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

[I. GENERAL OUTLINE OF MILITARY SYSTEM, AND MILITARY EDUCATION.]

The wars in which Sardinia has recently been engaged, have led to the re-organization of her armies, and to the extension and improvement of institutions for military instruction, but time enough has not yet elapsed to perfect the system.

One-third of the officers are promoted from the ranks; the remaining two-thirds, that is, all who enter as officers, must pass through the Royal Military Academy, and before being commissioned as Captain in the Artillery and Engineers, must have completed the special course in the Complementary School. Admission to the Royal Staff Corps is conditioned on attendance on the lectures of the Staff School, and the results of a competitive examination. The following is a brief outline of the system of military instruction now in operation.

1. The character of the education may be described generally as partly resembling that of Austria, partly that of France. It commences very early. Every Officer who enters the Army as such must have passed through the great Military School, the Accademia Militare. The minimum age of entrance is fourteen. The admission is by nomination and not by competition; and the demand has always been under rather than above the requirements of the Army. “Bourses” or Exhibitions to assist pupils in their education, have been established on the Prussian and Austrian, rather than on the French principle. They are granted by the King on the recommendation of the Minister, in consideration of the claims of deceased Officers, or other public servants, and without reference to the merits of the pupils, preference being given to the candidates whose circumstances most require assistance. From twenty-five to thirty of these Bourses (or rather Demibourses, for no pupils receive entire support such as is given in France,) are given annually. We are informed that a decree will appear almost immediately, throwing open ten out of this number to public competition. The entire sum expended upon them is 70,000 francs, about 2,800l. per annum.

Passing from this outline of the principles of Sardinian Military Education, as exhibited in the Accademia Militare, which may be termed the General Seminary of the Sardinian Army, we shall briefly allude to the three remaining Institutions, in which Officers receive instruction and training at later periods of their career.

2. Admission into the Artillery and Engineer School may be considered the reward of the most distinguished pupils of the Accademia Militare, who after spending their last year in that Institution in the study of the higher mathematics, chemistry, and architectural drawing, are transferred for the completion of their education to the School of the Artillery and Engineers.

3. The Staff School, the formation of which dates from 1850, is chiefly frequented by Officers of the Infantry and Cavalry, who must be below the age of twenty-eight years upon their entrance. It is carried on upon the competitive system, the Officers being ranged according to merit in their Final Examination, the ablest entering the Staff Corps in that order.

4. Regimental Schools for Officers also exist, and in every Brigade or Division, Officers are taught topography, under the supervision of the Chief of the Staff of the Division. Care is taken to make this teaching uniform throughout the Army; and it may be regarded as preparatory to that of the Schools at Ivrea and Pinerol, which accord with the principle of the Prussian Division Schools in requiring that every Officer shall have received professional instruction; but as regards other points, and particularly the period for attending them, these Schools are peculiar to the Sardinian Army. In time of peace, no Officer, excepting those of the Special Arms, can obtain a Company without having studied for a year in one or the other of these Schools, and having passed an examination on leaving it. The Instruction given is mainly practical, Field Fortification, the Secondary Operations of War, and Topography, being the branches of Military Science taught.

These Institutions appear to have been primarily established with a view to the instruction of Officers and Non-commissioned Officers throughout the Army, and in order to prevent Regiments or Corps from following some peculiar system of their own. The same motive seems to have led to the gradual reduction in number of the Prussian Division Schools. Secondarily, however, these Schools have been made available for the purpose of organizing and drilling the reserve of the Sardinian Army, a large body of Conscripts assembled for a few weeks in the autumn of each year in a camp about twelve miles from Turin. This object seems to have been attained most successfully.