e. Defeat in the First World War repressed German militant nationalism, but it only returned with more virulence under Hitler. The aftermath of the Second World War left Germany again divided.
Postwar East Germany was a cipher, even more in retrospect than it appeared at the time. West Germany sought refuge from its painful past in Europeanism and partnership with France. The collapse of the Soviet bloc, however, re-opened the German Question. Germany itself was reunited far faster than anyone anticipated, and its future course is again uncertain.
In the context of Western history, France and Germany share a common origin in the Franks, a Germanic people who gave their name to France. Only by the historical accident of the division of Charlemagne's kingdom among his grandsons were the seeds of a distinct France and Germany created, and a debatable middle-ground--Lotharingia, or Lorraine--created between them. It may be that a division was inevitable between the Germanic-speaking and
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