Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war

A missile launcher sends a cloud of brown dust in the air while it takes place on a field towards the shooting line. A few moments later, the countdown of a soldier, from five to “Fire!”, Before a rocket in the sky.

The explosions and booms of these military training exercises are so constant that the inhabitants of the small neighboring town of Munster barely notice.

But life here is ready to become even stronger.

The German soldiers, the Bundeswehr, recently obtained a little clear for a massive increase in investment after the Parliament voted to exempt defense expenses from strict debt rules.

The best general in the country has told the BBC that the boost is necessary as urgent because he thinks that the Russian aggression would not stop in Ukraine.

“We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do everything you need to dissuade this,” said Gen Carsten Breuer. He warns that NATO should be prepared for a possible attack in as little as four years.

“It is not the time I need, it is much more time that Putin gives us to prepare ourselves,” said the defense chief. “And the sooner we will be prepared, the better.”

The large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has profoundly changed reflection in Germany.

For decades, people here have been raised on a rejection of military power, who is perfectly aware of the past role of Germany as an aggressor in Europe.

“We have started two world wars. Even if 80 years since the end of the Second World War, the idea that the Germans should stay outside the conflicts are still in the DNA of many people,” said Markus Ziener of the German Fund Marshall in Berlin.

Some remain suspicious of everything that could be considered a militarism, even now, and the armed forces have been chronic subfuncées.

“There are voices warning:” Are we really on the right track? Is our perception of the threat, right? “”

Regarding Russia, Germany has had a specific approach.

While countries like Poland and the Baltic States have warned against the fact of getting closer to Moscow – and increased their own defense expenses – Berlin under the former Chancellor Angela Merkel believed in business.

Germany imagined that it delivered democratization by osmosis. But Russia has taken the money and still invaded Ukraine.

Thus, in February 2022, an amazed Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared a national pivot in priority, a “zeitenwende”.

It was at this point that he hired a giant of 100 billion euros ($ 108 billion; 83 billion pounds sterling) to stimulate the country’s soldiers and keep “hot like Putin”. But General Breuer says it was not enough.

“We have filled the hen nests a little,” he says. “But it’s really bad.”

On the other hand, he underlines heavy expenses in Russia for arms and equipment, for stocks as well as the front line in Ukraine.

It also highlights the hybrid war of Russia: from cyber attacks to sabotage, as well as unidentified drones on German military sites.

Add to this aggressive rhetoric by Vladimir Putin and General Breuer sees “a really dangerous mixture”.

“Unlike the Western world, Russia does not think in the boxes. It is not a time of peace and war, it is a continuum: let’s start with hybrid, then degenerate, then back. This is what makes me think that we are confronted with a real threat.”

He maintains that Germany must act quickly.

The striking assessment by the head of the defense of the current state of his forces sounds with a recent report to Parliament. The Bundeswehr, he concluded, had “too little of everything”.

The author of the report, the commissioner of the armed forces, Eva Högl, revealed disastrous shortages ranging from ammunition to soldiers, to the dilapidated barracks. She estimated the budget for renovating work at around 67 billion euros ($ 72 billion; 56 billion pounds sterling).

The lifting of the debt ceiling, allowing soldiers to borrow – in theory, without limit – will give it access to a “stable line” of funding to start solving this problem, says General Breuer.

The historical move was made by the expected successor of Scholz, Friedrich Merz, in a precipitation which raised eyebrows. He submitted the proposal to Parliament just before it was dissolved after the February elections.

The new parliament, with an anti-militarist and the far-right Russian type, could have been less favorably.

But the “tour” that Germany began in 2022 took a new momentum this year.

A recent Yougov survey has shown that 79% of Germans still consider Vladimir Putin as “very” or “completely” dangerous for European peace and security.

Now 74% said the same for Donald Trump.

The investigation followed a speech in Munich in which his vice-president JD Vance put in Europe and its values.

“It was a clear signal that something has fundamentally changed in the United States,” said Markus Ziener.

“We do not know where the United States is heading, but we know that we can count 100% on American protection regarding our security – this confidence has now disappeared.”

In Berlin, the traditional prudence of the Germans about all that is military seems to fade quickly.

Charlotte Kreft, eighteen, says that her own pacifist opinions have changed.

“For a very long time, we thought that the only way to compensate for the atrocities that we committed during the Second World War was to make sure that it never happened (…) and we thought we needed to move,” said Charlotte.

“But now we are in a situation where we have to fight for our values ​​and our democracy and our freedom. We have to adapt.”

“There are many Germans who still feel strange with regard to big investments in our soldiers,” said Ludwig Stein. “But I think that given the things that have happened in recent years, there is no other real option.”

Sophie, a young mother, thinks that the investment in defense is now “necessary in the world in which we live”.

But Germany needs troops as well as tanks, and it is much less interested in its own enlisted son.

The Bundeswehr has only one permanent meeting center, a small unit sandwiched between a pharmacy and a shoe store next to the Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin.

With models camouflaged in the window and slogans like “cool and spicy”, it aims to attract men and women to serve, but receives only a handful of calls every day.

Germany has already missed the objective of strengthening its ranks by 20,000 soldiers, to 203,000, and to reduce the average age by 34 years.

But General Breuer’s ambitions are much larger.

He told us that Germany needed 100,000 additional soldiers to defend itself and the eastern NATO flank adequately – a total of 460,000, including the reserves. He therefore insisted that a return to military service is “absolutely” necessary.

“You will not get this 100,000 without one or another conscription model,” said the general.

“We don’t have to determine which model brings them. For me, it is important that we train the soldiers.”

This debate has just started.

General Breuer is clearly positioned at the front of an effort to push further and faster from Germany.

With his easy and engaging way, he likes to visit regional town halls and challenge the public there with a question: “Are you ready for war?”

One day, a woman accused her of having frightened her. “I said:” It is not me who scares you, it’s the other guy! “”, He recalls his answer.

He was referring to Vladimir Putin.

The twin “awakening” alarm – of the threat of Russia and an isolationist, disengaged in the United States – now sounds strong for Germany, supports the general and cannot be ignored.

“Now it is understandable for each of us that we have to change.”