Editing Weimar Republic (section)

==Armed forces==
{{main|Reichswehr}}
[[File:War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933).svg|thumb|War ensign of Germany (''[[Reichskriegsflagge]]'') during the Weimar period (1921–1933)]]
Following Germany's defeat in World War I, several million soldiers of the [[Imperial German Army]] either simply dispersed on their own or were formally demobilized. The provisional civilian government and the [[Supreme Army Command]] (OHL) planned to transfer the remaining units to a peacetime army. Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], the new army, the ''[[Reichswehr]],'' was limited to 100,000 men and the ''[[Reichsmarine]]'' (navy), to 15,000. The treaty prohibited an air force, submarines, large warships and armored vehicles.<ref name="Treaty of Versailles-2">{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part V}}</ref>

The official formation of the ''Reichswehr'' took place on 1 January 1921, after the limitations had been met. The soldiers of the ''Reichswehr'' took their oath to the [[Weimar Constitution]]. The commander-in-chief was the [[Reich President|Reich president]], while the Reich minister of the armed forces exercised command authority. Military right of command ({{Lang|de|Kommandogewalt}}) was in the hands of the OHL. The resulting dualism between civilian power and military command was to become a heavy burden on the Republic. Whereas ''Reichswehr'' Minister [[Otto Gessler]] was content with limited political and administrative duties during his tenure (1920–1928), Colonel General [[Hans von Seeckt]], Chief of Army Command from 1920 to 1926, succeeded in largely removing the ''Reichswehr'' from the control of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]. Under Seeckt the ''Reichswehr'' developed into what many historians consider a "state within the state".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wirsching |first=Andreas |title=Die Weimarer Republik. Politik und Gesellschaft |publisher=Oldenbourg |year=2000 |isbn=9783486587364 |location=Munich |pages=55 f |language=de |trans-title=The Weimar Republic. Politics and Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kolb |first=Eberhard |title=Die Weimarer Republik |publisher=Oldenbourg |year=2002 |edition=6th |location=Munich |pages=42 |language=de |trans-title=The Weimar Republic}}</ref>

During the 1920 [[Kapp Putsch]], Seeckt refused to deploy the ''Reichswehr'' against the [[Freikorps]] involved in the putsch,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=5 November 2019 |title=Hans von Seeckt |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/hans-von-seeckt/ |access-date=20 March 2023 |website=Alpha History }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but immediately afterwards had the [[Ruhr Red Army]] brutally suppressed during the [[Ruhr uprising]]. In 1921, the ''Reichswehr'' organized the [[Black Reichswehr]], a secret reserve networked within the ''Reichswehr'' and organized as labor battalions ({{Lang|de|Arbeitskommandos}}) to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles' 100,000 man limit on the German army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wheeler-Bennett |first=John W. |title=The Nemesis of Power |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1953 |isbn=978-1-4039-1812-3 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=92}}</ref> The Black Reichswehr was never involved in direct military action and was dissolved in 1923 after a group of its members attempted to overthrow the government in the [[Küstrin Putsch]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard F. |url={{Google books|dcX_AwAAQBAJ|page=342|plainurl=yes}} |title=Who Voted for Hitler? |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1400855346 |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=342}}</ref> The ''Reichswehr'' also developed far-reaching cooperation with the Soviet [[Red Army]], leading among other things to the secret training of German military pilots in clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hansen |first=Ernst Willi |title=Grundkurs deutsche Militärgeschichte. Band 2. Das Zeitalter der Weltkriege: 1914 bis 1945. Völker in Waffen |publisher=Oldenbourg |year=2007 |isbn=9783486580990 |editor-last=von Neugebauer |editor-first=Karl-Volker |location=Munich |pages=138–144 |language=de |trans-title=Basic Course in German Military History. Volume 2: The Age of the World Wars: 1914 to 1945. Peoples in Arms |chapter=Der Staat im Staate – Militärgeschichte der Weimarer Republik 1919 bis 1933 |trans-chapter=The State Within the State – Military History of the Weimar Republic 1919 to 1933}}</ref>

With Seeckt's fall in 1926, the ''Reichswehr'' made a change in course for which Colonel (later General) [[Kurt von Schleicher]] was primarily responsible. The goal was to arouse broad social support for rearmament and to militarize society itself for the purpose of future warfare.{{Sfn|Hansen|2007|pp=150–167}} Under [[Paul von Hindenburg|Paul von Hindenburg's]] Reich presidency, ''Reichswehr'' leadership gained increasing political influence and eventually helped determine the composition of the Reich governments. As a result, the ''Reichswehr'' contributed significantly to the development of an authoritarian [[Presidential cabinets of the Weimar Republic|presidential system]] during the final phase of the Weimar Republic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Hans |title=Militär und Gesellschaft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert |publisher=Klett-Cotta |year=1997 |editor-last=Frevert |editor-first=Ute |location=Stuttgart |pages=273 |language=de |trans-title=Military and Society in the 19th and 20th Centuries |chapter=Militär und zivile Militarisierung in Deutschland 1914 bis 1938 |trans-chapter=Military and Civil Militarization in Germany 1914 to 1938}}</ref>

After [[Adolf Hitler]] announced the "regaining of military sovereignty" (reintroduction of conscription etc.) in 1935, two years after [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|his rise to power]], the ''Reichswehr'' was absorbed into the new ''[[Wehrmacht]]''. It was the unified armed forces of the Nazi regime.