* October 27 – In Germany, General Hans von Seeckt orders the Reichswehr to dissolve the Social Democratic-Communist government of Saxony, which was refusing to accept the authority of the Reich government.

Both Schleicher and his close friend, General Kurt von Hammerstein repeatedly contended to Groener that the Reichswehr leadership did not see the banning of the SA in the best interests of the Reich

More radical than his father, Wehner engaged in anarcho-syndicalist circles around Erich Mühsam, driven by the 1923 invasion of Reichswehr troops into the Free State of Saxony at the behest of the DVP – SPD Reich government of Chancellor Gustav Stresemann.

The most important of these dates were for the delivery of the remaining war material ( February 28 ), the repeal of a new Reichswehr law, with the absolute abolition of conscription for the Reich and the single states ( March 15 ), the surrender of all heavy and of two-thirds of the small firearms belonging to the organizations for self-protection ( March 31 ), the disarmament of all ships in reserve ( April 30 ), the complete disbandment of all organizations of defense and the surrender of the remainder of their arms ( June 30 ), and lastly ( July 31 ), the destruction of warships in the process of construction, with the exception of those transformed with the assent of the Allies into mercantile vessels.

In the context of the Treaty of Versailles and the " Law for the Creation of a provisional Reichswehr " of March 1919, the Reichspräsident became the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, whilst the Reich Minister of Defence exercised military authority.

After the Nazi Machtergreifung, when the Reichswehr was recreated as the Wehrmacht in 1935, the ministry was renamed Reichskriegsministerium ( Reich Ministry of War ); also, the Heeresleitung became the Oberkommando des Heeres ( OKH ), the Marineleitung became the Oberkommando der Marine ( OKM ) and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( OKL ) was newly created.

More than 5, 000 military and civilian people gathered ( equivalent to 15 % of the inhabitants ), although Minister of Defence Otto Gessler had forbidden the participation of Reichswehr units.

In February 1934 the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg, on his own initiative, had all of the Jews serving in the Reichswehr and Reichsmarine given an automatic and immediate dishonourable discharge.

" In February 1934, Röhm demanded that the Reichswehr ( which under the Treaty of Versailles was limited to 100, 000 men ) be absorbed into the SA under his leadership as Minister of Defence.

The newly formed Weimar Republic did need a military though, and on 6 March 1919 a decree established the Vorläufige Reichswehr (" Provisional National Defence "), consisting of a Vorläufige Reichsheer (" Provisional National Army ") and a Vorläufige Reichsmarine (" Provisional National Navy ").

On 6 March 1919 an army known as the Provisional German Defence Force ( Vorläufige Reichswehr ) was formed with about 400, 000 men, many drawn from the Free Corps.

* Reichswehr ( 1919 – 1935 ), armed forces of the Weimar Republic

Together with Bavarian State Police head Colonel Hans Ritter von Seisser ( Seißer ), and Reichswehr General Otto von Lossow, Kahr formed a triumvirate.

The biggest influence on the development of the Reichswehr was Hans von Seeckt ( 1866 – 1936 ), who served from 1920 to 1926 as Chef der Heeresleitung ( literally " Chief of the Army Command ").

It was part of the " Black Reichswehr " and in the late days of the Weimar Republic operated as the armed branch of the national conservative German National People's Party ( DNVP ), placed at party gatherings in the position of armed security guards ( Saalschutz ).

Galland, born in Westerholt ( now Herten ), Westphalia was a glider pilot in his youth, joined the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic later in 1932.

These failures led Germany to look for other alternatives, which reached their most extreme form in the proposal of Hans von Seeckt, commander of the Reichswehr ( German military ), who suggested that Germany and the Soviet Union should conclude an alliance to jointly invade Poland, followed by a war on France.

Wilson advised that the German Reichswehr be a voluntary rather than a conscript force ( the French preference ), and that the French Occupation of the Rhineland be temporary rather than permanent.

It was Schleicher ′ s dream to create that Wehrstaat ( Military State ), in which the military would reorganize German society as part of the preparations for the total war that the Reichswehr wished to wage.

Supported by the Marine Brigade Erhardt ( the first paramilitary group to use the swastika as its emblem ), by the irregular " Baltic " troops ( the German troops who had occasioned trouble in Courland in the previous year by fighting independently of any government ), who were now stationed at Döberitz, by the former guard cavalry division, and by the Reichswehr troops whom General von Lüttwitz had led, Kapp advanced upon Berlin in the early hours of March 13.

In February 1929 he was promoted to Oberstleutnant ( lieutenant colonel ), and from October 1929 through late 1931 he served on the Training staff in the Reichswehr Ministry.

In the 1920s, many in the leadership of Weimar Germany, humiliated by the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles imposed after their defeat in the First World War ( especially General Hans von Seeckt, chief of the Reichswehr ), were interested in cooperation with the Soviet Union, both in order to avert any threat from the Second Polish Republic, backed by the French Third Republic, and to prevent any possible Soviet-British alliance.

From 1912, onwards, including the First World War, Hausser served in a number of General Staff assignments, including the greatly reduced postwar German army ( Reichswehr ), in which by 1927 he had become a colonel.

The German 1st Infantry Division, ( designated 1. Infanterie-Division in German ), was one of the original infantry divisions of the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht and served throughout World War II.

The approval of the " pocket battleship " programme by the government in November 1928 was largely due to pressure from the Reichswehr, which formed a " state within the state ", and was a major blow to German democracy in that the military successfully pressured the government into approving something that it had been elected in order to stop ; in effect the military claimed the right on matters of national defence to overrule the elected politicians.

Finally, on 1 January 1921 the 100, 000 man Army of the Weimar Republic ( Reichswehr ) was formed with seven Infantry Divisions and three Cavalry Divisions.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party seized power in Germany, and the Reichswehr was formed into the Wehrmacht.

In 1919, it formed the basis of Weimar Germany's Ministry of the Reichswehr.

It was officially formed from the Marineleitung (" Naval Command ") of the Reichswehr on 11 January 1936.

After the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles came into effect, he was briefly a member of the Freikorps ( paramilitary organization ) formed by the veterans of the 3rd Thuringian, before transferring back to the regular army with the 22nd Reichswehr Rifle Regiment on 1 October 1919.

His thesis was that under von Seeckt's leadership during the Weimar period, the Reichswehr formed a " State within the State " that largely preserved its autonomy from the politicians in Berlin, but that it did not, however, play an active role in day-to-day politics.

Together with Bavarian State Police head Colonel Hans Ritter von Seisser, and Reichswehr General Otto von Lossow, he formed a triumvirate.

The Reichswehr was influenced by its analysis of pre-war German military thought, in particular the infiltration tactics which at the end of the war had seen some breakthroughs in the Western Front's trench war, and the maneuver warfare which dominated the Eastern Front.

Following the armistice on 11 November 1918 that ended the war, Röhm continued his military career as an adjutant in the Reichswehr.

In exchange, Hitler offered to reduce the SA, suppress Röhm's ambitions, and guarantee the Reichswehr would be Germany's only military force.

The military refused to accept the democratic Weimar republic as legitimate and instead the Reichswehr under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt became a “ state within the state ” that operated largely outside of the control of the politicians.

The sport became so popular that the Reichswehr set up ten schools, one in each of the seven military districts of Germany.

Former German military organisations have been the old German state armies, the Reichswehr ( 1921 – 1935 ) and the Wehrmacht ( 1935 – 1945 ).

Like the rest of the Reichswehr leadership, Schleicher saw democracy as an impediment to military power, and was convinced that only a dictatorship could make Germany a great military power again.

In April 1930, Dornberger was appointed to the Ballistics Council of the German Army ( Reichswehr ) Weapons Department as Assistant Examiner to secretly develop a military liquid-fuel rocket suitable for mass-production that would surpass the range of artillery.

Start of a German Reichswehr military training patrol team in the Karkonosze | Giant Mountains, 1932.

Johannes Friedrich " Hans " von Seeckt ( 22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936 ) was a German military officer noted for his organization of the German Army ( Reichswehr ) during the Weimar Republic.

The military refused to accept the democratic Weimar republic as legitimate and instead the Reichswehr under the leadership of Seeckt became a “ state within the state ” that operated largely outside of the control of the politicians.

Between January 10 and January 17, 1919 they, together with Reichswehr troops under the command of General von Lüttwitz, crushed the Spartacist revolt by military force, the leaders-Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht-were shot by members of the 1st Horse Guards Division as they were being arrested after the fighting had ended on January 17.

However, Reichswehr access to the three military training and testing sites ( Lipetsk, Kama, and Tomka ) was abruptly terminated by the Soviet Union in August – September 1933.

Two years after coming to office in 1933, Hitler blatantly defied the terms of the treaty when he announced that Germany would adopt military conscription and would no longer adhere to the restrictions on the size of the Reichswehr as set out in Versailles.

It was commonly introduced in the Reichswehr in 1920 and used by the German military until 1945.

Wound Badge () was a German military award for wounded or frostbitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War.