Germany Builds Its Bundeswehr

For sheer historical resonance few European projects can match the Sturm und Drang of Germany’s effort to get its armed forces up to snuff. Berlin’s Military Service Modernization Act requires all men around 18 to respond to a questionnaire about their interest in voluntary military service. The law, effective January 1, requires fighting-age men to get approval to leave the country for more than three months. After July 2027 a fitness assessment will be required. The Bundeswehr is making a comeback, with Berlin aiming for a 2035 deadline to expand its number of active personnel to 260,000 from around 180,000. One difficulty in hitting that mark is a provision in Germany’s post World War II constitution that ordains that “Nobody must be forced into armed military service against his conscience.” Still, even those who express no interest in service will be required to undergo a medical examination by an army doctor.Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, explains that if voluntary conscription fails to suffice, mandatory service will be considered. The defense ministry explains that the requirement to register a sojourn abroad “already applied during the Cold War and had no practical relevance; in particular, it is not subject to sanctions.” Still, it suggests that if Germany — and Europe — ever enjoyed a vacation from history, that idyll is over. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the proximate cause of this newfound seriousness, but other European countries are under the same Slavic shadow and have hardly lifted a finger. While Germany has not joined the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has not stood in the way of the effort after the fashion of, say, France and Spain — and, shockingly, Britain. Such anti-American sentiment is pervasive on the Continent. Chancellor Friedrich Merz vows to “make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe as soon as possible.” The New York Times reports that Germany is cracking down on social media use by its troops, and it is borrowing more to beef up its military. Its spending dwarfs that of its neighbors. The Times reports that Europe’s “Strategic autonomy, senior French, Italian and Polish officials fear, will increasingly have a German accent.”Germany’s private sector appears to have gotten the memorandum. We’ve written about Volkswagen’s readying a production facility at Lower Saxony for the production of parts for Israel’s Iron Dome. Those accusing Germany of repeating its past miss that assisting Israel is evidence of the opposite. Meanwhile France has been so fickle that the Jewish state announced that it will halt all defense procurement from the Fifth Republic. In November our Michel Gurfinkiel surfaced remarks by a top French general, Fabien Mandon, that “If our country falters because it is not prepared to accept losing its children — to put it bluntly — or to suffer economically as priorities shift to defense production, then we are at risk.” Mr. Gurfinkiel found the words “had the effect of a stick of dynamite.” A similar impetus could be afoot in Germany. Would that Europe was woken from its ennui.

Germany Builds Its Bundeswehr

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