Military history of Germany
Encyclopedia
While German
-speaking people have a long history, Germany as a nation-state
dates only from 1871. Earlier periods are subject to definition debates. The Franks
, for instance, were a union of Germanic tribes; nevertheless, some of the Franks later identified themselves as Dutch, Flemish, French and again others as Germans. The capital of medieval ruler Charlemagne's
empire was the city of Aachen
, now part of Germany, yet he was a Frank. France
was named after the Franks and the Dutch
and Flemish people
are the only ones to speak a language that descends from Old Frankish
(The language of the Franks). Hence nearly all continental Western Europe
an historians can claim his victories as their heritage. The Holy Roman Empire
he founded was largely but far from entirely German speaking. The Kingdom of Prussia
, which unified Germany in the 19th century, had significant territory in what is now Poland
. In the early 19th century the philosopher Schlegel referred to Germany as a Kulturnation, a nation of shared culture and political disunity, analogous to ancient Greece
.
and from archaeology. This leaves important gaps. Germanic wars
against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective, such as the infamous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
. Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events.
Germanic tribes are thought to have originated during the Nordic Bronze Age
in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia
. The tribes spread south, possibly motivated by the deteriorating climate of that area. They crossed the River Elbe
, probably overrunning the territories of the Celtic Volcae
in the Weser Basin
. The Romans recorded one of these early migrations when the Cimbri
and the Teutones tribes threatened the Republic itself around the late 2nd century BC. In the East, other tribes, such as Goths
, Rugians
and Vandals
, settled along the shores of the Baltic Sea
pushing southward and eventually settling as far away as Ukraine
. The Angles
and Saxons
migrated to England. The Germanic peoples often had a fraught relationship with their neighbours, leading to a period of over two millennia of military conflict over various territorial, religious, ideological and economic concerns.
of the German Nation (also referred as the First German Empire) emerged from the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire
after its division in the Treaty of Verdun
of 843, and lasted almost a millennium until its dissolution in 1806. It was never a unitary state; from the beginning it was made up of many ethnicities and languages and would at its height comprise territories ranging from eastern France
to northern Italy
. Its unifying characteristic was its Carolingian heritage and strong religious connotations, its claim to "German-ness" the ethnicity of most of its subjects and rulers.
From 919-36 the Germanic peoples (Franks
, Saxons
, Swaben
and Bavarians) were united under Henry the Fowler, then Duke of Saxony, who took the title of King. For the first time, the term Kingdom of the Germans ("Regnum Teutonicorum") was applied to the Frankish kingdom.
In 955 the Magyars (Hungarians) were decisively defeated at Lechfeld
by his son Otto the Great
, ending the threat from the Eurasian steppes for four centuries. In 962, partly on the strength of this victory, Otto went to Rome and was crowned the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope
.
and made several incursions into northern Italy, but was ultimately defeated by the Lombard League
at Legano
in 1176. In 1189, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade
. After a few initial successes against the Turks
, notably at Konya
, Frederick was killed when trying to cross a river. Leaderless, panicked and attacked on all sides, only a tiny fraction of the original forces survived.
of Masovia
appealed to the Teutonic Knights
, a German crusading military order
, to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic
Prussians
. The conquest and Christianisation
of Prussia
was accomplished after more than 50 years, after which the Order ruled it as a sovereign Teutonic Order state
. Their conflict of interests with the Polish-Lithuanian state lead in 1410 to Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg)
. A Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive defeat and broke its military power, although the Order managed to retain most of its territories.
, fought between 1419 and 1434 in Bohemia
, had their origins in a conflict between Catholics and the followers of a religious sect founded by Jan Hus
. The inciting action of the war was the First Defenestration of Prague, in which the mayor and the town council members of Prague were thrown from the windows of the town building. Emperor Sigismund
, a firm adherent of the Roman Catholic Church, obtained the support of Pope Martin V
who issued a papal bull
in 1420 proclaiming a crusade. In all, four crusades were launched against the heretics, all resulting in defeat for the Catholic troops. The Hussites, capably led by Jan Žižka
, employed novel tactics to defeat their numerically superior enemies, notably at Sudomer
, Vyšehrad
, Deutsch Brod and decisively at Aussig. Whenever a crusade would end, the Hussite armies go on "Beautiful Rides" and would invade the lands where the crusaders were from. One such place was Saxony. After Žižka's death in 1424, the Hussite armies were led by Prokop the Great
to another victory at the Battle of Tachov
in 1427. The Hussites repeatedly invaded central German lands, though they made no attempt at permanent occupation, and at one point made it all of the way to the Baltic Sea
. The Hussite movement was ended in 1434, however, at the Battle of Lipany
.
, spanning from 1524 to 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire, the peasants rebelled against the nobility. The rebellion ultimately failed in the end and Emperor Charles V
became much harsher.
ravaged Germany, when it became the main theatre of war in the conflict between France and the Habsburg
s for predominance in Europe. Besides being at war with Catholic France, Germany was attacked by the Lutheran King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
, who won many victories until he was killed at Lützen
. The war resulted in large areas of Germany being laid waste, causing general impoverishment and a loss of around a third of its population; it took generations to recover. It ended with the Peace of Westphalia
, which stabilized the nation states of Europe.
The imperial general Prince Eugene of Savoy
faced the Ottoman Turks
on the battlefield, first coming to prominence during the last major Turkish offensive
against the Austrian capital of Vienna
in 1683. By the closing years of the 17th century, he was already famous for securing Hungary
from the Turks, and soon rose to the role of principal Austrian commander during the War of the Spanish Succession
.
, Germany fought with the English and the Dutch against the French. During the early part of the war, the French were successful until Camille de Tallard was victorious in the Palatinate. Later, in 1706, the Dutch and English helped the Germans take back their land.
During the reign of Frederick William I
(1713–40), the military power of Prussia was significantly improved. He organized the government around the needs of his army, and produced an efficient, highly-disciplined instrument of war. The Prussian Army
was expanded to 80,000 men, about 4% of the total population. Peasants were drafted into the military and trained for duty, but were sent home for ten months out of each year.
fought successfully for recognition of her succession to the throne. However, during the subsequent Silesian Wars
and the Seven Years' War
, Frederick II of Prussia
-- "Frederick the Great--occupied Silesia
and forced Austria to formally cede control in the Treaty of Hubertusburg
of 1763. Prussia had survived the combined force of its neighbours, each larger than itself, and gained enormously in influence at the cost of the Holy Roman Empire. It became recognised as a great European power, starting a rivalry with Austria for the leadership of the German-speaking lands.
During the Seven Years' War, Prussia fought on the side of Britain against Russia, Sweden, Austria, France, and Saxony. Frederick II of Prussia first invaded Saxony and defeated a Saxon army at Lobositz
. Frederick would then invade Bohemia, the Prussians besieged Prague
, but they were defeated at Kolin
. Since Prussia looked weak, the Austrians and French invaded Prussian lands. However, the French were defeated at Rossbach
and the Austrians at the Leuthen
. In 1758, Frederick the Great tried to invade Austria, but he failed. Now, the Russians tried to defeat the Prussians, but the Prussians earned a pyrrhic victory
at the Zorndorf
. The Swedes, however, fought the Prussians to a draw at Tornow
. However, Austria gained a victory against the Prussian main army at Hochkirch
. In 1759, the Prussians saw even more defeats. They lost at Kay
and at Kunersdorf
to the Russians. The Prussians suffered major defeats to the French and Swedish armies, so much that Berlin itself was taken in 1762. However, the great alliance against Prussia broke up when Elizabeth of Russia died. It was from her death that a pro-Prussian ruler, Peter III
would sue for peace. It was thanks to this "miracle of the House of Brandenburg" and to the unshakable will of Frederick that Prussia survived.
ended the Holy Roman Empire and created new German-speaking states that would eventually form modern Germany. Napoleon I of France
reorganized many of the smaller German-speaking states into the Confederation of the Rhine
following the battle of Austerlitz
in 1805. Essentially this enlarged the more powerful states of the region by absorbing the smaller ones
, creating a set of buffer states for France and a source of army conscripts. Neither of the two largest German-speaking states were part of this confederation: the Kingdom of Prussia
and the Austrian Empire
remained outside it.
King Frederick William III of Prussia
viewed the Confederation of the Rhine as a threat to Prussian interests and allied against Napoleon. At this time the reputation of the Prussian army
remained high from the period of the Seven Year's War. Unfortunately they retained the tactics of that period and still relied heavily on foreign mercenaries. The lack of military reforms would prove disastrous. Prussian defeats at Jena and Auerstedt
led to a humiliating settlement
that reduced the size of the country by half.
The Electorate of Hanover
, up till the Convention of Artlenburg
ruled in personal union by the English King George III, was incorporated into Prussia. The King's German Legion
formed in Britain from officers and soldiers of the dissolved Hanoverian army, was the only army of a German state that was continually fighting the Napoleonic army.
A demoralised Prussia brought its distinguished old general Gebhard von Blücher
out of retirement and reorganized the army. The reforms of the Prussian military were led by Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau
, and converted the professional army into one based on national service. They brought in younger leaders, increased the rate of mobilisation and improved their skirmishing and unit tactics. They also organized a centralized general staff
and a professional officer corps.
Following Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, Prussia and a few other German states saw their chance and joined the anti-French forces in the Sixth Coalition, which won a decisive victory over France at Leipzig in 1813 and forced the abdication of Napoleon. Although declared an outlaw by the Congress of Vienna
, Napoleon returned and met a final defeat at the hands of Blücher and Wellington
at Waterloo
in 1815.
, under the leadership of Prussia and Austria.
(1780–1831) was the most important German military theorist; he stressed the moral and political aspects of war. Clausewitz espoused a romantic
or Hegelian conception of warfare, stressing the dialectic of how opposite factors interact, and noting how unexpected new developments unfolding under the "fog of war
" called for rapid decisions by alert commanders. Clausewitz saw history as a complex check on abstractions that did not accord with experience. In opposition to his great rival Antoine-Henri Jomini
he argued war could not be quantified or graphed or reduced to mapwork and graphs. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is, "War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means," a working definition of war which has won wide acceptance.
and Holstein
, disputed between Denmark
and the German Confederation
. After the Danish annexation of Schleswig, Otto von Bismarck
, the new prime Minister of Prussia, made the smaller states of the German Confederation
join Prussia and Austria in the war with Denmark. The Second Schleswig War ended with the defeat of the Danes at Dybbøl
, and an agreement between Austria and Prussia to jointly administer Schleswig and Holstein.
Bismarck then set about making Prussia the undisputed master of northern Germany, weakening Austria and the German Confederation
. This eventually led to a German civil war, the Austro-Prussian War
, in which in the battle of Langensalza
(the last battle between Germanic states on German soil) Hanover won a victory, but was so weakened by it, that it could offer no resistance to the occupation by Prussia and ceased to be an independent state. The victory of Prussia and its allies at Königgrätz
in July 1866, against Austria and its allies sealed this. The result was the dissolution of the German Confederation
, and the creation of the North German Confederation
one year later.
Bismarck wanted a war with France to unify the German peoples, and French Emperor Napoleon III, unaware of his military weakness, provided the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870-71, expecting support from Prussia's recent enemies. Unlike in the war only a few years ago, the Germans turned not against each other, with the first emergence of a strong German national sentiment in the background. Instead, the southern German monarchs of Baden
, Württemberg
and Bavaria
honoured their secretly negotiated treaties of mutual defence with Berlin, while Austria remained neutral.
The Germans, led by King William I of Prussia
and Moltke the Elder
, mobilized a mass conscript army of 1.2 million men ( 300,000 regulars and 900.000 reserves and Landwehr) which faced 492,585 experienced regular French soldiers under Napoleon III of France
+ 420.000 Garde Mobile. Within the first month of war the German army encircled big French armies, at Gravelotte
, Metz
and Sedan
and destroyed them . The war culminated with the defeat of the French army during the siege of Paris
, and was followed by the proclamation of the German Empire
in 1871.
The results of these wars was the emergence of a powerful German nation-state
and a major shift in the balance of power on the European continent. The Imperial German Army
now was the most powerful military in Europe. Although Germany now had a parliament, it did not control the military, which was under the direct command of the Kaiser (Emperor). The German economy was rapidly growing, as was German pride and intense nationalism. By 1900, the possibility of a conflict between Germany and Britain loomed larger, as Germany built up its own (much smaller) colonial empire, and started a naval race to try and catch up with Britain, the world's dominant naval power.
The German Schlieffen plan
was to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilised Russian army. At the start of the First World War, Germany attacked France through Belgium to avoid French defenses on the French-German border. They were beaten back at the First Battle of the Marne
. Years of stalemate
d trench warfare
followed on the Western Front.
In the East, however, the war was very different. The Russian initial plans for war had called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia
and German East Prussia
. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg
and Ludendorff
at Tannenberg
and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. In the spring of 1915 the Russians were driven back in Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland
's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw
on 5 August and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland, known as the "Great Retreat".
By 1917 the German army had begun employing new infiltration tactics
in an effort to break the trench warfare deadlock. Units of stormtrooper
s, were trained and equipped for the new tactics, and were used with devastating effect along the Russian front at Riga then at the Battle of Caporetto
in Italy. These formations were then deployed to the Western front to counter the British tank attack at the Battle of Cambrai.
In March, 1918 the German army Spring Offensive
and began an impressive advance creating a salient in the allied line. The offensive stalled as the British and French fell back then counterattacked. The Germans did not have the airpower or tanks to secure their battlefield gains.
Increasing numbers of American soldiers along the western front now began to make their presence felt. Although the German military was able to stand off the Allied forces on both fronts, by 1918 victory appeared unobtainable and a negotiated peace seemed preferable to continuing to an inevitable defeat.
imposed severe restrictions on Germany's military strength. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers, and the Washington Naval Treaty
established severe tonnage restrictions for German warships. Tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air force was dissolved. A new post-war military (the Reichswehr) was established in March 1921. General conscription was not allowed. The new Weimar Republic
had to follow these restrictions, which worsened its already low public esteem.
General Hans von Seeckt
the Army Commander, used the lessons of the World War and the latest technology to develop advanced tactical doctrines, more efficient organizational structires, and better training that kept the small army ready for expansion. The government secretly trained soldiers in the Soviet Union, but otherwise generally followed the Versailles restrictions while retaining a strong cadre of officers and senior non-coms.
The Nazis came to power in 1933 and began remilitarisation. Heavy military spending quickly restored the depression-ravaged economy and made Hitler popular inded with the people and the military. German armed forces were named the Wehrmacht
from 1935 to 1945. The Army (Heer
) was encouraged to experiment with tanks and motorised infantry, using the ideas of Heinz Guderian
. The Kriegsmarine
re-started naval construction and Hitler established the Luftwaffe
, an independent air force.
Threats to use military force were a staple in Nazi foreign policy. They were not actually used except as German involvement
in the Spanish Civil War
(1936–39), where the Luftwaffe gained important combat experience.
, standing alone, was dogged in his defiance. Churchill had major financial, military, and diplomatic help from President Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the U.S., another implacable foe of Hitler. Europe was not big enough to share with the Soviet Union, so Germany invaded its much larger (and colder) former ally in June 1941. Hitler's insistence on maintaining high living standards postponed the full mobilization of the national economy until 1942, years after the great rivals Britain, Russia, and the U.S. had fully mobilized.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland
using new tactics that combining the use of tanks, motorised infantry, and air support - known as Blitzkrieg
- caused Polish resistance to collapse within weeks. From the beginning of the campaign German forces committed war crimes
. Britain and France declared war but over the winter of 1939-40 little happened in what was called the phony war
.
In April 1940, in Operation Weserübung
, German troops invaded and occupied neutral Denmark
and Norway
to secure access to Swedish iron ore
Sweden remained neutral throughout the war, but Finland became a German ally against the Soviets.
– a series of formidable defensive forts along the French-German border. General Erich von Manstein
thought on an idea which led eventually to the approval of a Sichelschnitt ('Sickle Cut') plan to the conquest of France
. On 10 May 1940 the Germans bypassed this obstacle by launching another Blitzkrieg through neutral Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, drawing the Allied forces out. The main thrust of the Battle of France
attack however was through the Ardennes
which were to that time believed impenetrable to tanks. In June 1940, with French troops encircled and cut off in the north, France asked for an armistice. The British Expeditionary Force
and other allied units were driven back to the coast at Dunkirk
, but managed to escape with most of their troops when Adolf Hitler
made a fateful decision not to attack with tanks.
was of basic strategic significance for Berlin believed that it could defeat Britain only by physical invasion by the Army, codenamed Operation Sea Lion. The British Army had rescued its soldiers at Dunkirk but lost most of its equipment and weapons, and was no match for the fully equipped German army. The invasion could succeed only if the Luftwaffe could guarantee the Royal Navy would not be able to attack the landing force. To do so, the Royal Air Force had to be defeated.
The Battle took place August to September. The Luftwaffe used 1300 medium bombers guarded by 900 fighters; they made 1500 sorties a day from bases in France, Belgium and Norway. The RAF had 650 fighters, with more coming out of the factories every day. Thanks to its new radar system, the British knew where the Germans were, and could concentrate their counterattacks. The Germans used their strategic bombing doctrine to focus on RAF airfields and radar stations. After the RAF bomber forces (quite separate from the fighter forces) attacked Berlin and other cities, Hitler swore revenge and diverted the Luftwaffe to attacks on London. The success the Luftwaffe was having in rapidly wearing down the RAF was squandered, as the civilians being hit were far less critical than the airfields and radar stations that were now ignored. The last German daylight raid was September 30; the Luftwaffe was taking unacceptable losses and broke off the attack; occasional blitz raids hit London and other cities from time to time before May 1941, killing some 43,000 civilians. The Luftwaffe lost 1733 planes, the British, 915. The British showed more determination, better radar, and better ground control, while the Germans violated their own doctrine with wasted attacks on London.
The British surprised the Germans with their high quality airplanes; flying close to home bases where they could refuel, and using radar as part of an integrated air defense system, they had a significant advantage over German planes operating at long range. The Hawker Hurricane fighter plane played a vital role for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in winning the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. A fast, heavily armed monoplane that went into service in 1937, the Hurricane was effective against both German fighters and bombers and accounted for 70-75% of German losses during the battle. The Germans immediately pulled out their Stukas, which were so slow they were child's play for the Hurricanes and Spitfires. The Battle of Britain showed the world that Hitler's vaunted war machine could be defeated.
Barley (2004) identifies numerous failures by the German high command. Hitler was indecisive, failing to identify a political goal that would be define the military mission. Luftwaffe planning was muddled, and overlook the important lessons learned in Spain. The operation was poorly supported by German intelligence. Germany failed to adhere to two key principles of war: know your enemy and yourself, and select and maintain your aim.
, Yugoslavia
and North Africa
. In the Balkans it was a matter of guerrilla war which was extremely violent on all sides. These deployments disrupted Berlin's timetable, and delayed the invasion of the Soviet Union.
The Balkan operation had caused a delay, and about six weeks later than planned, on 22 June 1941, Germany reneged on its non-aggression pact
with the Soviet Union and launched Operation Barbarossa
. The German army and its allies made enormous territorial gains in the first months of the war, reaching the outskirts of Moscow when winter set in. Expecting another Blitzkrieg victory, the Germans had not properly prepared for warfare in winter and over long distances.
The years 1941/1942 saw the high point for the German army which controlled an area from France
deep into Russia
, and from Norway
to western Egypt
. Consequently, it also proved to be the turning point. The harsh Russian winters and long supply lines worked in Russia's favour and German armies were decisively defeated in early 1943 at Stalingrad
and later in the gigantic tank battle at Kursk
. British and American forces cut off reinforcements to North Africa, defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
, and captured the German and Italian forces there.
Hitler was technologically oriented and promoted a series of new secret weapons, such as the jet plane, the jet-powered missile (V-1), the rocket-powered missile (V-2), and vastly improved submarines. However he failed to support development of nuclear weapons or proximity fuses, and trailed the Allies in radar. He failed to take advantage of the German lead in jet planes.
In early 1943 the Soviet victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the end, as Germany was unable to cope with the superior manpower and industrial resources of the Allies. North Africa, Sicily, and southern Italy fell in 1943. Hitler rescued Mussolini
, who became a mere puppet, as German and puppet forces blocked the allies from the industrial northern third of Italy. The Russians pushed forward relentlessly in the East, while the Allies in the west launched a major bombing campaign in 1944-45 that burned out the major German cities, ruined transportation, and signaled to Germans how hopeless was their cause.
The Allies invaded France
in June 1944 as the Russians launched another attack on the east. Both attacks were successful and by the end of 1944, the end was in sight. Hitler did launch a surprise attack at the Bulge
in December, 1944; it was his last major initiative and it failed, as Allied armor rolled into Germany. Disregarding his generals, Hitler rejected withdrawals and retreats, counting more and more on nonexistent armies. He committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin as his last soldiers were overwhelmed by Soviet armies in intensely bloody battles
overhead.
Among the legacies of the Nazi era were the Nuremberg Trials
of 1945-1949. These established the concept of war crimes in international law and created the precedent for trying future war criminals.
was formed from the French, British and American zones, while the Soviet zone formed the German Democratic Republic
. The western territory of Germany fell under the protection of the NATO alliance in the west, while the eastern state joined the Warsaw Pact
. Each state possessed its own military force, with eastern Germany formed along the Soviet model and federal Germany adopting a more 'western' organisation. The allied zones of Berlin became part of the Federal Republic of Germany despite the city's location deep in the German Democratic Republic. That resulted in a special situation for Berlin
, i.e. the draft was not in effect in West Berlin
. This condition continued until 1990 when the two states were reunited
.
The Bundeswehr
was established in 1955 in West Germany. In 1956, conscription for all men between 18 and 45 in years was introduced after heavy discussions about re-militarising Germany. A significant exception came from the conscientious objector
clause in the West German constitution: West Germany was the first country to grant alternative service to all men who objected to military service on ethical grounds, regardless of religious affiliation. This was named "Zivildienst" roughly translated as "civil services".
Cold War
analysts considered Germany the most likely location for the outbreak of a possible third world war. Tensions ran high during 1948 when the Soviet Union and "Sowjetische Besatzungszone" (Soviet Occupied Territories) closed all roads bringing supplies to West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift sustained the population and avoided a new war. Construction of the Berlin Wall
in 1961.
During the Cold War the Bundeswehr had a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilian personnel. The army consisted of three corps with 12 divisions, most of them armed with tanks and APCs. The air force owned major numbers of tactical combat aircraft and took part in NATO's integrated air defence (NATINAD)
. The navy was tasked to defend the Baltic Approaches and to contain the Soviet Baltic Fleet. The United States played a dominant role in NATO, and had its own forces stationed in Germany as well. Cooperation between the two militaries was extensive and cordial.
) or NVA was founded on 1 March 1956. It grew steadily by gradual stages from the police force in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945 until the consolidation in the defense establishment in the 1970s. It was a professional volunteer army until 1962, when conscription was introduced. In 1987 at the peak of its power, the NVA numbered 175,300 troops. Approximately 50% of this number were career soldiers, while the remaining half were short-term conscripts. The armed forces were controlled by the National Defense Council, except that the mobile forces were under the Warsaw Pact Unified Command. Political control of the armed forces was through close integration with the SED (Communist Party), which vetted all the officers. Popular support for the military establishment was bolstered by military training provided by the school system and through the growing militarization of society. From a Leninist perspective, the NVA stood as a symbol of Soviet-East German solidarity and became the model Communist institution—ideological, hierarchical, and disciplined. The NVA synthesized Communist and Germanic symbolism, naming its officers' academy after Marx's coauthor Friedrich Engels
, and its highest medal after Prussian General Gerhard von Scharnhorst
.
At the critical moment in its history in November 1989, the NVA rallied to its Germanic heritage and rejected Communism, refusing to battle the demonstrators protesting the Communist regime. Mikhail Gorbachev
refused to let Soviet troops become engaged, and so not just the leadership but the entire Communist system in East Germany collapsed, and the country saw soon absorbed by West Germany.
After reunification in 1990, the Bundeswehr
absorbed parts of the Nationale Volksarmee of the GDR, which was being dissolved. In 1999, the NATO war on Yugoslavia in Kosovo was the first offensive conflict in which the German military actively took part since the Second World War. In 2000 the European Court of Justice opened up the previously all-male (besides medical divisions and the music corps) Bundeswehr to women. Since the early 1990s the Bundeswehr has become more and more engaged in international peacekeeping missions in and around the former Yugoslavia but also in other parts of the world such as Cambodia, Somalia, Djibouti, Georgia and Sudan.
special forces, naval vessels and NBC cleanup teams to Afghanistan
. German forces have contributed to ISAF
, the NATO force in Afghanistan, and a Provincial reconstruction team
. German army CH-53 helicopters have deployed to Afghanistan, one crashed in December 2002 in Kabul, killing seven German soldiers. Eleven other German soldiers have been killed: four in two different ordnance-defusing accidents, one in a vehicle accident, five in two separate suicide bombings, and one in landmine explosion. German forces are in the more secure north of the country and Germany, along with some other larger European countries (with the exception of the UK, Estonia, the Netherlands and Norway), has been criticised for not taking part in the more intensive combat operations
in southern Afghanistan.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking people have a long history, Germany as a nation-state
Nation-state
The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
dates only from 1871. Earlier periods are subject to definition debates. The Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, for instance, were a union of Germanic tribes; nevertheless, some of the Franks later identified themselves as Dutch, Flemish, French and again others as Germans. The capital of medieval ruler Charlemagne's
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
empire was the city of Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, now part of Germany, yet he was a Frank. France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was named after the Franks and the Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
and Flemish people
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
are the only ones to speak a language that descends from Old Frankish
Old Frankish
Old Frankish is an extinct West Germanic language, once spoken by the Franks. It is the parent language of the Franconian languages, of which Dutch and Afrikaans are the most known descendants...
(The language of the Franks). Hence nearly all continental Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an historians can claim his victories as their heritage. The Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
he founded was largely but far from entirely German speaking. The Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
, which unified Germany in the 19th century, had significant territory in what is now Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. In the early 19th century the philosopher Schlegel referred to Germany as a Kulturnation, a nation of shared culture and political disunity, analogous to ancient Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Ancient times
During the ancient and early medieval periods the Germanic tribes had no written language. What we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and from archaeology. This leaves important gaps. Germanic wars
Germanic Wars
The Germanic Wars is a name given to a series of wars between the Romans and various Germanic tribes between 113 BCE and 439 CE. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings and later Germanic invasions in the Roman Empire that started in the late 2nd...
against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective, such as the infamous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions, along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.Despite numerous successful campaigns and raids by the...
. Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events.
Germanic tribes are thought to have originated during the Nordic Bronze Age
Nordic Bronze Age
The Nordic Bronze Age is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history, c. 1700-500 BC, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of...
in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. The tribes spread south, possibly motivated by the deteriorating climate of that area. They crossed the River Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
, probably overrunning the territories of the Celtic Volcae
Volcae
The Volcae were a tribal confederation constituted before the raid of combined Gauls that invaded Macedon circa 270 BC and defeated the assembled Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 279 BC...
in the Weser Basin
Weser River
The Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
. The Romans recorded one of these early migrations when the Cimbri
Cimbri
The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...
and the Teutones tribes threatened the Republic itself around the late 2nd century BC. In the East, other tribes, such as Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, Rugians
Rugians
"Rugi" redirects here. For the Romanian villages by this name, see Păltiniş, Caraş-Severin and Turcineşti.The Rugii, also Rugians, Rygir, Ulmerugi, or Holmrygir were an East Germanic tribe migrated from southwest Norway to Pomerania around 100 AD, and from there to the Danube River valley...
and Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, settled along the shores of the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
pushing southward and eventually settling as far away as Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
and Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
migrated to England. The Germanic peoples often had a fraught relationship with their neighbours, leading to a period of over two millennia of military conflict over various territorial, religious, ideological and economic concerns.
Middle Ages
The Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
of the German Nation (also referred as the First German Empire) emerged from the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
after its division in the Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
of 843, and lasted almost a millennium until its dissolution in 1806. It was never a unitary state; from the beginning it was made up of many ethnicities and languages and would at its height comprise territories ranging from eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Its unifying characteristic was its Carolingian heritage and strong religious connotations, its claim to "German-ness" the ethnicity of most of its subjects and rulers.
From 919-36 the Germanic peoples (Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, Swaben
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
and Bavarians) were united under Henry the Fowler, then Duke of Saxony, who took the title of King. For the first time, the term Kingdom of the Germans ("Regnum Teutonicorum") was applied to the Frankish kingdom.
In 955 the Magyars (Hungarians) were decisively defeated at Lechfeld
Battle of Lechfeld
The Battle of Lechfeld , often seen as the defining event for holding off the incursions of the Hungarians into Western Europe, was a decisive victory by Otto I the Great, King of the Germans, over the Hungarian leaders, the harka Bulcsú and the chieftains Lél and Súr...
by his son Otto the Great
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
, ending the threat from the Eurasian steppes for four centuries. In 962, partly on the strength of this victory, Otto went to Rome and was crowned the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
.
Third Crusade
By 1155, the German states had descended into disorder. Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) managed to restore peace through diplomacy and skillfully arranged marriages. He claimed direct imperial control over ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and made several incursions into northern Italy, but was ultimately defeated by the Lombard League
Lombard League
The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...
at Legano
Battle of Legnano
The Battle of Legnano was fought on May 29, 1176, between the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and the Lombard League.-The Lombard League:...
in 1176. In 1189, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
. After a few initial successes against the Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
, notably at Konya
Konya
Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...
, Frederick was killed when trying to cross a river. Leaderless, panicked and attacked on all sides, only a tiny fraction of the original forces survived.
Teutonic Knights
In 1226 Konrad IKonrad I of Masovia
Konrad I of Masovia , from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia from 1194 until his death and High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232.-Life:...
of Masovia
Duchy of Masovia
The Duchy of Masovia with its capital at Płock was a medieval duchy formed when the Polish Kingdom of the Piasts fragmented in 1138. It was located in the historic Masovian region of northeastern Poland...
appealed to the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
, a German crusading military order
Military order
A military order is a Christian society of knights that was founded for crusading, i.e. propagating or defending the faith , either in the Holy Land or against Islam or pagans in Europe...
, to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic
Balts
The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...
Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
. The conquest and Christianisation
Prussian Crusade
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning...
of Prussia
Prussia (region)
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...
was accomplished after more than 50 years, after which the Order ruled it as a sovereign Teutonic Order state
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
. Their conflict of interests with the Polish-Lithuanian state lead in 1410 to Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg)
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...
. A Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive defeat and broke its military power, although the Order managed to retain most of its territories.
Hussite wars
The Hussite WarsHussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
, fought between 1419 and 1434 in Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
, had their origins in a conflict between Catholics and the followers of a religious sect founded by Jan Hus
Jan Hus
Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...
. The inciting action of the war was the First Defenestration of Prague, in which the mayor and the town council members of Prague were thrown from the windows of the town building. Emperor Sigismund
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
, a firm adherent of the Roman Catholic Church, obtained the support of Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...
who issued a papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
in 1420 proclaiming a crusade. In all, four crusades were launched against the heretics, all resulting in defeat for the Catholic troops. The Hussites, capably led by Jan Žižka
Jan Žižka
Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha , Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka"...
, employed novel tactics to defeat their numerically superior enemies, notably at Sudomer
Battle of Sudomer
The Battle of Sudomĕř was fought on the 25th of March, 1420, between Catholic and Hussite forces. The Hussites were led by Břeněk of Švihov - who was killed in battle - and Jan Žižka, whose forces proved victorious...
, Vyšehrad
Battle of Vyšehrad
The Battle of Vyšehrad was a series of engagements at the start of the Hussite War between Hussite forces and Catholic crusaders sent by Emperor Sigismund. The battle took place at the castle of Vyšehrad from August 16, 1419, to c...
, Deutsch Brod and decisively at Aussig. Whenever a crusade would end, the Hussite armies go on "Beautiful Rides" and would invade the lands where the crusaders were from. One such place was Saxony. After Žižka's death in 1424, the Hussite armies were led by Prokop the Great
Prokop the Great
Prokop or Prokop the Great was one of the most prominent Hussite generals of the Hussite Wars...
to another victory at the Battle of Tachov
Battle of Tachov
The Battle of Tachov or Battle of Mies was a battle fought on 4 August 1427 near the Bohemian towns of Tachov and Stříbro . It was part of the Hussite Wars, and it was the first battle in which war wagons were used by the crusaders. The battle showed that the Wagenburg could not be used...
in 1427. The Hussites repeatedly invaded central German lands, though they made no attempt at permanent occupation, and at one point made it all of the way to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. The Hussite movement was ended in 1434, however, at the Battle of Lipany
Battle of Lipany
The Battle of Lipany or Lipan, also called the Battle of Česky Brod, was fought at Lipany 40 km east of Prague on 30 May 1434 and virtually ended the Hussite Wars...
.
Reformation
During the German Peasants' WarGerman Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...
, spanning from 1524 to 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire, the peasants rebelled against the nobility. The rebellion ultimately failed in the end and Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
became much harsher.
Thirty Years War
From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
ravaged Germany, when it became the main theatre of war in the conflict between France and the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s for predominance in Europe. Besides being at war with Catholic France, Germany was attacked by the Lutheran King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
, who won many victories until he was killed at Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1632)
The Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Protestant alliance, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, which caused the Protestant campaign to lose direction.- Prelude to the...
. The war resulted in large areas of Germany being laid waste, causing general impoverishment and a loss of around a third of its population; it took generations to recover. It ended with the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
, which stabilized the nation states of Europe.
The imperial general Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
faced the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
on the battlefield, first coming to prominence during the last major Turkish offensive
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
against the Austrian capital of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1683. By the closing years of the 17th century, he was already famous for securing Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
from the Turks, and soon rose to the role of principal Austrian commander during the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
.
18th century
From 1701-1714 the War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
, Germany fought with the English and the Dutch against the French. During the early part of the war, the French were successful until Camille de Tallard was victorious in the Palatinate. Later, in 1706, the Dutch and English helped the Germans take back their land.
During the reign of Frederick William I
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
(1713–40), the military power of Prussia was significantly improved. He organized the government around the needs of his army, and produced an efficient, highly-disciplined instrument of war. The Prussian Army
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War...
was expanded to 80,000 men, about 4% of the total population. Peasants were drafted into the military and trained for duty, but were sent home for ten months out of each year.
Frederick the Great
In the War of Austrian Succession (1740–48) Empress Maria Theresa of AustriaMaria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
fought successfully for recognition of her succession to the throne. However, during the subsequent Silesian Wars
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...
and the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
, Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
-- "Frederick the Great--occupied Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
and forced Austria to formally cede control in the Treaty of Hubertusburg
Treaty of Hubertusburg
thumb|right|300px|Hubertusburg, WermsdorfThe Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed on 15 February 1763 at Hubertusburg by Prussia, Austria, and Saxony. Together with the Treaty of Paris, it marked the end of the French and Indian War and of the Seven Years' War. The treaty ended the continental...
of 1763. Prussia had survived the combined force of its neighbours, each larger than itself, and gained enormously in influence at the cost of the Holy Roman Empire. It became recognised as a great European power, starting a rivalry with Austria for the leadership of the German-speaking lands.
During the Seven Years' War, Prussia fought on the side of Britain against Russia, Sweden, Austria, France, and Saxony. Frederick II of Prussia first invaded Saxony and defeated a Saxon army at Lobositz
Battle of Lobositz
The Battle of Lobositz or Lovosice also Lowositz on 1 October 1756 was the opening land battle of the Seven Years' War. Frederick the Great's 29,000 Prussians prevented Field Marshal Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne 34,500 Austrians from relieving their besieged Saxon allies during the Siege of...
. Frederick would then invade Bohemia, the Prussians besieged Prague
Siege of Prague
The Siege of Prague was an unsuccessful attempt by a Prussian army led by Frederick the Great to capture the Austrian city of Prague during the Seven Years' War. It took place in May 1757 immediately after the Battle of Prague. Despite having won that battle, Frederick had lost 14,300 dead, and his...
, but they were defeated at Kolin
Battle of Kolin
-Results:The battle was Frederick's first defeat in this war. This disaster forced him to abandon his intended march on Vienna, raise his siege of Prague, and fall back on Litoměřice...
. Since Prussia looked weak, the Austrians and French invaded Prussian lands. However, the French were defeated at Rossbach
Battle of Rossbach
The Battle of Rossbach took place during the Seven Years' War near the village of Roßbach, in the Electorate of Saxony. Frederick the Great defeated the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman/Austrian Empire...
and the Austrians at the Leuthen
Battle of Leuthen
In the Battle of Leuthen or Lissa, fought on 5 December 1757, Frederick the Great's Prussian army used maneuver and terrain to decisively defeat a much larger Austrian army under Charles of Lorraine, thus ensuring Prussian control of Silesia during the Seven Years' War.- Background :While Frederick...
. In 1758, Frederick the Great tried to invade Austria, but he failed. Now, the Russians tried to defeat the Prussians, but the Prussians earned a pyrrhic victory
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
at the Zorndorf
Battle of Zorndorf
The Battle of Zorndorf was a battle fought on August 25, 1758 during the Seven Years' War, fought between the forces of the Russians troops under the command of Count William Fermor – and a Prussian army under King Frederick the Great...
. The Swedes, however, fought the Prussians to a draw at Tornow
Battle of Tornow
The Battle of Tornow was part of the Seven Years War and was fought between the forces of Prussia and Sweden on 26 September 1758.The Prussians sent 6,000 men, led by general Wedel to protect Berlin. Wedel attacked aggressively and let his cavalry attack a Swedish force of some 600 men at Tornow...
. However, Austria gained a victory against the Prussian main army at Hochkirch
Battle of Hochkirch
The Battle of Hochkirch was a battle fought on October 14, 1758 during the Seven Years' War between a Prussian army of 30,000-36,000 commanded by Frederick the Great and an Austrian army of 80,000 commanded by Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun...
. In 1759, the Prussians saw even more defeats. They lost at Kay
Battle of Kay
The Battle of Kay or Battle of Paltzig was a battle fought on July 23, 1759 during the Seven Years' War. It occurred near Kay in the Neumark, now part of Poland....
and at Kunersdorf
Battle of Kunersdorf
The Battle of Kunersdorf, fought in the Seven Year's War, was Frederick the Great's most devastating defeat. On August 12, 1759, near Kunersdorf , east of Frankfurt , 50,900 Prussians were defeated by a combined allied army 59,500 strong consisting of 41,000 Russians and 18,500 Austrians under...
to the Russians. The Prussians suffered major defeats to the French and Swedish armies, so much that Berlin itself was taken in 1762. However, the great alliance against Prussia broke up when Elizabeth of Russia died. It was from her death that a pro-Prussian ruler, Peter III
Peter III of Russia
Peter III was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader. He was supposedly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II.-Early life and character:Peter was born in Kiel, in...
would sue for peace. It was thanks to this "miracle of the House of Brandenburg" and to the unshakable will of Frederick that Prussia survived.
Napoleonic Wars (1805-1815)
The Napoleonic eraNapoleonic Era
The Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory...
ended the Holy Roman Empire and created new German-speaking states that would eventually form modern Germany. Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
reorganized many of the smaller German-speaking states into the Confederation of the Rhine
Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the...
following the battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
in 1805. Essentially this enlarged the more powerful states of the region by absorbing the smaller ones
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
, creating a set of buffer states for France and a source of army conscripts. Neither of the two largest German-speaking states were part of this confederation: the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
remained outside it.
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
viewed the Confederation of the Rhine as a threat to Prussian interests and allied against Napoleon. At this time the reputation of the Prussian army
Royal Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars
The Royal Prussian Army was the principal armed force of the Kingdom of Prussia during its participation in the Napoleonic Wars.Frederick the Great's successor, his nephew Frederick William II , relaxed conditions in Prussia and had little interest in war...
remained high from the period of the Seven Year's War. Unfortunately they retained the tactics of that period and still relied heavily on foreign mercenaries. The lack of military reforms would prove disastrous. Prussian defeats at Jena and Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
led to a humiliating settlement
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
that reduced the size of the country by half.
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
, up till the Convention of Artlenburg
Convention of Artlenburg
The Convention of Artlenburg or Elbkonvention was the surrender of the Electorate of Hanover to Napoleon's army, signed at Artlenburg on 5 July 1803 by Oberbefehlshaber Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn...
ruled in personal union by the English King George III, was incorporated into Prussia. The King's German Legion
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion was a British Army unit of expatriate German personnel, 1803–16. The Legion achieved the distinction of being the only German force to fight without interruption against the French during the Napoleonic Wars....
formed in Britain from officers and soldiers of the dissolved Hanoverian army, was the only army of a German state that was continually fighting the Napoleonic army.
A demoralised Prussia brought its distinguished old general Gebhard von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
out of retirement and reorganized the army. The reforms of the Prussian military were led by Scharnhorst
Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst was a general in Prussian service, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, noted for both his writings, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars....
and Gneisenau
August von Gneisenau
August Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau was a Prussian field marshal. He was a prominent figure in the reform of the Prussian military and the War of Liberation.-Early life:...
, and converted the professional army into one based on national service. They brought in younger leaders, increased the rate of mobilisation and improved their skirmishing and unit tactics. They also organized a centralized general staff
German General Staff
The German General Staff was an institution whose rise and development gave the German armed forces a decided advantage over its adversaries. The Staff amounted to its best "weapon" for nearly a century and a half....
and a professional officer corps.
Following Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, Prussia and a few other German states saw their chance and joined the anti-French forces in the Sixth Coalition, which won a decisive victory over France at Leipzig in 1813 and forced the abdication of Napoleon. Although declared an outlaw by the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, Napoleon returned and met a final defeat at the hands of Blücher and Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1815.
Making of a reunited Germany (1815-1871)
By 1815 there were 39 separate German-speaking states, loosely joined (for free trade purposes) in the German ConfederationGerman Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
, under the leadership of Prussia and Austria.
Clausewitz
Carl von ClausewitzCarl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war...
(1780–1831) was the most important German military theorist; he stressed the moral and political aspects of war. Clausewitz espoused a romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
or Hegelian conception of warfare, stressing the dialectic of how opposite factors interact, and noting how unexpected new developments unfolding under the "fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
" called for rapid decisions by alert commanders. Clausewitz saw history as a complex check on abstractions that did not accord with experience. In opposition to his great rival Antoine-Henri Jomini
Antoine-Henri Jomini
Antoine-Henri, baron Jomini was a general in the French and later in the Russian service, and one of the most celebrated writers on the Napoleonic art of war...
he argued war could not be quantified or graphed or reduced to mapwork and graphs. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is, "War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means," a working definition of war which has won wide acceptance.
Wars of Unification
After a period of constitutional deadlock between crown and parliament in Prussia, a crisis arose in 1863 over the duchies of SchleswigSchleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
and Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, disputed between Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
. After the Danish annexation of Schleswig, Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, the new prime Minister of Prussia, made the smaller states of the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
join Prussia and Austria in the war with Denmark. The Second Schleswig War ended with the defeat of the Danes at Dybbøl
Battle of Dybbøl
The Battle of Dybbøl was the key battle of the Second War of Schleswig and occurred on the morning of 18 April 1864 following a siege lasting from 7 April. Denmark suffered a severe defeat against the German Confederation which decided the war...
, and an agreement between Austria and Prussia to jointly administer Schleswig and Holstein.
Bismarck then set about making Prussia the undisputed master of northern Germany, weakening Austria and the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
. This eventually led to a German civil war, the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, in which in the battle of Langensalza
Second Battle of Langensalza
The Battle of Langensalza was fought on June 27, 1866 near Bad Langensalza in what is now modern Germany, between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Prussians. The Hanoverians won the battle but were then surrounded by a larger and reinforced Prussian army, and, unable to link up with their Bavarian...
(the last battle between Germanic states on German soil) Hanover won a victory, but was so weakened by it, that it could offer no resistance to the occupation by Prussia and ceased to be an independent state. The victory of Prussia and its allies at Königgrätz
Battle of Königgrätz
The Battle of Königgrätz , also known as the Battle of Sadowa, Sadová, or Hradec Králové, was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire...
in July 1866, against Austria and its allies sealed this. The result was the dissolution of the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
, and the creation of the North German Confederation
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...
one year later.
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870-71, expecting support from Prussia's recent enemies. Unlike in the war only a few years ago, the Germans turned not against each other, with the first emergence of a strong German national sentiment in the background. Instead, the southern German monarchs of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
, Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
and Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
honoured their secretly negotiated treaties of mutual defence with Berlin, while Austria remained neutral.
The Germans, led by King William I of Prussia
William I, German Emperor
William I, also known as Wilhelm I , of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia and the first German Emperor .Under the leadership of William and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the...
and Moltke the Elder
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a German Field Marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter 19th century, and the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field...
, mobilized a mass conscript army of 1.2 million men ( 300,000 regulars and 900.000 reserves and Landwehr) which faced 492,585 experienced regular French soldiers under Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
+ 420.000 Garde Mobile. Within the first month of war the German army encircled big French armies, at Gravelotte
Battle of Gravelotte
The Battle of Gravelotte was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War named after Gravelotte, a village in Lorraine between Metz and the former French–German frontier.-Terrain and armies:...
, Metz
Siege of Metz
The Siege of Metz lasting from 19 August – 27 October 1870 was fought during the Franco-Prussian War and ended in a decisive Prussian victory.-History:...
and Sedan
Battle of Sedan
The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War on 1 September 1870. It resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and for all intents and purposes decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, though fighting continued under a new French...
and destroyed them . The war culminated with the defeat of the French army during the siege of Paris
Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune....
, and was followed by the proclamation of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871.
The results of these wars was the emergence of a powerful German nation-state
Nation-state
The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
and a major shift in the balance of power on the European continent. The Imperial German Army
German Army (German Empire)
The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...
now was the most powerful military in Europe. Although Germany now had a parliament, it did not control the military, which was under the direct command of the Kaiser (Emperor). The German economy was rapidly growing, as was German pride and intense nationalism. By 1900, the possibility of a conflict between Germany and Britain loomed larger, as Germany built up its own (much smaller) colonial empire, and started a naval race to try and catch up with Britain, the world's dominant naval power.
First World War (1914-1918)
Schlieffen Plan
The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east...
was to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilised Russian army. At the start of the First World War, Germany attacked France through Belgium to avoid French defenses on the French-German border. They were beaten back at the First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...
. Years of stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
d trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
followed on the Western Front.
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
and German East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
and Ludendorff
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg...
at Tannenberg
Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
The Battle of Tannenberg was an engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I. It was fought by the Russian First and Second Armies against the German Eighth Army between 23 August and 30 August 1914. The battle resulted in the almost complete...
and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. In the spring of 1915 the Russians were driven back in Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
on 5 August and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland, known as the "Great Retreat".
By 1917 the German army had begun employing new infiltration tactics
Infiltration tactics
In warfare, infiltration tactics involve small, lightly equipped infantry forces attacking enemy rear areas while bypassing enemy front line strongpoints and isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons.-Development during World War I:...
in an effort to break the trench warfare deadlock. Units of stormtrooper
Stormtrooper
Stormtroopers were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with "infiltration tactics", part of the Germans' new method of attack on enemy trenches...
s, were trained and equipped for the new tactics, and were used with devastating effect along the Russian front at Riga then at the Battle of Caporetto
Battle of Caporetto
The Battle of Caporetto , took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid , on the Austro-Italian front of World War I...
in Italy. These formations were then deployed to the Western front to counter the British tank attack at the Battle of Cambrai.
In March, 1918 the German army Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
and began an impressive advance creating a salient in the allied line. The offensive stalled as the British and French fell back then counterattacked. The Germans did not have the airpower or tanks to secure their battlefield gains.
Increasing numbers of American soldiers along the western front now began to make their presence felt. Although the German military was able to stand off the Allied forces on both fronts, by 1918 victory appeared unobtainable and a negotiated peace seemed preferable to continuing to an inevitable defeat.
Weimar Republic and the Third Reich (1918-1939)
The treaty of VersaillesTreaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
imposed severe restrictions on Germany's military strength. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers, and the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
established severe tonnage restrictions for German warships. Tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air force was dissolved. A new post-war military (the Reichswehr) was established in March 1921. General conscription was not allowed. The new Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
had to follow these restrictions, which worsened its already low public esteem.
General Hans von Seeckt
Hans von Seeckt
Johannes Friedrich "Hans" von Seeckt was a German military officer noted for his organization of the German Army during the Weimar Republic.-Early life:...
the Army Commander, used the lessons of the World War and the latest technology to develop advanced tactical doctrines, more efficient organizational structires, and better training that kept the small army ready for expansion. The government secretly trained soldiers in the Soviet Union, but otherwise generally followed the Versailles restrictions while retaining a strong cadre of officers and senior non-coms.
The Nazis came to power in 1933 and began remilitarisation. Heavy military spending quickly restored the depression-ravaged economy and made Hitler popular inded with the people and the military. German armed forces were named the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
from 1935 to 1945. The Army (Heer
Heer (1935-1945)
The Heer was the Army land forces component of the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945, the latter also included the Navy and the Air Force...
) was encouraged to experiment with tanks and motorised infantry, using the ideas of Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
. The Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
re-started naval construction and Hitler established the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, an independent air force.
Threats to use military force were a staple in Nazi foreign policy. They were not actually used except as German involvement
German involvement in the Spanish Civil War
German involvement in the Spanish Civil War was made up of the various ways in which Nazi Germany tried to influence the war. It lasted from the war's beginning in July 1936 until 1939 and in the most part attempted to secure a victory for the National faction.Some arms sales were made to the...
in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
(1936–39), where the Luftwaffe gained important combat experience.
Second World War (1939-1945)
At first Germany's military moves were brilliantly successful, as in the "blitzkrieg" invasions of Poland (1939), Norway (1940), the Low Countries (1940), and above all the stunningly successful invasion and quick conquest of France in 1940. Hitler probably wanted peace with Britain in late 1940, but Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, standing alone, was dogged in his defiance. Churchill had major financial, military, and diplomatic help from President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
in the U.S., another implacable foe of Hitler. Europe was not big enough to share with the Soviet Union, so Germany invaded its much larger (and colder) former ally in June 1941. Hitler's insistence on maintaining high living standards postponed the full mobilization of the national economy until 1942, years after the great rivals Britain, Russia, and the U.S. had fully mobilized.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
using new tactics that combining the use of tanks, motorised infantry, and air support - known as Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
- caused Polish resistance to collapse within weeks. From the beginning of the campaign German forces committed war crimes
War crimes of the Wehrmacht
War crimes of the Wehrmacht were those carried out by the German armed forces during World War II. While the principal perpetrators of the Holocaust amongst German armed forces were the Nazi German 'political' armies , the regular armed forces represented by the Wehrmacht committed war crimes of...
. Britain and France declared war but over the winter of 1939-40 little happened in what was called the phony war
Phony War
The Phoney War was a phase early in World War II – in the months following Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940 – that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies against the German Reich...
.
In April 1940, in Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
, German troops invaded and occupied neutral Denmark
Occupation of Denmark
Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark began with Operation Weserübung on 9 April 1940, and lasted until German forces withdrew at the end of World War II following their surrender to the Allies on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish...
and Norway
Norwegian Campaign
The Norwegian Campaign was a military campaign that was fought in Norway during the Second World War between the Allies and Germany, after the latter's invasion of the country. In April 1940, the United Kingdom and France came to Norway's aid with an expeditionary force...
to secure access to Swedish iron ore
Swedish iron ore during World War II
Swedish iron ore was an important economic factor in the European Theatre of World War II. Both the Allies and the Third Reich were keen on the control of the mining district in northernmost Sweden, surrounding the mining towns of Gällivare and Kiruna...
Sweden remained neutral throughout the war, but Finland became a German ally against the Soviets.
France
The French plans were largely based on a static defense behind the Maginot LineMaginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
– a series of formidable defensive forts along the French-German border. General Erich von Manstein
Erich von Manstein
Erich von Manstein was a field marshal in World War II. He became one of the most prominent commanders of Germany's World War II armed forces...
thought on an idea which led eventually to the approval of a Sichelschnitt ('Sickle Cut') plan to the conquest of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. On 10 May 1940 the Germans bypassed this obstacle by launching another Blitzkrieg through neutral Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, drawing the Allied forces out. The main thrust of the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
attack however was through the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
which were to that time believed impenetrable to tanks. In June 1940, with French troops encircled and cut off in the north, France asked for an armistice. The British Expeditionary Force
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....
and other allied units were driven back to the coast at Dunkirk
Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a battle in the Second World War between the Allies and Germany. A part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and allied forces in Europe from 26 May–4 June 1940.After the Phoney War, the Battle of...
, but managed to escape with most of their troops when Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
made a fateful decision not to attack with tanks.
Battle of Britain
Hitler at least wanted to threaten an invasion of Britain, perhaps to force a peace, so an armada of small boats and a large combat force was assembled in northern France. The Battle of BritainBattle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
was of basic strategic significance for Berlin believed that it could defeat Britain only by physical invasion by the Army, codenamed Operation Sea Lion. The British Army had rescued its soldiers at Dunkirk but lost most of its equipment and weapons, and was no match for the fully equipped German army. The invasion could succeed only if the Luftwaffe could guarantee the Royal Navy would not be able to attack the landing force. To do so, the Royal Air Force had to be defeated.
The Battle took place August to September. The Luftwaffe used 1300 medium bombers guarded by 900 fighters; they made 1500 sorties a day from bases in France, Belgium and Norway. The RAF had 650 fighters, with more coming out of the factories every day. Thanks to its new radar system, the British knew where the Germans were, and could concentrate their counterattacks. The Germans used their strategic bombing doctrine to focus on RAF airfields and radar stations. After the RAF bomber forces (quite separate from the fighter forces) attacked Berlin and other cities, Hitler swore revenge and diverted the Luftwaffe to attacks on London. The success the Luftwaffe was having in rapidly wearing down the RAF was squandered, as the civilians being hit were far less critical than the airfields and radar stations that were now ignored. The last German daylight raid was September 30; the Luftwaffe was taking unacceptable losses and broke off the attack; occasional blitz raids hit London and other cities from time to time before May 1941, killing some 43,000 civilians. The Luftwaffe lost 1733 planes, the British, 915. The British showed more determination, better radar, and better ground control, while the Germans violated their own doctrine with wasted attacks on London.
The British surprised the Germans with their high quality airplanes; flying close to home bases where they could refuel, and using radar as part of an integrated air defense system, they had a significant advantage over German planes operating at long range. The Hawker Hurricane fighter plane played a vital role for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in winning the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. A fast, heavily armed monoplane that went into service in 1937, the Hurricane was effective against both German fighters and bombers and accounted for 70-75% of German losses during the battle. The Germans immediately pulled out their Stukas, which were so slow they were child's play for the Hurricanes and Spitfires. The Battle of Britain showed the world that Hitler's vaunted war machine could be defeated.
Barley (2004) identifies numerous failures by the German high command. Hitler was indecisive, failing to identify a political goal that would be define the military mission. Luftwaffe planning was muddled, and overlook the important lessons learned in Spain. The operation was poorly supported by German intelligence. Germany failed to adhere to two key principles of war: know your enemy and yourself, and select and maintain your aim.
Balkans
To support their weakened Italian allies who had started several invasions, in early 1941 German deployed troops in GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and North Africa
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
. In the Balkans it was a matter of guerrilla war which was extremely violent on all sides. These deployments disrupted Berlin's timetable, and delayed the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler made the fateful decision to invade Russia in early 1941, but was delayed by the need to take control of the Balkans. Europe was not big enough for both Hitler and Stalin, and Hitler realized the sooner he moved the less risk of American involvement. Stalin thought he had a long-term partnership and rejected information coming from all directions that Germany was about to invade in June 1941. As a result, the Russians were poorly prepared and suffered huge losses, being pushed back to Moscow by December before holding the line. Hitler imagined that the Soviet Union was a hollow shell that would easily collapse, like France. He therefore had not prepared for a long war, and did not have sufficient winter clothing and gear for his soldiers. Weinberg (1994) argues that decisions concerning the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 must be understood in the broader context of Hitler's ideological motivations and long-term goals. Although Hitler had decided to invade the Soviet Union as early as 1940, German resources never reflected this; armaments production, tank and aircraft construction, and logistical preparations focused on the West. Diplomatic activity was similarly skewed; Hitler granted Stalin any territory he wanted (such as Lithuania), knowing they would soon be at war and Germany would reclaim it anyway. Hitler, blinded by his racist prejudices against Slavs, believed the Eastern campaign would be quick and easy. His real strategic concern was Great Britain and the United States, and his planning consistently demonstrated this.Non-aggression pact
A non-aggression pact is an international treaty between two or more states/countries agreeing to avoid war or armed conflict between them and resolve their disputes through peaceful negotiations...
with the Soviet Union and launched Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. The German army and its allies made enormous territorial gains in the first months of the war, reaching the outskirts of Moscow when winter set in. Expecting another Blitzkrieg victory, the Germans had not properly prepared for warfare in winter and over long distances.
The years 1941/1942 saw the high point for the German army which controlled an area from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
deep into Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
to western Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Consequently, it also proved to be the turning point. The harsh Russian winters and long supply lines worked in Russia's favour and German armies were decisively defeated in early 1943 at Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and later in the gigantic tank battle at Kursk
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
. British and American forces cut off reinforcements to North Africa, defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
, and captured the German and Italian forces there.
Hitler was technologically oriented and promoted a series of new secret weapons, such as the jet plane, the jet-powered missile (V-1), the rocket-powered missile (V-2), and vastly improved submarines. However he failed to support development of nuclear weapons or proximity fuses, and trailed the Allies in radar. He failed to take advantage of the German lead in jet planes.
In early 1943 the Soviet victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the end, as Germany was unable to cope with the superior manpower and industrial resources of the Allies. North Africa, Sicily, and southern Italy fell in 1943. Hitler rescued Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
, who became a mere puppet, as German and puppet forces blocked the allies from the industrial northern third of Italy. The Russians pushed forward relentlessly in the East, while the Allies in the west launched a major bombing campaign in 1944-45 that burned out the major German cities, ruined transportation, and signaled to Germans how hopeless was their cause.
The Allies invaded France
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
in June 1944 as the Russians launched another attack on the east. Both attacks were successful and by the end of 1944, the end was in sight. Hitler did launch a surprise attack at the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
in December, 1944; it was his last major initiative and it failed, as Allied armor rolled into Germany. Disregarding his generals, Hitler rejected withdrawals and retreats, counting more and more on nonexistent armies. He committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin as his last soldiers were overwhelmed by Soviet armies in intensely bloody battles
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
overhead.
Cold War (1945-1989)
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
of 1945-1949. These established the concept of war crimes in international law and created the precedent for trying future war criminals.
West Germany
In 1949 the Federal Republic of GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
was formed from the French, British and American zones, while the Soviet zone formed the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. The western territory of Germany fell under the protection of the NATO alliance in the west, while the eastern state joined the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
. Each state possessed its own military force, with eastern Germany formed along the Soviet model and federal Germany adopting a more 'western' organisation. The allied zones of Berlin became part of the Federal Republic of Germany despite the city's location deep in the German Democratic Republic. That resulted in a special situation for Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, i.e. the draft was not in effect in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
. This condition continued until 1990 when the two states were reunited
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
.
The Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
was established in 1955 in West Germany. In 1956, conscription for all men between 18 and 45 in years was introduced after heavy discussions about re-militarising Germany. A significant exception came from the conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
clause in the West German constitution: West Germany was the first country to grant alternative service to all men who objected to military service on ethical grounds, regardless of religious affiliation. This was named "Zivildienst" roughly translated as "civil services".
Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
analysts considered Germany the most likely location for the outbreak of a possible third world war. Tensions ran high during 1948 when the Soviet Union and "Sowjetische Besatzungszone" (Soviet Occupied Territories) closed all roads bringing supplies to West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift sustained the population and avoided a new war. Construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in 1961.
During the Cold War the Bundeswehr had a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilian personnel. The army consisted of three corps with 12 divisions, most of them armed with tanks and APCs. The air force owned major numbers of tactical combat aircraft and took part in NATO's integrated air defence (NATINAD)
Integrated NATO Air Defense System
Integrated NATO Air Defense System or INADS was the NATO response to the Russian development of long range bombers in the 1950s. The need to maintain a credible deterrence when early warning and intercept times were massively reduced led to the development of an improved air defense ...
. The navy was tasked to defend the Baltic Approaches and to contain the Soviet Baltic Fleet. The United States played a dominant role in NATO, and had its own forces stationed in Germany as well. Cooperation between the two militaries was extensive and cordial.
East Germany
In East Germany, the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's ArmyNational People's Army
The National People’s Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic .The NVA was established in 1956 and disestablished in 1990. There were frequent reports of East German advisors with Communist African countries during the Cold War...
) or NVA was founded on 1 March 1956. It grew steadily by gradual stages from the police force in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945 until the consolidation in the defense establishment in the 1970s. It was a professional volunteer army until 1962, when conscription was introduced. In 1987 at the peak of its power, the NVA numbered 175,300 troops. Approximately 50% of this number were career soldiers, while the remaining half were short-term conscripts. The armed forces were controlled by the National Defense Council, except that the mobile forces were under the Warsaw Pact Unified Command. Political control of the armed forces was through close integration with the SED (Communist Party), which vetted all the officers. Popular support for the military establishment was bolstered by military training provided by the school system and through the growing militarization of society. From a Leninist perspective, the NVA stood as a symbol of Soviet-East German solidarity and became the model Communist institution—ideological, hierarchical, and disciplined. The NVA synthesized Communist and Germanic symbolism, naming its officers' academy after Marx's coauthor Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
, and its highest medal after Prussian General Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst was a general in Prussian service, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, noted for both his writings, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars....
.
At the critical moment in its history in November 1989, the NVA rallied to its Germanic heritage and rejected Communism, refusing to battle the demonstrators protesting the Communist regime. Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
refused to let Soviet troops become engaged, and so not just the leadership but the entire Communist system in East Germany collapsed, and the country saw soon absorbed by West Germany.
German reunification
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
absorbed parts of the Nationale Volksarmee of the GDR, which was being dissolved. In 1999, the NATO war on Yugoslavia in Kosovo was the first offensive conflict in which the German military actively took part since the Second World War. In 2000 the European Court of Justice opened up the previously all-male (besides medical divisions and the music corps) Bundeswehr to women. Since the early 1990s the Bundeswehr has become more and more engaged in international peacekeeping missions in and around the former Yugoslavia but also in other parts of the world such as Cambodia, Somalia, Djibouti, Georgia and Sudan.
War on Terrorism
As part of Operation Enduring Freedom as a response to those attacks, Germany deployed approximately 2,250 troops including KSKKommando Spezialkräfte
The KSK Kommando Spezialkräfte is an elite military unit composed of Special Operations soldiers from the ranks of Germany’s Bundeswehr and organized as such under the Division Spezielle Operationen . The unit has received many decorations and awards from both NATO and its affiliates...
special forces, naval vessels and NBC cleanup teams to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. German forces have contributed to ISAF
International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
, the NATO force in Afghanistan, and a Provincial reconstruction team
Provincial reconstruction team
A Provincial Reconstruction Team is a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in late 2001 or...
. German army CH-53 helicopters have deployed to Afghanistan, one crashed in December 2002 in Kabul, killing seven German soldiers. Eleven other German soldiers have been killed: four in two different ordnance-defusing accidents, one in a vehicle accident, five in two separate suicide bombings, and one in landmine explosion. German forces are in the more secure north of the country and Germany, along with some other larger European countries (with the exception of the UK, Estonia, the Netherlands and Norway), has been criticised for not taking part in the more intensive combat operations
Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006
In January 2006, NATO's focus in southern Afghanistan was to form Provincial Reconstruction Teams with the British leading in Helmand Province and the Netherlands and Canada would lead similar deployments in Orūzgān Province and Kandahar Province respectively. The Americans with 2,200 troops stayed...
in southern Afghanistan.
Further reading
- Barnett, Correlli, ed. Hitler's Generals (2003) essays by experts on 23 top generals
- Brose, Eric Dorn. The Kaiser's Army: The Politics of Military Technology in Germany during the Machine Age, 1870-1918 (2004) excerpt and text search
- Citino, Robert M. The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich (2008) excerpt and text search
- Craig, Gordon A. The Politics of the Prussian Army: 1640-1945 (1964) excerpt and text search
- Evans, Richard J. The Third Reich at War: 1939-1945 (2009)
- Frevert, Ute. A Nation in Barracks: Modern Germany, Military Conscription and Civil Society (2004), history since 1800
- Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (2009)
- Kitchen, Martin. A Military History of Germany: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day (1976)
- Krimmer, Elisabeth, and Patricia Anne Simpson, eds. Enlightened War: German Theories and Cultures of Warfare from Frederick the Great to Clausewitz (2011)
- Probert, H. A. The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force 1933-1945 (1987), history by the British RAF
- Ripley, Tim. The Wehrmacht: The German Army in World War II, 1939-1945 (2003)
- Ritter, Gerhard. The Sword and the Scepter: The Prussian Tradition, 1740-1890 (1988); The Sword and the Scepter: The Problem of Militarism in Germany: The European Powers and the Wilhelminian Empire, 1890-1914 (1972); Sword and the Scepter: The Problem of Militarism in Germany-The Tragedy of Statesmanship : Bethmann Hollweg As War Chancellor, 1914-1917 (1972); The Sword and the Scepter: The Reign of German Militarism and the Disaster of 1918 (1988)
- Stone, David J. Fighting for the Fatherland: The Story of the German Soldier from 1648 to the Present Day (2006)
External links
- Web Sources for Military History
- West Point Atlas, especially for World Wars I and II
- Documents of German unification (in English)
- Clausewitz Homepage
- Primary documents from 18th and 19th century German history (links and background in English, documents in German).
- Maps of nineteenth century German unification
- Hussite Wars