Editing Weimar paramilitary groups (section)

{{Short description|1918–1930s armed German civilian groups}}
[[File:Poster of the Freikorps Lützow.jpg|thumb|Recruiting poster for the Freikorps Lützow: "Who will save the Fatherland? That is Lützow's wild, daring pursuit. German men! Soldiers of all weapons! Join our ranks!"]]
'''Weimar paramilitary groups''' were militarily organized units that were formed outside of the regular German Army following the defeat of the [[German Empire]] in [[World War I]]. The most prominent of them, the ''[[Freikorps]]'', were combat units that were supported by the German government and used to suppress uprisings from both the Left and the Right. There were also [[Citizens' Defense]] ({{Lang|de|Einwohnerwehr}}) groups to maintain public order<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Bucher |first=Peter |date=January 1971 |title=Zur Geschichte der Einwohnerwehren in Preußen 1918–1921 |trans-title=On the History of Citizens' Defense in Prussia 1918–1921 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1524/mgzs.1971.9.1.15/html |journal=Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift |language=de |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=15–60|doi=10.1524/mgzs.1971.9.1.15 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and paramilitary groups associated with specific political parties to protect and promote their interests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sammartino |first=Annemarie |date=3 March 2021 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Paramilitary Violence |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/paramilitary-violence-1-2/#toc_germany |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin |doi=10.15463/ie1418.10398/1.2}}</ref>

Most who volunteered for the paramilitary groups came from the 6 million German soldiers<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schumann |first=Dirk |date=8 October 2014 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Post-war Societies (Germany) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/post-war-societies-germany/#toc_military_self-demobilization |access-date=16 July 2014 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref> who returned from the war to a country in the midst of the turmoil of the [[German revolution of 1918–1919|German revolution]], which overthrew the [[Hohenzollern monarchy]] and established the [[Weimar Republic]]. The Freikorps especially took part in significant [[Freikorps in the Baltic|fighting in the Baltics]], [[Silesian Uprisings#Third Uprising (1921)|Silesia]], Berlin during the [[Spartacist uprising]] and the [[Ruhr uprising|Ruhr during the 1920 uprising]] there.<ref name=":0" /> The paramilitary groups as a whole contributed significantly to the remilitarization of Germany between the wars.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Hans |title=The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-807-82249-4 |location=Chapel Hill |page=39 |translator-last=Forster |translator-first=Elborg |translator-last2=Jones |translator-first2=Larry Eugene}}</ref>

The Citizens' Defense groups were disbanded in 1920 and the ''Freikorps'' in 1921 because the government came to see them as threats and because of pressure from the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], who feared that the paramilitary groups were being used to circumvent the 100,000 man limit on the German Army imposed by the [[Treaty of Versailles]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Tim |title=Frontiers of Violence. Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia 1918-1922 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-199-58371-3 |location=Oxford |pages=83}}</ref> The paramilitary groups connected with political parties lasted throughout the life of the Weimar Republic and in the case of the [[Nazi Party]]'s ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA), beyond its end.