The Decline of the European Mass Armies

Abstract

Defense conversion was from the military point of view perceived for a long time as a slogan of peace activists. During the Cold War it was seen as a strange and threatening idea to the military and as a desirable goal for those movements, which stressed human needs other than military security. Many myths were created about it and many people naively expected a direct shift from military expenditure to other categories of social spending at the end of the Cold War. There were some positive results in quantitative measures of conversion in the first decade following the Cold War, but not as many as expected. A range of other goals, not only quantitative economic ones, but also qualitative political, cultural, personnel goals of conversion was achieved. As they are not quantitatively designed, it is impossible to count them in a short period of time.