After eighty years of restraint, Germany is returning to military power. For many years, German political culture rested on the conviction that military force belonged to a darker pastand that security could be outsourced to the United States or replaced by trade and diplomacy. Russias invasion of Ukraine and Trumps return to the White House have shattered these illusions.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?This timely, important book analyses Germanys foreign policy and its relationship with military power from 1945 to the present, and explores the choices and alternatives for European security in the next decade and beyond. Challenging Germanys myth of pacifism, Liana Fix argues that, as the post-war order fades, Germany canand mustbecome a military power capable of protecting Europe when America will not.
