When I lived near Luke AFB in the early 70's, Luke was training Luftwaffe pilots to fly F-104 Starfighters. I used to ride my bike onto the base and go to the flight line, and watch those lawn darts take off. They'd get halfway down the runway and light the afterburners! Freakin' awesome. Oh I wanted to be a pilot soo bad.
An F-104 was little more than a pilot strapped to a monster of a jet engine.
Meanwhile in the real world, when Washington DC talked Bonn listened. Still applies today to some level.
Edit: Public opinion can also be shaped, not least after the trauma of the Nazi period and in the midst of the Cold War. Actual influence behind the scene is usually not made known to public, and the influence of the US over Germany has been overwhelming.
I lived in Germany from 68-71. The Germans wanted us there, because they were afraid of a Soviet invasion. Wanting the US military there is quite different from the US forcing themselves on them.
Not once living there did I ever get the impression that the Germans felt the US presence was forced on them. They appreciated that the US was there to keep the Red Army at bay.
Of course, sometimes they'd complain about the Americans having bad manners, usually justifiably, and sometimes they'd envy the wealth of the Americans. I even attended a German elementary school for a while, and nobody bullied me because I was an American. I was even invited by other students to their homes to play.
The US bases were of mutual benefit to the Germans and the Americans.
Perhaps there was an aggressive imperialistic authoritarian empire next door that had split germany in two and run their half into the ground economically? No, it must be that America is bad and this country had no agency as you said
This is childish. I never made value judgements and just pointed out that the reality is not what's sold to the public in official stories (and that holds true everywhere).
"Sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany was granted on May 5, 1955, by the formal end of the military occupation of its territory"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_Germany
When I lived near Luke AFB in the early 70's, Luke was training Luftwaffe pilots to fly F-104 Starfighters. I used to ride my bike onto the base and go to the flight line, and watch those lawn darts take off. They'd get halfway down the runway and light the afterburners! Freakin' awesome. Oh I wanted to be a pilot soo bad.
An F-104 was little more than a pilot strapped to a monster of a jet engine.