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One of the better-known attempts to win West Germany the right to rearm was the European Defense Community (EDC). A modification of the 1950 Pleven Plan, it proposed the raising of West German forces, integrated into a European Defense Force.
The Himmerod memorandum (German: Himmeroder Denkschrift) was a 40-page document produced in 1950 after a secret meeting of former Wehrmacht high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to the Himmerod Abbey to discuss West Germany's Wiederbewaffnung (rearmament).
The constant stream of East Germans fleeing across the Inner German border to West Germany placed great strains on East German-West German relations in the 1950s. East Germany sealed the borders to West Germany in 1952, but people continued to flee from East Berlin to West Berlin.
In this climate of mistrust and suspicion, the United States considered the rearmament of West Germany as a possible solution to enhance the security of Europe and of the whole Western bloc. [6] In August 1950, Winston Churchill proposed the creation of a common European army, including German soldiers, in front of the Council of Europe:
Before the creation of the Warsaw Pact, the Czechoslovak leadership, fearful of a rearmed Germany, sought to create a security pact with East Germany and Poland. [9] These states protested strongly against the re-militarization of West Germany. [16] The Warsaw Pact was put in place as a consequence of the rearming of West Germany inside NATO.
The Heinkel He 111, one of the technologically advanced aircraft that were designed and produced illegally in the 1930s as part of the clandestine German rearmament. German rearmament (Aufrüstung, German pronunciation: [ˈaʊ̯fˌʀʏstʊŋ]) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out by Germany from 1918 to 1939 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which required German ...
In 1949, West Germany is formed from the Western occupation zones, with the exception of the Saarland. In 1949, the Marshall Plan is extended to include West Germany. In 1950, the dismantling of West German heavy industry ends. In 1955, the military occupation of West Germany ends. In 1955, NATO, which was formed in 1949, allows West Germany to ...
The United States and other Western Powers first agreed to let West Germany conventionally rearm, but West German leadership would complain about "discrimination" when denied nuclear weapons as part of the rearmament. [15] West Germany would demand tactical nuclear weapons or a general disarmament throughout much of 1956 and 1957. [15]