[Wallace T.]

Germany has never recovered from the effects of World War II in a spiritual sense. Its actions under the Nazi regime were unprecedented, and the country was to a great extent physically destroyed. The West Germans at least rebuilt rapidly after the Morgenthau plan was scrapped and the Marshall Plan enacted. Additionally, West Germany adopted a free market economy under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard, and as a result, returned to prosperity more quickly than France, Italy, or Britain. However, the events of 1933-45 led to an attitude of "Deutschland unser alles".

However, the demise or at least toppling of the United States as the world's leading power may break Germany's self-hating behavior. If the Russians should win the war in Ukraine, China succeeds in taking Taiwan by military force or through surrender, and if NATO collapses, the Germans may once again start dealing with the world free from the effects of their post-World War II trauma.

[dfwgator]

Once the Germans were warlike and mean
But that couldn’t happen again

We taught them a lesson in 1918
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then

-Tom Lehrer

[Cronos]

You see Germany through the lens of its Bismarckian to Hitler era.

What if Germany had been united under the Hapsburgs or Bavaria?

Germans are destined to be war hungry - in fact through much of their history they were the commercial and artistic soft powerS of Europe.

I would argue that they have learnt from the 20th century war that their best option is to win the world commercially.