The Modernization of the Prussian Army as Seen from Military Support

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01063
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Chuo University
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Tadashi 中央大学, 文学部, 教授 (90301613)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 丸畠 宏太 敬和学園大学, 人文学部, 教授 (20202335)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 軍事扶助 / プロイセン軍 / ドイツ史 / 傷痍兵 / 近代化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

When the modernization of the Prussian army is examined from the perspective of military support, the Prussian military reform is not the starting point, but rather an important milestone in the modernization process that began at the end of the 18th century. The military reforms did indeed present a different image of the soldier from that of the era of Absolute monarchy and marked a major turning point in the transformation of military support, which had been granted as a grace to the monarch, into a state obligation. However, its precursors can be found in several reforms from the 1770s onward, such as the fund for officer widows. The cases in which concepts that anticipate the reform period are put forward before it are not limited to military support. It is a phenomenon common to the Prussian military reform, and indeed to the reform as a whole.

Free Research Field

ドイツ近世史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

軍事扶助事業－－傷痍兵や老年兵、さらには彼らの家族の扶養－－の歴史は、広義の軍事史における重要テーマの一つをなすが、今日的関心を満たす研究は皆無に等しい状況である。18世紀末から19世紀のプロイセン軍を対象に、軍事扶助事業と近代化の関連性を解明した本研究は、その意味で先駆的な意味を持ったと自負しうる。今後、軍事史に限らず、広く社会福祉の歴史にも接続することによって、本研究の社会的意義をさらに高めることができよう。また、他のヨーロッパ諸国や日本における軍事扶助事業とプロイセンのそれとは十分に比較可能であることが分かったが、現時点ではまだ当該テーマの歴史研究を促す刺激を与えるにとどまった。