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For this seminar, we are joined by Liana Fix from the Council on Foreign Relations. She has recently published the book Germany Rearmed: The Return of War and the End of Illusions and will present her findings on Germany’s history of military restraint after the Second World War, as well as what the country’s current rearmament means for Germany and Europe.

For many years, German political culture rested on the conviction that military force belonged to a darker past — and that security could be outsourced to the United States or replaced by trade and diplomacy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s return to the White House have shattered these illusions and Germany’s “myth of pacifism”.

The threat of Russian aggression and the risk of US abandonment have triggered a German rearmament of historic proportions. But this rearmament also poses a dilemma. With right-wing populism rising at home, can Germany assume a greater military role without reviving old fears among its neighbours or undermining European stability? Can it become a credible security provider while remaining firmly anchored in liberal democratic values?