For it could in some way be looked upon as taking sides, which was strictly prohibited. The military were to be politically blind, completely neutral and knowing only one point of view, which was that of legitimacy, i.e. subordination to the legitimate ruler. Thus in the years 1866 and 1870, when there was danger of war, it was not Moltke but Bismarck who advised the king as to the political decision. This changed during the last years of the First World War. General Ludendorff became the strongest man in the Reich owing to the force of his personality and the weakness of his political opponents.
People often talk of Prussian militarism.
For the time when the soldier seized political power this was justified. The Weimar State got rid of this completely. The non-political character of the armed forces was stressed very emphatically and the military was again limited to its particular field. This went so far that a civilian was made Minister for War, who had to represent the armed forces politically in the Reichstag. For a considerable period it was a Liberal- Democratic minister, who was meticulously careful to avoid all political influence by the generals.