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Imperial German Army

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Also known as German Army

1871–1919 land warfare branch of the German military

Key facts

Motto
Gott mit uns
Founded
16 April 1871 ; 155 years ago ( 1871-04-16 )
Disbanded
6 March 1919 ; 107 years ago ( 1919-03-06 )
Service branches
Heer (army) Schutztruppe (colonial troops) Luftstreitkräfte (air force) Abteilung III b (counterintelligence)
Commander in chief
German Emperor (1871 - 1918) President of the Reich (1918 - 1919)
Governing body
General Staff Supreme Army Command (1916–1919)
Chief of the general staff
Moltke the Elder (first), Hans von Seeckt (last)
Military age
17–45
Conscription
2–3 years; compulsory service
Active personnel
14,250,000+ ( total served ) See full list: Abushiri Revolt Hehe Rebellion Bafut Wars Battle of Adibo Boxer Rebellion Adamawa Wars Kavango Uprising Herero Wars Maji Maji Rebellion Sokehs Rebellion World War I Finnish Civil War Ukrainian War of Independence Greater Poland Uprising German Revolution
Budget
US$ 45 billion (total; 1914–18) , ( US$ 1.3 trillion in 2022)
History
Germany during World War I
Ranks
German military ranks

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
army
Location
Berlin
Conflict
World War I
Image
German street barricade in Charleroi Belgium 1914 by Martin Frost.jpg
Show 6 more facts
dissolved, abolished or demolished date
1919-00-00
Commons category
Deutsches Heer
native label
Deutsches Heer
Commons gallery
German Army
inception
1871-00-00
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~27 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (German: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia, and was dissolved in 1919, after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I (1914–1918). In the Federal Republic of Germany, the term Deutsches Heer refers to the German Army, the land component of the Bundeswehr.

Formation and name

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Imperial German Army” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

On the map