St. Gallen City Militia Society

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The St. Gallen City Militia Society was founded in 1745 as a municipal military academy to train the offspring of officers for the militias of the city of St. Gallen with an emphasis on military discipline, specialist knowledge and behavior.

Its foundation followed the order from the War Rules of 1745:

“All officers should not only completely know the whole exercise and understand the handles so that they can show the soldiers how to use the rifle, but also every officer should be able to do so, the company in packs or even probably to command the whole company in all forms according to the manipulations and the whole appendix of the exercise. "

With the integration of natural science studies in the curriculum in 1749, society opened up to a wider range of interested parties.

The limited but sought-after study places gave society a certain exclusivity, which manifested itself in the targeted selection of members by a committee from 1750 onwards. At the same time one turned to economic possibilities for the financial security of the society.

From 1752 a separate trading house was founded within the society, which was based not least on the social network of the original military academy and allowed the society a certain independence.

In 1755 the famous cantharidin affair , named after an aphrodisiac, came to light in the course of which scandalous, liberal excesses with coerced women of the urban upper class came to light in the secret vaults of the society building.

A further investigation against the society in 1756 uncovered a secret powder and armory and a cannon, which gave rise to much speculation in view of the Seven Years' War that had just broken out .

The company was banned when the French invaded Switzerland in 1798, but continued to exist in secret thanks to its international contacts and assets that had been brought to safety.

In the 19th century there was a trading post of the company in Shanghai for a while, through which weapons were sold to the rebels of the Taiping uprising and to rebels in Central and South America between 1850 and 1864 .

From 1870 onwards, the society changed more and more into a private philanthropic society, whose members have called themselves private scholars ever since .

The association still exists today.

literature

  • The militias of the city of St. Gallen , Löpfe-Benz AG, Rorschach 1992, ISBN 3858191655