Continental Land Forces.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 824, 22 September 1870, Page 3

Continental Land Forces.

We condense the following from various sources officer of the Prussian staff, named Rummer, has just published, on the subject of the military organisation of the Great Powers since 1866, a pamphlet which furnishes instructive data on the statistics of the European armies. The author, who is in a position to obtain information from official sources, estimates the effective strength of the Federal forces jn Northern Germany at 944,321 men, or more than 3 per cent, of the population. Jn adding to the above contingents of the Southern States, the army of German?

may be set down at 1,127,000 soldiers ; deducting the depots and garrisons, the North may bring into the field 552,000 men, and the South 107,500. The French army, including the reserve, it composed under the present organisation of 647,000 men, whioh is one-third less than that of Northern Germany, and, abstraction being made of the depots and' garrisons, she can only bring into the field one half the number which the Confederation has at its disposal. Austria has only an available force of 300,000 men j therefore, that of Northern Germany is equal to those of France and Austria combined. Russia, in case of war, could only unite on her western frontier an army of 150,000, and such a concentration could not be effected in less than two months. The army of operations in Italy is estimated at 200,000 men. The iron-clad squadron of the Northern Confederation—3,ol9 men—form the effective of the Navy.