The history of the Reichswehr is a new focus of research at the Bundeswehr Centre of Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBw). In June 2022, a first workshop identified desiderata and starting points for future research in the history of the armed forces of the first German republic. ZMSBw is now organising a follow-up workshop on the Reichswehr and Technology.
Both, the increase in numbers as well as the rising significance of technology became hallmarks in the history of armed forces during the late 19th Century. With the Great War the mechanisation of organized violence took hold. Machine guns, artillery, aircraft, and tanks became symbols for the impact of military technology in modern warfare. The war at sea was dominated by capital ships and submarines. Railways and motor vehicles moved and supplied the mass armies. Telegraphy, radio, and telephony set the stage for new dimensions of warfare. They also set the stage for communication during and on the war. After World War One, all military experts agreed: a future war would be a highly technological conflict.
For the Reichswehr however, this outlook meant a serious challenge. The provisions of the Treaty of Versailles not only set numerical restrictions for the army and the navy. They also severely restricted the military in terms of material, i.e., technical armament. In addition to the ban on an air force, the Reichswehr was prohibited from manufacturing and owning armoured combat vehicles, heavy artillery, capital ships and submarines. Modern means of communication and target acquisition were also subject to restrictions. Thus, from 1919 onwards, the issue of (material) armament became an argument within the bigger debate on state sovereignty.
As a result, the German armed forces found themselves in a conflict between the limitations of armament on the one hand and the access to modern technology on the other. However, from the very beginning the Reichswehr leadership was determined not to lose touch with technological innovation. To this end, it kept a close eye on international developments and it also initiated clandestine research and development projects. When the Treaty of Versailles was formally revoked in 1933, Germany was hardly inferior to the other European states in terms of military technology. The material armament of the Wehrmacht between 1935 and 1939 is inconceivable without the preparatory work laidout during the Weimar Republic.
Armament as a national policy reaches out into economics, technology, and the military, and therefore demands a multi-perspective approach. The workshop encourages scholars to test new approaches in the history of armament with a particular focus on the Reichswehr. Potential approaches are the histories of science and media, political or corporate history, and the history of technology: "The history of technology", says historian David Edgerton, "can help us rethink history". This also applies to military history in particular. History of technology is not to be understood here as the perspective of the historically interested engineer, but explores the boundaries between the military, politics, science, and the economy. It strives to overcome orthodox deterministic approaches and emphasises the influence of social context, social actors, strategies of substitution, and contingencies. Here, technology appears as the result of negotiation processes between social groups.
So far, individual studies on weapons systems, secret armament projects, the relationship between the state, the military, and the industry as well as on the socialisation of military research (Wehrwissenschaften) are available for the Weimar Republic. However, a comprehensive assessment on the Reichswehr and Technology does not exist to date. A 2021 ZMSBw-workshop on Knowledge on Technology and Techniques of Knowledge in the German military already pointed out the necessity of considering the relationship between producers, mediators, and users of technology, the role of military academies, of military and science journals, and technical war experiences. The objective for the upcoming workshop will also be to question existing narratives and to place the Reichswehr in the larger context of technology in interwar Germany. Possible questions are:
- What lessons did the First World War offer for the Reichswehr in the field of military technology? To what extent did time and space as military factors and the images of future war change through technology?
- What role did technology play in international arms control negotiations? What efforts were made to measure technical parameters ("war potential")?
- Did the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles unintentionally instigate technical developments or unorthodox operational practice?
- What were the themes and the character of the military discourse on technology in Germany between 1918 and 1935 and who were its actors?
- What role did military technology play in the organisation and the command-and-control process of the Reichswehr? Where and how did technical limitations affect military practice? In what way were technology and tactics mutually dependent?
- What was the level of technological development in the Reichswehr in relation to German society as a whole?
- What role did military technology play in the demobilised economy and the scientific communities after 1918? How did networks between the Reichswehr, industry, research institutes, and universities develop?
The workshop will take place on 24 and 25 May 2023 at the Bundeswehr Centre for Military History and Social Sciences in Potsdam. The conference languages are German and English. We invite to submit a short proposal (max. 500 words) and bio-bibliographical information for a 20-minutes presentation by 1 February 2023. Panel proposals are also possible.
In order to improve the discussion, thesis papers will be requested in advance of the events.
The organisers will cover costs for travel and accommodation in accordance to the Federal Travel Allowances Act (Bundesreisekostengesetz).