Did it really? It will always be hard to estimate, I read articles arguing either way. But it seems, certainly, from the perspective of 1930s, WWII would mean

Did it really? It will always be hard to estimate, I read articles arguing either way. But it seems, certainly, from the perspective of 1930s, WWII would mean for them attacking a coalition of Poland, France and UK, and attacking Russia and USA down the line (I understand this was always the plan). UK and France were the two dominant superpowers of the era, with US on the way up. It's not, IMHO, incomparable to the current situation. Only a madman would attack the "West", be it NATO, EU, or its allies in Asia; the chances of victory are perhaps not negligible, but expected gain certainly very poor. But it seems there's something in human history to disregard such calculus and plough on regardless.