The German Wehrmacht has become a symbol of World War II.
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. The incredibly difficult terms of surrender were supplemented by the demand for the virtual liquidation of the army. The German Republic was allowed to have a small professional army, with a total strength of one hundred thousand people, and an equally reduced naval force. The military structure created on the remains of the army of the German Empire was called the Reichwehr. Despite such a small number, the Reichwehr under the control of General von Seeckt managed to become the base for the deployment of the new army of the Third Reich and soon there were no those who did not know what the Wehrmacht was.
Army revival
The coming to power of the National Socialists led by Hitler in 1933 was aimed at getting Germany out of the rigid framework of the Treaty of Versailles. The Reichwehr had a well-trained and highly motivated manpower to transform it into a real army. Adopted shortly after Hitler took power, the law onThe Wehrmacht dramatically expanded the scope of military construction. Despite the planned increase in the armed forces by five times, in the early years it was not completely clear what the Wehrmacht was. Its appearance has not yet taken shape, which stands out for its dynamic aggressiveness, high discipline and readiness to fight with any enemy in any conditions. The Wehrmacht adopted the best traditions of the Prussian and German Imperial Army, having received in addition to them a powerful ideological base based on 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 to spread National Socialism to the occupied territories. To some extent, it was. But life is more complicated than dogmas, and inside the Wehrmacht the old Prussian and German military traditions remained in force. It was they who made him such a formidable adversary and a powerful instrument of Nazi domination. It is very difficult to formulate what the Wehrmacht is ideologically. It bizarrely combined soldier camaraderie and party fanaticism. Protecting the Fatherland and building a new ideological Empire. The creation of the SS troops, which accumulated the most fanatical elements of the Third Reich, contributed to the preservation of the corporate spirit of the Wehrmacht.
The only war of the Wehrmacht
The war demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the army of Nazi Germany. WhenWorld War II began, the Wehrmacht represented the most powerful land army in the world. An excellent personnel base and the highest motivation were complemented 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 to achieve adventurous goals. The history of the best army at the beginning of World War II warns against the temptation of repeating the sad experience. The Reich wanted war, and its army was the symbol of the word "war". The Wehrmacht as we know it today would not exist without her. The losses suffered during the battles changed the personnel composition. Instead of a highly professional army, the Wehrmacht increasingly acquired the features of a people's militia. The adventurous line of the leadership of the Reich set before him the same overwhelming tasks. The restructuring of thinking from war for the conquest of territories to the defense of one's own country in such conditions turned out to be impossible. As the fronts were reduced, the rhetoric of propaganda changed, but its meaning did not change. The decline in professionalism, as a result of large losses, was not compensated by the influx of soldiers tuned in to the defense of the state. At the end of the war, the Wehrmacht looked like a loose conglomeration of separate combat-ready units, blurred by a demoralized mass of conscripts and Folssturmists. They did not have time to absorb the Prussian military traditions to become soldiers, and did not have the motivation to die for the Nazi regime.
Defeat and consequences
The defeat of Nazi Germany by 1945 became inevitable. When World War II ended, the Wehrmachtceased to exist. Together with him, much of what was the basis of the combat capability of the German army went into the past. Despite the declared anti-fascism, the Soviet Union most fully preserved the traditions and spirit of the Prussian army in the recreated army of the GDR. Perhaps this is due to the deep commonality inherent in the 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, passing on old traditions to it. They managed to demonstrate this during the suppression of the Czechoslovak uprising in 1968. This event reminded what the Wehrmacht is. The German army has undergone more transformation to interact with the Anglo-American troops, which had a completely different structure and history.
