204-454: Freikorps ( German: [ˈfʁaɪˌkoːɐ̯] , "Free Corps " or "Volunteer Corps ") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies , regardless of their own nationality. In German-speaking countries , the first so-called Freikorps ("free regiments", Freie Regimenter ) were formed in
408-582: A corps d'armée in 1815 for commanding his mixed allied force of four divisions against Napoleon I. When the British Army was expanded from an expeditionary force in the First World War, corps were created to manage the large numbers of divisions. The British corps in World War I included 23 infantry corps and a few mounted corps. The word was adopted for other special formations such as
612-721: A French company of Miners was captured and taken into service of the Republic. France also made extensive use of Free Companies and Legions. At the Battle of Fontenoy , deployment of the British attack column was hampered by the French 'Harquebusiers de Grassins'. After the Battle of Lauffelt, French light troops pursued the retreating allies, but were engaged in a bloody guerilla war with Austrian and Dutch light troops and Free Companies for
816-457: A MEF headquarters group, a Marine division, a Marine aircraft wing, and a force service support group (re-designated as Marine logistics group in 2005). The pre– World War II Red Army of the former USSR had rifle corps much like in the Western sense with approximately three divisions to a corps. However, after the war started, the recently purged Soviet senior command ( Stavka ) structure
1020-639: A battalion were ever trained or exercised. Early in the Second World War, Canada's contribution to the British-French forces fighting the Germans was limited to a single division. After the fall of France in June 1940, a second division moved to England, coming under command of a Canadian corps headquarters. This corps was renamed I Canadian Corps as a second corps headquarters was established in
1224-668: A casualty when a bullet smashed a snuffbox he was carrying. Nevertheless, the Austro-Russian forces hesitated and stopped their advance for the year, an event Frederick later called the " Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ". Frederick spent the remainder of the year in a futile attempt to manoeuvre the Austrians out of Saxony, where they had recaptured Dresden. His effort cost him further losses when his general Friedrich August von Finck capitulated at Maxen on 20 November. At
1428-557: A close relationship, which lasted until her death in 1758. Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. Undeterred by his father's desire that his education be entirely religious and pragmatic, the young Frederick developed a preference for music, literature, and French culture. Frederick Wilhelm thought these interests were effeminate, as they clashed with his militarism, resulting in his frequent beating and humiliation of Frederick. Nevertheless, Frederick, with
1632-518: A communications regiment (or a separate battalion). In 1945, air defence corps could include 1 anti-aircraft artillery brigade or division. Air defence fighters operating within the limits of responsibility of the KPVO was transferred to the corps. By the end of the war, there were 14 KPVO in the Active Army, of which 5 corps continued to carry out the tasks assigned to them even after the war, and
1836-1097: A contingent of troops to aid the Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the War of the Polish Succession , Frederick studied under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the campaign against France on the Rhine ; he noted the weakness of the Imperial Army under Eugene's command, something that he would capitalise on at Austria's expense when he took the throne. Frederick William, weakened by gout and seeking to reconcile, granted Frederick Schloss Rheinsberg in Rheinsberg , north of Neuruppin. At Rheinsberg, Frederick assembled musicians, actors and other artists. He spent his time reading, watching and acting in dramatic plays, and composing and playing music. Frederick formed
2040-407: A corps is also a grouping of personnel by common function, also known as an arm , service , mustering or branch . In the British Army, an administrative corps performs much the same role – for personnel that otherwise lack them – as a ceremonial regiment . An administrative corps therefore has its own cap badge , stable belt , and other insignia and traditions. In some cases, the term corps
2244-577: A corps-sized formation in the First World War; the Canadian Corps was unique in that its composition did not change from inception to the war's end, in contrast to British corps in France and Flanders. The Canadian Corps consisted of four Canadian divisions. After the Armistice, the peacetime Canadian militia was nominally organized into corps and divisions but no full-time formations larger than
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#17327655515512448-448: A dedicated Cavalry Corps of three divisions and horse artillery assigned to the corps headquarters. In the early years of the war, field artillery was either part of an artillery reserve under direct army control or assigned to individual divisions. However, after the Battle of Chancellorsville the divisional artillery was placed under corps control, with each corps assigned a brigade of between four and six batteries commanded by
2652-636: A defender of German liberties. To stop Joseph II's attempts to acquire Bavaria, Frederick enlisted the help of the Electors of Hanover and Saxony along with several other minor German princes. Perhaps even more significantly, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church, the Archbishop of Mainz, who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick and Prussia's standing amid
2856-729: A former lover and favourite, on the Polish throne. After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities in 1769–1770, Frederick's representative in Saint Petersburg, his brother Prince Henry, convinced Frederick and Maria Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. They agreed to
3060-715: A kind of commando or guerrilla force. Throughout the 19th century, these anti-Napoleonic Freikorps were greatly praised and glorified by German nationalists, and a heroic myth built up around their exploits. This myth was invoked, in considerably different circumstances, in the aftermath of Germany's defeat in World War I . The anti-Napoleonic movements in Germany, Russia and Spain in the early 1810s also produced their own style of poetry, hussar poetry or Freikorps poetry , written by soldier-poets. In Germany, Theodor Körner , Max von Schenkendorff and Ernst Moritz Arndt were
3264-472: A lesser extent, German youth who were not old enough to have served in World War I enlisted in the Freikorps in hopes of proving themselves as patriots and as men. Regardless of reasons for joining, modern German historians agree that men of the Freikorps consistently embodied post- Enlightenment masculine ideals that are characterized by "physical, emotional, and moral 'hardness'". Described as "children of
3468-540: A marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November, which secured Berlin from further raids. Frederick became a casualty when he was hit in the chest by a spent bullet. By 1761, both the Austrian and Prussian military forces were so exhausted that no major battles were fought between them. Frederick's position became even more desperate when Britain, having achieved victory in the American and Indian theatres of
3672-477: A much larger Franco-Austrian army at the Battle of Rossbach and another Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen . Frederick hoped these two victories would force Austria to negotiate, but Maria Theresa was determined not to make peace until she had recovered Silesia. Despite its strong performance, the losses suffered from combat, disease and desertion had severely reduced the quality of the Prussian army. In
3876-547: A number of aides-de-camp and a general staff of other officers. This staff consisted of a chief of cavalry, a chief of artillery, and representatives of the War Department 's various bureaus: an assistant adjutant general , a quartermaster , an assistant inspector general , a commissary of subsistence, an ordnance officer (all with the rank of lieutenant colonel ), and a medical director. However, there were no dedicated combat service support formations as part of
4080-557: A number of "Vrij compagnieën"(Free Companies), raised between 1745 and 1747 and made up of volunteers and French deserters, such as the Walloon Grenadier Company. Although mostly used for reconnaissance and harassing enemy columns, the companies were organised into a battalion and engaged at the engagement at Wouw and the Battle of Lauffelt . Some companies were accompanied by a company of Dragons or Hussars, such as Roodt's Company and Cornabé's Legion. And in late 1747,
4284-480: A number of independent brigades or regiments and supporting units. The Chinese Republic had 133 corps during the Second Sino-Japanese War . After losses in the early part of the war, under the 1938 reforms, the remaining scarce artillery and the other support formations were withdrawn from the division and was held at corps, or army level or higher. The corps became the basic tactical unit of
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#17327655515514488-413: A numerically superior foe. This allowed Napoleon I to mass the bulk of his forces to effect a penetration into a weak section of enemy lines without risking his own communications or flank. This innovation stimulated other European powers to adopt similar military structures. The corps has remained an echelon of French Army organization to the modern day. As fixed military formation already in peace-time it
4692-572: A period of considerable religious and political freedom. Soon Protestants were barred from public offices and the Sejm (Polish Parliament). Frederick took advantage of this situation by becoming the protector of Protestant interests in Poland in the name of religious freedom. Frederick further opened Prussian control by signing an alliance with Catherine the Great who placed Stanisław August Poniatowski ,
4896-603: A romantic model of a glorified warrior, praising his leadership, administrative efficiency, devotion to duty and success in building Prussia into a great power. Frederick remained an admired historical figure through Germany's defeat in World War ;I , and the Nazis glorified him as a great German leader prefiguring Adolf Hitler , who personally idolised him. His reputation became less favourable in Germany after World War II , partly due to being symbolically adopted by
5100-836: A section leader and quartermaster. Reich Farmers' Leader and Minister of Food and Agriculture Richard Walther Darré was part of the Berlin Freikorps. Reinhard Heydrich , future chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo , Kripo , and SD ) and initiator of the Final Solution , was in Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker 's Freikorps as a teenager. Leader of the SS Heinrich Himmler enlisted in
5304-584: A sense of belonging in the Freikorps. Jason Crouthamel notes how the Freikorps' military structure was a familiar continuation of the frontlines, emulating the Kampfgemeinschaft (battle community) and Kameradschaft (camaraderie), thus preserving "the heroic spirit of comradeship in the trenches". Others, angry at Germany's sudden, seemingly inexplicable defeat , joined the Freikorps to fight against communism and socialism in Germany or to exact some form of revenge on those they considered responsible. To
5508-399: A soldier as part of a specific corps (or sometimes individual battalion). This lanyard is a woven piece of cord which is worn on ceremonial uniforms and dates back to the issue of clasp knives in the early 20th century which were secured to the uniform by a length of cord. If a soldier is posted to a unit outside of their parent corps, except in some circumstances the soldier continues to wear
5712-408: A terrible man he was. But he was just, intelligent, and skilled in the management of affairs... it was through his efforts, through his tireless labour, that I have been able to accomplish everything that I have done since." Frederick was twenty-eight years old when his father died and he ascended to the throne of Prussia. Frederick William I had left him with a highly militarised state. Prussia
5916-516: A territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg, and his East Prussian provinces. The new territories would provide an increased tax base, manpower for the military, and serve as a surrogate for the overseas colonies of the other great powers. Poland was vulnerable to partition due to poor governance and the interference of foreign powers in its internal affairs. Frederick himself was partly responsible for this weakness by opposing attempts at financial and political reform in Poland, and undermining
6120-482: A third. It also prevented Augustus III , King of Poland and Elector of Saxony , from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. In late March 1741, Frederick set out on campaign again to capture the few remaining fortresses within the province that were still holding out. He was surprised by the arrival of an Austrian army, which he fought at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741. Though Frederick had served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this
6324-505: Is also used informally, for looser groupings of independent regiments and other units – and without many or any unifying regalia , military traditions or other accoutrements – such as the Royal Armoured Corps or the "Corps of Infantry". In Australia, soldiers belong foremost to a corps which defines a common function or employment across the army. The Australian Army has a system of coloured lanyards, which each identify
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6528-480: Is an operational-tactical formation (in the past - the highest tactical formation) of the former Soviet Air Defence Forces and now Russian Air Defence Forces /Aerospace Forces. The purpose of the such a corps is to protect important administrative, industrial and economic centers and regions of the country, groupings of troops (forces) and military facilities within the established limits of responsibility against air strikes. In organizational terms, an air defence corps
6732-500: Is composed of three or four divisions. There are three types of corps in the Indian Army: strike, holding and mixed. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Pakistan Army has nine manoeuvre corps, each commanded by a lieutenant general . Each corps is composed of at least two divisions. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Polish Armed Forces used independent operational groups in
6936-571: Is part of the district (or a separate army) of the Air Defence Forces. Also some air defence corps were separate. On the basis of individual corps, air defence zones or air defence corps areas could be created. The first KPVO were created in February 1938 for the air defence of Moscow , Leningrad and Baku (respectively 1st, 2nd and 3rd) based on anti-aircraft artillery divisions and air defence brigade ( 3rd KPVO ). The staff of
7140-489: Is the highest level of the forces that is concerned with actual combat and operational deployment. Higher levels of command are concerned with administration rather than operations, at least under current doctrine. The corps provides operational direction for the forces under its command. As of 2014, the active field corps in the US Army are I Corps , III Corps , and XVIII Airborne Corps ; their lineages derive from three of
7344-702: The ARVN corps areas. As of July 2016, the Army deactivated all corps headquarters save three CONUS based corps ( I Corps - Washington, III Corps - Texas, and XVIII Airborne Corps - North Carolina). In the 1960s, the Marine Corps activated the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) on Okinawa (based in California since 1971) and II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) in North Carolina, and re-activated
7548-721: The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 1994. It is no longer a purely British formation, although the UK is the "framework nation" and provides most of the staff for the headquarters. A purely national Corps headquarters could be quickly reconstituted if necessary. It took command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan on 4 May 2006. Previously, it was deployed as the headquarters commanding land forces during
7752-799: The Australian I Corps was formed to co-ordinate three Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) units: the 6th , 7th and 9th Divisions , as well as other Allied units on some occasions, in the North African campaign and Greek campaign . Following the commencement of the Pacific War , there was a phased withdrawal of I Corps to Australia, and the transfer of its headquarters to the Brisbane area, to control Allied army units in Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW). II Corps
7956-564: The Battle of Chotusitz . Frederick's retrained cavalry proved more effective than at Mollwitz, but once more it was the discipline of the Prussian infantry that won the field and allowed Frederick to claim a major victory. This victory, along with the Franco-Bavarian forces capturing Prague, forced the Austrians to seek peace. The terms of the Treaty of Breslau , negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County, with
8160-700: The Convention of Westminster , by which Prussia would protect Hanover against French attack, and Britain would no longer subsidise Russia. This treaty triggered the Diplomatic Revolution in which Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, who had been traditional enemies, allied together with Russia to defeat the Anglo-Prussian coalition. To strengthen his strategic position against this coalition, on 29 August 1756, Frederick's well-prepared army preemptively invaded Saxony. His invasion triggered
8364-613: The Corps Francs d'Afrique (CFA) (African Corps Franc) was raised in French Morocco within the Free French Forces by General Giraud . Giraud drew the members of the all-volunteer unit from residents of Northern Africa of diverse religious backgrounds (Christian, Jew, and Muslim) and gave them the title of Vélite , a name inspired by the elite light infantry of Napoleon's Imperial Guard , who were named after
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8568-1122: The Darlan Deal wherein Vichy French forces came over to the Allied side. Darlan was later assassinated by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle , an early member of the Corps Francs d'Afrique. They functioned as the Free French equivalent to the British Commandos . The Corps also included many Spanish and International old combatants of the Spanish Republican Army , which had sought refuge in Northern Africa in 1939. The Corps Francs d'Afrique, under command of Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert , went on to fight Rommel's Afrikakorps in Tunisia with
8772-934: The Dental Branch (Canadian Forces) and the Canadian Forces Medical Service of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CF H Svcs Gp). The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps transport and supply elements were combined with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps to form the Logistics Branch The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps clerical trades were merged with the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps and
8976-555: The First Partition of Poland in 1772 without war. Frederick acquired most of Royal Prussia, annexing 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi) and 600,000 inhabitants. Although Frederick's share of the partition was the smallest of the partitioning powers, the lands he acquired had roughly the same economic value as the others and had great strategic value. The newly created province of West Prussia connected East Prussia and Farther Pomerania, granted Prussia control of
9180-411: The Gorlitz Freikorps under Lieutenant Colonel Faupel, and two Swabian divisions from Württemberg under General Haas and Major Hirl as well as the largest Freikorps in Bavaria commanded by Colonel Franz Ritter von Epp . While they were met with little Communist resistance, the Freikorps acted with particular brutality and violence under Noske's blessing and at the behest of Major Schulz, adjutant of
9384-424: The Groupes Francs Motorisé de Cavalerie (GFC) who played a storied role in the delaying operations and last stands of the Battle of France , notably in the defenses of the Seine and the Loire . Between April – September 1944, the Corps Franc de la Montagne Noire unit operated as part of the French Resistance . On 25 November 1942, in the immediate aftermath of the Allied Invasion of Vichy French North Africa
9588-443: The Invasion of Germany . Notes Bibliography Corps Corps ( / k ɔːr / ; plural corps / k ɔːr z / ; from French corps , from the Latin corpus "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I , the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies greatly, but two to five divisions and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 are
9792-438: The KPVO included: 4-6 anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 1 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment, 1 searchlight regiment (or battalion), 1-2 regiments (or divisions) barrage balloons , 1- 2 regiments (or battalions) of visual observation, warning and communications ( VNOS ), and a separate communications battalion. From September 1938 to November 1940, the KPVO also included 1-2 regiments (battalions) of local air defence. During
9996-415: The King's German Legion , who had fought for Britain in French-occupied Spain and mainly were recruited from Hanoverians, the Lützow Free Corps and the Black Brunswickers . The Freikorps attracted many nationally disposed citizens and students. Freikorps commanders such as Ferdinand von Schill , Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow or Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , known as
10200-399: The Kosovo War in 1999 and also saw service in Bosnia and Herzegovina , commanding the initial stages of the IFOR deployment prior to that in 1996. Otherwise, the only time a British corps headquarters has been operationally deployed since 1945 was II Corps during the Suez Crisis . The structure of a field corps in the United States Army is not permanent. On the battlefield, the corps
10404-499: The League of Nymphenburg , sponsored the candidacy of his ally Charles of Bavaria to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. In late November, the Franco-Bavarian forces took Prague, and Charles was crowned King of Bohemia. Subsequently, he was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII on 24 January 1742. After the Austrians pulled their army out of Silesia to defend Bohemia, Frederick pursued them and blocked their path to Prague. The Austrians counter-attacked on 17 May 1742, initiating
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#173276555155110608-455: The Lützow Freikorps , who reminded his men that it "[was] a lot better to kill a few innocent people than to let one guilty person escape" and that there was no place in his ranks for those whose conscience bothered them. On 5 May 1919, Lieutenant Georg Pölzing, one of Schulz's officers, travelled to the town of Perlach outside of Munich . There, Pölzing chose a dozen alleged communist workers—none of whom were actually communists, but members of
10812-404: The Maginot Line during the period known as the Phoney War (Drôle de Guerre) . They were tasked with attacking German troops guarding the Siegfried Line . Future Vichy collaborationist , Anti-Bolshevik and SS Major Joseph Darnand was one of the more famous participants in these commando actions. In May 1940, the experience of the Phoney War-era Corps Franc was an influence in creating
11016-417: The Napoleonic Wars , Austria recruited various Freikorps of Slavic origin. The Slavonic Wurmser Freikorps fought in Alsace . The combat effectiveness of the six Viennese Freikorps (37,000 infantrymen and cavalrymen), however, was low. An exception were the border regiments of Croats and Serbs who served permanently on the Austro- Ottoman border. During Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia ,
11220-452: The Nazis beginning in 1923. The rise of the Nazi Party led to a resurgence of Freikorps activity, as many members or ex-members were drawn to the party's marrying of military and political life and extreme nationalism by joining the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS). Unlike in the German Revolution of 1918–19 or their involvement in Eastern Europe, the Freikorps now had almost no military value and were instead utilized by
11424-656: The Nazis in their rise to power. The first Freikorps appeared during the War of the Austrian Succession and especially during the Seven Years' War, when France, Prussia, and the Habsburg monarchy embarked on an escalation of petty warfare while conserving their regular regiments. Even during the last Kabinettskrieg , the War of the Bavarian Succession , Freikorp formations were formed in 1778. Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Lithuanians, and South Slavs , as well as Turks, Tatars and Cossacks , were believed by all warring parties to be inherently good fighters. The nationality of many soldiers can no longer be ascertained as
11628-776: The Netze District , recognising their educational activities as an asset for the nation. He continued to support them after their suppression by Pope Clement XIV . He befriended the Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop of Warmia, Ignacy Krasicki , whom he asked to consecrate St. Hedwig's Cathedral in 1773. He accepted countless Protestant weavers from Bohemia, who were fleeing from the devoutly Catholic rule of Maria Theresa, granting them freedom from taxes and military service. Constantly looking for new colonists, he encouraged immigration by repeatedly emphasising that nationality and religion were of no concern to him. This policy allowed Prussia's population to recover very quickly from its considerable losses during Frederick's three wars. Though Frederick
11832-400: The Officers Training Corps . Military training of teenage boys is undertaken at secondary schools through the Combined Cadet Force , in which participation was compulsory at some schools in the 1950s. Schoolboy jargon called the CCF simply "Corps". The British Army still has a corps headquarters for operational control of forces. I Corps of the British Army of the Rhine was redesignated
12036-418: The Prussian Law Code of 1794, which balanced absolutism with human rights and corporate privilege with equality before the law. Reception to the law code was mixed as it was often viewed as contradictory. Frederick strove to put Prussia's fiscal system in order. In January 1750, Johann Philipp Graumann was appointed as Frederick's confidential adviser on finance, military affairs, and royal possessions, and
12240-455: The Roman Velites . Much of the Corps was drawn from Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie and José Aboulker 's Géo Gras French Resistance Group which had been responsible for the Algiers Insurrection where the Resistance seized control of Algiers on the night of 8 November 1942 in coordination with the Allied landings happening that same night. In taking over Algiers, they managed to capture both Admiral Darlan and General Juin , which led to
12444-489: The Royal Canadian Postal Corps to form the Administration Branch (later merged with the Logistics Branch ) Other "corps", included: Canadian Engineer Corps , Signalling Corps , Corps of Guides , Canadian Women's Army Corps , Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps , Canadian Forestry Corps , Canadian Provost Corps and Canadian Intelligence Corps . Frederick the Great Frederick II ( German : Friedrich II. ; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786)
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#173276555155112648-405: The Social Democratic Party —and shot them on the spot. The following day, a Freikorps patrol led by Captain Alt-Sutterheim interrupted the meeting of a local Catholic club, the St Joseph Society, and chose twenty of the thirty members present to be shot, beaten, and bayoneted to death. A memorial on Pfanzeltplatz in Munich commemorates the incident. Historian Nigel Jones notes that as a result of
12852-432: The Third Silesian War and the larger Seven Years' War , both of which lasted until 1763. He quickly captured Dresden, besieged the trapped Saxon army in Pirna , and continued marching the remainder of his army toward North Bohemia, intending to winter there. At the Battle of Lobositz he claimed a close victory against an Austrian army that was aiming to relieve Pirna, but afterward withdrew his forces back to Saxony for
13056-538: The Weimar Republic , the tenuous German government under Friedrich Ebert , leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands , SPD), used the Freikorps to quell socialist and communist uprisings. Minister of Defence and SPD member Gustav Noske also relied on the Freikorps to suppress the Marxist Spartacist uprising , culminating in the summary executions of revolutionary communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg on 15 January 1919. The Bavarian Soviet Republic
13260-440: The seignorage . The coin eventually became universally accepted beyond Prussia and helped increase industry and trade. A gold coin, the Friedrich d'or , was also minted to oust the Dutch ducat from the Baltic trade. However, the fixed ratio between gold and silver led to the gold coins being perceived as more valuable, which caused them to leave circulation in Prussia. Unable to meet Frederick's expectations for profit, Graumann
13464-501: The "Black Duke", led their own attacks on Napoleonic occupation forces in Germany. Those led by Schill were decimated in the Battle of Stralsund (1809) ; many were killed in battle or executed at Napoleon's command in the aftermath. The Freikorps were very popular during the period of the German War of Liberation (1813–15), during which von Lützow, a survivor of Schill's Freikorps , formed his Lützow Free Corps. The anti-Napoleonic Freikorps often operated behind French lines as
13668-443: The "Soldier King", had created a large and powerful army that included a regiment of his famous " Potsdam Giants "; he carefully managed the kingdom's wealth and developed a strong centralised government. He had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. In contrast, Frederick's mother Sophia, whose father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg , had succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714,
13872-430: The "Thousand of Marsala", which landed in Sicily in 1860. Even before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, Freikorps were developed in France that were known as franc-tireurs . After World War I , the meaning of the word Freikorps changed compared to its past iterations. After 1918, the term referred to various—yet, still, loosely affiliated— paramilitary organizations that were established in Germany following
14076-411: The 15th century. Thus, upon succeeding to the throne on 31 May 1740, Frederick declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI . Upon the death of Charles VI on 29 October 1740, Frederick disputed the 23-year-old Maria Theresa's right of succession to
14280-441: The 1759 campaign, the Austrian and Russian forces took the initiative, which they kept for the remainder of the war. They joined and advanced on Berlin. Frederick's army, which consisted of a substantial number of quickly recruited, half-trained soldiers, attempted to check them at the Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August, where he was defeated and his troops were routed. Almost half his army was destroyed, and Frederick almost became
14484-498: The 18th century from native volunteers, enemy renegades, and deserters . These sometimes exotically equipped units served as infantry and cavalry (or, more rarely, as artillery); sometimes in just company strength and sometimes in formations of up to several thousand strong. There were also various mixed formations or legions. The Prussian von Kleist Freikorps included infantry, jäger , dragoons and hussars . The French Volontaires de Saxe combined uhlans and dragoons. In
14688-939: The Armour Branch continued to use the title Royal Canadian Armoured Corps , the Infantry Branch continued to use the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps designation, and the Artillery Branch uses the term Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery . When the Army, Royal Canadian Navy , and Royal Canadian Air Force were merged in 1968 to form the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Dental Corps and Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps were deactivated and merged with their Naval and Air Force counterparts to form
14892-648: The Army and Marines diverged in their approach to the concept of the field corps. The Army continued to group its divisions into traditional corps organizations in the Continental United States (CONUS), West Germany ( V Corps and VII Corps ), and South Korea (I Corps). However, during the Vietnam War , the Army designated its corps-level headquarters in South Vietnam as I Field Force and II Field Force to avoid confusion with
15096-794: The Austrian Emperor Joseph II , the French court was unwilling to support him because they were already supporting the American revolutionaries in North America and the idea of an alliance with Austria had been unpopular in France since the end of the Seven Years' War. Frederick ended up as a beneficiary of the American Revolutionary War , as Austria was left more or less isolated. Saxony and Russia, both of which had been Austria's allies in
15300-565: The Austrians retaining only the portion called Austrian or Czech Silesia . By 1743, the Austrians had subdued Bavaria and driven the French out of Bohemia. Frederick strongly suspected Maria Theresa would resume war in an attempt to recover Silesia. Accordingly, he renewed his alliance with France and preemptively invaded Bohemia in August 1744, beginning the Second Silesian War . In late August 1744, Frederick's army had crossed
15504-549: The Austrians, who were reinforced by the Saxons, crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. After allowing them across, Frederick pinned them down and decisively defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June 1745. Frederick subsequently advanced into Bohemia and defeated a counterattack by the Austrians at the Battle of Soor . Frederick then turned toward Dresden when he learned the Saxons were preparing to march on Berlin. However, on 15 December 1745, Prussian forces under
15708-800: The Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria . For their part, the Austrians tried to pressure the French to participate in the War of Bavarian Succession since there were guarantees under consideration related to the Peace of Westphalia , clauses which linked the Bourbon dynasty of France and the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty of Austria. Unfortunately for
15912-557: The Bayard Order to discuss warfare with his friends; Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué was made the grand master of the gatherings. Later, Frederick regarded this time as one of the happiest of his life. Studying the works of Niccolò Machiavelli , such as The Prince , was considered necessary for any king in Europe to rule effectively. In 1739, Frederick finished his Anti-Machiavel , an idealistic rebuttal of Machiavelli. It
16116-524: The Bohemian frontier, marched directly to Prague, and laid siege to the city, which surrendered on 16 September 1744 after a three-day bombardment. Frederick's troops immediately continued marching into the heart of central Bohemia, but Saxony had now joined the war against Prussia. Although the combined Austrian and Saxon armies outnumbered Frederick's forces, they refused to directly engage with Frederick's army, harassing his supply lines instead. Frederick
16320-690: The Civil War lacked standing organization at the corps and division levels, it moved swiftly to adopt these during the mobilization for the Spanish–American War in the spring of 1898. On 7 May, General Order 36 called for the establishment of seven "army corps" (repeating the nomenclature of the Civil War); an eighth was authorized later that month. Two of these saw action as a unit: the Fifth in Cuba and
16524-459: The Confederate corps at the Battle of Gettysburg , for instance, exceeded 20,000 men. However, for both armies, unit sizes varied dramatically with attrition throughout the war. In Civil War usages, by both sides, it was common to write out the number, thus "Twenty-first Army Corps", a practice that is usually ignored in modern histories of the war. Although the US Army in the years following
16728-667: The Director-General of all mint facilities . Graumann's currency reform slightly lowered the silver content of Prussian thaler from 1 ⁄ 12 Cologne mark of silver to 1 ⁄ 14 , which brought the metal content of the thaler into alignment with its face value, and it standardised the Prussian coinage system. As a result, Prussian coins, which had been leaving the country nearly as fast as they were minted, remained in circulation in Prussia. Frederick estimated that he earned about one million thalers in profits on
16932-557: The East, the Freikorps launched a campaign of propaganda that falsely positioned themselves as protectors of Germany's territorial hegemony over Lithuania , Latvia , and Estonia as a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and as defenders against Slavic and Bolshevik hordes that "raped women and butchered children" in their wake. Historian Nigel Jones highlights the Freikorps's "usual excesses" of violence and murder in Latvia which were all
17136-769: The Eighth in the Philippines; elements of the First , Fourth , and Seventh made up the invasion force for Puerto Rico (the Second, Third , and Seventh provided replacements and occupation troops in Cuba, while the Sixth was never organized). The corps headquarters were disbanded during the months following the signing of the peace treaty (with the exception of the Eighth Army Corps, which remained active until 1900 due to
17340-793: The Freikorps and carried a flag in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch . Rudolf Höss joined the East Prussian Volunteer Freikorps in 1919 and eventually became commander of the Auschwitz extermination camp . Ernst Röhm , eventual leader of the SA , supported various Bavarian Freikorps groups, funnelling them arms and cash. Although many high-ranking National Socialists were former Freikorps fighters, recent research shows that former Freikorps fighters were no more likely to be involved in National Socialist organisations than
17544-581: The Freikorps as a nuisance and possible threat to his consolidation of power. During the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, an internal purge of Hitler's enemies within the Nazi Party , numerous Freikorps members and leaders were targeted for killing or arrest, including Freikorps commander Hermann Ehrhardt and SA leader Ernst Röhm . In Hitler's Reichstag speech following the purge, Hitler denounced
17748-689: The Freikorps as lawless "moral degenerates...aimed at the destruction of all existing institutions" and as "pathological enemies of the state...[and] enemies of all authority," despite his previous public adoration of the movement. Numerous future members and leaders of the Nazi Party served in the Freikorps. Martin Bormann , eventual head of the Nazi party Chancellery and Private Secretary to Hitler, joined Gerhard Roßbach's Freikorps in Mecklenburg as
17952-412: The Freikorps radicalized Western and German norms of male self-control into a perpetual war against feminine-coded desires for domesticity, tenderness, and compassion amongst men. Historians Nigel Jones and Thomas Kühne note that the Freikorps' displays of violence, terror, and male aggression and solidarity established the beginnings of the fascist New Man upon which the Nazis built. The extent of
18156-487: The Freikorps' autonomy and strength steadily declined as Hans von Seeckt , commander of the Reichswehr, removed all Freikorps members from the army and restricted the movements' access to future funding and equipment from the government. Von Seeckt was successful, and by 1921 only a small yet devoted core remained, effectively drawing an end to the Freikorps until their resurgence as far-right thugs and street brawlers for
18360-574: The Freikorps' involvement and actions in Eastern Europe , where they demonstrated full autonomy and rejected orders from the Reichswehr and German government , left a negative impression with the state. By this time, the Freikorps had served Ebert's purpose of suppressing revolts and communist uprisings. After the failed Kapp-Lütwitz Putsch in March 1920 that the Freikorps participated in,
18564-525: The Freikorps' violence, Munich's undertakers were overwhelmed, resulting in bodies lying in the streets and decaying until mass graves were completed. The Freikorps also fought against communists and Bolsheviks in Eastern Europe, most notably East Prussia , Latvia , Silesia , and Poland . The Freikorps demonstrated fervent anti-Slavic racism and viewed Slavs and Bolsheviks as "sub-human" hordes of "ravening wolves". To justify their campaign in
18768-552: The German states. In his earliest published work, the Anti-Machiavel , and his later Testament politique ( Political Testament ), Frederick wrote that the sovereign was the first servant of the state. Frederick helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state. He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. He increased
18972-598: The Great Patriotic War from November 1941 to April 1944 the air defence corps were renamed into air defence corps areas (such as the Stalingrad Corps Region ). The corps districts included up to 9 anti-aircraft artillery regiments and 14 separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions, up to 3 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiments, 1 searchlight regiment, 1 regiment (or division) of barrage balloons, up to 4 regiments (or separate battalions) VNOS, and
19176-576: The Habsburg lands, while simultaneously asserting his own right to the Austrian province of Silesia based on a number of old, though ambiguous, Hohenzollern claims to parts of Silesia. The First Silesian War (1740–1742, part of the War of the Austrian Succession ) began on 16 December 1740 when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied almost all of Silesia within seven weeks. Though Frederick justified his occupation on dynastic grounds,
19380-553: The III Amphibious Corps (which had been deactivated in 1946) as III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) in South Vietnam (re-deployed to Okinawa in 1971). In 1965, all three MEFs were subsequently re-designated as Marine amphibious forces or MAFs, and in 1988 all three Marine Corps corps-level commands were again re-designated as Marine expeditionary forces (MEF). The MEF had evolved into a self-contained, corps-level, Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) consisting of
19584-659: The NRA having strength nearly equivalent to an allied division . The modern People's Liberation Army Ground Force group army ( 集团军 ) is the closest equivalent of a corps. After the military reforms of the early 2010s, a typical PLA group army consists of six combined arms brigades, plus additional artillery, air defence, engineering, sustainment, special operations and army aviation assets. Each formation contains approximately 30,000 combat troops and several thousands more supporting personnel. The French Army under Napoleon I used corps-sized formations ( French : corps d'armée ) as
19788-631: The Nazis as a historical hero. Historians in the 21st century tend to view Frederick as an outstanding military leader and capable monarch, whose commitment to enlightenment culture and administrative reform built the foundation that allowed the Kingdom of Prussia to contest the Austrian Habsburgs for leadership among the German states. Frederick was the son of then-Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover . He
19992-405: The Nazis as thugs to engage in street brawls with communists and to break up anarchist, communist and socialist meetings alongside the SA to gain a political edge. Moreover, the Nazis elevated the Freikorps as a symbol of pure German nationalism, anti-communism, and militarized masculinity to co-opt the lingering social and political support of the movement. Eventually, Adolf Hitler came to view
20196-492: The Polish economy by inflating its currency by his use of Polish coin dies. The profits exceeded 25 million thalers , twice the peacetime national budget of Prussia. He thwarted Polish efforts to create a stable economic system by building a customs fort at Marienwerder on the Vistula, Poland's major trade artery, and by bombarding Polish customs ports on the Vistula. Frederick used Poland's religious dissension to keep
20400-524: The Prussian ambassador in London , Benjamin Reichenbach. The pair undermined the relationship between the British and Prussian courts using bribery and slander. Eventually Frederick William became angered by the idea of Frederick being married to an English wife and under the influence of the British court. Instead, he signed a treaty with Austria, which vaguely promised to acknowledge Prussia's rights to
20604-417: The Seven Years' War, were now allied with Prussia. Although Frederick was weary of war in his old age, he was determined not to allow Austrian dominance in German affairs. Frederick and Prince Henry marched the Prussian army into Bohemia to confront Joseph's army, but the two forces ultimately descended into a stalemate, largely living off the land and skirmishing. Frederick's longtime rival Maria Theresa, who
20808-496: The Soviet air defence corps were also created. In June–July 1960, all KPVO were enlarged and consisted of: anti-aircraft missile regiments and brigades, air defense fighter regiments, radio engineering regiments and brigades, separate electronic warfare battalions, regiments and battalions of communications and logistics institutions. In many English-speaking countries and other countries influenced by British military traditions,
21012-642: The Treaty of Hubertusburg, Catherine the Great signed an eight-year alliance with Prussia, albeit with conditions that favoured the Russians. Frederick's ultimate success came at a heavy financial cost to Prussia. Part of the burden was covered by the Anglo-Prussian Convention , which gave Frederick an annual £670,000 in British subsidies from 1758 until 1762. These subsidies ceased when Frederick allied with Peter III, partly because of
21216-601: The U.S. 5th Army . They fought alongside the British 139th Brigade at Kassarine and Sidi Nasr , where they famously conducted a heroic bayonet charge, facing two to one odds, against the Italian 34th Battalion of the 10th Bersaglieri near the mountain of Kef Zilia on the road to Bizerte , taking 380 prisoners, killing the Italian battalion commander, and capturing the plans for Operation Ausladung . They participated in
21420-566: The UK, with the eventual formation of five Canadian divisions in England. I Canadian Corps eventually fought in Italy, II Canadian Corps in northwest Europe, and the two were reunited in early 1945. After the formations were disbanded after VE Day, Canada has never subsequently organized a corps headquarters. Royal Canadian Army Cadets : A corps size in the RCAC is different everywhere, depending on
21624-641: The aftermath of World War I and during the German Revolution of 1918–19 , Freikorps , consisting partially of World War I veterans, were raised as paramilitary militias. They were ostensibly mustered to fight on behalf of the government against the German communists attempting to overthrow the Weimar Republic . However, many Freikorps also largely despised the Republic and were involved in assassinations of its supporters, later aiding
21828-710: The aftermath of the Napoleonic era , Freikorps were set up with varying degrees of success. During the March 1848 riots, student Freikorps were set up in Munich. In First Schleswig War of 1848 the Freikorps of von der Tann , Zastrow and others distinguished themselves. In 1864 in Mexico, the French formed the so-called Contreguerrillas under former Prussian hussar officer, Milson. In Italy , Giuseppe Garibaldi formed his famous Freischars , notably
22032-527: The army. Major General George B. McClellan , for example, planned to organize the Army of the Potomac into corps of two or more divisions and about 25,000 soldiers. However, he delayed doing so, partly for lack of experienced officers, and partly for political reasons, until March 1862 when President Lincoln ordered their creation. The exact composition of a corps in the Union Army varied during
22236-529: The arts and the Enlightenment . Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great (German: Friedrich der Große ) and was nicknamed " Old Fritz " (German: der Alte Fritz ). In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia . However, upon ascending to
22440-461: The arts and philosophers he favoured, and allowed freedom of the press and literature. Frederick was almost certainly homosexual , and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. Because he died childless, he was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II . He is buried at his favourite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam . Nearly all 19th-century German historians made Frederick into
22644-593: The average male population in Germany. During World War II , there existed certain armed groups loyal to Germany that went under the name "Freikorps". These include: In France , a similar group (but unrelated to the Freikorps) were the "Corps Franc". Starting in October 1939, the French Army raised a number of Corps Franc units with the mission of carrying out ambush, raid, and harassing operations forward of
22848-648: The avidity of my enemies". The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 led to the succession of the Prussophile Peter ;III , her German nephew, who was also the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition; Peter immediately promised to end the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania. One of Peter III's first diplomatic endeavours
23052-475: The battles of Krasnoi and the Berezina . Freikorps in the modern sense emerged in Germany during the course of the Napoleonic Wars. They fought not so much for money but for patriotic reasons, seeking to shake off the French Confederation of the Rhine . After the French under Emperor Napoleon had either conquered the German states or forced them to collaborate, remnants of the defeated armies continued to fight on in this fashion. Famous formations included
23256-400: The beginning of 1760, the Austrians moved to retake Silesia, where Frederick defeated them at the Battle of Liegnitz on 15 August. The victory did not allow Frederick to regain the initiative or prevent Russian and Austrian troops from raiding Berlin in October to extort a ransom from the city. At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war. He won
23460-463: The brigade pattern were created in the Belorussian Military District (Western TVD/Strategic Direction) and the 48th Separate Guards Army Corps in the Transbaikal Military District , but abandoned after a few years. The Soviet Air Forces used ground terminology for its formations down to squadron level. As intermediates between the aviation division and the air army were corps—these also had three air divisions each. An Air Defence Corps ('KPVO')
23664-500: The brutal and deadly beatings of suspected communists and particularly communist women. Freikorps ranks were composed primarily of former World War I soldiers who, upon demobilization , were unable to reintegrate into civilian society having been brutalized by the violence of the war physically and mentally. Combined with the government's poor support of veterans, who were dismissed as hysterical when suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder , many German veterans found comfort and
23868-549: The capture of Bizerte in May 1943. For its actions, the Corps Franc d'Afrique was awarded the Croix de Guerre . The CFA formally was dissolved on 9 July 1943, with its members and equipment forming the corps of the newly created African Commando Group (GCA) on 13 July 1943 in Dupleix , Algeria , today seen as a forebear to the postwar Parachutist Shock Battalions and the modern day 13th RDP . The GCA went on to fight at Pianosa , Elba , Salerno , Provence , Belfort , Giromagny , Alsace , Cernay , Guebwiller , Buhl , and
24072-419: The changed political situation and because of Britain's decreasing willingness to pay the sums Frederick wanted. Frederick also financed the war by devaluing the Prussian coin five times; debased coins were produced with the help of Leipzig mintmasters , Veitel Heine Ephraim , Daniel Itzig and Moses Isaacs. He also debased the coinage of Saxony and Poland . This helped Frederick cover over 20 per cent of
24276-422: The command of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau soundly defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf . After linking up his army with Leopold's, Frederick occupied the Saxon capitol of Dresden, forcing the Saxon elector, Augustus III, to capitulate. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden , signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia. It
24480-510: The conflict. Although Frederick managed to bring his army up to 190,000 men by the time the economy had largely recovered in 1772, which made it the third-largest army in Europe, almost none of the officers in this army were veterans of his generation and the King's attitude towards them was extremely harsh. Frederick suffered a number of personal losses. Many of his closest friends and family members—including his brother Augustus William, his sister Wilhelmine, and his mother—had died while Frederick
24684-435: The corps formed during World War I (I and III Corps) and World War II (XVIII Airborne Corps). On 12 February 2020, it was announced that the Army was reactivating V Corps to bolster the presence of US forces in Europe. The first field corps in the United States Army were legalized during the American Civil War by an act of Congress on 17 July 1862, although the term had been used previously to refer to any large portion of
24888-432: The corps. This meant that either civilian workers had to be hired or line soldiers detailed from their units to carry out the necessary tasks. Initially, corps were numbered in relation to their field army, such as I Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. After a while these numerical designations became unique to each corps regardless of the army to which they were assigned. Although designated with numbers that are sometimes
25092-403: The cost of the war, but at the price of causing massive inflation and economic upheaval throughout the region. Saxony, occupied by Prussia for most of the conflict, was left nearly destitute as a result. While Prussia lost no territory, the population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. The best of Frederick's officer corps were killed in
25296-404: The crown prince fainted just before the fatal blow. Frederick was granted a royal pardon and released on 18 November 1730, although he remained stripped of his military rank. He was forced to remain in Küstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration for the War and Estates Departments. Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Küstrin a year later, and Frederick
25500-464: The crown prince. Frederick had nine siblings who lived to adulthood. He had six sisters. The eldest was Wilhelmine , who became his closest sibling. He also had three younger brothers, including Augustus William and Henry . The new king wished for his children to be educated not as royalty, but as simple folk. They were tutored by a French woman, Madame de Montbail , who had also educated Frederick William. Frederick William I, popularly dubbed
25704-399: The defeat in World War I. Of the numerous Weimar paramilitary groups active during that time, the Freikorps were, and remain, the most notable. While numbers are difficult to determine, historians agree that some 500,000 men were formal Freikorps members with another 1.5 million men participating informally. Amongst the social, political, and economic upheavals that marked the early years of
25908-455: The economy. One of Frederick's achievements after the Seven Years' War included the control of grain prices, whereby government storehouses would enable the civilian population to survive in needy regions, where the harvest was poor. He commissioned Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky to promote the trade and – to take on the competition with France – put a silk factory where 1,500 people found employment. Frederick followed Gotzkowsky's recommendations in
26112-443: The eruption of the Philippine–American War ), and like the corps of the Civil War, their lineage ends at that point. During World War I, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) adopted the common European usage of designating field corps by Roman numerals . Several " corps areas " were designated under the authority of the National Defense Act of 1920 , but played little role until the Army's buildup for World War II. While some of
26316-422: The ethnic origin was often described imprecisely in the regimental lists. Slavs (Croats, Serbs) were often referred to as "Hungarians" or just "Croats", and Muslim recruits (Albanians, Bosnians, Tatars) as "Turks". Inspired by the Slavic troops in Austrian service, France, the Dutch Republic and other nations began employing "Free Troops", usually consisting of infantry and cavalry units. The Dutch Republic employed
26520-441: The field of toll levies and import restrictions. When Gotzkowsky asked for a deferral during the Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 , Frederick took over his porcelain factory, now known as KPM . Frederick modernised the Prussian civil service and promoted religious tolerance throughout his realm to attract more settlers in East Prussia. With the help of French experts, he organised a system of indirect taxation , which provided
26724-478: The first formal combined-arms groupings of divisions with reasonably stable manning and equipment establishments. Napoleon I first used the corps d'armée in 1805. The use of the corps d'armée was a military innovation that provided Napoleon I with a significant battlefield advantage in the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars . The corps was designed to be an independent military group containing cavalry, artillery and infantry, and capable of defending against
26928-538: The former Duchy of Prussia , outside of the Empire bordering the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He was titled King in Prussia because his kingdom included only part of historic Prussia; he was to declare himself King of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. When Frederick became king, he faced vulnerably disconnected holdings with a weak economic base. To strengthen Prussia's position, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty had reigned as Holy Roman Emperors continuously since
27132-527: The free infantry which consisted of various military branches (such as infantry, hussars, dragoons, jäger ) and were used in combination. They were often used to ward off Maria Theresa 's Pandurs. In the era of linear tactics , light troops had been seen necessary for outpost, reinforcement and reconnaissance duties . During the war, eight such volunteer corps were set up: Because, some exceptions, they were seen as undisciplined and less battleworthy, they were used for less onerous guard and garrison duties. In
27336-450: The freedom of speech in press and literature, abolished most uses of judicial torture , and limited which crimes could be punished by death. Working with his Grand Chancellor Samuel von Cocceji , he reformed the judicial system and made it more efficient, and he moved the courts toward greater legal equality of all citizens by removing special courts for special social classes. The reform was completed after Frederick's death, resulting in
27540-445: The grain stocks he held in reserve for military campaigns. Many other rulers soon followed the steps of Frederick in reforming their own currencies. The functionality and stability of the reform made the Prussian monetary system the standard in Northern Germany. Around 1751, Frederick founded the Emden Company to promote trade with China. He introduced the lottery , fire insurance , and a giro discount and credit bank to stabilise
27744-548: The hat badge and lanyard of their corps (e.g. a clerk posted to an infantry battalion would wear the hat badge of the Royal Australian Ordnance Corps but would wear the lanyard of the battalion they are posted to). In Canada , with the integration of the Canadian Army into the Canadian Forces , the British corps model was replaced with personnel branches , defined in Canadian Forces Administrative Orders (CFAOs) as "...cohesive professional groups...based on similarity of military roles, customs and traditions." CFAO 2-10) However,
27948-416: The help of his tutor in Latin, Jacques Duhan , procured a 3,000-volume secret library of poetry, Greek and Roman classics, and philosophy to supplement his official lessons. Frederick William I had been raised a Calvinist in spite of the Lutheran state faith in Prussia, but feared he was not one of God's elect . To avoid the possibility of his son Frederick being motivated by the same concerns,
28152-416: The honours befitting her station, but never displayed any affection. After their separation, he would only see her on state occasions. These included visits to her on her birthday, among the rare occasions when Frederick did not wear military uniform. In 1732, Frederick was restored to the Prussian Army as Colonel of the Regiment von der Goltz, stationed near Nauen and Neuruppin . When Prussia provided
28356-413: The hussar Denis Davydov , a warrior-poet , formed volunteer partisan detachments functioning as Freikorps during the French retreat from Moscow . These irregular units operated in conjunction with Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov 's regular Russian Imperial Army and Ataman Matvei Platov 's Cossack detachments, harassing the French supply lines and inflicting defeats on the retreating Grande Armée in
28560-594: The immediate interwar era . Although World War I ended in Germany's surrender, many men in the Freikorps nonetheless viewed themselves as soldiers still engaged in active warfare with enemies of the traditional German Empire such as communists and Bolsheviks , Jews, socialists , and pacifists . Prominent Freikorps member Ernst von Salomon described his troops as "full of wild demand for revenge and action and adventure...a band of fighter...full of lust, exultant in anger." In 1977, German sociologist Klaus Theweleit published Male Fantasies, in which he argues that men in
28764-407: The inhabitants as "slovenly Polish trash". His long-term goal was to remove the Poles through Germanisation , which included appropriating Polish Crown lands and monasteries, introducing a military draft, encouraging German settlement in the region, and implementing a tax policy that disproportionately impoverished Polish nobles. Late in his life Frederick involved Prussia in the low-scale War of
28968-409: The invasion of this militarily and politically vulnerable part of the Habsburg empire also had the potential to provide substantial long-term economic and strategic benefits. The occupation of Silesia added one of the most densely industrialised German regions to Frederick's kingdom and gave it control over the navigable Oder River . It nearly doubled Prussia's population and increased its territory by
29172-471: The king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination . Despite his father's intention, Frederick appeared to have adopted a sense of predestination for himself. At age 16, Frederick formed an attachment to the king's 17-year-old page , Peter Karl Christoph von Keith . Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became inseparable.... He served my brother from feelings of real devotion". Wilhelmine would further record that "Though I had noticed that he
29376-450: The kingdom open to Prussian control. Poland was predominantly Roman Catholic, but approximately ten per cent of Poland's population, 600,000 Eastern Orthodox and 250,000 Protestants, were non-Catholic dissenters. During the 1760s, the dissenters' political importance was out of proportion to their numbers. Although dissenters still had substantial rights, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had increasingly been reducing their civic rights after
29580-411: The large scale of combat, multiple corps were combined into armies which then formed into army groups . In Western armies with numbered corps, the number is often indicated in Roman numerals (e.g., VII Corps ). The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was raised in 1914, consisting of Australian and New Zealand troops, who went on to fight at Gallipoli in 1915. In early 1916, the original corps
29784-416: The lower numbered corps were used for various exercises, the inter-war years corps served mostly as a pool of units. During that war, the Marine Corps organized corps headquarters for the first time, the I Marine (later III Amphibious Corps ) and V Amphibious Corps . The Army ultimately designated 25 field corps (I–XVI, XVIII–XXIV, XXXVI, and I Armored Corps ) during World War II. After the Korean War ,
29988-439: The meantime, the Russian army had advanced within 100 miles (160 km) east of Berlin. In August, he fought the Russian forces to a draw at the Battle of Zorndorf , in which nearly a third of Frederick's soldiers were casualties. He then headed south to face the Austrian army in Saxony. There, he was defeated at the Battle of Hochkirch on 14 October, although the Austrian forces were not able to exploit their victory. During
30192-402: The mid-1720s, Queen Sophia Dorothea attempted to arrange the marriage of Frederick and his sister Wilhelmine to her brother King George II 's children Amelia and Frederick , the heir apparent . Fearing an alliance between Prussia and Great Britain , Field Marshal von Seckendorff , the Austrian ambassador in Berlin , bribed the Prussian Minister of War, Field Marshal von Grumbkow , and
30396-419: The more unrestrained since they were fighting in a foreign land versus their own country. Hundreds were murdered in the Freikorps' Eastern campaigns, such as the massacre of 500 Latvian civilians suspected of harbouring Bolshevik sympathies or the capture of Riga which saw the Freikorps slaughter some 3,000 people. Summary executions via firing squads were most common, but several Freikorps members recorded
30600-456: The most famous soldier-poets from the Freikorps. Their lyrics were for the most part patriotic, republican, anti-monarchical and anti-French. In Russia, the leader of the guerrilla army, Davydov, invented the genre of hussar poetry, characterised by hedonism and bravado. He used events from his own life to illustrate such poetry. Later, when Mikhail Lermontov was a junker ( cadet ) in the Russian Imperial Army, he also wrote such poetry. Even in
30804-444: The mouth of the Vistula River , and cut off Poland's sea trade. Maria Theresa had only reluctantly agreed to the partition, to which Frederick sarcastically commented, "she cries, but she takes". Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilising mission that emphasised the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways. He saw Polish Prussia as barbaric and uncivilised, describing
31008-526: The niece of Empress Anna of Russia , but this plan was ardently opposed by Prince Eugene of Savoy . Frederick himself proposed marrying Maria Theresa of Austria in return for renouncing the succession. Instead, Eugene persuaded Frederick William, through Seckendorff, that the crown prince should marry Elisabeth Christine , a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs . Frederick wrote to his sister that, "There can be neither love nor friendship between us", and he threatened suicide, but he went along with
31212-450: The numbers stated by the US Department of Defense. Within military terminology a corps may be: These usages often overlap. Corps may also be a generic term for a non-military organization , such as the US Peace Corps and European Solidarity Corps . In many armies, a corps is a battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions , and typically commanded by a lieutenant general . During World War I and World War II , due to
31416-408: The pair of treason . The king briefly threatened the crown prince with execution , then considered forcing Frederick to renounce the succession in favour of his brother, Augustus William, although either option would have been difficult to justify to the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire . The king condemned Katte to death and forced Frederick to watch his beheading at Küstrin on 6 November;
31620-435: The place of the corps before and during World War II . An example would be Independent Operational Group Polesie . The groups, as the name indicates, were more flexible and showed greater capacity to absorb and integrate elements of broken units over a period of just a couple days and keep cohesion during the September Campaign than more traditional army units such as divisions, regiments, or even brigades. Wellington formed
31824-455: The principalities of Jülich - Berg , which led to the collapse of the marriage proposal. Soon after his relationship with Keith ended, Frederick became close friends with Hans Hermann von Katte , a Prussian officer eight years older than Frederick who became one of his boon companions and may have been his lover. After the English marriages became impossible, Frederick plotted to flee to Britain with Katte and other junior army officers. While
32028-451: The remainder of the campaign. For Prussia, the Pandurs , who were made up of Croats and Serbs , were a clear model for the organization of such "free" troops. On 15 July 1759, Frederick the Great ordered the creation of a squadron of volunteer hussars to be attached to the 1st Hussar Regiment (von Kleist's Own). He entrusted the creation and command of this new unit to Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Kleist. This first squadron (80 men)
32232-457: The remaining years of the war, Frederick faced a coalition of enemies including Austria, France, Russia, Sweden , and the Holy Roman Empire, supported only by Britain and its allies Hesse , Brunswick , and Hanover . In 1758 Frederick once more took the initiative by invading Moravia. By May, he had laid siege to Olomouc , but the Austrians were able to hold the town and destroyed Frederick's supply train, forcing him to retreat into Silesia. In
32436-415: The rest of the corps were disbanded. In July 1947, all KPVO were renamed anti-aircraft artillery corps. In January 1949, part of these corps was reorganized into air defence areas. From December 1948 to January 1949, all anti-aircraft artillery corps were disbanded. In June 1954, for the defense of the main industrial and economic centers and regions of the USSR, 10 air defence corps were re-created. At
32640-463: The royal retinue was near Mannheim in the Electorate of the Palatinate , Robert Keith (Peter Keith's brother and one of Frederick's companions) had an attack of conscience when the conspirators were preparing to escape and begged Frederick William for forgiveness on 5 August 1730. Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin . Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Britain, Frederick William accused
32844-598: The same as those found in the modern US Army, there is no direct lineage between the 43 Union field corps of the Civil War and those with similar names in the modern era, due to congressional legislation caused by the outcry from veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Spanish–American War . In the Confederate States Army , field corps were authorized in November 1862. They were commanded by lieutenant generals, and were usually larger than their Union Army counterparts because their divisions contained more brigades, each of which could contain more regiments. All of
33048-399: The same time, in addition to anti-aircraft artillery formations, fighter aviation regiments and divisions were included in the corps. Since the late 1950s, anti-aircraft artillery units have been replaced by anti-aircraft missile formations and formations of radio engineering troops. Searchlight and barrage balloon units were also abolished. In the Warsaw Pact countries, groupings similar to
33252-412: The senior-most artillery officer. In general, the other field armies tended to model their organization after the Army of the Potomac, including the gradual development of corps. Corps were commanded by major generals because Congress refused to promote officers past that grade (with the exception of Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general in 1864). To assist with their command, generals were allowed
33456-405: The size of the huge army he had inherited. The situation is summed up in a widely translated and quoted aphorism attributed to Mirabeau , who asserted in 1786 that " La Prusse n'est pas un pays qui a une armée, c'est une armée qui a un pays " ("Prussia was not a state in possession of an army, but an army in possession of a state"). Using the resources his frugal father had cultivated, Frederick
33660-407: The size. The commanding officer can be a captain (Previously, Commanding Officers of a large corps could have been a Major, but that capability has been removed with the creation of CJCR Group Order 5511-1) The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) corps ( 軍團 ) was a type of military organization used by the Chinese Republic , and usually exercised command over two to three NRA divisions and often
33864-505: The so-called "petty wars", the Freikorps interdicted enemy supply lines with guerrilla warfare . In the case of capture, their members were at risk of being executed as irregular fighters. In Prussia the Freikorps , which Frederick the Great had despised as "vermin", were disbanded. Their soldiers were given no entitlement to pensions or invalidity payments. In France, many corps continued to exist until 1776. They were attached to regular dragoon regiments as jäger squadrons . During
34068-559: The start of the Seven Years' War in 1756. In each case, these confessions also served personal or political goals. He tolerated all faiths in his realm, but Protestantism remained the favoured religion, and Catholics were not chosen for higher state positions. Frederick wanted development throughout the country, adapted to the needs of each region. He was interested in attracting a diversity of skills, whether from Jesuit teachers, Huguenot citizens, or Jewish merchants and bankers. Frederick retained Jesuits as teachers in Silesia, Warmia , and
34272-492: The state with more revenue than direct taxation; though French officials administering it may have pocketed some of the profit. He established new regulations for tax officials to reduce graft. In 1781, Frederick made coffee a royal monopoly and employed disabled soldiers, the coffee sniffers , to spy on citizens illegally roasting coffee, much to the annoyance of the general population. Though Frederick started many reforms during his reign, his ability to see them to fulfillment
34476-533: The state. He modernised the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and pursued religious policies that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick encouraged immigrants of diverse backgrounds to come to Prussia. While Protestantism remained the favored faith, he allowed religious freedom and tolerated Jews and Catholics in Prussia, however his actions were not entirely without prejudice. He supported
34680-427: The threat to his eastern borders over, and France also seeking peace after its defeats by Britain, Frederick was able to fight the Austrians to a stalemate. While the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg returned the European borders to what they had been before the Seven Years' War, Frederick's ability to retain Silesia in spite of the odds earned Prussia admiration throughout the German-speaking territories. A year following
34884-412: The throne, Frederick separated from Elisabeth. He granted her the Schönhausen Palace and apartments at the Berliner Stadtschloss , but he prohibited her from visiting his court in Potsdam . They had no children, and Frederick bestowed the title of the heir to the throne, "Prince of Prussia", on his brother Augustus William. Nevertheless, Elisabeth Christine remained devoted to him. Frederick gave her all
35088-406: The throne, he attacked and annexed the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. Frederick was a supporter of enlightened absolutism , stating that the ruler should be the first servant of
35292-421: The trenches, spawned by war" and its process of brutalization, historians argue that Freikorps men idealized a militarized masculinity of aggression, physical domination, the absence of emotion (hardness). They were to be as "swift as greyhounds, tough as leather, [and] hard as Krupp steel" so as to defend what remained of German conservatism in times of social chaos, confusion, and revolution that came to define
35496-408: The war with Prussia to regain Silesia. During the ten years of peace that followed the signing of the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick prepared to defend his claim on Silesia by further fortifying the province, expanding his army, and reorganising his finances. In 1756, Frederick attempted to forestall Britain's financing of a Russian army on Prussia's border by negotiating an alliance with Britain at
35700-423: The war, 14 " free infantry " ( Frei-Infanterie ) units were created, mainly between 1756 and 1758, which were intended to be attractive to those soldiers who wanted military "adventure", but did not want to have to do military drill. A distinction should be made between the Freikorps formed up to 1759 for the final years of the war, which operated independently and disrupted the enemy with surprise attacks, and
35904-513: The war, ended its financial support for Prussia after the death of King George II, Frederick's uncle. The Russian forces also continued their advance, occupying Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. With the Russians slowly advancing towards Berlin, it looked as though Prussia was about to collapse. On 6 January 1762, Frederick wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein , "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from
36108-402: The war, the tank and mechanized corps were re-rated as divisions. During the reforms of 1956–58, most of the corps were again disbanded to create the new combined arms and tank armies. A few corps were nevertheless retained. The Vyborg and Archangel Corps of the Leningrad Military District were smaller armies with three low-readiness motorized rifle divisions each. In the 1980s "Unified Corps" on
36312-413: The war, though it usually consisted of between two and six division (on average three) for approximately 36,000 soldiers. After Ambrose Burnside was given command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862, he reorganized it into three "grand divisions" of two corps and a cavalry division each, but this structure was abolished when Joseph Hooker took over February 1863. This also led to the creation of
36516-464: The wedding on 12 June 1733. He had little in common with his bride, and the marriage was resented as an example of the Austrian political interference that had plagued Prussia. Nevertheless, during their early married life, the royal couple resided at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin. Later, Elisabeth Christine accompanied Frederick to Schloss Rheinsberg, where at this time she played an active role in his social life. After his father died and he ascended
36720-438: The winter. When the Saxon forces in Pirna finally capitulated in October 1756, Frederick forcibly incorporated them into his own army. This action, along with his initial invasion of neutral Saxony, brought him widespread international criticism; but the conquest of Saxony provided him with significant financial, military, and strategic assets to sustain the war. In the early spring of 1757, Frederick again invaded Bohemia. He
36924-450: Was Joseph's mother and his co-ruler, did not want a new war with Prussia, and secretly sent messengers to Frederick to discuss peace negotiations. Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to enter the war on Frederick's side if peace was not negotiated, and Joseph reluctantly dropped his claim to Bavaria. When Joseph tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund (League of Princes), allowing himself to be seen as
37128-450: Was a short-lived and unrecognized socialist-communist state from 12 April – 3 May 1919 in Bavaria during the German Revolution of 1918–19 . Following a series of political revolts and takeovers from German socialists and then Russian-backed Bolsheviks, Noske responded from Berlin by sending various Freikorps brigades to Bavaria in late April totalling some 30,000 men. The brigades included Hermann Ehrhardt's second Marine Brigade Freikorps,
37332-458: Was after the signing of the treaty that Frederick, then 33 years old, first became known as "the Great". Though Frederick had withdrawn from the War of the Austrian Succession once Austria guaranteed his possession of Silesia, Austria remained embroiled in the war until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Less than a year after the treaty was signed, Maria Theresa was once more seeking allies, particularly Russia and France, to eventually renew
37536-399: Was allowed to visit Berlin for his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth on 20 November 1731. The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Küstrin on 26 February 1732 on condition that he marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern . Frederick William considered marrying Frederick to Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ,
37740-426: Was also formed, with Militia units, to defend south-eastern Australia, and III Corps controlled land forces in Western Australia . Sub-corps formations controlled Allied land forces in the remainder of Australia. I Corps headquarters was later assigned control of the New Guinea campaign . In early 1945, when I Corps was assigned the task of re-taking Borneo , II Corps took over in New Guinea. Canada first fielded
37944-574: Was apparently unable to handle the formations, and the armies and corps were integrated. Rifle corps were re-established during the war after Red Army commanders had gained experience handling larger formations. Before and during World War II, however, Soviet armoured units were organized into corps. The pre-war mechanized corps were made up of divisions. In the reorganizations, these "corps" were reorganized into tank brigades and support units, with no division structure. Owing to this, they are sometimes, informally, referred to as "brigade buckets". After
38148-407: Was born between 11 and 12 p.m. on 24 January 1712 in the Berlin Palace and was baptised with the single name Friedrich by Benjamin Ursinus von Bär on 31 January. The birth was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I , as his two previous grandsons had died in infancy. With the death of Frederick I in 1713, his son Frederick William I became King in Prussia, thus making young Frederick
38352-447: Was engaged in the war. Frederick sought to acquire and economically exploit Polish Prussia as part of his wider aim of enriching his kingdom. As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that his country would benefit from annexing Polish territory, and had described Poland as an "artichoke, ready to be consumed leaf by leaf". By 1752, he had prepared the ground for the partition of Poland–Lithuania, aiming to achieve his goal of building
38556-411: Was eventually able to establish Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power . When Frederick ascended the throne as the third "King in Prussia" in 1740, his realm consisted of scattered territories, including Cleves , Mark , and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire; Brandenburg , Hither Pomerania , and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire; and the Kingdom of Prussia,
38760-524: Was forced to withdraw to Silesia as winter approached. In the interim, Frederick successfully claimed his inheritance to the minor territory of East Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany, occupying the territory after its last ruler died without issue in 1744. In January 1745, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria died, taking Bavaria out of the war and allowing Maria Theresa's husband Francis of Lorraine to be eventually elected Holy Roman Emperor. Now able to focus solely on Frederick's army,
38964-399: Was his first major battle in command of an army. Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. Believing his forces had been defeated, Frederick galloped away to avoid capture, leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin to lead the disciplined Prussian infantry to victory. Frederick would later admit to humiliation at his abdication of command and would state that Mollwitz
39168-456: Was his school. Disappointed with the performance of his cavalry , whose training his father had neglected in favour of the infantry, Frederick spent much of his time in Silesia establishing a new doctrine for them. Encouraged by Frederick's victory at Mollwitz, the French and their ally, the Electorate of Bavaria , entered the war against Austria in early September 1741 and marched on Prague . Meanwhile, Frederick, alongside other members of
39372-426: Was not as disciplined or thorough as his military successes. In contrast to his devoutly Calvinist father, Frederick was a religious sceptic , and has been described as a deist . Frederick was pragmatic about religious faith. Three times during his life, he presented his own confession of Christian faith: during his imprisonment after Katte's execution in 1730, after his conquest of Silesia in 1741, and just before
39576-418: Was on more familiar terms with this page than was proper in his position, I did not know how intimate the friendship was." As Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, his relationship with Keith may have been homoerotic, although the extent of their intimacy remains ambiguous. When Frederick William heard rumours of their relationship, Keith was sent away to an unpopular regiment near the Dutch frontier. In
39780-439: Was polite, charismatic and learned. The political and personal differences between Frederick's parents created tensions, which affected Frederick's attitude toward culture, his role as a ruler, and his relationship with his father. In his early youth, Frederick lived with his mother and sister Wilhelmine, although they regularly visited their father's hunting lodge at Königs Wusterhausen . Frederick and his older sister formed
39984-543: Was raised in Dresden and consisted mainly of Hungarian deserters. This squadron was placed under the command of Lieutenant Johann Michael von Kovacs. At the end of 1759, the first four squadrons of dragoons (also called horse grenadiers) of the Freikorps were organised. They initially consisted of Prussian volunteers from Berlin, Magdeburg, Mecklenburg and Leipzig, but later recruited deserters. The Freikorps were regarded as unreliable by regular armies, so they were used mainly as sentries and for minor duties.. During
40188-409: Was removed in 1754. Although Frederick's debasement of the coinage to fund the Seven Years' War left the Prussian monetary system in disarray, the Mint Edict of May 1763 brought it back to stability by fixing rates at which depreciated coins would be accepted and requiring tax payments in currency of prewar value. This resulted in a shortage of ready money, but Frederick controlled prices by releasing
40392-409: Was reorganized and two corps were raised: I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps . In the later stages of World War I, the five infantry divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF)—consisting entirely of personnel who had volunteered for service overseas—were united as the Australian Corps , on the Western Front , under Lieutenant General Sir John Monash . During World War II,
40596-428: Was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia , declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His most significant accomplishments include military successes in the Silesian wars , reorganisation of the Prussian Army , the First Partition of Poland , and patronage of
40800-465: Was the twelfth largest country in Europe in terms of population, but its army was the fourth largest, after France, Russia and Austria. Prussia had one soldier for every 28 citizens, whereas Britain only had one for every 310, and the military absorbed 86% of Prussia's state budget. The Prussian infantry trained by Frederick William I were, at the time of Frederick's accession, arguably unrivalled in discipline and firepower. By 1770, Frederick had doubled
41004-464: Was to seek a Prussian title; Frederick obliged. Peter III was so enamoured of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war against Austria, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia. More significantly, Russia's about-face from an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who hastily made peace with Frederick. With
41208-413: Was used almost in all European armies after Battle of Ulm in 1805. In Prussia it was introduced by Order of His Majesty ( German : Allerhöchste Kabinetts-Order ) from 5 November 1816, in order to strengthen the readiness to war. The Indian Army has 14 corps , each commanded by a general officer commanding (GOC), known as the corps commander, who holds the rank of lieutenant general . Each corps
41412-435: Was victorious against the Austrian army at the Battle of Prague on 6 May 1757, but his losses were so great he was unable to take the city, and settled for besieging it. On 18 June 1757, Frederick suffered his first major defeat at the Battle of Kolín , which forced him to abandon his invasion of Bohemia. When the French and the Austrians pursued him into Saxony and Silesia in the fall of 1757, Frederick defeated and repulsed
41616-493: Was written in French—as were all of Frederick's works—and published anonymously in 1740, but Voltaire distributed it in Amsterdam to great popularity. Frederick's years dedicated to the arts instead of politics ended upon the 1740 death of Frederick William and his inheritance of the Kingdom of Prussia. Frederick and his father were reconciled at the latter's death, and Frederick later admitted, despite their constant conflict, that Frederick William had been an effective ruler: "What
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