I read that during WW2, much of the German military leaders were

>>3210321

That's not just during WW2, that's basically the entirety of Prussia's existence. The Prussia upper-class (Junkers, pronounced YUUNG-kər) always saw the German army as being theirs, and they hated sharing that power and prestige with any other group. They were an odd form of aristocracy; their privilege came in the form of heavily disproportionate influence in German government, especially in the Army, but also throughout the civil bureaucracy. Junkers were fanatically loyal to the Kaisers, and the Kaisers repaid this loyalty by ensuring that Junkers would always get the majority of government positions.

This feeling of entitlement was so strong that prior to WW1, the Junkers actually opposed efforts to expand the German army because were worried if the army became too large, they'd have to let non-Junkers become officers to fill all the necessary officer positions required for maintaining a larger force. This was when Moltke was desperately trying to drum up support for the creation of 4 new infantry corps.

Those 4 additional corps might have made all the difference in the world during the opening months of WW1. So in a very real sense, the Junkers were done in by their own sense of entitlement, and their staunch refusal to share power with other groups.

>>3210321

Also, in case you're wondering how the Junkers came to be distinct from other Germans in the first place, it's because they were not purely "German" but rather a Slavic-Germanic mixture. When the Junkers first took possession of Prussia, the population was too low to have a viable country, so the Junkers actually invited Slavic people to fill the country. They freely inter-married with the new residents and eventually came to be regarded as a distinct group of people with their own unique cultural identity. It was one of the ironies of history that this intentional mash-up of cultures eventually came to be held up as proof of Aryan supremacy by the Nazis.

>>3210435
>>3210491

Thanks! So I'm assuming all the well-known names were Junkers? Manstein, Rommel, Guderian, Model, etc.?

>>3210509

The most famous Junker is unquestionably Otto Von Bismark. Basically ever WW1 general in the German Army comes from a Junker family. I have no idea if the same holds true for WW2. The Nazis had some definite points of separation compared to the monarchists (and the Junkers were most assuredly staunch monarchists). Also, the Junkers, for all their many faults, tended to be anti-imperialist for the simple reason that they thought that absorbing new lands and their associated populations would further dilute their own power. Bismark, in particular, felt that colonies and annexations almost alway caused more trouble than they could ever be worth, famously advising that there should be no more territorial gains after 1871. This is a view that the Nazis very much did not share.

I recall in one of his books, legendary WWII cartoonist Bill Mauldin recounted the story of an old Prussian officer that hated other Germans SOOO much, he defected to the allies so he could kill Germans. He considered the Nazis to be traitors to the fatherland because of their restructuring of the German army. Mauldin said the fucker was so mean, he'd sneak into German foxholes by night, slit the throat of one of the men, and leave his lifeless body to be discovered by his buddy in the morning.

This is no better noticed than when it came to Hitler himself.
Some older Generals who came from nobility or had served in WW1 did not particularly care for Hitler because he was an Austrian and a lowly Colonel. He was an outsider who came to the top of the system.
As part of his views, Hitler also resented the Prussian aristocracy because he saw it of a division of the German people and a division of classes. Part of the reason Hitler liked Rommel so much, Rommel was not from nobility.
Though Hitler liked the Prussian military traditions and wanted to preserve those and morph them into his own, as he did with other aspects of German culture and European culture overall.
This caused some contention because the aristocracy was a tradition which Hitler replaced with membership in the NSDAP. Your family name and titles meant little unless you had a party number associated with your name, but up until 1944 German military commanders were not allowed to hold a political affiliation. So if you were listened to, or not, came down to if Hitler liked you or not.

Two stories of older Prussians telling Hitler off:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Saucken#Character_traits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_von_Lettow-Vorbeck#Post-war_career
>He intensely "distrusted Hitler and his movement,"....when Hitler offered him the ambassadorship to the Court of St James's in 1935, he "declined with frigid hauteur."; the suggestion for the nomination as ambassador to the Court of St James had come from retired Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen during a visit to Berlin.[41] During the 1960s, Charles Miller asked the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go fuck himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely."

>>3210734
>a lowly Colonel
Hitler was a corporeal. Not even a Sergent.

During the Wiemar Republic only 1/3 of the german officers had "von" in their name

>>3210731
>I hate other countries but I hate krauts who disagree with me even more

>>3210509
Guderian, Rommel and Model were not Junckers. Rommel wasn't even Prussian. A good indicator whether someone might be a Juncker or not is the "von" in the name. However, it was also used by aristocrats from other parts of Germany.

>>3211069
he himself might've been corporeal, but his ideals were ethereal

>>3210509
Model was actually liked especially by hitler because he wasn't a junker. hitler didn't trust the aristocracy

File: Louis_ferdinand_c1930.jpg (90KB, 640x928px) Image search: [Google]

90KB, 640x928px

>>3210509

No. The Prussian aristocracy generally regarded the Nazis as a bunch of uppity usurpers. The Prussian idea of Making Germany Great Again would have meant restoring the Hohenzollern monarchy to power, something that the Nazis had no interest in doing. Prince Louis Ferdinand was even imprisoned in Dachau because the Gestapo suspected that he'd been involved in the 20 July 1944 plot to kill Hitler.

>>3210435
Almost like the Jannisaries.

>>3212145
undergrated

>>3211165
heh

>>3211122
Does that include the Police who were organized to be a secret army reserve?

>>3211122

>During the Wiemar Republic only 1/3 of the german officers had "von" in their name

That should tell you that Junkers no longer had monopolistic control of the military, but they still have disproportionate influence.

>>3210509

Don't make the mistake of assuming that WW2 was just the Great War 2: Electric Boogaloo.