The mainstream media doesn’t cover it. News analysts ignore it. Politicians don’t discuss it. The world doesn’t fear it. But a European military is already in place.

After building and fielding two of its own world-war-class forces in the past century, Germany is now subtly building a multinational army. Some have confused quietness with weakness, but anyone who knows Germany’s history knows that secrecy is its strength.

Foreign Policy noted, “Germany Is Quietly Building a European Army Under Its Command.” German war planners have built a lot, both before that article was published in 2017 and since. In 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron openly called for the creation of “a real European army.” There is work yet to be done, but the core of that military is already a fait accompli. And it will not be commanded by France.

Germany is operating on multiple fronts: integrating the forces of other nations under its command, using the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for its own purpose, drastically increasing military spending, exporting weapons and German interests abroad, and participating in joint missions around the world.

News analysts have ignored it. Governments have dismissed it. But the German-dominated European military that the Trumpet has warned about for decades is now a reality!

German Commanders, Foreign Forces

On March 30, the last Dutch combat brigade joined a division of the German Army. The integration of all Dutch combat land forces is a prime example of Germany’s goal of building a multinational military force. This cooperation has been decades in the making. It has been made possible by language-training in Dutch schools, joint exercises, and the 24 Bundeswehr training facilities open to soldiers from other European Union nations. Also, German troops are on staff at 55 training facilities for other militaries across Europe.

No other European country has subordinated its entire land force to the Germans, yet. But in 2017, Romania agreed to have its 81st Mechanized Brigade work closely with Germany’s Rapid Response Forces Division. This division is now in charge of a Dutch and Romanian brigade. The Czech Republic agreed to have its elite 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade work with Germany’s 10th Armored Division. That division now commands a Dutch and a Czech brigade.

The Czech Republic is just a step away from doing the same as the Netherlands. A mechanized brigade includes armored personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles, which are crucial to a nation’s defense. The Czech Republic has only two of these in its land combat forces. One of them is now under German command. Romania has given up one of its eight brigades.

France, twice conquered by invasions of German troops in two world wars, has consistently supported European unification and even German leadership for decades. The French-German Brigade was established in 1989. Since 1992, it has been part of the Eurocorps, which includes four additional core nations, plus five associated nations. The Eurocorps serves Europe and nato and is one of the latter’s high-readiness commands.

France and Germany have also joined industrial forces to manufacture military equipment that is compatible with the militaries of several countries. This includes the Tiger combat helicopter, the Alpha Jet training and close air support aircraft, the Transall transport aircraft, and the A400M, an advanced transport aircraft. Even without France, Germany is a leader in producing military equipment. A dozen other European countries rely on modern German Leopard 2 tanks. And German weapons manufacturers are supplying militaries worldwide with weapons platforms, small arms and other technologies.

At Sea

Though only a few countries have literally subordinated their soldiers to German command, many more are joining German-led exercises. Under the cloak of nato cooperation, Germany is leading and coordinating Europe’s armies. The more you look under the umbrella, the more you see Germany commanding a European army.

More and more, Germans are taking the lead in an alliance that originally formed in part to stop them from building a military. Germany is no longer the conquered aggressor, nor is it completely dependent on the U.S. as it was in the Cold War. It is steadily increasing its power over nato.

Finland joined the nato alliance on April 4. Within 10 days, it was included in a joint military exercise. Was it the United States, Britain or France that led the mission? No, Finnish, Portuguese and German forces in Standing nato Maritime Group 1 were commanded by German Rear Adm. Thorsten Marx.

Germany is also working with Britain’s Royal Navy at a new naval headquarters in Rostock. The headquarters will command operations for the United Nations, nato, the German Navy and the European Union. In the meantime, the EU held its first-ever joint naval exercise with the U.S. on March 23 and 24.

While other nations might be in leadership positions, watch for German admirals to gain more and more control over European naval exercises.

On Land

Presently, Germany holds the leadership over nato’s highest-readiness military force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. The unit includes 11,500 troops from nine nato countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia. These troops are always on standby, ready to deploy within days. Germany also leads the unit’s special forces command.

Germany is leading the rapid deployment of European troops under the nato umbrella. But it is also preparing to do the same without nato help.

In 2018, nato accepted Germany’s offer to establish a nato command center that focuses on rapid troop movement across Europe. Unlike other headquarters, this one does not fall under nato’s command structure. Thus the same troops that Germany currently leads in the nato framework could be under Germany’s command in an EU army.

To facilitate all the details of such an army, the German-led EU also established a military pact called Permanent Structured Cooperation. This governs logistics, transportation and training missions that will help member countries coordinate their operations.

Meanwhile, German generals receive practical training within the nato framework. In Eastern Europe, nato soldiers are also taking orders from a German. In 2021, Lt. Gen. Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart became commander of operations in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia—nato’s northeastern flank, near Russia.

In the Air

nato’s Supreme Headquarters is in Mons, Belgium. Subordinate to it are six commands. One of the most important is located in Germany: Ramstein Air Base, headquarters of nato’s air command. American nuclear bombs are deployed in six European bases, including Germany’s Buchel Air Base. They can be carried by German and Italian Tornado warplanes.

The nuclear weapons are currently controlled by the U.S., and Ramstein is an installation of the U.S. Air Force. But in addition to hosting American forces and being one of five European nations that are party to the nato nuclear weapons-sharing agreement, Germany is acting on its own initiative to strengthen, unite and control European military capabilities in the air.

Germany has organized the largest nato air exercise since the end of the Cold War: “Air Defender 23.” These war games in June will involve 220 aircraft and 10,000 personnel from more than 20 nations. Under the nato umbrella, the exercise is under German command and initiative. Air & Space Forces noted that “the exercise was organized by Germany, not nato headquarters.”

United States Gen. Michael Loh told Deutsche Welle, “I’m not sure why it’s German-led to tell you the truth. I know that Germany wanted to lead an exercise to test both their ability to host forces and also their ability to do full nato interoperability.” That’s what Germany wanted, and what it got was the “largest trans-Atlantic movement” of its kind. If you wanted to build and test a European air force, you couldn’t ask for a better military exercise.

Germany says it is ready to defend the nato alliance. But watch for clues showing that it is learning how to use European forces quite independently of the alliance. That is to say, independent of and even at odds with the U.S. and Britain.

In Space

nato also established a Space Center at Allied Air Command in Ramstein in 2020. This is controlled by the U.S., but Germany is also working on its own independent Space Command. This command, launched in 2021 in Uedem, combines elements of Germany’s air and cyber forces, and secures its satellites independently from nato. The defense minister at the time noted, “[O]ur prosperity and security are highly dependent on space. For a long time now, our civilian and military satellites have been a resource without which nothing works. As always, when a resource becomes vital, its security becomes an issue.”

Germany is also a key member of the European Space Agency, which is actively preparing for missions to the moon. If Germany wants an independent European military, this too is a crucial step. Since the early days of the Cold War, analysts have agreed that whoever controls space can control a great deal of what happens below.

European Foreign Missions

In addition to increasing its control in nato wherever it can, Germany is conducting operations well outside of the alliance. To make such operations possible, Europe needs its own strategic airlift capacity. For decades it has relied on the United States for this. That is now changing.

This crucial need is filled by the Airbus A400M, the world’s most technologically advanced military transport aircraft. Germany operates 53 of them, France 21, Spain 14 and Turkey 10; and 28 more are on order. Fleets of this large transport enable Europe to massively expand its ability to operate independently of the United States.

Many nations including Germany have stated that they actually have little need for all these airlifters. But this could change as the U.S. increasingly withdraws and as threats as near as Ukraine and as far away as the Pacific continue to multiply.

The EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo was established in 2008 to assist and support the Kosovo authorities. The EU has also led foreign missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Iraq, Mali, Somalia and Ukraine. Some of these could have been nato operations. In one instance, nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed surprise at Germany’s decision to get involved in Iraq outside of the nato framework.

But these missions allow Germany, through the EU, to build the necessary structure to lead and coordinate future European military missions. The EU Military Committee currently has 21 ongoing missions, including nine military operations.

It took Germany decades to reach this point. But now its multinational military, its influence in nato, its technological development and its core structures—against the backdrop of increasing threats surrounding Europe—are combining to produce a situation in which the small but growing European military can become a superpower—rapidly.

Unity Prophesied

In 1957, Germany was still recovering from its second devastating world war defeat. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote at the time, “Germany is going to rise again with great power.” Before he witnessed that economic, diplomatic and finally military ascent, he saw it in the pages of the Bible.

Revelation 17 describes a union of 10 kings who give their “power and strength” to a “beast”—a united European empire. A vision that God inspired the Prophet Daniel to record helps reveal who this empire is. Daniel 2 gives an overview of all the world-ruling empires that lead to God’s prophesied intervention in the affairs of mankind. History identifies these empires as Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. The Roman Empire has risen repeatedly over the centuries, and the Bible reveals that it is rising one final time in modern Europe.

Daniel states that this last resurrection, unlike previous ones, would be ruled by 10 kings. But he also notes that “the kingdom shall be divided” and that it “shall be partly strong, and partly broken” (verses 41-42). This, along with a parallel prophecy in Revelation 17, describes Europe today. Both passages show that the EU will be pared down to 10 nations or closely united groups of nations.

Today we see Germany uniting these nations’ militaries. Once the empire is ready to rise, the world will be shocked by how efficiently it will do its deadly work.

This prophesied empire will use its unified powers for militaristic purposes. But notice how Daniel’s vision ends: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44)

Every step toward European unity is a step toward the fulfillment of these prophecies and God’s prophesied intervention in the affairs of mankind! The world doesn’t see it, but these prophecies are coming to pass.