The role of German Military in the 20th and 21st century

Brian Madsen

At the start of the twentieth century the role of the German military was fighting in World War one. Once Germany was pulled into the war they initiated the Schrieffer plan to deal with the French and the Russians who had formed an alliance known as the Franco-Russian alliance. When the war started Germany attacked France by going through their Belgium border to avoid the French defenses at the German border. The Germans were beaten back at the First battle of the Marne with three years of stalemated trench wars that resulted in millions of casualties. New tactics were developed in 1918 opened up the war, but a series of failed German offensives in 1918 and freshly trained American troops caused Germany to go on the defensive. With their military defeated, no allies to turn to, and exhausted on the home front, Germany sign the Treaty of Versailles.

After the Treaty was signed Germany’s military was severely limited and with the great depression in America it lead the people of Germany into even more despair, but when the Nazi’s came to power in 1933 and began remilitarization, the heavy spending revived the ravaged economy of Germany and made Hitler popular. The Nazi’s encouraged the army to experiment with tanks and motorized infantry. The Nazi’s then rebuilt the navy and started a new air force division. After that Germany turned into a military police state where the military was in control of everything until the Germans were defeated by the Allies in 1945. Afterward Germany was split into several factions to prevent them from gaining power, eventually some of the factions joined together to the point where only two were left East and West Germany. Once Germany was formed into East and West Germany the role of military declined greatly due to the fact half of it belonged to the Allies against the Soviet Union and the other half belonged to the Soviet Union.

On October 3^rd 1990 East and West Germany united as one to become Germany once more after 45 years. In 1990 with the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Germany agreed to reduce the strength of its armed forces.  Since then Germany has participated little in military matters and have focused most of its attention toward economic industries and work ethic to make the world a better place through capitalistic economic prosperity.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Germany#First_World_War_.281914-1918.29