Germany
The circus provides perfect cover for espionage
As he flew his plane between circus acts across Germany in the 1930s, Cyril Bertram Mills gained vital aerial intelligence about the Nazis’ rearmament programme
The horrors of the Eastern Front
Nick Lloyd reinforces Churchill’s sentiment that the first world war in the East was ‘one of the most frightful misfortunes to befall mankind’
Passchendaele all over again
When Allied forces landed at Salerno on 9 September, they expected an easy run to Rome. But the intelligence proved dangerously faulty, as James Holland explains
Teutonic shift
The love affair between Britain and Germany is over
Across Europe by train
I found Jean-Pierre standing at a half-open window gulping down lungfuls of stale Dutch air as our night train chuntered,…
The price of populism
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), dropped the bomb last weekend. In a TV interview, Merz…
The unlikely rise of Germany’s defence minister
An unlikely political star has risen in Germany. Boris Pistorius, a 63-year-old father of two is a career politician and,…
The war that changed the map of Europe
Rachel Chrastil describes how Bismarck, relying on Gallic pride to provoke the war he wanted, ensured that France would fight without a single ally
Germany’s missteps in Ukraine have left Scholz fighting for his political life
Difficult though it may be to believe, there is chaos at the top of the German government over its mishandling…
How the Queen helped to fix Germany
The Brandenburg Gate has often reflected the state of the German nation. Throughout the centuries, Berlin’s iconic landmark has been…
The changing shade of the Greens
How pleasant it is to watch an idea fall apart. Especially when it is an idea held by people you…
Is Germany afraid of China?
The German air force has taken off for its first deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. It will take part in…
Power struggles
During the eurozone crisis, southern European states had to go cap in hand to Germany to stave off national bankruptcy.…
Putin has Europe where he wants it
Have we reached the endgame of Vladimir Putin’s energy war against the West, the point at which he turns off…
How Germany’s energy crisis could hurt Britain
For now, Berlin can breathe a sigh of relief: after a ten-day shutdown for maintenance, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline…
Back to the wall
East Germans still find it hard to see Russia as the enemy
Cold comfort
Can Germany’s solidarity with Ukraine survive the winter?
Germany is failing Ukraine
‘A giant step for German and European security,’ is how Chancellor Olaf Scholz described his government’s €100 billion cash injection…
Are sanctions working?
As oil prices surge, Putin’s billions are soaring
Sanction Schröder
From the start of the war in Ukraine, the democratic world has shown striking unity in the economic boycott of…
Olaf Scholz is tanking
North-Rhine Westphalia is Germany’s largest state, almost as large as the Netherlands. It was a traditional SPD fiefdom during the…
Merkel is turning into Blair
Angela Merkel left the German chancellery at the end of last year with a bunch of flowers, a standing ovation…
Germany’s wilful ignorance is hurting Ukraine
Berlin, Germany Germans have a complex relationship with their Erinnerungskultur, or ‘culture of memory’. Whenever the word appears, it almost invariably…
The relentless march of Europe’s zombie centrists
Journalists rarely had it so easy as when it came to writing up the final result of the French presidential…
The Spectator’s Notes
The end of the Cold War was used by the victors to unite Germany. To balance this, Europhiles created a…
