People's Army

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Under militia armed organizations such as are generally organized military, militia or vigilante understood that - as the name expresses - are under the sovereignty of the people.

The idea of ​​the people's military in the March Revolution of 1848

During the March Revolution of 1848 demands were made for general conscription, people's arming, local people's military with free choice of leaders and regional military schools. The idea of ​​the people's armed forces has its roots in the French Revolution , when the National Guard was increased with vigilante groups if necessary (→ Levée en masse ).

The people's armed forces essentially corresponded to the form of organization developed during the March Revolution. Several corresponding drafts of the people's armed forces were submitted to the Frankfurt National Assembly and the Prussian National Assembly , including the Waldeck Charte of July 26, 1848 and the draft of a defense law based on the community order of August 10, 1848 .

The demand for a people's armed forces was based on the state's understanding of popular sovereignty . She submitted to the labor movement , but occasionally appeared in the military.

Between November 1848 and February 1849 there were therefore more than 300 military court cases . In Pillau , four officers were sentenced to three years in a fortress because they had signed an application to the National Assembly. One of the best-known officers who stood up for the people's armed forces was Wilhelm Riistow . At the urging of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , On August 6, 1850, he was finally sentenced in absentia to 31.5 years of imprisonment. In his book The German Military State Before and During the Revolution , published in December 1849, Rustow underpins the idea of ​​a people's armed forces, which he was able to implement in the Swiss army with others, including Emil Rothpletz, while in exile in Switzerland .

In Germany and Austria, the idea of ​​the people's armed forces was vehemently opposed and persecuted by monarchs and senior military officials, and necessary army reforms were dragged off for fear of them. After all, the military was one of the royal rights that one did not want to relinquish to the people.

This only became possible after the First World War . In a democratic republic, the people are the sovereign and not a king or any dynasty. Therefore, the people of the state themselves have to decide about their army, as has been the case in Switzerland for centuries.

The people's armed forces therefore only reappeared at the end of the First World War as part of the November Revolution and the Munich Soviet Republic , when monarchical power no longer had any influence on the losers, but only for a short time. Initially, the victorious powers feared a huge increase in the military potential of the losers through the armament of the people and therefore wanted from the outset to remove the basis of an obvious war of revenge.

Then it was fascism, which in the example of Spain ( Franquism ) saw itself as a placeholder for the monarchical systems and therefore claimed the power of disposal over the army for itself and its leaders. In the case of Francisco Franco or the Führer's oath on Adolf Hitler , the soldiers were sworn in personally . With the democratic-republican sovereignty of the people there can obviously be no personal oath, but a pledge to the republic, as is also the case in Austria today.

Since, however, colloquial language is often still used in democratic-republican states to swear in soldiers, the differences between the oath on a person and a pledge on a state institution such as the Republic of Austria are still largely unknown.

So Hitler should never have bound the new Wehrmacht to himself by a personal oath. Constitutionally, a pledge to the Weimar Republic would have been.

The German-Austrian People's Army 1918–1920

Uniform of a first lieutenant in the German-Austrian People's Army

The German-Austrian People's Army was the first provisional army in the Republic of German-Austria. The “transitional army ”, which was up to 50,000 strong at peak times, consisted of parts of the former Austro-Hungarian army , some of which had experienced the war in the hinterland, and of voluntary war returnees, most of whom were members of the socialist camp. However, many noble officers such as Theodor Körner , Erwin Lahousen-Vivremont , Alexander Löhr and many others served in this first, provisional army of the then Republic of German Austria.

One of the strengths of this people's armed forces was that the majority consisted of fully trained soldiers, the majority of whom had several years of frontline experience. Thus it was much more vigorous than a later ideologically determined historiography would allow it to be. Her particular weakness, however, was her, in some cases blatant, lack of discipline, which was entirely due to the time, and which could only be gradually alleviated by service regulations.

This was mainly thanks to the then State Secretary for Army Affairs , Julius Deutsch and his senior staff, including Colonels Theodor Körner and Karl Schneller .

The Supreme Commander of the People's Armed Forces was Lieutenant Field Marshal Adolf von Boog , a controversial officer in the monarchy because of his idiosyncrasy. On November 8th, he made his vow, "as a German man, in ardent love for my German people .... and with his civic honor as a German citizen and soldier". So he was commander in chief of the German-Austrian people's armed forces and at the same time a German citizen and soldier. But he had to resign as early as 1919 because he had set up seven secret officer regiments in addition to the People's Army . With these he wanted to march into German West Hungary , today's Burgenland . Even worse conditions for Austria in the peace negotiations of 1920 would have been the result, even if the victorious powers were not averse to awarding German-West Hungary to Austria for linguistic and many other reasons. But just in the context of negotiations and not in the course of new struggles.

Soldiers from the NCO area could also become officers in the Volkswehr, namely Volkswehr lieutenants. The later Gauleiter of Lower Austria, Captain Josef Leopold, was one of these originally 107 Volkswehr lieutenants.

The ideological assignment of the People's Armed Forces is difficult because, among other things, it was also a job creation program for war returnees. Many also entered because of the good wages, at least three times the wages of the workers, and because of the safe provision of food, so they were by no means primarily ideologically motivated.

Originating from a secret organization within the Kuk Army , this “rump army” developed completely differently in the individual federal states , but always adapted to the respective political conditions of the home state: The strongest sub-organization was the Vienna People's Army, as the federal states of Vienna and Lower Austria were not yet at that time were separated from each other. Logically, it was also divided into the command areas “Vienna City” and “Vienna Country”, also referred to as “Vienna Province”. There were also ideological differences between the individual state organizations. In Upper Austria, for example, the monarchist tradition of the Habsburg army was directly followed , but in Vienna, they were strictly on the republican course. Armed operations, some together with units of the paramilitary home guard , took place in the battle for Carinthia in 1918/19, when this German-Austrian People's Army, as the official army of the republic under the command of the later Vice Chancellor Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig Hülgerth, was the official state sponsor of this defensive battle and during the suppression of the uprising of the communist Red Guard under the leadership of then Lieutenant Egon Erwin Kisch on November 12, 1918 in Vienna. This German-Austrian people's armed forces thwarted two further attempts at communist overthrow on Maundy Thursday and on July 15 in 1919 , thus preventing the establishment of a Soviet republic in Vienna .

The people's armed forces in the federal states

The people's armed forces “Vienna City” was divided into six sub-command areas, namely the circles A to E and “ Arsenal ”. As of January 11, 1919, it had 35 battalions with a total of 18,929 men. The command area "Vienna-Land", also called "Vienna Province", was divided into five districts, namely District I with the command in Krems on the Danube and the battalions in Krems, Gmünd and Waidhofen , District II, command in Gänserndorf with the subordinate parts (partly depot guards) in Floridsdorf , Korneuburg and Stockerau , the district III with the command in Hietzing , 2 battalions in Wiener Neustadt and one in Neunkirchen and the district V with the command in Sankt Pölten , where also two Battalions garrisoned, the third was stationed in Melk . The German South Moravia District formed the last organizational element, District IV, but remained a fragment. On April 1, 1919, the “Wien-Land” command area had a supply of 12,867 men.

In the Salzburg People's Army, after an agreement between officers and men, even the rank badges were supposed to be abolished, but this was not approved by the State Office. The Salzburg command area, which was subordinate to the Tyrolean regional commander until March 29, 1919 , had the Volkswehr battalions I-III in Salzburg City. There was also a convoy squadron, also in Salzburg, and a two-company guard in Hallein . The total number at the end of December 1919 was 29 officers and 1917 men, most of whom were employed in border surveillance.

In Upper Austria , which had only had its own command area since January 1, 1919, the Volkswehr was divided into four sub-command areas, namely in the Linz district , which, among other things, had two battalions, a naval department, an air squadron, a convoy squadron, a motor force as well as the sapper auxiliary companies 1 and 2 and the Wegscheid railway company . The battalions in Freistadt and Rohrbach and the companies in Perg and Leonfelden were subordinate to the Mühlkreis district . The Traunkreis had the battalions Wels , Vöcklabruck , Schärding and the companies in Gmunden , Eferding and Grieskirchen . The Steyr district consisted of the Steyr I and II battalions. The Upper Austrian People's Army reached its highest level on December 31, 1918 with 263 officers and 8,963 men.

The “German South Bohemia ” district initially wanted to join Upper Austria. As a result of the rapid occupation by the Czech military, to which no resistance was opposed, the replacement battalions of the former regiments 93 and 99 had to be withdrawn to Mauthausen and Mistelbach in mid-December 1918 . Since they had refugee status, they were formally incorporated into the People's Army to ensure their supplies. However, like the German-South Moravian Battalion, they were not intended for military use. Thus was the " Bohemian Forest - Gau " for German-Austria finally lost.

In the highly conservative Tyrol , the Volkswehr was met with strong resentment for political reasons. Therefore, a separate battalion was not set up in every district. At the beginning of December 1918 there was therefore only the VWB I with three companies in Innsbruck , the second VWB with two companies also in Innsbruck and one in Hall , the VWB Schwaz , Kitzbühel , Landeck and the People's Army Command in Lienz , which was only formed from an independent company . At the end of December 1918, the Tyrolean People's Army also peaked with a total of 2,460 members. As early as December 23, the Tyrolean Provincial Assembly decided unanimously to dismantle the people's armed forces. So they wanted to get rid of the politically "highly unloved child" as quickly as possible, which is why the decision to dismantle was made before the relevant instructions from Vienna.

In Vorarlberg , too , the people's armed forces remained militarily and politically insignificant. It consisted only of a battalion in Bregenz and companies in Feldkirch , Bludenz and Lustenau . At the end of 1918 it also reached its peak with 24 officers and 933 men.

In Carinthia , the development of the people's armed forces was particularly rapid as a result of the Slovenian threat. By the beginning of December 1918, around 2,500 men were available. In addition to six battalions and four independent companies, the Carinthian People's Army also had a squadron of 14 aircraft under the command of Captain Yllam, the People's Army Marine Company Velden and the People's Army Artillery Department in Klagenfurt, which consisted of two field cannon batteries, a howitzer battery and a flak battery . A few armored cars and a two-car armored train armed with machine guns were also available. Together with the Heimwehr and supported by Volkswehr hunters of the Tyrolean half-battalion "Captain von Dragoni" and parts of the Vienna Volkswehr artillery, it was possible in Carinthia to achieve a referendum across the national borders in the so-called " Carinthian defensive battle " .

In Styria people thought and acted completely differently than in Carinthia . Here they were fully on the line of the federal government, which did not want to endanger the peace negotiations, which it hoped would solve the border problems, by defensive battles. In addition, the government took the view that the chances of German-Austria joining the Weimar Republic would be best if the new state was as small as possible, since the victorious powers would never allow the war loser Germany to gain any relevant territorial gains. According to the German-Austrian federal government's inaccurate view, renouncing state territory without a fight should win the victorious powers over to the union idea. This also explains why the government did not support the border fighting or, as in Carinthia, initially only very reluctantly.

On November 1, 1918, with the attack on Marburg, the systematic occupation of southern Styria by southern Slavic troops began, which, due to the strategy outlined above, was not opposed. The “Marburg Blood Sunday” on January 27, 1919 could not change that, although Slovenian soldiers violently broke up a demonstration, which resulted in numerous deaths.

On December 28, 1918, the Styrian People's Army had 181 officers and 6,443 men. In Graz the battalions had been 1 to 3 and 9 set to 11 with an average thickness of 400 men up to this point. The technical battalion, the train battalion, the mounted Volkswehr and the Volkswehr artillery department with eight guns also garrisoned in the Styrian capital. Further battalions had been set up in Leibnitz , Bruck , Judenburg , Leoben and Deutschlandsberg . These associations were mainly used in border protection against Hungary and against communist unrest in Graz. A counterattack against the Slovenian occupiers in Lower Styria was launched by Dr. German expressly forbidden by telephone on February 10, 1919 so as not to endanger the peace negotiations. Valuable southern Styrian areas were lost forever.

The end of the people's armed forces and its political consequences

Since the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye only allowed the establishment of a professional army of 30,000 men, the People's Army was no longer continued in the First Republic . The main reason for the abolition of the national armed forces, which the Italians in particular pursued, was their fear that the national armed forces could be used to recapture South Tyrol. The Tyrolean people's armed forces battalion “Captain von Dragoni” in particular had proven itself extremely well in the Carinthian defensive battle, for example in the reconquest of the Karawanken tunnel, so that the Italian side endeavored to avert this danger from the start.

Instead, a militarily inferior weak imposed federal army was organized from 1920 onwards , which was radically re-politicized by the new Defense Minister Carl Vaugoin with official means (disciplinary measures etc.) until the ideologically monochrome army of the Austro-Fascist corporate state was created. Many of the former members of the national armed forces who were forced out of the army at the time then joined the socialist republican protection association founded in 1924 . Two military formations, namely the Federal Army and the Schutzbund, were thus created, and the third was quickly joined by the Home Guard.

As a result, the ideological contradictions were not only politically present, but also clearly manifested in military terms and operational.

Thus, tragically, the prerequisites were also in place to be able to resolve these internal political differences militarily, for example in February 1934 , from which Adolf Hitler and his National Socialists benefited enormously in every respect, although the Nazi coup in June 1934 by the armed forces, the police and the gendarmerie could be knocked down.

Because under the given constellations - Austria not only politically divided, but also militarily divided into three camps ( Bundesheer , Heimwehr and Schutzbund ), albeit unequally strong, it was only a matter of time before the country fell into Hitler's hands as easy prey fell.

In 1938 the time had come: the armed forces did not offer any resistance to the invasion of the German armed forces and even Federal Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg , who was arrested, did not form a government in exile abroad. Austria had thus become part of the German Empire .

Museum reception

The figurine of a first lieutenant of the German-Austrian people's armed forces is exhibited in the Vienna Army History Museum . This shows that the uniforms of the People's Armed Forces hardly differed from that of the Austro-Hungarian Army due to the difficult economic situation, apart from the rank badges that were now affixed to the sleeves .

literature

  • Martin Prieschl: People's Armed Forces and Armed Forces in Upper Austria 1918–1938 , in: Upper Austria 1918–1938 III (published by the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives). Linz 2015 pp. 279–318. ISBN 978-3-902801-23-4
  • Roland Schaffer: The People's Army in Styria 1918–1920 Militia publishing house. Salzburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-901185-47-2
  • Peter Fichtenbauer , Christian Ortner : The history of the Austrian army from Maria Theresa to the present in essays and pictorial representations , Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-902526-71-7
  • Julius Deutsch: From Austria's Revolution, Military-Political Memories , Vienna, undated (1923).
  • Karl Glaubauf : The People's Army 1918–1920 and the founding of the republic , Austrian military history (special volume 1993.1), Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-901208-08-9
  • Ludwig Jedlicka : An army in the shadow of the parties. The military-political situation in Austria 1918–1938 , Vienna 1956.
  • Theodor Körner: Memorandum on the Army of the Republic , Vienna 1924.
  • Norbert Leser : The Revolution that wasn't. In: Wiener Zeitung , November 8, 2008.
  • Martin Prieschl, Das Erste Heer der Republik - The emergence of the VOLKSWEHR , in: TRUPPENDIENST - magazine for training, leadership and deployment , no. 309, pp. 214-219.
  • Martin Prieschl, The First Army of the Republic - The deployments of the VOLKSWEHR , in: TRUPPENDIENST - magazine for training, leadership and deployment , no. 310, pp. 313-319.
  • Wilhelm Rüstow : The German military state before and during the revolution , Königsberg / Pr. 1850 and Zurich 1851.
  • Wolfgang Rebitsch: People's Armed Forces and Armed Forces in Tyrol from 1918–1938. (With consideration of the military associations) , Phil. Diss., Innsbruck 1976.
  • Anton Staudinger: The events in the federal states of German Austria in autumn 1918 , in: Ludwig Jedlicka, Ende und Anfang, Austria 1918/19, Vienna and the federal states , Salzburg 1969.
  • Franz Mehring : On the history of war and the military question , collected writings. - Tape. 8. Karl Dietz Verlag Berlin 1967

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Glaubauf, The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 28.
  2. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 56.
  3. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 59.
  4. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 137.
  5. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 136.
  6. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 125.
  7. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 137.
  8. ↑ Cf. in particular on the detailed dislocation and on the "defensive struggle": Karl Glaubauf: Die Volkswehr und die foundation der Republik, pp. 105–116.
  9. ^ Karl Glaubauf: The People's Army and the Foundation of the Republic, p. 118.
  10. ^ Army History Museum / Military History Institute (ed.): The Army History Museum in the Vienna Arsenal . Verlag Militaria , Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-69-6 , p. 134

Web links

On the March Revolution of 1848

To the German-Austrian People's Army