The Oberkommando des Heeres was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was de facto the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at Moscow in December 1941.
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ; High Command of the Armed Forces) was the supreme military command and control office of Nazi Germany during World War II. Created in 1938, the OKW replaced the Reich War Ministry and had oversight over the individual high commands of the country's armed forces: the army, navy, and air force.
The Kapp Putsch, also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch, was an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo the German Revolution of 1918–1919, overthrow the Weimar Republic, and establish an autocratic government in its place. It was supported by parts of the Reichswehr, as well as nationalist and monarchist factions.
Reichswehr was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the rebuilt German army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name 'Reichswehr' until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of the "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new Wehrmacht.
Otto Karl Gessler was a liberal German politician during the Weimar Republic. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of Regensburg and from 1913 to 1919 mayor of Nuremberg. He served in numerous Weimar cabinets, most notably as Reichswehrminister from 1920 to 1928.
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener was a German general and politician. His organisational and logistical abilities resulted in a successful military career before and during World War I.
The Oberkommando der Marine was the high command and the highest administrative and command authority of the Kriegsmarine. It was officially formed from the Marineleitung of the Reichswehr on 11 January 1936. In 1937 it was combined with the newly formed Seekriegsleitung (SKL). There were two major re-organisations, in November 1939 and May 1944.
Thomas Ludwig Werner Freiherr von Fritsch was a member of the German High Command. He was Commander-in-Chief of the German Army from February 1934 until February 1938, when he was forced to resign after he was falsely accused of being homosexual. His ousting was a major step in Adolf Hitler's establishment of tighter control over the armed forces. Just over a year later, before the outbreak of World War II, Fritsch was recalled as Colonel-in-chief of the 12th Artillery Regiment. He died in battle in Poland early in the war; he was the second German general to perish in that conflict.
The Federal Ministry of Defence, abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at the Hardthöhe district in Bonn and has a second office in the Bendlerblock building in Berlin, which is occasionally used colloquially to denote the entire Ministry.
Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and West Germany. He joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 and later became a professional soldier. He served as the Operations Chief within the general staff of the High Command of the German Army in the Wehrmacht from 1938 to 1944. He was then appointed acting Chief of the General Staff for two weeks in 1944 following Kurt Zeitzler's resignation. That year, Heusinger was accused of involvement in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but was cleared by the People's Court.
The Bendlerblock is a building complex in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Germany, located on Stauffenbergstraße. Erected in 1914 as headquarters of several Imperial German Navy offices, it served the Ministry of the Reichswehr after World War I. Significantly enlarged under Nazi rule, it was used by several departments of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) from 1938, especially the Oberkommando des Heeres and the Abwehr intelligence agency.
Walther Karl Friedrich Ernst Emil Freiherr von Lüttwitz was a German general who fought in World War I. Lüttwitz is best known for being the driving force behind the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch of 1920 which attempted to replace the democratic government of the Weimar Republic with a military dictatorship.
Walter Scherff was a German army officer and military historian with the rank of Generalmajor, who was appointed by Adolf Hitler to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in May 1942 to compile the history of the war, as the Führer's Commissioner for the Writing of Military History.
The Ministry of War was a ministry for military affairs of the Kingdom of Bavaria, founded as Ministerium des Kriegswesens on October 1, 1808 by King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. It was located on the Ludwigstraße in Munich. Today the building, which was built by Leo von Klenze between 1824 and 1830, houses the Bavarian public record office, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv und Staatsarchiv München.
The Imperial Naval Office was a government agency of the German Empire. It was established in April 1889, when the German Imperial Admiralty was abolished and its duties divided among three new entities: the Imperial Naval High Command, the Imperial Naval Cabinet and the Imperial Naval Office performing the functions of a ministry for the Imperial German Navy.
Walther Gustav Reinhardt was a German officer who served as the last Prussian Minister of War and the first head of the army command within the newly created Ministry of the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. During the Kapp Putsch of 1920, Reinhardt remained loyal to the elected government and was one of the few senior officers of the Reichswehr willing to order troops to fire at the revolting units.
August Wilhelm Heye was a German officer who rose to the rank of Generaloberst and became head of the Army Command within the Ministry of the Reichswehr in the Weimar Republic. One of his sons was admiral Hellmuth Heye.
Richard Koll was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the 1st Panzer Division. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
Alfred Gause was a German general during World War II.
Friedrich Gempp was a German army officer, who ultimately attained the rank of Major-General. He is credited as the founder and 1st Chief of the Intelligence Service of the Reichswehr in the Weimar Republic.
