Military
Because of East Germany's proximity to the West during the Soviet–American Cold War (1945–91), its four-branch military, the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army, NVA) was among the most advanced of the Warsaw Pact; its branches were:
- Army (Landstreitkräfte)
- Navy (Volksmarine – People's Navy)
- Air Force–Air Defence (Luftstreitkräfte/Luftverteidigung)
- GDR Border Troops (Grenztruppen der DDR)
Every man served eighteen months of compulsory military service; for the medically unqualified and the conscientious objector, there were the Baueinheiten construction units, established in 1964 in response to political pressure by the national Protestant Church upon the GDR’s government. The armed forces of the GDR also possessed paramilitary reserve forces, such as the Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse (Combat Groups of the Working Class), and from the Stasi, the Ministry for State Security (Mfs —Ministerium für Staatssicherheit), the “Schild und Schwert der Partei” (Shield and Sword of the Party).
Read more about this topic: East Germany
Famous quotes containing the word military:
“Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No—we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious. For that we care for them; from that have issued endless consequences.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years, abject and true remorse. No words of ours will compensate for the intolerable suffering they have undergone during the conflict.”
—Combined Loyalist Military Command. New York Times, p. A12 (October 14, l994)