The New German Question

Twenty years ago, in the immediate aftermath of Germany’s reunification, French magazines were full of caricatures of Chancellor Helmut Kohl wearing the traditional pointed Prussian helmet. The new Germany was perceived as a threat to the European balance. Germany was simply “too much” again.

German geopolitical ambitions, it was believed, would invariably seek greater proportionality with the size of the country’s population and the dynamism of its economy. It was only a matter of time, people thought, before the “German Question” would return to haunt Europe, as it did between 1871 and 1945.