|
Truppenamt
The ''Truppenamt'' () was the cover organisation for the German General Staff from 1919 through until 1935 when the General Staff of the German Army (''Heer'') was re-created. This subterfuge was deemed necessary in order for Germany to be seen to meet the requirements of the Versailles Treaty. It completely revised German tactical and strategic doctrine and thereby conserved, re-energised, and unified the military thinking and capability of the '' Reichswehr'', later to become the ''Wehrmacht''. Original establishment After World War I, the Versailles Treaty specified that the post-war German Army could have a maximum strength of 100,000, of this number only 4000 could be officers. Article 160 determined: The Great German General Staff and all similar organisations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form. In late 1919, soon after the treaty was signed, Major General Hans von Seeckt, head of the military expert group adjunct to the German delegation, init ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werner Von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German general and politician who served as the first Minister of War in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1938. Blomberg had served as Chief of the ''Truppenamt'', equivalent to the German General Staff, during the Weimar Republic from 1927 to 1929. Blomberg served on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I and rose through the ranks of the ''Reichswehr'' until he was appointed chief of the ''Truppenamt''. Despite being dismissed from the ''Truppenamt'', he was later appointed Defence Minister by President Paul von Hindenburg in January 1933. Following the Nazis' rise to power in Germany, Blomberg was named Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces. In this capacity, he played a central role in Germany's rearmament as well as purging the military of dissidents to the new regime. However, as Blomberg grew increasingly critical of the Nazis' foreign policy, he wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Heye
Wilhelm Heye (31 January 1869 – 11 March 1947) was a Prussian and German officer who rose to the rank of Generaloberst and became Chief of the Army Command within the Ministry of the Reichswehr in the Weimar Republic. Family Maximilian Henry Friedrich Wilhelm Heye was born on 31 January 1869 in Fulda as the son of Wilhelm Heye (1824-1899), a Prussian ''Oberstleutnant'', and Charlotte, ''née'' von Finckh (1834-1871). His paternal grandfather Ernst Heye was a lawyer in Oldenburg and his maternal grandfather Alexander von Finckh was a senior official of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. His brother Alexander (1860-1915) was a Prussian ''Generalmajor zur Disposition'' and author. Thilo Vogelsang: ''Heye, Wilhelm'', in: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 9'', Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7, p. 79 His brother-in-law (1860-1930) served as Minister-President of the Free State of Oldenburg from 1923 to 1930. Wilhelm was married on 29 September 1894 to Elis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of The Reichswehr
The Ministry of the Reichswehr () was the defence ministry of Germany from 1919 to 1938 during the Weimar Republic and early Nazi Germany periods. It was responsible for the '' Reichswehr'' under the leadership of the Minister of Defence and based in the Bendlerblock building in Berlin. The Ministry of the Reichswehr was formed from the Prussian Ministry of War in the aftermath of World War I as part of a centralisation of the armed forces to Berlin from the states of Germany. Its longest serving Weimar-era Defence Ministers were the civilian Otto Gessler (almost 8 years) and General Wilhelm Groener (4 years). It was renamed the Reich Ministry of War in 1935 under the Nazis and led by General Werner von Blomberg as the Minister of War. It was abolished in 1938 and replaced with the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (Armed Forces High Command) under the direct command of Adolf Hitler. History Formation On 6 March 1919, the Weimar National Assembly – Germany's post-war i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German General Staff
The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the Imperial German Army, German Army, responsible for the continuous study of all aspects of war, and for drawing up and reviewing plans for mobilization or campaign. It existed unofficially from 1806, and was formally established by law in 1814. The first Staff (military), general staff in existence, it was distinguished by the formal selection of its officers by intelligence and Merit system, proven merit rather than patronage or wealth, and by the exhaustive and rigorously structured training which its staff officers undertook. The Prussian General Staff also enjoyed greater freedom from political control than its contemporaries, and this autonomy was enshrined in law on the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. It came to be regarded as the home of Militarism#Germany, G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichswehr
''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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord
Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord (26 September 1878 – 24 April 1943) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, the Weimar Republic's armed forces. He is regarded as "an undisguised opponent" of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Early life Hammerstein was born to a noble family, which had already produced several famous officers, in Hinrichshagen, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German Empire in 1878. Hans Magnus Enzensberger: ''Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn. Eine deutsche Geschichte.'' Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp 2008, His parents were the head forester (''Oberförster'') of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Heino von Hammerstein, and his wife Ida, née Gustedt (also from a noble family). After his initial schooling, Hammerstein joined the Cadet Corps in Plön in 1888 at the age of ten, followed by the Prussian Cadet Corps Berlin-Lichterfelde in 1893. He officially entered the Imperial German Army on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georg Wetzell
Georg Wetzell (5 March 1869 – 3 January 1947) was a German General of the Infantry and from 1925 to 1927 chief of the (troop office) of the . Biography On 1 October 1889, Wetzell joined the Pioneer Battalion No. 16 of the Prussian Army in Metz as a and was promoted to second lieutenant by the end of August 1891. As such, he was transferred to the Pioneer Battalion No. 20, also stationed in Metz, on 1 October 1893, and attended the Unified Artillery and Engineering School for further training. In 1898 he was assigned to Infantry Regiment No. 144, in which he was promoted to . From 1901 to 1903 Wetzell attended the Prussian Staff College and was then assigned to the General Staff. After promotion to on 1 October 1912, he was assigned as Ia (first staff officer) to the staff of the III Army Corps on 22 March 1913. There he remained after the outbreak of World War I and from 9 March 1915 he served as the chief of staff of the III Army Corps. In August 1916 he was transferred t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Rearmament
German rearmament (''Aufrüstung'', ) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out by Germany from 1918 to 1939 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which required German disarmament after World War I to prevent it from starting another war. It began on a small, secret, and informal basis shortly after the treaty was signed and was openly and massively expanded after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. Under the Weimar Republic, the early steps towards rearmament began with support for paramilitary groups including the ''Freikorps'' and Citizens' Defense, although the government banned most such groups by 1921. Secret cooperation between the German military and Soviet Russia began in 1921 and grew to include training in and manufacture of weapons banned by the Versailles Treaty. In 1926, military leadership revealed its previously secret programs to the civilian government and with its cooperation embarked on two large-scale rearmament programs designed to create ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walther Reinhardt
Walther Gustav Reinhardt (; 24 March 1872 in Stuttgart – 8 August 1930 in Berlin) was a German officer who served as the last Prussian Minister of War and the first head of the army command (''Chef der Heeresleitung'') within the newly created Ministry of the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. During the Kapp Putsch of 1920, Reinhardt remained loyal to the elected government and was one of the few senior officers of the Reichswehr willing to order troops to fire at the revolting units. Early life and family Reinhardt was born on 24 March 1872 in Stuttgart as the son of August von Reinhardt (1827–1907), a member of the ''Personenadel'' (lifelong, non-hereditary nobility) and officer of the Kingdom of Württemberg (Generalmajor and Commander of the 120th Infantry Regiment), and Emilie Reinhardt, née von Wiedenmann. His brother Ernst (1870-1939) also became an officer (''Generalleutnant'') and was the father of Hellmuth Reinhardt (1900–89, Generalmajor). In 1900, Walther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Von Seeckt
Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt (22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936) was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen and was a central figure in planning the victories Mackensen achieved for Germany in the east during the First World War. During the years of the Weimar Republic he was chief of staff for the ''Reichswehr'' from 1919 to 1920 and commander in chief of the German Army from 1920 until he resigned in October 1926. During this period he engaged in the reorganization of the army and laid the foundation for the doctrine, tactics, organization, and training of the German army. By the time Seeckt left the German Army in 1926 the ''Reichswehr'' had a clear, standardized operational doctrine, as well as a precise theory on the future methods of combat which greatly influenced the military campaigns fought by the ''Wehrmacht'' during the first half of the Second World War. While Seeckt undertook multiple programs to get around th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty Of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the war. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties. Although the Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, and agreed certain principles and conditions including the payment of reparations, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiations before signing the treaty. The treaty German disarmament, required Germany to disarm, make territorial concessions, extradite alleged war criminals, agree to Kaiser Wilhelm being p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a Division (military), division. Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored (sometimes referred to as combined arms brigades). In addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units. Historically, such brigades have been called brigade-groups. On operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task. Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a single branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers, signals or logistic. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
