Swimming. 3. Knowledge of Fire-arms.
In both Departments a certain number of hours weekly will be devoted to
Military Exercise.
Instruction in all the subjects will be given with special reference to
the methods to be pursued in teaching them in the various Military
Schools.
The course in each Department lasts one year. Under certain
circumstances particular pupils in the Teachers’ Department may remain
for the further completion of their studies a second year in the
institution.
In the Teachers’ Department, pupils who show no aptitude or liking for
some particular subject, may be exempted from attending the lessons
given in it, so as to allow them to give more thorough attention to
other branches.
After passing the examination, the pupils are either sent immediately to
undertake duty in the Military Schools, or return to their service in
the troops, and pass, as occasion requires, into the Military Schools.
Corporals who distinguish themselves by remarkably good progress will be
promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
2. _The United Higher Course for the Artillery and Engineers_,
Has for its object the more advanced instruction of young Officers in a
scientific and technical point of view, for service in the Artillery and
Engineers.
Twenty Officers, of more than usual capacity, between twenty-one and
twenty-six years of age, will be admitted from each of the two arms.
They must be unmarried, and must have served with distinction during a
period of not less than two years.
Officers in whose cases these conditions are satisfied, and who desire
to be admitted to the course, apply for registration for admission to
the examination, in the ordinary form, to the War Department.
Officers who, in the month of October, are summoned to attend, may
charge their traveling expenses to the Treasury, and undergo an
examination before the Professors attached to the Course, in the
following subjects:--
1. Analytical Geometry and Higher Analytical Mathematics. 2. Mechanics
and the Elements of the Study of Machinery. 3. Natural Philosophy and
Chemistry. 4 Military Composition. 5. French. 6. Military Drawing,
tested by the production of a Drawing of their own doing.
Candidates for the Artillery will be, moreover, examined in the Tactics
of the three Arms, and in Artillery; and those from the Engineers, in
the Art of Fortification and in Civil Architecture, both Plain and
Ornamental.
The text-books used in the Academies of the Artillery and Engineers will
serve as a measure for the range of attainment required. Pupils who
passed with distinction through these Academies will thus be specially
fitted for admission into the Higher Course after they have proved,
during their time of service, their diligence in bringing the knowledge
they have acquired into actual application.
On the close of this preliminary examination, the results will be
submitted to the Supreme War Department, and the recommendations for
admission laid before His Majesty.
A superior Field Officer, either of the Artillery or the Engineers, will
be intrusted with the charge of the united course. The lectures will be
given by the Professors of the Academy of the Artillery and Engineers.
From the nature of the duties, partly common and partly distinct, which
devolve upon the two corps, it follows that the course of the studies
(which will be carried on during two years) will in like manner be
partly common and partly separate.
The subjects of common instruction will be--
1. Mechanics in application to Machinery, combined with Machine
Drawing. 2. Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, combined with practice in
manipulation, in making experiments, and in analyzing. 3. Theory of
Artillery, in reference to the constructions that occur in Artillery.
4. Higher Tactics. 5. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by the
representation of campaigns, with special attention to the use of
Artillery, as well in Attack and Defense of fortified places, as in the
field.
Separate instruction will be given to Artillery Officers in--
1. Service in Workshops, Depôts, and Arsenals. 2. Knowledge of Foreign
Artillery, of the requisites (_ausrüstungen_) for Field service and
Sieges, and for furnishing fortified places.
To Engineer Officers, in--
1. Ornamental Architecture, combined with Architectural Drawing.
2. The Art of Fortification, special attention being given to working
out projects.
The pupils receive in addition practical guidance and supervision in all
subjects of a scientific nature connected with the Art of War.
The pupils of the second year undergo an examination in October. Upon
the results of the examination the War Department decides on their
promotion for the rank of Second to that of First Lieutenants.
3. _The War or Staff School._
The object of the War School is to give Officers of all arms an
education for higher duties, especially for those of the Staff and of
the Upper Adjutant Department.[55]
[Footnote 55: The Higher _Adjutantur_ or the Aide-de-Camp
Department.]
Any Subaltern Officer of the active army, without distinction of arms,
may claim admission into the War School, provided he is above twenty-one
and under twenty-six years old, is unmarried, and has served as Officer
uninterruptedly and with distinction two years at least with the troops,
and, provided, finally, he has passed the prescribed preliminary
examination.
For admission to the examination, registration, to be obtained in the
usual form from the War Department, is requisite.
The examination is conducted between October 10th and 20th, in the War
School buildings; the registered candidates will be summoned to Vienna
at the beginning of October; traveling expenses will be paid by the
Treasury. The subjects are--
1. Algebra and Geometry, including Plane and Spherical Trigonometry.
2. Geography. 3. History. 4. Arms and Munitions. 5. Field and Permanent
Fortification. 6. Pioneer Service. 7. Rules of Drill and Exercise
(in detail, for the arm in which the candidate has served, and generally
for the other arms.) 8. Manœuvring. 9. Military drawing, tested by the
production of a drawing of the candidate’s own doing. 10. Military
Composition, tested by working out an exercise in the presence of the
Commission. 11. French. And finally, 12, the candidate must be able to
speak one of the national languages of the Austrian Empire, Slavonic,
Hungarian, or Italian, and must write a good current and legible hand.
The amount of knowledge required in these subjects will be regulated by
the range of the text-books prescribed for use in the Academy at
Neustadt. Regard, however, will not so much be given to the minutiæ of
knowledge possessed by the candidate, but rather to the evidence of his
having a correct judgment and quick apprehension, and the power of
expressing himself both orally and in writing.
Upon the results of the examination, formally drawn up by the
authorities of the school, recommendations for admission will be
submitted to the sanction of His Majesty.
The number of attendants in the War School is fixed at thirty, and the
length of course is two years.
The attending pupils receive, in addition to their ordinary pay, a
monthly allowance of twenty florins, rations, and allowance for two
horses; when employed in taking surveys and reconnoitring, they have an
extra allowance of thirty florins monthly.
The War School is commanded by a General or Superior Field Officer.
Five Field Officers or Captains, taken as a rule from the Staff, give
lectures on the prescribed scientific subjects. One Field Officer or
Captain of Cavalry takes the duty of riding-master; and one civil
Professor that of instruction in the French language and literature.
Necessary officers, attendants, and servants take the duty of adjutants,
of the internal management, of the service, and of attending to the
thirty horses.
The first year’s subjects of instruction are--
1. Military Drawing and the study of Ground and Positions. 2. Higher
Tactics. 3. Staff and Superior Adjutant Duty. 4. French Language and
Literature. 5. Riding.
Those of the second year,--
1. Military Drawing, Ground and Positions. 2. Military Geography.
3. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by representations of some of the
most instructive campaigns. 4. French Language and Literature.
5. Riding.
The course begins on the 1st of November, and lasts to the end of
September.
The Attendants at the War School must be practiced in those arms in
which they have not served. They are for this purpose distributed into
the various bodies of troops forming the garrison of Vienna, go through
the exercises and manœuvres of these troops--in the first year with one,
and in the second with the other arm. At the termination of these
periods of practice, they will be called upon to undertake the command
of a Battery, of a Squadron of Cavalry, and of a Division of Infantry.
In the month of May, the attendant pupils of the first year will go out
upon a course of practical surveying; those of the second year will be
similarly employed in reconnoitring, choosing sites for encampment,
discovering, judging of, and describing proper points for taking up
positions, forming _têtes-de-pont_, entrenched camps, and the like, and
in performing other duties falling within the service of the Staff.
At the beginning of October, the pupils of the second year will undergo
an examination, which will be conducted, both orally and by papers.
Upon the results of this the Supreme War Department will determine upon
their promotion to the rank of First Lieutenants (if they are not
already of that rank,) and this without any reference to their previous
position, their position henceforth being simply determined by their
merit.
The same grounds determine the cases of those who are admitted to the
Staff, or who return to their respective arms.
Those who, after a satisfactory completion of the course, return to
service with the troops, will, after three years’ meritorious service,
be specially recommended for extraordinary promotion.
_Control of the Institutions._
The Upper and Lower Houses of Education, the Infantry School Companies,
the Cavalry School Squadrons, and the Frontier School Companies, are
under the orders of the Commanders of the Army, the Army Corps, or the
military government in whose district they are situated. The Artillery
and Engineer School Companies are under the orders of the General
Artillery and Engineer Departments; the Pioneer and Flotilla School
Companies, under those of the Quartermaster-General’s Department; the
Marine School Company, under those of the Admiralty. Which
functionaries, however, receive from the Supreme War Department all
directions relating to organization and instruction.
The Cadet Schools, the Academies, the Military Teachers’ School, the
Upper Artillery and Engineer Course, and the War School, are immediately
under the orders of the Supreme War Department.
The general organization of all the military schools and places of
instruction is once for all established by the regulations sanctioned by
His Majesty. These regulations contain all that concerns the physical,
moral, and intellectual training of the pupils, and all have the one
object of rearing them up as worthy members of the Austrian army, and
faithful supporters of the throne and of the honor of their country.
III. REMARKS ON THE AUSTRIAN MILITARY EDUCATION.
The English Commissioners in their General “_Report on the Education and
Training of Officers for the Scientific Corps_” hold the following
language:--
The magnitude of the Military Education of Austria entitles it to rank
among the chief Institutions of the Empire. It has been remodeled since
the wars of 1848, 1849. It is now centralized, and wholly directed by
one of the four Co-ordinate Sections of the War Office, which is
independent of the others, and reports directly to the Emperor. This
Educational or “Fourth” Section has the control of between 300,000_l._
and 400,000_l._ yearly. It provides for the free or nearly free
education of more than 5,000 pupils. The extent and completeness of the
system will be best understood by a reference to the clear and valuable
official account of the schools.[56]
[Footnote 56: See _Ante_, p 412-441.]
The military schools are divided by this document into (1) those which
educate pupils for _Non-commissioned Officers_, (2) those which educate
for _Officers_, (3) and those _Senior Schools_ which complete the
education and extend the instruction of both classes. The method of
training Non-commissioned Officers is a peculiar and remarkable part of
the system.
1. No less than 5,730 pupils are in process of being educated for
Non-commissioned Officers. They are received into a Military School at
seven years old, and at that early age are devoted to the army, with a
kind of solemnity, by their fathers, somewhat similar to the practice at
Woolwich Academy :--“I hereby pledge myself to surrender up my son to
the Imperial Military Service, in case of his being admitted into a
Military Educational Institution, and I will under no pretext require
his return.” This promise, as the official document states, may no doubt
be recalled if the youth finds that he has mistaken his vocation; but it
must exercise great influence (and such is its avowed object) in
retaining him in it.
After passing successively through two Junior Institutions,--the Lower
Houses of Education, where he continues till eleven years old, and the
Upper Houses, where he remains till fifteen,--the boy receives his
finishing course in one of what are termed the School Companies, the
highest class of schools for training boys to become Non-commissioned
Officers in all arms of the service. These are twenty in number, and
scattered over the whole Empire, containing generally 120 pupils each,
though in one case only sixty; and with a course of either two or three
years, according to the nature of the service. The extent and the
requirements of the Empire give a striking variety to their character.
Thus, in the frontier School Companies, “the range of the studies is
more extensive, because the Non-commissioned Officers on the Military
Frontiers are intrusted with the general administration, and require of
necessity a knowledge of Political Administration, of Jurisprudence, and
Agriculture;” and thus also the Non-commissioned Officers for the
responsible Flotilla Service of the mouths of the great rivers, the
lagoons of the Po, the head of the Adriatic, and the lakes, are
carefully educated and frequently promoted. Following the course of a
pupil through these Upper Houses and School Companies, we were much
struck by the sensible and vigorous character of the education, and the
motives supplied for exertion. In the Upper Houses the boys compete for
entrance to the School Companies which they prefer, and the more
scientific companies are a special object of ambition, because it is
more usual in these for young men to be raised by their talents to the
Academies, and thus made Officers, “free of all cost:” according to the
regulations, however, this is possible in all. It may be stated that
from six to ten pupils from each of the more scientific School
Companies,--the Artillery, Engineer, Pioneer, Flotilla, and Marine
Companies,--are yearly transferred to the Academies, to complete their
education there for the Officer’s Commission.
A system of this kind, supplying at once a good education and large
opportunities of advancement, must necessarily operate as a great
encouragement to young men educating for Non-commissioned Officers; and
allowing for the social differences of the two countries, it resembles
in spirit the French system, which throws open the gates of the
Polytechnic and St. Cyr, and with them a proportion of the Commissions
in the Army, to all.
This, however, is not all. The sums devoted to the education of
Non-commissioned Officers, as well as Officers, are immense, and may be
regarded as a spontaneous contribution of the National Feeling, no less
than a State provision. A system both of public and private foundations
(_Stiftungen_) prevails--part derived from the Emperor, part from the
provinces, part from private gifts and legacies--by which 3,190 pupils
are supported in the Houses of Education and the School Companies, and
1,320 in the Cadet Schools and Academies. The very large majority of
these exhibitions supply a _complete_, about 200 a _partial_,
maintenance. And it is curious to observe the aid to education which is
so common in our own Universities, devoted in Austria to what may be
termed the great National Institution--the Army,--and retaining all the
limitations to the descendants of Founders or Natives of provinces which
marked our own foundations. Some of these exhibitions have been founded
by foreign soldiers for their own countrymen. Thus there are two bearing
the name of the O’Gara and the O’Brady, to be held by any Irishmen of
good family, one of which is in the gift of the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Dublin. We should add that this system is still a living
and popular one. Within three years the city of Brünn has founded such
an exhibition “for sons of Austrian subjects in Moravia, and by
preference in Brünn, in commemoration of His Majesty’s escape from
assassination in 1853.” We ourselves heard a distinguished Officer
express an intention of founding one of these Exhibitions. The
comparison with the open _Bourses_ of the Polytechnic is remarkable; but
the Austrian appointments to free places seem to be given, like the
Prussian, solely as rewards for the service of the parent.
2. The education of young men for Officers is conducted upon the same
principles which regulate that for Non-commissioned Officers. The age of
admission to a Cadet School is about eleven. The pupils are pledged to
the service with the same formalities which we have noticed in the Lower
Houses of Education. Between fifteen and sixteen they enter one of the
Academies for the Line, the Artillery, the Engineers, or the Marine, and
after four years they pass to their respective services.
Thus, unlike the French system, that which is followed in Austria
commits the pupil to the Army, and to a Military Education, from an
early age, resembling herein the plan of the _Accademia Militare_ of
Turin. But an attempt seems to be made to combine general with special
teaching. Thus, although even in the two first years (from fifteen to
seventeen,) at Wiener Neustadt, there is some introduction of successful
practical military teaching, the chief weight is thrown upon
mathematics, history, geography, drawing, and French; special military
teaching has a greater, though far from an exclusive place, in the two
last years. The studies are high, and (as far as we could judge) pursued
carefully, and with excellent discipline.
The description we have given of the system pursued in the Schools for
Non-commissioned Officers will have shown that there is a constant
appeal to emulation. The same is found at Wiener Neustadt. There is a
careful system of assigning credits during the whole school period,
which itself argues competition. The chief immediate reward, indeed, is
the choice of a regiment on leaving the school; but the prospect of
entering the Staff School stands in no distant perspective, and this is
filled with so many pupils from Wiener Neustadt, that it must be looked
upon as the sure reward of a successful Neustadter. There are other
inducements of a different character. The discipline being strict,
pupils are constantly removed from Wiener Neustadt and the other
Academies to the schools for Non-commissioned Officers, and though
sometimes allowed to enter the army as Officers, it must always be as
juniors to their contemporaries at Wiener Neustadt. We heard instances
of great strictness in this matter.
The new course for the Special Arms in Austria is not yet completely in
operation. It is at present carried on separately in the Academy of
Olmütz for the Artillery, and that of Znaim, in Moravia, for the
Engineers. There are 200 pupils in each Academy, and the courses of
instruction, which are more special or technical than at Wiener
Neustadt, last four years, from the age of fifteen to nineteen. The
yearly examinations, the manner in which the marks of the monthly
examinations tell on the final one, and the careful classification of
the pupils in the order of merit, reminded us of the system of the
Polytechnic more than any other school we have seen. And an inspection
of the very high credits obtained by the first thirty pupils will prove
the diligence with which the studies are pursued. We should add that
several pupils of marked talents come from the scientific School
Companies, A further fact bears witness to the vigor of the discipline.
We have alluded to the dismissal of unpromising subjects from the
Austrian Military Schools. In the course of three years, since the
changes of 1850, it appears that nearly 100 pupils were removed from
Znaim, as not coming up to the standard required for the Engineers by
the new regulations.
3. The courses of instruction in the three Academies for Infantry and
Cavalry, Artillery, and for Engineers, last for the same time, and run
(as it were) parallel to each other. Each is, or is to be, completed by
a senior department. The United Course for the Artillery and Engineers
is not indeed yet combined in the magnificent buildings begun at Wiener
Neustadt; but it is already organized in a provisional state at Znaim
for the Engineers, and the plan of instruction drawn up is a solid one.
The arrangements for the general Staff School require more remark.
In our report upon Austrian schools we have specially noticed this
School as remarkable for its thorough and open competitive character
from first to last, and its very sensible plan of study. Admission to it
is by competition, open to Officers of all arms: the pupils are not
unduly overburdened with work; perhaps, there is even room for one or
two more subjects of importance; but what is done seems to be done
thoroughly; the Officers are carefully ranked, on leaving the School,
according as the abilities they have displayed, may be considered a
criterion of their fitness for employment on the General Staff; and _in
this order_ they enter the Staff Corps. The consequence is that every
Officer knows distinctly, from the time that he first competes for
admission until his final examination on leaving, that the order in
which he will enter the Staff depends entirely on his own exertions and
success at the school. It seemed to us that this open competition
produced a spirit of confidence and energy in the students, as great, if
not greater, than any we met with elsewhere.
The whole of the above system of education is directed by the Fourth
Section of the War Department. In all the schools we found traces of its
activity; and the energy and system which prevail in the Military
Teaching of Austria appear in great measure to result from its being
directed by this single head.
IV. THE STAFF OR WAR SCHOOL AT VIENNA.
[From Report of English Commissioners in 1856.]
The Staff School (Kriegs-Schule,) in Vienna, was established in 1851,
and grew out of the experience of the Hungarian war, although a
Staff-Corps had existed for more than a century in the Austrian army,
and for many years past all the appointments in it have been made upon
an examination, which was, in fact, one of competition. The process was
formerly as follows:--
An officer desirous of becoming a candidate for a staff appointment,
sent in his name to the colonel of his regiment, whose recommendation he
was obliged to obtain as a preliminary step. If supplied with this, he
began his course of staff study, and was sent for this purpose to some
large garrison town as an _attaché_ to the staff. Whilst here he went
through, for two years, the course of drawing, writing military memoirs,
mapping the country, &c., and for two years more served on active staff
duty with different bodies of troops. At the end of these four years a
number of the officers thus employed in a particular country were
brought together, and examined by the chief of the staff in the country,
assisted by a board of officers appointed for the purpose. No actual
list was drawn out of the order in which the candidates acquitted
themselves, but it was understood that the best were chosen and put upon
the general staff. The work upon this was exceedingly laborious; few
except officers of real ability were candidates for it, and patronage in
it was looked upon with great dislike. On the other hand, studies and
reading were not made the first requisite; a ready intelligence and
quick eye to make an officer a _Colonnen-führer_,--leader of a column on
a march,--were always most valued.
Before describing this school, it may be as well to mention shortly the
staff-corps and the corps connected with it.
1. The General Staff of the Austrian Army consists of:--
Twelve Colonels.
Twelve Lieutenant-Colonels.
Twenty-four Majors.
Eighty Captains.
The _attachés_, to the number of eighty,--_i.e._, those who are
expecting appointments, may be subalterns, but they obtain the rank of
captain on joining.
The chief of the staff-corps is Field-Marshal Hess.
2. There has been created very lately a separate corps of adjutants or
aids-de-camp, who are charged with the administrative duties, such as
inspecting the bearing, equipment, carrying on the discipline, &c., of
the troops. This consists of--
Eleven Generals.
Eighteen Lieutenant-Colonels.
Eighteen Majors.
Fifty-eight First Captains.
Ten Second Captains.
Ten First Lieutenants.
There is no examination for entrance into this corps. Appointments are
made by the generals, and we were told that there was some scope for
“protection.”
3. There is also a smaller corps for the purpose of surveying, called
the Corps of Geographical Engineers, connected with the staff, inasmuch
as some of the staff officers draw the maps on a large scale, which it
is the business of this corps to reduce. It is usually occupied on the
Great Surveys of the Empire; at present it is employed on the Survey of
the Principalities.
It consists of--
One Colonel, called the Director.
Two Lieutenant-Colonels.
Two Majors.
Sixteen Captains.
Sixteen Lieutenants.
Four Sous-Lieutenants.
The staff school consists of thirty pupils taken from all arms of the
service, fifteen being received each year, and the course of study
lasting two years. It is under the direction of a general and a
lieutenant-colonel; and, with few exceptions, such as might occur in the
time of war, no appointments on the general staff are to be given to any
officers who have not passed through the staff school.
In order to enter the school for the staff corps, an officer must have
served at least two years with his regiment, and be unmarried, and above
twenty-one and under twenty-six years of age. He may then forward to the
chief of the staff, through his colonel, his claim to be admitted as a
candidate at the entrance examination. Further inquiry is made, and a
good many of the names sent in are struck off the list. Such, we were
told, was the case last year when the names sent in were very numerous,
but out of these only forty-five were allowed to compete, and out of
these again only fifteen (the regular yearly number) were selected. The
competition for entrance into the school is indeed said to have been
very active ever since it was opened. Most of the students are
_Neustadters_; the seven professors were all, with the exception of the
professor of the French language, military men, and chiefly officers of
artillery, formed in the long studies of the old Bombardier School.
The subjects in which the candidates for admission are examined are--
1. Algebra and Geometry, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry.
2. Geography.
3. History.
4. Arms and Munitions.
5. Field and Permanent Fortification.
6. Pioneering.
7. Rules of Drill and Exercises.
8. Manoeuvring.
9. Military Drawing.
10. Military Composition.
11. French.
12. To be able to speak one of the Austrian national languages,
and to write a good current and legible hand.
The most striking features in the system of this school, both at the
entrance and throughout the course, are that it is distinctly
competitive, that it admits very young officers, and that while the work
is considerable, the subjects for study are not numerous. In these three
points it differs considerably from the Prussian Staff School, in which
the students are generally older, and the principle of competition is
not so fully carried out. In the Austrian school, the students are
placed on entering in the order which their entrance examination has
just fixed. They are examined once a month during their stay. On leaving
the school, their respective places are again determined, and they have
a claim for appointments in the staff corps in the exact order in which
they were placed on leaving the school.
Their relative places on leaving the school are assigned to them, as we
were assured, very carefully, and, after much consultation in every case
among the professors; but this is not done by marks, nor by any minute
system of testing intellectual qualifications, but an estimate is formed
upon the whole work of the two years, both on the studies in the school
and the practice in the field,--of the student’s comparative fitness,
_as an officer, for the work of the staff_. “We try to estimate the
whole man,” was the expression used to us, “whether he will make a good
_Colonnen-führer_” (a good man to direct a regiment on a march,) as was
said elsewhere. This general estimate was preferred to that of marks, on
the ground that the latter might give too much weight to the more
appreciable, _i.e._, simply intellectual qualities.
The students do not at present live within the establishment, but are to
do so when the new ones, building, are ready. They begin their lectures
at half-past seven and end at one or three o’clock on alternate days,
going to the riding-school in the afternoon on the days when their
morning’s work ends at one. Thirty horses are kept for their use.
The subjects of instruction during the first year consist of--
1. Military Drawing and the Study of Ground and Positions.
2. Higher Tactics.
3. Staff Duties.
4. French Language and Literature.
5. Riding.
And those of the second year are as follows:--
1. Military Drawing, and the Study of Ground and Positions.
2. Military Geography.
3. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by representations of
some of the most instructive campaigns.
4. French Language and Literature.
5. Riding.
The students are occupied at the school about eight hours daily and
their chief work is military drawing and topography. We went into the
room where the students of both years were working together at drawings
and plans under an artillery officer, said to be one of the best
draughtsmen in the army. Some of the plans were modeled in soap, the
_hachures_ being marked very elaborately, so that the models and
drawings might closely correspond. We also attended a lecture of the
second class in military geography. A student traced out on the
blackboard the line of the Western Alps, and was examined very closely
on the smaller passes, the rivers, and the bases of operations for
armies on both sides. The answers were very minute, and given with the
greatest readiness; and we understood the question to be taken at
random, and not to be a prepared one.[57]
[Footnote 57: It may be desirable to give some specimens, taken
from the official account of the school, of the questions put at
the examinations for admission,
I. _Viva voce._
1. Mathematics:--
Give an explanation of geometrical series, and a proof of
the general formula.
How is the circumference and area of a circle determined? How
are the trigonometrical functions of the different quadrants
of the circle indicated?
2. Geography:--
What is meant by the _backbone_ of Europe? What states does
it pass through?
The source of the Elbe; its principal feeders?
3. History:--
Describe generally the wars of Charles V.
The political consequences of the Battle of Leipzig.
4. Arms and Munitions:--
What is the material of sword blades? how are they made and
proved?
How are gun carriages made for field and siege guns?
What kinds of hollow shot are used in the Austrian artillery,
and on what do their effects depend?
5. Field and Permanent Fortification:--
How is a trench made?
How is a parapet built?
What does a front of fortification consist of? what is the
disposition of the several lines? what parts protect the
principal rampart? what is the form of the flanks? and how
is the main ditch made?
What is meant by detached works? where are they placed?
What are the best arrangements for the successful defense of
a fortress?
6. Pioneer Service:--
How are two beams of the same dimensions fastened together
in the same direction?
How are suspension bridges put up?
7. Rules for Drill and Exercise:--
(_a._) Infantry.
Wheeling during a march.
Forming of close battalion column.
(_b._) Cavalry.
Marching in files and fours.
Forming line from the flank to the front and rear.
(_c._) Artillery.
Intervals and distances in a battery.
II. Paper Work.
In Mathematics:--
1. Prove that in every triangle the square of the one side
is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides,
less twice the product of these two, multiplied by the
cosine of the angle they inclose.
2. If the hypothenuse is 33, and one angle 25° 48’ 12”, find
the other angle and the perpendicular, &c.]
The student officers attending the school are called upon to serve in
those arms to which they do not belong. For this purpose they join the
troops of the garrison of Vienna during June, July, August, and
September, and if they belong to the infantry they go through all the
exercises of the cavalry in one year, and of the artillery in another.
If they belong to the cavalry, they go in the same manner through the
exercises of infantry and artillery. After going through this practice,
they have to take command of a battery, of a squadron of cavalry, and of
a division of infantry.
The month of May is devoted in the first year to an expedition for
practice in surveying the country, and in the second, for making
reconnaissances, &c.
October is a vacation in the first year. In the second it is taken up
with the final examination before leaving.
The officers acting as professors receive 600 florins, about 60_l._
annually, besides their pay.
Immediately after the final examination, if there are any vacancies in
the staff corps, the pupils receive appointments in order of merit, and
are at the same time made captains. In proof of their receiving
appointments on the earliest opportunity, we were told by Colonel
Scudier that the last ten vacancies in the staff corps were filled up
out of the twelve students who had just left the school. One of these
was only a second lieutenant, and in order to make him a captain, (the
rank required for the staff corps,) the Emperor promoted him to be a
first lieutenant immediately, and to be a captain within three days
afterwards. This double promotion was on the ground of great merit.
If an officer finds no vacancy in the staff corps ready for him, he must
return to his regiment and wait as an attaché. But if a second
lieutenant, he is entitled immediately to a step of rank, and if a
lieutenant, after three years’ service he is made a captain, although he
may not even then be attached to the staff corps.
There are to be eighty of these attachés to the staff. Their number at
present amounts to only thirteen.
With regard to special aids-de-camp, generals are allowed to choose
their own, without examination, but with this limitation, the officer
chosen must not be a relation.[58]
[Footnote 58: The following shows the nature of the Report
presented by the examiners upon an Officer examined for admission.
It is called the _Prüfungs-Act_, and is sent into the Supreme War
Department, that is, to the Fourth Section.
Form No. I. gives the name, age, rank, and length of service of
the Candidate (Lieut. R. H.)
Form No. II.:--
_a._ Oral Examination.
1. Mathematics, Very good.
2. Geography, Very good.
3. History, Very good, knowledge
thorough, statements logical.
4. Arms and Munitions, Excellent; acquainted with the
very details.
5. Field and Permanent
Fortification, Both satisfactory.
6. Pioneer Service, Very good.
7. Drill and Exercise Rules--
Infantry, Very good.
Cavalry, Not thorough.
Artillery, Good.
8. Manœuvring, Excellent.
9. French, Translates without difficulty
from French into German, and
German into French. Not much
practice in speaking.
10. National languages, Speaks good Bohemian.
_b._ Paper Work--
1. Mathematics, &c. &c.
_c._ Accomplishments--
Writing.
Military Drawing.
REMARKS.--Lieutenant R. H. is a pupil of the Neustadt Academy, of
much natural talent, and quick apprehension. His way of expressing
himself is quick and logical, and shows a clear head. He has a
fair military bearing, and prepossessing appearance. He gives
every hope of proving a useful Officer of the Staff, and deserves
admission into the War School.
Form No. III. gives the questions actually put, as in the note on
the preceding page.
(Signed) . . . . . .]
MILITARY EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS IN 1869.
PRINCIPLES OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
The disastrous results to the integrity of the empire and the
reputation of the army, of the military operations of Austria in 1858,
against the combined forces of France and Sardinia, and of the still
more humiliating defeat in the brief but momentous campaign of 1866
against Prussia, forced the military authorities of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire to a thorough investigation of her military system and the
education of the officers of her armies. It was not difficult to account
for ultimate defeat in the larger armies and better prepared in all the
resources by which large armies are equipped, fed, and moved. But
military critics were not slow in discovering that better preparation
should have been made, the field should have been taken earlier, and the
forces combined and moved with great certainty and skill.
In a Report by the Minister of War on the necessity of reorganizing
the educational system of the Imperial army, and in the plan for such
reorganization the author, Baron Kahn, starts with a principle which the
great Empress Maria Theresa announced when she laid in 1748 the
foundation of the earliest war school in Austria (Wiener Neustadt), and
which Frederick the Great avowedly imitated in his War Academy in Berlin
in 1764,--“In this school shall be formed _men_ only, and of them,
_soldiers_.” The choice of the profession of arms must be postponed till
a good general education, reaching the moral as well as the intellectual
and physical qualities of the future officer, has been imparted. The
separation of the military pupils from their families at an early age
must be avoided, and hence the number of cadet boarding schools for
young aspirants are diminished. The intellectual preparation required,
the sharpening and hardening the mental faculties, must not be gained by
an exclusive mathematical course, in special schools, but in the general
training of the public schools, the Real Schools or Gymnasia, of the
country. A more practical knowledge of the common studies,--of geography
and national history and the whole science of public economy and the
martial resources of the empire, must be gained before the special
military instruction begins. Admission to the higher military schools
must be given only to aspirants of mature age, of high moral qualities,
and of thorough intellectual activity--ascertained by careful
examination and tested by at least one year’s service in connection with
a regiment.
PLAN OF REORGANIZATION.
The military schools are divided into two classes, viz.:--
(1.) Those which give a boy a general education, but prepare him at
the same time for the military profession.
(2.) Those which educate boys only in military matters.
In the first class may be included (_a_) all those lower class
institutions in which military orphans and sons of poor non-commissioned
officers and commissioned officers are educated; (_b_) the middle
(cadet) schools which prepare students for the military academies; (_c_)
the military academies, viz, _Wiener Neustadt_, and the engineer and
artillery academies. As pure military schools, may be mentioned the
schools for non-commissioned officers in the infantry, engineer,
artillery, and pioneer corps; the cadet and division schools in the
infantry; the higher artillery and engineer courses.
(_a._) The lower schools for the education of military orphans of a
tender age have the same system as the common schools of the like class
(_Normal_ or _Volks Schulen_), where the moral qualities are to be
chiefly inculcated on Christian principles; it is therefore necessary
that children should not be taken from family influences earlier than
can be helped. It will therefore only be necessary to take into these
schools such children as are orphans, or sons of penniless parents, or
at all events those whose families can not be induced to educate them at
home even by pecuniary assistance. One school would be enough for such
boys, in which the moral education would be the first object, as the
necessary education required to prepare the scholars for the higher
schools and regimental cadet schools may be obtained by their attending
the public schools.
(_b._) As regards the middle cadet schools, they should be abolished,
as they do not agree at all with the above-mentioned principles. Boys
are torn from home at much too tender an age, and are not brought up in
the path of morality. Should a reform only of these schools be intended,
this would be so expensive that the improvement gained would be dearly
paid for.
As the army is not only to be composed of drilled soldiers, but also
of generally well educated men, in order to improve their intellectual
position and the spirit of the army, and to prevent the undue growth of
drill and mere formalities, it is of great necessity that the military
schools should be brought into harmonious concert with the civil
schools. The deficiencies of the latter are less than those of the
former, and it may be expected that they will soon be removed. In
accordance with these considerations (and there are yet many more), it
is much to be recommended that these two institutions should be
abolished, not only as being right in principle, but also in agreement
with the laws of national economy.
By the laying down of the system of education to be taught at the
common middle schools, as a condition of being allowed to enter a
military academy, in connection with the influences of the moral
development of the family circle, up to the fifteenth year of a boy’s
life, it is to be hoped that the general above-named principles will be
attained; and when the poor officers are allowed the means to educate
their boys aspiring for the military academies by granting them
pecuniary allowances, it may be hoped that they will not only be
contented, and will care for the moral education of their children, but
that the State also will find in the system the best means of attaining
its object.
As regards the higher schools, especially military ones, the following
may be observed:--
There are two establishments at present:
(_a._) The Military Academy and Wiener Neustadt for general education.
(_b._) The Engineer Academy, as a special school for the engineers,
and for the instruction of officers in general.
The latter of the two is not efficient enough, for not more than eight
or ten persons at most are instructed as engineers in it, the rest being
detailed for the infantry, cavalry, &c. As by the establishment and
organization of division schools a sufficient supply of officers
aspirant is provided, and as the officers detailed from the above-named
academies to the line are not more efficient than the scholars of the
division schools (especially when the extra cost of the academy
education is considered), the Engineer Academy must be looked upon as
much too expensive. I agree, therefore, with those who recommend its
abolition. On the other hand, the Neustadt Academy, which offers to its
students a more general, and therefore a better founded education, and
where highly instructed officers can be educated in larger numbers, may
be allowed to remain, both in consideration of its efficiency and in
honor of its serene foundress, the great Empress Maria Theresa, but on
condition of its being reorganized in accordance with the principles
laid down by that noble lady in the following words:--“That in this
school shall be formed _men_ only, and of them _soldiers_.”
The said academy must, however, seek to attain to a higher degree of
perfection than of late. The classics must be more cultivated, as also
national economy and a general civilized education. It should be
organized for a course of six years, and it should receive students,
sons of officers or military officials, who have successfully passed two
or three Latin or technical schools.
The following subjects should be taught, besides the military and
mathematical sciences:--
(1.) The Latin language, sufficient to understand the Roman
classics.
(2.) All human sciences; particular attention should be paid to
style, as it has been observed that since Latin has not been taught in
the Wiener Neustadt Academy, there has been a great falling off in this
respect. Rhetoric is to be taught in a practical manner, as the
knowledge of how to speak is of importance in our constitutional era.
(3.) Philosophy, two years; in the first year, psychology; in the
second year, logic to its full extent, moral philosophy, metaphysics,
and the history of philosophy.
(4.) Statecraft, state and international law, and the fundamental
law of the Austrian monarchy.
(5.) The rudiments of economy and national economy.
As special schools for the army the following should be retained:--
(_a._) A special engineer and artillery school.
(_b._) A special school for the pioneer corps, where the special
knowledge necessary for that arm, as well as other military matters, are
taught. The scholars should be between the ages of 16 and 19 years.
The students of the institutions intended for the education of the
engineers and artillery will be enrolled in their respective corps
quartered in Vienna. They will there have to pass a proper course of
high mathematics, natural philosophy, and architecture at the
Polytechnic; after they have succeeded in this, they will be either
detailed for two years’ active duty with their corps, or they may be at
once ordered to pass through a higher combined course for artillery and
engineers. If this will suffice for the due supply of technically
instructed officers, the artillery and engineer academies may be
abolished.
As regards the present school for the General Staff, it may be
recommended that a general college for the whole army should be formed
from it, wherein not only the higher military sciences should be taught,
but also statecraft and national economy. It would be right to examine a
candidate before he entered the college in the rudiments of natural
philosophy and chemistry.
The student may obtain the time necessary for the cultivation of these
two sciences by reducing the time till now assigned to sketching and
surveying; the more so, as the student will have already attained a
great perfection in this branch of his education by former study of it
in the public and preparatory schools.
SYSTEM AS REORGANIZED IN 1869.
(A.)--ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH.
1. _Military Orphan Asylum._
Military orphans and other deserving candidates for the army are
supported in this establishment. They are educated at the public
schools.
The number of pupils is 150. They pass thence into the other
institutions, according to their talents and final destination.
2. _Military Technical Schools._
At present four in number. It is proposed to reduce them to two. The
course is of three years. Number of pupils, 150 in each school. They are
educated for the Technical Academy, and to provide good non-commissioned
officers for the Artillery and Engineers. They enter at 14 and leave at
16 years of age, at the end of their third year’s course of study. Those
enter the Technical Academy who have most distinguished themselves; the
others are sent either for a two years’ course to the Division Schools,
or else to the Artillery Officers’ Aspirant Schools.
3. _The Military College._
The course is for two years. This is chiefly intended as a preparatory
school for the Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt.
4. _The Military Academies._
These institutions are intended to provide the army with officers
properly qualified for the various branches of the army.
(1.) _The Wiener Neustadt Academy._--The course is of four years.
Number of scholars 100 per annum, or a total of 400. The academy is
intended for the education of candidates for the Infantry Regiments of
the Line and Military Frontier, the Jagers, and the Cavalry.
(2.) _The Technical Academy_ (established in Vienna) for the education
of the best pupils of the technical schools for the artillery, engineer,
and pioneer services. The course is of four years; 65 scholars in each
year, or 260 total. Each year’s course of study is divided into two
sections, one for artillery pupils, one for engineer pupils.
It is proposed that these officers should be attached to their
respective corps in Vienna during their course of study, and should
attend lectures at the Polytechnic at Vienna. When this course is over,
they are to be attached for two years’ service with their corps, or sent
direct to go through the higher artillery or engineer course.
(B.)--SCHOOLS ATTACHED TO REGIMENTS OR DIVISIONS.
1. _Regimental, Troop, and Cadet Schools._
Besides the troop schools in each regiment or independent battalion,
there is one of the cadet schools for the education of all those, from
the rank of sergeant downwards, who aspire to the rank of cadet, or who
desire to acquire the preparatory knowledge necessary to be admitted
into the schools for officers aspirant.
The number of pupils depends on the number of individuals qualified.
The course is of two years.
2. _Regimental Schools for Officers aspirant._
(_a._) For the _Artillery_--The course is of two years; 50 scholars
annually.
(_b._) For the _Engineers_--A two years’ course for each.
_Pioneers_--Number of pupils according to demand.
3. _Divisional Schools for Officers aspirant._
There is a school of this sort in each of the 23 infantry and cavalry
divisions, and for the country gendarmerie.
The course is of two years. Number of pupils not fixed (at present
nearly 1,200), in addition to which is the special instruction for their
respective arms; when they have successfully passed an examination at
the end of the course, they become officers aspirant.
(C.)--ESTABLISHMENTS FOR MORE ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION.
1. _The Higher Courses for the Artillery, and_ (2) _Engineers_.
These are intended for the formation of highly scientific officers for
the more important duties and higher command of these arms, and for the
army in general. The course is of two years. The number of officer
students is not fixed, but must depend on the number of highly qualified
candidates of the above arms. They must have served for two years with
their corps with distinction.
3. _War School_ (Staff College).
This institution is intended for the formation of officers for the
general staff. The course is of two years. The number of students is 80.
An officer must have served at least three years with his corps with
distinction before he can be admitted, and officers who have served
longer will, as a rule, be preferred.
(4.) _Course for Military Frontier Instruction._
This is an academy for those who are already serving in the army. The
course is of two years, and the number of pupils is regulated by the
demand. The studies are as follows:--
State organization and frontier administration.
Civil and military law and legal procedure.
Agriculture, law of commerce, and exchange.
Revenue law and institutions.
Croatian language.
5. _Central Cavalry School at Vienna._
The object of this establishment is to prepare distinguished
regimental officers for the higher commands in cavalry, and to instruct
them in the theory and practice of that arm, and the _haute école_ of
riding.
There are 41 students of the rank of captain (1st and 2d class), or
one from each cavalry regiment. The course is of one year. The studies
are as follows:--
Theoretical and practical riding, training of unbroken horses,
service and drill regulations of cavalry, veterinary art, leaping,
fencing, pistol-shooting, rudiments of strategy and history of war,
tactics, field service, occupation of ground, surveying, army
organization, knowledge of arms, pioneer and engineer service, practical
drill, and field service and reconnaissances.
6. _Josephinum Academy for Medicine and Surgery_,
For the formation of students for the higher grades of the medical and
surgical departments, from the rank of first lieutenant-surgeon.
This establishment ranks with the upper school of surgery at Vienna.
The number of students from the army is fixed at 242. When there is
accommodation there are, besides this, paying students.
7. _Military Veterinary Institution_,
Consisting of two sections:--(1.) Veterinary. (2.) Farriery.
Students who have passed the necessary examinations are entitled to
their diploma and rights in the same way as students of the civil
veterinary school in Hungary.
The students of the veterinary section are field surgeons and
farriers.
The students of the farriery section are non-commissioned officers and
soldiers and civilians. The number of soldier students depends upon the
requirements of the army.
8. _Course for the Intendance._
This establishment, _when organized_, is intended to qualify captains
or first-lieutenants on the active establishment of infantry or cavalry,
captain auditors, and properly qualified clerks, for the administration
of the Intendance of the army now in progress of formation.
COURSES OF STUDY IN THE MILITARY SCHOOLS.
(I.) COURSE OF SCIENCES TO BE TAUGHT AND LECTURED ON AT THE
REGIMENTAL CADET SCHOOLS.
_Subjects._ _Course of Lectures during--1st Year._
_2d Year._
German Language and Style, 1 1
The Regimental Dialect, 1 1
Caligraphy, 1 1
Military Style, 1 1
Arithmetic, 1 0
Algebra, 0 1
Practical Surveying, 1 1
Mapping and Tracing, 1 1
Geography, 1 1
History, 1 1
Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 1 1
Service Regulations, 1 1
Field Service, 1 1
Pioneer Service, 1 1
Construction of Arms, 1 1
Hand Drawing, 1 1
Fencing, 1 1
Gymnastics, &c., 1 1
Target Practice, 1 1
(II.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS ASPIRANT.
A.--_Ordinary Course._ _1st Year._
_2d Year._
Military Style, 1 1
Military Essays, 1 0
Geometry and Trigonometry, 1 1
Higher Trigonometry and Conic Sections, 0 1
Mechanics, Natural History, and Chemistry, 0 1
Geometrical Drawing, 1 1
Practical Surveying, 1 0
Military Mapping, 0 1
Sketching and Tracing, 1 1
Geography, 1 1
Mathematical Geography, 0 1
History, 1 1
Military Administration, 1 1
Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 1 1
Service Regulations, 1 0
Army Organization, 1 1
Tactics, 1 1
Field Fortifications 1 0
Permanent do., 0 1
Construction of Arms, 1 0
Hand Drawing, 1 0
Fencing, 1 1
Athletic Games, 1 1
Target Practice, 1 1
Riding, if possible, 0 1
B.--_Course for the Pioneer Regiment._
High Mathematics.
Higher Trigonometry.
Practical do.
Analytical Geometry.
Mathematical Geography.
Natural History and Chemistry.
Military Economy and Finance.
Geography.
History.
Construction of Arms.
Fortification.
Architecture.
Mechanics.
Drill, }
Service, }Regulations.
Manœuvre, }
Pioneer Service.
Surveying.
Tracing.
Athletic Games.
Fencing.
Swimming.
Tactics.
(III.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR THE
WIENER NEUSTADT ACADEMY.
[KEY]
[_Hours per Week_--]
1st _1st Year._
2d _2d Year._
_Subjects._ _1st_ _2d_
Religious Instruction 1½ 1½
Latin, 7 7
Greek, 3 3
French, 4 4
German and Literature, 3 3
History and Geography, 5 5
Mathematics, 5 5
Natural History, 0 3
* Short-hand Writing, 3 0
* Caligraphy, 2 2
* Drawing, 2 2
* Athletic Games, 2 2
Dancing, 2 2
Swimming, 0 0
--- ---
Total hours per week, 39½ 39½
[* Subjects marked thus * are voluntary for scholars of classical
schools, but are compulsory at the military schools.]
(IV.) COURSE AT THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR THE TECHNICAL ACADEMY.
_Subjects._ _1st_ _2d_ _3d_
Religious Instruction, 2 1 1
German, 4 3 3
French, 4 3 3
History and Geography, 4 4 4
Mathematics, 7 5 5
Analytical Geometry and Drawing, 3 4 3
Natural History, 2 2 2
Natural Philosophy, 0 3 5
Practical Chemistry, 3 3 0
Hand and Mathematical Drawing, 2 4 4
Caligraphy, 1 0 0
Military Style and Finance, 2 2 2
Artillery and Pioneer practice, 4 4 3
Service Regulations, 1 1 1
Drill and Manœuvre Regulations, 2 2 3
Management of Horses, 0 0 2
Athletic Games and Fencing, 3 3 3
-- -- --
Total hours per week, 44 44 44
(V.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY AT WIENER
NEUSTADT.
*_Subjects_ _1st_ _2d_ _3d_ _4th_
Religious Instruction, 1½ 1½ 0 0
Latin, 4 4 0 0
Greek, 3 2 0 0
French, 4 4 3 3
German and Literature, 3 3 3 0
History and Geography, 4 0 0 0
Physical Geography, 4 0 0 0
Preparatory Philosophy, 1½ 0 0 0
Philosophy, 0 4 0 0
Higher Mathematics, 5 6 0 0
Astronomy, 0 0 4 0
Analytical Geometry, 0 0 4 0
Practical ditto and Surveying, 0 3 0 0
Nat. Philos. and Fundamental Laws
of Chemistry, 4 0 0 0
Theoretical Mechanics, 0 0 4 0
Review of Law and Statesmanship, 0 0 2 0
Cons’l Law of Austria, and its
Adm’ive Org’tion, 0 0 3 0
European State and International Law, 0 0 0 3
Austrian Military Law (Criminal), 0 0 0 2
Military Finance, 0 0 2 3
Construction of Arms, 0 0 2 3
Pioneer Service, 0 0 3 0
Fortification, 0 0 0 4
History of War, 0 0 0 2
Drill Regulations, 2 0 0 0
Service do, 0 1½ 1½ 0
Manœuvre do, 0 0 1½ 1½
Cavalry do, 0 0 0 1½
Tactics, 0 0 0 6
Surveying, Tracing, and Mapping, 4 4 4 0
Riding, 0 0 0 6
Fencing, 2 2 2 2
Athletic Games and Dancing, 4 4 0 0
each 2 hours,
-- -- -- --
Total hours per week, 42 41 41 41
[* To these should be added the Bohemian and Hungarian language for
the 3d and 4th years.]
(VI.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE TECHNICAL MILITARY ACADEMY
AT VIENNA.
[KEY]
Prep. Preparatory.
Eng. Engineer.
Art. Artillery.
_Subjects._--(_Courses_--United Preparatory, Engineer, Artillery.)
Prep. Eng. Art.
Number of hours per week--Years-- 1. 2. 3. 4. 3. 4.
Zoölogy and Botany, 3 0 0 0 0 0
Mineralogy, 1 0 0 0 0 0
Geology, 0 0 2 0 0 0
French, 3 3 3 2 3 2
Higher Math. 1, 2, 3,
Higher Geodesy 4th yr. 8 5 2 4 2 4
Analytical Geometry 4 0 0 0 0 0
Sketching, 4 0 0 0 0 0
Practical Geometry, 0 4 0 0 0 0
Chemistry of Minerals, 3 0 0 0 0 0
Chemical Manufacture, 0 0 0 0 0 4
General and Technical Natural
Philosophy, 2 3 0 0 0 0
Mechanical Technics, 0 0 2 0 2 0
Technical and Analytical Mechanics, 0 5 2 0 2 0
Construction of Machinery and
Drawing, 0 0 4 0 0 0
Description of Machinery, 0 0 0 0 2 2
Mountain Roads, 0 4 0 0 0 0
Planning and Sketching, 0 0 5 6 0 0
Road and Water Communication, &c., 0 0 5 0 0 0
General Architecture, 0 0 0 0 3 0
Machine Making, 0 0 0 0 3 5
Building, 0 0 0 0 4 4
Ornamental Drawing, 0 0 0 4 0 0
Review of the Law, 0 0 0 2 0 2
Military Criminal Law, 0 0 0 1 0 1
Construction of Arms (Engineer), 0 2 0 0 0 0
Do. of Batteries (Artillery), 3 6 0 0 0 0
Pioneer service, 0 1 0 0 0 0
Fortification, 0 0 4 6 3 3
Sappers’ and Miners’ Duties, 0 0 0 2 0 0
Military Finance, 0 0 2 2 3 3
Drill Regulations, 2 0 0 0 0 0
Service ditto, 1½ 1½ 0 0 0 0
Manœuvre ditto, 0 0 0 2 3 0
Cavalry ditto, 0 0 0 0 0 2
Tactics, 0 0 2 2 2 2
Surveying and Tracing, 0 6 3 0 3 0
Riding, 0 0 3 3 6 6
Fencing, 2 2 2 2 2 2
Dancing, 2 2 0 0 0 0
--- -- -- -- -- --
Total hours per week, 40½ 41 43 43 51 50
(VII.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR ARTILLERY.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._
_2d Year._
French, 1 1
Practical Mechanics, 1 0
Construction of Machinery, 1 0
Fortification and Field Armaments, 0 1
Science of Higher Artillery, 1 0
Military Geography and Statistics, 1 0
Higher Tactics and Strategy, 0 0
National Economy and Finance, 1 0
Organization of the Constitution, and
Administration, 0 1
State and International Law, 0 1
German Literature, 1 0
Active Duties of the General Staff, 0 1
(VIII.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE ENGINEERS.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._
_2d Year._
English, 1 1
Chemistry and Practical Technics, 1 1
The Mechanism of Building, 1 0
Fortification, 1 1
Architecture, 1 1
Ornamental Architecture, 1 1
Military History, 0 1
Science of Artillery, 0 1
Strategy, 1 0
National Economy and Finance, 1 0
Organization of the Constitution, and
Administration, 0 1
State and International Law, 0 1
German Literature, 1 0
(IX.) UPPER COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE WAR SCHOOL.
_Subjects._ _Course--1st Year._
_2d Year._
German Literature, 1 1
French, 1 1
Administrative Duties of the Staff, 1 1
Active Duties of the General Staff, 0 1
Tracing and Surveying, 1 1
Military Geography, 1 0
Higher Tactics, 1 0
Strategy, 0 1
Engineer Service, 0 1
Artillery Service, 0 1
Rudiments of State and International Law, 0 1
Rudiments of Nati’l Economy and
Administrative Law, 0 1
Riding, 1 1
AUSTRIAN STAFF.
By recent ordinance the Special Staff Corps has been abolished. All
the officers are borne on the army rosters according to their ranks, in
particular branches of the service. No one will be allowed to enter the
Staff School until he has served three or four years with the troops,
and then captains and first lieutenants will be preferred to men of less
service or rank. Having passed through the school course they will again
join their regiments; and will then be appointed to the staff, as may be
required. The period during which they are to remain on the staff will
depend on their merits, their promotion, and the exigencies of the
service; but as a principle they would generally rejoin their troop on
promotion. There can be no doubt in the minds of those who have
practically studied the question, that the system is sound. A special
Staff Corps is never large enough to supply the demands of an army in
the field for long, especially if the war is long and very active. The
duties of a staff officer with an army actively engaged in the field,
are so numerous and arduous that an _enormous number_ are used up in the
course of a campaign; and when you have only the Staff Corps to draw
from, the supply of practical officers is not equal to the demand. The
French experienced this in the Crimean War. By educating a number of
young officers endowed by nature with the qualifications indispensable
to form an _efficient_ staff officer _on active service_, and by
throwing them back into their regiments, they leaven the mass, and form
a fund of selected and instructed officers from which can be drawn as
occasion may require.--_Col. Crealock to Military Ed. Com._
CAVALRY BRIGADE SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS.
The following memorandum gives an account of an order lately issued,
regulating Officers’ Brigade Schools in the Austrian cavalry.
The object of the Cavalry Brigade schools will be to secure a supply
of efficient riding masters throughout the service capable of giving
general instruction.
The Central Cavalry School will continue to be a higher military and
scientific establishment, with (in addition to the theoretical education
of the pupils) a course of instruction which insures a uniform system of
equitation and of breaking horses. A certain number of its best pupils
may be transferred, after a year’s attendance, to the _Kriegs-Schule_,
with a view to their preparation for the staff.
Cavalry Officers’ Brigade Schools educate officers of that arm,
theoretically as well as practically, in all their duties. After the
termination of the autumn manœuvres one will be formed in each brigade.
The annual course lasts six months, and should begin on the 1st of
October.
It is the duty of the Brigadier to superintend the school, but it is
also that of commanding officers of regiments to inform themselves of
the progress of their officers, and consequently to visit it often.
Before the 15th of August the Brigadier proposes to the Minister of
War the station at which the school should be established, also the
names of the instructors and pupils. It rests with him to make all
arrangements for setting it in operation; and as his supervision must be
continual, he should (whenever practicable) place it at the
head-quarters of his brigade. Above all, a covered riding school must be
fitted up; then a drill ground, a manège with artificial fences, and a
school, and fencing-room. Whenever possible the men and horses must be
in barracks.
The best qualified officer in the brigade, of the rank of
lieutenant-colonel or major, is to be selected for Commandant, and each
school is to have two captains as instructors. One of them must have
gone through the Central Cavalry School, and must have been reported as
specially qualified to give instruction; the second must be considered
one of the best horsemen in the brigade.
At the disposal of these officers there is the following staff:--one
veterinary surgeon for instruction in the anatomy, diseases, and shoeing
of horses; one sergeant in charge of the men and horses; one sergeant
for quartermaster’s duties and accounts; one farrier; three corporals;
one trumpeter; twelve men per regiment of the brigade; and the riders of
the horses attached to the school.
If there is an auditor (_Judge Advocate_) available, he attends
regularly to explain the Articles of War and give lectures on military
law. Should there be none, this duty devolves upon one of the captain
instructors.
Six officers from the rank of first lieutenant downwards are sent
yearly from each regiment. Each of them brings with him, besides his own
horses, the one allowed him by Government. Every regiment sends six
remount horses that have passed the first stage of breaking, and six
that have just joined.
The principal subjects of theoretical instruction are--1st,
Regulations of the army; 2d, Tactics, particularly as referring to the
handling of cavalry; 3d, Field movements, and especially outpost duty,
which are to be illustrated by examples from the history of war; the
pupils will also draw and describe a tract of country, and give written
reports upon field operations; 4th, description of the anatomy and
diseases of horses, with their management and feeding both in the stable
and the field; shoeing theoretical and practical, in all its details;
5th, thorough practice in the use of cavalry weapons, a general
acquaintance with the arms of the artillery and infantry of the
principal military nations, and an accurate knowledge of those employed
in the Imperial army; 6th, a general knowledge of field fortification
and of the works to be executed by the Pioneer Corps in combination with
cavalry; 7th, the study of tracts of country, extending to the
observation of roads, streams, coverts, and undulations; the correct
reading and understanding of maps.
The practical branch of education at these schools has for its main
object the maintenance throughout the army of the best fundamental
system of equitation, and the adoption of any improvements in the
cavalry service in general which may appear advisable. To this is added
practice in getting over long distances through every description of
country, and in judging when and where halts should be made with most
advantage to single horsemen, or to detachments of troops. These marches
are to be combined with patrolling, reconnaissances, and posting
piquets, and are to be practiced once a week.
After every such march the pupils will send in a brief report and
rough sketch, either next morning or within forty-eight hours, as may be
ordered. They are to practice making this sketch on horseback as well as
on foot. They must perfect themselves in gymnastics, and in fencing and
singlestick, both on foot and horseback.
The regulations issued to the Minister of War as to distribution of
hours and reports will be strictly followed, and no deviation will be
permitted except under particular circumstances. Sundays and holidays
are observed. No leave of absence, except in cases of urgent necessity,
can be granted to either instructors or pupils during the course.
At the end of the season of instruction (_i.e._ at the end of March)
the Cavalry Officers’ Brigade School will be broken up; and all persons
attached to it, and their horses, will return to their regiments.
EXPENDITURES ON MILITARY EDUCATION.
The appropriation for Military Education in Austria for 1870, was as
follows:--
For non-commissioned officers and men, 504,000 florins (40,320_l_).
For officers, 978,000 florins (78,284_l_).
[Errata for Part III (Austria):
[Footnote 23]
Soldiers are, however, occasionally allowed to marry,
Soldiers, are,
6. Geometry and Rectilinear Trigonometry,
5.
[Footnote 58]
_a._ Oral Examination.
_missing . after “a”_
(4.) _Course for Military Frontier Instruction._
_anomalous parentheses in original_
[(VI.) COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AT THE TECHNICAL MILITARY ACADEMY]
Higher Geodesy 4th yr.
Geodosy ]
* * * * *