Military builders
Fortified farmers were farmers who were obliged by their authorities to carry out military activities and who, in return, were usually given some privileges.
Defense farming in Europe
Since the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the 5th century there have been no standing armies in Central and Western Europe for over a thousand years . The Byzantine Empire was an exception in Eastern Europe . In the European Middle Ages , troops were only called up when a campaign was planned or an enemy invasion had to be countered. This enabled the military commanders to advance their troops far into enemy territory before resistance was expected. One countermeasure was the massive construction of castles in endangered areas, but this was associated with enormous costs and time. At the beginning of the early modern period , this problem became even more serious, as the artillery fortresses that appeared at the beginning of the 16th century were far more expensive than castles. Therefore, several European rulers of the early modern period tried to defend the borders of their empire through so-called fortified farmers.
The fortified farmers were mostly unfree farmers who lived in a border region. They were assigned to defend their country against invading enemies until the regular troops could be brought in. In return for this dangerous task, they were granted freedoms, which in addition to personal freedom could also include exemption from taxes. This represented an incentive for the great mass of serfs and bonded peasants to settle in a border area.
In Habsburg Austria-Hungary , in particular , they relied on fortified farmers who had been defending the Croatian part of the border against the Turkish Ottomans since the 1530s . They had a not inconsiderable part in the assertion of the Habsburgs against their Ottoman enemies. Until the 19th century, fortified farmers took over the defense of the Austro-Hungarian military border . In Russia , too , fortified farmers have been used since the 16th century. Most of the defensive farmers in Russian service were Cossacks , who were originally escaped Russian and Ukrainian serfs who had developed their own community and culture in the steppes north of the Black Sea . In the 18th century, many able-bodied Cossacks were absorbed into the light cavalry of the Russian army . In Central Europe, too, there were attempts during the Thirty Years' War to use military farmers for national defense. Since the Holy Roman Empire was ravaged by numerous, often plundering armies at this time, the sovereigns had to reckon with the devastation of their territory at any time, while their main army might be fighting in a distant arena. Therefore, various princes organized their peasants in so-called state defensions , which, however, had little military use.
With the establishment of standing armies in most European countries, the concept of military farming lost its importance in the late 17th century.
Byzantine Empire
The fortified farmers in the Byzantine Empire represented a special case, as their inclusion in the thematic constitution was essential for the entire border defense from the 7th century AD. These so-called stratiotes had emerged as part of the thematic reform from the 7th century AD and were not unfree. The stratiot (stratiotos) owned a small estate, which had to have a certain minimum value. From these possessions he had to cover his livelihood and his equipment. This system, which had ensured the survival of the Byzantine state for a long time, collapsed at the end of the 10th century. It was later converted into goods that were partly dependent on the great landlords, the so-called Pronoia . This transfer of land ownership into the hands of the big landowners weakened the defensive strength of the Byzantine state and was one of the reasons for its eventual demise.
National Socialism
During the National Socialism there were considerations to establish a fortified farming community in Eastern Europe. For the time after the final victory , that is, after the final conquest and subjugation of Europe, the smashing of the Soviet Union as an independent state and the establishment of a bleeding border on the Urals were planned. This should be secured by peasants who were also soldiers, that is, by military farmers. (See also: Reichskommissariat Ukraine , Reichskommissariat Ostland , Reichskommissariat Moskowien ). Following the eventual final victory, systems for a planned decentralized energy supply were proposed as part of the General Plan East under the motto “Wind power for weir builders” .
literature
- RJ Lilie: The Bicentenary Reform. On the beginnings of the organization in the 7th and 8th centuries. In: Byzslav . Vol. 45, 1984, pp. 27-39 and 190-201. (On the Byzantine thematic constitution and the associated military farming.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joe J. Heydecker and Johannes Leeb: The Nuremberg Trial , ISBN 3-462-02466-3 , Chapter: If Hitler had won the war
- ↑ Aleida Assmann, Frank Hiddemann, Eckhard Schwarzenberger: Company Topf & Sons - Manufacturers of Ovens for Auschwitz: A Factory Site as a Place of Remembrance? , Campus Verlag, 2002 ISBN 3-593-37035-2 , p. 41 ff under "Wind power for Wehrbauern" for details on wind energy in Weimar
- ↑ Walther Schieber: Energy Source Wind Power, Berlin (1941)
- ↑ M. Heymann: History of the use of wind energy: 1890-1990 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt 1995 (also Diss. German Museum Munich)