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why are uk military forces still based in germany, and not france?

Supplement from 06/08/2006 11:42pm:

Should have expressed the question better - now that the Berlin wall has fallen, why are we still in Germany? Has it some strategic value such as Cyprus & Malta have, or is it just "because we can"?

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Asked in social, military, history asked on: 06/08/2006 11:27pm

closed on: 06/15/2006 11:27pm

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ndm20

Rank: Robert Koch (8,664) | history (418), military (7)

9 minutes after the question was opened (06/08/2006 11:35pm)

Just in case the germans try to start another war, then we'll already be there to stop it ;-)

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Rank: Albert Einstein (13,974) | history (792), military (20), social (19)

14 minutes after the question was opened (06/08/2006 11:40pm)

It's something to do with a war that happened, it was in all the papers.

Britain, USA and Russia were there to enforce martial rule at the time. With the fall of the wall there was no further need which is why Russia left around 1994.

Supplement from 06/09/2006 01:51am:

It is probably something that will become less and less as the original reasons for being there diminish. The cost of supporting an army in modern times is prohibitive so, for financial reasons, it will happen when the political climate is more certain. It is always beneficial to retain a springboard from inside Europe to launch counterstrikes.

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Rank: Doctorate (2,380) | history (567), social (19), military (12)

23 minutes after the question was opened (06/08/2006 11:49pm)

After the second world war, Germany was divided up by the Allies and there were zones of operation.

Russia took the East, France and Belgium took the North West, the UK took the middle part of West Germany and the USA took south Western Germany. Berlin was split 4 ways as well as it was in a corridor of East Germany.

So Germany became a base for UK military operations in Europe in a way that France never was, nor never would accept.

It was , as was mentioned, a way to ensure that Germany did not gain military strength ever again.

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