How influential did the area or region of "Germany" ever become in European history?

and why it seems that it has always been beaten down? continuously even? how many wars has this area had in European history and has this area had more wars than any other region of Europe? why for this?





how compares to France or England? and has England always been a very powerful region or was this really only after William of Orange transferred banking and naval power to there? how compared to the time of Queen Elizabeths time..? (was England really that powerful then compared to Spain? or france even?)





please explain what you can





thanks for your answers!|||The early Germanic people contributed widely to the ethnic groups of Europe, including the Germans of course, the Dutch, the English, Austrians, Icelanders, Norwegians and others. The Germanic people such as the Franks, Goths, Burgundians, Angles, Lombard's, Vandals and Saxons transformed what was then the Roman Empire into Medieval Europe, with the German language represented through Germann, Dutch, Scandinavian and English.





Before the unification of Germany into a nation, Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire, the Empire of an earlier Germanic people. It can be pretty much said be by most genealogists that the majority of people within Europe are descended from Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as he fathered over a hundred, if not hundreds of illegitimate children.





During the Thirty Year War, population in the German states was reduced by around 30 to 40% and the Peace of Westphalia ended in religious warfare between the states, which led do the dualism. A long conflict between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia, a conflict which in effect, was a battle to control the German-speaking peoples. Austria was then forced out of the German Confederation by Prussia, which was in pursuit of unifying the German people under one state. Which was settled in 1871 with the forging of the German Empire.





During the unification, foreign policy by Emperor William I secured Germany as a great nation, however isolated many nations, the most obvious being France. Under William II however, Germany began to take an imperialistic course which led to friction and caused new alliances to not be within the favour of Germany, such as France's signing of the Entente Cordiale with Great Britain, which secured ties with the Russian Empire. Which in effect, caused Germany to become isolated within Europe.





Germany went on to secure its share of Africa during the Scramble for Africa, causing greater tensions between the great powers which contributed to the conditions that led to World War I.





Much of the German History of war, was war between its states before Germany was united under one, rather than war with other nations.








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Now onto the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom's of England as this was cause for much of its power. The Navy was always powerful since early 900's, and its strength largely due to Merchant Ships, which were enlisted into naval service in times of war. During the Norman Conquest the fleet declined, this was because England did not keep a permanent fleet of warships in peacetime. After of course the reign of William of Orange, England did not face any major threats from the sea until the 13th century, and in the 14th century led to the outbreak of the Hundred Year War. The English fleet was unable to prevent many raids on English land by the French, until Henry V's campaign of France and occupation of Northern France. Nothing changed much after William of Orange had earlier reigned, the Navy did not become more powerful and it still utilised merchant ships. A core Royal Navy with warships kept in peacetime was not formed until the 16th century.