{"id":328556,"date":"2026-07-01T06:56:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T06:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=328556"},"modified":"2026-07-03T05:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:59:59","slug":"germany-considers-return-of-military-conscription","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=328556","title":{"rendered":"Germany considers return of military conscription"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emily Smith \u2013 The Telegraph June 27, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Germany is considering reintroducing military conscription for all men by 2027.<\/p>\n

The country has attempted to bolster its armed forces through volunteer schemes to counter the growing threat from Russia<\/a>, but lawmakers fear this is insufficient.<\/p>\n

Thomas R\u00f6wekamp, chairman of the German parliament’s defence committee, warned that Berlin would have little choice but to revive compulsory enrolment if ambitious recruitment targets were not met.<\/p>\n

Mr R\u00f6wekamp, of the Christian Democratic Union party, said: “If we do not manage to reach these targets through voluntary enlistment, we will have to return to compulsory conscription.”<\/p>\n

He said the decision must be taken by July 31 next year, when the current military service legislation is due to come into effect.<\/p>\n

Germany has struggled to attract sufficient recruits despite increased defence spending. Friedrich Merz<\/a>, the German chancellor, has pledged to build Europe’s strongest conventional army, expanding the Bundeswehr from around 185,000 career soldiers to 260,000 by 2035.<\/p>\n

Speaking to AFP, Mr R\u00f6wekamp said ministers would need to decide in the first half of next year whether voluntary recruitment alone could deliver the numbers required.<\/p>\n

He said: “We will need to have a very fundamental discussion about whether we can achieve the very ambitious growth requirements for active forces and reservists on a voluntary basis. I still have serious doubts that we can.”<\/p>\n

Mr R\u00f6wekamp said he could “understand that there is uncertainty on this issue”.<\/p>\n

Germany suspended compulsory military service in 2011, but the country’s defence posture has shifted dramatically since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr R\u00f6wekamp said that, since then, “we have not discussed questions of war and peace and the need for defence with the younger generation at all”.<\/p>\n

He warned that Russia could be ready to attack a Nato<\/a> country by 2029, adding: “That is why I strongly advocate that we talk with this generation, not just about them.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year Germany introduced a military service model designed to address a chronic military recruitment crisis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Under the legislation, men of military age must complete a fitness questionnaire and undergo a medical assessment. The government has reserved the power to introduce compulsory service if voluntary recruitment falls short.<\/p>\n

There was uproar earlier this year when plans were announced that men born in 2008 or later must ask the army for permission to leave the country for more than three months. Boris Pistorius, the defence minister, was forced to abandon the plans after widespread criticism.<\/p>\n

The military reforms have proved controversial among younger Germans, with critics accusing the government of treating young people as “cannon fodder”.<\/p>\n

Germany is not the only European country trying to build up its armed forces in the face of growing Russian<\/a> aggression.<\/p>\n

In France, Emmanuel Macron launched a voluntary form of national service<\/a> lasting 10 months, with those who sign up receiving \u20ac10,000 (\u00a38,700).<\/p>\n

The French president said the scheme would predominantly target 18 and 19-year-olds, and aimed to enlist 3,000 people in its first year, 10,000 by 2030 and 50,000 by 2035.<\/p>\n

Poland, too, has accelerated its military expansion to strengthen its defences on Nato’s eastern flank. In November, it launched a programme designed to train 400,000 people by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is not being done in response to \u201cgrowing Russian aggression,\u201d as the Telegraph claims. This is being done to prepare for war with Russia and this article illustrates how the Western media is preparing the Western public mentally for that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328556"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328566,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328556\/revisions\/328566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}