Wehrbauer

thumb|German Lebensraum|colonisation of Eastern European regions as envisaged in a Nazi-era propaganda map published in 1943 '''' (, ; ) is a German term for settlers living on the marches of a realm who were tasked with holding back foreign invaders until the arrival of proper military reinforcements. In turn, they were granted special liberties. Wehrbauern in their settlements, known as Wehrsiedlungen (-en being the plural suffix), were mainly used on the eastern fringes of the Holy Roman Empire and later Austria-Hungary to slow attacks by the Ottoman Empire. This historic term was resurrected and used by the Nazis during the Second World War.

==Etymology== The Habsburg use of "Wehrbauern" was the Military Frontier, which was established by Ferdinand I in the 16th century and placed under the jurisdiction of the Croatian Sabor and Croatian Ban since it was carved out of Croatian territory. It acted as a cordon sanitaire'' against Ottoman incursions. By the 19th century, it was rendered all but obsolete by the establishment of standing armies and was subsequently dissolved.