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Overview
Building on a strong foundation of primary sources, this unique study traces the role of East Germany's military (NVA) in the country's unification with West Germany. Utilizing interviews with and questionnaires from NVA officers, Herspring unravels the puzzle of the NVA's decision against using force to save the political system it was sworn to serve. The author also examines the integration of a select minority of officers and NC's into the Bundeswehr. Illuminating the problems encountered by the Bundeswehr as it incorporated these individuals, Herspring constructs an ideal type of officer in one of the most politicized and tightly controlled of all communist militaries. His findings will be invaluable for all military-political specialists and for anyone interested in the process of transition from authoritarian/totalitarian to democratic systems.
Synopsis
Most Western models suggest that in the face of open threats to the military's core interests, the army would have fought to keep the status quo. Yet the military actually facilitated the introduction of a new democratic polity and in the process dug its own grave. Trained under a Russian-inspired system that minimized the role of the individual, this group was suddenly exposed to the radically different _Innere Fuehrung_ concept that lies at the heart of the Bundeswehr's ethos.
Ronald A. Francisco
Dale Herspring has uncovered a fascinating story about the conduct and collapse of the East German army during both the protest against the East German government and also the reunification of Germany..
Editorials
Contemporary Security Policy
The remarkable materials assembled in the Herspring volume in the desintegration of the NVA will make this book the point of departure for analysis of a military-political event that had no precedent as of 1989.Journal Of Conflict Studies
In Requiem for an Army, Dale R. Herspring offers a useful English summary of the events surrounding the collapse of the East German military. Professor Herspring contribution is to have identified the key actors as well as the questions we should ask them to determine why the NVA permitted a peaceful transition to democracy and reunification.All in all a fascinating account; it is hard to fault the thorough treatment of the topic. It fills an important gap in the publications on German unification available in English.
Dale Herspring has uncovered a fascinating story about the conduct and collapse of the East German army during both the protest against the East German government and also the reunification of Germany..