The law of 1875 therefore still regulates the principles of military service in Italy, though an important modification was made in 1907-1908. By this law, every man liable and accepted for service served for eight or nine years on the Active Army and its Reserve (of which three to five were spent with the colours), four or five in the Mobile Militia, and the rest of the service period of nineteen years in the Territorial Militia. Under present regulations the term of liability is divided into nine years in the Active Army and Reserve (three or two years with the colours) four in the Mobile Militia and six in the Territorial Militia. But these figures do not represent the actual service of every able-bodied Italian. Like almost all “Universal Service” countries, Italy only drafts a small proportion of the available recruits into the army.

The following table shows the operation of the law of 1875, with the figures of 1871 for comparison:—

30th Sept. 30th June.
1871. 1881. 1891. 1901.
Officers* 14,070 22,482 36,739 36,718
Men 521,969 1,833,554 2,821,367 3,330,202
Acting Army & Reserve 536,039 731,149 843,160 734,401
Mobile Militia .. 294,714 445,315 320,170
Territorial Militia .. 823,970 1,553,784 2,275,631
* Including officers on special service or in the reserve.

Thus, on the 30th of September 1871 the various categories of the army included only 2% of the population, but on the 30th of June 1898 they included 10%. But in 1901 the strength of the active army and reserve shows a marked diminution, which became accentuated in the year following. The table below indicates that up to 1907 the army, though always below its nominal strength, never absorbed more than a quarter of the available contingent.

1902.1903.1904.1906.
Liable441,171453,640469,860475,737
Physically unfit91,17698,065119,070122,559
Struck off12,27013,18913,13018,222
Failed to appear33,63434,71139,2190,226
Put back for re-examination108,835108,618107,173122,205
Assigned to Territorial Militia
 and excused peace service		92,95296,91694,13687,032
Assigned to active army102,204102,14197,13287,493
|Joined active army88,66686,44881,58166,836

The serious condition of recruiting was quickly noticed, and the tabulation of each year’s results was followed by a new draft law, but no solution was achieved until a special commission assembled. The inquiries made by this body revealed an unsatisfactory condition in the national defences, traceable in the main to financial exigencies, and as regards recruiting a new law was brought into force in 1907-1908.

One specially difficult point concerned the effectives of the peace-strength army. Hitherto the actual time of training had been less than the nominal. The recruits due to join in November were not incorporated till the following March, and thus in the winter months Italy was defenceless. The army is always maintained at a low peace effective (about one-quarter of war establishment) and even this was reduced, by the absence of the recruits, until there were often only 15 rank and file with a company, whose war strength is about 230. Even in the summer and autumn a large proportion of the army consisted of men with but a few months’ service—a highly dangerous state of things considering the peculiar mobilization conditions of the country. Further—and this case no legislation can cover—the contingent, and (what is more serious) the reserves, are being steadily weakened by emigration. The increase in the numbers rejected as unfit is accounted for by the fact that if only a small proportion of the contingent can be taken for service, the medical standard of acceptance is high.

The new recruiting scheme of 1907 re-established three categories of recruits,[4] the 2nd category corresponding practically to the German Ersatz-Reserve. The men classed in it have to train for six months, and they are called up in the late summer to bridge the gap above mentioned. The new terms of service for the other categories have been already stated. In consequence, in 1908, of 490,000 liable, some 110,000 actually joined for full training and 24,000 of the new 2nd category for short training, which contrasts very forcibly with the feeble embodiments of 1906 and 1907. These changes threw a considerable strain on the finances, but the imminence of the danger caused their acceptance.

The peace strength under the new scheme is nominally 300,000, but actually (average throughout the year) about 240,000. The army is organized in 12 army corps (each of 2 divisions), 6 of which are quartered on the plain of Lombardy and Venetia and on the frontiers, and 2 more in northern Central Italy. Their headquarters are: I. Turin, II. Alessandria, III. Milan, IV. Genoa, V. Verona, VI. Bologna, VII. Ancona, VIII. Florence, IX. Rome, X. Naples, XI. Bari, XII. Palermo, Sardinian division Cagliari. In addition there are 22 “Alpini” battalions and 15 mountain batteries stationed on the Alpine frontiers.

The war strength was estimated in 1901 as, Active Army (incl. Reserve) 750,000, Mobile Militia 320,000, Territorial Militia 2,300,000 (more than half of the last-named untrained). These figures are, with a fractional increase in the Regular Army, applicable to-day. When the 1907 scheme takes full effect, however, the Active Army and the Mobile Militia will each be augmented by about one-third. In 1915 the field army should, including officers and permanent cadres, be about 1,012,000 strong. The Mobile Militia will not, however, at that date have felt the effects of the scheme, and the Territorial Militia (setting the drain of emigration against the increased population) will probably remain at about the same figure as in 1901.