That Europe values peace much more than one hundred years ago is not in dispute. But 'too peaceful'? In which particular present-day or recent conflicts do you wish Europe would be more aggressive?

This is massive over-simplification, suggesting that the US, every country in west Europe, every former Soviet bloc nation, and the Jewish people all owe their entire identities to World War 2.

At first the Europeans were seen as brutes and the Jews as cowards; now it is the other way around. — Ilya B Shambat

Where's your support for this? The Germans specifically were considered brutes/genocidal maniacs, but who thought the Jews cowards? The Germans blamed them for all sorts of things, but cowardice wasn't one of their complaints. And who thought of the Swiss and Swedes as brutes?

Yeah those brazen militaristic fascist European countries from WW2, such as Sweden and France.

Anyway, the OP is what you get when you view the world and history in mindbogglingly simplistic dyad

Heartened by the responses here.

Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl (1860-1904) was the 'father' of modern Zionism and he seems to have died way too early to have been influenced by WWI or WWII. Jews were emigrating to Palestine before Adolf & Company made it an irresistibly attractive destination if one had nowhere else to go. Conflict between Jews and Arabs (Palestinians, specifically, Arabs generally) was underway before World War One.

So, I would guess that Jews in Palestine started toughening up pretty early on. More overt hostilities were commenced in 1948.

The Europeans learned that war and nationalism is evil. — Ilya B Shambat

That may be, but IF the Europeans learned that, they seemed to need a terrifically harsh beating to get that through their thick skulls. And let's have a little patience here! Europe has had only 75 years of peace and quiet. Well, except for some problems in the Balkans, and Russians in Budapest and Prague, Poland, Ukraine, etc. Future European history might not be all schmaltzy waltzes and party hats.

As for the United States, We started getting arrogant well before WWII. We taught Hitler a thing or two about manifest destiny and genocide. As the British Empire (talk about arrogance!) rotted, the U. S. started assuming the role of Dominator In Chief. The American eagle went head to head with the Russian bear, with both of us spending way too much money on absolutely assured annihilation.

Europe needs to take a tougher stand against terrorists and despots. — Ilya B Shambat

Which terrorists and despots were you thinking of -- I mean, there is such a rich selection from which to choose? Orbán? Erdoğan? Putin? Salmon Saud? Bolsonaro? Maduro? Trump? Xi Jinping? Just for starters in the major leagues.

And who thought of the Swedes as brutes — Hanover

Norwegians? Finns, maybe? Somebody must have disliked them.

Yeah those brazen militaristic fascist European countries from WW2, such as Sweden and France — Maw

I don't know about Sweden, but France was far from the peace-loving victim that many WW2 narratives suggest. The way they behaved after the war in aggressively reclaiming and subduing their colonies in Indochina and North Africa, torturing and killing as many indigenous people as was necessary to secure their hold over the countries, was not that far off fascism. That continued until the early sixties.

You seem to have some quite hyperbolic replies above. I think I understand the gist of what you’re asking though and my over all answer would be no, I don’t think they’ve gone too far.

That said I think it is partially inevitable that people will guard against past misdemeanors, be such “faults” due to excessive passivity or excessive aggression. Perhaps the biggest issue is in how history plays out and the manner in which history is kept fresh and honest enough to warn those who’ve either forgotten or have no experience of such things.

Society as a whole does seem to learn slowly and as we progress globally toward societies where equality is more common place than before we do perhaps face a unique danger in that any fall we make from here on in may be much greater than any we’ve made in the past.

War has diminsihed rapidly over the past several decades yet there are still more than enough problems each and every flavour of human society faces to keep us busy. I’ve seen some horrific things around the world most people would assume are mere Hollywood fictions concocted by dark minds - not actual realities. We fear fear because it requires us to test our likely faulty capacities for courage.

I general view the current politic landscape as a dying beast. The idea of “European” is coming to replace the idea of “France,” “Germany,” or “Spain” to some degree. More and mroe people in Europe view themselves as “European” more than they do as holding to any particular nationality. This is a trend that I feel will grow more and more over time on a global scale. Don’t forget that children today are playing games online with people from all around the world and for them the boundaries between them are much different than they’ve been for us in our youths.

I honestly think that by the end of the century the idea of “nation” will be replaced by a broader sense of human unity - likely into “cultural” differences where ideologies (not in the negative sense of the term) are seen more as ideas to play with and occupy temporarily. Meaning people will “become European” for a year or two simply to explore themselves; something akin to fashion that site outside of basic rational thought and the scientific endeavor.

I would agree that WWII played a huge role in the shaping of global society and the aftermath of what happened is still felt today. At some point most of the worlds nations will come to a common understanding by happenstance of occupying roughly the same area of the political spectrum of stupidity - meaning they’ll get to a point where citizens generally understand the harm they can cause as much as the harm they receive; then we’ll have an opportunity to recoup and venture forth into the future with better resolve.

Of course pessimism and optimism are essential not one or the other!

Norwegians? Finns, maybe? Somebody must have disliked them. — Bitter Crank

They were probably not liked at one point when they were vikings, wearing those cool horned hats, wreaking havoc, raping and pillaging. Nowadays they're pretty well liked I think, living up in your neck of the woods, probably complaining about their neighbors' yards and that gosh darn traffic.

I live near a tourist destination that is very popular among young European people. Most people come from Germany, but some from Sweden and Netherlands. They are all smart, articulate and in excellent physical shape. The Germans however are unfriendly, whereas the Swedish and the Dutch are very friendly. They all demand a lot of themselves; but the Swedish and the Dutch also demand of themselves good treatment of the next person, which I think is more important.

. But both would benefit from re-examining the lessons that they have learned and their effects on their policies. Israel needs to pursue a less militaristic policy, and Europe needs to take a tougher stand against terrorists and despots. Peace is a rightful thing to strive for, and so is the safety of one's people. — Ilya B Shambat

What is safety? For some European nationalists safety means casting all members of a specific ethnic group/religion as violent, the same can be said for the Israeli government. I do agree though that the Israeli government has become hypersensitive to the point of developing fascist style policies.

The Germans however are unfriendly, whereas the Swedish and the Dutch are very friendly. — Ilya B Shambat

This is a cultural misunderstanding. Germans don't try to be unfriendly. In fact, they are really concerned with being civil. But they do have a greater sense of personal boundaries and tend to view, for example, the American immediate friendliness as fake and empty.

@Ilya B Shambat We've really left the topic. My original comments about the Swedes related to the incorrect statement in your OP where you over-generalized and called all of the 1940s Europeans as "brutes." My next comment to @Bitter Crank sarcastically referenced the abundance of Scandinavian descendants in the US Midwest (where he lives) and their stereotypically wholesome demeanor.

Since we're now talking about regional and national personal behavior stereotypes, have we moved on from the unsupportable claims of the OP?

The Germans however are unfriendly — Ilya B Shambat

Unfriendly Germans? Why, Germans have always been as friendly as flowers in the spring!