GIs in Germany
The Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political History of the American Military Presence

These fifteen essays offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany since World War Two.

Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr (Edited by), Detlef Junker (Edited by)

9780521851336, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 September 2013

378 pages, 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.72 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], History of the Americas [HBJK], European history [HBJD]