Better late than never. Germany, which is the European Union's biggest economy and arguably most powerful member state, had until recently been a step behind its European allies on Russia's gradual buildup of troops along the border of Ukraine, dragging its heels on Nord Stream 2, SWIFT and arms transfers to Ukraine.

Still, the German government went ahead and greenlit the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia in 2015. And leaders from both former chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party and Scholz's Social Democrats defended the project against mounting domestic and international criticism over the years.

In 1990, Germans thought they could finally abandon geopolitics for good. During the first half of the 20th century, their hunger for power and territory had ravaged Europe twice, leaving millions upon millions dead, especially as the result of Nazi Germany's war of annihilation in Eastern Europe. During the Cold War, Germany would have been turned into a moonscape, had the East-West confrontation ever turned hot.

Putin's attack on Ukraine last week burst that bubble.

Germany's renewed investment in its defense capabilities could also unlock enormous potential for the European Union and the European pillar within NATO.

Smaller countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, could lean on Germany for strategic enablers, such as military airlift and reconnaissance capabilities. They could also count on German combat readiness to boost allied deterrence beyond the mere presence of multilateral tripwire forces, as is currently the case with the Enhanced Forward Presence deployments on NATO's eastern flank.

These limited deployments are supposed to deter a Russian attack by committing all allies to a forceful response. In themselves, though, they are insufficient to fend off a large-scale invasion like in Ukraine. Additional NATO deployments in the coming months would aim not at deterring but at defeating Russian aggression. The deployments would be larger and more capable.

But the war against Ukraine, Putin's de facto absorption of Belarus, loose nuclear rhetoric, and desire to recreate Russia's imperial reach have fundamentally redrawn the European security landscape.

Scholz, and with him most Germans, seem to have recognized the change of times. Preparing for its consequences will require sustained leadership at all levels. But having tied his personal political fortunes to this overhaul, Scholz must succeed, for his own sake, for Germany and Europe.