The rulers of northern Germany did not possess sufficient money to recruit the necessary number of soldiers in a critical moment, as it was done in France. Therefore the country pursued a policy of creating a strong national army. Electors tended to join efforts in the struggle against their common enemy. The Thirty Years' War resulted in the formation of the Brandenburg-Prussian army. The main principle of its management was division by districts. Each district was obliged to take care of the army within its territory. If a district did not supply the required resources, the army simply took them. Such interaction of military and civil managerial staff gradually created a system that allowed the army to be supplied without plundering the country. One of the problems was a lack of people. During the Thirty Years' War, obligatory conscription was introduced, and grew to a much larger scale during the reign of Frederick William I. Officers snatched any fit people and recruited them to the regiments by force. But at last this process was brought to some degree of order, and a fair recruitment system was created. This resulted in a strong army by the second half of the 18th century.
