When the Soviet Union collapsed, European nations grabbed the "peace dividend,” drastically shrinking their defense budgets, their armies and their arsenals.
With the rise of al-Qaida nearly a decade later, terrorism became the target, requiring different military investments and lighter, more expeditionary forces. Even NATO’s long engagement in Afghanistan bore little resemblance to a land war in Europe, heavy on artillery and tanks, that nearly all defense ministries thought would never recur.
But it has.