The Significance of the Balkans as a Strategic-Operational Area for the Bundeswehr

Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Josef Rudolf Schlaffer joined the Bundeswehr in 1991 and finished officer training in 1994. Between 1994 and 1997 he studied history, social science and law at the University of the Bundeswehr Hamburg, at the State University of Hamburg and the CCSU, New Britain, USA. In 1998 he returned to serve in the Bundeswehr and in 1999 he became a research assistant at the Military History Research Office of the German Armed Forces (MGFA). In 2001 he was promoted to company commander. Between 2004 and 2008 he served as the Editor of the Journal of Military History. In 2005, he was promoted to Chief Staff officer at the MGFA and since 2009, he has been a lecturer at the University of Potsdam.