Today, essays on political-military affairs tend to start with overall assertions on the magnitude of changes that came about as a result of the Cold War and again after 9/11. Indeed, it seems to be some kind of conventional wisdom among contemporary military sociologists that the world events during the 1990s, the wars that followed and the threat that international catastrophic terrorism poses to the international community today, can hardly be overestimated in their effect on Western style militaries. This holds particularly true for Germany, a country located in the middle of Western Europe, that had the dubious honor of playing a central role in the strategic war planning during the confrontation with the Soviet Union and then, all of a sudden, was given the historically unique opportunity to unite two countries that had taken distinctly different developmental routes for centuries — including the task of merging the huge East German armed forces into a common military and create the perception among German citizens that these forces are truly common.