Is The Draft Returning To Europe?

Recruits in Poland's Territorial Defense Force go through weapons training south of Gdansk. (Kasia Strek/Panos Pictures for The Washington Post)  

Euronews: Which European countries are rethinking military service amid Ukraine war? 

“Any Frenchman is a soldier and owes himself to the defence of the nation,” declared the Jourdan Act of 1798, pioneering the concept of universal military service.

Almost two centuries later, French President Jacques Chirac finally did away with the levée en masse, replacing it with “Defence and Citizenship Day”, an away day for youths to learn about Republican values once a year. 

The end of national service in 1997 wasn’t universally popular in France. For some, it was an affront to history. For others, an admission of the country’s collapsing importance in world affairs. 

But the rest of Europe would follow suit. Across the continent, military service was on its last legs by the turn of the century.  

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Update: War prompts some European countries to boost military and civilian defenses (Turon Zamin/Washington Post).  

WNU Editor: The draft/conscription is returning to Europe. And while public support has been absent,  protests against conscription have been far and few between.