I do not see any reason why France should be traumatized by history. Okay - we Germans invaded you 60 years ago, but this is BS of the past and over. To tell you the truth - Germany has also gotten over WWII since the old generation is dust in the meantime. All this political correct whining is just lip-service of a few politicians. On the other hand we have learned -as I already said- out of our really fundamental faults in the past. The world can be sure that Germany will not act as a platform of agression anymore. Therefore we are for sure not interested into hopeless wars in Kongo, Darfur or elsewhere. Simply none of our business. The (peaceful) German Afghanistan operation is already unpleasant enough.
I do not say this because I am a pacifistic idiot. My grandfather was a professional officer of the Wehrmacht and I served in the Bundeswehr. I simply do not want to see our soldiers involved into hopeless operations. There has to be some logic behind wars and a little less emotion. For that purpose we have to learn that some things can not be changed. It is impossible to solve the ME situation with force from the west i.e., because the Arabs do not want us to help them. If you want to "solve" this situation you have to kill all of them. We Germans made some bad experience with genocide. Therefore I recommend to sit on the fence.
It is difficult to draw a line where war makes sense and where it does not. We can learn from the US operation in Iraq that preemptive strikes are expensive and they require a engagement over decades. Although Saddam Hussein has been eliminated, the situation is even more instable now as it was before. Nevertheless it was for sure a victory of freedom.
There are more wars to come. Where will France and Germany stand if there is a confrontation with Iran? What will be if Israel is in deep trouble?