Key point: Germany’s military has been vastly underfunded. The modern German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, were created just ten years after the end of World War II. Cold war tensions and the presence of Soviet troops in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland made a West German defense force necessary. The Bundeswehr eventually grew to one…
In the future, according to the will of Germany’s Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer, the Bundeswehr needs to take much more responsibility and fight side by side with the allies. A noble and long overdue vision. However, does Germany possess military capabilities after having focused on diplomacy for decades and no real combat situations? The idea was…
FILE – Soldiers attend an oath-taking ceremony of the German army at the Defense Ministry in Berlin, July 20, 2019. As reports about the threat of far-right recruitment among Europe’s law enforcement and military grow, German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, told VOA that they are working to keep far-right extremists away from their units or…
AP Photo – Michael Probst Germany has traditionally prioritized defense over offense in cyberspace. That’s now beginning to change. There is a reoccurring debate in German national security and foreign policy whether Germany suffers from “Strategieunfähigkeit”—an inability to develop and implement strategy. The historic trauma of two lost World Wars created a pacifist culture that always…