The German Wehrmacht became a symbol of World War II.
Consequences of Versailles
The Entente's victory over Germany was crowned with the Versailles Peace Treaty, signed at Compiegne at the end of 1918. The incredibly difficult conditions of surrender were supplemented by a demand for the actual liquidation of the army. The German Republic was allowed to have a small professional army, with a total number of one hundred thousand people, and equally cut down naval forces. The military structure created on the remains of the army of the German Empire was called Reichver. Despite such a small number, the Reichver led by General von Sect managed to become the base for the deployment of a new army of the Third Reich and soon there were no people left 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 leaving Germany from the rigid framework of the Treaty of Versailles. Reichver had a well-trained and highly motivated talent pool to transform it into a real army. The Wehrmacht law, adopted shortly after Hitler took power, dramatically expanded the scope of military construction. Despite the envisaged five-fold increase in the armed forces, in the first years it was not completely clear what the Wehrmacht was. Its appearance has not yet developed, distinguished by dynamic aggressiveness, high discipline and a willingness to fight any enemy in any conditions. The Wehrmacht adopted 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 it as a party army, the main task of which was to spread National Socialism to the occupied territories. To some extent, this was so. But life is more complicated than dogma, and inside the Wehrmacht the old Prussian and German military traditions remained in force. It was they who made him such a formidable opponent and a powerful tool for the domination of the Nazis. To formulate what the Wehrmacht is in ideological terms is very difficult. In it, soldierly partnership and party fanaticism were fancifully combined. Defending Vaterland and building a new ideological Empire. The creation of the SS troops, which accumulated the most fanatical elements of the Third Reich, contributed to maintaining the corporate spirit of the Wehrmacht .
Wehrmacht's only war
The war showed the strengths and weaknesses of the army of Nazi 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 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 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." The Wehrmacht, known today, would not exist without it. The losses incurred during the fighting changed the staffing. Instead of a highly professional army, the Wehrmacht increasingly acquired the features of a people's militia. The adventurous line of the Reich leadership posed the same impossible tasks for him. The restructuring of thinking from war for the conquest of territories to the protection of one’s own country in such conditions was 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 heavy losses, was not offset by an influx of soldiers who were determined to defend the state. At the end of the war, the Wehrmacht looked like a loose conglomerate of individual combat-ready units, washed away by a demoralized mass of conscripts and Volkssturmists. They did not have time to accept the Prussian military traditions in order to become soldiers, and had no motivation to die for the Nazi regime.
Defeat and consequences
The defeat of Nazi Germany by 1945 became inevitable. When the Second World War ended, the Wehrmacht ceased to exist. Along with it, much of what has been the basis of the combat effectiveness of the German army is a thing of 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 commonality inherent in the Russian and German armies before the First World War. Many soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht continued their service in the army of the GDR, transferring to it the old traditions. They managed to demonstrate this during the suppression of the Czechoslovak rebellion of 1968. This event reminded what the Wehrmacht is. The army of Germany underwent a greater transformation for interaction with the Anglo-American troops, which had a completely different structure and history.