Wars are markers, nearly always, but not the only markers. When I think about the last three big wars, Germany has been involved in, each of them brought us not just a change of government, but also a major change of constitution: 1870/71 brought us the second unification and the 2. Reich (and the emperor), WWI brought us the 1. republic, WWII the 2. republic. However, a future history of Germany in the last 120 years will have two other time markers not (directly) related to wars: Hitler's taking of power in 1933, and the peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989 (3. unification in 1990).

Wolfgang