Germany is ready to “fight tonight” against Russia, Inspector of the German Air Force Holger Neumann told the Telegraph in an interview published June 15: “‘Fight tonight’ means if someone calls me now and says, ‘We have the following situation here, we have to be ready now’—we are ready. We will go in with everything we have in Germany, the Air Force, but also in nato, to defend our country, our values, our population, and our alliance.”

To “go in with everything we have” means to wage total war.

Germany’s military leaders have been making preparations with urgency. They are ready to fight at any moment. But the Germans aren’t expecting to fight Russia tonight. They are preparing for this conflict with a certain date in mind: 2029.

“We have to be prepared. … We must be ready to fight,” Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding, Germany’s army chief, told Politico at the ila Aerospace Show in Berlin, held June 10 to 14. “2029 is not a German timeline. It’s nato-agreed intelligence. All 32 nato partners agree that Russia might have the capability to invade a nato partner country in 2029.”

Preparing for 2029

“You should draw a line in the calendar for 2029!” Bundeswehr Inspector General Carsten Breuer advised young soldiers at the Command and Staff College in 2024. For two years now Germany has been warning about a possible confrontation with Russia in 2029.

At the time, the year seemed random. But Germany’s political and military leaders have been working toward it as a hard deadline.

In 2025, Breuer ordered the Bundeswehr to be fully equipped with weapons and materiel by 2029.

Germany is projected to have a military budget of at least €150 billion (us$174 billion) by 2029, roughly double France’s projected budget.

The European Union is working on a system of 290 satellites, originally planned to be ready by 2031. But on January 26, European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said he now wants it ready by 2029.

Germany revealed plans in May to invest $12 billion in developing its civilian infrastructure for military purposes by 2029.

Germany plans to incorporate unmanned collaborative combat aircraft drones into its air force by 2029, as announced in May.

Germany canceled contracts to build the largest class of German warships since World War ii in June, in favor of buying eight cheaper multipurpose frigates from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp, to be ready by 2029.

The “Bundeswehr’s Defense Structure 2029” was presented to the legislature’s Defense Committee in June. Like the overall Concept for Military Defense, the document is classified. Only general details are known, such as plans to increase active-duty troops and reservists to 460,000.

Germany’s military will use a $41 billion budget to launch 1,200 satellites in the next few years, Handelsblatt reported in July. According to a July investigation by wdr, ndr and SZ, four German test satellites with jamming capabilities are set to be launched into space as early as 2027. According to confidential documents, they are expected to be “combat-ready in space” by 2029.

We don’t know exactly what Germany is planning for that year, but the preparations and the secrecy suggest something big.

Total War in 2029?

On June 5, 2024, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, “We must not believe that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will stop at Ukraine’s borders if he gets that far. We must be kriegstüchtig [ready for war] by 2029.”

The word kriegstüchtig is hard to translate, but it is the same word Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels used in 1944 when he said: “I promise the German people to leave nothing undone over the next few weeks to make the homeland kriegstüchtig in every way.”

Germany had waged intense warfare since 1939, but by 1943 and 1944, the country shifted to what Goebbels called total war.

On May 20 of this year, the German federal government adopted the Key Principles for a Civil Protection Pact. It reads: “Civil protection today faces its greatest challenges in decades. … This requires the rigorous implementation of plans and preparations for total defense [gesamtverteidigung], which closely integrates military and civil defense.”

Gesamtverteidigung doesn’t have the same Nazi vibes as kriegstüchtig. But in practice, preparing for total war, total defense or gesamtverteidigung means the same thing. The government is preparing every segment of German society for war for the first time since the Nazi era.

Will Germany really use its military preparations defensively? At the Trumpet, we rely on the sure word of Bible prophecy to answer such questions (2 Peter 1:19).

Bible prophecies reveal that Germany and Russia will clash. (You can prove these prophecies in our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.) But the Bible also clearly shows that Germany and Russia will not clash until after Germany has triggered World War iii in its quest for global dominance.

Germany claims that Russia could launch an attack on nato territory by 2029. This might be true. But Germany will not wait until Russia attacks.

“Beware! Germany is a country fertile in military surprises,” Winston Churchill warned before World War ii. If the Germans truly expect to fight Russia in 2029, they may seek to accomplish their other military conquests before that clash.

What Prophecy Reveals

In Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 13 and 17, the Bible prophesies the rise of four world-ruling empires. You can read about them in The Proof of the Bible, by late theologian Herbert W. Armstrong, to whom God revealed these prophecies.

Comparing these prophecies with the corresponding history of world empires, we know that the last one is about to rise and start the prophesied Great Tribulation, nuclear World War iii (Matthew 24:21-22). This will be a German-led resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire composed of 10 kings (Revelation 17:12).

A key scripture in Daniel 11:40 reveals the war that will trigger this conflict: a clash between “the king of the north,” which is German-led Europe, and “the king of the south,” radical Islam led by Iran.

Even after it has been decimated militarily by Israel and the U.S., Iran continues to hold the Strait of Hormuz captive. The U.S. wants out of this war, and Bible prophecy shows that Europe will move in. This could happen within months.

This coming clash with Iran will provide Germany an open door to gain control of the Middle East. “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” (verse 44).

It is this verse that makes Germany’s urgent, large-scale, military-civilian war preparations so prophetically relevant.

“The king of the north is disturbed by the power it sees Russia and China amassing!” Russia and China in Prophecy explains. “This could well refer to Europe recognizing that Asian powers are about to conquer America. Rather than allow that—which would leave Europe flanked in both hemispheres by an Asian alliance—Europe makes the first move.”

This reveals Germany’s true military urgency. It recognizes Russia’s and China’s military ambitions to conquer the U.S. But instead of preparing to come to the aid of the U.S., Germany prepares to strike the U.S. first in an unprecedented betrayal!

Many end-time Bible prophecies are concerned with this military conquest.The year 2029 could be relevant.

Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 5 and 27 reveal that Germany will be working together with Russia and China and aligned nations to economically weaken the U.S. This economic siege will take place during the first year of the prophesied “Great Tribulation.” However, Russia and China will not be able to take military advantage of a weakened United States, because Germany, as head of a united Europe, will strike first!

In his May 2025 article “Germany Is Arming for World War iii,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained the prophecies showing that God will use Germany, not Russia and China, to punish the modern descendants of biblical Israel—primarily the U.S. and Britain—and explains why He does that.

In Isaiah 10:5-6, God says: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

Assyria is modern Germany. The “hypocritical nation” refers mainly to the U.S. and Britain, the modern descendants of the ancient Israelites, who are rebelling against the God of Israel!

“Right now, we are witnessing Germany begin its final preparations to start this war!” Mr. Flurry wrote (ibid).

Will the actual military invasion occur in 2029, or even before? We don’t know, but other biblical prophecies indicate that it could happen around 2029. The Bible specifically reveals who will be ruling the U.S. when these prophecies begin to come to pass.

In Amos 7, God is recorded saying: “And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword” (verse 9). Mr. Flurry has identified who the end-time Jeroboam is in Bible prophecy, and his term ends on Jan. 20, 2029.

We could see some unexpected turns, such as a third term for President Donald Trump. But the indications are mounting that 2029 will be a critical year in Bible prophecy.

Mr. Armstrong warned about this prophesied resurrection of the Roman Empire, the beast of Revelation 17, in a 1934 issue of his Plain Truth magazine. Nineteen years later, in 1953, he began taking this message around the world along with the proclamation of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

God measures time in 19-year cycles. The Hebrew calendar revolves around 19-year time cycles when the solar and lunar calendars sync up with each other.

Mr. Armstrong and now Mr. Flurry have paid particular attention to this 19-year time cycle from 1934, to 1953, to 1972, to 1991, to 2010. In 2001 Mr. Flurry wrote: “Will the Great Tribulation begin in 2010? The Gulf War started on Jan. 16, 1991. Will a much greater war begin when the fourth 19-year time cycle ends? Perhaps. I believe we should be aware of these dates.”

The Great Tribulation did not start in 2010 when the current 19-year time cycle began. But Germany is preparing for a major world war dated for the very first year of the next 19-year time cycle: 2029. That year incidentally will also mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Philadelphia Church of God.

We need to be aware of these dates. Like the German soldiers, we “should draw a line in the calendar for 2029.” But by no means should we wait till then to turn to God.

Germany’s military preparations should give us urgency. But at the same time, we need to realize that God is the one who is bringing about the fulfillment of these prophecies.

Revelation 17:17 reads: “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will ….” In Isaiah 10:5, God calls Assyria, modern-day Germany, “the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.” And in Jeremiah 1:12 God says, “I will hasten my word to perform it.”

God may be putting the year 2029 in Germany’s mind to fulfill His will.

Only God the Father knows the day and the hour of the Great Tribulation and of Jesus Christ’s return (Matthew 24:36), but the time is coming when we can begin the countdown in terms of days (Daniel 12). Germany’s urgency should likewise give us urgency in seeing that God is hastening the fulfillment of His prophecies.