The Reichswehr (German for "Imperial Defence") formed the military organization of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ("Defence Force").

At the end of World War I, the forces of the German Empire had mostly split up, the men making their way home individually or in small groups. Many of them joined the Freikorps ("Free Corps"), a collection of volunteer paramilitary units that were involved in revolution and border clashes between 1918 and 1923.

The newly formed Weimar Republic did need a military though, and on 6 March 1919 a decree established the Vorläufige Reichswehr ("Provisional National Defence"), consisting of a Vorläufige Reichsheer ("Provisional National Army") and a Vorläufige Reichsmarine ("Provisional National Navy"). On 30 September 1919, the army was reorganized as the Übergangsheer ("Transitional Army"). About 400,000 men served in the armed forces. This lasted until 1 January 1921, when the Reichswehr was officially established according to the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles (Articles 159 to 213).

Georg Schramm (born 11 March 1949 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) is a German psychologist and Kabarett artist. He was a host of the Kabarett shows Scheibenwischer and Neues aus der Anstalt.

Schramm was born as the son of a worker in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. His father was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) which influenced his later performances as a Kabarett artist. He then enlisted for the Bundeswehr as a short-term career soldier which he retired from as a reserve officer. Afterwards he studied psychology in Bochum and worked as a psychologist in a rehab clinic from 1976 to 1988. Since 1992 he works full time as a Kabarett artist.

Schramm never stars on the stage as himself but uses a range of different characters to speak their minds. Even if he stars on the stage as "Schramm", he only does so acting as a character of the same name. Most of the time he uses three characters for his performances:

Schramm is considered the most aggressive, outspoken and serious Kabarett artist of his time. In 2007, he published his first book, Lassen Sie es mich so sagen – Dombrowski deutet die Zeichen der Zeit, a compilation of texts from his shows from 1983-2007.