Germans are a strange case. They never united into a nation-state, unlike the rest of Europe. The modern concept of "Germany" is barely 30 years old. They've always existed in some form of empire. Even the first half of the past century could be considered a Prussian-led German empire.

Despite not apparently having their own shit together, the presence of Germans acts as a multiplier for other Europeans. There are accounts of Germans in Ireland during the famine who did fine and wrote letters to the effect of "I don't know what these potatoniggers are complaining about." Despite Franklin's bitching here, America's first century could be described demographically as "German people, English law," as basically anyone who lived west of the Atlantic coast was German (or Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish).