Germany to expand its army due to tensions with Russia
Germany plans to increase the size of its armed forces for the first time since 1990 due to tensions with Russia. “The Bundeswehr is expected to recruit an additional 14,300 troops over the next seven years; 4,400 civilian staff will be recruited as well,” Ursula von der Leyen, the German Minister of Defense, said on Tuesday.
According to her, the expansion of the German army is necessary, owing to the current situation of increased tensions with Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine and also several foreign missions in which Bundeswehr soldiers are involved.
In the last few decades, the German army has been decreasing in size. Last December there were 178,000 soldiers, while in 2011 there were about 185,000.
At the time of reunification in 1990, Germany had some 585,000 troops on active duty.
Support for larger troop numbers has increased sharply in recent years due to the Ukrainian and Syrian crises - from 15% in 2009 to 45%, as survey of the Military History Research Office of Germany showed. Over the next three years, the military budget of the country will increase from 34.3 billion euro to 39.2 billion euro by 2020.