The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force).
Following Germany’s defeat in the First World War, the country was relegated by the Versailles treaty to a limited army of only 100,000, one barely sufficient for home defense. The Reichswehr, formed under the newly formed Weimar Republic was the precursor to the Wehrmacht. After the Nazi Revolution, one of Hitler’s most overt and audacious moves was to establish a mighty fighting force (the Wehrmacht), a modern armed forces fully capable of offensive use. Fulfilling the Nazi regime’s long-term goals of regaining lost territory and dominating its neighbors required massive investment and spending on the armaments industry, as well as military conscription to expand Hitler’s fighting machine. In December 1941, Hitler designated himself as commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht.
At the height of their success in 1942, the Nazis dominated more than 3,898,000 square kilometers of territory, an accomplishment made possible by the combined German forces firmly securing conquered territory. Working hand-in-hand at times with the SS, soldiers on the front (especially during the Eastern campaign) sometimes participated in war atrocities, despite later claims otherwise.
By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, the Wehrmacht had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, of which about half were killed in action. Only a few of the Wehrmacht’s upper leadership were tried for war crimes, although the evidence suggests that more were involved in illegal actions. More or less having ceased to exist by September 1945, the Wehrmacht was officially dissolved by ACC Law 34 on 20 August 1946.
