DEFENCE & NUMBERS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1354, 3 February 1912, Page 9

DEFENCE & NUMBERS.

GROWTH OF CONTINENTAL ARMIES. An interesting review of Britain's mili* fcary position as compared with that of tho Continental nations appeared recently in tho London "Morning Fo.st," a btrong advocate of compulsory military training;— As the numbers for military defenco for 1812-I,'l are now being determined by Die Army Council and the Government., this is perhaps (wrote the "I'ost") a suitable time, to consider the whole question of Army strength in relation to tlio growth of the land defences of.other nations. - Earl Huberts, moreover, has opportunely re-introduced tho whole question of" preparation, and ho has Ijoen utiswered liv Viscount lluld.'ino in a speech that may be summed up in tho phrase "Whatever is best." Lord Haldane has made able speechoi in defence of his policy, and though ho has been given many luird facts to answer, his replies never vary from a narrow set of figures and a group of theories which have lieen discarded by every other na'iou (except one),, and by tho Oversea ,Steles of the Empire. Bis'main idea is i that, being an island Power, v.o do not need « national Army. It is a plausible fallacy, for sea jKiwer cannot, finally end a canlmiign, however much it may assist towards (lint end. 11l any great attack upon our independence the war must !» driven home to the enemy's capital, not. only as the surest means of ending tho cun 11 ict successfully, ■ but as a certain way of keeping the destruction and desolation of warfare away from those islands.

in what position do we stand then in relation to the other countries? Wo can put one trained mail ill tlio field' against each of Hie other nations' 20 to 110 men. Where foreign States have three and four millions of men to draw upon I'or a long war Great Britain ran place Hill.OGO trained soldiers into active service, apart from the Indian and Dominion garrisons. The balance, remaining will Lardy servo for reinforcement in the first six months. In other words, whilst we can place 1110,000 trained men in the field, any other single adversary can place i» jrerviec simultaneously six such forces if need Is'; the reserves and' replacements would be trained reservo soldiers, but our reinforcements must come, .after the first months of war, from the partially prepared legions who, as/ the French 'say, "do not form a homogeneous bodv which would be available for action against-an opposing army,' Our voluntary system is the only survival in Europe of the old time armies of the Continent. All the other nations of Kureno are nationally trained to amis, whiUt Britain has allowed the defensive lighting instincts of our race to become weakened owing to the. reliance placed upon mere geographical considerations. No doubt tho vast armies of the world are powerless to defeat us so long as we hold command of the sea, but the growth of navies other than our uwn threatens' to soe.ure the extension of tho lighting radius of those forces and to give thein "a long arm stretching oy?r seas,' and one that can menace Britain and the Dominions in the event of'a foreign navv proving a match for us in strength. This is one of the dominating factors in modern defence, and one to which little reference is usually made. V\ hen small raids are talked of, let it !;>* remembered that the size of a raiding army is povchmml onlv by the strength uuu ability of the Fleet to wwnro its transportation and maintaiin its communications, and this ratio of power is growing against us evcrv year. Europe has com-plc-l.ttl her military reformation m the last fiftv vears, and is now turning to her naval strength with fixed application and steadv measures. Let us sec bv tlio figures how in a century Europe has outstripped us in tho numerical strength or her armies. 1810. 187 J. 1900. 1911. Empire 576,000 616 0M 1„ Mil* 11-5 Mil.* Franco ... 551,000 567,C00 31 M . 4Mi • Austria 650,000 BCO.OCO 2 Mil. 24 Mi . B SI7.CCO 1/CO.CCO U Mil. « Ml. Germany 254,CC0 955,0K1 4 ■ , 5 Mil. •Includes Volunteers and Militia. The .British figures embrace all tho armed-forces of tho Empire, including local defence forces, of which three-ii.tho aro Volunteers trained in spare time. The iigures also include 200,000 native troops. The Continental numbers a" in trained men of the active Armies and Heserves.' Broadly speaking, the numbers of our trained li-egtilars actually alilo with the foreign totals, are 400,0 M only (excluding the native Indian Arm}), lieing 270,000 serving, and 130,000 Army Reserve.