Reichsheer (Historical)

The Reichsheer (Dundorfian: Reich Army) was the collective name for the armed forces of the Dundorfian Empire from its creation in 1831. The Reichsheer was composed of two branches, the Reichsheer (Dundorfian: Reich Army) which served as the ground forces of the Dundorfian Reich and the Reichsflotte (Dundorfian: Reich Fleet) which served as the naval forces of the Dundorfian Reich. The Reichsheer was considered to be oen of the world most professional fighting forces as well as one of the most trained fighting forces. The Reichsheer and its system of the General Staff would serve as a model for future governments to model their armed forces off of. The influence of the Dorvish on the development of the Dundorfian General Staff system was instrumental in the success of the Reichsheer and out of the numerous states which contributed to the Reichsheer, the Dorvish contributed the largest contribution to the Reichsheer short of the direct Dundorfian states themselves.

The Reichsheer would go on to add a third branch known as the Reichsfliegertruppe (Dundorfian: Reich Flying Troops) in the early 20th century. The Reichsheer would evolve from a small force to one of the largest military forces at its peak in the early 20th century. The Reichsheer would serve as the model many post-Dundorfian Reich states following the total collapse in 1925 when the Dundorfian Reich was formally abolished and the Reichsheer was replaced by the Reichswehr and eventually the National People's Army. The Reichsheer's legacy would go to live on in the Freikorps (Dundorfian: Free Corps) and the Selbsschutzverband (Dundorfian: Self-protection associations). The Freikorps would come as a result of the collapse of the Reichsheer where many former conservative and royalist officers would go on to fight the actively socialist government in Dundorf while some fled to the new states which made up North Artania and would help them found their independence movements or otherwise organize their new states.

The Selbsschutzverband's were founded much earlier in the 19th century as social organizations to promote Dundorfian culture in areas that were considered either anti-Dundorfian, overly rural or where the Dundorfian Kingdom declared that the areas were "un-Dundorfian". This was a part of a massive colonialization effort by the Dundorfian Kingdom and eventually the Dundorfian Reich. The Selbsschutzverband's exist today as social organizations that actively promote and finance Volksdundorfische throughout Rutania, Kirlawa and Aloria.

Technological inventions
Technologically the Dundorfians invented a large amount of modern technologies today, much similar to the Selucians the Dundorfians were keen at adapting technologies which had been previously been used and improved on them. Following the chaos of the collapse of the Dundorfian Reich, the prevailing sides battled against each other and created most of the technological inventions that are used throughout the world. For instance, during the first conflict in the early 20th century the Dundorfian Reichsheer pioneered the use of tanks in modern warfare, which were eventually improved upon and became a mainstay of Dundorfian military tactics during and after the First Dundorfian Civil War.

The invention of the modern assault rifle is credited to Dundorf, however the Trigunians would steal the designs and would credit it as their own following the rise of the Dundorfian Democratic Republic and prevalence of socialism throughout the world. Missile technology, while potentially discovered by Indralan, was credited to Dundorf for their use of rockets during the subsequent breakup of the Dundorfian Reich. The Dundorfian royalist and conservatives would be the primary benefactors of the technology as many of the industrial and researchers would side with the royalist and conservatives who did not want their businesses taken over by the state.

Rank structure of the Reichsheer
The rank structure of the Reichsheer was developed for the need for hierarchy following several defeats of the Royal Army of Dundorf (Dundorfian: Kongliche Armee von Dundorf), also known as the Konigswache (Luthoran: Kings Watch). Following the rise of the Dundorfian Reich the Reichsheer senior officers created a table of ranks that would at first only be open to nobles by the late 19th century would be open to anyone displaying the battlefield merit warranting them a promotion to higher ranks. The table of ranks for the Dundorfian Reichsheer survives today in different fashions throughout Northern Artania.