ABSTRACT
By the end of World War I, it was clear to the victorious allies and even the German military that the German army was, after all, vincible. In direct evidence of allied respect and even awe for German military professionalism, the peace provisions systematically disarmed the Reich with such effect that the new republic’s 100,000-man cadre was hard-pressed to deal even with domestic insurrection. The aftermath of Vietnam has only increased their reputation in America, though not the Federal Republic. Recent strategic revisionists have discovered German military examples with a warmth recalling the enthusiasm of Enlightenment philosophers for China and Iran. The German experience suggests that long before nuclear weapons, the classical calculus no longer worked. The Germans started World War II because, ironically, they were unprepared for it after thinking for 20 years about little else.
