I think what happened is Europe tripped all over itself after Nazism to try and prevent it from happening again. They (falsely) saw any outward sign of aggression as 'bad'. They put stock in words, imo, that actually was because the real bigoted tendencies of Europeans never really went away--all they did was change the language a bit. Note the French attitudes towards bathing suit attire, but the French probably would be the first aboard to change the 'speak' of the country. Euros anymore are about pretending not to be bigots when they are some of the biggest.
After having lived in Europe for 14+ years, within the Army but not having been cushioned by it, I heartily concur, jtyangel. Excellent observation, btw.
There is no question that Europeans in general and Germans in particular fell all over themselves to avoid any semblance of nationalism (well, except for De Gaulle, of course) and aggression.
It was far easier to depend on the U.S. when it came time to brandish weapons.