Reichswehr
Sign in to saveReichswehr (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the rebuilt German Army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the n
AI overview
The Reichswehr was the official name of Germany's armed forces during the Weimar Republic and early Nazi period, created after World War I when the defeated Imperial German Army was dissolved and rebuilt under strict limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. It matters historically because it represented Germany's transition from a defeated imperial power to a new democratic state, though it later became instrumental in Nazi military expansion.
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Key facts
- National military.image
- Flag of Weimar Republic (war).svg
- National military.caption
- War ensign of the (1921–1933)
- National military.branches
- ''''
- National military.headquarters
- Zossen, Brandenburg
- National military.commander in chief
- Friedrich Ebert (1919–25)Paul von Hindenburg (1925–34)Adolf Hitler (1934–35)
- National military.commander in chief_title
- Commander-in-chief
- National military.minister
- See list
- National military.minister_title
- Reichswehr Minister
- National military.commander
- See list
- National military.commander_title
- Chief of the ministerial office
- National military.age
- 18–45
- National military.conscription
Article
22 sectionsContents
- Structure of the ''Reichswehr''
- Arms limitations under the Treaty of Versailles
- Founding
- Structure
- Commanders
- Social composition
- Officers in the ''Reichswehr''
- ''Reichswehr'' in the Weimar Republic
- Cooperation with the ''Freikorps''
- Passivity during the Kapp Putsch
- Circumvention of the Treaty of Versailles
- Secret cooperation with the Soviet Union
- Crisis in Bavaria and the Beer Hall Putsch
- Seeckt and the events of 1924–1932
- End of the Weimar Republic
- State within a state
- ''Reichswehr'' under Adolf Hitler
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- External links
Reichswehr (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the rebuilt German Army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name Reichswehr until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new .
Although ostensibly apolitical, the Reichswehr acted as a state within a state, and its leadership was an important political power factor in the Weimar Republic. The Reichswehr sometimes supported the democratic government, as it did in the Ebert-Groener Pact when it pledged its loyalty to the Republic, and sometimes backed anti-democratic forces through such means as the Black Reichswehr, the illegal paramilitary groups it sponsored in contravention of the Versailles Treaty. The Reichswehr saw itself as a cadre army that would preserve the expertise of the old imperial military and form the basis for German rearmament.