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University Microfilms international 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR 7617913 ROBERTSON, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, JR. OFFICER s e l e c t i o n IN THE REICHSWEMR, 1918,1926, THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA, PH.D., 1978 Universitv M icrdnlm s International 300 n, zeeb road, ann a rb o r, mi 4 8 ioe THE UNIVERSIIT OF OKLAHOMA. GRADUATE COLLEGE OFFICER SELECTION IN THE REICHSWEHR, 1918-1926 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY WILLIAM ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, JR. Norman, Oklahoma 1978 OFFICER SELECTION IN THE REICHSWEHR., 1918-1926 APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COÎMITÏEE PLEASE NOTE: Some appendix pages have broken, blurred and indistinct print. Filmed in the best possible way. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS INTERNATIONAL. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people assisted in either the research or writing phases of this paper. In the former were the employees of the Bayerische Hauptstaatarchiv Mhnchen, Hauptstaatarchiv Stuttgart and the Bundes- archiv/Militararchiv Freiburg im Breisgau. A special word of apprecia­ tion goes to the Inter-Library Loan staff at The University of Oklahoma who managed to locate and obtain numerous little-known or older books pertaining to my subject. Dr. Gordon Drummond, my dissertation director, gave his time andassistance to the project in an exemplary manner. Without his efforts, this endeavor could have never been completed. In addition. Dr. Gary Cohen, Dr. Robert Nye and Dr. Dougald Calhoun read the manuscript and contributed valuable suggestions toward improving the final product. iii DEDICATION For Karen IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................ iii ABBREVIATIONS AND GERMAN TITLES .......................... vi INTRODUCTION............................................ 1 Chapter I. THE PRUSSIAN ARMY............................... 8 II. THE IMPERIAL ARMY......................... • • • 45 III. THE NOVEMBER REVOLUTION........................ 73 IV. THE DEMOBILIZATION STAGE, JANUARY 1919 TO JUNE 1919..................... 121 V. THE SCREENING AND FORCED REDUCTION STATE: JUNE 1919 - MARCH 1920 ....................... 166 VI. THE CONFLICTS RESOLVED........... ............. 211 CONCLUSIONS............................................ 261 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.................................... 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY................. 275 Appendix A. OFFICER EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS................. 289 B. OFFICER CANDIDATE INTRODUCTION COURSE........... 292 C. PARTICULARISM - BADEN........................... 295 D. OFFICER SELECTION QUALIFICATIONS ............... 293 E. COMMAND STRUCTURE - 1923 ............... 306 F. VOR= AND NACHPRÜFUNGEN .................. 307 G. WEHRKREISPRÜFUNGEN ..................... 316 H. KEHRKREISPRUFUNG PHYSICAL EXAMINATION........... 319 I. INFANTRY OFFICER CANDIDATE TESTS 325 V ABBREVIATIONS AND GERMAN TITLES Abe. - Abteilung(en) - division, section A. H. Qu.- Armee Haupt-Quartier - Army (field) Headquarters A. K. - Armee Korps - Army Corps Akt. - Akten - document BA/MA - Bundesarchiv/Militararchiv - Federal military archives, Freiburg im Breisgau BHA - Bayerische Hauptstaatarchiv - Bavarian Central State Archives - Munich Band - volume Betr. - Betreff - subject, reference Feldw. Lt. - Feldwebel-Leutnant - Sergeant-Lieutenant Fwks. - Feuerwerke - Ordnance GLAK - Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe - General State Archive Karlsruhe Gr. Kdo. - Gruppenkommand - Group Command H. V. Bl. - Heeresverordnungsblatter - Army Ordinance (Regulations) Gazette MKR - Minis te rium des Kreiges - War Ministry Min. mil. Ang. - Ministeriun fiir militarische Angelegenheiten - Ministry of Military Affairs Nachlass - memoirs, collected personal papers Offz, stellv. Offizierstellvetreter - Deputy officer P, Pers. - Personal - Personnel vi PA - Personalamt - Personnel Office RH - Rexchsheer - Federal (National) Army Stuck - part - as a division in a document series TA - Truppenamt - Troop Office WK - Wehrkreis - recruiting district Note: Arabic numbers, Roman numbers, and letters indicate the origin of a document from a specific office or department. vxx OFFICER SELECTION IN THE REICHSIJEHR, 1918-1926 INTRODUCTION Few institutions have exerted greater influence on a society and culture than the military in Germany. As leaders of the army, the officer corps held an unequalled position in the nation. The officer corps determined its own rule in the state, and to a great extent affected the milieu within which it functioned. Officer selection was, therefore, a vital concern to both the military and to the civilian governments of the Weimar period.^ To the civilians, it was the key to the democratiza­ tion of the army; to the military, the selection process was a means with with to maintain their power and privileges in society. Ultimately, the military triumphed and retained an ideological homogeneity in the corps based upon conseri'atism and the traditions of the past. Because of its continued importance in German society, the officer corps of the Reichs- wehr has been of particular interest to many historians. Indeed, many scholars have pointed to the role of the army in the do'.mfall of the Weimar Republic and have connected the demise of democracy in Germany with the selection of officers whose attitudes were hostile to a liberal parliamentary governmental system. The interaction between the military and the civil government in Germany has been thoroughly investigated. Among the better known works detailing the political relations between the army and Weimar 1 2 governments are H. J. Gordon, The Reichswehr and the German Republic, 1919-1926, F. L. Carsten. The Reichswehr and Politics, Gordon Craig, The Politics of the Prussian Army, 1640-1945, and John Wheeler-Bennett, The Nemesis of Power. In dealing with officer selection in the Reichs­ wehr, these authors all agreed that the selection process produced highly efficient leaders with regard to technical military matters; that the majority of officers hated the Republic; and, as F. L. Carsten vjrote, that "the officer corps in its old form and with its old methods of 2 selection . survived the crisis of revolution." Since officer selection was a secondary concern to the primarily political interests of these studies, it consequently received insufficient attention. Because of the attention devoted to political relations, other significant problems related to officer selection have lacked adequate analysis. In particular, prior studies have failed to examine the con­ tinuity in the attitudes and values of the officer corps from the past and failed to clarify what the highest military leaders, principally Hans von Seeckt and Walther Reinhardt, wanted for the army and the nation. In addition, the possibility of significant change in the officer selec­ tion system of the Reichswehr received scant consideration, although the contemporary suggestion of change caused grave disturbances throughout the leadership of the corps. Lastly, the political studies failed to demonstrate the effects that officer selection had in shaping the char­ acter of the Reichswehr in spite of the agreement that the attitude of the army had a distinct bearing on the demise of the Weimar Republic. Tlie Purposes and Objectives of This Study The primary purpose of this study is to describe in detail how Reichswehr officers were selected during the 1918-1926 period. Corollary objectives were to determine who was responsible for the formulation of selection policies, and to clarify to what extent the procedures were instrumental in