?This intelligent monograph fills a gap in our knowledge of the 100,000-man army alllowed the Germans by the Versailles settlement. Spires gives meticulous attention to the 4,000 officers of the Reichswehr, specifically their selection, training, posting, promotion, and dismissal. He shows that these internal concerns of the army often had direct bearing on the politics pursued by its leaders and helped define their counterproductive relationship to the German Republic. A military man himself, Spires is both critical and sympathetic.?-Choice