On Tuesday, Angela Merkel appeared to drop her normal cautious approach as she pointed to shifting sands in the world order to back the creation of "a real, true" European military force.

In a debate on the future of Europe after Brexit, she deliberately echoed French President  Emmanuel Macron’s call for an EU army last week, which drew the wrath of Donald Trump.

While in reality the the creation of an EU army is still a distant dream, the mood music has changed.

The last push to create a common six-nation European Army hit the buffers in 1952 amid fears over sovereignty.  Current fraught compromise plans for greater defence integration will have to prove successful before another attempt bears…