Comment by jjtwixman

Germany didn’t want to destroy the British and French empires. They wanted continental domination and their “place in the sun”. Germany remains central to Europe as is unavoidable but it’s not dominating the continent in the way either the Kaiserreich or the third Reich wanted.

Incidentally there was no greater period of free trade in human history than under British hegemony. Even the US has not pursued unilateral free trade.