Single Germany Army, 1914?

[Campbell1004]

In previous discussion concerning the Great War, I remember one ahistorical scholar who remarked that the absence of a German navy (due to funds being adjusted to enlarge the various German armies) would lead to a decline in nationalism.

This was very interesting to me.

Now, I do not know so much about the political system of Willhelmian Germany, but I was wondering, "What if Germany had created a single unified military prior to the Great War?"

My First Question: Would Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg be willing to integrate their independent armies into a single German army?

My Second Question: Would this Germany army fair better in the Great War then OTL's German armies?

Your thoughts are welcome.

 

[Franz Josef II]

Would this be legal according to the political arrangment which created the Bismarckian German Empire? Methinks no...and the south German states will most likely scream bloody murder if the Prussian North tries it. But then, who knows? Maybe it would be possible.

 

[general]

From my reading the Kaiserheer was pretty much effectively one army already. The seperate Saxon, Bavarian etc armies were corps within the whole; they used the same organisations, weaponry etc.
Its performance in 1914 was pretty good by any standards, the friction that allowed the Allies to hold them at the Marne and Ypres was inevitable regardless I reckon.
I do'nt know if being even more uniform would have made a difference; the Commonwealth armies were very similar in lots of ways, (e.g. common doctrine, weaponry etc), but the various Dominion divisions/corps - at least the Australians and Canadians had far more leeway than the likes of the Saxons and Bavarians.
That said, somoen like Susano could well blow me out of the water with a show of vastly greater knowledge than I have.

 

[I Blame Communism]

As others have said, they were "one army". The First World War actually generated a meme in German interwar culture of "the spirit of the trenches" were differences between germans vanished in common service which was hardly unfounded.

The various states had organised their armies along Prussian lines in the 1860s, and sealed the deal by defeating France as a team. Since then, the Kaiserreich had actually become more homogenous in various respects. The "Bavarian Army" was an army corps with fancy blue uniforms that had vanished by 1916.