German military forces/Related Articles

Parent articles

Prussia [r]: Add brief definition or description
Germany [r]: Federal republic in central Europe (population c. 82.4 million; capital Berlin), with the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the north; Poland and the Czech Republic to the east; Switzerland and Austria to the south; and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west; founding member of the European Union. ^[e]
- Second Reich [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Weimar Republic [r]: Post-First World War democracy government in Germany, created in 1918 and ending in 1933 when the new Weimar Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, took control through parliamentary maneuver and became dictator ^[e]
- Third Reich [r]: The German state under National Socialism, 1933-1945 ^[e]
- German Federal Republic [r]: Add brief definition or description
- German Democratic Republic [r]: Add brief definition or description
Staff (military) [r]: A military organization to extend the capabilities of a commander, by providing services from personal assistance to presenting alternative plans and managing the details of warfare ^[e]

German General Staff [r]: Add brief definition or description
Carl von Clausewitz [r]: (1780-1831) German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war, posthumous author of On War. ^[e]
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder [r]: (1800-1891) Prussian field marshal who guided Austro-Prussian (1866) and Franco-Prussian Wars (1870); developed the existing Prussian staff tradition into a modern system for national mobilization of forces and industry; chief of general staff (1857–88); uncle of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger ^[e]
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger [r]: (1848-1916) German Field Marshal, nephew of Helmuth von Molkte the Elder who became Chief of the General Staff in 1904; performed well in Franco-Prussian War but mismanaged the Schlieffen Plan at the start of WWI and was relieved a month later. ^[e]

Reichswehr [r]: German defense organization under the Weimar Republic; limited by the Treaty of Versailles but with a clandestine general staff and rearmament function in the Truppenamt ^[e]
Wehrmacht [r]: The combined regular military forces (i.e., excluding the SS) of Nazi Germany, under the High Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), including the Army (Heer), Navy (navy) and Air Force (Luftwaffe) ^[e]
- Oberkommando der Wehrmacht [r]: (OKW) In Nazi Germany, the High Command of the Armed Forces, or the military staff office in direct support of Adolf Hitler ^[e]
  - Wilhelm Keitel [r]: Field Marshal of Nazi Germany who headed the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht; executed for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
  - Alfred Jodl [r]: Colonel-general in the Army of Nazi Germany; head of operations branch of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the overall command staff; executed for war crimes by sentence of the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
  - Walter Warlimont [r]: (1894-1976) General officer in the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht operations staff, assisting Alfred Jodl; sentenced to life in the High Command Case (NMT), released 1957 ^[e]
Bundeswehr [r]: German military establishment after West German rearmament (i.e., Wiederbewaffnung) and then reunification of the Germanies ^[e]