Germany is rearming. Or, more accurately, Germany is re-equipping its hollowed-out armed forces to strengthen European deterrence and defensive capabilities. This process began just three days after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that Moscow’s aggression represented a Zeitenwende, or turning-point, and announced a €100 billion special fund to rebuild the Bundeswehr, as the German military is known.
By the end of 2024, all of that money was spent. Still, for quite a while it felt as if little was happening, due to a mix of bureaucratic inertia, a defense minister who wasn’t up to the job, some “maybe we don’t really need this after all” wishful thinking and a bad bout of inflation. In fact, it soon became clear that more money was needed—and that some things just take some time to be set in motion.
Now, though, things have begun to move more noticeably. The government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz has found new sources of money as well as a way to ensure that the longer-term funding of the defense budget is sustainable. As a result, attention has now turned to what the Bundeswehr plans to do with its newfound pile of cash.