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Railway troops

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Railway troops are soldiers who are also railway engineers . They build, repair, operate or destroy militarily relevant railway lines and their associated infrastructure.

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76-495: The establishment of railway troops by the great powers followed the emergence, rapid growth and rising importance of the railway network, when the advantages of the railway for the transport of troops, heavy weapons and supplies became recognised. Originally these were known (at least in the German-speaking areas of Europe) as field railways . In many countries, however, there were little or no military units of this type. In

152-464: A sovereign state and does not have its own foreign affairs or defence policies; these remain largely with the member states , which include France, Germany and, before Brexit , the United Kingdom (referred to collectively as the " EU three "). Brazil and India are widely regarded as emerging powers with the potential to be great powers. Political scientist Stephen P. Cohen asserts that India

228-628: A Railway Battalion was created. This was increased to a regiment in 1912, further being increased to two regiments in 1936. During the Spanish Civil War , two railway groups were created, these being the Railway Mobilization and Practice Battalions Group and the Railway Sappers Battalions Group. In 1963, these were transformed into regiments. In 1994, the two regiments were merged into the single Railway Regiment No 13, which

304-546: A cadre of personnel trained in railway engineering. Because this could not be achieved by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, field railway units were again raised: five Prussian units and one Bavarian unit. They were, however, considerably better equipped than those of 1866: each had 20 civilian engineers, 4 officers and about 200 foremen and soldiers. In addition, for larger construction tasks, additional civilian workers were engaged. The operation of railway in

380-610: A definition of a Great power that it must be able to maintain itself against all others, even when they are united, then Frederick has raised Prussia to that position." These positions have been the subject of criticism. In 2011, the US had 10 major strengths according to Chinese scholar Peng Yuan, the director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes for Contemporary International Studies. However he also noted where

456-573: A determination to support the arrangement agreed upon, and to turn the general influence and if necessary the general arms against the Power that shall first attempt to disturb the Continental peace." The Congress of Vienna consisted of five main powers: the Austrian Empire , France , Prussia , Russia , and Great Britain . These five primary participants constituted the original great powers as we know

532-528: A great power with an important position in some spheres of influence. Others suggest India and Brazil may even have the potential to emerge as a superpower . Permanent membership of the UN Security Council is widely regarded as being a central tenet of great power status in the modern world; Brazil, Germany, India and Japan form the G4 nations which support one another (and have varying degrees of support from

608-494: A great power. As a nation will seldom declare that it is acting as such, this usually entails a retrospective examination of state conduct. As a result, this is of limited use in establishing the nature of contemporary powers, at least not without the exercise of subjective observation. Other important criteria throughout history are that great powers should have enough influence to be included in discussions of contemporary political and diplomatic questions, and exercise influence on

684-465: A nation's great power status has also been a criterion for being a great power. As political scientist George Modelski notes, "The status of Great power is sometimes confused with the condition of being powerful. The office, as it is known, did in fact evolve from the role played by the great military states in earlier periods... But the Great power system institutionalizes the position of the powerful state in

760-494: A political force exerting an effect co-extensive with the widest range of the society in which it operates. The Great powers of 1914 were 'world-powers' because Western society had recently become 'world-wide'." Other suggestions have been made that a great power should have the capacity to engage in extra-regional affairs and that a great power ought to be possessed of extra-regional interests, two propositions which are often closely connected. Formal or informal acknowledgment of

836-480: A web of rights and obligations." This approach restricts analysis to the epoch following the Congress of Vienna at which great powers were first formally recognized. In the absence of such a formal act of recognition it has been suggested that great power status can arise by implication by judging the nature of a state's relations with other great powers. A further option is to examine a state's willingness to act as

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912-588: Is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions. While some nations are widely considered to be great powers, there

988-461: Is an emerging power, but highlights that some strategists consider India to be already a great power. Some academics such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and David A. Robinson already regard India as a major or great power. Former British Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott identifies that Brazil's recognition as a potential great and superpower largely stems from its own national identity and ambition. Professor Kwang Ho Chun feels that Brazil will emerge as

1064-591: Is considerable debate on the exact criteria of great power status. Historically, the status of great powers has been formally recognized in organizations such as the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 or the United Nations Security Council , of which permanent members are: China , France , Russia , the United Kingdom , and the United States . The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint ,

1140-452: Is extracted from her discussion of these three dimensions, including all of the citations. Early writings on the subject tended to judge states by the realist criterion, as expressed by the historian A. J. P. Taylor when he noted that "The test of a great power is the test of strength for war." Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of overall military, economic, and political capacity. Kenneth Waltz ,

1216-566: Is from the third century, when the Persian prophet Mani described Rome , China , Aksum , and Persia as the four greatest kingdoms of his time. During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, American diplomat James Monroe observed that, "The respect which one power has for another is in exact proportion of the means which they respectively have of injuring each other." The term "great power" first appears at

1292-570: The American Civil War , unlimited authority over all railway lines in the North was given to General McClellan . To begin with, McClellan formed a construction corps from ordinary soldiers, but he soon recognised that the lack of training of these troops for technical work meant that a specially organised corps was needed within the Union Army for technically trained civil engineers and workers. During

1368-600: The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the new tripartite army was brought into being. It existed until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I in 1918. The Hungarian Landwehr should not be confused with its successor, the Royal Hungarian Army , which went by the same Hungarian name, but existed from 1922 to 1945. A royal edict of 17 March 1813 first established

1444-746: The Cisleithanian parts of the empire. Intended as a national defence force alongside the Royal Hungarian Landwehr (or Honvéd ), the Landwehr was officially established by order of Emperor Franz Joseph I on 5 December 1868. Yet while the Hungarian force was generously supported early on by the parliament in Budapest, legislators in Vienna generally failed to advance the cause of the Landwehr , leaving it by

1520-694: The Deutsche Reichsbahn during the Second World War . Shortly after its foundation, the Bundeswehr established a railway engineering training and trials company which, in 1961, was renamed (Sp)PiLVsuKp 872 and became part of 870 Special Engineer Training and Trials Battalion ( Spezialpionierlehr- und Versuchsbataillon 870 ) in the German Territorial Army . The company was disbanded in 1974 and its tasks taken on by other engineer units. In

1596-627: The Etowah and Chattahoochee Bridge. The large and often decisive influence that these railway troops had on the course of the American Civil war, resulted in the European states establishing similar formations. In 1866, Prussia formed three railway units during mobilisation for the Austro-Prussian War . These units comprised twelve railway engineers and a detachment of about 50 men provided by

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1672-718: The G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. A 2017 study by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies qualified China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the United States as the current great powers. With continuing European integration , the European Union is increasingly being seen as a great power in its own right, with representation at

1748-487: The G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. The term "great power" was first used to represent the most important powers in Europe during the post- Napoleonic era. The "Great Powers" constituted the " Concert of Europe " and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties. The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with

1824-795: The Kingdom of Hungary , established as one of four armed forces ( Bewaffnete Macht or Wehrmacht ) of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. The others were its counterpart the Austrian Landwehr , the Common Army, and the Imperial and Royal Navy . In the wake of fighting between the Austrian Empire and Hungarian rebels during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , and the two decades of uneasy co-existence following, Hungarian soldiers served either in mixed units or were stationed away from Hungarian areas. With

1900-513: The Landwehr were specially trained and equipped for mountain warfare . The Austrian Landwehr and other components of the Austro-Hungarian Army were all full-time standing armies. The Royal Hungarian Landwehr ( German : königlich ungarische Landwehr , Hungarian : Magyar Királyi Honvédség , colloquially called the Honvéd ) or Royal Hungarian Honvéd , was the standing army of

1976-629: The Landwehr . Additionally, Austrian fears of the development of the Honvéd caused the Austrian Reichsrat to vote to increase the Landwehr's strength to 135,000. These nationalist interests led to a gradual strengthening and improvement of the force, so that by the start of the First World War , Landwehr units were considered equal to the units of the joint army in readiness and equipment. Additionally, in Tyrol and Carinthia , three units of

2052-827: The Locarno Treaties , which made it a member of the League of Nations, and later left (and withdrew from the League in 1933 ); Japan left, and the Soviet Union joined. When World War II began in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances: the Allies (initially the United Kingdom and France, and Poland, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union , China, and the United States) and the Axis powers ( Germany , Italy, and Japan). During World War II,

2128-711: The Ministry of Trade . The 2nd Railway Regiment ( II. Eisenbahnregiment ) was linked to the Royal Prussian Military Railway at Berlin. This railway, which was part of the army budget was managed by the Royal Military Railway Division ( Königliche Direction der Militäreisenbahn ). The activity of the railway regiment was similar to that of the American construction units, whilst operating commissions ( Betriebskommissionen ), specially raised by

2204-631: The NVA there continued to be railway engineer units. As a result, the history of railway troops in Germany ended with the disbandment of the NVA in 1990. The Spanish Army maintained a railway engineering unit until 2008, this being the Railway Regiment No. 13 ( Regimiento de Ferrocarriles Nº 13 ). It originated with the railway companies created in 1872, in each of the two then existing engineer regiments. In 1884,

2280-567: The Prussian Landwehr , which called up all men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five capable of bearing arms and not serving in the regular army , for the defense of the kingdom. After the peace of 1815 this force became an integral part of the Prussian Army, each brigade being composed of one line and one Landwehr regiment. This, however, slowed the mobilisation of brigades, as Landwehr regiments had to be called up, diminishing

2356-680: The Risorgimento era , Japan during the Meiji era , and the United States after its civil war . By 1900, the balance of world power had changed substantially since the Congress of Vienna. The Eight-Nation Alliance was an alliance of eight nations created in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. It formed in 1900 and consisted of the five Congress powers plus Italy, Japan, and the United States, representing

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2432-559: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons , and maintain military expenditures which are among the largest in the world. However, there is no unanimous agreement among authorities as to the current status of these powers or what precisely defines a great power. For example, following the Cold War and the two decades after it, some sources referred to China, France, Russia and

2508-478: The United Nations Security Council . Since the end of the World Wars, the term "great power" has been joined by a number of other power classifications. Foremost among these is the concept of the superpower, used to describe those nations with overwhelming power and influence in the rest of the world. It was first coined in 1944 by William T. R. Fox and according to him, there were three superpowers: Great Britain,

2584-525: The WTO and at G7 and G-20 summits. This is most notable in areas where the European Union has exclusive competence (i.e. economic affairs). It also reflects a non-traditional conception of Europe's world role as a global "civilian power", exercising collective influence in the functional spheres of trade and diplomacy, as an alternative to military dominance. The European Union is a supranational union and not

2660-642: The third and fourth largest economies respectively) rather than their strategic and hard power capabilities (i.e., the lack of permanent seats and veto power on the UN Security Council or strategic military reach). Germany has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members in the P5+1 grouping of world powers. Like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom; Germany and Japan have also been referred to as middle powers. In his 2014 publication Great Power Peace and American Primacy , Joshua Baron considers China, France, Russia, Germany, Japan,

2736-420: The 1870s as a skeletal force with only the appearance of parity. In 1887, Archduke Albert wrote that Landwehr units were not ready, in terms of training or discipline, for use in the first two weeks of a war. Yet the 1880s saw an expansion in the force's numbers, as the high command was unable to obtain increases in manpower for the joint Imperial and Royal Army and sought to increase overall numbers through

2812-418: The Cold War, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and West Germany rebuilt their economies. France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defense budgets to this day. Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long-held statuses as great powers. China, with

2888-511: The Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Congress established the Concert of Europe as an attempt to preserve peace after the years of Napoleonic Wars . Lord Castlereagh , the British foreign secretary , first used the term in its diplomatic context, writing on 13 February 1814: "there is every prospect of the Congress terminating with a general accord and Guarantee between the Great powers of Europe, with

2964-735: The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) grouping of world powers. Some analysts assert that Italy is an "intermittent" or the " Least of the Great Powers ", while some others believe Italy is a middle or regional power. International relations academics Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins have classified Italy as an "awkward" great power on account of its top-tier economic, military, political, and socio-cultural capabilities and credentials - including its G7 and NATO Quint membership - which are moderated by its lack of national nuclear weapons and permanent membership to

3040-774: The Ministry of Trade, ran operations on the occupied railways. Until the First World War , there was a Royal Bavarian Railway Battalion in Bavaria . A monument in the Bundeswehr Headquarters on Munich 's Dachauer Straße (on the corner of Hedwig-Dransfeld-Allee) commemorates the Bavarian railway troops and is open to the public. Experience from the Austro-Prussia War led to plans for a permanent military organisation for field railways which, even during peacetime, would maintain

3116-494: The People's Republic of China. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are often referred to as great powers by academics due to "their political and economic dominance of the global arena". These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council. They are also the only state entities to have met the conditions to be considered " Nuclear Weapons States " under

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3192-544: The Postwar Period', the French historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle spoke of the concept of multi-polarity: "A Great power is one which is capable of preserving its own independence against any other single power." This differed from earlier writers, notably from Leopold von Ranke , who clearly had a different idea of the world situation. In his essay 'The Great Powers', written in 1833, von Ranke wrote: "If one could establish as

3268-589: The School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews , criticizes the concept of a great power, arguing that it is dated, vaguely defined, and inconsistently applied. He states that the term is used to "describe everything from true superpowers such as the United States and China, which wield the full spectrum of economic, technological, and military might, to better-than-average military powers such as Russia, which have nuclear weapons but little else that would be considered indicators of great power. " O'Brien advocates for

3344-404: The Treaty of Neuilly, with Bulgaria; the Treaty of Trianon, with Hungary; and the Treaty of Sèvres, with the Ottoman Empire . During the decision-making of the Treaty of Versailles , Italy pulled out of the conference because a part of its demands were not met and temporarily left the other three countries as the sole major architects of that treaty, referred to as the "Big Three". The status of

3420-433: The UN Security Council. In addition to these contemporary great powers mentioned above, Zbigniew Brzezinski considers India to be a great power. However, there is no collective agreement among observers as to the status of India, for example, a number of academics believe that India is emerging as a great power, while some believe that India remains a middle power. The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint ,

3496-486: The US had recently slipped: All states have a geographic scope of interests, actions, or projected power. This is a crucial factor in distinguishing a great power from a regional power; by definition, the scope of a regional power is restricted to its region. It has been suggested that a great power should be possessed of actual influence throughout the scope of the prevailing international system. Arnold J. Toynbee , for example, observes that "Great power may be defined as

3572-445: The US, UK, USSR, and China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful" and were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in Declaration by United Nations in 1942. These four countries were referred as the " Four Policemen " of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II. The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in

3648-504: The United Kingdom as middle powers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , its UN Security Council permanent seat was transferred to the Russian Federation in 1991, as its largest successor state . The newly formed Russian Federation emerged on the level of a great power, leaving the United States as the only remaining global superpower (although some support a multipolar world view ). Japan and Germany are great powers too, though due to their large advanced economies (having

3724-455: The United Kingdom and the United States as the current great powers. Italy has been referred to as a great power by a number of academics and commentators throughout the post-WWII era. The American international legal scholar Milena Sterio writes: The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of

3800-430: The United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan. Sterio also cites Italy's status in the Group of Seven (G7) and the nation's influence in regional and international organizations for its status as a great power. Italy has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany in

3876-536: The United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , which began following World War II. The term " cold " is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers , but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. During

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3952-418: The United States, and the Soviet Union. But after World War II Britain lost its superpower status. The term middle power has emerged for those nations which exercise a degree of global influence but are insufficient to be decisive on international affairs. Regional powers are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between

4028-495: The army. In addition to these facilities for the construction and operation of standard gauge railway, the railway troops managed materiel in order to be able to build and operate field railways . These were utilised on a large scale during the First World War behind the front line for the transport of troops and supplies. The field railways were subordinated to the Master of Field Railways ( Chef des Feldeisenbahnwesens or FECH). Railways troops were also deployed to protect

4104-418: The assessor. However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity. As a result, there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status. Danilovic (2002) highlights three central characteristics, which she terms as "power, spatial, and status dimensions," that distinguish major powers from other states. The following section ("Characteristics")

4180-511: The concept of a "full-spectrum power", which takes into account "all the fundamentals on which superior military power is built", including economic resources, domestic politics and political systems (which can restrain or expand dimensions of power), technological capabilities, and social and cultural factors (such as a society's willingness to go to war or invest in military development). Various sets of great, or significant, powers have existed throughout history. An early reference to great powers

4256-452: The dawn of the 20th century had served to create an entirely different balance of power. Great Britain and the new German Empire (from 1871), experienced continued economic growth and political power. Others, such as Russia and Austria-Hungary, stagnated. At the same time, other states were emerging and expanding in power, largely through the process of industrialization. These countries seeking to attain great power status were: Italy after

4332-531: The existing permanent members) in becoming permanent members. The G4 is opposed by the Italian-led Uniting for Consensus group. There are however few signs that reform of the Security Council will happen in the near future. Landwehr (military) Landwehr , or Landeswehr , is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies , or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortifications. In German,

4408-448: The extent of its overseas empire , which ushered in a century of Pax Britannica . The balance of power between the Great Powers became a major influence in European politics, prompting Otto von Bismarck to say "All politics reduces itself to this formula: try to be one of three, as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers." Over time, the relative power of these five nations fluctuated, which by

4484-423: The founder of the neorealist theory of international relations, uses a set of six criteria to determine great power: population and territory, resource endowment, military strength, economic capability, political stability and competence. John Mearsheimer defines great powers as those that "have sufficient military assets to put up a serious fight in an all-out conventional war against the most powerful state in

4560-424: The great powers at the beginning of the 20th century. Shifts of international power have most notably occurred through major conflicts. The conclusion of World War I and the resulting treaties of Versailles , St-Germain , Neuilly , Trianon , and Sèvres made Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States the chief arbiters of the new world order. The German Empire was defeated, Austria-Hungary

4636-437: The new law older than 35 years of age and younger than 45 years. In effect only one Landwehr division (the 14th Landwehr Division ) was called up, the remainder of the Landwehr was used either to fill out the 3rd wave infantry divisions or formed Landesschützen battalions used for guard and occupation duty. In Switzerland , the Landwehr used to be a second line force, in which all citizens served for twelve years. It

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4712-537: The occupied territories was again taken over by operating commissions. The railway units were frequently deployed during the Franco-Prussian War, for example in repairing bridges that had been destroyed and in constructing the railway to circumnavigate the fortress at Metz . In Prussia, on 1 October 1871, a railway battalion was formed, the basis for the subsequent railway regiment and for the Railway Brigade, established on 1 April 1890, which had 3 regiments each of two battalions of four companies . The Railway Brigade

4788-402: The old field railway units with railway companies and the operation commissions with railway operating companies and military railway divisions. In war, the railway troops were reinforced by reserves and Landwehr soldiers . To train the railway troops, responsibility for managing the railway line from Berlin via Zossen to Jüterbog ( Royal Prussian Military Railway ) had been transferred to

4864-428: The outcome and resolution. Historically, when major political questions were addressed, several great powers met to discuss them. Before the era of groups like the United Nations, participants of such meetings were not officially named but rather were decided based on their great power status. These were conferences that settled important questions based on major historical events. Historian Phillips P. O'Brien , Head of

4940-417: The signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814. Since then, the international balance of power has shifted numerous times, most dramatically during World War I and World War II . In literature, alternative terms for great power are often world power or major power . There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power. These characteristics have often been treated as empirical, self-evident to

5016-400: The term today. Other powers, such as Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, which were great powers during the 17th century and the earlier 18th century, were consulted on certain specific issues, but they were not full participants. After the Congress of Vienna, Great Britain emerged as the pre-eminent global hegemon, due to it being the first nation to industrialize , possessing the largest navy, and

5092-405: The value of the first line. By the re-organisation of 1859, the Landwehr troops were relegated to the second line. During the Weimar Republic , Germany was not allowed a standing army of more than 100,000 men. Thus conscription had been abolished. In the course of the rearmament of Germany , the Landwehr was reestablished on 21 May 1935 comprising all Germans liable for military service under

5168-404: The victorious great powers were recognised by permanent seats at the League of Nations Council, where they acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly of the League. However, the council began with only four permanent members – Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan – because the United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, never joined the League. Germany later joined after

5244-541: The war this branch of the army grew to about 25,000 men. They were divided into railway operating units as well as construction units with sub-units for line and bridge building. The construction units had the task of building new lines, repairing destroyed railway facilities or even destroying them themselves. The operating units managed the provision and proper use of operational materiel and services. For large construction projects, civilian workers were also contracted, for example, up to 1,400 carpenters were employed to build

5320-417: The word means "defence of the country"; but the term as applied to an insurrectional militia is very ancient, and lantveri are mentioned in Baluzii Capitularia , as quoted in Henry Hallam 's Middle Ages , i. 262, 10th edition. The Austrian Landwehr was one of three components that made up the ground forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1868 and 1918, and it was composed of recruits from

5396-403: The world's largest population, has slowly risen to great power status, with large growth in economic and military power in the post-war period. After 1949, the Republic of China began to lose its recognition as the sole legitimate government of China by the other great powers, in favour of the People's Republic of China. Subsequently, in 1971, it lost its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to

5472-451: The world." As noted above, for many, power capabilities were the sole criterion. However, even under the more expansive tests, power retains a vital place. This aspect has received mixed treatment, with some confusion as to the degree of power required. Writers have approached the concept of great power with differing conceptualizations of the world situation, from multi-polarity to overwhelming hegemony . In his essay, 'French Diplomacy in

5548-491: Was abolished after the army reform in 1965. As a reference to this past, a number of Swiss wind bands bear the name " Landwehr " in their titles. The Baltic Landeswehr was the name of the armed forces of the puppet government of Latvia established by the Baltic nobility . The Baltic state was designed to be established from territories that were ceded by Imperial Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, but collapsed in

5624-633: Was disbanded in 2008. Until 2003, the Swiss Army had a branch of service for military railway operations and for a few years beyond that continued to have the so-called Eisenbahnsappeurkompanien ("railway engineer companies"). It operated the ten-storey underground K85 command bunker in Zürich, which was accessible via the Hirschengraben Tunnel and is not open to the public today. Great power List of forms of government A great power

5700-572: Was divided into new, less powerful states and the Russian Empire fell to revolution . During the Paris Peace Conference , the " Big Four " – Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States – controlled the proceedings and outcome of the treaties more than Japan. The Big Four were the architects of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed by Germany; the Treaty of St. Germain, with Austria;

5776-675: Was given a depot management and an operating unit for the operation of the Royal Prussian Military Railway , whose officers and men were provided in turn by various the units within the Brigade. From 1 October 1899, the railway troops became part of the Corps of Transport ( Verkehrstruppen ) and were thus placed under the Inspector of Transport. Its men were trained in railway construction and railway operations and were intended to replace

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