Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2014-06 On contemporary war and the German Armed Forces: the Afghan war and its consequences Bleibohm, Sascha Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/42584 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS ON CONTEMPORARY WAR AND THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES: THE AFGHAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES by Sascha Bleibohm June 2014 Thesis Advisor: Donald Abenheim Co-Advisor: Carolyn Halladay Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704–0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED June 2014 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS ON CONTEMPORARY WAR AND THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES: THE AFGHAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 6. AUTHOR Sascha Bleibohm 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING N/A AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. IRB Protocol number ____N/A____. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited A 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Since the 1990s, German soldiers have been continuously deployed abroad without geographical restrictions. This policy breaks with the customs of the Cold War, in which the Bundeswehr focused strictly on continental roles and missions of forward defense in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The thesis argues that the evolution of the Bundeswehr to operational forces was a military adaptation determined by sociopolitical and military dynamics. Missions abroad transformed the Bundeswehr and had implications on the political level, and in society more broadly, in the face of domestic doubts and a public skepticism about war. More specifically, this transition has forced more qualitative changes than did unification and perhaps anything that came before. The heart and brains of the Bundeswehr changed because the Afghan mission was a new operational environment with unknown demands and consequences to which soldiers and civilians had to adapt in order to carry out the mission with success amid strategic ambiguity and domestic resistance. It resulted in a change of thinking, which has led to an emergence of a new identity of the Bundeswehr with a new Einsatz-Generation, which will have significant effects in Germany and among its allies well after the Germans cease security and combat operations in Afghanistan. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF Afghanistan, Bundeswehr, Einsatz-Generation, functional extension, German armed forces, PAGES Germany, Innere Führung, International Security Assistance Force, miles bellicus, miles 155 protector, military operations other than war, military professionalism, North Atlantic Treaty 16. PRICE CODE Organization, Operation Enduring Freedom, paradoxical requirements, soldiers for combat, soldiers for peace 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540–01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2–89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239–18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited ON CONTEMPORARY WAR AND THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES: THE AFGHAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES Sascha Bleibohm Captain, German Air Force Diploma, German Armed Forces University, Munich, 2007 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH ASIA, AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL June 2014 Author: Sascha Bleibohm Approved by: Donald Abenheim, Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Carolyn Halladay, Ph.D. Co-Advisor Mohammed M. Hafez, Ph.D. Chair, Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, German soldiers have been continuously deployed abroad without geographical restrictions. This policy breaks with the customs of the Cold War, in which the Bundeswehr focused strictly on continental roles and missions of forward defense in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The thesis argues that the evolution of the Bundeswehr to operational forces was a military adaptation determined by sociopolitical and military dynamics. Missions abroad transformed the Bundeswehr and had implications on the political level, and in society more broadly, in the face of domestic doubts and a public skepticism about war. More specifically, this transition has forced more qualitative changes than did unification and perhaps anything that came before. The heart and brains of the Bundeswehr changed because the Afghan mission was a new operational environment with unknown demands and consequences to which soldiers and civilians had to adapt in order to carry out the mission with success amid strategic ambiguity and domestic resistance. It resulted in a change of thinking, which has led to an emergence of a new identity of the Bundeswehr with a new Einsatz-Generation, which will have significant effects in Germany and among its allies well after the Germans cease security and combat operations in Afghanistan. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................1 B. IMPORTANCE ................................................................................................2 C. PROBLEMS AND HYPOTHESIS ................................................................6 D. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................8 E. METHODS AND SOURCES .......................................................................14 F. THESIS OVERVIEW ...................................................................................16 II. THE KARST–BAUDISSIN CONTROVERSY: MILITARY PROFESSIONALISM ...............................................................................................17 A. INNERE FÜHRUNG: GERMAN MILITARY PROFESSIONALISM ...18 B. KARST: SOLDIERS FOR COMBAT .........................................................20 C. VON BAUDISSIN: SOLDIERS FOR PEACE ...........................................23 D. COMPARISON: KARST-BAUDISSIN ON GERMAN MILITARY PROFESSIONALISM ...................................................................................25 III. ISAF AND OEF: PEACEKEEPING IN KABUL AND A CONVENTIONAL WAR ............................................................................................................................29 A. GERMANY’S UNLIMITED SOLIDARITY AND OEF I–III ..................31 B. BONN AGREEMENT AND ISAF I–II .......................................................35 C. TWOFOLD MILITARY WAY: OEF VIS-À-VIS ISAF ...........................39 D. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................43 IV. MISSION DEFINES WHAT? PEACEKEEPING IN AND AROUND KABUL .......................................................................................................................47 A. GERMAN ISAF EXPANSION AND PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAMS (PRT) IN AND AROUND KABUL .......49 B. GERMAN MILITARY IMPLICATIONS ..................................................54 C. GERMAN MILITARY CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES .............58 D. CONCLUSION: MILES PROTECTOR IN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS ...............................................................................................61 V. FIGHTING, ARMED CONFLICT, AND WAR ....................................................65 A. SECURITY DECLINE: ADAPTATION OF THE BUNDESWEHR ......69 B. BERLIN’S REVISION: KRIEG AND GEFALLENE ................................75 C. COMBAT INTENSIFIES AND DOMESTIC POLITICS .........................79 D. CONCLUSION: MILES BELLICUS IN ARMED CONFLICT OR WAR ................................................................................................................86 VI. THE EVOLUTION OF THE BUNDESWEHR TO OPERATIONAL FORCES .....................................................................................................................91 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................105 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST .......................................................................................139