This article is part of the series Politics of Prussia

Prime Minister of Prussia

German General Staff

Prussian Minister of War

Foreign Minister of Prussia

Interior Minister of Prussia

The German General Staff (Großer Generalsstab, literally Great General Staff) was an institution whose rise and development gave the German military a decided advantage over its adversaries. The Prussian War Ministry was gradually established between 1808 and 1809 as part of a series of reforms initiated by the Military Reorganization Commission created after This page lists Foreign Ministers of Prussia. See also Foreign Minister of Germany and Prime Minister of Prussia. This page lists Prussian Ministers of the Interior. See also Interior Ministers of Germany. The Staff amounted to its best "weapon" for nearly two centuries.

In a narrow sense, the General Staff was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian and later, German Army, responsible for the continuous study of all aspects of war, and for drawing up and reviewing plans for mobilization or campaign. The Prussian Army (Preußische Armee was the Army of the Kingdom of Prussia. The German Army (Deutsches Heer heɐ) is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units It existed unofficially from 1806, and was formally established by law in 1814, the first General Staff in existence. Year 1806 ( MDCCCVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1814 ( MDCCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A military staff is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commander and subordinate units

The Prussian General Staff also enjoyed greater freedom from political control than its contemporaries, and this autonomy was enshrined in law on the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common It was to be regarded as the home of German militarism in the aftermath of the First World War, and the victors attempted to suppress the institution. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All It nevertheless survived to play its accustomed part in the rearmament of Germany and the Second World War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

In a broader sense, the Prussian General Staff represented a unique military fraternity. Though other European powers eventually created their own General Staffs, the Prussian General Staff was distinguished by the formal selection of its officers by intelligence and proven merit rather than patronage or wealth, and the exhaustive and rigorously structured training which staff officers undertook. This training was designed not only to weed out the less motivated or able candidates, but also to produce a body of professional military experts with common methods and outlook, and an almost monastic dedication to their profession. General Staff–qualified officers would alternate between line and staff duties but would remain life-long members of this special organization. As staff officers, their uniform featured distinctive double-wide carmine trouser stripes.

Until the end of the German Empire, while social and political convention often placed members of noble or royal households in command of its armies or corps, the actual responsibility for the planning and conduct of operations lay with the formation's highly trained Staff officers. For other European armies which lacked this professionally trained Staff Corps, the same conventions were often a recipe for disaster. Even the Army of the French Second Empire, whose senior officers had supposedly reached high rank as a result of bravery and success on the battlefield, was crushed in a campaign which highlighted their poor administration and planning, and lack of professional education. The Second French Empire or Second Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870 between the Second

The Chief of Staff of a Prussian formation in the field had the right to disagree, in writing, with the plans or orders of the commander of the formation, and appeal to the commander of the next highest formation (which might ultimately be the King, or Emperor, who would be guided by the Head of the Great General Staff). This served as a check on incompetence and also served for the objecting officer to officially disassociate himself with a flawed plan. Only the most stubborn commanders would not give way before this threat.

For these reasons, Prussian and German military victories would often be credited professionally to the Chief of Staff, rather than to the nominal commander of an army. Often the commander of an army was himself a member of the General Staff, but it was now institutionally recognized that not only was command leadership important, but effective staff work was a significant key to success in both pre-war planning and in wartime operations.

History

Early history

The development of a corps of full-time military professionals, in peace and war, working to assist the army on all aspects of operations and logistics planning was the outgrowth of experience on the battlefield the 17th and 18th Centuries. Prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century, success on the battlefield was largely the result of the military competence of whichever king was in power. While Frederick the Great brought success in battle to Prussian arms, his successors did not have his talent, and this led to an inevitable decline in the generalship of the Army. Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the Without competent operational and logistical planning, no amount of individual soldierly discipline or battlefield bravery could save the army from the combination of superior generalship and staff work of a talented adversary. Reformers in the army began to write and lecture on the need to preserve and somehow institutionalize the military talent that had brought martial glory to Prussia. For a small group of reformers, critical decision making had to be removed from arbitrary winds of chance and placed in the hands of institutionalized military excellence. The country could no longer afford to wait until a war started to gather military staff talent. One carefully selected professional staff would do the work of planning logistics and training the Army in peace as well as in war.

From the last years of the eighteenth century, it became the practice to assign military experts to assist the generals of Prussia's Army. This was largely at the instigation of comparatively junior but gifted officers such as Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August von Gneisenau. Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst ( 12 November 1755 - 28 June 1813) was a General in Prussian service Chief August Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau ( 27 October 1760 &ndash 23 August 1831) was a Prussian Field marshal Nevertheless, such measures were insufficient to overcome the inefficiency of the Army, which was commanded by aged veterans of the campaigns of Frederick the Great. Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the

In 1806, the Prussian Army was defeated by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Jena, and in the aftermath of this defeat, the Prussian Army and state largely collapsed. Year 1806 ( MDCCCVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt (older name Auerstädt were fought on October 14, 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, King Frederick William III appointed Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prime Minister Baron von und zum Stein, and several promising young officers to his Military Reorganization Commission ^[1]. Early life The son of King Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick William was born in Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786 when his father ascended Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein ( October 25, 1757 &ndash June 29, 1831) commonly known as Baron vom Although Prussia's military strength and freedom of action was severely restricted by the peace terms imposed at Tilsit, this Commission nevertheless acted as a General Staff to plan and implement the reconstruction of the Prussian Army.

As part of its measures, introductory military schools in Berlin, Königsburg, and Breslau as well as the Academy for Young Officers (later the Kriegsakademie), open to all applicants of merit, were founded for the intellectual training of staff officers. ^[2] In most non-Prussian military academies of the time, the emphasis of the training syllabus was the preparation of junior artillery and engineering officers, not strategic planners;^[3][4] a notable British exception to the rule was the proposed Senior Department of the Royal Military College. ^[3]

Although Prussian commanders of forces were still appointed by rigid seniority or royal patronage, they now had trained staff officers to guide and advise them, in addition to undertaking routine administrative tasks. The unlikely pairing of the erratic but popular Field Marshal Blücher as Commander in Chief with Lieutenant General von Gneisenau as his Chief of Staff shows this system to its best advantage. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Fürst (Prince von Wahlstatt (gɛphaɐt lebəʁɛçt fɔn blyçɐ December 16 1742 - September 12 1819

Establishment

After the defeat of Napoleon, the General Staff was formally established. Entry to it followed completion of a course at the Preußische Kriegsakademie (the Prussian War Academy, an early Staff college). The Prussian Military Academy (Preußische Kriegsakademie or Prussian War Academy was the Military academy and Staff college of the Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges or war colleges) train Military officers in the administrative staff and policy aspects of their profession One of the early directors of the Kriegsakademie was Karl von Clausewitz, a Reformer on the Military Reorganization Commission. Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (ˈklaʊzəvɪts ( July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier military historian From his studies of the Napoleonic Wars, he provided a syllabus which became the central doctrine from which the staff worked. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions This standardisation of doctrine (which itself was a philosophy, rather than a narrow prescribed set of rules such as those laid down by Henri Jomini) was one of the distinguishing features of the Prussian General Staff model. Antoine-Henri baron Jomini ( March 6, 1779 &ndash March 24, 1869) General in the French and afterwards in the Russian

The General Staff, organized by the Reformer Karl von Grolman in 1816 into the Eastern (Russia), Southern (Austria) and Western (France and possibly West German states) Divisions ^[5], continually planned for likely and unlikely scenarios. Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolman(n ( 30 July 1777 - 1 June 1843) was a Prussian General born in Berlin, who fought As early as 1843, when Europe had been largely at peace for nearly thirty years and most major nations had no plans for war, observers noted sheaves of orders at the Prussian War Ministry, already made out to cover all foreseeable contingencies and requiring only a signature and a date stamp to be put into effect. Year 1843 ( MDCCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common

Von Moltke the Elder

In 1857, Helmuth von Moltke, a widely travelled officer who was a confidante of King William I, was appointed Chief of the General Staff. Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf After the Franco-Prussian War Moltke superintended the preparation of its history which was published between 1874 and 1881 by the great general staff Under his control, the existing staff system was expanded and consolidated.

Each year, the Prussian Army's top 120 junior officers were selected by competitive examination to attend the Kriegsakademie. The academic standards at this institution were rigorous enough to fail more than half the entrants. From this elite, von Moltke selected the best 12 for his personal training as General Staff officers. They attended theoretical studies, annual manoevres, "war rides" (a system of tactical exercises without troops in the field) under Moltke himself, and war games and map exercises known as Kriegsspiele. Kriegsspiel, from the German word for wargame was a system used for training officers in the Prussian army ^[6][7]

Although these officers subsequently alternated between regimental and staff duties, they could be relied upon to think and act exactly as von Moltke had taught them when they became the Chiefs of Staff of major formations. Moltke himself referred to them as the "nervous system" of the Prussian Army. In the victories which the Prussian Army was to gain against Austria-Hungary and France, von Moltke needed only to issue brief directives to the main formations, leaving the staffs at the subordinate headquarters to implement the details according to the doctrines and methods he had laid down, while the Supreme Commands of his opponents became bogged down in a mountain of paperwork and trivia as they tried to control the entire army from a single overworked headquarters. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. ^[8]

Von Moltke's wide experience also prompted the General Staff to consider fields of study outside the purely military, and rapidly adapt them to military use. Immediately upon his appointment, he established the Abteilung (section or department) which studied and promoted the development of railway networks within Prussia and incorporated them into its deployment plans. He also formed telegraphic, and other scientific and technical departments within the General Staff. ^[9]

The General Staff reformed by von Moltke was the most effective in Europe -- an autonomous institution dedicated solely to the efficient execution of war, unlike in other countries, whose staffs were often fettered by meddling courtiers, parliaments and government officials. To the contrary, the General Staff itself had a powerful effect on Prussian, and later German, politics. ^[10]

War with Denmark

This war, the political origins of which lay in Denmark's conflict with Prussia and Austria over the Schleswig-Holstein Question, vindicated von Moltke's concepts of operations and led to an overhaul of the command arrangements of the Prussian Army. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe The Schleswig-Holstein Question was the name given to the whole complex of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century out of the relations of the two duchies Schleswig Von Moltke envisaged a rapid attack to prevent the Danes falling back behind water obstacles which the Prussian Navy could not overcome. A rigid system of seniority placed General von Wrangel, widely regarded as being in his dotage, in command. He ignored all von Moltke's directives and his own staff's advice, and by allowing the Danish Army to withdraw at its leisure, prolonged the war for several months. The resulting post mortem was to ensure a better (though not infallible) system for appointing commanders.

Seven Weeks War

The War between Prussia and Austria became almost inevitable after the end of hostilities with Denmark. The Austro-Prussian Many Prussians regarded the war as a sad necessity. Von Moltke, describing his reasons for confidence to War Minister Albrecht von Roon, stated, "We have the inestimable advantage of being able to carry our Field Army of 285,000 men over five railway lines and of virtually concentrating them in twenty-five days . Albrecht Theodor Emil Graf von Roon ( 30 April 1803 23 February 1879) was a Prussian Soldier and Politician . . Austria has only one railway line and it will take her forty-five days to assemble 200,000 men". Although there were inevitable mistakes and confusion on the battlefield, von Moltke's pre-war calculations were proved correct, and the Austrian army was brought to battle at Königgrätz and destroyed. The Battle of Königgrätz (Schlacht von Königgrätz also known as the Battle of Sadowa, Sadová, or Hradec Králové, was the decisive Battle

In contrast to the Prussian staff, Austrian staff officers gained their posts either by membership of one of the six hundred aristocratic families which controlled the Austro-Hungarian Empire's wealth and patronage, or after uninspiring training which made them into plodding, rule-bound clerks. ^[11] In all aspects of preparation, planning and execution, their muddled efforts compared badly with that of their Prussian counterparts.

Prussian staff analysis and army improvements

In reviewing Prussian deficiencies against the Austrians, the General Staff made several improvements to increase the strategic and tactical proficiency of the King's army. Cavalry would no longer be held in reserve, but would actively screen the army's movements at all levels, make first contact with the enemy, and constantly observe hostile activities. Newly developed rifled artillery would no longer be placed in the rear of the order of march for employment behind the infantry; instead, a significant detachment would travel with the advanced guard of the leading corp or other major element, and the remainder would march with the front of the main body, providing immediate artillery coverage of the advanced guard on contact and of the main body during subsequent deployment on the field. A renewed emphasis was placed on maintaining contact with subordinate and superior commands, so that commanders always were informed of units' locations on the battlefield, reducing the "fog of war" effect. Finally, the introduction of the infantry rifle marked a revolution in weapons effect, so that von Moltke made the following analysis in 1865:^[12]

"The attack of a position is becoming notably more difficult than its defense. The defensive during the first phase of battle offers a decisive superiority. The task of a skillful offensive will consist of forcing our foe to attack a position chosen by us, and only when casualties, demoralization, and exhaustion have drained his strength will we ourselves take up the tactical offensive. . . . Our strategy must be offensive, our tactics defensive. "

Franco-Prussian War

The government of Napoleon III of France was undoubtedly startled by the Prussian victory over Austria, and urgently sought to reform their army to face the conflict with Prussia which seemed inevitable and imminent. The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 Napoléon III, also known as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (full name Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte) (20 April 1808 9 January 1873 was the first President Their senior officers entirely failed to grasp the methods of the Prussian General Staff. The Chief of Staff of the French Army, Marechal Edmond Leboeuf, fatuously stated in 1870 that the French Army was ready for war, "down to the last gaiter button". Edmond Leboeuf ( 5 November 1809 - 7 June 1888) was a Marshal of France. In the event, 462,000 German soldiers concentrated flawlessly on the French frontier while only 270,000 French soldiers could be moved to face them, the French army having lost (or mislaid) 100,000 stragglers before a shot was fired through poor planning and administration. ^[13]

During the war, there were again the inevitable mistakes due to the "fog of war", but German formations moved with a speed and precision which French staff officers, accustomed only to moving battalion-sized punitive columns, could not match. In the French (and British) armies of the time, there was an anti-intellectual prejudice in favour of brave and unimaginative regimental officers over intelligent and well-trained staff officers. The French Army paid dearly for this bias in 1870 and 1871.

The end result of strategic preparation by von Moltke and diplomatic overtures by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was the unification of all the independent German states and the creation of a German Empire under Prussian control — King Wilhelm I was proclaimed "German Emperor" on January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles following the Prussian victory. Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen Duke of Lauenburg Prince of Bismarck ( April 1, 1815 July 30, 1898) The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification Events 350 - Generallus Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal Château in Versailles, in France 's Île-de-France region This victory surprised many military professionals around the world, since France had been considered a great military power, while Prussia was widely considered a lesser power, despite its military successes under Friedrich Wilhelm III, in 1813-15 over Napoleon, and more recently over Austria during the Seven Weeks' War of 1866. Early life The son of King Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick William was born in Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786 when his father ascended ^[14] Most states hastened to adopt Prussian staff methods and structures, with mixed success. ^[15]

Concurrently, von Moltke pushed for reassessment and self-improvement of Prussian military units to maintain tactical superiority relative to other nations' units, introducing his concept of Auftragstaktik or mission tactics, to promote initiative as a well-defined leadership doctrine at all levels of command, written into every Prussian tactical manual published after the Franco-Prussian War ^[16]:

"A favorable situation will never be exploited if commanders wait for orders. Mission-type tactics ( German: Auftragstaktik, from Auftrag and Taktik" also known as Mission Command in the US have (arguably been a central The highest commander and the youngest soldier must always be conscious of the fact that omission and inactivity are worse than resorting to the wrong expedient. "

From Unification to World War I

William II with his generals

With unification the Prussian General Staff became the Imperial German General Staff and began preparing for what seemed to be an inevitable war with France, which was intent on revenge and recovery of the provinces annexed by Germany. The unification of Germany took place on January 18, 1871, when Prussian Chief Minister Otto von Bismarck managed to unify a number of independent World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Bismarck's continuing diplomatic intrigues prevented any hostile European coalition forming against Germany, but with his departure in 1890, France eventually gained Russia as an ally.

Germany then was at risk of being at war on both Eastern and Western fronts. To meet this threat, Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen drew up and continually refined the Schlieffen Plan to meet this eventuality. For the French counter-plan see Plan XVII The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff 's early 20th century overall strategic The plan has been accused of being too rigid. Manuel de Landa, in War in the Age of Intelligent Machines (1991), showed how the Prussian army now favoured the Jominian theory, which gave preeminence to the Army and to its autonomy compared to the civilian control advocated by Clausewitz. Manuel DeLanda, (born 1952 in Mexico City) is a Writer, Artist and Philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975 War in the Age of Intelligent Machines (1991 is a book by Manuel de Landa that traces the History of warfare and of technology. Antoine-Henri baron Jomini ( March 6, 1779 &ndash March 24, 1869) General in the French and afterwards in the Russian An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and Political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (ˈklaʊzəvɪts ( July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier military historian Thus, centralization of decision was preferred over decentralization allowing local initiative.

To an extent, the General Staff became obsessed with perfecting the methods which had gained victory in the late nineteenth century. Although he maintained an icy formal demeanour, von Moltke the Elder had been a flexible and innovative thinker in many fields. Von Schlieffen by comparison was a single-minded and narrow military specialist. The Schlieffen Plan committed Germany to an early outright offensive against France while Russia was still mobilising, and also required an unprovoked invasion of neutral Belgium, to make it possible to rapidly surround and annihilate the French army. This article describes military mobilization For other meanings see Mobilization (disambiguation. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The rigidity of the plan, based around a minutely detailed mobilisation schedule and railway timetable, prevented any political moves which might have averted hostilities, as Kaiser William discovered on the eve of the war when he considered not invading France in order to avoid Great Britain joining Germany's enemies. Additionally, it failed to take adequate account of logistics and the inability of horse-drawn transport to supply troops far from railheads. ^[17]

The General Staff under von Schlieffen, and later von Moltke the younger, did not compensate for logistic flaws nor provide contingencies in case of the failure of their original plan to achieve quick success. Although superior German staff work at division, corps and army level throughout the First World War contributed to their continuous run of successes until very near the end of the war, the German nation collapsed under the strain. Thus the Prussian General Staff lost the war of attrition engaged against the Entente cordiale formed by France and the UK, in part due to logistics reasons. This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game Flag of the United Kingdomsvg|right|70px]] The Entente cordiale is a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom Logistics is the management of the flow of Goods, Information and other resources including Energy and people between the point of origin and the point Focusing exclusively on military aspects of the war, the General Staff ignored political needs, which were to be discovered during the war itself, for example with the women on the home-front. A consequence of wartime attrition was the premature deployment of War Academy students to army and corps general staffs, some before reaching their second year curriculum; later, standards for General Staff assignment were altered due to the War Academy closure to allow examined officers to serve on staff apprenticeships, raising concerns that these new General Staff Corps officers were not evaluated or trained at the level of those they were replacing. ^[18]

Between the Wars

When Germany was defeated in 1918, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles specifically forbade the creation or recreation of the General Staff. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. Despite this, the German officer corps carefully set about planning the next war in a camouflaged general staff hidden within the Truppenamt ("troop office"), an innocent-looking human-resources bureau within the small army permitted by the peace accord. The Truppenamt or 'Troop Office' was the cover organisation for the German General Staff from 1919 through until 1933 when the General Staff was re-created

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 all he had to do was to follow the Truppenamt-General Staff plan to build up the Nazi war machine. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German However, the General Staff advised Hitler that the German army would be fully modernised and ready in 1944–45 only. As a result most artillery pieces were still horse drawn at the outbreak of war in 1939. Also, for all the duration German industry could not furnish small arms in sufficient quantities, forcing the Army to rely heavily on older weapons, prizes of war, and adaptations of former designs produced in conquered countries, thus producing an arsenal filled with a stunning array of incompatible pieces, unlike the smaller number of standard small arms used by the Allies. Machine guns MG42 MG34 Submachine guns MP 18 I (World War I Bergmann The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers during the Second World War.

World War II

Main article: Oberkommando des Heeres

Main article: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

Towards the end of World War I, the General Staff had almost wholly usurped the political power of the state. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 For other uses of OKW see OKW (disambiguation. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW) ( English: "High Command In World War II by contrast, its influence was less at the start than it had been at the start of World War I and actually declined during the war.

In part this was due to the increasing pre-eminence of the other branches of the German armed forces, in particular of the Luftwaffe. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. The commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, Hitler's friend and political colleague Hermann Goering, always had personal influence with Hitler which no Army leader had. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Perhaps more important was the generally conservative political outlook of the Army's leaders, which was opposed to the Nazi party (and the unruly SA, the party's political militia). The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers While the General Staff welcomed Hitler's expansion of the army and his suppression of the SA, they were opposed to many of his wilder schemes and continually urged caution. Hitler curtailed the Army's traditional independence early, by the fortuitous disgrace of the commander in chief of the armed forces, Werner von Blomberg, and the false accusations of homosexuality against the commander in chief of the army, Werner von Fritsch. Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 - 14 March 1946 was a leading member of the German Army until January 1938 Werner Freiherr (Baron von Fritsch ( 4 August 1880 &ndash 22 September 1939) was a prominent Wehrmacht officer member of the (The combined scandals were known as the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair. The Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (also known as Blomberg-Fritsch-Krise or Blomberg-Fritsch crisis) were two related scandals in early 1938 that resulted in the subjugation )

The armed forces command structure was changed by Hitler, with an armed forces HQ (the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, usually contracted to OKW, placed over the army command Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH, and the other service commands. For other uses of OKW see OKW (disambiguation. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW) ( English: "High Command The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 While in theory a joint headquarters to coordinate the work of all the services was desirable, for example to determine industrial and manpower priorities and avoid duplication of effort, OKW was increasingly used as an alternate Army planning staff by Hitler. At the same time, OKW failed in its task of overseeing the overall war effort, resulting in wasteful diversion of resources by several competing and unregulated bodies responsible to themselves or Hitler alone.

While the traditional German staff administration and planning was to contribute greatly to the early German successes, many of these triumphs were presented as the result of Hitler's personal intervention and the initiative of comparatively junior officers who were opposed to the restraint of the General Staff.

After 1941, OKH was largely responsible for operations on the Eastern Front only (and administration of the army as a whole), while OKW directed operations on the other fronts. The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign As there were now effectively two general staffs, often competing with each other, arbitration of all disputes was in the hands of Hitler, further increasing his personal power.

Chiefs of the Prussian General Staff (1808–1871)

• Gerhard von Scharnhorst 1 March 1808–17 June 1810
• Karl von Hake 17 June 1810–March 1812
• Gustav von Rauch March 1812–March 1813
• Gerhard von Scharnhorst March 1813–28 June 1813
• August von Gneisenau 28 June 1813–3 June 1814
• Karl von Grolman 3 June 1814–November 1819
• Johann Rühle von Lilienstern November 1819–11 January 1821
• Karl von Müffling 11 January 1821–29 January 1829
• Wilhelm von Krauseneck 29 January 1829–13 May 1848
• Karl von Reyher 13 May 1848–7 October 1857
• Helmuth von Moltke (the elder) 7 October 1857–10 August 1888

Chiefs of the German General Staff (1871–1919)

• Helmuth Graf von Moltke 7 October 1857–10 August 1888
• Alfred Graf von Waldersee 10 August 1888–7 February 1891
• Alfred Graf von Schlieffen 7 February 1891–1 January 1906
• Helmuth von Moltke (the younger) 1 January 1906–14 September 1914
• Erich von Falkenhayn 14 September 1914–29 August 1916
• Paul von Hindenburg 29 August 1916–3 July 1919
• Wilhelm Groener 3 July 1919–7 July 1919
• Hans von Seeckt 7 July 1919–15 July 1919

Chiefs of Troop Office (1919–1933)

• Hans von Seeckt 11 October 1919–26 March 1920
• Wilhelm Heye 26 March 1920–February 1923
• Otto Hasse February 1923–October 1925
• Wilhelm Wetzell October 1925–27 January 1927
• Werner von Blomberg 27 January 1927–30 September 1929
• Baron Kurt von Hammerstein–Equord 30 September 1929–31 October 1930
• Wilhelm Adam 31 October 1930–30 September 1933

Chiefs of Staff of the Army High Command (OKH) (1933–1945)

• Ludwig Beck 1 October 1933–31 October 1938
• Franz Halder 1 September 1938–24 September 1942
• Kurt Zeitzler 24 September 1942–10 June 1944
• Adolf Heusinger 10 June 1944–21 July 1944
• Heinz Guderian 21 July 1944–28 March 1945
• Hans Krebs 1 April 1945–30 April 1945

Notes

Readings

• Addington, Larry H (1971). The blitzkrieg era and the German General Staff, 1865-1941. New Brunswick, N. J. : Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813507049.  
• Bucholz, Arden. Hans Delbrück and the German Military Establishment: War Images in Conflict. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1985.
• Bucholz, Arden. Moltke, Schlieffen and Prussian War Planning. New York: Berg, 1991
• de Landa, Manuel (1991). Manuel DeLanda, (born 1952 in Mexico City) is a Writer, Artist and Philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975 Manuel DeLanda, (born 1952 in Mexico City) is a Writer, Artist and Philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975 War in the Age of Intelligent Machines. War in the Age of Intelligent Machines (1991 is a book by Manuel de Landa that traces the History of warfare and of technology. New York: Zone Books. ISBN 0942299760.  
• Dupuy, Trevor N. (1977). A Genius for War: The German Army and General Staff, 1897-1945. London: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0133511146.   largely derivative in nature (Goerlitz and others) but easy reading
• Dyer, Gwynne (1985). War. Toronto: Stoddart. ISBN 0517556154.   (New York: Crown ISBN shown)
• Foley, Robert (2004). Alfred von Schlieffen's Military Writings. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0714649996.  
• Goerlitz, Walter (1959). History of the German General Staff, 1657-1945. New York: Praeger.  
• Goerlitz, Walter (1985). History of the German General Staff, 1657-1945. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 0813301955.  
• Howard, Michael (1961). The Franco-Prussian War. London: Routledge. ISBN 041502787X.  
• Hughes, Daniel J. , ed. Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1993.
• McElwee, William (1974). The Art of War: Waterloo to Mons. London: Purnell. ISBN 0253310750.  
• Mombauer, Annika. Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• Overy, Richard (1996). Why the Allies Won: Explaining Victory in World War II. Pimlico. ISBN 9780712674539.  
• Stoneman, Mark R. “Wilhelm Groener, Officering, and the Schlieffen Plan. ” PhD diss. , Georgetown University, 2006. abstract
• Van Creveld, Martin (1977). Supplying War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052121730X.  
• Wawro, Geoffrey. The Austro-Prussian War: Austria's War with Prussia and Italy in 1866. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

See also

• Glossary of WWII German military terms
• Staff (military)