How Putin’s war in Ukraine has spurred Germany to abandon its post-WWII pacifism

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has reversed decades of foreign policy by boosting defence spending and sending arms to Ukraine after criticism of Berlin’s soft approach towards Moscow, reports Erik Kirschbaum

Tanks of the German armed forces Bundeswehr are prepared in the Hindenburg barracks in Munster, Germany (AFP/Getty)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shaken Germany out of its post-Cold War pacifism and almost overnight turned the country with a deep-seated aversion to war – and even its own largely neglected armed forces – from a laggard into a leader among European nations seeking to support Kyiv.

Even though it was the ominous German militarism of the last century that terrorised the country’s neighbours and caused destruction across the continent, it has been the pacifism-at-any-price policies from Europe’s leading nation that had been a cause of concern in recent years – especially in the wake of growing, unchecked tensions between the European Union and Russia.

That all took a dramatic turn on Sunday when the new German government announced it would scrap its self-imposed ban on sending weapons to conflict zones in order to help Ukraine, and also set up a €100bn (£83.4m) fund to re-equip its woefully underfunded military – worth more than double the €47bn it was originally planning to spend on defence this year.