who organized the Prussian army on lines of efficiency and
economy. It is related that Frederick, afterward "The Great," was taken
from his women teachers at the age of seven years and subjected to rigid
military discipline. He commanded a company of cadets, composed of the
sons of nobles who were compelled to drill for him, and at the age of
fourteen he was a captain in the Potsdam Guards, and when, in 1740, he
became king, he took the army and held all Europe at his mercy. His
successor, Frederick William II, was incapable, and the French
revolution found Germany in a state of discord.

When Frederick William III acceded to the throne in 1797 he started to
reorganize the army. Frederick William I had divided the country into
districts, or cantons, and here began the system of compulsory military
training. All males born were enrolled and liable to service when of
age. The army was recruited by districts and every district had its
regiment, though later exemptions were allowed. Under Frederick William
III, Scharnhorst, a Hanoverian, was the military reorganizer, and he
began the work with the slogan "All dwellers of the State are born
defenders of the same."

Instead of depending for its development on king, the army was directed
by genius of best men developed by the system. After the formation of
the German Empire in 1871, which placed the king of Prussia at its head,
the Constitution of the German Empire made every German a member of the
active army for seven years. Service with colors three years and with
the reserve four. In 1875 there were eighteen army corps, of which
twelve were Prussian. The strength by law in 1874 was 400,000.

PEACE STRENGTH INCREASED.

In 1881 the established peace strength was increased by thirty-four
battalions of infantry, forty batteries of field artillery and other
forces, and in 1886 Bismarck, recognizing the power of Prussianism and
its military influence, was compelled to dissolve the Reichstag, but
after the election in 1887 thirty-one other battalions and twenty-four
batteries were added. Two complete army corps were added in 1890, and in
1893 the color service, or length of time when reservists were subject
to duty under colors only, was decreased by two years, bringing the
peace strength up to more than half a million and the reservists up to
4,000,000. Step by step the strength of the military force was increased
until after the adoption of the law of 1913, when provision