Landwehr

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

See also

• Slovensko domobranstvo (Slowenische Landeswehr)
• Volkssturm
• National Guard (disambiguation)

Notes

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.