Was Physical Education (PE) in schools originally designed with the objective of providing a Nation-state's military with a physically fit population?

by andresemilfer

It occured to me that Physical Education classes could've been created to improve the general health of the population.

However, I remembered that the beginnings of mass education coincided with the rise of the nation-state, and with that, modern, conscripted armies, which require a fit population, and that would've been the real purpose of PE classes

blueblarg

It's doubtful that it was specifically created for military preparedness. Rather it was intended to create a healthy population as a whole, of which future soldiers would be just one component.

However many youth groups were created with that objective in mind. The Hitler Youth is an obvious example, but even the Scouting movement had its origins in preparing youth for future military service. One of the earliest versions of "Scouting for Boys" stated "BE PREPARED to die for your country if need be, so that when the moment arrives you may charge home with confidence, not caring whether you are going to be killed or not".