Hans von Seeckt
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Hans von Seeckt (22 April 1866 - 27 December 1936) was a German military officer.
Born in Schleswig, he entered the army in 1885 and was seconded to the General Staff in 1899. During World War I Seeckt served in various high-level staff positions on the Eastern Front, including Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen while the latter commanded the Eleventh Army. After the end of the war and the dissolution of the old imperial army it fell to Seeckt to organize the new Reichswehr and a replacement General Staff (which was named the Truppenamt - Troop Office). He is also known for his hostile attitude towards newly recreated Polish state, and for seeking an alliance with then bolshevik Russia against Poland. After hearing encouraging signs from the newly established War Commissar's Office of Leon Trotsky, Seeckt sent out a secret staff to conduct a military alliance with the Soviets, unbeknownst to the Weimar Government. Many of the terrifying weapons that the Nazis used later in World War II, such as the Stuka dive bomber were developed from this arrangement.
Seeckt's role during the Kapp Putsch of 1920 remains uncertain; he refused to either actively put down the rebellion or co-operate with it. His remark to the leaders of the republic, that "Reichswehr do not fire on Reichswehr", was and is controversial. In working to build a non-political professional army within and without the confines of the Treaty of Versailles Seeckt perpetuated the concept of the army as a state-within-a-state. He was eventually forced out in 1926 after permitting a son of the former Kaiser to attend army maneuvers without first seeking government approval.
From 1930 to 1932 he sat in the Reichstag as a member of the DVP; from 1934 to 1935 he served as an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.
Quotes
- "Poland’s existence is intolerable and incompatible with the essential conditions of Germany’s life. Poland must go and will go - as a result of her own internal weaknesses and of action by Russia - with our aid [...] The obliteration of Poland must be one of the fundamental drives of German policy [...] (and) is attainable by means of, and with the help of, Russia."
- "The Weimar Constitution... ran counter to my political thinking... [however], I have... held it to be my duty to make the [military]... support... the empire... [and not any] particular government... It has been my endeavor... to keep the Reichswehr aloof from all... politics."
- "Reichswehr does not shoot on Reichswehr."
- "The sword must be kept sharp." Seeckt's first order of the day to the new Reichswehr in 1921.
See also
Further reading
- Craig, Gordon. The Politics of the Prussian Army 1640-1945. Oxford University Press, 1964.
- Corum, James. The Roots of Blitzkrieg. University Press of Kansas, 1992.
- Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, 2005.
- The American Heritage Picture History of World War II Volume One. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1966
Template:Start box Template:Succession box Template:End boxde:Hans von Seeckt ja:ハンス・フォン・ゼークト nl:Hans von Seeckt zh:汉斯·冯·塞克特