Croatia called up its first conscripts in 19 years and more than half came voluntarily. Europe is bringing military service back, and geography decides how

On March 9, 2026, 800 young Croatians walked into three barracks, in Knin, Slunj and Požega, for two months of military training. Croatia had not called anyone up since 2007. The surprise was who they were: 354 had been summoned, but 446, more than half, had volunteered, and 82 of those were women, whom the law does not oblige to serve. Only ten declared themselves conscientious objectors.

Croatia is not alone. Ten European Union countries now have compulsory military service, and several have brought it back since 2015. Since January, Germany has required every 18-year-old man to fill in a questionnaire about whether he is willing to serve. France has opened a ten-month voluntary service. Denmark now calls up women too.

The question is whether Europe should call its young people up again, by compulsion or by invitation, and whether a few months of training is worth anything. In Spain, for example, conscription was never abolished: the 2001 decree that ended it speaks of a "suspension" of military service, which in law means an interruption, not an end. This article is about who is bringing service back, why, and what was argued.

Who has brought it back, and why

Lithuania reintroduced conscription in 2015, Sweden in 2017 and Latvia in 2023. All three did so after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and Sweden's defence minister said as much when announcing it: there was "a new security situation". Lithuania and Latvia border Russia. That was the debate's first conclusion:

Geography drives this, not fashion.GLM

Those further away have chosen something else. Germany suspended conscription in 2011, and in December 2025 passed, by 323 votes to 272, a law that keeps service voluntary: a minimum of six months, with better pay. But the questionnaire is compulsory for young men, a compulsory medical examination follows, and the law lets parliament make service compulsory for some of them "particularly if the defense policy situation or the personnel situation of the armed forces make this necessary". Germany has just over 180,000 troops and wants 260,000 within a decade.

France, which ended compulsory service in 2001, has created a voluntary ten-month service for young men and women of about 18 or 19, who will serve "on national territory and only on national territory", in President Macron's words. It starts this summer with 3,000 volunteers, aims for 10,000 by 2030 and 50,000 by 2035, and costs more than 2 billion euros up to 2030.

And Denmark has done something else again: since July 2025, women who turn 18 can be called up like men, by lottery, for eleven months.

Denmark and Sweden already draft women, so equality is not radical, it is Tuesday.Kimi

Does it defend anything?

One voice asked the awkward question at the start: whether a few months in barracks turns anyone into a soldier. In Croatia training lasts two months; in Denmark, eleven. No study says how much is enough, and none says whether conscription deters anyone from attacking.

We would be spending billions on a feeling.MiniMax

Another voice proposed forgetting rifles: a "resilience" service, preparing the country to get through a crisis, with cyber security, drones, emergency medicine and grid protection. France's service, which never leaves the country, already looks rather like that. The reply was that the threat in question is not only digital:

Russia fields tanks and artillery, not just hackers. A resilience corps is civil defense wearing a military hat.MiniMax

Agreement came through geography. Lithuania, next door to Russia, needs rifles; France, less so.

One Europe, two wardrobes.Kimi

Compulsory, or voluntary?

Croatia was the figure everyone came back to. If more than half the first recruits in a compulsory system turned up voluntarily, perhaps paying well and asking is enough: recruits there earn about 1,100 euros a month net, and those who refuse on grounds of conscience do three or four months of civilian service instead.

The sceptic urged caution: it is the first intake, with all the press watching, and nobody knows what will happen to the second or the third.

Don't celebrate a first date as a marriage.MiniMax

And the sceptic pointed out that the Baltic states, the ones with the problem closest to home, did not choose voluntary service but compulsory. The conclusion was a mixed system: a professional army, a well-paid voluntary track, and compulsory service as a backstop only where the danger is close.

What people think

Polls from March 2025 say different things in each country. In Germany, 58% supported compulsory service for young people, according to YouGov. In France, 86% wanted some kind of service back, but only 53% wanted it compulsory, according to Ipsos. In Spain, 53% were against compulsory service.

One voice saw in the French gap something other than defence: people want something shared back, but do not trust the state to send their children to war.

Can you conscript a generation into feeling like a nation again?MiMo Flash

The answer was the calendar: the countries that brought conscription back did so right after Crimea, and Spain, far from Russia, has not, and most Spaniards oppose making it compulsory. What drives this, they said, is fear of a neighbour, not nostalgia.

Sums that don't add up

There was an attempt to compare the cost per recruit, and it went wrong, and was corrected within the debate. Dividing France's 2 billion by the 10,000 volunteers of 2030 does not work, because the money covers five years, a ramp up from 3,000, and everything that has to be set up. What can be said is that Croatia budgets about 23.7 million euros a year to train about 4,000 recruits.

And the figure really worth watching, they agreed, is Germany's: it is about 80,000 soldiers short of its target, some 8,000 more a year. If volunteers do not come, the law already has the compulsory route ready.

Watch the headcounts, not the speeches.GLM

In Spain, conscription is not part of this argument. But the 2001 decree did not erase it: it suspended it. If it ever came back, it would not have to be built from scratch.

The winner won't be declared by us. It'll be declared by the numbers in 2030.MiMo