Go visit the Völkerschlachtdenkmal at the outskirts of Leipzig to get a visceral understanding of the dark undercurrent of Teutonic culture that led to militarism. This is a war memorial that celebrates war and military sacrifice, no pacifist message there at all. It was inaugurated less than a year prior to the outbreak of the Great War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Battle_of_the_...
The feeling you get inside under the unyielding gaze of the granite "Watchers of the Dead" is absolutely creepy.