Roon,the Prussian Landwehr,and the Reorganization of 1859—1860

Abstract

Historians have overestimated the impact of the so-called `Roon reforms' on the Prusso-German military system. Allegedly, these reforms abolished the Landwehr, an independent militia force of dubious military value, and thus enhanced the efficiency of the Prussian army so that it became capable of winning the Wars of Unification. This article argues that the Landwehr was not a militia but an extension of the regular army. It had lost its independence long before the reforms and remained a part of the field army long after them. The real military impact of the reforms was instead the increase in annual recruitment that made a much larger field army possible.