M. Maurice Block, a sound French statist, gives the following
as the real numbers of the armies maintained by the great military monarchies. The North Germans have 421,528 active soldiers, 298,113 reserves, and 95,000 reserves of the second ban. Austria has under her new organization 540,000 men, of whom 240,000 are Hungarians, and no effective reserves. Russia has, possibly, 800,000 men, but service being for 22 years,—that is, it is said, per- petual,—she has no reserves of drilled men at all. Italy has 396,000 effectives and 173,250 drilled reserves. The present French Army, therefore, which comprises 400,000 effectives and 200,030 reserves, is almost as strong as any other ; and the new army, which will comprise 400,000 effectives, 400,000 reserves, and 400,000 militia fit for garrison duty, will be the strongest of all. It will be noted besides that in Prussia the whole popula- tion, and in France five-eighths of all able-bodied men, have passed through the military mill. These statements are in answer to some extraordinary figures quoted by M. Rouher, who simply gave the paper " army " of each State as an effective force. It may be worth remembering that the highest number of able-bodied soldiers between 20 and 40 which any State can possibly yield is ten per cent. on its total census. No such number has, we believe, ever been yielded, the very largest, the final levy of the Convention, being barely five per cent.
Previous page
