I don't buy this argument. There was a long period of peace after Waterloo in 1815. After WW1 the powers of Europe were still big players on the world stage an

I don't buy this argument. There was a long period of peace after Waterloo in 1815. After WW1 the powers of Europe were still big players on the world stage and Germany still felt it had some sort of imperialist destiny to fulfill. After world war two Europe was exhausted and reliant on the usa for protection from the warsaw pact.