Prussian Army

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A standard of the Prussian Army.
A standard of the Prussian Army.

The Prussian Army (German: Preußische Armee) was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.

The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War. Elector Frederick William developed it into a viable standing army, while King Frederick William I of Prussia drastically increased its size. King Frederick the Great led the disciplined Prussian troops to victory during the 18th century Silesian Wars and increased the prestige of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The army was outdated by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, however, and Prussia was defeated by France in the War of the Fourth Coalition. Under the leadership of Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian reformers began modernizing the Prussian Army, which participated in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte during the War of the Sixth Coalition. Conservatives halted some of the reforms, however, and the army became a bulwark of the conservative Prussian government.

The Prussian Army was successful in 19th century wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, allowing Prussia to create the German Empire in 1871. The Prussian Army formed the core of Imperial Germany's armed forces, which were replaced after World War I with the Reichswehr.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The Great Elector

Growth of Brandenburg-Prussia, 1600-1795
Growth of Brandenburg-Prussia, 1600-1795

The Army of Prussia grew out of the armed forces created during the reign of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1640-1688). The Hohenzollern Brandenburg-Prussia had primarily used ineffective mercenary forces during the Thirty Years' War, in which the principality was devastated. Swedish and Imperial forces traversed and occupied the country essentially at will. After acceding to the electoral throne, Frederick William started building a standing army to better defend his state in Spring 1644.

Frederick William, the "Great Elector"
Frederick William, the "Great Elector"

The elector's confidant Johann von Norprath began recruiting forces in the Duchy of Cleves and had organized an army of 3,000 Dutch and Prussian soldiers in the Rhineland by 1646. Garrisons were also slowly augmented in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia.[1] Frederick William sought assistance from France, the traditional rival of Habsburg Austria, and began receiving French subsidies. He based his reforms on those of Louvois, the War Minister of King Louis XIV of France.[2]

Frederick William attempted to professionalize his soldiers during a time of soldiers of fortune. In addition to individually creating regiments and appointing colonels, the elector imposed harsh punishment for discretions, such as punishing by hanging for looting. Acts of violence by officers against civilians resulted in decommission for a year.[2] He developed a cadet institution for the nobility; although the upper class was resistant to the idea in the short term, the integration of the nobility into the officer corps allied them with the Hohenzollern monarchy in the long term.[3]

Brandenburg-Prussia participated in the Northern Wars, in which Frederick William was victorious in the Battle of Warsaw (1656). Hohenzollern success in the war enabled Frederick William to assume sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in the Treaty of Oliva (1660). The elector and his Field Marshal Derfflinger defeated Swedish forces in Brandenburg at the Battle of Fehrbellin (1675); although a minor victory, it brought fame to the Brandenburg-Prussian army and gave Frederick William the nickname "the Great Elector".[4] His forces later expelled Swedish troops from Prussia during "the Great Sleigh Drive" (1678).

Frederick William built the Hohenzollern army up to a peacetime size of 7,000 and a wartime size of 15,000-30,000.[3] The growing power of the Hohenzollerns in Berlin led his successor Elector Frederick III (1688–1713) to proclaim the Kingdom of Prussia with himself as King Frederick I of Prussia in 1701. Although Frederick I emphasized Baroque opulence and the arts in imitation of Versailles instead of the military, this was reversed upon the accession of his son, Frederick William I, the "Soldier-King" (1713-1740).

[edit] The Soldier-King

Frederick William I, the "Soldier-King"
Frederick William I, the "Soldier-King"

Frederick William I reduced the size of the gaudy Royal Guard to a single batallion, a troop of taller-than-average soldiers known as the Potsdam Giants which he privately funded.[5] The cavalry was reorganized into 55 squadrons of 150 horses; the infantry was turned into 50 battalions (25 regiments); and the artillery consisted of two battalions. These changes allowed him to increase the army from 39,000 to 45,000 troops;[5] by the end of Frederick William I's reign, the army had doubled in size.[6] The General War Commissary, responsible for the army and revenue, was removed from interference by the estates and placed strictly under the control of officials appointed by the king.[7]

The king restricted enrollment in the officer corps to Germans and compelled the Prussian aristocracy to serve in the army.[6] Until 1730 the common soldiers consisted largely of peasantry recruited from Brandenburg-Prussia, leading many to flee to neighboring countries. In order to halt this trend, Frederick William I divided Prussia into regimental cantons. Every youth was required to serve as a soldier in these recruitment districts for three months each year; this met agrarian needs and added extra troops to bolster the regular ranks.[8]

The middle class of the towns was required to quarter soldiers and enroll in the bureaucracy. Because the excise tax was only applied in towns, the king was reluctant to engage in war; deployment of the army in foreign lands would have deprived him of taxes from the town-based military.[9]

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, served as the royal drill sergeant for the Prussian Army. He introduced the iron ramrod, increasing Prussian firepower. By the end of Frederick William I's reign, Prussia had the fourth largest army (60,000 soldiers) in Europe, but was twelfth in population size (2.5 million). This was maintained with a budget of 5 million thalers (out of a total state budget of 7 million thalers).[10]

[edit] Frederick the Great

Battle of Hohenfriedberg- Attack of Prussian Infantry, June 4th, 1745, by Carl Röchling
Battle of Hohenfriedberg- Attack of Prussian Infantry, June 4th, 1745, by Carl Röchling

Frederick William I's successor, Frederick the Great (1740-1786), began the Silesian Wars shortly after taking the throne. The Prussian Army achieved victory over Austria in the Battle of Mollwitz (1741) under the leadership of Field Marshal Schwerin. The Prussian cavalry had performed poorly at Mollwitz; the cuirassiers, originally trained on heavy horses, were retrained on more maneuverable, lighter horses. The hussars and dragoons of General Zieten were also expanded. These changes led to another Prussian victory at Battle of Chotusitz (1742), and Austria conceded Silesia to Frederick with the Peace of Breslau.[11]

Austria tried to reclaim Silesia in the Second Silesian War, but was crushed in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg (1745). The Prussian cavalry excelled during the battle, especially the hussars of General Zieten.

Frederick the Great, print by Richard Knötel.
Frederick the Great, print by Richard Knötel.

Austria then allied with France in the Diplomatic Revolution (1756); Austria, France, and Russia all opposed Prussia. Frederick preemptively attacked his enemies with an army of 150,000, beginning the Seven Years' War. Although outnumbered, the Prussian Army achieved notable victories at Rossbach and Leuthen in 1757. However, Prussian forces were crushed at Kunersdorf (1759). Prussia's defeat seemed imminent, but Frederick was saved by the the miracle of the House of Brandenburg- the exit from the war of Russia after the sudden death of Empress Elizabeth. Prussian control of Silesia was confirmed in the Treaty of Hubertusburg (1763).

The offensive-minded Frederick advocated the oblique order of battle, which required considerable discipline and mobility. Although this tactic failed at Kunersdorf, it was used to great success at Leuthen.[12] After a few initial salvos, the infantry was to advance quickly for a bayonet charge. The Prussian cavalry was to attack as a large formation with swords before the opposing cavalry could attack.[13]

The first garrison began construction in Berlin in 1764. The Prussian army consisted of 187,000 soldiers in 1776, 90,000 of whom were Prussian subjects in central and eastern Prussia. The remainder were foreign (both German and non-German) volunteers or conscripts.[14] Frederick established the Garde du Corps as the royal guard.

By the end of Frederick's reign, the army had become an integral part of Prussian society and numbered 193,000 soldiers, causing Minister Friedrich von Schrötter to remark that, "Prussia was not a country with an army, but an army with a country".[15][16]

[edit] Napoleonic Wars

Death's Head Hussar, print by Richard Knötel.
Death's Head Hussar, print by Richard Knötel.

Frederick the Great's successor, his nephew Frederick William II, relaxed conditions in Prussia and had little interest in war. He delegated responsibility to Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and the army began to degrade in quality. Led by aged veterans of the Silesian Wars, the Prussian Army was ill-equipped to deal with Revolutionary France during the Napoleonic Wars.

Prussia withdrew from the First Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte in the Peace of Basel (1795), ceding the Prussian Rhineland to France. Upon Frederick William II's death in 1797, the state was bankrupt and the army outdated. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick William III, who involved Prussia in the disastrous Fourth Coalition. The Prussian Army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806), and Prussia submitted to major territorial losses, a standing army of only 42,000 men, and an alliance with France in the Treaty of Tilsit (1807).

Gerhard von Scharnhorst.
Gerhard von Scharnhorst.

The defeat of the army shocked Prussian society, which remembered the Frederician victories. While Stein and Hardenberg began modernizing the Prussian state, Gerhard von Scharnhorst began to reform the military. He founded the Prussian Military Academy as an officers training school in Berlin in 1810. August von Gneisenau and Carl von Clausewitz assisted with the reorganization as well. Scharnhorst supported opening the army to the middle class and making advancement into the higher ranks based on education.[17] He advocated adopting the levée en masse (military conscription) used by France; the Landwehr, or militia, was created to bolster the limited army available to Prussia. The generals of the army were completely overhauled; of the 143 Prussian generals in 1806, only Blücher and Tauentzien remained by the Sixth Coalition. Scharnhorst also created the Krümpersystem, by which companies released 3-5 monthly who were replaced, allowing up to 60 extra men to be trained annually per company.[18] Corporal punishment was by and large abolished, while soldiers were trained in the field and in tirailleur tactics. Scharnhorst promoted the integration of the infantry, cavalry, and artillery through combined arms, as opposed to their previous independent states.

Iron Cross of 1813.
Iron Cross of 1813.

Some reforms were opposed by Frederician traditionalists, such as Yorck, who felt that the changes would erode the privileges of the aristocratic officer corps and promote the ideas of the French Revolution.[19] The army reform movement was cut short by Scharnhorst's death in 1813, and a shift to a more democratic and middle class military lost momentum in the face of the reactionary government.

During Napoleon's retreat from Russia (1812), Prussia joined the War of the Sixth Coalition. The reformer Yorck signed the Convention of Tauroggen, breaking the Franco-Prussian alliance. Prussian troops, including Silesian Landwehr, under Blücher proved vital at the Battles of Leipzig (1813) and Waterloo (1815).

The Iron Cross was introduced as a military decoration by King Frederick William III in 1813.

[edit] Conservative Prussia

Expansion of Prussia (1807-1871)
Expansion of Prussia (1807-1871)

The German General Staff, which developed out of meetings of the Great Elector with his senior officers[2] and the informal meeting of the Napoleonic Era reformers, was formally created in 1814. Hermann von Boyen prevented the elimination of general conscription, but was forced to accept creation of the Landsturm, a force inferior to the Landwehr. Troops of the 136,000-strong standing army served for three years and were in the reserves for two, while militiamen of the 163,000-strong Landwehr served a few weeks annually for seven years.[20]

Conservative forces within Prussia remained opposed to conscription and the more democratic Landwehr. Frederick William III reduced the militia's size and placed it under the control of the regular army in 1819, leading to Boyen's resignation.

Bismarck, Roon, and Moltke in the 1860s.
Bismarck, Roon, and Moltke in the 1860s.

By the middle of the 19th century, Prussia was seen by many German Liberals as the country best-suited to unify the many German states, but Prussian troops were used to suppress the 1848 revolution within Germany. With the Second Italian War of Independence in mind, King William I of Prussia began to reform the Prussian Army, which conservatives such as General von Roon considered to have degraded since 1820 because of liberalism. The liberal and middle-class Landwehr was weakened in 1860 in favor of the regular army, which was composed mostly of peasantry loyal to the Hohenzollern monarchy and conservative Junkers.

Battle of Königgrätz, by Georg Bleibtreu.
Battle of Königgrätz, by Georg Bleibtreu.

The Prussian Army crushed Danish forces at the Battle of Dybbøl during the Second War of Schleswig (1864), allowing Prussia and Austria to claim Schleswig and Holstein, respectively. Disputes orchestrated by the Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866). The needle guns of the Prussian infantry were highly successful against the Austrians, who were defeated at the Battle of Königgrätz. Under the leadership of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Chief of the General Staff, the Prussian Army then proved victorious over France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870).

The battlefield successes of Prussia allowed the unification of Germany in 1871 and the crowning of King William I of Prussia as William I, German Emperor. The Prussian Army formed the main component of the Reichsheer, the army of the German Empire. The Imperial Army was replaced after World War I with the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Koch, p. 49
  2. ^ a b c Koch, p. 59
  3. ^ a b Koch, p. 60
  4. ^ Koch, p. 62
  5. ^ a b Koch, p. 79
  6. ^ a b Koch, p. 86
  7. ^ Koch, p. 83
  8. ^ Koch, p. 88
  9. ^ Koch, p. 89
  10. ^ Koch, p. 100
  11. ^ Koch, p. 111
  12. ^ Koch, p. 108
  13. ^ Koch, p. 121
  14. ^ Koch, p. 133
  15. ^ Blackbourn, p. 17
  16. ^ Fulbrook, p. 52
  17. ^ Koch, p. 181
  18. ^ Koch, p. 183
  19. ^ Koch, p. 186
  20. ^ Koch, p. 216

[edit] References

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of January 25, 2006.

  • David Blackbourn (2003). History of Germany, 1780-1918: The Long Nineteenth Century. Blackwell Publishing, 544. ISBN 063123196X. 
  • Mary Fulbrook (1983). Piety and Politics: Religion and the Rise of Absolutism in England, Wurttemberg and Prussia. Cambridge University Press, 223. ISBN 0521276330. 
  • H.W. Koch (1978). A History of Prussia. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 326. ISBN 0-88029-158-3. 

[edit] External links

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