Let K be an arbitrary field, whose characteristic does not divide the order of the dihedral group m D 2 of order m 2 , where m is odd. In this paper we examine the structure of the semisimple dihedral group algebra m KD 2 . For this purpose, we find a complete system of minimal central orthogonal idempotents of the group algebra. Through it we define the minimal components of m KD 2 and its Wedderburn decomposition. The results we get are as general as possible, i.e. without requiring the field to be finite.