The wartime scenario in Europea has challenged entrenched assumptions about territorial defence and societal resilience. Beyond adjustments in military posture and defence spending, the war in Ukraine and potential future threats against other European countries has redirected policy attention towards civil preparedness, crisis management structures, and patterns of interaction between military institutions and civilian authorities. This paper explores how European states have conceptualised and embedded preparedness for war and major crises in the post-2022 environment, with a particular focus on civil–military coordination. It examines developments across governance levels situating recent reforms within broader approaches including total defence, whole-of-government, and whole-of-society models. The analysis pays specific attention to the allocation of roles among central ministries, subnational authorities, armed forces, private-sector actors, and citizens. Methodologically, the study draws on a comparative analysis of official strategies, legislative changes, preparedness frameworks, and/or public guidance documents issued since 2022 by EU countries, UK and Norway. As an ongoing research, the paper is aimed at identifying patterns of convergence and divergence across European models.