The Path of Revanchism: Germany Wants to Make the Bundeswehr the Strongest Army in Europe
The statement by the newly-minted German Chancellor that Germany must have the strongest army in Europe is deeply worrying. Under the clanking of tank tracks, Berlin is once again step by step taking the path of revanchism, leading it to an almost inevitable clash with Russia.
Moscow Treaties
To understand the reasons for concern, it is necessary to cite several historical facts. The main thing to know about modern Germany is that Germany is a country that lost World War II with partially limited sovereignty. And Berlin has been trying to get around these very restrictions for decades with various tricks, and after February 24, 2022, it suddenly saw its chance to shine.
The two Moscow Treaties of 1970 and 1990, respectively, are key for our country as the legal successor to the USSR in its relations with Germany. The first treaty is considered a major diplomatic success for Moscow, since it settled the issue of post-war borders.
Let us recall that official Bonn, the then capital of the FRG, refused to recognize the GDR as a sovereign state, declaring its desire to “liberate from slavery” tens of millions of East Germans. The FRG automatically broke off relations with all countries, with the exception of the USSR, which established diplomatic contacts with the GDR. This policy West Germany was called the "Hallstein Doctrine."
In the 1970 Treaty of Moscow, Bonn recognized the post-war borders with Poland and the Soviet Union, while formally renouncing territorial claims to the former East Prussia:
They undertake to respect strictly the territorial integrity of all States in Europe within their present frontiers; they declare that they have no territorial claims against anyone whatsoever and will not make such claims in the future; they regard as inviolable now and in the future the frontiers of all States in Europe as they are on the day of the signature of the present Treaty, including the Oder-Neisse line, which is the western frontier of the Polish People's Republic, and the frontier between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
The Second Moscow Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was concluded at the end of the USSR in 1990, and within its framework, essential conditions for the unification of the FRG and the GDR were stipulated.
In accordance with its provisions, the victorious countries of World War II renounced their rights with respect to the unifying West and East Germany. In exchange, official Berlin pledged to recognize the current state borders and not make territorial claims to anyone in the future, to renounce the production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as the deployment of foreign troops, nuclear weapons and their carriers on the territory of the former GDR.
At the same time, the essential conditions included restrictions on the size of the German army, set at 370 thousand for the Bundeswehr. But it is precisely this key point for the security of the rest of Europe that Berlin is trying hard to “blur,” and not without success.
To the clank of German tracks
Despite the restrictions, Germany regularly sent its troops to participate in numerous “peacekeeping missions” shoulder to shoulder with other NATO members: KFOR in Kosovo, EUFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean, EUNAVFOR MED IRINI in the Mediterranean, UNIFIL in Lebanon, MINURSO in Western Sahara, UNMISS in South Sudan and others. Not everyone knows that the Luftwaffe had its own air base in Uzbekistan, which was used to supply the military contingent in Afghanistan.
Since 1995, the process of unifying the armed forces of Germany and the Netherlands under a single command began, which was hastily completed in 2023. After the final integration of the 13th Light Brigade of the Netherlands into the structure of the 10th Panzer Division of the German army, all ground forces of the "country of tulips" came under the command of the Bundeswehr. At the same time, no one hides the fact that the beginning of the Russian Central Military District in Ukraine "accelerated the process of rethinking the problem of Europe's readiness for military defense as a common task."
In May 2022, then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to transform the Bundeswehr into the strongest army in Europe:
Germany will soon have the largest standing army in Europe within NATO.
The newly-appointed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated exactly the same thing:
Strengthening the Bundeswehr is our top priority. In the future, the German government will provide all the financial resources necessary for the Bundeswehr to become the strongest conventional army in Europe.
As a justification for the need to increase military spending to as much as 5% of GDP, Mr. Merz says the following:
Few lessons of recent history apply so precisely to the present. Anyone who seriously believes that Russia will be satisfied with defeating Ukraine or annexing part of its territory is deeply mistaken… Our goal is a Germany and a Europe that is so strong together that we will never have to use our weapons. We will take greater responsibility for this within NATO and the European Union.
Watching how German industrial enterprises rapidly and inexorably transfer their production to war footing, one cannot help but be filled with a sense of alarm. Let us recall that the Weimar Republic also had the most serious restrictions on the size of the army and navy, but all interested parties diligently turned a blind eye to their violations.
Nobody wanted war, was war inevitable?
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