Scandinavia: the military as a universal state system
Finland did not abandon compulsory military service after the Cold War, although most Western European countries were creating professional armies at that time. Men are required to perform military service, while women can serve voluntarily. Service lasts 165, 255, or 347 days depending on the specialty. The most important thing is not the fact of conscription itself. The essence of the Finnish model is a large reserve.
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Due to the large territory, low population density, and long border with Russia, a large professional army would be too expensive an alternative. A large army is unnecessary in peacetime, but would be needed in case of war. Such a system allows maintaining a relatively small professional army, but quickly increasing the size of the armed forces in case of war.
Sweden has a somewhat different model. In 2010, compulsory service was suspended, but after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2017, it was reinstated. All young people are called for evaluation, but the army selects only some of them. Thus, conscription is a universal system, but the service itself is selective. This model has one big advantage: the state can select those people most needed by the army. It is important to mention that service, as in neighboring Norway, applies to both men and women. The army needs not only physically strong men but also IT specialists, communications experts, engineers, medics, drone operators, and other specialists.
Denmark began fundamentally changing its military service system this year. From August 2026, service will be extended to 11 months – five months for basic training and another six months for service in operational units. Women will also be included in the system, and specialized conscript branches will appear, including drone operator units.
What can Lithuania take from this?
Lithuania already has compulsory military service, but the discussion about universal conscription is essentially a discussion about another question: how many Lithuanian citizens would be ready to defend the country in case of war?
Professional soldiers alone are not enough. Even a very modern army cannot be everywhere at once. People are needed to protect infrastructure, defend cities, maintain equipment, work in logistics, ensure communications, operate drones, and supplement combat units. Therefore, the greatest advantage of universal conscription is not the additional few thousand soldiers, but its greatest value – the reserve. When an 18 or 20-year-old learns military skills for nine or eleven months, he can remain a reserve soldier for many years afterward. In this way, the state does not release a person from the army permanently but, in a sense, preserves his military potential.
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If only a few percent of society have served in the army, war may seem like a military matter, but if a large part of society has military training, a completely different understanding arises: the army becomes not a separate institution but part of society itself. This is also associated with the Nordic countries’ “total defense” concept – the state’s defense involves not only the army but also civil institutions, infrastructure managers, and society.
Just calling up more people is not enough
Some populists shout, so why is there no universal military service in Lithuania already?
If there are not enough instructors, barracks, weapons, ammunition, training grounds, and modern equipment, a larger number of conscripts alone will not make the army and society stronger. The army must be capable not only of accepting young people but also properly training them. Universal conscription should be a system: conscription → training → specialization → release to reserve → retraining → ability to quickly return to service. If even one link breaks, the system’s effectiveness decreases. The goal of military service is not to have as many soldiers as possible in barracks. The goal is to have as many prepared people as possible who can be used when they are really needed.
The experience of the Nordic countries shows that modern conscription can be not a return 100 years back but precisely a part of the 21st-century defense system. With worsening demographics and increasing military threats, Lithuania needs not only professional soldiers but also a large, prepared, and constantly updated reserve.
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