Description

Here is your chance to own a nice postcard of Paris under occupation. Unused with zero writing or postage stamp on the reverse. Nice photo on the front. In excellent condition overall.   The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The designation ” Wehrmacht ” replaced the previously used term Reichswehr , and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime’s efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. During the war about 18 million men served in the Wehrmacht . The  German Empire consisted of 26 states, most of them ruled by royal  families. They included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies  (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities,  and one imperial territory. Although Prussia was one of few kingdoms in  the realm, it contained about two thirds of Germany’s population and  territory. Prussian dominance had also been established  constitutionally. During its 47  years of existence, the German Empire was an industrial, technological,  and scientific giant, gaining more Nobel Prizes in science than any  other country. By 1900, Germany was the largest economy in Europe,  surpassing the United Kingdom, as well as the second-largest in the  world, behind only the United States. Late  in Bismarck’s chancellorship and in spite of his personal opposition,  Germany became involved in colonialism. Claiming much of the leftover  territory that was yet unclaimed in the scramble for Africa, it managed  to build the third largest colonial empire at the time, after the  British and the French empires. Germany  became a great power, boasting a rapidly developing rail network, the  world’s strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than  a decade, its navy became second only to Britain’s Royal Navy. In 1879,  the German Empire consolidated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary,  followed by the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. It also retained  strong diplomatic ties to the Ottoman Empire. When World War 1 arrived,  Italy left the alliance and the Ottoman Empire formally allied with  Germany. In the First World War,  German plans to capture Paris quickly in the autumn of 1914 failed. The  war on the Western Front became a stalemate. However, Imperial Germany  had success on the Eastern Front. The German declaration of unrestricted  submarine warfare in early 1917 contributed to bringing the United  States into the war. The high  command under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff increasingly  controlled the country, but in October after the failed offensive in  spring 1918, the German armies were in retreat, allies Austria-Hungary  and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The  Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution with the removal of its  monarchs. This left Germany with the Weimar Republic, and a devastated  and unsatisfied populace, faced with postwar reparation costs of nearly  270 billion dollars, all in all leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler and  Nazism. Free shipping ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD & I don’t charge PayPal fees like some of the other guys!