Every male subject aged 19 to 29 is obligated to serve in active military service. Men aged 29 to 45 are required to serve in the national militia, known as the Landwehr.
The following individuals are permanently exempt:
Kmiecie (farmers) and Zagrodnicy (smallholders) who own more land than needed to sow five korzecs (a historical unit of measure for grain, 1 korzec = 123 liters of grain).
Only sons of parents aged 70 or older who have no means of supporting themselves.
Grandsons who, after the death of both parents, care for a grandfather or grandmother aged 70 or older who cannot sustain themselves.
Theology students (clerics) as long as they excel in their studies and behavior.
Public school teachers who have permanent employment.
All men who have reached the age of 45.
Temporary exemptions apply to:
Students of any discipline who demonstrate exemplary behavior in morals, religion, and academics, but not those who have only completed the first, second, or third grade.
School assistants.
Orphans without parents, brothers, or uncles, who support a grandfather or grandmother unable to work.
A son (not necessarily an only son) who is the sole provider for a father aged 70.
An orphan without parents who, at their own expense and effort, supports siblings unable to work or under the age of 15.
The eldest son of a widowed parent who cannot earn daily sustenance for themselves and must also support one or more siblings who are minors or incapable of earning an income.
Applications for temporary exemptions must be submitted through the local authority (Dominium) to the regional administrative office. Applicants must attach school certificates, baptismal records and death certificates. Additionally, they must provide proof that their parents or siblings cannot support themselves and that the applicant is genuinely capable of providing for the mentioned parents, grandparents, or relatives.
No. Before each military recruitment, the applicant must reapply for a similar exemption and provide evidence that the reasons for the previously granted exemption still apply.
The local authority (Dominium) is required by government decree to select and deliver the designated number of recruits.
The day on which the recruits are to be selected is set by the provincial government (Gubernium). The regional administrative office secretly informs the local authorities, provides the number of recruits needed, and attaches a list of those eligible for service.
On the appointed day, before dawn, the estate official, accompanied by the village headman and deputies, goes from house to house, detaining individuals selected for service. They take all necessary precautions to prevent escapes, including tying with ropes, shackling, confinement, and guarding the detained individuals.
If the subjects understood, on the one hand, the government’s unyielding will, and on the other, the severe consequences of evading conscription, they would likely report voluntarily at the first summons. This would spare the authorities the unpleasant task of forcibly detaining recruits, a process reminiscent of Tatar raids aimed at capturing people to enslave them [author reffers to historical invasions by Tatars in the 15th–17th centuries]
Anyone legally called to military service cannot avoid reporting for duty.
This causes the greatest harm to the fugitive, their family, and the community. Parents or relatives are persecuted until the fugitive is delivered. The community suffers because it must feed and guard detained recruits longer than necessary, repeatedly send delegations to military recruitment stations, and endure the presence of military enforcement units.
The fugitive themselves suffers immensely, wandering through forests and ravines, losing money, starving, freezing, and enduring great discomfort. After two, three, or even four months of constant wandering, when recruitment concludes, they return home. However, they are gravely mistaken if they believe their troubles are over. They are immediately seized, conscripted at any time, and – unlike their peers who return home after swearing the oath – are sent directly into military service. Furthermore, their service is extended by three additional years, serving 17 years instead of the standard 14. Throughout this time, they are not released to claim property inheritance or manage their family estate, even if they would otherwise be entitled to do so.
Those summoned for military service should voluntarily report to the local authority (Dominium) and the military recruitment site at the first call. They cannot yet know whether they will be deemed fit for military service or not. By doing so, they avoid ropes, shackles, imprisonment, and other unpleasant measures. Moreover, they gain goodwill and respect from the dominium, their community, and the military. This practice has already been adopted in many places, and subjects themselves often request it.
The local community is required to provide horse-drawn wagons and guards free of charge. However, road tolls are exempt from payment.
First, fugitives who evaded recruitment are presented. If their numbers do not fulfill the required military quota, then 19-year-old boys (the first class of conscripts) are presented. After them, the second class (20-year-olds) follows, then the third class (21-year-olds), and so on, up to the eleventh class (29-year-olds). It is always forbidden to accept a recruit from an older class as long as there are capable or available boys from a younger class.
The recruits are received by the military recruitment commission, which consists of the starosta (the mayor of the regional administrative office) or his deputy, a colonel or his deputy, and a military doctor.
The regional administrator ensures that the presented boys are either permanently or temporarily exempt from military service according to the law. Requests for exemptions should be directed to this official.
The military officer ensures the accuracy of the conscription records, preventing falsifications regarding age, the number of siblings, etc. They also maintain a list of accepted recruits and take them under their supervision.
The military doctor examines whether the presented boys are fully healthy and fit for military service.
A recruit must be at least five feet and two inches tall, according to the Vienna measurement system (approx. 157 cm). However, boys from the first class (19-year-olds) who are still growing may be accepted if they measure at least five feet and one inch (approx. 154 cm) and are otherwise completely healthy.
Inviduals who are blind, deaf, lame, missing a hand, suffering from tuberculosis, asthmatic, paralyzed, afflicted with St. Valentine’s disease (epilepsy), hernias, bow-legged, flat-footed, affected by rectal prolapse, with malformed clavicles, toothless, stammering, with injured legs, incurable rheumatism, untreated skin eruptions; or goiters (enlarged thyroid gland) are disqualified from military service.
Such self-harm constitutes a serious offense under police law. The local police judge is required to conduct a thorough investigation and issue a verdict upon confirmation. If self-inflicted injury is proven, the offender is sent to a military hospital for treatment at their own expense. After recovery, they face imprisonment for 14 days to three months and are then assigned to military service for life.
Not necessarily; a recruit may provide a substitute to serve in their place.
A veteran no older than 30 years, who is fully fit for military service and deemed capable by a doctor to serve an additional 14 years. Such individuals must hold a discharge certificate indicating that they are “worthy of being accepted as a substitute” or “qualified to act as a substitute”.
Any non-military individual eligible for conscription, aged between 25 and 29 years, who presents a certificate from their local authority (Dominium) verifying good conduct. Additionally, they must prove that their Dominium has already fulfilled its conscription quota from younger classes.
Every newly conscripted recruit has a full month to find and present a substitute. However, immediately after being deemed fit for military service, the recruit must deposit 120 Austrian guldens in silver coins for the substitute and declare to the recruitment commission their intention to secure a substitute. In such cases, the taking of the oath and formal enlistment into the army will be postponed for 30 days.
If the recruit takes the oath and is fully conscripted into the army, they become a soldier and can no longer present a substitute.
The recruit should contact the circuit court office, where lists of retired soldiers willing and eligible to serve as substitutes are maintained.
Not yet. The recruit must separately arrange with the substitute, present them to the recruitment commission, and only when the substitute is deemed fit and accepted into the army will the recruit be permanently freed from military service.
Fourteen years. After serving honorably for this duration, every soldier should be released from service upon request. However, the following are exceptions to this rule:
Self-mutilators, who, as previously mentioned, must serve in the military for life.
Fugitives who evaded recruitment, who must serve 17 years instead of 14.
Military deserters who are caught for the first time must serve an additional seven years, making a total of 21 years. Those caught a second time are sentenced to life in the army.
Yes, any soldier who has not been sentenced to serve for life and inherits farmland from their parents or relatives may be released from military service at any time to manage the inherited estate.
Yes, but only during peacetime and through a process called „concertation”.
„Concertation” is an official procedure where regional administrative office and military authorities (the recruitment command) jointly deliberate, based on a petition from the local authority (Dominium), whether the soldier may be released. The following must be presented during this procedure:
The size and value of the estate or farm for which the release is requested.
Whether the soldier has parents or relatives who can manage the estate in their stead.
Whether the soldier owned the estate at the time of enlistment or acquired it later, and how it was obtained.
Whether the Dominium commits to providing another recruit from its own subjects if needed.
Whether the soldier has never deserted or committed any crimes during their service.
If fraud or deception is proven, the soldier released under false pretenses must be immediately returned to the army without waiting for the next recruitment. Additionally, the estate official must provide two non-subject individuals, fully equipped, to replace the fraudulent soldier in the army or pay for their uniforms.
A discharged soldier must remain hardworking, peaceful, and obedient to their estate and local authority. Otherwise, regardless of the time they have served (capitulation), they will be reassigned to the army.
The national militia is designated as a reserve force to supplement the regular army (line troops, regiments or battalions). It is not continuously under arms; militiamen can live and work freely as they wish, training with weapons only 14 days annually. During wartime, the Landwehr is used for garrison duties when regular army forces are insufficient.
The following are obligated to serve in the militia:
Any discharged soldier who has not settled on a farm or homestead and has not yet turned 45.
Any recruit who was released from the army before completing the required 14 years of service and does not have sufficient means of livelihood in rural life.
Any conscript who was not accepted into the army due to small stature, minor physical defects, or having reached the age of 30.
The following are exempt from militia service:
All individuals who have served 20 years in active military duty.
All individuals who, after serving 14 years in the army, reenlisted but were later lawfully discharged before completing their contracted years of service.
All individuals temporarily exempted from military service, such as students.
Finally, all individuals who have reached the age of 45.
Every militiaman summoned for military exercises receives the following compensation for travel:
For a journey of three miles from home and back: bread and the daily pay of an infantry soldier.
For two miles: two-thirds of the daily pay and bread.
For one mile: one-third of the daily pay and bread.
From the day they arrive at the training site until the day they leave, militiamen receive the same bread, pay, and provisions as regular infantry soldiers.
During annual military exercises, the militia does not receive any uniforms and must train in their own clothing. Dominiums must ensure that militiamen arrive in good shoes or clogs. However, during wartime, the national militia receives the uniform of the respective regiment, with the only difference being the letters L.W. (Landwehr) marked on their „shako” (the cap).
If the militiaman wishes, he may be transported home by horse-drawn wagon. Otherwise, he is to be treated at the training station at the expense of the military.
The militia reports to its local authority (Dominium) and civil courts. Even when a militiaman commits a crime or serious police offense during military exercises, they are to be detained by the military and handed over to the local judge.
During peacetime, a militiaman may marry with the permission of the Dominium. However, during wartime, no permission to marry may be granted under any circumstances.
How Did Military Recruitment Work?