In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the debate over compulsory military service has resurfaced across Europe, with many countries reconsidering whether conscription could bolster their national security. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, European mass armies relied heavily on universal conscription for men. But after the Cold War, these mass armies were systematically downsized. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports that military spending in Western Europe plummeted from an average of 2.4% to 1.6% of GDP during this period. In 1990, West Germany…