What is the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich?

The German Wehrmacht became a symbol of the Second World War.

The consequences of Versailles

The victory of the Entente over Germany was crowned with the Treaty of Versailles, signed in Compiègne at the end of 1918. Incredibly difficult conditions for surrender were supplemented by the demand for the actual liquidation of the army. The German Republic was allowed to have a small professional army with a total strength of one hundred thousand men, and equally reduced naval forces. The military structure, created on the remains of the army of the German Empire, was called Reichver. Despite such a small number, Reichver under the command of General von Seeckt was able to become the base for the deployment of a new army of the Third Reich and soon there were those who did not know what the Wehrmacht was.

Revival of the army

The coming to power of the National Socialists headed by Hitler in 1933 was aimed at securing Germany from the rigid framework of the Treaty of Versailles. The Reichswehr had a well-trained and highly motivated personnel reserve to transform it into a real army. Adopted shortly after the seizure of power by Hitler, the law on the Wehrmacht sharply extended the scope of military construction. Despite the envisaged increase in the armed forces fivefold, in the first years it was not completely clear what the Wehrmacht is. His appearance, distinguished by dynamic aggressiveness, high discipline and willingness to fight with any enemy in any conditions, has not yet developed. The Wehrmacht embraced the best traditions of the Prussian and German Imperial Army, receiving in addition to them a powerful ideological base on the basis of the ideology of National Socialism.

Military ethics in the era of fascism

Nazi ideology had a significant impact on the personnel and fate of the Wehrmacht. Many perceive him as a party army, whose main task was the spread of National Socialism to the occupied territories. To some extent, this was so. But life is more complex than dogma, and within the Wehrmacht the old Prussian and German military traditions remained in force. It was they who made him such a formidable opponent and powerful tool of Nazi domination. It is very difficult to formulate what the Wehrmacht is ideologically. In it, the soldiers' comradeship and party fanaticism were whimsically combined. Defense of the Fatherland and the construction of a new ideological Empire. The preservation of the corporate spirit of the Wehrmacht was facilitated by the creation of SS troops, which accumulated the most fanatical elements of the Third Reich.

The Wehrmacht's only war

The war demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the army of Hitlerite Germany. When the Second World War began, the Wehrmacht represented the most powerful land army in the world. The excellent personnel base and the highest motivation was supplemented by the industrial and scientific potential of Germany and Austria. The course of the war proved the highest combat capabilities of this army. But with maximum clarity it became obvious that the best tool is useless for achieving adventurous goals. The history of the best army of the beginning of World War II warns against the temptation to repeat the sad experience. The Reich strove for war, and his army was a symbol of the word "war". Wehrmacht, known today, without it would not exist. The losses incurred during the fighting changed the staffing. Instead of a highly professional army, the Wehrmacht increasingly acquired the characteristics of the people's militia. The adventurous line of the Reich leadership set the same unbearable tasks for him. Restructuring of thinking from war to conquer the territories to defend their own country in such conditions proved impossible. As the front was reduced, propaganda rhetoric changed, but its meaning did not change. The decline in professionalism, as a result of large losses, was not compensated for by the inflow of soldiers who were set up for the defense of the state. At the end of the war, the Wehrmacht looked like a loose conglomerate of individual combat-ready units, blurred by the demoralized mass of draftees and folkshturmists. They did not have time to embrace the Prussian military traditions in order to become soldiers, and did not have the motivation to perish for the Nazi regime.

Defeat and consequences

The defeat of Hitler's Germany by 1945 was inevitable. When the Second World War ended, the Wehrmacht ceased to exist. Together with him, much of what was the basis of the German army's combat capability has gone into the past. Despite the declared anti-fascism, the Soviet Union most fully preserved the traditions and spirit of the Prussian army in the reconstituted army of the GDR. Perhaps this is due to the deep generality inherent in Russian and German armies before the First World War. Many soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht continued to serve in the army of the GDR, transferring to it the old traditions. They managed to demonstrate this during the suppression of the 1968 Czechoslovak rebellion. This event reminded what the Wehrmacht is. The FRG army underwent more transformation for interaction with Anglo-American troops, which had a completely different structure and history.