Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Were the World Wars of the Twentieth Century Inevitable?

From A History of Union County Ohio, written in 1915:

Unquestionably, the greatest number of emigrants reaching the shores of the New World have come from Germany and statistics will show that, next to English blood, there is more German blood in the United States than that of any other nation. This being a fact, it is easy to account for the prosperity and morality of this country and, not only that, but it will afford an explanation for the love of learning shown by the people of this nation.

Pride goeth before the fall. No German would write something like that post-1945, especially the part about morality.