This is part six of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.Germany is pledging to become a more powerful military force inside NATO, with Berlin’s ambassador to Washington telling Fox News Digital that the country is ready to assume greater responsibility for European security after decades in which the United States carried much of the alliance’s military burden."Germany is stepping up — we heard the call!" German Ambassador to the United States Jens Hanefeld told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Germany’s armed forces should become the strongest conventional army in Europe, a goal Hanefeld said is now backed by Berlin’s new military strategy.UK, GERMAN DEFENSE OFFICIALS DEFEND MILITARY BUILDUP UNDER RUSSIAN THREATSGermany is pledging to become a more powerful military force inside NATO, with Berlin’s ambassador to Washington telling Fox News Digital that the country is ready to assume greater responsibility for European security. (Kira Hofmann/Photothek via Getty Images)"Russia’s illegal war of aggression has shaken old certainties in Europe and Germany as the international rules we have relied on are being challenged," Hanefeld said."This changes the strategic environment we operate in.""Today, Germany is Ukraine’s largest supporter," Hanefeld said in written answers.
"Germany’s decision to become Europe’s strongest conventional army, well anchored in the NATO alliance, is an ongoing commitment."The shift marks a historic turn for a country whose postwar military identity was built around restraint. After World War II, West Germany was allowed to rearm only within a Western alliance framework, joining NATO in 1955 and building the Bundeswehr as a force embedded in collective defense rather than independent German power.For decades after reunification, Germany relied heavily on the U.S.
security umbrella and often lagged behind NATO spending targets, feeding repeated Ame...