(except in the case of a surprise invasion) the place of this corps
would be taken by "command of the sea." Abroad, the spirit of the
exposed regiments themselves furnishes the only guarantee, and this can
hardly be calculated with sufficient certainty, under modern conditions,
to justify the adoption of this new "enlistment system." Voluntary
service, therefore, with all its intrinsic merits, is only applicable to
the conditions of a great war when the war reserve can be trained _ad
hoc_.
43. The militia idea (see MILITIA) has been applied most completely in
Switzerland, which has no regular army, but trains almost the whole
nation as a militia. The system, with many serious disadvantages, has
the great merit that the maximum number of men receives a certain amount
of training at a minimum cost both to the state and to the individual.
Mention should also be made of the system of augmenting the national
forces by recruiting "foreign legions." This is, of course, a relic of
the _Werbe-system_; it was practised habitually by the British
governments of the 18th and early 19th centuries. "Hessians" figured
conspicuously in the British armies in the American War of Independence,
and the "King's German Legion" was only the best and most famous of many
foreign corps in the service of George III. during the Revolutionary and
Napoleonic wars. A new German Legion was raised during the Crimean War,
but the almost universal adoption of the _Krumper_ system has naturally
put an end to the old method, for all the best recruits are now
accounted for in the service of their own countries.
ARMY ORGANIZATION
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