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It’s a challenge that’s rooted not just in recruitment numbers, but in decades of political decisions that pushed the military to the margins of society.
After a sweeping post-Cold War downsizing in 1994 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, military bases were shut down — especially in cities. With that, according to Carlo Masala, a professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich and an adviser to the military, the army faded from public life. “Their bases today are out in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “There’s no direct contact for young people.”
That disconnect has only deepened in recent years.
Conscription ended in 2011. In 2018, the Bundeswehr’s recruitment campaign at the Gamescom gaming convention in Cologne drew backlash over a poster that read “Multiplayer at its best.” Critics accused the military of trivializing war and targeting teenagers. “Disgusting,” one user posted on X. “Trying to lure unaware gamers to the weapons.”
Earlier this year, the eastern city of Zwickau banned Bundeswehr ads from public spaces, calling itself a “city of peace” — although the municipal supervisory authority later found that decision was illegal. It’s against that backdrop — of fading visibility and political hesitation — that Germany is now placing its bet on a new, voluntary military service.
The window is closing
“We need these 100,000 additional troops immediately — and as quickly as possible,” General Carsten Breuer, Germany’s top military commander, told an audience at the German Council on Foreign Relations last week.
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