Izvorni znanstveni članak
Duties and Privileges of Military Border Officers
Alexander Buczynski
orcid.org/0000-0002-7036-9722
; Institut za suvremenu povijest, Zagreb, Republika Hrvatska
Sažetak
The active and other soldiers of the Military Border regiments and companies were divided into military formations and Military Border administration. The Royal War Council had jurisdiction in promoting officers to higher ranks, but in some periods of time buying and selling of ranks was the usual practice in the army. In greater part military formations consisted of infantry and in smaller part of riflemen, gunners and sergeants. Besides participating in numerous wars in which the Habsburg Monarchy had been involved, in peaceful times the Border soldiers and their officers were occupied with cordon services, firing practices, standing guard etc. Similar to the regimental military command, since 1787 special administrative departments with newly appointed administrative officers were organized, that should have been concerned with stimulating the economy in the Military Border. During the first half of the 19th century the military authorities were concerned with professional education of the talented military administrators. Rewards of military staff in the Military Border comprised money, goods and certain privileges and rights. When determining a salary, regular wages of officers and noncommissioned officers were taken into account, but also all other regular, occasional and extra payments. Natural goods included a portion of bread for soldiers, a portion of hay for horses, and firewood. Among privileges there were the right to have servants, certain manual services, right to have a furnished state apartment. Besides wages and extra salaries, certain deductions were also taken into account when deciding on one’s annual income.
As to the service officers and noncommissioned officers, in contrast to the military administrative staff, members of the military formation were bound to one place most often for five years at the most. Capability of the Military Border male population for military service represented one of the main preoccupations of military authorities. With introducing of arbitration and superarbitration at the beginning of the 19th century, military authorities tried to stop the misuses of invalidity categorizations for the discharge from the army. Only the officers and noncommissioned officers with physical or mental inability stated by a medical board could get a pension. When they were forced to leave the army before the agreement had elapsed for any other reason, they had no right to pension. Widows and orphans of a diseased officer or noncommissioned officer received his salary for another three months following his death, regardless of the whether there existed a marriage security or a certificate of renunciation from pension. On of the preconditions to get a marriage licence was securing an additional income or the so-called marriage caution money. The purpose of such caution money was to improve the financial status of the spouses, and it also represented a warranty of steady income for a widow in the case of her husband’s death.
Thus, a Military Border officer received regular wages, a furnished apartment, various privileges, sometimes with the prospect for a brilliant career up to the top of military service. The key of success of any young and career eager officer or noncommissioned officer was not only his skill in trying to stay alive on the battlefield, but also soberness in his private life. The best example of the whole complex way of living in the Border at that time was the Military Border veteran, Major Pavao Vakanović (1772-1834).
Ključne riječi
Military Border; officers; 18th and 19th centuries; Pavao Vakanović
Hrčak ID:
251906
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.11.1992.
Posjeta: 795 *