The fifteen essays in this volume offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany. The American military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany after WWII played an important role not just in the NATO military alliance but also in German-American relations as a whole. Around twenty-two-million US servicemen and their dependants have been stationed in Germany since WWII, and their presence has contributed to one of the few successful American attempts at democratic nation building in the twentieth century. In the social and cultural realm the GIs helped to Americanize Germany, and their own German experiences influenced the US civil rights movement and soldier radicalism. The US military presence also served as a bellwether for overall relations between the two countries.
The fifteen essays in this volume offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany. The American military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany after WWII played an important role not just in the NATO military alliance but also in German-American relations as a whole. Around twenty-two-million US servicemen and their dependants have been stationed in Germany since WWII, and their presence has contributed to one of the few successful American attempts at democratic nation building in the twentieth century. In the social and cultural realm the GIs helped to Americanize Germany, and their own German experiences influenced the US civil rights movement and soldier radicalism. The US military presence also served as a bellwether for overall relations between the two countries.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr; Part I. Strategy and Politics: 1. Guarantors of peace and freedom: the US forces in Germany, 1945-90 Hans-Joachim Harder; 2. Deterrence and defense: the stationing of US troops in Germany and the implementation of forward strategy in Europe, 1950-67 Bruno Thosse; 3. The war that was never fought: the US army, the Bundeswehr, and the NATO central front Dennis Showalter; 4. Why they did not go home: the GIs and the battle over their presence in the 1960s and 1970s Hubert Zimmermann; Part II. Military Communities: 5. United States army military communities in Germany Thomas Leuerer; 6. German-American relations at the local level: Heidelberg, 1948-55 Theodor Scharnholz; 7. American military families in West Germany: social, cultural, and foreign relations, 1946-65 Donna Alvah; Part III. Tensions between Neighbors: 8. Insolent occupiers, aggressive protectors: policing GI delinquency in early 1950s Germany Gerhard Fürmetz; 9. Protection from the protector: court-martial cases and the lawlessness of occupation in American-controlled Berlin, 1945-8 Jennifer V. Evans; Part IV. The German Armed Forces and the American Model: 10. The godfathers of Innere Führung? The American military model and the creation of the Bundeswehr Klaus Naumann; 11. From Befehlsausgabe to 'briefing': the Americanization of the Luftwaffe Wolfgang Schmidt; Part V. The 1970s and 1980s: 12. 'Army in anguish': the United States army, Europe in the early 1970s Alexander Vazansky; 13. The US military and dissenters in the ranks: Germany 1970-5 Howard J. De Nike; 14. The US armed forces and the development of anti-NATO protests in West Germany, 1980-9 Anni Baker; 15. GIs under seige: the German peace movement confronts the US military Lou Martin; Appendix: population statistics on the US armed forces in Germany, 1945-2000 Dewey Browder.
