“Although this is peacetime, it is a highly unpredictable period. We cannot deny it: we are living through a very worrying time.” During her New Year address to the armed forces, the French Minister for the Armed Forces and Veterans, Catherine Vautrin, emphasised how today’s major geopolitical upheavals are impacting not only France’s defence, but French society as a whole. “In less than ten days, the world has seen the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and claims on Greenland, the uprising of the Iranian people in protest against the Islamic Republic, and continued Russian aggression against Ukraine – marked by the second launch of a ballistic missile sending a clear strategic signal with nuclear overtones. Welcome to 2026.”

Clearly, crises no longer occur one after another but are overlapping. “They are accumulating and multiplying,” observed General Thierry Burkhard, then Chief of the Defence Staff, on 11 July last year. “We are facing a shift in the strategic framework. And there will be no turning back,” he added. This address marked the beginning of a decisive sequence that gradually revealed the unprecedented scale of the geopolitical challenges. It was followed by the speech delivered by Emmanuel Macron in Brienne, in which the President unveiled a far-reaching organisational reform of the Ministry for the Armed Forces and new programmes for recruiting young people. A few days later, the publication of the National Strategic Review brought this sequence to a close with a stark conclusion: the geopolitical environment has seriously deteriorated. It also outlined the contours of the nation’s rearmament, including civic rearmament, confirming that the situation calls for an unprecedented response. 

Confrontation Reshaping the World Order

In this context, we are becoming increasingly accustomed to violence. Five years ago, who would have imagined hearing tanks rumbling across the European continent? The use of force has once again become a primary instrument of international relations: “Many countries see it as the simplest and quickest way to achieve results,” noted General Burkhard. But warfare is not its only manifestation. Confrontation can also be invisible and insidious. It permeates every sphere of life – the economy, the military, society and the media – and is becoming a permanent feature.

Disinformation, espionage targeting sensitive companies, cyberattacks… These hybrid threats feed on identity-based tensions, separatism and economic inequality. And such rifts threaten to undermine the very foundations on which the Republic is built. Yet in a world where geopolitical balances are shifting, national cohesion has become a matter of security.

Without it, our ability to respond to crises, and even our willingness to mount a defence, would be weakened. “The evolving environment therefore poses major challenges for our society,” confirms General Fabien Mandon, Chief of the Defence Staff. “While the armed forces are present, reinforcements are always valuable.” Their deployments range from securing trade in the Red Sea to maintaining a permanent deterrent posture, and from assisting with reconstruction in Mayotte to fielding new brigades in Romania. Professional military personnel alone can no longer meet all the challenges of our time. The military model must therefore evolve if this balance is to be sustained over the long term. As the French President said: “We need mobilisation. Mobilisation of the Nation to defend itself, not against any specific enemy, but to ensure that we are ready and respected.”

A Hybrid Model for a Hybrid War

The objective announced in 2022 – one reservist for every two active service members – already marked a shift in the French military model. With the introduction of national service, a new milestone has now been reached. “The French armed forces currently represent around 0.5% of the population. With the reserve and national service, we are expanding the part of the nation that shares a culture of defence, which is a real asset in these challenging times,” emphasises General Mandon.

Today, professional military personnel are not the only ones to be aware of and to engage with military issues. “Rearmament cannot be solely military, capability-based, budgetary or technological,” stressed the Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. “It is civic and human.” This is precisely the objective of national military service: not to create a nation of soldiers, but a nation of citizens who are united and fully aware of their responsibilities. It offers young people the opportunity to act and think collectively, fostering a sense of pride and belonging. The programme also responds to their willingness to serve: 70% of 18–24-year-olds support the principle of national military service. It helps bring young people together, while giving them training and knowledge. “Our armed forces are no longer structured to take in an entire age group, which represents between 600,000 and 800,000 young people. Such a model of compulsory and universal national service does not meet the needs of our armed forces or the threats they face,” said the French President. By assigning selected volunteers to a range of varied and formative roles, the programme will contribute to national security while preparing the younger generation to serve their country. A form of national service that benefits both the armed forces and the young people who participate in it.