November

2025

Militarisation of Society

When we open the news, get on the tram, scroll through TikTok: everywhere in our everyday lives, we are currently confronted with the topic of war. Just recently, a "initially voluntary" military service was decided upon. Huge sums of money are being poured into the German armed forces, some factories are now producing tanks instead of cars, and the armed forces regularly visit schools to inspire children to pursue a career in the military. In this article, we ask ourselves what it means to militarise society and look at some current examples of this in Germany.

What is militarisation?

Militarisation can be described as a process leading to a social condition that ends in militarism. This means that military values and goals gradually become the basis of state and society. Within society, this leads to greater acceptance of and focus on war, while war itself is gradually legitimised and normalised. In concrete terms, this means that more money flows into the military, military infrastructure and the army's larger personnel strength.

Germany's military spending

[Translate to en:] Grafik, die die Militärausgaben Deutschlands darstellt

The graph shows Germany's military spending in billions of US dollars. The increase from 53 billion US dollars to over 88 billion US dollars since 2022 is significant – and the government's current targets are not yet considered here.

Since 2022, the political debate in Germany has seen politicians pushing ahead with the rearmament of Germany:

What was considered unthinkable in German society 10 years ago is now a reality. What has led to so little outcry against the new military service law (external link, opens in a new window) and the billions being spent on the Bundeswehr, even though the majority of people are against war?

Militarisation of the mind

distressed person sitting on a bench, surrounded by military equipment

To legitimise all these political steps in society, people must be convinced that militarisation is a necessary and justified measure. This minimises resistance to war policies and the logic of armament. NATO has also defined this battle for minds and thoughts as a theatre of war. Because war always begins in the mind. Propaganda and oppression normalise policies that focus on war and ultimately promote wars. In his book ‘Cognitive Warfare’, Jonas Tögel, who holds a doctorate in propaganda research, writes in detail about the mechanisms used by states and military alliances – including NATO – to manipulate people and persuade them to adopt certain beliefs. Although this may sound absurd at first glance, it is actually logical that a government must always convince society to support a particular war policy.

Militarisation of culture

a comic that depicts the militarization of Germany

Currently in Germany, we can observe the Bundeswehr becoming increasingly visible in public spaces. This is not happening by chance, but is a deliberate attempt to integrate the Bundeswehr into our everyday lives, normalise it and make the narrative of war socially acceptable. A normalisation of war culture. Examples of this include the recently introduced Veterans' Day, uniformed soldiers, who are the only professional group to have been allowed to travel free of charge on Deutsche Bahn trains since 2020, trams covered in Bundeswehr branding, and campaigns aimed at reaching young people and recruiting them for careers in the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr also ran advertisements during prime time during the Women's European Football Championship. This cultural normalisation is particularly evident in two areas of life where young people spend a lot of time: education and social media.

Militarisation in education

a soldier saluting in front of a school board

The Bundeswehr regularly visits schools, universities and training fairs, promoting careers as soldiers and seeking to improve its image among young people. In 2024, the then Federal Minister of Education, Stark-Watzinger, spoke out in favour of civil defence exercises in schools, and in Bavaria there is currently discussion about introducing a "defence subject". The Bundeswehr's efforts to improve its public image in recent years are even more evident on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Militarisation on social media

The Bundeswehr's official website states that 1.5 million people are reached daily via various social media channels. To this end, the Bundeswehr provides its soldiers and employees with guidelines on how to market the Bundeswehr on the internet. These guidelines state: "Stand by your profession, your unit and the Bundeswehr." In accessible content, soldiers take us through their everyday life in the Bundeswehr. What is striking about all these presentations is how young people are repeatedly addressed with values of community, cohesion and meaningfulness. These are basic social needs that the Bundeswehr specifically alludes to. What war would actually mean for soldiers and society, however, is not revealed.

Institutional restructuring

In addition to propaganda work to influence the social climate and discourse, there is also an increasing restructuring of institutions and infrastructure within German society to make Germany "fit for war".

Here are two examples:

Increase in repression

In September 2025, the German Armed Forces conducted the three-day NATO exercise "Red Storm Bravo" in Hamburg – the largest military exercise since the Cold War. It simulated how NATO might respond in the event of a conflict on its eastern flank. Part of the exercise included containing and suppressing social protests. When a state militarises and prepares for war, this also leads to an increase in control and repression within the state. For where there is war, there is always resistance and anti-war protests. The reason for this is that wars are fundamentally contrary to the interests of society at large and only benefit a small section of the population. This process can also be observed in the German state.

a collage of a police person with a police dog in front of an anti war demonstration

For several years now, the police have been given more leeway through the tightening of police laws in the federal states. The "Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte" (GFF) (=”Society for Civil Rights”) has expressed particular concern about the fact that the police no longer have to wait for a concrete danger to arise, but only need to make an assumption in order to interfere with civil rights. The GFF also strongly criticises the use of Palantir data software by several federal states, as it violates fundamental rights. A constitutional complaint has already been filed against this. From 2026, the use of Tasers by the police will be permitted throughout Germany. However, studies show that the use of tasers does not lead to better policing, but primarily to a greater willingness to use force on the part of the police. In 2025, the Cologne anti-war protest camp organised by the alliance "Rheinmetall Entwaffnen" was banned for the first time, but this ban was overturned by the Higher Administrative Court.

Free and independent reporting and freedom of expression are fundamental components of a democracy. However, during preparations for war and the logic of war, they are repeatedly attacked. Critical voices regarding both NATO's strategy in the Russian-Ukrainian war and Germany's role in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip have been and continue to be repeatedly defamed and delegitimised.

GFF

The “Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte" (GFF) (="Society for Civil Rights") is a civil society organisation that strengthens the protection of fundamental and human rights in Germany through strategic legal dispute. It accompanies selected cases – for example, on data protection, equal treatment, or state powers of intervention – to secure and improve legal standards in the long term.

GFF Website

At the same time, there has been a massive increase in surveillance in Germany in recent years. In addition to the use of Palantir data software, which has been criticised by the GFF, AI-supported video surveillance is being used for the first time in Frankfurt's main station district. The CDU parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate is calling for the statewide use of artificial intelligence in video surveillance. At the beginning of 2025, Friedrich Merz presented a 27-point plan on internal security and migration policy, which did not initially find a majority support in the Bundestag, but could nevertheless set the course for the coming years. In it, the CDU/CSU calls for, among other things, the strengthening of the intelligence services, security authorities and the judiciary, real-time video surveillance including electronic facial recognition, and the relaxation of data protection rules for the storage of IP addresses.

These structural changes regarding data protection and surveillance can be used continuously by the current government, but also by future, even more right-wing governments, to persecute any enemy group in society. Today that group might be "terrorist networks", tomorrow "illegal migrants" and the day after tomorrow perhaps opponents of war or queer people.

What does this mean for our society?

To militarise a society, it is necessary to prepare the population mentally for war, step by step. For our society, this process means that war is normalised and becomes an increasingly present part of our everyday lives. Resistance to war policies is also being pursued more vigorously and is affected by new structures of repression. Since war follows a patriarchal logic in which violence and oppression are used and legitimised, this also has far-reaching effects on broad sections of society and continues to have an impact for generations to come. The massive rearmament and the large amounts of money required for it mean that money is lacking in other areas. The military-political turning point is followed by a socio-political turning point in which spending on education and social services is cut to a minimum. This has one main consequence: a drastic worsening of social crises. In other words, the poor become poorer, unless they commit to several years of well-paid service in the German Armed Forces. In return, large companies and corporations, as well as lobbyists, make more and more profit, which shows in whose interest society is really being militarised.

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Contribution by Emilia Oelschlägel. Online editing by Ian Riess.
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