Reichswehr

American  

[rahyks-vair, rahykhs-veyr] / ˈraɪks vɛər, ˈraɪxsˌveɪr /

noun

1. the 100,000-man army Germany was permitted to maintain under the Versailles Treaty after World War I: the limit was secretly exceeded.

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Etymology

Origin of Reichswehr

< German, equivalent to Reich realm, empire ( see Reich) + -s genitive ending + Wehr defense, weapon

Example Sentences

In 1922 he was called to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin, got his majority in 1925, his first regimental command in 1928.

From Time Magazine Archive

General Hans von Seeckt almost alone built the German Reichswehr up in the years following the Armistice into the most efficient small army in the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

He retired from the Reichswehr in 1930, went to China as Chiang Kai-shek's military adviser, became his good friend and stayed on to help him fight the Japanese even after Germany had formed the Axis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Standing shoulder to shoulder down the curbstones, they formed living cordons between which the snorting motor cars of Reichswehr officers and Nazi leaders raced.

From Time Magazine Archive

Volkheimer goes inside and returns with a colonel in field uniform: the Reichswehr coat and high belt and tall black boots.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr