Nazism and the Wehrmacht
The relationship between the Wehrmacht (from 1935 to 1945 the regular combined armed forces of Nazi Germany) and the Nazi Party which ruled Germany has been the subject of an extensive historiographical debate. After the Nazis came to power, they sought to control all aspects of civil society and the state, including the military. Historically, the German armed forces had operated with a great deal of autonomy, which was steadily eroded until they were under the direct control of the Nazis. Following the war, many former Nazis denied and downplayed the extensive war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht and its complicity in the Holocaust. This is referred to as the myth of the clean Wehrmacht. Politics of the Wehrmacht The German military had traditionally functioned as a "state within a state", with a very large amount of institutional autonomy. Thus Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had been forbidden to attend meetings of the Supreme Council of War because as it was insultingly phrased "Lest this civilian might betray the secrets of the State". In the First World War, the military began to complain more and more that both the Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg and the Emperor Wilhelm II were grossly