During World War I, Germany executed 48 soldiers for insubordination, and its basic training regimen-designed around unconditional submission to higher officers-was known as one of Europe’s most brutal. Unconditional obedience to military orders was once a norm going back to the kingdoms that preceded Germany before it became a nation state in 1871. In practice, that means that a soldier or armed forces administrator can ignore a superior officer’s order-even if it’s in the midst of combat or is given by a high-ranking official. In fact, if the order denies human dignity to the armed forces member or the order’s target, it must not be obeyed.
However, the German military manual states that a military order is not binding if it is not “of any use for service,” or cannot reasonably be executed. And the reasons why can be found in the country’s sinister past.Īmerican military law states that an order can only be disobeyed if it is unlawful. Military disobedience is actually baked into the German Bundeswehr, or armed forces. In the United States, he would have just committed the unforgivable and illegal act of insubordination, even if the superior officer weren’t from the same service branch.īut in this scenario, the German soldier didn’t break the rules-he followed them. A soldier from the German army receives an order from a superior to fire his gun, but he puts it down and walks away. Consider, if you will, a fraught military standoff.
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