Imperial German Army


The Imperial German Army, officially referred to as the German Army, was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia, and was dissolved in 1919, after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the term Deutsches Heer refers to the German Army, the land component of the Bundeswehr.

Formation and name

The states that made up the German Empire contributed their armies; within the German Confederation, formed after the Napoleonic Wars, each state was responsible for maintaining certain units to be put at the disposal of the Confederation in case of conflict. When operating together, the units were known as the Federal Army. The Federal Army system functioned during various conflicts of the 19th century, such as the First Schleswig War from 1848 to 1852. However, by the time of the Second Schleswig War of 1864, tension had grown between the main powers of the confederation, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
Prussia formed the North German Confederation and the treaty provided for the maintenance of a Federal Army and a Federal Navy. Further laws on military duty also used these terms. Conventions were entered into between the North German Confederation and its member states, subordinating their armies to the Prussian Army in time of war, and giving the Prussian Army control over training, doctrine, and equipment.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the North German Confederation also entered into conventions on military matters with states that were not members of the confederation, namely Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden. Through these conventions and the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire, an Army of the Realm was created. The Constitution of the German Empire, dated April 16, 1871, changed references in the North German Constitution from Federal Army to either Army of the Realm or German Army.
The contingents of the Bavarian, Saxon, and Württemberg kingdoms remained semi-autonomous, while the Prussian Army assumed almost total control over the armies of the other states of the Empire. After 1871, the peacetime armies of the four kingdoms remained relatively distinct. The term "German Army" was used in various legal documents, such as the Military Penal Code, but otherwise, the Prussian, Bavarian, Saxon, and Württemberg armies maintained their distinct identities. Each kingdom had its own War Ministry, Bavaria and Saxony published their own rank and seniority lists for their officers and the Württemberg list was a separate chapter of the Prussian Army rank lists. Württemberg and Saxon units were numbered according to the Prussian system but Bavarian units maintained their own numbers.

Command

The commander of the Imperial German Army, less the Bavarian contingent, was the Kaiser. He was assisted by a Military Cabinet and exercised control through the Prussian Ministry of War and the Great General Staff. The Chief of the General Staff became the Kaiser's main military adviser and the most powerful military figure in the empire. Bavaria kept its own Ministry of War and General Staff, but coordinated planning with the Prussian General Staff. Saxony also maintained its own Ministry of War and General Staff, and the Ministry of War of Württemberg and General Staff also continued to exist.
The command of the Prussian Army had been reformed in the wake of the defeats suffered by Prussia in the Napoleonic Wars. Rather than rely primarily on the martial skills of the individual members of the German nobility, who dominated the military profession, the Prussian Army instituted changes to ensure excellence in leadership, organisation, and planning. The General Staff system, which sought to institutionalise military excellence, was the main result. It sought to identify military talent at the lower levels and develop it thoroughly through academic training and practical experience on division, corps, and higher staffs, up to the Great General Staff, the senior planning body of the army. It provided planning and organisational work during peacetime and wartime. The Prussian General Staff, proven in battle in the Wars of Unification, became the German General Staff upon the formation of the German Empire, given Prussia's leading role in the German Army.

Military role in foreign policy decisions

In the German Empire, diplomatic relations were the responsibility of the Chancellor and his Foreign Minister. The German Army reported separately to the emperor, and increasingly played a major role in shaping foreign policy when military alliances or warfare was at issue. In diplomatic terms, Germany used the Prussian system of military attachés attached to diplomatic locations, with highly talented young officers assigned to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and military capabilities of their assigned nations. They used close observation, conversations, and paid agents to produce very high-quality reports that gave a significant advantage to the military planners. The military staff grew increasingly powerful, reducing the role of the Minister of War, and increasingly asserted itself in foreign policy decisions.
Otto von Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor from 1871 to 1890, was annoyed by military interference in foreign policy affairs – in 1887, for example, they tried to convince the emperor to declare war on Russia; they also encouraged Austria-Hungary to attack Russia. Bismarck never controlled the army, but he did complain vehemently, and the military leaders drew back. In 1905, when the First Moroccan Crisis was roiling international politics, the Chief of the General Staff Alfred von Schlieffen called for a preventive war against France. At a critical point in the July Crisis of 1914, Helmuth von Moltke, the chief of staff, without telling the emperor or chancellor, advised his counterpart in Austria-Hungary to mobilise against Russia at once. During the First World War, Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg increasingly set foreign policy, working directly with the emperor—and indeed shaped his decision-making—leaving the chancellor and civilian officials in the dark. Historian Gordon A. Craig says that the crucial decisions in 1914, "were made by the soldiers and that, in making them, they displayed an almost complete disregard for political considerations."

Chiefs of the German General Staff (1871–1919)

The Kaiser had full control of the armed forces but the organisation was highly complex.
In peacetime the Imperial German Army was divided into four basic levels, the Army inspectorate, the army corps, the division, and the regiment. During wartime, the staff of the Army inspectorates formed field army commands, which controlled the corps and subordinate units. During World War I, a higher command level, the army group, was created. Each army group controlled several field armies.

Army inspectorate

Germany was divided into army inspectorates, each of which oversaw three or four corps. There were five in 1871, with three more added between 1907 and 1913.
  • I Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Danzig, became the 8th Army on mobilisation
  • II Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Berlin, became the 3rd Army on mobilisation
  • III Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Hannover, became the 2nd Army on mobilisation
  • IV Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Munich, became the 6th Army on mobilisation
  • V Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Karlsruhe, became the 7th Army on mobilisation
  • VI Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Stuttgart, became the 4th Army on mobilisation
  • VII Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Berlin, became the 5th Army on mobilisation
  • VIII Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Saarbrücken, became the 1st Army on mobilisation

    Corps


The basic organisational formation was the army corps. The corps consisted of two or more divisions and various support troops, covering a geographical area. The corps was also responsible for maintaining the reserves and Landwehr in the corps area. By 1914, there were 21 corps areas under Prussian jurisdiction and three Bavarian army corps. Besides the regional corps, there was also a Guard Corps, which controlled the elite Prussian Guard units. A corps usually included a light infantry battalion, a heavy artillery battalion, an engineer battalion, a telegraph battalion, and a trains battalion. Some corps areas also disposed of fortress troops; each of the 25 corps had a Field Aviation Unit attached to it normally equipped with six unarmed "A" or "B" class unarmed two-seat observation aircraft apiece.
In wartime, the army corps became a mobile tactical formation and four Höhere Kavallerie-Kommando were formed from the Cavalry Inspectorate, the equivalent of corps, being made up of two divisions of cavalry.
The areas formerly covered by the corps each became the responsibility of a Wehrkreis. The military districts were to supervise the training and enlistment of reservists and new recruits. Originally each military district was linked to an army corps; thus Wehrkreis I took over the area that I. Armeekorps had been responsible for and sent replacements to the same formation. The first sixteen reserve corps raised followed the same pattern; X. Reserve-Korps was made up of reservists from the same area as X. Armeekorps. However, these links between rear areas and front line units were broken as the war went on and later corps were raised with troops from all over Germany.