Romanian Army - 1880s
The early years of Prince Carol's reign were devoted to the advancement of the country in many directions. Slowly, backed by the steadfast confidence of the people in their future, reforms were accomplished and progress made such as could not have been possible had he not found the moment ripe, and the people determined to support him, and sacrifice themselves for the advancement and benefit of their country.
His chief efforts were directed towards the reorganization and development of the Army, for which his early training in a crack Prussian regiment had qualified him. When he came to Roumania in i860 the Army consisted chiefly of raw levies armed for the most part with old rifles, sabres or pikes, lacking in all kinds of equipment. But his training under the great Moltke had well fitted the Prince for the organization necessary.
The Roumanian Army was principally a peasant one and resembles in quality the Bulgarian and Serbian. Military service is obligatory. Every male able to carry arms must be incorporated from the age of twenty into one or another branch of the service. Substitution is not permitted, only the clergy and the infirm are exempt, and in time of peace when an only son supports his family.
The army was divided into two elements : (1) the Active Army and the Reserve ; (2) the Territorial Army. Every soldier serves seven years in the Active Army and twelve years in the Reserve. The duration of actual active service with the colours is two years for infantry, three years for artillery, cavalry and engineers, four years for the navy.
The Active Army was divided into two parts - the Permanent and the Territorial. The number needed for each is decided every year by the Senate, and lots are drawn which decide the entry into one or the other ; the small numbers into the Territorial. The soldiers of the Permanent Army are in garrison for two or three years. The duration of service in the Territorial, where the men enter at forty years old, lasted six years. The Active Territorial Cavalry, which is a kind of peasant yeomanry, each man furnishing his own horse, implies an active service reduced to training periods and manoeuvres- somewhat on the Swiss model-but lasting four years instead of three.
This arrangement suits better an agricultural country like Roumania; it renders the upkeep of an army less costly, and does not take from the soil so many important workers. Though the Territorials did not have so long a period of military instruction as those of the Active Army they were none the less extraordinarily good soldiers, and in the war of 1877, when they composed two-thirds of the infantry, fought with such tenacity and dash against the Turks under Osman Pasha on the bloody field of Plevna that they added a splendid page to Roumanian military history.
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