Landwehr

Landwehr 

the category of reserve military manpower second in line to be called up and second-line military units in Prussia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

It appeared in Austria in 1808. In 1813 the term “landwehr” was adopted by Prussia to signify a militia assigned by military districts for field service. In 1814 it became a category of army reserve to which servicemen 27 to 39 years of age were attached after they completed active military service and had been in the reserve (first in line). Austria introduced the landwehr in December 1866 as second-line units, which retained permanent cadres during peacetime; on the eve of World War I the landwehr was reorganized into first-line troops. In fascist Germany (under a 1935 law) the landwehr included reservists 35 to 45 years of age. The category of landwehr has been preserved in Switzerland.