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The military superiority of Germany was a defining element of Hitler's ideology and foreign policy, which made the idea of disarmament unacceptable. [17] As soon as Hitler rose to power, he began the process of rearming Germany , clearly defying both the Treaty of Versailles and the objective of the Disarmament Conference. [ 17 ]
In 1920 French intelligence reported the Germany could mobilize over 2,000,000 men from non-military forces like the police and private organizations like the Freikorps, well in excess of the 100,000 limit placed on the German army. These numbers were based on figures given by the organizations themselves and may have been inflated.
Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers), was officially a veterans' organization with about 500,000 members. Led by Franz Seldte and with ties at the leadership level to the Reichswehr , it was opposed to the Weimar Republic and politically close to the German National People's Party (DNVP) and ...
West Germany joins NATO: Walter Hallstein (left) and Konrad Adenauer (centre) at the NATO Conference in Paris in 1954. West German rearmament (German: Wiederbewaffnung) began in the decades after World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command. [1]
Non-SED members were compelled to join by the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB), and recruitment was accomplished by the SED branches in the workplaces. Membership of the KdA peaked in the early 1980s, reaching a total of approximately 210,000 personnel including approximately 187,000 active members and the remainder in reserve.
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany will strengthen its military to make it the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe, its defence minister pledged on Thursday as Berlin issued new defence ...
This involved, in the earliest stage, the disarmament of all remaining German military personnel. According to military historian Sheldon Goldberg, the process of disbanding the armed forces did not prove an obstacle since "most [remaining soldiers] simply dropped their weapons, raised their arms, and surrendered". [5]
The Treaty of Versailles included firearm reducing stipulations. Article 169 targeted the state: "Within two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, German arms, munitions, and war material, including anti-aircraft material, existing in Germany in excess of the quantities allowed, must be surrendered to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to be ...