any subsequent time: for on joining the corps, he will have for some time to conform to the life of a private soldier, to sleep and mess with the men, and to mount guard in his turn; and with the drill and exercises, and the marching and manoeuvring with the troops, he will have enough to occupy him to prevent his preparing for the examination. The two qualifications for the ensign’s grade are, the test of the examination and the six months’ service; but it appears to be indifferent in what order they are taken, whether service comes first and examination after, orvice versâ.
The examinations take place quarterly, at the beginning of every January, April, July, and October. They are held in the great garrison towns by local military boards, consisting of a president and five examiners. Applications for permission to be examined must be made at least a fortnight before, and must be accompanied by certificates stating the candidate’s birth, parentage, &c.; certificates of diligence and good conduct from the schoolmasters or other teachers who have instructed him; and of bodily fitness from an army surgeon.
The local board of examiners is appointed by the general officer in command of the army corps, the centers of examination corresponding in present practice with the localities assigned to the division or army-corps schools, nine in number, presently to be described.
The first part of the examination is on paper; avivâ voceexamination follows.
On paper the young men have to write three themes or compositions in German, to translate two passages, one from Livy or Sallust, another from Cæsar’s Commentaries, Cicero’s Epistles, or Quintus Curtius; to translate sixteen or twenty lines from French into German, and two passages, a longer and a shorter, from German into French. They have one question in common arithmetic, one in equations, progressions, or logarithms; one in geometry, one intrigonometry; they have one in mathematical or physical geography, one in the general geography of Europe and its colonies, and one in that of Germany and Prussia. There is one question in Greek or Roman history; one in the earlier German history; one in modern; and one in Prussian history. They have also to show that they are acquainted with the common conventional signs used in representing the surface of the earth in maps; and they have to copy a small map of a group of hills.
The time allowed for each question is about three quarters of an hour or an hour; for each German theme, it is as much as an hour and a half or two hours.
The questions are of a comprehensive character;e.g.Give a history of the campaign of 1813, or of the life of Alexander the Great; enumerate the rivers flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, with the principal towns situated upon each of them. The German themes are, first, acurriculum vitæ, an account of the candidate’s life, which is, however, not supposed to count in the result, and is merely for the examiner’s information; second and third, two themes on some sentence or proverb, for the first of which the examiner assists the candidate byvivâ vocequestions and corrections in drawing up the preliminary outline of arrangement; for the second he is left entirely to himself.
There is a subsequentvivâ voceexamination in all the subjects, drawing excepted. The candidates are taken in small classes, not exceeding seven in number, and are examined together, but not in public.
The results of the examination are considered according to the system ofpredicatesor epithets, sometimes also calledcensures. The candidates’ answers are characterized as excellent (vorzüglich,) good (gut,) satisfactory (befriedigend,) insufficient (nicht hinreichend,) or unsatisfactory (ungenügend.)Numerical values are attached to each of these epithets; “excellent” is marked with 9; “unsatisfactory” counts as 1; and according to the amount of importance attached to the different subjects the marks thus given are multiplied by a higher or lower number, by 5 in one case, by 3 or by 1 in others. German, Latin, and mathematics have all the highest estimate of 5, and are each five times more important than drawing, which is marked by 1; geography, history, and French, are each valued at 3. A young man who gets thepredicate“excellent,” in German, will receive 45 marks, his 9 being multiplied by 5; whereas the same predicate for history would obtain him only 15, and in drawing only 5 marks.
A report is then drawn up, and according to the marks or predicates, the candidates are pronounced as admissible with distinction, admissible with honor, or simply admissible; or their re-examination after six months, their re-examination after a year, or their absolute rejection, is recommended.
This report, with the candidates’ certificates, is forwarded to the supreme military examinations board at Berlin, and, if approved by them, is submitted in their quarterly report to the king; and the result, when sanctioned by him, is communicated to the respective corps.
The candidates are all informed not only of the practical result, but also of the particulars of their examinations; they are told in what subjects they have failed, and in what they have succeeded. The candidates can not, under any circumstances, try more than three times.
The young men who pass, are thus, so far as their qualification in point of knowledge is concerned, pronounced admissible to the ensign’s grade. They have of course to complete their six months’ service with the troops. Yet even when this is completed, a vacancy in the list of ensigns must be waited for, and months may pass before the aspirant receives the distinctive badge, the special Sword-knot, which marks his superiority to the corporals, and shows that he has gained the first step that leads to a commission.
The examination that has now been described is obviously one for which preparation may be made in the common public schools, and under the usual civilian teachers. A young man of seventeen need not have been positively destined to the military profession, nor have gone through special preparation for any length of time beforehand. The boards of local military examiners are content to take them as they are offered, inquiry only being made as to their birth and connections, and their previous behavior at school or under tuition.
In fact, those who have passed successfully through the full course of a school which prepares for the universities (a gymnasium,) are excused the ensign’s examination. The certificate they have received on going away from school, upon theabiturient’sor leaving examination, as it is called, is considered quite sufficient; except inthe case of candidates for the artillery or engineers, who are expected to show greater proficiency in mathematics; and certainly a boy in the head class of a gymnasium ought to be able to pass the preliminary examination with perfect ease and with credit. The amount of knowledge required and the particular subjects selected are not those of the first, and are scarcely those of the second class of a gymnasium; and the assertion was even made that a boy from the upper third class might very well hope to pass for an ensigncy. Possibly a little extra tuition from the preparatory establishments, which are said to have sprung up with the special function of “fabricating Fähnrichs” might in this instance be required.
The official programme is here given, and may be compared with the studies prescribed in the upper classes of the Cadet House at Berlin, (seethe account of that school.)
1. In their own language, good legible handwriting, a correct style, free from orthographical or grammatical mistakes, facility of expression in writing and speaking; some evidence of a knowledge of German literature.2. In Latin, facility in understanding the Latin prose writers ordinarily read in the second class of a Prussian gymnasium. A written exercise in translation from Latin into German; grammatical analysis of some passages.3. In French, facility in reading and in translating from German into French, and French into German, grammatical analysis of French sentences, and a knowledge of syntax.4. Mathematics:—(a.) Arithmetic and Algebra;—familiarity with the ordinary rules for the extraction of the square root of whole numbers and of fractions; Proportion and its applications including questions in Partnership and Compound Proportion; the theory of powers and roots, with integral and fractional, positive and negative exponents. Equations of the two first degrees, with one or more unknown quantities; Logarithms, Logarithmic Equations, Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression, and practice in the application of the various theories.(b.) The complete elements of Plane Geometry, measuration of rectilineal figures and of the circle, transformation and division of figures; the first elements of the application of Algebra to Geometry.(c.) Plane Trigonometry, Trigonometrical functions and their Logarithms. Use of trigonometrical tables. Calculation of particular cases of triangles, regular polygons, and segments of circles.In consideration of the especial importance of this discipline for officers of the artillery and engineers, a higher predicate (i.e.a greater number of marks) will be required in the exercises of candidates for these two services; the knowledge expected in their case will be, though not more extensive, more thorough and deep.5. Geography:—The general principles of Mathematical and Physical Geography, knowledge of our planetary system, of the motions of the Earth, and of the phenomena immediately dependent upon them. Readiness in drawing from memory the outlines of the more important countries, with their principal mountains, rivers, and cities. General outlines of Political Geography, in the case of the mere states out of Europe; a detailed account of the elements of European statistics, more particularly in the case of Germany and Prussia.6. History:—A knowledge of the more remarkable events in the history of great nations, of the general connection, causes, and consequences of these events; a knowledge of the remarkable men of all such nations down to the present time. Special knowledge of the history of Greece, Rome, Germany, Prussia, with particular reference in this last case to its external growth, innerdevelopment, and to the principal events of the most important wars since the middle of the eighteenth century.7. Readiness in general drawing, and in constructing mathematical figures; some skill in drawing plans of positions and mountains, in the way of preparation for military plan drawing.8. The candidate may, in addition, be examined in other subjects, in which his certificates show that he has been instructed; for example, in Natural Philosophy, so far as included in his previous course of instruction.
1. In their own language, good legible handwriting, a correct style, free from orthographical or grammatical mistakes, facility of expression in writing and speaking; some evidence of a knowledge of German literature.
2. In Latin, facility in understanding the Latin prose writers ordinarily read in the second class of a Prussian gymnasium. A written exercise in translation from Latin into German; grammatical analysis of some passages.
3. In French, facility in reading and in translating from German into French, and French into German, grammatical analysis of French sentences, and a knowledge of syntax.
4. Mathematics:—
(a.) Arithmetic and Algebra;—familiarity with the ordinary rules for the extraction of the square root of whole numbers and of fractions; Proportion and its applications including questions in Partnership and Compound Proportion; the theory of powers and roots, with integral and fractional, positive and negative exponents. Equations of the two first degrees, with one or more unknown quantities; Logarithms, Logarithmic Equations, Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression, and practice in the application of the various theories.(b.) The complete elements of Plane Geometry, measuration of rectilineal figures and of the circle, transformation and division of figures; the first elements of the application of Algebra to Geometry.(c.) Plane Trigonometry, Trigonometrical functions and their Logarithms. Use of trigonometrical tables. Calculation of particular cases of triangles, regular polygons, and segments of circles.
(a.) Arithmetic and Algebra;—familiarity with the ordinary rules for the extraction of the square root of whole numbers and of fractions; Proportion and its applications including questions in Partnership and Compound Proportion; the theory of powers and roots, with integral and fractional, positive and negative exponents. Equations of the two first degrees, with one or more unknown quantities; Logarithms, Logarithmic Equations, Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression, and practice in the application of the various theories.
(b.) The complete elements of Plane Geometry, measuration of rectilineal figures and of the circle, transformation and division of figures; the first elements of the application of Algebra to Geometry.
(c.) Plane Trigonometry, Trigonometrical functions and their Logarithms. Use of trigonometrical tables. Calculation of particular cases of triangles, regular polygons, and segments of circles.
In consideration of the especial importance of this discipline for officers of the artillery and engineers, a higher predicate (i.e.a greater number of marks) will be required in the exercises of candidates for these two services; the knowledge expected in their case will be, though not more extensive, more thorough and deep.
5. Geography:—The general principles of Mathematical and Physical Geography, knowledge of our planetary system, of the motions of the Earth, and of the phenomena immediately dependent upon them. Readiness in drawing from memory the outlines of the more important countries, with their principal mountains, rivers, and cities. General outlines of Political Geography, in the case of the mere states out of Europe; a detailed account of the elements of European statistics, more particularly in the case of Germany and Prussia.
6. History:—A knowledge of the more remarkable events in the history of great nations, of the general connection, causes, and consequences of these events; a knowledge of the remarkable men of all such nations down to the present time. Special knowledge of the history of Greece, Rome, Germany, Prussia, with particular reference in this last case to its external growth, innerdevelopment, and to the principal events of the most important wars since the middle of the eighteenth century.
7. Readiness in general drawing, and in constructing mathematical figures; some skill in drawing plans of positions and mountains, in the way of preparation for military plan drawing.
8. The candidate may, in addition, be examined in other subjects, in which his certificates show that he has been instructed; for example, in Natural Philosophy, so far as included in his previous course of instruction.
It must be remembered that either before or after this examination some months must be spent in actual service with the troops by all but the pupils belonging to theSelectaof the cadet school; and that nine months of study at the division and artillery and engineer schools intervenes before the officers examination takes place.
The second or final examination for a commission, which generally ensues when the work of the division school is over, is held in Berlin only, and is conducted immediately by the central commission, to which reference has so often been made—the supreme Military Examinations Board, theOber-Militair-Examinations Commission. This board or commission, a list of the existing members of which is given in page 179, consists, for the purpose now in consideration, of a president and five examiners, selected from the larger number to examine candidates for commissions.
The examinations are held continually; two opportunities are afforded every year to the candidates sent from each of the various army corps. The requisite papers must be forwarded to the commission eight days at least beforehand, and the candidates must appear in Berlin, and take up their quarters in the buildings placed at the disposal of the board on the Friday preceding the day fixed for the examination. The examination usually begins on the following Monday, and lasts through the week. The expenses of the journey are allowed, except, perhaps, when the candidate comes up a second time.
The certificates to be presented are the following:—
1. The certificate of birth, age, parentage, &c. (This is called theNationale.)
2. TheCurriculum Vitæ, (an account of the circumstances of the candidates’s past life, his education, employment, &c., &c.)
3. The certificate that he has already passed through a previous examination (theTentamen,) held by the authorities of the division school.
4. A certificate of conduct during his stay at the division school.
5. A military drawing (Croquis,) with an attestation given by his instructor that it is the candidate’s own doing.
This examination, like the preliminary one, is partly on paper and partly oral. General directions are given that the examiners in both cases shall look mainly to the question whether the candidate has sufficient positive knowledge of his subjects, and capacity to explain and express himself, that mere lapses of memory shall not be regarded, and that natural endowments shall be principally looked to.
In the written examination, the candidate has four questions given him in what is called the knowledge or theory of arms (Waffenlehre,) including under that term all kinds of ammunition; three in tactics; one question in the rules and regulations which touch the duty of a subaltern officer; two questions in permanent and two in field fortification; one exercise in surveying, to test his acquaintance with the common instruments, and one to try his knowledge of the principles of plan drawing (Terrain-Darstellung;)while his general skill in military drawing is proved by his either copying a plan placed before him, or drawing one from a relief model of a mountainous district (nach Bergmodellen.)
There is avivâ voceexamination in all the subjects.
The commission meets once every month to consider the examinations held since their last meeting. The result is announced under the form of thepredicatesor epithets already more than once referred to. Honorable mention is accorded to anexcellentexamination, and mention to agoodone. If there has been an unsatisfactory result in one of the subjects, the candidate may compensate for it by superiority in other subjects, but can only in this case be qualified assatisfactory (befriedigend,)and an adequate knowledge of “arms” and tactics is regarded as indispensable in candidates for the infantry or cavalry, and in “arms” and fortification in those for the artillery and engineers. No superior work in other subjects is allowed to make up for a deficiency in these.
If a candidate’s work is marked asinsufficient (nicht hinreichend,)he is sent back for another half-year, and if he has doneunsatisfactorily, for a complete year of additional study, with leave to appear for re-examination after that interval. In a case of re-examination, the two lastpredicates(nicht hinreichendandungenügend) entail final rejection.
The report of the board is submitted to the king; the results are communicated to the various corps. The announcements sent to the candidates state the predicates assigned to the various portions oftheir work. Those who have passed, receive certificates of being qualified for the second lieutenant’s commission:—
This rank, however, is not immediately granted. A vacancy may be long in occurring, and must be waited for. Promotion is given according to their seniority on the list of ensigns in the regiment. Another condition must also be satisfied. When a vacancy occurs, the senior ensign’s name can not be submitted to the king for his appointment without a document stating on the part of the officers of the regiment that he has the requisite knowledge of the duties of the service, and that they consider him worthy of admission amongst them (würdig in seine Mitte zu treten.) If the majority is opposed to his admission, the name of the next ensign in order of seniority is, without further discussion, brought forward; if a minority or merely some individual officers take exception, they state the grounds of their opinion, which are then submitted for consideration.6
Special merit in the examination may be, at the king’s pleasure, held a sufficient reason for promotion before all candidates examined at the same time.
The following is the programme of the studies, proficiency in which is expected of candidates at the second or officer’s examination:—