Following the presentation of the coalition agreement last week by the leaders of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD), the ruling class is systematically promoting the return of German militarism. On Friday, the incumbent and probably future defence minister, Boris Pistorius (SPD), announced a further arms package for Kiev at the meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Brussels.

Among other things, Germany will supply four more Iris-T air defence systems to the Ukrainian army, which is riddled with far-right forces, before the end of this year. According to the Defence Ministry, the package also includes 15 Leopard 1 battle tanks, reconnaissance drones and an additional 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition. Pistorius also promised further Iris-T systems and 1,100 additional ground surveillance radars over the next few years.

The announcements make it clear that the next German government is willing to continue the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine even more aggressively than its predecessor—and if necessary without the active support of the US. The coalition agreement states that military, civilian and political support for Ukraine will be substantially strengthened and reliably continued together with partners.

In doing so, Germany and Europe would “for the first time since the end of the Second World War” have to “ be able to guarantee their own security much more comprehensively.” They would “create all the conditions necessary for the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces] to be able to fulfil the task of national and alliance defence without restriction.”

In other words, the aim is to make Germany “fit for war” again, in Pistorius’ words, despite its historic crimes, and to militarise society as a whole to achieve this. The coalition agreement is geared towards this goal. “It is imperative that we increase the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr in the short term, emphatically and on a sustained basis,” it says. And goes on,

The Bundeswehr and all state and societal actors must be able to work together effectively in order to quickly recognise attacks on our complex system and to combat them in a targeted and effective manner.

The coalition agreement defines the following goals, among others:

• Militarisation of schools and universities

“We are embedding our armed forces even more firmly in public life and are committed to strengthening the role of youth officers, who fulfil an important educational role in schools,” it says on page 130 in the section on “Defence Policy.” And further: “We are committed to reducing obstacles that make dual-use research or civil-military research cooperation more difficult, for example.” They will “eliminate the deficit that exists in Germany in the area of strategic security research and work to promote it in the sense of an integrated security concept.”

• Reintroduction of compulsory military service

“We are creating a new attractive military service, initially based on voluntary service,” the coalition partners declare. In this context, “the criteria of attractiveness, meaningfulness and contribution to growth potential are guiding for the new design of this service.” They are orienting themselves “on the Swedish military service model” and would “create the conditions for military registration and supervision before the end of this year.”

• Development of a massive arms industry and conversion to a war economy:

The planning and procurement systems will be “reformed” and “new implementation methods will be introduced for individual major projects, but also for future technology areas that are subject to a high level of innovation dynamics.” In doing so, “future technologies for the Bundeswehr will be increasingly promoted” and “introduced into the armed forces.” This applies in particular to the areas of satellite systems, artificial intelligence, unmanned (including combat-capable) systems, electronic warfare, cyber, software-defined defence and cloud applications, and hypersonic systems. To this end, simplified access and increased exchange with research institutions, the academic environment, start-ups and industry is necessary.

In addition, the coalition agreement makes it clear that the “special infrastructure fund” of half a trillion euros [US$1.3 trillion], which has already been approved with the support of the Left Party and the Greens, also serves to prepare for war. “For military construction projects, we are simplifying the definition of requirements and approval, and, with a Bundeswehr Infrastructure Acceleration Act, we are creating exceptions in building, environmental and procurement law, as well as in the protection and dedication of military areas,” it says on page 132. The “needs and infrastructure measures for overall defence” are “to be established as an overriding public interest and prioritised over other state tasks in their implementation.”

The ruling class cannot move fast enough to implement its insane war plans. Parallel to the presentation of the militarist coalition paper, a solemn muster took place in the Julius Leber barracks in Berlin formally bringing the Bundeswehr’s Operational Command into service. This implements the Osnabrück Decree, passed on April 30, 2024 by the then coalition government of the SPD, Greens and Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Among the most important elements of the decree is the creation of a central command structure (“planning and operational leadership from a single source”) and the establishment of processes that “are largely based on the factors of speed, information superiority and resilience.”

In essence, this means nothing less than the reconstruction of a General Staff, which was banned after the criminal role of the German military leadership in the two world wars. Now it exists again de facto—with all the historical, political and social consequences.

The WSWS warned in a commentary last year:

The decree leaves no doubt that the ruling class has decided to go to war again on a large scale, using masses of young people as cannon fodder for their imperialist interests.

The speeches and the overall atmosphere during the muster were reminiscent of the darkest days of German militarism. “We will become more effective. We are becoming more agile. We are leading from a single source, and we are better able to prioritise and coordinate,” Defence Minister Pistorius boasted before a handpicked audience of military and political representatives from the parties in the Bundestag (federal parliament).

Carsten Breuer, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, its most senior officer, paid a farewell tribute to the two commands that are now being replaced by the new command. Regarding the Bundeswehr’s operational headquarters, he said:

The Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa, the Mediterranean–the threads for all of our 50 foreign missions came together in Schwielowsee, [the site of the new command centre] from the construction of the field camps to redeployment, from start to finish–including the sharp end.

The “sharp end” refers to death in action. In the course of the increasingly global war missions of German imperialism in the last three decades, a total of 119 German soldiers have already lost their lives, 37 of them killed in direct combat or in attacks.

The future war plans of the ruling class threaten not only the lives of a few dozen professional soldiers, but of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people. It is significant that the march Preußens Gloria (Prussia’s Glory) was played at the muster, which was also part of the standard military musical repertoire of Imperial Germany, and of Hitler’s Wehrmacht (Armed Forces) in the two world wars. In the end, it was not “glory” and “honour” that awaited them, but death, destruction and mass extermination.