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Imperial German Army

The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (German: Deutsches Heer[7]), 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 (1914–1918). In the Federal Republic of Germany, the term Deutsches Heer refers to the German Army, the land component of the Bundeswehr.

German Army

Gott mit uns[5]

16 April 1871 (16 April 1871)[2]

6 March 1919 (6 March 1919)[3]

Großes Hauptquartier (locations vary)[a] 50°41′56″N 7°02′29″E / 50.6990°N 7.0415°E / 50.6990; 7.0415

German Emperor

General Staff

Moltke the Elder (first)
Hans von Seeckt (last)

17–45

2–3 years; compulsory service

Steady 500,000 (1871)

13,250,000+ (total served; 1914–18)

US$45 billion (total; 1914–18)[6]
(US$1.3 trillion in 2022)

Germany during World War I

Ranks of the Imperial German military

(7 October 1857 – 10 August 1888)

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(10 August 1888 – 7 February 1891)

Alfred von Waldersee

(7 February 1891 – 1 January 1906)

Alfred von Schlieffen

(1 January 1906 – 14 September 1914)

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

(14 September 1914 – 29 August 1916)

Erich von Falkenhayn

(29 August 1916 – 3 July 1919)

Paul von Hindenburg

(3–7 July 1919)

Wilhelm Groener

(7–15 July 1919)

Hans von Seeckt

I Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 8th Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Danzig

II Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 3rd Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Berlin

III Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 2nd Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Hannover

IV Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 6th Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Munich

V Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 7th Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Karlsruhe

VI Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 4th Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Stuttgart

VII Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in Berlin, became the on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

5th Army

VIII Army Inspectorate: Headquartered in , became the 1st Army on mobilisation (2 August 1914)

Saarbrücken

Industrial base[edit]

The German Empire accounted for 12% of global industrial output in 1914, making it the largest industrial base in Continental Europe, and behind only Great Britain (18%) and the United States (22%) worldwide. The army closely cooperated with industry, especially in the Great War, with particular focus on the very rapidly changing aircraft industry. The army set prices and labour exemptions, regulated the supply of credit and raw materials, limited patent rights so as to allow cross-licensing among firms, and supervised management–labour relationships. The result was very rapid expansion and a high output of high-quality aircraft, as well as high wages that attracted the best machinists. Apart from aircraft, the army's regulation of the rest of the war economy was largely inefficient.[23]

Air Force[edit]

The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte, known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches (The Air Corps of the German Empire),[24] was the over-land air arm of the German Army during World War I. Although its name actually means something very close to the "Air Forces", it remained an integral part of the German Army for the duration of the war. The Kaiserliche Marine of the German Empire had their own, separate Marine-Fliegerabteilung maritime aviation forces, apart from the Luftstreitkräfte of the army.

Dissolution[edit]

The Imperial Army was abolished on 6 March 1919, and the provisional Reichswehr was created.[29]

(novel set in World War I about German Army comrades)

All Quiet on the Western Front

Bavarian Army

German Army

German Army order of battle (1914)

German Army order of battle, Western Front (1918)

German General Staff

Oberste Heeresleitung

Prussian Army

Reichswehr

Schutztruppe

Wehrmacht

Bunkley, Joel William (1918). (2nd ed.). New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.

Military And Naval Recognition Book: A Handbook On The Organization, Uniforms And Insignia Of Rank Of The World's Armed Forces

Lucas, Andrew; Schmieschek, Jürgen (30 April 2015). . Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-4778-1.

Fighting the Kaiser's War: The Saxons in Flanders, 1914/1918

Williams, Dion (1918). . Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. pp. 216–292. Retrieved 5 July 2022.

"XI: Uniforms and Insignia of Foreign Armies and Navies"

Brose, Eric Dorn. (Oxford University Press, 2004)

The Kaiser's Army: The Politics of Military Technology in Germany during the Machine Age, 1870–1918

The German way of war: from the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich (University Press of Kansas, 2005)

Citino, Robert M.

Clemente, Steven E. (1992) .

For King and Kaiser! The Making of the Prussian Army Officer, 1860–1914

Coetzee, Marilyn Shevin. The German Army League: Popular Nationalism in Wilhelmine Germany (Oxford University Press, 1990)

Craig, Gordon A. The Politics of the Prussian Army, 1640–1945 (Oxford University Press, 1964)

Demeter, K. The German Officer Corps in Society and State 1650–1945 (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965)

Feldman, Gerald. Army, Industry and Labour in Germany, 1914–1918 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014)

Foley, Robert T. . RUSI Journal 147.2 (2002): 84–90.

"Institutionalized Innovation: The German Army and the Changing Nature of War 1871–1914"

Herrera, Geoffrey L. "Inventing the Railroad and Rifle Revolution: Information, Military Innovation and the Rise of Germany." (2004) 27#2 pp: 243–271. online

Journal of Strategic Studies

Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany (Cornell University Press, 2004)

Hull, Isabel V.

Jackman, Steven D. . Journal of Military History 68.1 (2004): 73–104.* Kitchen, Martin. A Military History of Germany: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day (Indiana University Press, 1975)

"Shoulder to Shoulder: Close Control and Old Prussian Drill in German Offensive Infantry Tactics, 1871–1914"

Kitchen, Martin. The German Officer Corps (Oxford UP, 1968)

Mitchell, Allan. The great train race: railways and the Franco-German rivalry, 1815–1914 (, 2000)

Berghahn Books

Murphy, Patrick. [ "The Effect of Industrialization and Technology on Warfare: 1854–1878". (2006)

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/general/articles/effectofindustrialization.aspx

Muth, Jörg. Command Culture: Officer Education in the US Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901–1940, and the Consequences for World War II (University of North Texas Press, 2011)

Showalter, Dennis. "From Deterrence to Doomsday Machine: The German Way of War, 1890–1914." Journal of Military History (2000) 64#3 pp: 679–710.  120865.

JSTOR

Showalter, Dennis E. Railroads and rifles: soldiers, technology, and the unification of Germany (Archon Books, 1975)

Showalter, Dennis E. "Army and Society in Imperial Germany: The Pains of Modernization." Journal of Contemporary History (1983): 583–618.  260305.

JSTOR

Stevenson, David. "Fortifications and the European Military Balance before 1914." Journal of Strategic Studies (2012) 35#6 pp: 829–859.

Stone, James. The war scare of 1875: Bismarck and Europe in the mid-1870s (Steiner, 2010)

Stone, James. "Spies and diplomats in Bismarck's Germany: collaboration between military intelligence and the Foreign Office, 1871–1881". Journal of Intelligence History (2014) 13#1 pp: 22–40.

– video on YouTube

WWI German Army Artillery & Infantry Attack Reenactment