Nazism and the Wehrmacht
The relationship between the Wehrmacht (from 1935 to 1945 the regular combined armed forces of Nazi Germany) and the Nazi Party which ruled Germany has been the subject of an extensive historiographical debate. After the Nazis came to power, they sought to control all aspects of civil society and the state, including the military. Historically, the German armed forces had operated with a great deal of autonomy, which was steadily eroded until they were under the direct control of the Nazis. Following the war, many former Nazis denied and downplayed the extensive war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht and its complicity in the Holocaust. This is referred to as the myth of the clean Wehrmacht. Politics of the Wehrmacht The German military had traditionally functioned as a "state within a state", with a very large amount of institutional autonomy. Thus Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had been forbidden to attend meetings of the Supreme Council of War because as it was insultingly phrased "Lest this civilian might betray the secrets of the State". In the First World War, the military began to complain more and more that both the Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg and the Emperor Wilhelm II were grossly incompetent, and needed to step aside in order to allow the military to win the war. In March–April 1915, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz stated that the only thing that was keeping Germany from winning the war was the poor leadership of the Chancellor and the Emperor. His solution was a plan in which Bethmann Hollweg would be sacked and the office of Chancellor abolished; the Kaiser would "temporarily" abdicate; and Field Marshal Hindenburg be given the new office of "Dictator of the Reich", concentrating all political and military power into his hands in order to win the war. Though the Tirpitz plan was not implemented, the very fact it was mooted showed the extent of military dissatisfaction with the existing leadership, and the strength of the "state within the state" in that Tirpitz was not punished despite having essentially called for deposing the Kaiser. In August 1916, Germany became a de facto military dictatorship under the duumvirate of Field Marshal Hindenburg and General Ludendorff, who ruled Germany until 1918. During the rule of the "silent dictatorship" of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the German government advocated a set of imperialist war aims calling for the annexation of most of Europe and Africa that in many ways were a prototype for the war aims of the Second World War. Aftermath of World War I In October 1918, in order to avoid responsibility for losing the First World War, the military returned power to the civilians and transformed Germany into a democracy, largely because the Allies made it clear that they would never sign an armistice with the Hindenburg-Ludendorff duumvirate. After the November Revolution of 1918, there were demands for the dissolution of the military that had led to such a defeat, but on December 23, 1918, the Provisional government under Friedrich Ebert came