An army could display real professionalization even when officers purchased commissions. Officers were expected to serve, gain experience, and move through the ranks before becoming colonels. Formal and informal filters tried to prevent incapable officers from advancing, though no system worked perfectly. Reliable performance still required checking results because the selection process was fallible. Those expectations provide the institutional basis for calling the eighteenth-century army professional.
Notable Point · 49:55-51:49
Purchased commissions within a professionalizing army
Buying a commission still carried expectations of service and experience, while imperfect promotion systems required verification.