Apr 28, 2026 12:46 pm IST

Opinion | Germany And Japan Are Making Their Biggest Military Moves Since WW2. Here's Why

Japan's recent decision to lift the ban on lethal weapons exports is not just symbolic. It signals something bigger.

Harsh V Pant Harsh V Pant Columnist

Harsh V Pant Columnist

Both Germany and Japan appear to have crossed a strategic Rubicon, moving decisively away from the constraints of post-World War II pacifism toward a more assertive and self-reliant security posture. This is less about choice and more about compulsion, driven by an unforgiving geopolitical environment.

Historically, the rise of Germany and Japan has been central to the making - and unmaking - of the modern global order. Both emerged as formidable industrial powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, challenging established hierarchies dominated by older Western empires. Their rapid militarisation and quest for strategic space were key drivers behind the upheavals that culminated in the two World Wars, fundamentally reshaping international politics. The aftermath of World War II, in particular, produced an order that deliberately constrained their military ambitions, embedding them within US-led alliance systems and a rules-based framework designed to prevent a recurrence of revisionist aggression. For much of the post-war era, their economic resurgence without corresponding military assertion became a defining feature of global stability. It is precisely this historical memory, of disruption followed by restraint, that lends such weight to their current strategic reawakening, raising profound questions about how their renewed assertiveness might once again reshape the contours of global order.

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