Germany: The Past that Does not Pass
Germany’s responsibility in the two global conflicts reflects, among other things, the German military’s desire to free itself from political control and the depth to which the Wehrmacht was immersed into Nazi ideology and a Nazi state whose orders it never really contested.
It is this double legacy that Federal Germany and its Bundeswehr is endeavoring to reject with regard to the functioning and doctrine of the latter, even if it means reducing its willingness and means to act.
Published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 79, No. 1, Spring 2014.