of new developments. In 1906 the 6 armoured cruisers which had been cut out were reinstated, and, following the example of England, battleships and armoured cruisers were transformed into dreadnoughts and battle cruisers; the number of torpedo- boats was also increased. The North Sea naval bases Wilhelms- haven, Heligoland, Cuxhaven were strongly fortified, and sub- marine construction was energetically carried out. In 1912 a fifth squadron was established, the number of battleships raised by 3 to 41, the reserve ships being incorporated and the main- tenance of a reserve abandoned; the number of light cruisers was raised from 38 to 40.
The naval budget increased from 21,700,00x2 in 1910 to 28,800,000 in 1914; and during these years the personnel of the navy increased from 57,070 to 79,070.
In the article SHIP AND SHIPBUILDING an account is given of the new warships built for Germany in these years. (See also NAVAL HISTORY or THE WAR.) At the outbreak of the World War the fleet included 15 first-class battleships, 5 first-class battle cruisers, 22 older battleships, 7 older armoured cruisers, 29 light cruisers, 100 torpedo-boats, 14 mine-layers, 106 mine-sweepers, 27 submarines, 3 naval airships, 6 seaplanes and 6 aeroplanes. By Nov. 1918 it included 19 first-class battleships, 6 first-class battle cruisers, 5 older battleships, 2 older armoured cruisers, 18 light cruisers, 188 torpedo-boats, 6 mine-layers, 394 mine-sweep- ers, 3 seaplane-carriers, 206 submarines, 9 airships, 879 seaplanes, and 360 aeroplanes.
The losses during the war comprised one battle cruiser (" Liitzow "), one older battleship (" Pommern "), 6 older large cruisers (" Scharnhorst," " Gneisenau," " Bliicher," " Prinz Adalbert," " Yorck," " Friedrich Karl"), 18 light cruisers ("Magdeburg," "Ariadne," "Mainz," " Koln," "Hela," " Konigsberg," " Emden," "Leipzig," " Niirnberg," "Dres- den," " Undine," " Bremen," " Wiesbaden," " Elbing," " Ros- tock," "Frauenlob," " Breslau," "Karlsruhe"), 98 torpedo- boats, 3 mine-layers, 71 mine-sweepers, 55 airships, 194 sub- marines, and 128 other vessels.
After the War. Under the revolution the inner organization of the navy was severely strained but not destroyed. Order was gradually restored. The authority vested in heads of staff and ad- ministration was revived as the Government grew stronger and the liquidation of the war could be begun. The surrender of the ships composing the High Seas Fleet took place on Nov. 21 1918. In the interest of historical truth it must be recorded that the German crews, who had received the news of the surrender with shouts of joy, proceeded with the ships to the Firth of Forth in the firm belief that it was a question only of a temporary internment and not of the complete surrender of the fleet. The German officers acted from a strict sense of duty and under the same conviction. It is only fair to say that it was when it became known to them that in this ex- pectation they had been deceived, that the officers and crews sank their ships in Scapa Flow on June 21 1919.
Side by side with the fulfilment of the Peace Treaty went the reestablishment of discipline. In particular the 2 naval brigades, formed from volunteers, and a few cruisers and torpedo-boats set an example of military obedience and loyalty to duty. From the example set by them grew the restoration of the moral and organiza- tion of the navy, which was seriously but transiently disturbed once more by the Kapp " Putsch " on March 13 1920.
In 1921 the navy was organized as follows: The control of the navy was, like the control of the army, incorporated in the Ministry of the Defence of the Reich (Reichswehrministerium) in Berlin and was subordinated to the political minister at the head of that de- partment. It includes the functions of the former Admiralty staff, Naval Cabinet and Admiralty, and therefore embraces the com- mand and the administrative authorities. Subject to the head of the control of the navy are: the Navy Command Department (including the defence department, for organization, training, and welfare, and the fleet department, for military dispositions, develop- ments in fighting material, strategic and tactical questions); the General Navy Department (including the dockyards section, con- struction department, armament section, nautical section, and water transport section); and the Navy Administrative Office (naval stores, accounts, pay). In addition there are the central de- partment, the financial department, and the medical department; and further, for both army and navy, the legal department and the intelligence department.
The naval forces were: Baltic Station: the battleships " Han- over," " Hessen," and " Schleswig-Holstein "; the cruisers " Medu- sa," "Thetis," and "Berlin." North Sea Station: the battleships " Braunschweig," " Elsass," and " Schlesien "; the cruisers " Ham-
burg," " Arcona," and "Amazone"; together with two flotillas of torpedo-boats (each of 6 larger and 6 smaller boats), and 4 gun- boats (" Drache," " Hai," " Fuchs," " Delphin "). Also there were several mine-sweeping flotillas. It was intended to replace obsolete ships, and a vote for the construction of a new cruiser was passed in 1920-1. The naval dockyard in Kiel had been made over to a private company, the navy retaining only the smaller portion of it as an arsenal. The Wilnelmshaven dockyard was greatly diminished in extent. In that part which was given up there is now a fishing harbour. The shipbuilding yards are used for merchant vessels and steam trawlers.
In accordance with the peace terms the naval personnel numbers 15,000, of whom 1,500 are officers. Compulsory service is abolished. Every volunteer agrees to serve 12 years, and every officer to serve 25 years, or until the age of 45.
The legal basis of the navy is embodied in the Law of April 16 1919 and the National Defence Law of March 19 1921. To these must be added the Pay Law and the Pensions Law. The estimates are fixed annually; for 1921 they were for 652,000,000 marks.
REFORM OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
Under the Empire, education had been regulated by the separate states and was left outside the imperial jurisdiction. But the new republican constitution of the Reich laid down in its section on first principles those which should regulate education in the different territories. A positive step was thus taken in the direction of the movement first started about 1848, and supported by German educationists, particularly at the teachers' conference at Dortmund in 1908, by the Social Democrats at their party congress at Mannheim in 1906, and in the debates of the Reichs- tag from 1912 to 1914, for introducing imperial legislation based on one universal and secular school system. An Imperial Schools Commission or Board had been in existence since 1871, but its functions were of a very limited character.
During the discussions of the committee for drafting the new constitution it was especially the Social Democrats, the Indepen- dents and the Democrats, but also the Catholic Centre party and the Volkspartei (formerly the National Liberals), who worked for a new organization of the schools system directly under the Reich. The movement encountered various hindrances: the signing of the treaty; the withdrawal of the Democrats from the Government; the first educational compromise between the Catholic Centre and the Social Democrats which gave local op- tion to individual parishes to choose between denominational, bidenominational, and secular schools; and the final educational compromise of July 31 1919, whereby bidenominational (Catholic and Protestant) schools became the norm, purely denominational and secular schools being, however, expressly recognized by law as exceptions to the rule. But in spite of these hindrances a number of principles were accepted and laid down in section 4 (Arts. 142-50) of the constitution which came into force on Aug. ii 1919. These principles were that educational institutions should be public, that teachers should be uniformly trained, that there should be State inspection, and that there should be a standard type of school, the concessions for private schools being limited, while private schools for preparing pupils for the national schools should be abolished. It was also laid down that there should be instruction in citizenship, handicrafts and religion.
The application of these constitutional principles took place not through any grand general law of the Reich but by means of measures of a transitional character or measures dealing with parts of the subject, but all based upon the main plan. The first step was the law of the Reich dated April 28 1920, dealing with elementary schools and abolishing preparatory schools (Art. 146, i). The elementary school, which is compulsory for every- one, covers the first four years' work of the preparatory school (Vorschule). The date for the final abolition of public prepara- tory schools was fixed for the financial year 1924-5, that of pri- vate preparatory schools for the year 1929-30. The Ministry of the Interior explained that the passing of this measure before the expert opinion of the National Teachers' Conference had been heard was due to the pressing necessity for settling the question of the elementary schools with all speed. It was only in March 1921 that the Prussian Ministry of Education could issue instructions for the carrying-out of the law, and for the curriculum of the elementary schools in Prussia.
