Should we bring back national service? Conflicts across the world have brought warnings that Europe’s standing armies are not nearly big enough to cope with a full-scale war.
Army chiefs call for Nato ‘citizen armies’
Joining up: During World Wars One and Two, calls to serve your country in the name of duty were commonplace. Glossary
Conscription - Forced enrolment in the army.
Nato - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in 1949 to unite Western democracies in Europe and North America against the perceived growing threat of the USSR. It now has 31 members.
Logistics - The planning and organisation of a project or operation.
Dissipating - Gradually disappearing.
Hamas - A militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.