Take away the hero-worship of the military culture fostered in the German principalities, and petulant, foolish children like Kaiser Wilhelm II would never have come along... or, having existed, would not be able to lead their continent into the first-ever war on an industrial scale.
The Prussian mentality came to dominate all German speaking cultures in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.
You raise a solemn historical parallel.
As you so truly say: Kaiser Wilhelm was a petulant man-child. Also - as shown by the Harden–Eulenburg affair - a surprisingly large portion of his ministers and courtiers seem to have been homosexuals.
Fast forward one hundred years: the greatest war machine on earth is once again in the hands of a petulant man-child, surrounded by homosexuals.
What could go wrong!
I tend to blame the Russians ever so slightly more than I blame the Germans. But your point applies just as well to them.