Military sovereignty

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The military sovereignty is a state law concept and is among the sovereign rights .

The concept of military sovereignty describes the sole competence of the state to set up armed forces and to regulate all questions of organization and function related to the military.

The German Imperium

Although most of Germany's states surrendered military sovereignty to Prussia in the course of the unification of Germany , Bavaria , Württemberg and Saxony retained independent armies, i.e. they held military sovereignty. The transfer of the supreme command to the German Kaiser was only planned in the event of war , which was not the case until 1914.

In 1919 the armies of Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony were transferred to the Reichswehr , which meant that there was only one uniform military sovereignty in Germany.

German Reich: Defense Act of March 16, 1935

Defense Act of May 21, 1935

After the defeat of the German Reich in World War I , the victorious powers restricted the military sovereignty of the German Reich in the Versailles Treaty . The permissible troop strength of the German Reichsheer was limited to 100,000 men; in addition there were 15,000 men of the Reichsmarine . Heavy artillery and tanks were forbidden, as was the possession of submarines and air forces and a general staff .

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, on March 16, 1935, a 'Proclamation by the Reich Government to the German people regarding the introduction of general conscription' was published. It ends with the sentence

“With this in mind, the German government passed the following law as of today: Law for the establishment of the armed forces. March 16, 1935. "

With the announcement of the “Defense Act”, the last restrictions of the Versailles Treaty were formally stripped and the introduction of general conscription was announced (on October 1, 1935), with which Hitler kept a promise of February 1933 to the generals .

See also: Armament of the Wehrmacht

Current regulations in individual countries

In the Federal Republic of Germany , military sovereignty was transferred exclusively to the federal government through the so-called First Defense Amendment to the Basic Law of March 26, 1954. Article 73, Paragraph 1, No. 1 of the Basic Law provides: The Federation has exclusive legislation on: (...) the defense, including the protection of the civilian population. The concept of military sovereignty is expressly not used.

In Switzerland , Article 58 of the Swiss Federal Constitution stipulates : Switzerland has an army (...) The deployment of the army is a federal matter.

With the signing of the Austrian State Treaty on May 15, 1955, Austria regained its state independence and thus its military sovereignty. With the Defense Act of September 7, 1955, general conscription was enshrined in law.

The military sovereignty of a state is also given if the respective state does not make use of this sovereign right, so that the exercise of the military sovereignty is purely theoretical. For example, the Principality of Liechtenstein has not had any armed forces since 1868, but the relevant laws still exist.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Proclamation of the Reich government to the German people regarding the introduction of general conscription . March 16, 1935. On: documentarchiv.de . See Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt Part I 1867–1945, p. 375 ; at the Austrian National Library (ÖNB).
  2. ↑ www.verfassungen.de: Defense Act of May 21, 1935
  3. ↑ For Hitler's promise see point 4 of the Liebmann transcript .