When writing my own book on the First World War in Harvard , many colleagues from the Americas , from Africa , from China , Japan and from India were right in asking for a global view on a truly global war . Commemorating WWI in Germany has always been complicated , Leonhard says . Germans tend to view WWI in relation to 1933 and 1939 , and rise of Hitler a consequence . The German government was not as strong after the war as it had once been, so they were more willing to compromise with their neighbors than before. Some argue it 's time for Germany to move on and be more outspoken in the world .
Commemorating WWI in Germany has always been complicated , Leonhard says . Germans tend to view WWI in relation to 1933 and 1939 , and rise of Hitler a consequence . The German government was not as strong after the war as it had once been, so they were more willing to compromise with their neighbors than before. Some argue it 's time for Germany to move on and be more outspoken in the world .