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

The missile installation sends into the air the cloud of brown dust when it moves along the field towards the fire line. In moments, the soldier’s countdown came from five to “fire!”

Explosions and boom from such military training are so constant that the locals in the nearby small city of Monster no longer notice.

But life here should become even louder.

The German military, the Bundeswehr, recently received everything understandable for a large -scale increase in investment after the parliament voted for exemption to defense from strict debt rules.

The best general of the country said the BBC that raising cash is urgent because he believes that Russian aggression would not stop in Ukraine.

“We are threatened with Russia. We are threatened with Putin. We need to do everything we need to restrain it,” says Gene Carsten Brayer. He warns that NATO should be secured for a possible attack in just four years.

“It’s not how much time I need, but how much time Putin gives us preparation,” says the defense chief. “And the sooner we are ready, the better.”

A full -scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine has greatly changed thinking in Germany.

For decades, people have been brought up here with the abandonment of military force, aware of Germany’s past role as an aggressor in Europe.

“We started two world wars. Despite the fact that 80 years have passed since the end of World War II, the idea that the Germans should remain in the conflict is still very strong in the DNA of many people,” explains Marcus Ziner from the German Marshal Foundation in Berlin.

Some remain cautious, which can be considered as militarism, and the armed forces were chronically underfunded.

“There are voices that warn,” Are we really on the right path? ” Is our perception of the threat correctly? “

As for Russia, Germany had a certain approach.

While countries such as Poland and the Baltic states warned from getting closer to Moscow – and increased their own defense costs – Berlin at former Chancellor Angela Merkel believed in business.

Germany imagined that it provides democratization by osmos. But Russia took cash and still broke into Ukraine.

Thus, in February 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholtz announced a national turn in priorities, “Zeitenwend”.

It was then that he made a giant 100 billion euros (108 billion dollars; 83 billion pounds) to increase the country’s troops and support “warriors like Putin”. But General Breier says it was not enough.

“We filled the potholes a little,” he reports. “But it’s really bad.”

On the contrary, it points to the great expenses in Russia for weapons and equipment, both for shares and a front line in Ukraine.

He also emphasizes the hybrid war of Russia: from cyber -cathedral to sabotage, as well as unidentified drones over German military monuments.

Add Vladimir Putin to this aggressive rhetoric, and General Brayer sees a “really dangerous mix.”

“Unlike the Western world, Russia does not think in the boxes. It is not a peaceful time and war, it is a continuum: let’s start with a hybrid, and then turn, and then back. It makes me think that we face a real threat.”

He claims that Germany should act quickly.

Assessment of the Chief of Defense of the Head of the current state of forces with a recent report in parliament. In the Bundeswehr, it ended, there was “too little.”

The author of the report, the Commissioner of the Armed Forces Eva Helo, revealed a terrible deficit, ranging from ammunition to soldiers, down to the outdated barracks. It estimated the budget for repairing about 67 billion euros ($ 72 billion; £ 56 billion).

According to starting to start engage in starting to start engage in the military who allows the military to give him access to a “sustainable line” of financing.

The historical step was made by the expected successor of Scholtz, Friedrich Merz, in a hurry that raised his eyebrows. He submitted a proposal to parliament immediately before he was dissolved after the election of furious.

The new Parliament with the left anti -militaristic and Russian sympathy may have been less profitable.

But the “turn”, which Germany began in 2022, gained fresh impetus this year.

A recent Yougov poll showed that 79% of Germans still see Vladimir Putin as “very” quite dangerous for European peace and security.

Now 74% said the same thing for Donald Trump.

The poll took place after the speech in Munich, in which his Vice President JD Vance laid in Europe and its values.

“It was a clear signal that something fundamentally changed in the US,” says Marcus Ziner.

“We do not know where the US goes, but we know that we can 100% hope for US protection when it comes to our security – this trust has already gone.”

In Berlin, the traditional caution of the Germans about all things that seem to be faded quickly.

The eighteen -year -old Charlotte Creoft says her own pacifist views have changed.

“For a long time, we thought the only way to replenish the atrocities we committed in the Second World War is to make sure it never happened again (…) and we thought we needed to demilitarize,” Charlotte explains.

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

“There are many Germans who still feel amazing about great investments in our military,” Ludwig Stein agrees. “But I think that given the things that have happened over the past few years, there is no other real option.”

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

But Germany needs troops as well as tanks, and she is much less fond of her own son.

The Bundeswehr has only one permanent center that passes, a small block clamped between the pharmacy and the shoe shop near Berlin Friedrichstro station.

With the wearing camouflage dummy in the window and slogans, such as “cool and sharp”, it aims to attract men and women to ministry, but just receives several subscribers daily.

Germany has already missed the goal of raising its ranks by 20,000 soldiers to 203,000 and reducing the average age of 34.

But the ambitions of General Brayer are much larger.

He told us that Germany needed an additional 100,000 troops to protect itself, and the NATO’s eastern flank is a total of 460,000, including stocks. Therefore, he insists on returning to military service, “absolutely” necessary.

“You don’t get this 100,000 without a particular conscription model,” the general said.

“Now we don’t have to determine which model brings them. It is only important for me to attract soldiers.”

This discussion has just begun.

General Breier clearly positions himself in front of the effort to push Germany’s “turn” further and faster.

With his simple, attractive way he likes to visit the regional town halls and dispute the audience there: “Are you ready for war?”

One day, the woman accused him of scaring her. “I said, ‘This is not me scared, this is another guy! “” He recalls his answer.

He meant Vladimir Putin.

The general alarm “Russia” and the isolationist, disabled by the United States,-at a loud for Germany, the general claims, and they cannot be ignored.

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