[nkycincinnatikid]

Napoleon taught the Germans that without a nation state and a strong army they would forever be the victims of their neighbors, a door mat for the french.

[vbmoneyspender]

The Germans didn't need any lessons with regard to the importance of an effective army. Frederick the Great had already taught them that. As far as the importance of the nation-state was concerned, everyone in Europe knew by the 1800s how important the nation state was. What Napoleon taught the Germans was that when you are dealing with a genius, you needed to have a trained reserve of smart commanders who, though maybe not geniuses, are nevertheless sufficiently skilled in operations that they can handle a fight with a genius. Scharnhorst, who played an important part in the creation of the German General Staff, saw this first hand as the chief of staff for Blucher.

[u-89]

Yeh, the desire for national greatness sure served those Germans well - they got WWI and II out of it. They would have been better off without Bismarck. The centralized state and national greatness ideas didn't serve Italy so well either.

While I agree with the concept of a strong defense it is too tempting for have around as an establishment - like Madaline Albright said "what's the use of having the world's most powerful army if you don't use it?" The founding father's understood this temptation. After serving two terms as errand boy, er I mean president Eisenhower warned us on his way out about the military - indutrial complex, though in the original draft of his speech the evil axis included congress but that part was pulled before delivery.