Landwehr, or Landeswehr, is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortifications. In German, the word means "defence of the country"; but the term as applied to an insurrectional militia is very ancient, and lantveri are mentioned in Baluzii Capitularia, as quoted in Hallam´s Middle Ages, i. 262, 10th edition.
The English term "home guard" may possibly derive from an attempt to translate the term landwehr, the earliest unit calling itself "home guard" being formed by German immigrants in Missouri in the events leading up to the American Civil War.[citation needed]
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