‘Don’t mention the war!’ Remember that? Today, war seems nearly all that European leaders want to talk about. The prospect of conflict with Russia is real, and a confrontation seems increasingly likely. That’s why Europe’s political leaders are beginning to discuss, in frank and sometimes alarming tones, the ways their countries should prepare to fight. Estonia’s prime minister, Poland’s head of national security and the Danish defence minister all say Russia could have the soldiers and equipment to launch an attack in three years. Emmanuel Macron last week met his German and Polish counterparts in Berlin to discuss Europe’s military support for Ukraine, after refusing to rule out – again – deploying French troops onto Ukrainian soil. Talking honestly about war is a good thing.

Most Europeans are blamelessly ignorant about the work of their militaries. A few years ago, a YouGov poll found that 69 per cent of Britons have little idea what the armed forces actually do. Three and a half decades of peace have led to defence budget cuts, and in turn this has rendered European militaries less visible. In the UK, reorganisations have resulted in soldiers being stationed in large bases outside city centres, where they have trained for overseas deployments. Soldiers are largely in invisible in daily life. You might only see them on ceremonial occasions. During Covid, the UK military built Nightingale hospitals and transported oxygen across the country. In Germany, former defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was so concerned about the absence of the military from daily life that she arranged complimentary tickets for soldiers on public transport – if they wore uniform.

Now we need our armed forces, and that requires far more than just increasing defence spending. The spending will result in more equipment and more people. Chief of the General Staff Patrick Sanders has floated the idea of a ‘citizen army’ to back up active-duty forces, though Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin subsequently admonished him for making the suggestion. Estonia’s defence minister, Margus Tsahkna, told a press conference in February that it could take three to four years for Russia to prepare a ‘test for Nato.’ Macron says he made his suggestion to stimulate debate, so – I think – did Sanders and Tsahkna.

We need to talk about war, particularly about the prospect of war in our neighbourhood. If we pretend this ugly eventuality doesn’t exist, the chaos will be even worse if it comes. Look at Covid: because for decades western governments didn’t want to trouble their citizens by mentioning the pesky prospect of a deadly pandemic, Covid caused mayhem. The general public weren’t ready, neither mentally nor practically. A continent-wide war will have further reaching consequences than a pandemic.

Being honest with the public about the prospect of war doesn’t need to involve talk of conscription. In fact, in most western countries – including the UK – forcing every young man and woman to perform military service would massively burden the armed forces with out adding any real military strength or skills. The model best suited for modern armed forces is instead Norway’s selective military conscription, for which only around one sixth of young men and women are selected. Being admitted to military service in Norway is a bit like getting a place at Oxbridge. The armed forces get to select the best candidates for what is officially mandatory service, while those selected get a prestigious entry on their CVs. If the UK, Germany, France or other countries that have suspended military service wish to reinstate it, the Norwegian model is what they should strive for.

But what General Sanders (who is fluent in Norwegian) may have had in mind when speaking of a citizen army is another aspect of Scandinavian defence: citizen involvement in military support functions. In Norway, Denmark and Sweden, citizens of all stripes participate in their countries’ Home Guards, guarding public sites, assisting the police and emergency services and assisting the full-time military. In addition to the Home Guard, Sweden has a range of non-weapons-based auxiliary organisations that support the military. Citizens can train dogs, drive cars and other vehicles, engage in radio communications, look after livestock and much else – all in support of the armed forces. In a war, it’s not just the military and its support services that need to function: the rest of society needs to function, too.

Governments are right to be talking about conflict. It isn’t war-mongering; it’s common sense. Macron, Tsahkna and Sanders have succeeded in getting more people to consider that they might soon have to interact with the military. So has Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defence, who gave Swedes participating in a conference earlier this year an undiluted taste of reality. ‘There could be war in Sweden,’ he explained. In the days immediately after the conference, Home Guard applications spiked. A new war may be threatening the European continent. We should talk about it.