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Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It replaced the old Reichswehr and was succeeded by the current Bundeswehr. The Wehrmacht of World War II was comprised of the army (das Heer), the navy (die Kriegsmarine), the air force (die Luftwaffe); also Waffen-SS units were occasionally subordinated to the Wehrmacht. The German word Wehrmacht (literally defence force) predates the 1930s and originally meant the entirety of the armed forces of a given country (or another entity). For instance, Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 declared the Reichspräsident commander-in-chief of "all Wehrmacht of the Reich", and, "Englische Wehrmacht" meant all English forces. Since World War II, the term is almost as closely associated with the armed forces of the Third Reich in German as it is in English.

History

After World War I ended with the capitulation of the German empire the treaty of Versailles 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. Tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air force was dissolved. A new post-war military (the Reichswehr) was established on 23 March 1921. General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. Germany immediately began circumventing these conditions. A secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms. Germany helped Soviet Russia with industrialisation and Russian officers were to be trained in Germany. German tank and air force specialists would be trained in Russia and German chemical weapons research and manufacture would be carried out there along with other projects. Around three hundred German pilots received training at Lipetsk, some tank training took place near Kazan and toxic gas was developed at Saratov. After the death of president Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934 all soldiers were ordered to take a personal oath to Adolf Hitler. This process went smoothly for the most part, since National Socialist ideology was popular among German citizens and the military. Germany began openly ignoring the Versailles provisions. Conscription was reintroduced on 16 March 1935 and while the size of the standing army was to remain at about one hundred thousand, another one hundred thousand would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced the name Wehrmacht, so not only can this be regarded as its founding date, but the organisation and authority of the Wehrmacht can be viewed as Nazi creations regardless of the political affiliations of its high command (who nevertheless all signed personal loyalty oaths to Hitler). The insignia was a stylised version of the Iron Cross (the so-called Balkenkreuz, or beamed cross) that had first appeared as an aircraft and tank marking in late World War I. The number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1934 until 1945 is believed to approach 18.2 million (a number put forward by historian Rüdiger Overmans), but these were not simultaneous enlistments. About 5.3 million died on battlefields and approximately 11 million were captured by enemy forces (it is not known how many died in captivity).

Command structure

Legally, the Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht was Adolf Hitler in his capacity as Germany's head of state, a position he gained after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934 and held until his suicide in late April 1945. Administration and military authority initially lay with the war ministry under Werner von Blomberg. After von Blomberg resigned in the course of the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (1938) the ministry was dissolved and the Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW) under Wilhelm Keitel was put in its place. The OKW coordinated all military activities but Keitel's sway over the three branches of service (army, air force, and navy) was rather limited. Each had its own High Command, known as Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH, army), Oberkommando der Marine (OKM, navy), and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL, air force). Each of these high commands had its own general staff.
- OKW — Armed Forces High Command ::Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces - Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel :: Chief of the Operations Staff - Colonel General Alfred Jodl
- OKH — Army High Command :Army Commanders-in-Chief ::Colonel General Werner von Fritsch (1935 to 1938) ::Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (1938 to 1941) ::Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler (1941 to 1945) ::Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner (1945)
- OKM — Navy High Command :Navy Commanders-in-Chief ::Grand Admiral Erich Raeder (1928-1943) ::Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (1943-1945) ::General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (1945)
- OKL — Airforce High Command :Air Force Commanders-in-Chief ::Reich Marshal Hermann Göring (to 1945) ::Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim (1945)

War years

1945 Powerful tank and air forces enabled quick successes during early stages of the war when nation after nation was overrun and occupied within weeks (Blitzkrieg). This convinced military leaders that a new concept of broad armament (rather than deep armament) made sense. However, when their powerful adversaries (the United Kingdom, Soviet Union and United States) began offering tenacious resistance the Blitzkrieg tactics could not be applied and the relatively low state of armament became a problem for the Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht's military strength was managed through assignment-based tactics (rather than order-based tactics) and an almost proverbial discipline. Today the Wehrmacht is sometimes seen as a high-tech army since new technologies were introduced during World War II including the reprisal weapons, the Me 262 jet fighter and the submarine force, but overall armament levels were low. For example only forty percent of all units were motorised, baggage trains often relied on horses and many soldiers went by foot or (sometimes) used bicycles. Among the foreign volunteers who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians along with people from the Baltic states and the Balkans. Russians fought in the Russian Liberation Army and non-Russians from the Soviet Union formed the Ostlegionen. These units were all commanded by General Ernst August Köstring and represented about five percent of the Wehrmacht.

Rebellion

The military evaded political meddling during most of the Third Reich's history. Most of its leadership was politically conservative, nationalistic and hoped to reconquer territories that had broken away from Imperial Germany. Hitler had promised to rebuild Germany's military strength and officers were mostly sympathetic towards the National Socialist movement. Political influence in the military command began to increase later in the war when Hitler's flawed strategic decisions began showing up as serious defeats for the German army and tensions mounted between the military and the government. These culminated in the July 20 plot (1944), when a group of Wehrmacht officers led by Claus von Stauffenberg tried to assassinate Hitler and overthrow his government. Following the attempt, Hitler distrusted the Wehrmacht and many officers were killed.

War crimes

It was long popularly believed in West Germany that war crimes were for the most part committed by the Nazi party's paramilitary SS organisation. However, during the 1990s, a Wehrmachtausstellung (Wehrmacht exhibition), mostly based on photographs, toured through Germany claiming the Wehrmacht had participated heavily in the war crimes. In the book Keine Kameraden (No Companions), Christian Streit asserted that while the Wehrmacht indeed fought the western allies mostly according to the rules of war, it regularly committed atrocities in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. OKW head Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, was convicted at Nuremburg for war crimes in 1946, and hanged. Examples include:
- September Campaign in Poland Wehrmacht units killed at least 16,376 (confirmed Polish civilian losses) Poles during the September Campaign through executions, field incidents, terror bombing of open cities or murder. After the end of hostilities, during the Wehrmacht's administration of Poland, which went on until October 25 1939, 531 towns and villages were burned, the Wehrmacht carried out 714 mass executions and a number of other crimes. Altogether, it is estimated that 50,000 civilians had perished including 7000 Jews.
- Wehrmacht POW-camps Beginning in September 1939 prisoners from Poland and later the USSR suffered immensely in these due to lack of food, clean water, medicine and brutality by Wehrmacht guards.
- The Kommissarbefehl The commissioner-order provided for the immediate execution of political commissars of the Red Army. The order was formulated on Hitler's behalf by the Wehrmacht command and distributed to units among usual command channels.
- The Barbarossa-Erlass, or "Barbarossa Jurisdiction Decree", issued by Wilhelm Keitel a few weeks before Operation Barbarossa, exempted soldiers of the Wehrmacht from prosecution in the event that they committed crimes against Russian civilians.
- Nacht-und-Nebel Erlass, The "Night and Fog Decree", also issued by Keitel, reinforced the Kommissarbefehl, sanctioning death for "communist elements and other circles hostile to Germany".
- Destruction of Warsaw Up to 250,000 civilians were killed. Human shields were used by German forces during the fighting. During the Wola Massacre 50,000 civilians were murdered to intimidate the Poles into surrender.
- Eastern Front During the campaign in the East the Wehrmacht regularly murdered civilians in anti-partisan operations.
- Italy Italian soldiers were massacred by German forces on the Greek island of Cephalonia. Italian villages ware razed and their inhabitants murdered during anti-partisan operations.
- Greece During anti-partisan operations the Wehrmacht pursued a policy of taking hostages and executing whole male population in given territory or selected hostages. It should be noted that the regular armed forces of the allies have also been accused of war crimes during WWII, such as the Dachau Massacre. However critics of this comparison point out that those and similar abuses, while perhaps tolerated by the Allied command, were not official policy endorsed by the leadership and were isolated incidents in contrast to deliberate and massive war crimes commited by Wehrmacht soldiers and endorsed by many of their commanders.

Prominent members

Prominent German officers from the Wehrmacht era include:
- Ludwig Beck
- Fedor von Bock
- Walther von Brauchitsch
- Wilhelm Flicke
- Heinz Guderian
- Franz Halder
- Erich Hoepner
- Hermann Hoth
- Ewald von Kleist
- Albert Kesselring
- Hans Günther von Kluge
- Erich von Manstein
- Friedrich Olbricht
- Friedrich Paulus
- Erwin Rommel
- Gerd von Rundstedt
- Claus von Stauffenberg
- Erwin von Witzleben

After World War II

Following the unconditional German surrender on 8 May 1945 Germany was forbidden an independent modern army. It was over ten years before the tensions of the Cold War led to the creation of separate military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The West German military, officially created on 5 May 1955, took the name Bundeswehr, meaning Federal Defence Forces, which pointed back to the old Reichswehr. Its East German counterpart, created on 1 March 1956, took the name National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee). Neither side could do without experienced soldiers so each army initially had substantial numbers of officers who were former Wehrmacht members.

Reference

- Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945 New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, 2005.

External links

- [http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00136/en_index.php kamouflage.net > global search: Europe > Germany (German Reich) > index] – examples of, and information about, camouflage uniforms used by the Wehrmacht Heer, Wehrmacht Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS during the Second World War
- [http://www.superborg.de/index.htm Archives of the german military manuals] — also for secret manuals of Enigma and Cryptography
- [http://www6.dw-world.de/en/2108.php Deutsche Welle article about Wehrmacht veterans]
- [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/wehrmacht.htm The Wehrmacht, the Holocaust, and War Crimes]
- [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=22564917013611 The Wehrmacht: A Criminal Organization? A review of Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann work on the subject] Category:Anti-communism Category:History of Europe Category:History of Germany Category:Military of Germany Category:German loanwords Category:Military history of Germany during World War II ja:ドイツ国防軍

Military of Germany

right The Bundeswehr () is the armed forces of Germany and its administration. It is a federal defence force with Army (Heer), Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitätsdienst) and Joint Service Support Command (Streitkräftebasis) branches. It employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18–25-year-old men on national duty who serve for at least 9 months under current rules. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence; the Chancellor will become commander-in-chief once the "state of defence" has been declared in accordance with the German Basic Law.

Bundeswehr
Military manpower
Military age	18 years of age
Availability	males age 18-49: 18,917,537 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 18-49: 15,258,931 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 497,048 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	$30 billion (2005) (EUR 24.4 billion)
Percent of GDP	1.2% (FY05)

History

The Bundeswehr was established in 1955 after strong discussions about re-militarizing Germany (the Wiederbewaffnung) after World War II. After an amendment of the constitution (Grundgesetz) West Germany became a member of NATO in 1955. As its symbol, the Bundeswehr uses a form of the Iron Cross. The Iron Cross has a long history, having been awarded as a military wartime decoration for all ranks since 1813, with earlier associations to the Teutonic knights. Former German military organisations have been the Reichswehr (1921-1935) and the Wehrmacht (1935-1945). The Bundeswehr does not consider itself as their successor and does not follow traditions of any former German military organisation. The official Bundeswehr traditions are based on three major subjects:
- the defence reformers at the beginning of the 19th century such as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Clausewitz
- the members of the military resistance against Hitler such as Claus von Stauffenberg
- its own tradition since 1955 There have been long discussions about these traditions, and point n° 2 is especially argued. It is stated that drawing tradition from resisters to Hitler and the Nazi party is not adequate enough, since many of these groups were not of democratic thought by far. Critics also claim that the Bundeswehr was too slow to change the names of barracks and other facilities bearing the names of prominent Wehrmacht and Reichswehr officers. The decision in january 2005 to no longer use the name of air force colonel Werner Mölders in the Bundeswehr, whose namesakes included an air force fighter bomber wing and an already decommisioned destroyer, caused strong protests within the military and veterans groups. In 1956 conscription for all men between the ages of 18 and 45 was introduced, later on augmented by the introduction of a civil alternative with a longer duration of service (see Conscription in Germany). During the Cold War, the Bundeswehr was the backbone of NATO's conventional defence in Central Europe. It had a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilian personnel. The Army consisted of three corps with 12 divisions, most of them heavily armed with tanks and APCs. The Air Force owned a high number of tactical combat aircraft and took part in NATO's integrated air defence (NATINAD). The Navy was tasked and equipped to defend the Baltic Approaches and to contain the Soviet Baltic Fleet. After reunification in 1990, the Bundeswehr absorbed parts of the Nationale Volksarmee of the GDR, which was being dissolved at the time. In 1999, the NATO war 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 the previously all-male (besides medical divisions and the music corps) Bundeswehr to women.

Organization

The Bundeswehr currently consists of about 250,000 military and about 100,000 civilian personnel. The Army is organized into 5 combat divisions and also participates in multinational command structures at the corps level. The Luftwaffe is divided into 3 divisions, and the Navy into 2 flotillas. The Central Medical Services and the Joint Service Support Command are each organized into four regional commands. All of these branches also have general commands for training, procurement, and other general issues. The Bundeswehr does not have a command structure comparable to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States, e.g. . The Bundeswehr in general is still among the world's most technologically advanced and well-supplied militaries, as befits Germany's overall economic prosperity and infrastructure. Its budget is, however, steadily shrinking and among the lowest military budgets in NATO in terms of share of GDP.

Mission

United States The role of the Bundeswehr is described in the German Basic Law (Art. 87a) as defensive only. Today the term defense has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. According to a definition by former Defence Minister Struck, it may be necessary to defend Germany even at the Hindu Kush. This allows the Bundeswehr to take part in missions outside of the borders of Germany, as part of the NATO or the European Union and mandated by the UN . Since the early 1990's the Bundeswehr has become more and more engaged in international missions in and around the former Yugoslavia, and also in other parts of the world like Cambodia or Somalia. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, German forces were employed in most related theatres except Iraq. Currently there are Bundeswehr forces in:
- Afghanistan
- ISAF
- 2,430 personnel
- Kosovo
- KFOR
- 2,600 personnel
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- EUFOR (former SFOR)
- 1,050 personnel
- since 2 December 2004 under European Union Command
- Georgia
- UNOMIG
- 12 personnel
- Ethiopia and Eritrea
- UNMEE
- 2 personnel
- Horn of Africa/Indian Ocean
- Enduring Freedom
- 310 personnel
- Frigates
- Maritime Patrol Aircraft
- Mediterranean Sea
- Active Endeavour
- 190 personnel
- 1 Frigate
- 1 Submarine
- Sudan
- UNMIS
- up to 75 personnel In support of Allied stabilisation efforts in Iraq, the Bundeswehr is also training the new Iraqi forces in locations outside Iraq, such as the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

External links

- [http://www.bundeswehr.de/ Bundeswehr] - Official site
- [http://www.luftwaffe.de Luftwaffe]
- [http://www.marine.de Marine]
- [http://www.deutschesheer.de Heer]
- [http://www.streitkraeftebasis.de Streitkräftebasis]
- [http://www.kamouflage.net/ kamouflage.net: online index of camouflage uniforms] Category:Military of Germany Category:German loanwords

1935

1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

- January 1 - Italian colonies of Tripoli and Kyrenaika are joined together as Libya
- January 7 - Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French foreign minister Pierre Laval conclude agreement in which each power undertakes not to oppose the other's colonial claims. January 8( Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Mississippi.)
- January 8 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- January 11 - Amelia Earhart is the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
- January 16 - FBI kills Barker gang, including Ma Barker, in a shootout
- January 19 - Bloopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs.
- January 28 - Iceland becomes the first country to legalize abortion on medical grounds

February-May

- February - National Periodical Publications (later known as DC Comics) publishes its first comic book, New Fun Comics, the first comic book featuring original material.
- February 13 - A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby boy.
- February 20 - Karoline Mikkelsen arrives on Antarctica
- February 26 - The Luftwaffe is created as Germany's air force. (March 11?)
- February 28 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers
- March 16 - Adolf Hitler announces German rearmament in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
- March 19 - Riot breaks out in Harlem, NYC after a rumor that claims that police killed a shoplifter in the Kress' departmnt store
- March 21 - Persia is renamed Iran
- April 14 - Dust Bowl: The great dust storm, made famous by Woody Guthrie in his "dust bowl ballads". The hardest hit areas were where in Eastern New Mexico and Colorado, and western Oklahoma.
- April 25 - A shark on display at the Coogee Aquarium in Sydney disgorges the tattooed arm of ex-boxer James Smith. Man suspected of murdering him, Reg Holmes is shot dead before murder inquest is held.
- May 6 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
- May 29 - Construction of Hoover Dam is completed
- May 30 - Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan - 26,000 dead

June-August

- June 9 - Ho-Umezu Agreement: China's Kuomintang government concedes Japanese military control of north-eastern China.
- June 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in New York City by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith.
- June 12 - Senator Huey Long of Louisiana makes the longest speech on Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words. [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Huey_Long_Filibusters.htm]
- June 18 - Anglo-German Naval Agreement: Britain agrees to a German navy equal to 35% of her own naval tonnage.
- July 5 - Oliveira Salazar becomes de dacto dictator of fascist Portugal
- July 16 - World's first parking meters in Oklahoma City
- July 24 - The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures in Chicago, Illinois to a record-high 109°F (44°C)
- July 27 - Federal Writers' Project established in the United States
- June or July - The Giant neotropical toad is introduced to northernQueensland, Australia to counter sugar cane beetles.
- August 14 - United States President Franklin Roosevelt signs Social Security Act into law.

September-October

- September 2 - Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: A large hurricane hits the Florida Keys killing 423.
- September 8 - Carl Weiss fatally shot US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", in the Louisiana capitol building.
- September 13 - Howard Hughes sets new aviation speed record in his H-1.
- September 15 - Nuremberg Laws
- September 30 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates Hoover Dam
- October 2-3 - Italian army invades Ethiopia under General de Bono (replaced November 11 by Pietro Badoglio)
- October 10 - A tornado destroyed the 160 metre tall wooden radio tower in Langenberg, Germany. As a result of this catastrophe, nearly no more wooden radio towers are built any more.

November-December

- November 5 - Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly.
- November 8 - A dozen labor leaders come together to announce the creation of the Congress for Industrial Organization (CIO), an organization charged with pushing the cause for industrial unionism.
- November 14 In General Election in Britain, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin returned to office at the head of a National Government led by the Conservative Party with a large but reduced majority.
- November 22 - The China Clipper takes off from Alameda, California in an attempt to deliver the first airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean (the airplane later reached its destination, Manila, and delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail).
- November 24 - The Senegalese Socialist Party holds its second congress.
- December 18 - Samuel Hoare resigns as British foreign secretary; replaced by Anthony Eden. The socialist party of Sri Lanka, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party founded.
- December 27 - Mao Zedong issues the Wayaopao Manifesto: On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism, calling for a National United Front against Japanese Invasion.

unknown dates

- First Penguin paperback books
- Mary McCleod Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women

Births

January-February

- January 4 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer
- January 7 - Valeri Kubasov, cosmonaut
- January 7 - Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist
- January 8 - Elvis Presley, American singer (d. 1977)
- January 9 - Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
- January 10 - Ronnie Hawkins, American musician
- January 10 - Sherrill Milnes, American baritone
- January 12 - Kreskin, mentalist
- January 14 - Lucille Wheeler, Canadian skier
- January 16 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
- January 16 - Udo Lattek, football coach
- January 17 - Ruth Ann Minner, Governor of Delaware
- January 30 - Richard Brautigan, American writer (d. 1984)
- January 31 - Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 4 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
- February 11 - Gerry Goffin, American songwriter
- February 11 - Gene Vincent, American guitarist and vocalist
- February 16 - Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician (d. 1998)
- February 25 - Sally Jessy Raphaël, American talk show host
- February 27 - Mirella Freni, Italian soprano

March-July

- March 1 - Robert Conrad, American actor
- March 1 - Judith Rossner, American writer (d. 2005)
- March 6 - Ron Delany, Irish runner
- March 15 - Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist
- March 15 - Judd Hirsch, American actor
- March 22 - M. Emmet Walsh, American actor
- March 24 - Peter Bichsel, Swiss writer
- March 25 - Gloria Steinem, American feminist and author
- March 26 - Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine National Authority
- March 27 - Abelardo Castillo, Argentine writer
- March 31 - Richard Chamberlain, American actor
- March 31 - Herb Alpert, American trumpeter
- April 21 - Charles Grodin, American actor and journalist
- April 21 - Thomas Kean, Governor of New Jersey
- April 23 - Bunky Green, American jazz musician
- May 2 - Lance LeGault, American actor
- May 12 - Felipe Alou, Dominican Major League Baseball manager
- May 17 - Ryke Geerd Hamer, German cancer researcher
- May 17 - Dennis Potter, English writer (d. 1994)
- May 25 - Cookie Gilchrist, American football player
- May 27 - Lee Meriwether, American beauty queen and actress
- June 2 - Carol Shields, American-born writer (d. 2003)
- June 19 - Derren Nesbitt, British actor
- June 21 - Françoise Sagan, French writer (d. 2004)
- July 6 - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- July 8 - Vitali Sevastyanov, cosmonaut
- July 9 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician (d. 2005)
- July 13 - Jack Kemp, American football player
- July 17 - Peter Schickele, American composer and comedian
- July 17 - Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- July 18 - Jayendra Saraswathi, Hindu religious leader
- July 28 - Simon Dee, British television presenter
- July 29 - Peter Schreier, German tenor

August-October

- August 3 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (d. 1997)
- August 15 - Lionel Taylor, American football player
- August 18 - Rafer Johnson, American athlete
- August 19 - Bobby Richardson, baseball player
- August 20 - Ron Paul, American politician
- August 30 - John Phillips, American singer (d. 2001)
- August 31 - Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (d. 1998)
- August 31 - Frank Robinson, baseball player
- September 1 - Seiji Ozawa, Japanese conductor
- September 11 - Gherman Titov, cosmonaut (d. 2000)
- September 11 - Arvo Pärt, estonian composer
- September 16 - Carl Andre, American artist
- September 16 - Bob Kiley, American public transit planner
- September 17 - Ken Kesey, American author (d. 2001)
- September 17 - Serge Klarsfeld, Romanian Nazi hunter
- September 30 - ZZ Hill, American musician
- September 30 - Johnny Mathis, American singer
- October 1 - Julie Andrews, English singer and actress
- October 6 - Bruno Sammartino, Italian professional wrestler
- October 9- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
- October 12 - Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor
- October 14 - La Monte Young, American composer
- October 15 - Bobby Joe Morrow, American athlete
- October 15 - Willie O'Ree, Canadian hockey player
- October 18 - Peter Boyle, American actor
- October 20 - Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004)
- October 29 - Takahata Isao, Japanese animated film director
- October 30 - Agota Kristof, Hungarian writer
- October 31 - Ronald Graham, American mathematician

November-December

- November 1 - Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (d. 2003)
- November 9 - Bob Gibson, baseball player
- November 10 - Igor Dmitrievich Novikov, Russian astrophysicist
- November 13 - George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury
- November 14 - King Hussein of Jordan (d. 1999)
- November 17 - Toni Sailer, Austrian skier
- November 23 - Vladislav Volkov, cosmonaut
- December 1 - Woody Allen, American film director
- December 8 - Dharmendra, Indian actor
- December 11 - Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
- December 19 - Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (d. 1974)
- December 23 - Paul Hornung, American football player
- December 30 - Omar Bongo, President of Gabon
- December 30 - Sandy Koufax, baseball player

Deaths

- January 28 - Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer (b. 1859)
- March 6 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1841)
- March 16 - John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- March 22 - Aleksander Moisiu, Albanian actor (b. 1879)
- April 14 - Emmy Noether, German mathematician (b. 1882)
- May 12 - Marshall Jozef Pilsudski, Polish politician (b. 1867)
- May 17 - Paul Dukas, French composer (b. 1865)
- May 18 - T. E. Lawrence, English soldier (Lawrence of Arabia) (b. 1888)
- May 19 - Charles Martin Loeffler, American composer (b. 1861)
- May 21 - Jane Addams, American social worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1860)
- May 29 - Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (b. 1874)
- July 3 - André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
- July 12 - Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer (b. 1859)
- August 29 - Queen Astrid of Belgium (b. 1905)
- August 30 - Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (b. 1873)
- September 28 - W.K. Dickson, Scottish inventor (b. 1860)
- November 2 - Jock Cameron, South African cricketer (b. 1905)
- October 20 - Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
- November 28 - Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist (b. 1877)
- December 2 - James Henry Breasted, American Egyptologist (b. 1865)
- December 4 - Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (b. 1864)
- December 4 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
- December 13 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
- December 17 - Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuelan military and dictador (b. 1857)
- December 21 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
- December 24 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer (b. 1885)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - James Chadwick
- Chemistry - Frédéric Joliot, Irène Joliot-Curie
- Medicine - Hans Spemann
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - Carl von Ossietzky Category:1935 ko:1935년 ms:1935 ja:1935年 simple:1935 th:พ.ศ. 2478

Reichswehr

The Reichswehr (literally National Defence or National Militia) formed the military organization of Germany from 1918 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force). At the end of World War I, the forces of the German Empire had mostly disintegrated, the men making their way home individually or in small groups. Many of them joined the Freikorps (free corps), a collection of volunteer quasi-military units that were involved in revolution and border clashes between 1918 and 1923. The newly-formed Weimar Republic did need a military though, and on 6 March 1919 a decree established the Vorläufige Reichswehr ("Provisional National Defense Force"), consisting of a Vorläufige Reichsheer (Provisional National Army) and a Vorläufige Reichsmarine (Provisional National Navy). About 400,000 men served in the Reichsheer. On 30 September, the army was reorganized as the Übergangsheer ("Transitional Army"). This lasted until 1 January 1921, when the Reichswehr was officially established according to the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Limited by treaty to a total of 100,000 men, the Reichswehr was composed of the following:
- Reichsheer, an army consisting of two group commands,
- seven infantry divisions, and
- three cavalry divisions, and the
- Reichsmarine, a navy limited to a handful of ships. Despite the limitations on its size, their analysis of the loss of WW I, research and development, secret testing abroad (in cooperation with the Soviet Union) and planning for "better times" went on. As well, although forbidden to have a general staff, the army continued to conduct the typical functions of a general staff under the "disguised" name of Truppendienst, or "Troop Office". During this time, many of the future leaders of the Wehrmacht, for instance, Heinz Guderian, first formulated the ideas that they were to use so effectively a few years later. The Reichswehr was never a friend of democracy but stayed loyal to the democratic German government. This was done by emphasizing the apolitical character of the Reichswehr. This gave democracy the chance to develop without intervention from the military leadership, but reduced also the likelihood of military resistance against Adolf Hitler. The biggest influence of the development of the Reichswehr had Hans von Seeckt (1866-1936), during 1920-1926 as "Chef der Heeresleitung" ("chief of army leadership"). The reduction of the peace strength of the German army from 780,000 (1913) to 100,000 actually enhanced the quality of the Reichswehr: Only the best of the best soldiers would be permitted to stay in the army. The limitation to size also forced Reichswehr to look into new methods of waging war, modernize, and adopt swift, mobile doctrines of defense championed by von Seeckt and Guderian, that would later lead to the blitzkrieg. During 1933 and 1934, after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the Reichswehr began a secret program of expansion, which finally became public with the formal announcement of the Wehrmacht in 1935.

Reference

- Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945 New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, 2005.

External links

- [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=237 Axis History Factbook - Reichswehr]
- [http://www.feldgrau.com/main1.php?ID=1 Feldgrau's overview of the Reichswehr]
- [http://www.superborg.de/ The Archives of technical Manuals 1900-1945 (includes the Reichswehr-regulations)] Category:Nazi Germany Category:Military of Germany Category:History of Germany

Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr
Military manpower
Military age	18 years of age
Availability	males age 18-49: 18,917,537 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 18-49: 15,258,931 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 497,048 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	$30 billion (2005) (EUR 24.4 billion)
Percent of GDP	1.2% (FY05)

History

Organization

Mission

External links

Army

Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. More commonly, however, it is only used specifically to refer to a land force of the military. Within a national army, an army can also refer to a large formation, usually comprising one or more corps. Army is also often used in the description or title of military or paramilitary organisations which are not part of a country's official armed forces (and may well be illegal), such as the Irish Republican Army, and also in some non-military organisations organised on a quasi-military basis, such as the Salvation Army and the Church Army.

National land forces

A national army is usually the arm of the military service which conducts land-based warfare (for example, the United States Army, or the French Armée de Terre). Most armed forces make considerable distinction between the army or land forces, the navy, and the air force, often maintaining three independent organizations. Many air forces were formerly part of an army; historically, the United States Air Force originated as part of the United States Army, for example. Modern armies comprise several branches (also called services, or administrative corps). These may include the combat branches: infantry, armoured, artillery, and combat engineers, as well as the support branches: communications, intelligence, medics, supply, and army aviation (as opposed to a national air force).

Formations

An army can also be a large military organization (formation) comprising one or more corps. A particular army is named or numbered to distinguish it from military land forces in general—for example, the U.S. First Army and the Army of Northern Virginia. In the British Army it is normal to spell out the ordinal number of an army (e.g. First Army), whereas lower formations use figures (e.g. 1st Division). Armies (as well as army groups and theaters) are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. In the Soviet Red Army, "armies" were actually corps-sized formations, subordinate to an army-sized "front" in wartime. In peacetime, a Soviet army was usually subordinate to a military district. For the hierarchy of land force organizations, see military organization. .

Navy

For the municipality in the Philippines, see Naval, Biliran. Naval, Biliran, USS John C. Stennis, USS Port Royal, FS Charles de Gaulle, HMS Ocean, FS Surcouf, USS John F. Kennedy, HNLMS Van Amstel, and ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne]] A navy (often Navy) is the branch of a country's military forces principally designated for naval warfare, namely lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes operations conducted by surface vessels (ships), submarine vessels, and seaborne aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields; recent developments have included space-related operations. The strategic offensive role of a Navy is projection-of-force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect sea-lanes, ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a Navy is to forestall and frustrate sea-borne projection-of-force by enemies.

History

space Naval warfare first developed whenever humankind conducted fighting from water-borne vessels. Prior to the introduction of the cannon, and ships with sufficient capacity to carry the large guns, naval warfare primarily involved ramming and boarding actions. In the time of Ancient Greece and the Roman empire, naval warfare centred around long, narrow vessels powered by banks of oarsmen (such as triremes and quinqueremes) designed to ram and sink enemy vessels, or come alongside the enemy vessel so its occupants could be attacked hand-to-hand. Naval warfare continued in this vein through the Middle Ages until cannon became commonplace and capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The mass and deck space required to carry a large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible, and ships came to rely primarily on sails. Warships were designed to carry increasing numbers of cannon, and naval tactics evolved bring a ship's firepower to bear in a broadside, with ships-of-the-line arranged in a line of battle. The development of large capacity, sail-powered ships carrying cannon led to a rapid expansion of European navies, especially the Spanish and Portuguese navies, which dominated in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and ultimately helped propel the age of exploration and colonialism. The repulsion of the Spanish Armada (1588) by the Anglo-Dutch fleet revolutionised naval warfare by the success of a guns only strategy, and caused a major overhaul of the Spanish navy, partly along English lines, which resulted in even greater dominance by the Spanish. From the 1620s Dutch raiders began to seriously trouble Spanish shipping and finally the Dutch navy broke the long dominance of the Spanish in the Battle of the Downs (1639). England emerged as a major naval power in the mid seventeenth century in the first Anglo-Dutch war with a technical victory, but successive decisive Dutch victories in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars confirmed the Dutch mastery of the seas during the Dutch Golden Age, which was financed largely by building the overseas Dutch empire at the expense of the Portuguese. From 1695 the Royal Navy began to more successfully assert itself and throughout the eighteenth century gradually gained increasing ascendancy over the French navy, with victories in the Spanish War of Succession (1701-1714), inconclusive battles in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748), victories in the Seven Years War (1754-1763), a reversal during the American War of Independence (1775-1783), and consolidation into uncontested supremacy during the nineteenth century from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. These conflicts saw the development and refinement of tactics which came to be called the line of battle. line of battle]] The next stage in the evolution of naval warfare was the introduction of metal plating along the hull sides. The increased mass required steam-powered engines, which resulted in an arms race between armor thickness and firepower. The first armoured vessels, the French FS Gloire and British HMS Warrior, made wooden vessels obsolete. Another significant improvement came with the invention of the rotating turrets, which allowed the guns to be aimed independently of ship movement. The battle between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor during the American civil war is often cited as the beginning of this age of maritime conflict. A further step change in naval firepower occurred when Britain launched HMS Dreadnought, but naval tactics still emphasised the line of battle. A major paradigm shift in naval warfare occurred with the introduction of the aircraft carrier. First at Taranto and then in Pearl Harbor, the aircraft demonstrated its ability to strike decisively at enemy ships out of sight of surface vessels. By the end of World War II, the carrier had become the dominant force of naval warfare, although threatened by an unseen enemy, the submarine. By the late 20th century, naval power had seen a great and varied evolution through history, and remains today a major element in the military and strategic security power of a a country's power projection capabilities, though some would suggest its importance has declined in the wake of the development of military aviation and air power. Many leading thinkers, however, suggest that navies are more important today than ever and will soon surpass armies once again as the main measure of a nation's military might.

Contemporary naval forces

Naval tactics and strategy

It is tempting to regard modern naval combat as the purest expression of tactics. This assumes there is no cover, there are no civilians and the area of combat is level and flat. This is not, however, the truth. The presence of land, changing water depths, weather, detection and electronic warfare, the dreadful speed at which actual combat occurs and other factors — especially air power — render naval tactics truly formidable. The basic idea of all tactics (land, sea and air) is fire and movement: the fulfillment of a mission by the effective delivery of firepower resulting from scouting and the creation of good firing positions. Movement is a large component of modern combat; a naval fleet can travel hundreds of kilometres in a day. In naval warfare, the key is to detect the enemy while avoiding detection. Much time and effort is spent to deny the enemy the chance to detect one's forces. There is also the concept of battle space: a zone around a naval force within which a commander is confident of detecting, tracking, engaging and destroying threats before they pose a danger. This is why a navy prefers the open sea. The presence of land and the bottom topology of an area compress the battle space, limit the opportunities to maneuver, make it easier for an enemy to predict the location of the fleet and make the detection of enemy forces more difficult. In shallow waters, the detection of submarines and mines is especially problematic. One scenario that was the focus of American naval planning during the Cold War was a conflict between two modern and well equipped fleets on the high seas, the clash of the United States and the Soviet Union. The main consideration is for Carrier Battle Groups (CVBGs). In recent times modern navies are increasingly investing in stealth ships. These ships have a low radar signature and are only detectable at short distances. This gives the ship a tactical edge in warfare.

Naval powers

Historically, naval powers have been those countries that have a long coastline and a strong economy. Nations that have a significant maritime trade economy have also had an incentive to protect their interests with a potent navy. However, a few nations that lacked a navy but were faced with an enemy that was a strong naval power, such as Rome during the Punic wars, built a powerful navy from scratch.

Operations

Punic wars.]] Historically a national navy operates from one or more bases that are maintained by the country or an ally. The base is a port that is specialized in naval operations, and often includes housing for off-shore crew, an arsenal depot for munitions, docks for the vessels, and various repair facilities. During times of war temporary bases may be constructed in closer proximity to strategic locations, as it is advantageous in terms of patrols and station-keeping. Nations with historically strong naval forces have found it advantageous to obtain basing rights in areas of strategic interest. Navy ships normally operate with a group, which may be a small squadron of comparable vessels, or a larger naval fleet of various specialized ships. The commander of a fleet travels in the flag ship, which is usually the most powerful vessel in the group. Prior to the invention of radio, commands from the flag ship were communicated by means of flags. At night signal lamps could be used for a similar purpose. Later these were replaced by the radio transmitter, or the flashing light when radio silence was needed. A "blue water navy" is designed to operate far from the coastal waters of its home nation. These are ships capable of maintaining station for long periods of time in deep ocean, and will have a long logistical tail for their support. By contrast a "brown water navy" operates in the coastal periphery and along inland waterways, where larger ocean-going naval vessels can not readily enter. Regional powers may maintain a "green water navy" as a means of localized force projection. Blue water fleets may require specialized vessels, such as mine sweepers, when operating in the littoral regions along the coast.

Traditions

littoral school tall ship]] An important tradition on board British naval vessels (and later those of the U.S. and other nations) has been the ship's bell. This was historically used to mark the passage of time on board a vessel, including the duration of four-hour watches. They were also employed as warning devices in heavy fog, and for alarms and ceremonies. The bell was originally kept polished first by the ship's cook, then later by a person belonging to that division of the ship's personnel. In the United States, in a tradition that dates back to the Revolutionary War, the First Navy Jack is a flag that has the words, "Don't Tread on Me" on the flat. By European tradition, ships have been referred to as a "she". However, it was long considered bad luck to permit women to sail on board naval vessels. To do so would invite a terrible storm that would wreck the ship. The only women that were welcomed on board were figureheads mounted on the prow of the ship. In spite of these views, some women did serve on board naval vessels, usually as wives of crewmembers. Even today, despite their acceptance into many naval military functions, women are still not permitted to serve on board nuclear-powered submarines. The major reasons cited by the U.S. Navy are the extended duty tours and close conditions which afford almost no privacy. [http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/women/work/work012800.html] The UK Royal Navy has similar restrictions, although other NATO members such as Canada, Spain and Norway have opened submarine service to women. [http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2001/0102-09.htm] By ancient tradition, corpses on board naval vessels were buried at sea. In the past this involved sewing the body up in a shroud that had a weight at one end, often a cannonball. (During the age of sail, the final stitch was placed through the nose of the victim, just to make sure they were really dead.) The body was then placed on a pivoting table attached to the outer hull, and shrouded by a national ensign. After a solemn ceremony, the board was tilted and the body dropped into the deep. Later ceremonies employed the casket or cremated urn. The custom of firing cannon salutes originated in the British Royal Navy. When a cannon was fired, it partially disarmed the ship, so firing a cannon needlessly showed respect and trust. The British, being the dominant naval power, compelled the ships of weaker nations to make the first salute. As the tradition evolved, the number of cannons fired was an indication of the rank of the official being saluted.

Naval organisation

Naval vessels

Royal Navy (right)]] Royal Navy Invincible class aircraft carrier]] Royal Navy Historically, naval vessels have been specialized ships that were primarily intended for warfare. They were designed to withstand damage and to inflict the same, but only carried munitions and supplies for the voyage (rather than merchant cargo). Often, other ships which were not built specifically for warfare, such as the galleon or the armed merchant ships in World War II, did carry armaments. On occasion, naval vessels have also served as troop carriers or supply ships. Modern naval vessels are generally divided into five main categories. The categories are: Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, and Submarines. There are also support and auxiliary vessels, including the minesweeper, patrol boat, and tender. During the age of sail, the vessel categories were divided into the ship of the line, frigate, and sloop-of-war. Naval ship names are typically prefixed by an abbreviation indicating the national navy in which they served. For a list of the prefixes used with ship names (HMS, USS, &c.) see ship prefix] On another note, ships of WWII were much slower than today. The average speed was about 15-20 knots. However, today ships can easily reach 25 knots, thanks to much improved propulsion systems. Also, the efficiency of the engines have improved a lot, in terms of fuel, and of how many sailors it takes to operate them. In WWII, ships needed to refule very often. However, today ships can go on very long journeys without refuling. Also, in WWII, the engine room needed about a dozen sailors to work the many engines, however, today, only about 4-5 are needed (depending on the class of the ship).

Navy units

Naval forces are typically arranged into units based on the number of vessels included, a single vessel forming the smallest operational unit. Vessels may be combined into [[squadron]]s or [[flotillas, which may be formed into fleets. The largest unit size may be the whole Navy or Admiralty.

Naval ranks

A navy will typically have two sets of ranks, one for enlisted personnel and one for officers. Typical enlisted ranks include the following, in ascending order:
- Seaman
- Petty Officer (Petty Officers (PO) and Chief Petty Officers (CPO) are equivalent to Non-Commissioned Officers, or NCOs, in other services)
- Chief Petty Officer Within the U.S. Navy, sailors are more commony referred to by their "rating," which indicates both their rank and job specialty (for example, "BT3 Jones" for "Boiler Technician 3rd Class Jones"). Warrant Officers, (WO) including Chief Warrant Officers (CWO), are senior to enlisted sailors and junior to commissioned Officers. The United States draws its Warrant Officers from the enlisted ranks. Warrant Officers serve in more technical positions than commissioned Officers.
- Midshipman are Officers in training, such as at the US Naval Academy. They have not yet received their commission. Typical ranks for commissioned Officers include the following, in ascending order:
- Ensign / Corvette Lieutenant
- Sub Lieutenant / Lieutenant Junior Grade / Frigate Lieutenant
- Lieutenant / Warship Lieutenant / Lieutenant Captain
- Lieutenant Commander / Corvette Captain
- Commander / Frigate Captain
- Captain / Warship Captain
- Commodore
- Flotilla Admiral
- Rear Admiral (which may be split into two "halves", lower and upper)
- Vice Admiral
- Admiral
- Admiral of the Fleet (or Admiral of the Navy) "Flag officers" include any rank that includes the word "admiral", and are generally in command of a battle group or similar flotilla of vessels, rather than a single vessel or aspect of a vessel.

Marine troops

During the era of the Roman empire, the naval forces included legionaries for boarding actions. These were troops primarily trained in land warfare, and did not need to be skilled at handling a ship. Much later during the age of sail, a component of marines served a similar role, being ship-borne soldiers who were used either during boarding actions, as sharp-shooters, or in raids along the shore. Eventually the Marine Corps became a separate arm in the United States, with their own equipment. However the U.S. Navy SEALs and the British Royal Marines now serve a similar function, being a ship-based force specially trained in commando-style operations and tactics. For the Canadian Navy the ranks are as follows (in acending order): NCMs: Ordinary Seaman (OS) Able Seaman (AB) Leading Seaman (LS) Master Seaman (MS) Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2) Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1) Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (CPO2) Chief Petty Officer 1st Class (CPO1) Officers: Naval Cadet Acting Sub-Lieutenant Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant Lietenant Commander Commander Captain Flag Officers: Commodore Rear Admiral Vice Admiral Admiral

Additional reading

- Non-fiction:
- Corbett, Sir Julian, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, 1911.
- Mahan, Alfred Thayer, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783, 1918, Little Brown, Boston.
- Starr, Chester G., The Influence of Sea Power on Ancient History, 1989, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-505666-3.
- Fiction:
- Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October
- Hornblower series by C. S. Forester
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Wehrmacht

History

Command structure

War years

Rebellion

War crimes

Prominent members

After World War II

Reference

See also

Further reading

External links

Military of Germany

History

Organization

Mission

See also

External links

1935

Events

January

February-May

June-August

September-October

November-December

unknown dates

Births

January-February

March-July

August-October

November-December

Deaths

Nobel Prizes

Reichswehr

Reference

External links

Bundeswehr

History

Organization

Mission

See also

External links

Army

National land forces

Formations

See also

Navy

History

Contemporary naval forces

Naval tactics and strategy

Naval powers

Operations

Traditions

Naval organisation

Naval vessels

Navy units

Naval ranks

Marine troops

Additional reading