After World War I, although the Allies dealt with Germany extremely harshly, they only limited the army by cutting up land and reparations, driving out the emperor to form a republic, and forming a civilian government to eliminate militarism. In line with the principle of why the nobility should be embarrassed by the nobility, there was no embarrassment to the Junkers, and a large number of Junkers were allowed to remain in the government army, and the President of the Weimar Republic, Hindenburg, was Juncker.
At this point in the story, everyone will have such a feeling, the Junker aristocracy has been full of heroes from generation to generation, carrying Germany all the way, far away, there are German three Jie Moltke, Ron, Bismarck, and the military scientist Clausewitz. So let me put it another way, the Hohenzollern family is full of heroes and heroes, leading Germany all the way. Frederick I, King of Soldiers Frederick the Great, descendant of William II III IV, famous general Frederick Karl, Prince of Prussia. Is it all reasonable to look at, there is a sense of the Great Qin Empire having a clear lord and a famous general. Could it be that the code for genetic inheritance is the words von or Frederick? Negative, of course. This shows that at that time, the internal class solidification in Prussia was serious, and the contradiction of the prosperity of the national fortune was not obvious, and once the upward passage was interrupted, the contradiction inevitably broke out. At the end of World War I, the front-line grassroots officers and men who squatted in the trenches all day were very angry with the Junker officers who sat in the rear office and gave orders, and there were many incidents of disobedience, and Hitler, who was still a soldier at this time, should not have less to greet the officers' families.
I heard that some people in the East shouted "Hero Mo asked the source", and Juncker would say "Only a hero is qualified to comment on a hero, you be a hero first" "Okay, then how can I become a hero", "Is your surname Feng?" Not surnamed Feng, you stand in the first row, after being shot, you are anxious to find a Junker family to reincarnate" ... Twenty years later... "My last name is Feng. What hero Mo asks the provenance, my surname is Feng, do you doubt my provenance? "Class fixed-line translation, that is, heroes are born only among the Nobles of Rongke.
Of course, the Junkers controlled the army not only for glory, the experience of the ancestors told them that the army was a big business, and it was more good to do than to be a mud-legged landlord, and fame and fortune were both gained. The Junker aristocracy encouraged the Prussian king to conquer the continent, and military spending remained high, and in the early 19th century, Prussia's state expenditure was the most prominent, spending nearly 23 million lix dollars per year, about 3 million pounds, about 3/5 of the total state expenditure (excluding debt repayment appropriations). This is still after the reform, and it was even more confusing before this. During the Seven Years' War, Frederick the Great tried to no longer send army conscription funds to the troops, and the state directly recruited troops, as a result, he spent 800,000 taars from the treasury for the planned recruitment, but only spent 300,000 yuan, and its profit margin can be seen!
In addition to the unforeseen plunder of wartime, which was a windfall, the means by which Junker officers amassed wealth in peacetime were also abundant, after all, ancestral craftsmanship. The military expenses of the Prussian army are distributed to the military commanders at all levels, and the lowest level is the captain and company commander, so let's take the captain's level as an example. The money for the salaries of the soldiers, weapons and clothing under his command and the cost of conscription are all out of the funds, how to spend that is what the company commander said, the daily beer ham must not be able to afford to eat, the meal of bread and pickles is also not enough, the company commander feels that eating too much is not healthy. Military training, a few months a year to walk around the queue to hit a few bullets can be, better let you go home to work in the farm, pay some management fees, catch up with the company commander whose money bag is a little tight, and send a dozen soldiers to the factory dock to work to earn some money. The abundance of means is staggering, the profits are lucrative, fame and fortune are both, and it is no wonder that Junkers are eager for the army, stubbornly guarding the army circle and not letting outsiders enter easily, for soldiers from civilian origin, company commanders are insurmountable ceilings, first mixed with several rounds of queuing muskets to shoot and shoot.
In this kind of army, soldiers and officers are actually disconnected, and the combat effectiveness can be imagined. Compared with other nobles, they were better off than rotten, and when they encountered a new army led by Napoleon, who represented the bourgeoisie, they were taught to be human in minutes. After the continuous reform of several enlightened monarchs and Junker officer corps, the phenomenon of drinking soldiers' blood was alleviated, the treatment of soldiers was greatly improved, and the combat effectiveness of Junkers' army returned to the first echelon. But the army will always be Juncker's army, and Germany will also be Juncker's Germany.