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

Those were the days when the Reichswehr maneuvered with the "defensive" weapons allowed them by Versailles, "but everybody knows they've got the rest�tanks, heavy artillery and probably airplanes."

From Time Magazine Archive

At the time his chance of becoming a tank expert was slim; tanks were forbidden to the Reichswehr.

From Time Magazine Archive

Almost nobody listened except the Germans, who applied his teachings in the development of the streamlined Reichswehr and later the mighty Wehrmacht.

From Time Magazine Archive

It looked dangerously like the Reichswehr, which Hitler had built into the Wehrmacht.

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