SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

REVEALED: Would Germans take up arms to defend their country?

A new poll has found that over 60 percent of Germans wouldn’t pick up a weapon to defend their country if it was attacked.

REVEALED: Would Germans take up arms to defend their country?
A 9 mm caliber pistol, cartridges and a magazine lie on a weapons possession card. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Patrick Pleul

As Ukrainians – including many that didn’t have military training before Russia tried to take Kyiv in February 2024 – defend their country with weapons, most Germans surveyed in a recent poll said they’re unlikely to be willing to do the same.

The Forsa poll for Stern magazine comes following remarks from Defense Minister Boris Pistorius that Germany needs to become ‘war-ready’ to deal with the threat posed by Russia in Europe.

The survey found that only 17 percent of Germans would ‘definitely’ be prepared to pick up a weapon to defend the country.

Another 19 percent said they would ‘probably’ be ready to do this. Some 61 percent said they’re unlikely to be prepared to do so and 40 percent said they definitely would not pick up a weapon in Germany’s defence for any reason.

Within the survey, men were far more likely than women to say they’re prepared to defend Germany with weapons, with around 40 percent aged 45 to 59 saying yes.

Regular voters for the far-right AfD were the most likely to be prepared to use weapons in national self-defence at 28 percent of respondents, followed by Green party voters at nine percent.

People were also less likely to say they would defend Germany with a weapon themselves the higher their educational qualifications are, the survey revealed.

This compared to other surveys which found that around 30 percent of either French or Brits are willing to take up arms to defend their country, while around half of Poles and 75 percent of Finns were willing to do so.

Many similar surveys asked if people in these countries would be willing to help in other ways, such as volunteering for relief efforts. Often the responses to these questions were more positive.

Recent surveys have also found that most Germans support delivering weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself.

READ ALSO: Are Germans really that pacifist anymore?

Member comments

  1. Anytime I hear radical Right or far Right parties nowadays I figure it must be a central left party opposing radical left-wing ideas. But, interestingly, they are most likely to defend their country. Why is that so radical?

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Scholz calls on coalition to ‘pull ourselves together’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called on his fractious governing coalition to "pull ourselves together" following a dismal showing in EU parliament elections last week.

Scholz calls on coalition to 'pull ourselves together'

In power since the end of 2021, the three parties in government — Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal FDP — have been at loggerheads on a wide range of issues including climate measures and budget spending.

“I think that this is one of the entirely justified criticisms of many citizens, namely that there is too much debate” within the coalition, Scholz told German television channel ZDF on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.

“We need to pull ourselves together and stick together to reach agreements,” he added.

“The people have the right to demand that things change,” Scholz told public broadcaster ARD.

The three parties in the coalition suffered a severe defeat in the European elections, with the SPD achieving its worst result in a national election since 1949.

Subsequently, Scholz has faced mounting criticism within his own party.

On Saturday, however, Scholz told ZDF and ARD that he was “sure” that he would be the SPD’s next candidate for the chancellorship in the parliamentary elections scheduled for autumn 2025.

In the very short term, a new test awaits the coalition, which must reach an agreement on the 2025 budget by the beginning of July.

The FDP’s finance minister is opposed to any exceptions to the rules limiting debt and to any tax increases.

On the other hand, the SPD and the Greens are opposed to cuts in social welfare or climate protection.

The debate is also focused on increasing the resources allocated to the German army.

SHOW COMMENTS