Editing Konrad Adenauer (section)

==== Military affairs ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-27146-0001, Paris, NATO-Vertrag, Unterzeichnung Adenauer.jpg|thumb|Signing the [[North Atlantic Treaty]] in Paris, 1954 (Adenauer at the left)]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1998-006-34, Andernach, Adenauer besucht Bundeswehr.jpg|thumb|Minister [[Theodor Blank|Blank]] and Adenauer with General [[Hans Speidel|Speidel]] inspect formations of the newly created {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} on 20 January 1955.]]
In the spring of 1954, opposition to the [[Pleven plan]] grew within the French [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].,{{sfn|Large|1996|p=209}} and in August 1954, it died when an alliance of conservatives and Communists in the National Assembly joined forces to reject the EDC treaty under the grounds that West German rearmament in any form was an unacceptable danger to France.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}}

The British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] told Adenauer that Britain would ensure that West German rearmament would happen, regardless if the National Assembly ratified the EDC treaty or not,{{sfn|Large|1996|p=211}} and Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] used the failure of the EDC to argue for independent West German rearmament and West German NATO membership.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} Thanks in part to Adenauer's success in rebuilding West Germany's image, the British proposal met with considerable approval.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} In the ensuing [[London and Paris Conferences|London conference]], Eden assisted Adenauer by promising the French that Britain would always maintain at least four divisions in the [[British Army of the Rhine]] as long as there was a Soviet threat, with the strengthened British forces also aimed implicitly against any German revanchism.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=217}} Adenauer then promised that Germany would never seek to have nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as capital ships, strategic bombers, long-range artillery, and guided missiles, although these promises were non-binding.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=217}} The French had been assuaged that West German rearmament would be no threat to France. Additionally, Adenauer promised that the West German military would be under the operational control of NATO general staff, though ultimate control would rest with the West German government; and that above all he would never violate the strictly defensive NATO charter and invade East Germany to achieve German reunification.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=220}}

In May 1955, West Germany joined NATO and in November a West German military, the {{lang|de|[[Bundeswehr]]}}, was founded.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} Though Adenauer made use of a number of former {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]}} generals and admirals in the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}, he saw the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} as a new force with no links to the past, and wanted it to be kept under [[civilian control of the military|civilian control]] at all times.<ref>Fritz Erler, 'Politik und nicht Prestige,' in Erler and Jaeger, Sicherheit und Rustung, 1962, p.82-3, cited in Julian Lider, ''Origins and Development of West German Military Thought'', Vol. I, 1949–1966, Gower Publishing Company Ltd, Aldershot/Brookfield VT, 1986, p.125</ref> To achieve these aims, Adenauer gave a great deal of power to the military reformer [[Wolf Graf von Baudissin]].{{sfn|Large|1996|pp=177–178}}

Adenauer reached an agreement for his "nuclear ambitions" with a NATO Military Committee in December 1956 that stipulated West German forces were to be "equipped for [[nuclear warfare]]".{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=442}} Concluding that the United States would eventually pull out of Western Europe, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries. The French government then proposed that France, West Germany and Italy jointly develop and produce [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[nuclear weapons delivery|delivery systems]], and an agreement was signed in April 1958. With the ascendancy of [[Charles de Gaulle]], the agreement for joint production and control was shelved indefinitely.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=458}} President [[John F. Kennedy]], an ardent foe of [[nuclear proliferation]], considered sales of such weapons moot since "in the event of war the United States would, from the outset, be prepared to defend the Federal Republic."{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=490}} The physicists of the [[Max Planck Society|Max Planck Institute]] for Theoretical Physics at [[Göttingen]] and other renowned universities would have had the scientific capability for in-house development, but the will was absent,{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=444}} nor was there public support. With Adenauer's fourth-term election in November 1961 and the end of his chancellorship in sight, his "nuclear ambitions" began to taper off.