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.
| The following Candidates offer themselves, | for the Preliminary, Ensign’s, or Portepée-fähnrich Examination, | for the Second or Officer’s Examination (in all cases before the Supreme Board at Berlin.) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 called Prima,) | 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 class Selecta. |
| 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. |
[1. The Preliminary or Ensign’s (Portepée-fähnrich) Examination.]
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 be examined for the grade of ensign or (Portepée-fähnrich.) If he succeed in this examination, he is recognized as a candidate, an aspirant for 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, or vice 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; a vivâ voce examination 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 in trigonometry; 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.