One explanation for Germany's difficulty rearming is that European institutions and German political culture developed around restraint. In this interpretation, NATO and European integration helped contain the prospect of renewed German military power, while reductions after the Cold War further weakened its armed forces. The wider 'wars of choice' assumption held that future wars would occur only when governments chose to fight them. Sweden and Finland largely resisted that assumption, while Poland abandoned it sooner than much of Europe. Rearmament therefore faces institutional and political obstacles even when the strategic argument for it changes.
Notable Point · 1:39:28-1:41:02
Post-Cold War readiness was shaped by wars-of-choice assumptions
German rearmament faces institutional barriers after decades of restraint, while Sweden, Finland, and later Poland resisted or reversed wider European readiness decline.