Reichswehr

The Reichswehr (Imperial Defence or German Army) also known as The Weimar German Army or the Weimar Republic Army was the name of the German military from 1919 to 1935 it served the Weimar Era (1919-1933) and The Nazi Era (1933-1945) which replaced the old Imperial German Army.  During these years, their number was severely restricted by the Treaty of Versailles.  From 1935 to 1946 they were renamed and called the Wehrmacht, and since 1946 they have been called Bundeswehr.  The German Reichswehr Military consisted of 2 and later 3 military branches the Reichsheer (German Army) and the Reichsmarine (German Navy) from 1921-1935. The German Freikorps paramilitary militia was not originally part of the military or the army but became part of the military from 1921-1935 .   

The Reichswehr fought to stop the German Communists led by Rosa Luxemburg in the German Communist Revolution of 1918-1919 including defending East Prussia during the Polish-Soviet War which was the western front of the Russian Civil War in Eastern Europe from (1918/1919-1921) to stop Leon Trotsky’s Red Army.  They also fought against the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 to stop the NSDAP’s SA led by Adolf Hitler, Ernst Röhm, and Hermann Göring.   During the Interwar period the Reichswehr came under control of the Third Reich in 1933 and was renamed as the Wehrmacht in 1935 after the Night of the Long Knives purge in 1934 against Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung in Germany.   

Category:1920s in Germany
Category:1930s in Germany
Category:German military organizations