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 U.S. servicemen and their dependents 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 U.S. civil rights movement and soldier radicalism. The U.S. 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. Around twenty-two-million U.S. servicemen and their dependents 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 U.S. civil rights movement and soldier radicalism.
Recenzijos
' worth a read not just for its account of the cultural, political, and social history that created the relationship between Germany and the United States today, but also to serve as a lesson for the pitfalls that our military is sure to face as it changes how forces are postured in the years to come.' Military Review 'This is a too-rare moment of genuine collaboration and cooperation between American and German scholars who bring together a range of perspectives on the American military presence in Germany the editors and contributors who patiently assembled this book should be very proud. Any scholar whose work touches on America's Cold War Army or on postwar German history will benefit from this volume.' Journal of Military History 'The authors have made valuable contributions to the nation's military history and to the study of international relations scholars of American military history, international relations, and international social history will certainly find this volume to be a valuable addition to their reading lists.' H-Net Reviews 'This diverse collection offers a nuanced assessment of whether and how the massive US military presence contributed to Americanization from above and below as well as to Americanism. It will be of interest to students of American military history, the Cold War, postwar West Germany, and the 1970s.' Mary Nolan, The Journal of American History
Daugiau informacijos
These fifteen essays offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany since World War Two.
Introduction Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr; Part I. Strategy and Politics:
1.
Guarantors of peace and freedom: the US forces in Germany, 194590
Hans-Joachim Harder;
2. Deterrence and defense: the stationing of US troops
in Germany and the implementation of forward strategy in Europe, 195067
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, 194855 Theodor Scharnholz;
7. American military
families in West Germany: social, cultural, and foreign relations, 194665
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, 19458 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 19705 Howard J. De Nike;
14. The US armed forces and the development
of anti-NATO protests in West Germany, 19809 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, 19452000
Dewey Browder.
Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr is Associate Professor of History at American International College. He is the author of Adenauer's Foreign Office: West German Diplomacy in the Shadow of the Third Reich (2012). Detlef Junker is Senior Distinguished Professor of History and founding director of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at Heidelberg University. He is the editor of the two-volume handbook The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 19451990 (2004).
