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After the Second World War, Germany was deprived of its army and its recovery was accepted only to fend off the Soviet threat. The fear of military blunders and undemocratic actions led to the establishment of many safeguards. Now Germany can not have chemical and bacteriological nuclear weapons, the size of its army is reduced and its action is always multilateral, except for the evacuation of nationals. Military internal security missions are also limited and the German industry was partly rebuilt in the Franco-German cooperation. The current challenge to the definition of German defence policy is to regain its sovereignty without feeding resentment of countries that have limited its military capabilities in this manner.