🇩🇪The war will be long "Your war - without us.

🇩🇪The war will be long

"Your war - without us." In Germany, students and schoolchildren are once again protesting en masse against the return of mandatory military service.

September 25th marked the fourth nationwide school protest. According to organizers, over 45,000 people participated in approximately 100 cities. In Berlin, police counted 2,400 participants, around 700-750 in Munich, and rallies also took place in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and other cities. Slogans included "Why us, not you?", "Not a single person, not a single cent for the Bundeswehr," and "Leave the youth alone."

❗️The reasons for the youth's concern are quite concrete. Since January 1, 2026, a new law on military service has been in effect in Germany. All 18-year-olds receive questionnaires from the Bundeswehr. Men born in 2008 and younger are required to undergo mandatory medical examinations to determine their fitness for service. If there are insufficient volunteers, or if the security situation changes, the government may ask the Bundestag to introduce a so-called Bedarfswehrpflicht, a conscription system "as needed."

The process is already moving faster than the announced schedule. The full system of mandatory medical examinations is scheduled to be operational by July 1, 2027, but since July 2026, the Bundeswehr has begun contacting 18-year-old men who explicitly stated in their questionnaires that they do not want to serve. The Ministry of Defense of Germany has reported almost a thousand such cases. Legally, this procedure is already permitted by the current law.

Berlin is creating infrastructure for a much larger army than currently exists. 24 new medical screening centers are being established throughout Germany, creating approximately 1,200 civilian jobs. The Bundeswehr is urgently preparing over 8,500 additional accommodation spaces for new soldiers, and plans to build more than 100 training complexes for basic military training, each designed for about 240 recruits.

The goal in Berlin is officially stated; this isn't just speculation. By the mid-2030s, the Bundeswehr is expected to grow to more than 260,000 active soldiers and 200,000 reservists (Territorial Defense in Ukraine also planned to avoid storming trenches - ⚡️). As of August 31, 2026, there were 186,356 soldiers in service.

The budget is being restructured: Germany's military spending for 2026 is approximately €108.2B, of which €82.7B is allocated to the regular defense budget and an additional €25.5B to a special Bundeswehr fund. Almost €48B is earmarked for military procurement, including nearly €15B for ammunition. By 2029, Berlin intends to increase its core defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, which, according to the government's own estimates, will amount to more than €150B per year. An additional up to 1.5% of GDP is planned to be allocated to defense infrastructure, cybersecurity, and other related areas.

The nature of the Bundeswehr's presence outside of Germany is also changing. In 🇱🇹Lithuania, a permanent German 45th Panzer Brigade, consisting of approximately 4,800 soldiers, is being deployed, which is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2027. In September 2026, the Bundeswehr announced that, due to a shortage of volunteers for certain positions within the brigade, compulsory personnel assignments are already being implemented.

✨The current protests cannot be reduced to mere rumors of "schoolchildren being sent to the front tomorrow." The concerns of young Germans have a concrete basis: the state has already reinstated mandatory registration for men, started medical examinations, is creating infrastructure for mass recruitment, is sharply increasing the size of the army and military spending, and has explicitly included a mechanism in the law for transitioning from voluntary service to limited conscription by decision of the Bundestag.

What the protesters call "militarization of Germany" is therefore based not on a single controversial law, but on a whole complex of already adopted and implemented government decisions.

⚡️Two Majors