ABSTRACT
At the conclusion of The Great War, the German Army was in disarray and reduced to a fraction of its former strength through the Versailles treaty restrictions imposed by the victorious allies in 1919. Germany was permitted only a 100,000 man army and only a 4,000 man officer corps, greatly reducing manpower and eliminating its ability to defend the country’s borders. The restrictions also forbade possession of heavy artillery, poison gas, any form of air power, and heavy armor, as well as the industries to make them. The General Staff system was abolished, although it was deftly reconstituted in a reorganized entity named the Truppenamt which retained the same spirit, status, and many of the functions as the old General Staff, as which it was often referred during the Versailles period. Furthermore, the German economy was in ruins, insuring that besides the treaty restrictions the Army would have minimal funding. To insure that the Allies’ goal of handicapping Germany’s military potential succeeded, the Inter-Allied Control Commission was established to monitor the German military’s compliance with the treaty restrictions.
