Imperial German Army

The Imperial German Army, officially the German Army or Deutsches Heer, was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire from 1871 to 1919. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia, and it was dissolved in 1919 after the defeat of the empire in World War I. It was created through the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire and earlier conventions that subordinated the armies of the member states to the Prussian Army in wartime, while the contingents of the Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg kingdoms remained semi-autonomous. In peacetime it was divided into the army inspectorate, the army corps, the division and the regiment, and the regiment was the basic combat unit. By the end of World War I, 251 divisions had been formed or reformed. Its regimental traditions were carried forward by the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht.