
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


With angst over European security growing, why is Germany such a reluctant military power? Chris Bowlby discovers how German pacifism has grown since World War Two. The German army, the Bundeswehr, is meant to be a model citizen's army but is poorly funded and treated with suspicion by the population. Some now say the world of Trump, Putin and Brexit demands major change in German thinking, much more spending and Bundeswehr deployments abroad. But most Germans disagree. Could Germany in fact be trying historically something really new - becoming a major power without fighting wars?
Producer: Chris Bowlby
By BBC Radio 44.6
195195 ratings
With angst over European security growing, why is Germany such a reluctant military power? Chris Bowlby discovers how German pacifism has grown since World War Two. The German army, the Bundeswehr, is meant to be a model citizen's army but is poorly funded and treated with suspicion by the population. Some now say the world of Trump, Putin and Brexit demands major change in German thinking, much more spending and Bundeswehr deployments abroad. But most Germans disagree. Could Germany in fact be trying historically something really new - becoming a major power without fighting wars?
Producer: Chris Bowlby

7,682 Listeners

367 Listeners

891 Listeners

787 Listeners

1,045 Listeners

5,432 Listeners

1,786 Listeners

955 Listeners

1,784 Listeners

1,087 Listeners

1,915 Listeners

425 Listeners

412 Listeners

298 Listeners

67 Listeners

737 Listeners

243 Listeners

72 Listeners

655 Listeners

4,178 Listeners

3,192 Listeners

729 Listeners

73 Listeners