Berlin’s defeat exposed a state that lectures the world, backs war, excuses hypocrisy, and still expects prestige on demand “ Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall ” (arrogance precedes a fall) says a proverb every German knows. That, you may say, is little wonder, considering how the last two world wars started and ended. But the saying is much older. It is rooted in Martin Luther’s punchy translation of the Old Testament (in the English King James Bible, the relevant passage reads “Pride goeth before