Word: german
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Germany was demilitarized after World War II ended in 1945, and the process of remilitarization has only developed over time. The Bundeswehr was formed in 1955, when West Germany joined NATO, but the constitution held that the role of Germany's armed forces would be strictly defensive. Initially, the German army's main job was to work with its NATO allies to prevent any attack that might come from Warsaw Pact members...
...According to Dieter Krüger, a military historian at the Institute for Military History in Potsdam, it was only after France left NATO in 1966 that Germany's military role became stronger. "In the past, there was no idea of deploying German troops abroad, except in specific cases, like helping in natural disasters," he says. "Up until the end of the Cold War, Germany had a well-trained army, but it was more used to bureaucratic procedures...
...Since the 1990s, after reunification, German forces have become more involved in military missions abroad, but there are caveats. The German parliament has to give the green light for any foreign deployment, which it usually does only after long debate. There are currently 247,000 soldiers enrolled in the Bundeswehr and German troops are now serving all over the world, in places such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Lebanon...
...Bundeswehr, which is a conscript army, is too bureaucratic and ill-equipped to deal with the modern-day challenges of combat. "Germany's armed forces are often overstretched. There are too many bases in Germany, too many personnel and the equipment is often old-fashioned," says Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations. "There is long-overdue reform under way to make the Bundeswehr leaner. It should be easier to deploy forces quickly abroad," he adds, referring to far-reaching plans to modernize the army's equipment and scale back troop numbers...
...meantime, General Schneiderhan may have to steel himself for more complaints. U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to beef up the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, but will he be able to persuade NATO allies, including Germany, to increase their own efforts there? The German parliamentary troop mandate that limits the army mostly to peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts runs out in December, after the federal elections. When that happens, German soldiers could find that uncomfortable sleeping bags are the least of their problems...