Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, / in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition

by Unknown

For the 420 cadets of the Institution at Berlin, there appear to be about twenty professors and teachers not residing in the school, the majority of whom are civilians; and in addition to these, twenty tutors and superintendents resident in the buildings. Of these, sixteen are military officers, half of whom are permanently attached to the corps, and half on duty from various regiments, and four are civilians. The cadets being divided into four companies, each containing so many of the Selecta, so many of the Prima, and so many of the Secunda, to each of these companies are attached one captain, one first-lieutenant, and two second-lieutenants, all of whom, however, take some part in the instruction; and one civilian (Civil-Erzieher) is added with the especial duty of looking after and assisting the studies of the cadets of the company.

The holidays are one month in summer (in July and August,) ten days or a fortnight at Christmas, eight days at Easter, and four at Whitsuntide.

The rules for the entrance of cadets into the army are as follows:—Those who complete their year in the Prima are considered to be sufficiently prepared for ordinary admission. They are sent in to an examination before the Supreme Examinations Board (the Ober-Militair-Examinations-Commission) before examiners entirely independent of and unconnected with the instruction of the cadets; and the majority, if they pass, are admitted simply as Portepée-fähnriche, on the same conditions as the young men already spoken of who enter upon the recommendation merely of the commanding officer of a regiment and the approval of the commanding officer of an army corps. Like these, they serve in the regiment, they attend the Division Schools, and in due time offer themselves for examination for a commission.

Out of this number, however, the sixty who do best are retained, and reserved to receive in the special military class of the Cadet School the instruction which the others are to seek in the Division Schools. These remain another year in the Cadet House, and undergo at its close, before leaving the Cadet House, their officers’ examination before the Supreme Board. The thirty best are once more selected, and receive immediate promotion. Their patents are signed and they join their regiments at once as second-lieutenants. The other thirty, if they have satisfied the examiners, receive a certificate of qualification, and enter with the rank of Portepée-fähnrich, and with, the prospect of receiving commissions without further examination, as soon as vacancies occur. Any one who fails to pass his examination must enter, if at all, simply with the rank of Portepée-fähnrich, and has to qualify himself in the Division Schools for attempting a second time the examination for the officer’s patent.

Such is the system as recently modified. Till quite lately only thirty were promoted from the Prima to the Selecta, and these thirty, unless they failed wholly, obtained immediate commissions at the end of the year. It has been found desirable to introduce the stimulus of competition, to offer a definite reward in the way of superior advantages to the best students, and to make it obviously worth a young man’s while to exert himself, and to be thoroughly diligent during this final year in the Selecta at the Cadet School.

Young men who, after passing the examination in the Prima, desire to enter the artillery and engineers, follow the usual course leading to the Artillery and Engineers’ School. They enter an artillery regiment, or a division of the engineers; they serve for nine months, they enter the special school, they are eligible after the first quarter to the grade of Portepée-fähnrich, and at the close of their first year are examined for their lieutenant’s commission. Those who remain in the Selecta have the great advantage of passing from the Cadet School immediately into the Artillery and Engineers’ School as lieutenants, and commence their course there accordingly at the beginning of the second of the three years. As, however, the school-year closes at the end of April, in the Cadet Houses, and begins in the Artillery and Engineers’ School on the 1st of October, these select cadets also pass five months with their regiment in actual service before recommencing their studies.

The average number who pass in this manner into the Artillery and Engineers’ School is stated by the authorities of the Cadet House to be three annually from the Selecta, and six or eight from the Prima.

It can hardly have escaped observation, that the studies pursued as a qualification for entering the army are, with the exception of the Selecta, almost entirely non-professional, even here in this part of the general system, which is in other respects most military in its character; and the tendency seems to be to carry out to a still greater extent the theory of continuing to as late an age as possible a good general education. There is evidently a general desire in Prussia, to take the officers of the standing army exclusively from the well-educated or the higher classes.

In the arrangements for the lessons, the very temperate or even timid use of the stimulus of competition deserves to be noticed. It appears, however, to have been lately employed with advantage in the highest class. At the same time, the provision made for giving really good instruction, and for placing all the boys in close relation with their teachers, can not but excite admiration. The small numbers of which the classes consist, and the care which seems to be taken in providing good teachers, both deserve attention.