Village books

" Later, Napoleon remarked that
Prussia "was hatched from a cannon ball," and shortly before the
Franco-Prussian war of 1870 the French military _attache_, in
reporting to his government, wrote that "other countries possessed
an army, but in Prussia the army possessed the country."
In practice the class of nobles in Prussia owns the army. Officers
may enter the army in two ways, either by enlisting in the regiment,
first as private and then being rapidly promoted to the position
of non-commissioned officer, and then probationary ensign, or
_avantageur_; or the young aspirant may come directly from
a two years' course in one of the cadet schools and enter the
regiment as probationary ensign. In both cases the young officer
is observed by the officers during a period of probation and
can become an officer of that regiment only by the consent of
the regimental officers. In other words, each regiment is like
a club, the officers having the right of black-ball.
This system has practically confined the professional officers to
a class of nobles.


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