German Military
World War I
- Germany's plan to deal with Franco-Russian alliance was called the Schlieffen plan.
- Germany attacked France through Belgium to avoid defenses.
- Germans were defeated.
- 3 years of trench warfare.
- Germany's navy was mostly bottled up by the more powerful British navy
- Germany starts using U-boats to sink merchant ships
- As a result America declares war in 1917
- Spring of 1918 brought the Spring Offensive
- Germans had four offensives code-named Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, and Bluecher-Yorck
- Allies push backed against germans
- Germany signs armistice in November 1918
1918-1939
- Treaty of Versilles restricted Germany's military
- 150,000 men (50,000 in Navy)
- 24 ships
- No tanks, heavy artillery, or Airforce
- Followed treaty besides training soldiers secretly in the Soviet Union
- In 1933 the Nazi party came to power
- Immediately began strengthening the military
- Hitler established the Luftwaffe, a new air force
- No force used except for Spanish Civil War
WWII
- Germany begins with blitzkrieg invasions in 1939-1940
- Germany invades Soviet Union in 1941
- Hilter tried to maintain living standards, put off full mobilization of economy until 1942
- 1942 proved to be turning point
- 1943 brought a loss to Germany at Stalingrad
- North Africa, Sicily, and southern Italy were taken by Allies
- Hitler refused to surrender as both Allied forces and Russians pushed into Germany
- He committed suicide as the last of his forces were defeated
Cold War (1945-1989)
- Nuremberg Trials of 1945-1949
- During the cold war Germany is split into occupation zones
- Bundeswehr established in 1955 and grew to a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilians
- Cooperation between each military resulted in new tactics and technology for both sides
- East Germany saw the introduction of the Nationale Volksarmee in 1956
- Was volunteer army until 1962
- At its peak in 1987 it had 175,300 troops
- 1989 the NVA rejected communism and led to the Collapse of East Germany
Current Military
- The "Treaty on the final settlement with respect to Germany led to reducing forces to 370,000
- Bundeswehr took on parts of the NVA after reunification
- First offensive conflict since WWII came in 1999, the war on Yugoslavia in Kosovo
- In 2000 women were allowed to join the Bundeswehr
- Mostly involved in peace keeping missions
- Deployed around 2250 troops to Afghanistan
- In 2011/12 a reform of the military was announced, as of 2012 personal was down to 192,000
Sources :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Germany#Naval_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Germany#Naval_race
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