Was 18th century Prussia really so militarily obsessed?
score:19
Prussia as been described as "an army with a piece of land attached." That said, some of the things implied by the book are not correct.
First, men were conscripted around age 20, but that doesn't mean that they were kept in the army until age 60. They were typically released when they exited "military age" (late twenties) and another batch of men were recruited (except for officers). In terms of finding wives, the men that had successfully completed military service were the more desirable ones (just ask the Israelis), as opposed to deserters.
Second, Prussia typically had 4% of its population in the army (e.g. 80,000 men vs. 2 million), that is 8% of its male population, and 12% of its adult male population. That's a high proportion, but not out of line with other highly militaristic states (e.g. Sweden, or the France of Louis XIV).
Third, morale was kept "relatively" high by good rations, a pound of beef per week that allowed men to eat meat twice a week. That forced civilian employers (e.g. Silesian coal mines) to provide similar rations; otherwise the men could "opt" to return to the army. It was a hardship on farmers (that is, landowners as opposed to farm workers), but those were the breaks. Many of those landowners had officered the same, or similar men in the army, so there was a certain amount of empathy.
Finally, the military system of Prussia, like later military system of Germany, fed on itself. Silesia, captured in the 1740s, was the ultimate prize, but through the 17th century, Brandenburg-Prussia kept gobbling up pieces of the northern part of the former East Germany, and (Polish) Pomerania. Each new acquisition added to the wealth of the Prussian empire, and made the burden easier to bear for the earlier members.
Regarding "philosophy," the greatest militarist, Frederick the Great, was also among the greatest philosophers, who invited France's Voltaire, to his court at Sans Souci (sic!). To a lesser degree, this was true of other Prussian kings.
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Source: stackoverflow.com
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