At the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, Frederick the Great's army, which had at one time taken on and defeated the armies of the major powers of Continental Europe, had an unenviable reputation. It had been the most modern of its day, the model that other armies emulated, but after such a long, exhausting war there was little of it left to emulate. The pool of native conscripts had been depleted, to be filled out with deserters and prisoners from opposing armies. Frederick described them as being no more capable than an inexperienced militia, so his first post-war reform was to restore the quality of the army. At this time, Brandenburg-Prussia's economy was basically agrarian, with agricultural production generating the larger part of the national revenues. The so-called 'Inländer', native conscripts, provided the backbone of the army; the bulk of them were farm boys, who underwent a period of basic training before being assigned to the reserve. Once in the reserve, they would be called up for refresher courses during the autumn manoeuvres. Being of greater economic value, the professional classes, skilled artisans and tradesmen were exempted from military service.
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