Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Military Emulation in the International System
- 2 Theory of Military Emulation
- 3 Arms and States in Nineteenth-Century South America
- 4 Military Emulation in Chile, 1885–1914
- 5 Military Emulation in Argentina, 1895–1930
- 6 Military Emulation in Brazil, 1870–1930
- 7 Conclusion
- Index
3 - Arms and States in Nineteenth-Century South America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Military Emulation in the International System
- 2 Theory of Military Emulation
- 3 Arms and States in Nineteenth-Century South America
- 4 Military Emulation in Chile, 1885–1914
- 5 Military Emulation in Argentina, 1895–1930
- 6 Military Emulation in Brazil, 1870–1930
- 7 Conclusion
- Index
Summary
This chapter addresses two important, if disparate, empirical matters. The first part of this chapter provides a general sketch of the Prussian/German and French military systems from the 1860s to the interwar period. The purpose of this sketch is to identify their distinguishing features in order to trace their reappearance in the emulation processes of the South American republics. As noted previously, since the South Americans hired French and German military-training missions to direct their modernization, we need not be too concerned about fidelity to the original model. The second section offers an analysis of the South American balance-of-power system and the regional militaries prior to large-scale military emulation.
THE GERMAN AND FRENCH MILITARY SYSTEMS, 1870–1930
This section summarizes the main features of the French and Prussian/German military systems in the areas of conscription and training, officer recruitment and instruction, general staff organization, command structure, and territorial and reserve organization. I focus exclusively on army organization. The summary centers on two aspects of these systems that distinguished them most: their conscription system and their general staff organization.
The German and French systems shared a long history of armed competition as well as mutual imitation, such that by the 1880s they shared in common a number of organizational elements. In the wake of devastating defeats at Jena and Auerstädt, Prussia borrowed heavily from the innovations of Napoleon. After the embarrassment of 1870, France emulated the Prussian system. As a result of this overlap, isolating their unique features is challenging.
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- Information
- Neorealism, States, and the Modern Mass Army , pp. 93 - 127Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007