In the case of France and Germany, the opposite is true. Both just had an overdose of blood and worked towards becoming the best friends in the world. And this they became. And still capitalist.
They became close partners as the Cold War materialised, as I see it, as a counterweight to the Soviet Union but also to a lesser degree to the US and UK.
So, if one believes Clausewitz's "Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln" (War is the very continuation of politics by other means), it is difficult not to see the Franco-German relationship as very much a geopolitical marriage of convenience. (Albeit a very happy one, I hasten to add.)
