Military
After the dissolution of the Imperial army, the Reichswehr, in 1918, Germany's military forces consisted of irregular paramilitaries, namely the various right-wing Freikorps groups composed of veterans from the war. The Freikorps were formally disbanded in 1920 (although continued to exist in underground groups), and on January 1, 1921, the Reichswehr (literally; Defence of the realm) was created. The Treaty of Versailles limited the size of the Reichswehr to 100 000 soldiers (consisting of seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions), 10 armoured cars and a navy (the Reichsmarine) restricted to 24 ships. No aircraft of any kind was allowed. The main advantage of this limitation however was that the Reichswehr could afford to pick the best recruits for service. However with inefficient armour and no air support, the Reichswehr would have had limited combat abilities. Privates were mainly recruited from the countryside, as it was believed that young men from the towns were prone to socialist behaviour, which would fray the loyalty of the privates to their conservative officers.
Although technically in service of the republic, the army was predominately officered by conservative reactionaries who were sympathetic to right wing organizations. Hans von Seeckt, the head of the Reichswehr, declared that the army was not loyal to the democratic republic, and would only defend it if it were in their interests. During the Kapp Putsch for example, the army refused to fire upon the rebels. However, as right wing as the army was, it hesitated to assist the Nazis, whom they mostly viewed as thugs. The SA was the Reichswehr's main opponent throughout its existence, as they saw them as a threat to their existence, and the army fired at them during the Beerhall Putsch. Upon the establishment of the SS over the SA in 1929, the Reichswehr took a softer look upon the Nazis since the SS seemed more respectable, and openly favoured order over anarchy. In 1935, several years after Hitler came to power, the Reichswehr was disbanded and re-formed as the Wehrmacht.
Read more about this topic: Weimar Republic
Famous quotes containing the word military:
“Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an excessive love of glory, impassioning a less burning impulse, the honest sense of duty, is the first.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“There was somewhat military in his nature, not to be subdued, always manly and able, but rarely tender, as if he did not feel himself except in opposition. He wanted a fallacy to expose, a blunder to pillory, I may say required a little sense of victory, a roll of the drum, to call his powers into full exercise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years, abject and true remorse. No words of ours will compensate for the intolerable suffering they have undergone during the conflict.”
—Combined Loyalist Military Command. New York Times, p. A12 (October 14, l994)