Landwehr, or
Landeswehr, is a
German language term used in referring to
certain national
armies, or
militias found in nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large
scale, low strength fortifications. In German, the word means
"defence of the country"; but the term as applied to an
insurrectional militia is very ancient, and
lantveri are
mentioned in
Baluzii Capitularia, as quoted in
Hallam's
Middle Ages, i. 262, 10th
edition.
Austria-Hungary
The
Austrian Landwehr was one of
three components that made up the ground forces of the
Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy between 1867
and 1918, and it was composed of recruits from the
Cisleithanian part of the empire. The
Austro-Hungarian Army also consisted
of the common army recruited from all of the empire, and the
Hungarian
Honvédség
(
Ungarische Landwehr) that was recruited from the
Transleithanian part.
The Austrian Landwehr and the other components of the
Austro-Hungarian Army were all full time standing armies.
Prussia
Soldier of the Prussian Landwehr
1815
The
landwehr in Prussia
was first formed by a royal edict of 17 March 1813, which called up
all men capable of bearing arms between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five, and not serving in the regular army, for the defence of
the country. After the peace of 1815 this force was made an
integral part of the
Prussian army,
each brigade being composed of one line and one landwehr regiment.
This, however, retarded the mobilization and diminished the value
of the first line, and by the re-organization of 1859 the landwehr
troops were relegated to the second line.
Switzerland
In
Switzerland
the landwehr used to be a second line force, in
which all citizens served for twelve years. It was abolished
after the army reform in 1965. As a reference to this past, a
number of Swiss
wind bands bear the name
"Landwehr".
Baltische Landeswehr
The
Baltische Landeswehr was
the name of the armed forces of the puppet Government of Latvia
established by the
Baltic nobility.
The Baltic
state was designed to be established from territories that were
ceded by Imperial
Russia
in the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk in 1918, but collapsed in the Estonian War of Independence in
1919.
See also
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