I'm thinking especially of Prussia before the Seven Years' War, where it seems there had been a push to recruit men into the army as early as April 1756 if not before, over four months before Prussia invaded Saxony at the end of August, suggesting that the oncoming war was very much expected. Would young men have retaliated by rushing to get married as quickly as possible to exclude themselves from the recruitment pool? Would the authorities clamp down on these last-minute arrangements? What would happen to the brides in such arrangements?
Hi there!
The issue of married soldiers is a vast subject area, and I will do my best to focus on your specific question (because who wants a wall of text to read!). This will be primarily focused on the British in the 18th Century, as that is my area of research. However I imagine a lot of the issues faced are pretty universal across Europe. It would be worth examining Berkovich’s Motivation in War, The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe as that details those facets of the Prussian military as far as I can remember.
The quick answer to your question is no, but also yes. As far as I can tell from the reading I’ve done into the subject, marriage was not a fool-proof way to avoid enlistment, and there doesn’t seem to be many cases of potential recruits trying it. What is more of an issue, however, is marriage of existing soldiers. For the British army, particularly the regiments based in Ireland, marriage was a fairly serious concern. A man in uniform, as it does now, had a certain sexual appeal, and Scarlet Fever was quite the phenomenon. Irish women in particular seemed to have a certain weakness for a man in red! Keeping them at arm’s length caused the sergeants many headaches!
In peacetime, this was less of an issue. Married soldiers were frowned upon, but not necessarily excluded or drummed out. Many army wives would live with the regiment, and there are a number of cases of soldier’s children receiving a sort of collective education from educated soldiers in the ranks. Allowances were sometimes made when regiments were moved about the Empire, and towards the end of the Eighteenth Century regimental returns would have a specific section dedicated to how many wives were on board each ship when they arrived in Ireland. So although it may not have been viewed as ideal, having a wife did not exclude you from the army.
As you suspected, when war loomed young men did flock to get married. However this was more common among the soldiers themselves! They thought this this was the best way to get their sweethearts to come with them to Europe or America. Roger Lamb’s diary of the time specifically mentions a ban being placed on marriage in his regiment at the outbreak of the American War of Independence, to prevent women clamouring to be allowed aboard the troop transports. This seemed to be reactionary, and reflects a similar incident prior where a regiment, upon orders being leaked that they were to be sent to the Caribbean, suffered a mass desertion in Cork.
Of course, such legislation didn’t work a lot of the time. The thought of abandoning their wife would lead to soldiers deserting to spend more time or run away with her. Generally speaking then, being married didn’t immediately exclude you from the army, it just added another layer of complication to the whole thing. And typically the recruits would be younger, and less likely to be married anyway.
I hope this is at least partially helpful. As I say, Berkovich would be a good shout for the Prussian case. I’ve listed sources below which may be of use as well. If you’ve any follow up questions feel free to ask away!
Berkovich, Ilya Motivation in War, The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe
Houlding, J.A., Fit for Service: The Training of the British Army, 1715-1795
Hurl-Eamon, Jennine Marriage and the British Army in the Long Eighteenth Century
Lamb, Roger Memoirs of my Own Life (https://archive.org/details/memoirhisownlif00lambgoog/page/n11))) Well worth a read if you get the opportunity.