Аннотация: Hans von Seeckt, Weimar Republic, Reichswehr and mobile warfare. Hitler, Third Reich, Wehrmacht and Blitzkrieg. The conceptual-historical essay.
Hans von Seeckt, Weimar Republic, Reichswehr and mobile warfare. Hitler, Third Reich, Wehrmacht and Blitzkrieg. The conceptual-historical essay.
Content:
1. The Foreword.
2. The Reichswehr. The Army of commanders. A Mobile mechanized warfare.
3. Hitler and the three changes in the military-political sphere.
4. Blitzkrieg is a large-scale mobile mechanized war, it is a mass, multi-million army.
5. The "Hindenburg Key". "Now we are masters."
6. "The hypothesis of von Seeckt." The Weimar Republic is a temporary political project.
7. The Blitzkrieg and the global strategy issues.
8. The Afterword.
1. The Foreword
Hans von Seeckt is a historical figure. His activity occupies an unique place in a sequence of historical events.
To characterize the place of Hans von Seeckt in history, the following concepts can be used:
1) The Weimar Republic
2) The Reichswehr,
3) A Mobile mechanized warfare.
Naturally, the story did not begin with Hans von Seeckt and did not end with him.
As a historical figure of a large international scale, he was preceded by:
1) The German Empire,
2) The German imperial army,
3) The War - large-scale, offensive, positional, defensive, trench ...
Hans von Sect was followed by (statement with some conventionality):
1) The Third Reich,
2) The Wehrmacht,
3) The Blitzkrieg.
If we take into account the (temporary) victories of the German army in 1939-1941, then the transition from the Reichswehr to the Wehrmacht, from the mechanized mobile war to the Blitzkrieg is of considerable interest. Such a transition had a prerequisite - the transformation of the Weimar Republic into a totalitarian dictatorial state (German Reich (1933-1943), Great German Reich (1943-1945)).
2. The Reichswehr. The Army of commanders. A Mobile mechanized warfare
According to the plans of Hans von Sect and in accordance with the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, the Reichswehr (1921-1935) was to become (and became) a compact (not numerous) army of commanders. Military planning and practical activities were such that the Reichswehr - the army of the Weimar Republic - accumulated the personnel, intellectual, technical potential and gained the ability to deploy into a larger and more powerful army.
The Reichswehr, under the leadership of Hans von Sect, has become an intellectual center, a large military scientific and educational organization.
The Reichswehr created a highly qualified military leaders of different levels.
According to von Sect, the Reichswehr should have been ready to producing a mobile mechanized war, as a compact professional volunteer army.
The purpose of hostilities, von Sect believed, was the elimination of Poland (in the alliance of the Germany with the Soviet Russia).
Many researchers express the view that von Seeckt's activities were exceptionally successful. The army under his managment - the Reichswehr - really became the army of commanders and indeed it was ready for a successful mobile mechanized war.
3. Hitler and the three changes in the military-political sphere
Adolf Hitler made important changes in the military-political sphere - if to compare with the views, plans, actions of von Seeckt and the results achieved by von Seeckt.
A) Hitler created a mass army - the Wehrmacht (1935-1945) (based on the personnel, intellectual, technical potential of the Reichswehr). If the Army of commanders (Reichswehr) was (in the project and in practice) compact (100,000 or more), then the Wehrmacht totaled several million troops.
B) Hitler changed strategic goals. The elimination of Poland was supplemented by a dominance in Western and Central Europe, as well as a victory over the Russia.
C) Under the leadership of Hitler, a military industry was created that could provide a multimillion-dollar army with weapons.
4. Blitzkrieg is a large-scale mobile mechanized war, it is a mass, multi-million army
The experience of mobile mechanized warfare, which was conducted not by a compact professional volunteer army, but by a multimillion-strong, well-armed, professionally trained army, led to the emergence of the concept of "blitzkrieg".
Blitzkrieg is a mobile mechanized war. But this is not the war that von Seeckt declared (based on the political and military realities, the international conditions of the Weimar Republic). This is a larger war. It is a huge war. The results of the blitzkrieg include not only the (temporary) destruction of the Polish state, but also the (temporary) dominance of the Third Reich in Western and Central Europe, victories (temporary) in battles with the Red Army.
5. The "Hindenburg Key". "Now we are masters."
President of Germany (Field Marshal) Paul von Hindenburg:
a) he appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor (confirmed in office on January 30, 1933),
b) he appointed at the request of Chancellor Adolf Hitler new elections in the Reichstag (scheduled for March 5, 1933),
c) after a fire in the Reichstag (February 27, 1933) Hindenburg signed an emergency decree. Constitutional rights were abolished, the parliamentary Communist Party of Germany was banned, and editorial offices of opposition newspapers were closed. (The Constitution of the Weimar Republic provided for the president of the Reich to accept extraordinary decrees (Notverordnung). This opportunity made the head of state a "substitute for the legislator." President Friedrich Ebert, for example, signed 116 decrees from October 1919 to January 1925).
d) as a result of the new conditions of the "election process", the NSDAP owned the majority of seats in the Reichstag ...
e) In March 1933, President Hindenburg signed laws that resulted in the repeal of, in fact, the Weimar Constitution, the Reichstag actually lost the status of parliament and the separation of powers ceased to exist. A State power passed to the German government (led by Hitler) and to the chancellor (Hitler). The republican system ceased - in fact - to exist. "Now we are masters" - Joseph Goebbels, March 25, 1933
f) July 14, 1933 all parties except the NSDAP were banned . A totalitarian state arose.
6. "The hypothesis of von Seeckt." The Weimar Republic is a temporary political project
If we analyze the development of the Reichswehr, the political trajectory of Adolf Hitler, then we can come to the hypothesis that the Weimar Republic was a temporary political project.
It can be conditionally argued that this project was designed on (for) the period necessary for the emergence of a new generation capable to hold a weapons (but - also - for the emergence of one more condition - the formation of a favorable (for the Third Reich) a foreign policy situation).
Paul von Hindenburg (or his successor) would open with his "key" the door to a new historical period - regardless of names and personalities.
The Reichswehr was intended to become a Wehrmacht. The word "blitzkrieg" would appear in any case? It doesn"t matter ... Blitzkrieg is a mobile mechanized war (the such a notion Hans von Seeckt had in mind). Consequently, blitzkrieg is a convenient generalizing term, but its appearance or, conversely, absence could not affect the situation.
7. The Blitzkrieg and the global strategy issues
The creators of the Wehrmacht and Blitzkrieg (and their predecessors) were intellectually and emotionally involved, (focused) in the events of a European history.
The Fourteen Points of US President Woodrow Wilson can be conditionally considered the beginning of global (military) political planning (this statement is partially conditional).
An effective army (Wehrmacht) lost to an efficient economy and global strategy. Tehran - Yalta - Potsdam ...
8. The Afterword
The law "on the abolition of the separation of powers" and on vesting Hitler with dictatorial power was repealed through the law of the Allied Control Council (adopted in September 1945).
"Masters" did not correctly understand the world around them ...
August 19, 2019 18:18
Translation from Russian into English: August 20, 2019 11:50.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "Ханс фон Сект, Веймарская республика, рейхсвер и мобильная война. Гитлер, Третий Рейх, вермахт и блицкриг. Концептуально-историческое эссе.".