ABSTRACT
To avoid Reichstag interference, effective strength for the armies as a whole had been legally fixed since 1874 by the so-called 'iron budget'. The army's hierarchy was a continuation of absolutist traditions. The military cabinet advised the Emperor on appointments and promotions, which increased their influence enormously. In view of the Schlieffen Plan's requirements for ever more troops, it is odd that the army held off pressing for major increases in manpower until the two Army Laws of 1912-13. At best, the public outcry over Zabern was evidence that militarism was not the universal fetish of the German people. By the outbreak of the First World War the navy was the second largest after the British. Recent research, however, suggests that too much should not be made of domestic political arguments in explaining the army's size.
