German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius declared that “not all deployed soldiers will be volunteers” as Germany continues expanding its military presence in Lithuania. For years, the public was told that military service would remain voluntary. Pistorius is openly stating that a military conscription is coming. Some may believe this is solely about soldiers volunteering to be stationed in Lithuania, but in truth he is saying that Germany will do everything to honor its agreements to foreign governments and foreign wars.
Germany suspended conscription in 2011 and spent years portraying itself as a modern, peaceful nation. Now politicians are openly discussing mandatory military service, compulsory registration, mandatory medical examinations, and the possibility of forcing young men into military service if volunteer numbers fall short. Pistorius has already stated that if the military lacks sufficient volunteers, recruitment could become mandatory.
“We to achieve that everybody who is coming here do this on his on his own decision. But still it might happen […] that some will not go because they wished to go. But this is not unusual in the German Bundeswehr. So we see about what’s going to happen in the next months,” he said. “Once we have fully exploited all available means, we will start looking into alternative options,” the German minister said.
The real question nobody wants to ask is simple: who exactly are they preparing to fight? European leaders continue talking about Russia as though Moscow is preparing to invade Berlin tomorrow. Instead of fixing domestic problems, they are now spending hundreds of billions on military expansion. Germany’s military budget has surged dramatically, with plans to build what officials openly describe as Europe’s strongest conventional military force.
Governments never begin with full-scale conscription. They do not want to panic the public, and in this situation, the nation is not yet at war. Germany already enacted a system requiring young men to provide information to the military and is preparing mandatory examinations beginning in 2027. The infrastructure is being built before the public fully understands where the road leads. The government is openly declaring that Germans will face warfare.
Young Europeans who cannot afford homes, who face rising taxes and shrinking economic opportunities, are now being told they may have a duty to serve. Politicians who helped create many of the geopolitical disasters of the last decade are increasingly willing to place the burden on the next generation.
Our models have been warning that 2026 marks a Panic Cycle year tied to rising geopolitical tensions and military escalation. The trend extending into 2027 becomes increasingly dangerous. Once governments begin preparing populations for compulsory service, they are implicitly acknowledging that they no longer expect peace. The era of purely voluntary military service is ending.