What is National People's Army?
[[File:Coat of arms of NVA (East Germany).svg|thumb|Insignia of the National People's Army]] The '''National People's Army''' ('''NPA'''; {{lang-de|Nationale Volksarmee}}, ''NVA'') was the armed forces of [[German Democratic Republic|East Germany]]. The NPA was founded on 1 March 1956. It developed from the ''Kasernierte [[Volkspolizei]]'' (Barracked People's Police), which was started in 1952. Serving with the army was [[wikt:voluntary|voluntary]] at first. [[Conscription]] was introduced on 24 January 1962. Conscription was for male citizens between the ages of 18 and 26. If they were selected, they had to serve in the NPA for 18 months. The NVA was at its largest in 1987. It had about 175,000 soldiers at this time. The NVA was modeled on [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military philosophy. Its leadership and operations were governed by the officer corp. The [[non-commissioned officer]] corps was limited in terms of authority and responsibility, unlike in the [[West Germany|West German]] army. There were also political officers throughout the NVA, whose job it was to guarantee the [[loyalty]] of the military to the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|ruling political party]]. == Organization == The NVA was made up of four main branches: * The ''[[Land Forces of the National People's Army|Landstreitkräfte]]'' (Land Forces) with a strength of 120,000 soldiers. * The ''[[Volksmarine]]'' (People's Navy) with a strength of 16,300 sailors. * The ''[[Air Forces of the National People's Army|Luftstreitkräfte/Luftverteidigung]]'' (Air Forces/Air Defense) with a strength of 39,000 airmen. * The ''[[Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic|Grenztruppen der DDR]]'' (Border Troops of the GDR) with a strength of 50,000 border guards. The NVA also had a large number of [[military reserve|reserve]] and [[paramilitary]] forces. These could be called to serve during a [[crisis]]. The NVA was merged into the [[Bundeswehr]] in October [[1990]] upon the [[German reunification|reunification of Germany]]. The merging of the two G