Read main thread: Another World War?
April 14th, 2006  
Doppleganger
Tribuni Angusticlavii
 
 
Well, there are 2 parts to this question, a military part and a political part. It can be argued that Germany has already achieved political dominance of Europe, albeit not alone this time. Economic dominance is another factor and in fact, Germany had dominated Europe in this way since the mid 1950s. However, 2 factors, namely the costs of unification of East and West Germany and the loss of the Deutschmark, have somewhat curtailed that dominance in the past 15 years.

There can be no way for Germany to gain military dominance anytime soon, even if the will existed, which it certainly doesn't and hasn't since WW2. There are many reasons for this, the advent of nuclear capability of many nations being a major one but the fact remains that armed conflict to obtain political goals is, in many ways, an outmoded concept. The only major exception to this rule is when one nation has a large enough military, economic and technological advantage over another, as demonstrated by the USA versus Iraq in the last 2 Persian Gulf conflicts.

With the advent of mass media, cultural dominance is now one of the most effective ways for one nation to dominate others. One only has to observe the influence of American culture throughout the last 50 years to see how well the USA has done in importing its culture throughout Europe and the wider world. As I touched upon above economic dominance is another effective way and one which Germany used well in the post-war years.

However, I hate to be a parrot or a prophet of doom but IMO if there is any war in Europe within the next 50 years it will be religious and not political, ignoring political boundaries entirely. In some ways it has already happened, though not within Europe. Many would say that the 2003 invasion of Iraq by US and UK forces was as much a religious war as it was political, with a good bit of economics thrown in there for good measure. But aside from this, it cannot be ignored that Muslim percentages of population in almost all European countries are rising, whilst by the same token Christian percentages are falling. For example, Muslim birth rates are, on average, nearly 3 times higher than Christian birth rates within Western European countries. Birth rates are the lifeblood of a nation or culture, even today. And whilst I don't entirely agree with the following article, much of it is interesting and even alarming.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760

Anyway to summarize, Germany has no chance at military or cultural dominance IMO. They have achieved a partial political dominance and have largely given up an economic dominance they held for many years. Germany, in the guise of the Third Reich, had a great chance at global domination. That was their last chance alone in the sun.
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"An Emperor is subject to no-one but God and justice."

Frederick 1, Barbarossa

Last edited by Doppleganger; April 14th, 2006 at 21:03.
 
 
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