Norwegian Life: An Account of Past and Contemporary Conditions and Progress in Norway and Sweden
History
Norwegian Life: An Account of Past and Contemporary Conditions and Progress in Norway and Sweden
Norway -- Social life and customs; Sweden -- Social life and customs
Everybody in Norway, that is every man, has to serve five years in the
army, so that every citizen is a soldier--the first year after the
twenty-third birthday seventy days, and thirty days or so each year
thereafter for four years more. The organization has a nominal
strength of 80,000 men of three divisions known as the landstrom, or
reserves (25,000); the landvern, or militia (55,000), and the opbud,
or regulars, who numbered about 5,000, garrison the different
fortresses along the coast. Every able-bodied Norwegian, except pilots
and clergymen, is obliged to serve in any position to which he is
assigned by the king, who is commander-in-chief. The sailors and
fishermen are enrolled in the navy and must serve aboard a man-of-war
at least twelve months. The land forces require five months' service
for infantry, seven months for cavalry and artillery, and six months
for engineers, which is distributed over a period of five years.
Training camps are established every summer in convenient localities
from two to three months. Every man capable of bearing arms is in time
of war liable to do service in the reserves, from the eighteenth to
the fiftieth year of age.
The organization is complete throughout the nation, so that an army
of 80,000 men can be mobilized in a few days. Every cavalryman and
artilleryman is required to bring a horse with him when he is called
to camp, and the arsenals contain a complete equipment of arms and
accoutrements. The non-commissioned officers are former members of
the regular army, in which they must have served three years in the
infantry and cavalry or four years in artillery and engineers. During
this period they are given a practical education in books and in the
mechanical duties of the soldier. They are taught to repair guns,
manufacture powder, make harness, shoe horses, and do everything else
that is likely to come within their experience in the field.
This training is highly valued by the young men of the country,
particularly by boys from the farms, because it gives them a certain
social standing, the right to wear a uniform, and a corresponding
amount of influence in the community. This regular army school takes
in about 1,700 young men every year.
The officers are educated in a military college. The complete course
covers five years for the staff, artillery, and engineer corps.
Candidates must first have graduated from one of the government
technical schools. The infantry and cavalry course is three years.
Graduates are appointed second lieutenants in the regular army, and
are promoted through the regular grades.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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