Kontinuität und Wandel des bayerischen Offizierskorps 1815 bis 1866

Abstract

"The article examines shifts in the social make-up of the Bavarian officer corps during the German confederation and the development of the role the officers played in Bavarian society. The study explores social patterns of recruitment and careers as well as the military conditioning of the officers as it related to their social status. It analyses the social prestige, the inner coherence and the social self-concept of the Bavarian officer corps and detects continuities and changes in these sectors as well as their reciprocal relations over the period of examination of five decades. The analysis clearly shows that the development of the Bavarian officer corps had different characteristics than that of the Prussian. The Bavarian officer corps emerges as a socially inhomogeneous military elite lacking the Prussian social exclusiveness. The officers stayed in constant touch with the milieu of their family background. Only the military reform beginning in 1868 based on the Prussian model created an unprecedented level of education and assimilation of the officers and led to an increasing convergence to the situation of the Prussian officer corps." (author's abstract)