| abstract | - The military of West Germany and the reunified Germany. The Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Force) was founded in 1955 on initiative by the Western Allies/NATO and is most notable for two things: Not being the Wehrmacht and not appearing in fiction very often. During the Cold War, the Bundeswehr, like their East Germany counterpart, spent most of their time waiting for World War III to break out and occasionally helped out after natural disasters. They didn't see combat until The Nineties. Since the reunification, the Bundeswehr has undergone an extensive reform process from two land forces built to attack each other into one international crisis intervention force. Quite a task, considering its budget is steadily shrinking and among the lowest military budgets in the NATO (in terms of share of GDP) due to the low popularity of The War on Terror and the military in general. It is currently engaged in a "situation similar to war" in Afghanistan. The Bundeswehr is split into the three main fighting branches (Army; Navy; Air Force) as well as several supportive and organisational braches. The commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr is the Minister of Defense (Newly former Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, because Doctor Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg stepped down), except when a state of emergency is declared, then it's the chancellor.
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