Title explains it, what was it like. I'll put the questions into numbers, making them easier to answer.

(1) What was it like to join the Reichswehr. Was there any difference between joining the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht? Were there specific places they went, or did they go to the local barracks? Was there any education requirements.

(2) Was there any difference from someone willingly joining the Wehrmacht, and someone being conscripted?

(3) If someone was willingly joining the Reichswehr did they have an option of what they could join (e.g. if you wanted join the army and become a tanker, did you have that option, or the navy and you wanted to be a submariner, could you join that), or were you placed into your role?

(4) Same as (3) only for Wehrmacht.

(5) How did you join as an officer.

(6) Was there any difference in basic training.

(7) Were there any battalions to a specific area, e.g. someone in Bavaria signing up, was placed into a Bavarian battalion?

(8) Any other random facts you might have

Sorry if some of them overlap. I'm writing war stories.

Edit; With reading the moderators' comment, I shall express that all war stories are to be unbiased, and objective, and will respect all answers, and ask others to do the same

One of my war stories focus on three brothers, two born in 1914 and one born in 1924. The twins have a drastically different opinion of the Nazi Party. One utterly detests them while the other supports them, but condemns them in their treatment of 'undesirables' (Jewish People, Homosexuals, etc) their younger brother supports them, willing to put his life on the line for Germany because he grew up with their propaganda. I shall leave it there as I don't want to spoil it

So whenever the Byzantine Empire is brought up, someone inevitably comments that we should say the Roman Empire because that's what they called themselves. There is merrit to this, though I think there are circumstances in which refering to it as the Byzantine Empire makes sense for the sake of clarity. However, it has led me to an interesting thought, namely the title of this post. I've heard that at the time the HRE was refered to as The Empire and even The Roman Empire, so how did Medieval people differentiate them? Also, did the given title change over time, particularly before/after the HRE formed

In other words, did things like the cult of Sol Invictus (which Constantine depicted in some of his [minted currency](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Follis-Constantine-lyons_RIC_VI_309.jpg) or other non-Christian deities combine/fuse in some way with traditional Christian texts? Are there any Christian practices today that do not originate from actual Christian texts which we can trace to pagan origins?

This propably sounds a bit dumb but how could the church kill all or almost all templars without them defending thereselves? They were an army or some sorts

I have never ridden in a one-horse open sleigh, nor eaten figgy pudding. Why do we imagine Christmas in Victorian terms rather than some other era?

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I'm mostly thinking abobut those who fled during the war (1936-1939) but it'd be extra nteresting if someone could compare those and the ones whoo fled the country during the dictatorship aswel.

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In any case, thanks to the AH sub!

In Russian and Soviet literature, the class was always called after Sevastopol, the first ship to be launched - all the way to the original factory drawings. How did it became known as Gangut-class?

Similarly, Izmail-class battlecruisers are usually referred to as Borodino-class - is it for a similar reason?

What made someone think "After 12 we should start over at one instead of continuing to 24"?

I was reading Norman Davies' "Europe: A History" when I stumbled upon the mention of the Swiss rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire between the 14th and 15th centuries (pp 404 in my large paperback version).

I don't think he really explained why these men tried revolting against their extremely large and powerful liege state just to be independent and I couldn't really find anything about their motives online either.

I'm no historian nor history student. I'm just a normal history buff so this was really confusing to me.

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Hey guys so I'm writing this paper about the lend lease program however I'm evaluating the idea that Lend-Lease had significant importance to the war effort because the Food given to the Soviet Union had a big impact. Any chance any of you have sources to back this idea up??? Or an explanation as to why food had a big impact using sources ( books, websites, podcasts, interviews etc.)

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Thanks

My ancestor served in the 6th Regiment Kentucky Volunteers, Company I. He was a Private first class and was severely wounded in the Battle of Shiloh, although he survived and lived a pretty long life.

A sabre was passed down in the family to my Grandfather, who is still alive but very old, and he has now passed it on to his son, my Uncle.

We always assumed he was issued the sabre, and this might be the case, but it seems strange to me that a private would be given a sabre.

Was this standard practice? It looks more ceremonial than anything else, from what I recall, and it doesnt look like it was ever... used.

Thanks!