250.000 (auch zB bei Showalter genannt) sind eine grobe Schätzung für 1914.
Da überwiegend sehr junge Männer, und nach einzelnen bekannten Regionen vorwiegend Städter, ist diese Zahl für die deutsche Kriegswirtschaft auch weniger desaströs als vielmehr die Aufstockung der stehenden Armee auf Kriegsstärke im durchgezogenen Mob.fall, durch Bildung der Reservedivisionen. Diese führte im Herbst 1914 zu den bekannten drastischen Folgen.
Verhey, The Spirit of 1914 - Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany, 2004, S. 97-98, sowie Fußnote
Zitat:
On 4 August newspapers reported that vast crowds of young men were gathering in front of the barracks, volunteering for the army, and that vast crowds of young women were volunteering for the Red Cross. On 11 August newspapers reported that over 1,300,000 men had already vol- unteered. On 16 August the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung repeated this information, making it official, and it (or a larger number) would be repeated throughout the war, and in most history books up till the present day.
Yet the press vastly exaggerated. About 185,000 men volunteered in August 1914. (In 1926, the War History Division of the Prussian army did a study on manpower in the First World War. The author of this study – employing archival materials destroyed in the Second World War – wrote that up till 11 August 1914 the Prussian army reported that 260,672 had attempted to volunteer; of these 143,922 were accepted. If one adds up the figures for the other armies [32,000 for Bavaria, 8,619 for Wurttemberg, and probably around 10,000 for Saxony] one comes up with 185,000.(106)
Although the press vastly exaggerated, 185,000 is evidence of a broad enthusiasm among at least sections of Germany youth. In the war of 1870/1871, there were less than 10,000 volunteers in the whole North German Federation. The German army’s manpower needs were met through the draft, meaning that most young men could not volunteer – they were already assigned to a division. Only those under seventeen or over fifty, those who had had an exemption, or whose reserve division had not yet been called up, could volunteer. Moreover, the draft meant that those who did wish to volunteer had difficulties finding an army division with an opening.107 As most divisions were not accepting any volunteers, young men gathered in long queues in front of the few divisions that were. Recognizing this difficulty, the government provided prospective volun- teers with free train travel. As most youths visited many barracks before finding one with an opening, they were undoubtedly counted many times. Not surprisingly, many young men who grasped this opportunity had no intention of volunteering. Rather, as the War Ministry noted, they “have used this piece of paper to travel from one end of the country to the other.”
Fußnote 106
This “Denkschrift über die Ersatzgestellung für das Deutsche Heer von Mitte September bis Ende 1914,” prepared in 1926 by Schubert, can be found in the BA–MA, 15.17, Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungs Anstalt, W-10/50902. See especially pp. 52 ff. In Bavaria, approximately 32,000 men volunteered for war in August 1914. (On 16 August 1914 the Bavarian War Ministry asked all army divisions to list the number of volunteers. I have added up the numbers in the replies. As two divisions did not respond, the number is approximate. HSTA Munich, Abt. IV – Kriegsarchiv, MKR, no. 13413.) In Württemberg, there were 8,619 volunteers in August and 2,204 in September. (“Denkschrift betr. die Erfahrungen bei der Mobilmachung,” written in 1918, in HStA Stuttgart M77/2, Bd. 4, pp. 19–20.) I was unable to find any figures for the Saxon army.