After decades of relative peace in Europe following the end of World War II, with a few notable exceptions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine served as a stark reminder that the specter of war is still alive. Within a few days in February 2022, millions of lives were turned upside down and Europe’s sense of safety was deeply rattled.

As Statista's Felix Richter notes, the longer the war dragged on, the more aware Europeans became of the looming threat that Putin’s Russia poses to European peace, especially after Donald Trump was re-elected and immediately threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine and questioned the U.S. commitment to NATO, which had effectively shielded Western Europe from Russian aggression for decades.

According to a new YouGov survey, many Europeans even consider World War III a possibility, with at least 30 percent of respondents in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK saying that it’s very or fairly likely that there will be another world war in the next 5-10 years. 

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With respect to Europe, tensions with Russia are seen as the biggest threat by far. 

Around 50 percent of respondents from Germany, France and the UK said that Russia poses a major threat to peace in Europe, while tensions between Europe and the U.S. and between European nations are not perceived as an imminent threat.

It is this feeling of insecurity that has given Europe’s politicians the mandate to ramp up defense spending in an unprecedented fashion. 

Aside from national defense budgets rising steeply, the European Commission is also working on ways to improve European security and limiting the continent’s historical reliance on the United States.