FRANCE AND GERMANY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7296, 12 February 1887, Page 4

FRANCE AND GERMANY.

' THE 1 RBIItIV-B S'Sb^QTHSOF Should the French Government tjhink fit to pick ap'the'^gld^re whiuh th». " honest' broker," -with£pls uiual^braUl i'fraqkness, >has <hosen?tp^Kowid^4> | l W i° f tho "military "resources of thes§|t wo great greaj^. powerrf.TNvill NpVsieis Mjniversal iriterest?It is not rnepf ly.,the forces on paper that affect the question — in these the; peace estabjisanwht oO^'nci' WUnWrly ;80,000 men larger Jthaff" that^or-hV firal— but their conveniance of. r^obJlisation and the power of itlie ixaVntryr to replnoe iJosses. The French, standing army, consists of 14i ro.^imeats of T the .ljnej ,eaoh. ..of four battalions o£ > four - oompanreß, —with -two depat_CQrnfwni<* > ''€Qi battalions of| Chasseurs a piedj-four regimeats of Zoiuves,-, , three regim^nt^iSfJliriUßfira -Ajl^eriens, ■■ on 6; •foreii»rF 1 1egidn} J< - t three J battalions of.. Africari lignt 6 inf antFy? -^^regfrnents of caVnlry^tteavy Wfi'll^h^WW^iaients of field-aftilfery,' '^ith 1 a suitable cjomple- " rneut opw^rSai^p^rtif^cel-i; and rjontonniers. .'^l^_to\al^|tfjeps;l'h,Jitt%cboii "flfl . unattaijhed, ! inclacfedrinl 'thrlburl^et for 1886, was 523 833, officer s, and men, and 131,3,8^ hprflei./^a^ingVjnto, acjcbftßt the Variods/' jpljisse's of, }f reflerves,".' Available, "Trance baa. about ,^,500,000, men at her dispcisal, tfnd/inoludin^Ube "various 'classes of ahle hgdied gienj yvhose services ihavol be' n, dispensed with she .may .comtuiridroi gr.^nti , Ao^'a^JjtyOOO. Thej peace ptrenath of the array is as follows': — 26,974 comrmßßiojaed offi^ers v 4'3 r 7,2P non;; commisßJoned' 1 ' 'omcerSj^'^SijlSO i men,"; totnl; , 523,824,] \^ith ". 2694 gun's add J16',89Q hoffies. On tha ; . .putbreak of war France wbaTd be able to taiie'anarmy,' including the r rsserve and territorial forces, of 2,000,000 rqen^ with aboujt ,3000 guns, of wliich, 1,400,000. men are field and reserve troopsj-jandiovef" 560,000 territorial . troqps." The'trmy' of Jh.etfirst lin« is estirantisd by-French' kathori'ties '^2,051,459 men, • and {hat' of 'the second line nt 2,057,196 men, or a total of 4,1j08,655. The whole of France is divided pto-lS military^ raeione, each under a peA.«<i^ of division, and subdivided idtD districts'bf ' the same circumference as the departments, under aigenornl of brigade. The fbrtified places have-Paris for their centre, t^ose on the Garman frontier 'bein*' 3 'first-class-fortre^es,-I'second class, 1 - 2 third], and 9 f our th x class. j ,' On' thd Belkipra there are 4 first class, 8 second, 6 thard and 6 fonrth class! 'The Italian/ frontier possesses 3. first class fortresses andj 11 detached forts. On the Mediterranean const are the great naval, harbor .and.' ars^naF of" Toulod, I' second class and 21 fourth class forts. „ On the Atlantic coast are 1 3 first class, 3 second, 2, third and lifourth'class forts ; and on ; the channel coast 1 first class, 2 second and 16 tourth;class works. -The Getmaaiempire is. divided into nine fortress . districts : -tKanigsberg, Etdatzig, Posen, Berlin, Colqgne, Altonn, and: Munich, -containing' 17 fortified camps, and 2& other ■ f oriresses|. The strenglh of ith^ Imperial itrmy J 6n a peace" footing is 445,424 officers ,and men, j ß.l,ooo. horses, and* 1374'pieces,,of field' arjtillerr. In addition toHhese'are 1686 surgeons, 783 paymasters, 619 yets.,, J 37 armorers, and, -93- sad^lers.'-'-The— wbf" strength- is more, than treble this nainber, bein^ raised to 1,535,400 officetSTand men, 312,000 jhorsep, and 2500 guns; The railway.nnd telegraph . war time 1 'employ over 8000 officers and' menj- and 5400 horsesl 1 The Landsturm andone,-year volunteer^ number •a reserve of nearly and tne total availa'ole force ,of all olaflses, isjeptjiraated at 5,670^0000 Thq.ijrmy •iß;rd'ividod "into companies; battalions^ egimeats, anUcp^gs yd- armee, the war. strength of -'a battalion being. 1002 mm? divicfed^iattf-four companies of -250^ each, commanded! (by;. a_ - mounted officer. '^T&x&e'or&g'dPurmee, with" thepxeepfiorf^bft'the^^auro's, l ate jlop^llj;, distributed throughout the empire, j Kach consists 'of- two divisions' of, infantry, 'a cavalry division of foiir "regiments', with two horse a'ffillery batteries .attached, be-, aiii:^ the 'tw<j'. ( Ciivalry, r,eglrnepts v attnched"' to.lh'e Fnfuntry rlivisionpi93...a."r,e"se'rve of artillery of six,field and one/fj^ing- battery. Each corpi hasjn addition a baitalioQ ot pioneerd and one. of. train. ,iSuch are tho means for land com >at n at, the disposal. of France arid- Qerniaiiy. It must, bowever^be borne in mind tliat the 1 latter' Power' has aH'hf'r^vast force ib baud reVfy! < for i'conc^ntrntlcD, - 'tot "s-itt'tred ' Abroad -at iM-a'Tajiasear, l Oqchin China, or r other placep, which the" 'fiJsdne" foreign 1 pblidy" of j the' R public'bas. led lier to 1 acn-x. '. Another element in.'ih'e cajculattou is thA superior physique, (except so fr<r'i!B e\ tei^nt ie^concerned) pogsos'sed by the Ttiiton?, rind thi'ir inci easing p opulu- (- ■ tion. '■ Before the Franco-Prussian war the population ot the States^ now formibg the tj«-Tcnan eenpire, Wa^SSjOOOjOOO— it is now -47,000,000; while -France, during thb same p'-riod, has oaly increased from 36,000,000 . t0^8,0p0,090. ._ f ■ ,\ . :.- ; I 1 • 'At- se'aV of ' cdflrse 1 tlie superiority of France-is anqaettiqned, her total npinber of war vessels afloat being nearly 400,^ including 22 squadron ironclads ; ! while , Gejrmany possessesronly, ibipp, {13 of -i'*r6icb- are'ironoladfr. -"-''''■' v"v "^ r ; l.n Glancing at the establishments of; other con tinantal powers likely to' take.papt in a struggle, which may become genera), we fine! the peace 7 strength 'of Austro'Hiingjiry -td be-17,867 dfficerg, '26B,sss rank add filetotal, 286,422, with 766,^uns 50,362 horseß,' War strength/ 32,785 officers, 1,044,319 men; total 1,077 ,104; L with' 1679 guns and 211,462';borae*. Ruosia, ! peace Btr->ngth, 807,242 \ (2% 441 officers),! with 1632 v guns nud 129,736 horses ;' war strength, 2,289,333, 4016 and 464,586 horses-; Of this total, 1.2411013 belong to tjie active army > ;and ,1,064^013 to tie. reserve army, 41,486 are enrolled in the frontier battalion?, while the ■ Cossacks form a force of 142,821 combatants. There is, besides, a territorial; reserve of nearly 2,000.000 men, and a- national militia of 1,200,P00 men,or nearly 6,000,000 men all told.j Cltaly; poa'ce.str'engtb, 215,000; war strength, 2,400,000; -and Turkey, 1,161,000 men, 3348 guns and 95,000 horses.