19th century From the
Unification of Germany in 1871 until the end of
World War I, the
German Empire did not have a national
Ministry of War. Rather, the larger German states (such as the kingdoms of
Prussia,
Bavaria,
Saxony and
Württemberg), insisting on their autonomy, each had their own war ministry. According to the military agreements the Prussian minister-president
Otto von Bismarck had forged with the South German states on the eve of the
Franco-Prussian War, the major states were also responsible for the defence of the smaller states. However, the
Imperial Navy from 1889 was overseen by a federal department, the
Imperial Naval Office.
Weimar and Nazi Germany After the war and the
German Revolution of 1918–19, the
Weimar Constitution provided for a unified, national ministry of defence, which was created largely from the
Prussian Ministry of War and the Imperial Naval Office. The
Ministry of the Reichswehr was established in October 1919, and had its seat in the
Bendlerblock building. In the context of the
Treaty of Versailles and the "Law for the Creation of a provisional
Reichswehr" of March 1919, the Reichspräsident became the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, whilst the Reich Minister of Defence exercised military authority. Only in the
Free State of Prussia did military authority remain with the State Minister of War. After the Weimar Constitution came into force, the remaining war ministries in the states of Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg and Prussia were abolished and military authority was concentrated in the
Reich Minister of Defence. Command was exercised respectively by the Chief of the
Heeresleitung (Army Command) and the Chief of the
Marineleitung (Navy Command, see
Reichsmarine). In 1929 a third office was established: the Ministerial Office, whose Chief functioned as the political representative of the Minister. The role of the General Staff was filled by the
Truppenamt. The
Social Democratic politician
Gustav Noske became the first Minister of Defence of Germany. After the Nazi
Machtergreifung, when the
Reichswehr was recreated as the
Wehrmacht in 1935, the ministry was renamed
Reichskriegsministerium (Reich Ministry of War); also, the
Heeresleitung became the
Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), the
Marineleitung became the
Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) and the
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) was newly created. The
Ministeramt (Ministerial Office) was renamed the
Wehrmachtsamt. In 1938, following the
Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, Hitler himself exercised the functions of the Reich War Minister. The
Wehrmachtsamt was turned into the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW; High Command of the Armed Forces), which formally existed until the end of
World War II. The High Command was not a government ministry, but a military command, however.
Post-WW2 After World War II,
West Germany started with preparations for rearmament (
Wiederbewaffnung) in 1950, as ordered by Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer. After the outbreak of the
Korean War, the
United States called for a West German contribution to the defence of Western Europe (against the
Soviet Union). Initially
Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, a former Wehrmacht General, advised the Chancellor on these issues and led the preparations, but after Count Schwerin had talked to the press about his work, he was replaced by
Theodor Blank, who was appointed as "Special Representative" of the Chancellor. As the rearmament plans met with harsh opposition by a wide circle within the West German population and contradicted the
occupation statute, the government office responsible for the rearmament acted secretly, unofficially known as
Amt Blank. By 1955, the number of employees had surpassed 1,300. On 7 June 1955 the office became the Ministry of Defence, or
Bundesministerium für Verteidigung in German. The
Bundeswehr was established and Germany joined the
NATO the same year. In 1956, Germany reintroduced
conscription, and the German military force quickly became the largest conventional military force in Western Europe. To confirm the ministry's importance, it was renamed
Bundesministerium der Verteidigung on 30 December 1961, similar to the German names of the "classic" ministries of
Finance,
the Interior and
Justice — though the federal minister is still denoted as
Bundesminister für Verteidigung in Article 65a of the German Constitution. Until 1960, the ministry had its seat in the Ermekeil barracks in Bonn. From 1960 onwards, it was moved to a new building complex at Hardthöhe.
Post-reunification After
German reunification, the Bendlerblock, former seat of its Weimar Republic predecessor, became the secondary seat of the ministry in 1993. The German military has become increasingly engaged in international operations since the early 1990s, and saw combat in the 1999
Kosovo War.
21st century ,
TAAC – North,
TAAC – South,
TAAC – East,
TAAC – West Until the
Fall of Kabul in August 2021, Germany deployed for nearly 20 years its armed forces in
Afghanistan as part of the
International Security Assistance Force (2001-2015) and later the
Resolute Support Mission (2015-2021).
German forces withdrew on 29 June. ==List of Federal Ministers of Defence (since 1955)==