Hans von Seeckt
(© Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1970-085-36 / o. Ang.)
1866-1936
- Head of the Army Command from 1920 to 1926
- Held executive power in 1923
- Member of the Reichstag from 1930 to 1933
During World War I, Hans von Seeckt first served on the Western Front, then as a military advisor for Austria-Hungary and the de facto Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army. In 1920, he became the head of the Truppenamt (general staff) of the Reichswehr (Imperial Army). In this function, he refused to send in the Reichswehr to combat the troops of the Kapp Putsch (“Troops do not shoot at other troops”). He stayed in office despite this and in the midst of the crises of 1923, Friedrich Ebert granted him executive power over the Reich. Seeckt developed the concept of an apolitical Reichswehr as a “state within a state”. In 1930, he became a DVP member of the Reichstag. Later on, he worked as a military advisor in China.