Germany's ability to set the pace before the Second World War is attributed to other states passing responsibility and avoiding conflict, rather than to an innate German superiority. The discussion distinguishes institutional memory from cultural memory at the national scale. Cultural memory lasts only while enough people retain and transmit it, which affects how a society judges the costs of war. Political elites may still choose war when they believe peace threatens their own position, adding a domestic incentive to the explanation.
Notable Point · 2:29:21-2:35:21
War memory and the initiative in the 1930s
A discussion of Germany's pre-war initiative argues that other powers' memories of war shaped their willingness to resist and take risks.