enders of the lesser democracies.
That this latter posture had finally and decisively cut the political
binds and military restrictions imposed by the Allies after the fall of
the Third Reich, was a fact that some (though not all) tended to
overlook. The one consistency throughout had been an aggressive and
self-righteous pursuit of nationalistic goals, based partly, but not
solely, on a continuing discomfort with Western humanitarian ideals.
"The Germans don't want freedom," the 20th Century author had declared.
"They don't understand it. What they want is a strong leader, and a
cause worth fighting for." But here again, words could never quite
capture the stubborn fiber of the German spirit.

And, of course, those who did not fit the negative stereotype---there
were many---were human beings just like any other, complete with their
share of artists, dissidents, dreamers, idealists and alternative
politicians. That those in power continued to be for the most part
conservative, flag waving nationalists (as indeed had become the case
in the United Commonwealth) did not mean that the Germans had no heart.
Many quiet, everyday working people secretly hoped for the emergence
of a more moderate geopolitical stance; and few would deny that a truly
good German was as unselfish and compassionate an individual as one
could ever hope to find. Unfortunately, fierce nationalism remained,
and the end result was always the same: subtle but continuous
expansionism.

4) P-Q4

But by all appearances this was not to be a (directly) German war.

B-Q2

Yet the shadow of her past, and continued arms build-up, bred little
trust among her neighbors.

5) N-B3

There was nothing particularly unique about the Belgian-Swiss
Alliance---the most integral of the 'intermediate' powers
involved---although to themselves it seemed a thing of great
importance, occupying countless hours of thought and preparation.
Formed out of mutual colonial interest scarcely a dozen years before,
it had since made substantial (if in the eyes of the affluent, still
modest) gains in and around the Berlioz Quadrant, and was currently
exploring the regions that lay beyond---the limits of man's domain in
that direction.

Left behind by the sweeping, mechanized changes of the past two
centuries, these proud and businesslike peoples, not wholly dissimilar,
now seemed resolutely determined to improve their lot, to gain
respectability, and to leave thei