After a generation of peace, Europe tells its people to prepare for war

European security officials now regularly broadcast a message nearly unimaginable a decade ago: get ready for conflict with Russia.

- Max Colchester & Bertrand Benoit

Rarely a week goes by now without a European government, military or security chief making a grim speech warming the public that they are headed toward a potential war with Russia. It is a profound psychological shift for a continent that has rebuilt itself after two world wars by trumpeting a message of harmony and joint economic prosperity.

Over the weekend, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz compared Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy in Ukraine to that of Hitler in 1938, when he seized the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia before pressing on to conquer a large chunk of the continent.

“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop. Just like the Sudetenland wasn't enough in 1938,” Merz told a party conference on Saturday.

That came days after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte made a speech warning that “conflict is at our door” and that “we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured.” Rutte said that Russia could be ready to use military force against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization within five years. The head of the French military recently said that France was at risk “because it is not prepared to accept the loss of its children.”

This sense of urgency has been amped-up as the Trump administration looks to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. There is concern in European capitals that Ukraine will be pushed by Trump into accepting a lopsided peace-deal that leaves Putin emboldened and Ukraine vulnerable to future Russian attack. Crucially, a ceasefire would free Russian military resources to focus on Europe, too, potentially paving the way for a future attack on its eastern flank.