Bundeswehr

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Armed Forces of Germany
Image:Bundeswehr Logo.svg
Military manpower
Military age Mandatory 17 years of age
Availability males age 18-49: 18,917,537 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service males age 18-49: 15,258,931 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually males: 497,048 (2005 est.)
Expenditure
Euro figure € 24.4 billion
US Dollar figure $30 billion
Percent of GDP
(2005) 		1.2%

The Bundeswehr (Template:Audio) is the armed forces of Germany and its administration.

It is a federal defence force with Army (Heer), Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitätsdienst) and Joint Service Support Command (Streitkräftebasis) branches.

The Bundeswehr employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18–25-year-old men on national duty who serve for at least 9 months under current rules.

In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence (currently Franz-Josef Jung); the Chancellor (currently Angela Merkel) will become commander-in-chief when Germany is in state of defence.



Contents

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History

The Bundeswehr was established on the 200th birthday of Scharnhorst in 1955 after heavy discussions about re-militarizing Germany (the Wiederbewaffnung) in view of the experience of World War II. Former German military organisations have been the Reichswehr (1921-1935) and the Wehrmacht (1935-1945). The Bundeswehr, however, does not consider itself as their successor and does not follow traditions of any former German military organisation. The official Bundeswehr traditions are based on three major subjects:

As its symbol the Bundeswehr uses a form of the Iron Cross. The Iron Cross has a long history, having been awarded as a military war time decoration for all ranks since 1813, and earlier associations with the Teutonic knights. The name Bundeswehr was proposed by the former Wehrmacht general and liberal politician Hasso von Manteuffel.

After an amendment of the basic law West Germany became a member of NATO in 1955. In 1956, conscription for all men between 18 and 45 in years was reintroduced, later on augmented by the introduction of a civil alternative with longer duration (see Conscription in Germany).

During the Cold War the Bundeswehr was the backbone of NATO's conventional defence in Central Europe. It had a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilian personnel. The Army consisted of three corps with 12 divisions, most of them heavily armed with tanks and APCs. The Air Force owned major numbers of tactical combat aircraft and took part in NATOs integrated air defence (NATINAD). The Navy was tasked and equipped to defend the Baltic Approaches, to escort reinforcement and resupply shipping in the North Sea, and to contain the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

After reunification in 1990, the Bundeswehr absorbed parts of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) of the GDR, which was being dissolved at the time.

In 1999, the NATO war in Kosovo was the first offensive conflict in which the German military actively took part since the Second World War.

In 2000, the European Court of Justice opened the previously all-male (besides medical divisions and the music corps) Bundeswehr to women.

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Organization

The Bundeswehr currently consists of about 250,000 military and about 100,000 civilian personnel. The Army is organized into 5 combat divisions and also participates in multinational command structures at the corps level. The Luftwaffe is divided into 3 divisions, and the Navy into 2 flotillas. The Central Medical Services and the Joint Service Support Command are each organized into four regional commands. All of these branches also have general commands for training, procurement, and other general issues.

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Command structure

For the employment of the armed forces the minister of defence or the chancellor in their function as commander-in-chief are supported by the Chief of Defence (CHOD, Generalinspekteur) and the service chiefs (Inspekteure) and their respective staffs. The CHOD and the service chiefs form the Military Command Council (Militärischer Führungsrat) with similar functions to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States. Subordinate to the CHOD, the Armed Forces Operational Command (Einsatzführungskommando), or for smaller missions one of the service HQs (e.g. the Fleet Command), exercise command and control of German armed forces on missions abroad.

The Bundeswehr in general is still among the world's most technologically advanced and well-supplied militaries, as befits Germany's overall economic prosperity and infrastructure. Its budget is, however, steadily shrinking and among the lowest military budgets in NATO in terms of share of GDP.

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Personnel

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Mission

Image:040610-N-1823S-348 G36andpracticenade.jpg Image:Fregatte Karlsruhe.jpg Image:8955 SeaKing41 MFG5.jpg

The role of the Bundeswehr is described in the German Basic Law (Art. 87a) as defensive only. Today the term defence has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. According to a definition by former Defence Minister Struck, it may be necessary to defend Germany even at the Hindu Kush. This allows the Bundeswehr to take part in missions outside of the borders of Germany, as part of the NATO or the European Union and mandated by the UN .

Since the early 1990's the Bundeswehr has become more and more engaged in international missions in and around the former Yugoslavia, and also in other parts of the world like Cambodia or Somalia. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, German forces were employed in most related theatres except Iraq. Currently there are Bundeswehr forces in:

In support of Allied stabilisation efforts in Iraq, the Bundeswehr is also training the new Iraqi forces in locations outside Iraq, such as the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

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See also

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External links

Template:Military of Germany

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