West German rearmament

West Germany joins NATO: Walter Hallstein (left) and Konrad Adenauer (centre) at the NATO Conference in Paris in 1954

West German rearmament (German: Wiederbewaffnung) began in the decades after World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command.[1] The events led to the establishment of the Bundeswehr, the West German military, in 1955. The name Bundeswehr was a compromise choice suggested by former general Hasso von Manteuffel to distinguish the new forces from the Wehrmacht term for the combined German forces of Nazi Germany.[2]

  1. ^ David R. Snyder, "Arming the Bundesmarine: The United States and the Build-Up of the German Federal Navy, 1950-1960." The Journal of Military History, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr. 2002), pp. 477-500.
  2. ^ name= David K Large, Germans to the Front: West German Rearmament in the Adenauer Era. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1996) Pg 243

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