Germany looks to bring back conscription as country’s top general warns it is the only way it can prepare for Russian invasion

Germany will have to bring back conscription to be able to fend off an increasingly belligerent Russia, the country’s top general has warned.

Carsten Breuer, the German Chief of Defence, told Radio 4 that an additional 100,000 soldiers would be needed to ensure the country’s ability to defend itself.

Defence chiefs have been looking to increase the size of the armed forces since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but have fallen short of even an initial target of 20,000.

Warning that Russia could attack NATO territory in as little as four years, Mr Breuer is calling for five times that target – achievable, he says, only through conscription.

‘We won’t get this additional 100,000 soldiers without having one or the other, a model of conscription,’ he told the programme.

Asked whether ‘some form’ of conscription was ‘necessary’ for Germany to defend itself, he concurred: ‘Absolutely. Absolutely.’

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had suggested in December that Germany could increase the size of its armed forces by 50,000 to 230,000 in total.

But the sense of urgency has been ramped up by comments from the Trump administration telling Europe to do more for its own defence. 

Two weeks ago, lawmakers voted to allow a huge increase in defence and infrastructure spending, exempting spending in those areas from strict debt rules.

But after years of cuts and spending lows, Germany finds itself in a desperate recruitment drive, struggling to attract new recruits.

File photo shows German troops at the Julius Leber Barracks in Berlin, April 24, 2024 

A Leopard 2 main battle tank of the German armed forces Bundeswehr shoots during a training exercise in Ostenholz, Germany on October 17, 2022

Carsten Breuer (L) addresses the media during a water crossing military exercise, March 18, 2024

‘We are threatened by Russia,’ Mr Breuer acknowledged in his comments to Radio 4.

‘We are threatened by Putin, and we have to do whatever is needed to do to deter, and by building up a strong defence line then you deter best.’

Asked how much time and money was needed to achieve Germany’s defence goals, he said it was ‘more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared’.

‘The sooner we are prepared, the better it is.’

Mr Breuer acknowledged the Trump administration’s pivot away from Europe, with senior officials urging NATO allies to do more to protect themselves.

‘We have to step up,’ Breuer said. ‘We have to do more to really get to the point where we have enough money to defend ourselves and being able to deter any enemy who’s trying to do [any] harm against NATO or Germany.’

Efforts to strengthen the armed forces have been amplified greatly since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But Germany has struggled to meet its own targets on increasing troop numbers.

In January, the army said it would establish a new division tasked exclusively with territorial defence from April.

German soldiers take part in the international military exercise ‘Grand Quadriga 2024’ at a training range in Pabrade, in Vilnius, Lithuania on May 29, 2024

Smoke rises following a Russian kamikaze drone attacks on Dnipro, Ukraine on March 29, 2025

Russian army service members target a mortar during drills at the Kuzminsky range in the southern Rostov region, Russia January 21, 2022. Picture taken January 21, 2022

But this reorganisation would come from existing divisions, rather than drawing in new personnel.

Military chiefs have said for some time that the figure of 181,000 active service personnel is some 20,000 soldiers short of where it needs to be.

It is one of the largest such deficits in Europe, though Britain and France face similar problems.

Russia has lost an estimated 250,000 soldiers since the beginning of the invasion, and a total 900,000 casualties, according to the Ministry of Defence.

In November last year, Kyiv officials claimed that the Russian army had lost as many as 2,000 in just 24 hours.

But in September, the Kremlin announced it would be increasing the size of its army to as many as 1.5 million active soldiers – eclipsing all other European armies.

A decree sought to boost troop numbers by 180,000 – the size of the entire armed forces of Germany – to make Russia the second largest in the world by active troop size, after only China.

Despite the trend, European business has responded quickly in the pivot towards defence, with Germany’s ailing industrial output taking new form to ready for a potential war.

Weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall’s market capitalisation overtook Volkswagen Group earlier this month, growing to 55.7bn euros.

People stand near a burnt car following a drone attack in Kharkiv on March 29, 2025

Putin has sought to increase the size of Russia’s army to as many as 1.5 million active soldiers – eclipsing all other European armies (File photo, March 28, 2025)

The company’s value has more than tripled since Donald Trump came to power and told Europe in no uncertain terms to do more to ensure its own defence.

‘An era of rearmament has begun in Europe that will demand a lot from all of us,’ Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in a statement at the time.

‘It also brings us at Rheinmetall growth prospects for the coming years that we have never experienced before.’

‘It seems that MEGA (Make Europe Great Again) trades are now rapidly replacing MAGA trades, which have lost their appeal,’ said Mark Dowding, CIO at RBC’s BlueBay fixed income team, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

The EU has also sought to mobilise up to 800 billion euros for rearmament as old certainties about U.S. reliability as a security partner were torn up.

‘Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime,’ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in a letter to the EU’s 27 leaders, who on Tuesday unveiled an €800bn (£669bn) plan to rearm Europe.

‘Some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to their very core.’

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