PC/AHC - a federal West German army

[varyar]

I was wondering how plausible it is that when the West German army is formed, it's a federal instead of a unitary one - that is to say, each of the Lander has its own individual army? It's probably not very likely, but the idea popped into my head and won't go away. Maybe it could be sold as something less likely to antagonize the Russians?

EDIT: Apparently the German constitution specifies national defense is a central government responsibility. Never mind!

 

[SealTheRealDeal]

You'd probably have to go back to the end of the German Empire and have Weimar preserve the regional armies.

...which would entail a radically different Weimar possibly butterflying WWII and with it the partition of Germany.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

It *could* happen, but it would require a radically different West Germany that would be much more of a federation than OTL (which, in and of itself, is the Federal Republic). If Bavaria, say, can't be forced to send troops to Hamburg on Bonn's say-so, that implies extreme de-centralisation. If Bavarian soldiers can't be forced to go to Hamburg, then odds are neither can Bavarian tax money... and so on and so forth. Obviously, this would entail a West German constitution unrecognisable from our own.

It would also become a real bugbear as the Cold War heats up and suddenly the Bundswehr becomes necessary to keep the Bear from getting 'funny ideas'.....