Fear of Russia Prompts Europe to Ramp Up Conscription

Fear of Russian aggression has caused European nations to expand or reintroduce mandatory military service, Robert Hamilton, head of Eurasia research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said in statements published on July 21.

We are coming to the realization that we may have to adjust the way we mobilize for war and adjust the way we produce military equipment and we recruit and train personnel. It is tragically true that here we are, in 2024, and we are grappling with the questions of how to mobilize millions of people to be thrown into a meat grinder of a war potentially, but this is where Russia has put us.
—Robert Hamilton

European moves:

• Norway announced plans in April to almost double its defense budget and add 20,000 conscripts.
• Latvia implemented compulsory military service in January, after having abolished the practice in 2006.
• Sweden drafted some 7,000 individuals in 2024, with plans to increase that to 8,000 next year.
• Lithuania reintroduced mandatory military service in 2015 due to a “changed geopolitical situation,” resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius presented a plan in June for expanded voluntary military service, saying, “We must be ready for war by 2029.”

Several other European nations that don’t currently require military service are debating the matter. “This doesn’t happen overnight” and marks “a big mental shift,” said Sean Monaghan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We are seeing the debate now raging. And that’s the first step.”

The Trumpet said: In 2014, shortly after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said it would cause exactly such a shift in Europe, prompting it to militarize and unify. He placed the developments in the context of Bible prophecy:

We have been prophesying for around 70 years that Eastern Europe would become a vital part of a new European superpower—a resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. This prophecy is directly related to the Crimean crisis! The fear you see in Europe because of events in Crimea is going to cause 10 leaders in Europe to unite in a sudden and dramatic way—and in precise accordance with the Bible’s description of that European empire! …

Europe’s new fear of Russia is going to play a major role in hastening the fulfillment of that prophecy!

The people of Europe watched Russia’s annexation of Crimea with fear. Today, as they observe Russia’s ongoing full-scale war on Ukraine, that fear is intensifying. It is prompting them to take steps to bolster their military power and to unify Europe militarily.

Learn more: Read “The Crimean Crisis Is Reshaping Europe!”