Description: At midnight on October 2, 1990, the West German armed forces took over the approximately 90,000 men comprising the National People's (East German) Army (NVA) and assumed control of its substantial arsenal. This study is an analysis of the unification of those armies from July 1990 to the summer of 1993, when all applications for future service of former NVA officers and non-commissioned officers had been processed. Using numerous unpublished sources and interviews, the author addresses the following areas: the organization used by the Bundeswehr and the political control exerted in the Takeover, the key decisions reached and the explanation of these decisions, the relationship of the Takeover to the new Army Structure 5 being implemented at the time, and the effect of the Takeover on the Bundeswehr's operational readiness, especially its ability to perform its "new tasks" identified in the spring of 1991.

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