Hans Speidel was a German military officer who successively served in the armies of the German Empire, Nazi Germany and West Germany. The first general officer of the Bundeswehr, he was a key player in West German rearmament during the Cold War as well as West Germany's integration into NATO and international negotiations on European and Western defence cooperation in the 1950s. He served as Commander of the Allied Land Forces Central Europe (COMLANDCENT) from 1957 to 1963 and then as President of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs from 1964.
Speidel in 1944
Speidel with Erich von Manstein August 1943
Speidel with Erwin Rommel, April 1944
November 1955 (left to right): Adolf Heusinger, future Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr; Theodor Blank, Minister of Defence, West Germany; and Speidel
West German rearmament began in the decades after World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command. The events led to the establishment of the Bundeswehr, the West German military, in 1955. The name Bundeswehr was a compromise choice suggested by former general Hasso von Manteuffel to distinguish the new forces from the Wehrmacht term for the combined German forces of Nazi Germany.
West Germany joins NATO: Walter Hallstein (left) and Konrad Adenauer (centre) at the NATO Conference in Paris in 1954
Generals Adolf Heusinger and Hans Speidel sworn into the newly founded Bundeswehr by Theodor Blank on 12 November 1955