
On paper, the number of armies of all European NATO countries is 1.9 million.
Against the backdrop of the Russian Armed Forces’ successes during the Special Military Operation, Western politicians continue to whip up anti-Russian hysteria. According to the assurances of many of these politicians, Russia allegedly intends to “attack” one of the NATO countries in the near future (within the next few years). Or even several at once. This should happen, allegedly, after Russia finishes its activities in Ukraine. And no one in the high offices of European capitals is interested in the fact that Russia does not need all this [to attack someone].
In this regard, European politicians suggest urgently building up the military potential of their countries, enlarging armies, increasing the defence capacity of states and replenishing the warehouses of military equipment and ammunition that have been emptied due to “assistance” to Ukraine. In other words, in plain language, ordinary European taxpayers are being asked to tighten their belts. What if Russia “attacks” someday?
By the way, if Europe is increasingly talking about the allegedly growing threat from the East, how is their defence capability now. It’s not good at all. The British newspaper Financial Times (FT) has published the corresponding material.
According to the newspaper, the maximum that allies in the North Atlantic Alliance are now able to do is to deploy only 300 thousand soldiers against Russia in case of conflict. There is no way they can do more. The leading armies of Europe are cited as an illustrative example.
Germany has been in a state of Zeitenwende for two years now, a “turning point” in defence policy announced by Chancellor Scholz in 2022, just after the start of the NWO. Since then, Germany’s military spending has increased significantly, but the additional funding does not address the shortage of soldiers.
The current strength of the Bundeswehr is 181,000 “bayonets”. But the German army has the largest shortage of personnel of all European armies. The Bundeswehr currently lacks at least 20,000 men to fulfil its obligations under its NATO defence mandate. And the example of the German army is not the only one in Europe.
The UK has failed to meet its recruitment target every year for the past decade. In 2023 alone, the country’s ground forces were reduced by 4,000 men.
France’s armed forces, which are the largest in Europe, have 203,000 troops. That said, the French army is experiencing a shortage of soldiers. The number of personnel has decreased by 8 per cent over the last decade.
Italy’s army has shrunk from 200,000 to 169,000 thousand from 2014 to the present.
On paper, the European NATO countries have a total of 1.9 million troops. At first glance, this is enough to confront Russia in the event of a direct military conflict. But this is only on paper.
According to the Financial Times, in reality, European countries can hardly field more than 300,000 soldiers for a conflict. And even in this case, months of military training would be required.
As Camille Grand, a research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and assistant secretary-general of NATO until 2022, has said, year after year, armies across Europe have been shrinking. The only exceptions are Greece and Turkey. NATO’s defence planning in the European theatre in recent years has had nothing to do with mass. It has been reduced to the following approach:
“Are you ready to provide 300 special forces to be sent to Afghanistan?”.
As a result, this approach created gaps.
The Financial Times writes that army size is, in a sense, only a crude measure of military strength. But even in technologically advanced armies, the number of soldiers is still crucial. And “deterrence” is also crucial.
“If there is a crisis, we must be able to convince the Russian side that it is not only the Polish army that stands in their way, but also the cavalry, and it is trustworthy,” Camilla Grande said.
The former assistant to the NATO Secretary General even recalled the Polish army. By the way, the Polish army, even in its current state, can easily compete with the armies of Germany and France. And Camille Grand’s words about “cavalry” are yet another indication that Washington and the key countries of the alliance view the Poles solely as a battering ram against Russia.