-> ''"Nobody is perfect, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment but we are working on it]]."''
-->-- '''Manfred von Richthofen, ''[[TropeNamer THE]]'' RedBaron'''

-> ''"Ich? Deutsche Präzision. Sie? Windmühle." [[hottip:translation: "Me? German Precision. You? Windmill."]]''
-->-- '''Von Kaiser''', ''VideoGame/PunchOut'''

Germans come in a wide variety of stereotypes. Brutal barbarians [[GrimUpNorth from the north]], cold blooded [[TheTeutonicKnights Knights Templar]], [[ImperialGermany corrupt aristocrats]], ThoseWackyNazis, and many more. But at the end of the day, there are only three German stereotypes: [[HerrDoktor Scientists/Doctors]], [[SuperSoldier Soldiers]] and [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Engineers]]. And no matter of which variety a German character is, he will almost always be elite at what he's doing.

Note that Germans never lose their nerves and know no remorse. They do their job, and they do it well. Emotions are [[TheStoic not necessary]]. It's almost like a national {{badass}}titute of some kind.

You won't find any German {{mooks}} outside of WorldWarII. If there are any Germans in the BigBad's employment, only the position of TheDragon or head scientist will be good enough for them. And if a work of fiction has a famous and important foreign scientist, expect him to be German as well, though this has become less frequent in newer works.

Interestingly, [[AllTheLittleGermanies before their country was unified]] under the [[ImperialGermany Wilhelmine Empire]], Germans were portrayed very differently in fiction: either comic, lackadaisical, or pedantic, but not especially efficient. Since [[OttoVonBismarck Bismarck]], that depiction has shifted over to Austrians and (to a lesser extent) the Dutch, partly because of the influence of [[FreestateAmsterdam Vrijstaat Amsterdam]].

Designed and manufactured by German engineers and companies, German technologies, especially machines and vehicles, are included in this trope: if the manufacturer's name ends with "AG"[[hottip:*:"Aktiengesellschaft" = "joint-stock company"]] or "[=GmbH=]"[[hottip:*:"Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung" = "limited liability company"]], you can be damn sure it's going to be at least portrayed as ''really, really awesome''.

Compare with AsianAndNerdy. Contrast with GermanicDepressives and FascistButInefficient.

Note that this trope is only about ''actual'' Germans, not the descendants of German emigrants like German Americans nor the speakers of Germanic Languages such as the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Commercials for German-made cars, especially BMW and Volkswagen, love to show us white lab-coated German engineers stoically watching their cars driven over gleaming steel ball-bearings in a controlled lab environment. And flinging inferior cars with a trebuchet.
** Just look at Audi's marketing slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik", which translates to "lead through technology", or French car company Citroen claiming their new car was "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMQnPWjK5pE unmistakably German]]" to convince potential buyers that it was well engineered and efficient, or the Volkswagen marketing slogan "Das Auto", which translates as "The Car", as in "we are the only ones that make cars, everybody else are just a bunch of hacks." For more German singularity, BMW has "The Ultimate Driving Machine," Porsche has "Porsche. There is no substitute," Mercedes-Benz has "The Best Or Nothing," and Opel's slogan is "Wir leben Autos [We live cars]."
* Toyota put out a commercial where a bunch of German scientists (presumably working for a German car company) kidnapped a poor Toyota put it through its paces and wondered how something so good could be done outside of Germany.
* VinceOffer's famous Shamwow commercial: "It's made by the Germans, you know the Germans always make good stuff."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]
* Though their nationalities are never actually mentioned, General Uranus and his NumberTwo Colonel Hades in ''{{Appleseed}}'' perfectly personify this trope.
** A major BadAss herself, Deunan Knute is part German, of course.
* Germany in ''AxisPowersHetalia''.
** Prussia counts as well, when he bothers.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has Asuka who is German and excels at pretty much everything that doesn't involve emotional intelligence.
* Belka, the FantasyCounterpartCulture of ImperialGermany [-IN SPACE!-] from the ''LyricalNanoha'' franchise, went on record waging war against the rest of the universe and actually dominating the fight for a thousand years in the backstory (even after their homeplanet was lost), and most of their long since abandoned weaponry is ''still'' [[RagnarokProofing operational]]. In a possible subversion, though, the [[AllThereInTheManual fluff]] suggests that they didn't invent their advanced tech themselves but inherited it from the even more advanced NeglectfulPrecursors.
* [[FromEroicaWithLove Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach]] is the very picture of this-and easily enraged when his hapless subordinates don't quite measure up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ComicBooks]]
* In a ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' arc, Hauptmann Deutschland manages to capture the RedSkull and his Skeleton Crew to place them on trial for War Crimes in Germany. As the Skull is led into the courtroom bound to a chair, the Hauptmann casually mentions that said chair also doubles as an electric chair and will be activated as soon as the court finds him guilty, addin "We Germans take pride in our efficiency". (Ironically -- or irritatingly, depending on one's point of view -- the entire ''operation'' is suspect from start to finish by German standards. Not only does Germany ''not'' make a habit of kidnapping suspected criminals off foreign soil for purposes of forcing them to stand trial in Germany, [[CriticalResearchFailure it hasn't had the death penalty anymore for some decades now either]] -- [[ThoseWackyNazis the last regime that did]] managed to thoroughly discredit the concept.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* ''Film/JamesBond'' [[{{Supervillain}} villains]] seem to have a special fondness for German henchmen and bodyguards, especially Blofeld.
** Subverted by [[GiantMook Stamper]] in ''TomorrowNeverDies'', who fails to kill James Bond, much to BigBad Elliot Carver's fury:
--->'''Carver:''' So much for German efficiency!
* Hans Gruber and most of his men in ''Franchise/DieHard'' are German, helping to both make them appear to be foreign terrorists as well as explaining what a tight operation they're running. ''Die Hard with a Vengeance'' returns to the trope with Simon Gruber and his crew of badass, German thugs.
* The Swiss bobsled team in ''Film/CoolRunnings'' - their discipline is what Derice wants to emulate. [[spoiler:It fails spectacularly for the Jamaicans.]]
* The German drinking team in ''Film/{{Beerfest}}'' is shown to be maximizing their efficiency by drinking while working out to some Neue Deutsche Härte music. The American team is ''much'' more laid-back.
* ''IceStationZebra''
* In ''No Man's Land'', which deals with the civil war in ex-Yugoslavia, a UN officer tells another "We're being sent a German bomb disposal expert. Ours are busy. He should arrive at 1530. It is 1530." [German guy arrives] "''Pünktlichkeit''."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* This is referenced in the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' Series, where the seventeenth-century Germans are surprised to find that the twenty-first-century Americans think Germans are stereotypically efficient and cold-blooded - it being quite the opposite of the seventeenth-century "folksy, fun-loving, perpetually quarreling" German stereotype.
* Subverted in the WWII novels by SvenHassel, where the the battle scenes portray the Germans as very efficient troops, but presents various officers as incompetent and the stubbornness to fight on as inefficient. Though there are several officers that are presented as competent and efficient, ranging from Lieutenant to even several Generals, they normally are the {{Butt Monkey}}s.
* Heinz Guderian in his ''Memoirs of a Soldier'' often criticized high-ranking officers who, despite their loss in WWI, were unable to see that motorized warfare was much more efficient in many circumstances and were focused on then obsolete tactics and equipment. Of course, he might have exaggerated that to emphasize his own importance but his sentiments are supported by other documents. It is also worth noting that this conservatism stemmed partially from the perfectionism and fear that reaching previous levels of efficiency with new weapons and tactics may require a very long time.
* "Scratch a German and you find precision, thought Bond."--''Literature/{{Moonraker}}''
* Interestingly, inverted in the works of Creator/{{Tacitus}} about the old Germanics: According to him, they were rather lazy.
* In one chapter of his travelogue ''Last Chance to See'', DouglasAdams describes meeting two German students in Zaire who are "young, fair-haired, vigourous, incredibly well equipped, and much better than us at virtually everything". He spends a night worrying about the fact this is an egregious stereotype, and it would be much easier to write about them if they were from Latvia, and then decides to just ''say'' they were Latvian for the rest of the chapter.
* ''The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman'' by Andrzej Szczypiorski says that it's a typical German thing to try to excel in everything, whether in composing, thinking, working, owning, or [[BreadEggsMilkSquick exterminating]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Conan O'Brien would show [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqAdxN1IWQQ a clip]] of a fictional German show "Stachenblocken"
* Inverted in ''HogansHeroes'', where every single German is completely incompetent.
** Every single ''recurring'' German. Many of the one-off villains were actually threatening, but were usually handled by the end of the episode.
* When James May of ''TopGear'' took the Bugatti Veyron up to its top speed on a German test track, he mocked both this and his own [[SuperOCD obsessive-compulsive tendencies]]:
-->'''James''': But even when you've sorted the venue, you can't just jump in the car and go. This is Germany: there are procedures to go through. I like procedures.
* Inverted by ''BetterOffTed''. The German clients are intimidated by [[MegaCorp Veridian Dynamics]] because they seem to be "ruthlessly efficient and bent on world domination".
** Or played straight to emphasize the extent of the VD ruthlessness.
* Madrigal Elektromotiv GmbH from ''Series/BreakingBad'' gives off this impression. Certainly, the superlab they supplied the equipment for has that air.
* ''Series/{{Blackadder}} II'' - Blackadder and Melchett are being held prisoner by "Ludvig the Indestructible". Melchett doesn't have much hope of escape, but Blackadder thinks differently. Once Ludvig himself leaves for England, that just leaves the guards, who do the exact same thing every day (and even narrate it while they do so). When are at they at their weakest? [[spoiler: When they make insulting pelvic thrusts. Trust Blackadder to punch the hard one.]]
-->'''Blackadder:''' Germans are sticklers for efficiency and I've been watching their routine. I've selected the moment when they're at their most vulnerable...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Music}}]]
* If you've ever wondered what Germanic efficiency ''sounds'' like, just listen to Music/{{Kraftwerk}}.
** Or Music/{{Rammstein}} for that matter, are there any other heavy metal bands as efficient? Any more imposing scene shows? German efficiency!
* {{Krautrock}}. Alles gesagt!
* Anything done with synthesizers and which is not synthpop, such as Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Tangerine Dream, Music/EinsturzendeNeubauten etc.
* Or their more straightforward rock bands, like Music/WirSindHelden and Sportfreunde Stiller.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* In ''TabletopGame/FengShui'', characters who use guns made by Heckler and Koch (such as the P7 and any member of the [=MP5=] family) or drive German-made vehicles such as the BMW 328i Convertible will often wax poetic about "fine German craftsmanship."
* Played straight and subverted at the same time in ''BattleTech''. House Steiner has strong Germanic influences, but for the longest time their military officers are construed largely as [[GeneralFailure General Failures]], and by extension their line troops are not viewed in any better light. However, they are highly respected as merchants and are both well known and often targeted by rival realms for their technological knowledge and large scale construction ability.
* ''MutantChronicles'': The Bauhaus corporation has a strong germanic overtone, (in fact, it is heavily implied to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus_(company) the contemporary retail chain Bauhaus]]) and is obsessed with producing the best of everything. This is to the extent that they prefer to not field a major portion of their army to equipping soldiers with worse than top-of-the-line weapons.
* The Empire in ''{{Warhammer}}''. Naturally.
* In ''{{Rifts}}'', MegaCorp Triax Industries is arguably the most advanced[[hottip:*:human]] military manufacturer on Rifts Earth. Appropriately enough, they're located in, and largely responsible for the creation of, the New German Republic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the mostly (and rightfully) forgotten space simulation ''{{Starlancer}}'', the German-made Wolverine heavy fighter is the last starfighter that you can unlock, and probably the best ship in the entire game.
** In the sequel, ''{{Freelancer}}'', Rheinland's military fighters are the most powerful of the four empires. They still fall very short of the Edge World ships though.
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', the character Luccia is a brilliant, efficient, and morally ambiguous scientist with a very distinct German accent.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline''. The MadScientist side character Dr. Von Schulz is a pathetic coward (or maybe just a realist) who considers the whole plan failed as soon as TheHero enters his lab... for which he's quickly [[YouHaveFailedMe killed off]] by the [[ArchEnemy Nemesis]].
** Played straight, however, by Doctor Ohm, a minor German [[{{Villains}} Villain]] who stoically continues his work (hacking a computer in search of DeathRay blueprints) while TheHero is beating up his {{Mooks}} and MechanicalMonster only a few feet away from him.
* Belka, the FantasyCounterpartCulture of Germany featured in ''AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' and ''AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'', easily has (had) the most advanced technology in Strangereal, and their ''entire airforce'' is [[BadassArmy comprised of aces]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebComics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'': Need a working rocket? [[http://xkcd.com/984/ Get a Nazi to build it!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* A recurring gag in the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Ron the Man" is the contrast between [[SurroundedByIdiots the ineptitude of Dr. Drakken's henchmen]] and the Prussian efficiency of Professor Dementor's. Of course, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption neither of them wins out in the end, anyway]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In one episode, Homer is kidnapped in a conspiracy and replaced by a man who ''looked'' similar, but spoke in broken English with an obvious German accent. He manages to distract Marge from questioning him by offering to take her out to dinner and then having "efficient German sex." ([[DidTheyOrDidntThey We never find out if they went through with it, though]].)
** In an earlier episode, the power plant was bought out by a German company who lived this trope through and through; Lisa even told Homer that the reason Germany is an economic power is because of this trope. Interestingly, the Germans who actually came to run the plant were portrayed as being very friendly and approachable, and most of the employees far preferred them to Mr. Burns.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Almost every modern action film and video game will have lots of German-made [[CoolCar cars]] and [[CoolGuns guns]] which are usually portrayed as being the best available. Works set in WorldWarII will also have German {{tank|Goodness}}s.
** Practically everything made by Heckler & Koch.
*** The [=MP5=] submachine gun.
*** The [=MP7=] [=PDW=].
*** The PSG-1 sniper rifle.
*** The [=HK416=] assault rifle, which is basically an improved variant of the American M4 series and the main weapon of the Delta Force.
*** The G36 assault rifle.
*** The [=HK 417=] battle rifle.
*** The [=P30=] pistol, which is the main weapon of Michael Westen from BurnNotice from season 4 onwards.
** The Mauser C96 "Broomhandle".
** The Luger P08
** James Bond has made Walther Arms and its associated weapon very famous, most notably the Walther PP/PPK series of compact pistols and the Walther P99 series of full-sized pistols, as well as [[RareGuns the Walther WA2000 sniper rifle]].
*** WorldWarII made the Walther P-38 famous/infamous for its [[CoolGuns cool looks]] and for being the Nazi's pistol of choice.
** There's a reason things are called "the Mercedes of X". [=BMWs=] and Porsches also have a very high reputation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:RealLife]]
* The Romans recruited free Germanic peoples both from inside their empire as well as from beyond their borders into their military, and some made quite the career out of it. (Although they also did that in the other provinces.)
* When Japan decided to become a modern and industrialized country, they first contracted French advisors and engineers, but quickly switched over to German experts after the Franco-Prussian War.
* The same is true of law: many developing nations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in Asia, adopted German civil law codes as the basis of their legal systems.
* Manfred von Richthofen, ''[[TropeNamer the]]'' RedBaron. Probably the most famous fighter pilot of all time.
* ErwinRommel, the TropeNamer of the MagnificentBastard.
* When rocket engineer Wernher von Braun was captured by the Allies in WorldWarII, he was taken straight to the US to work on ''their'' rocket program. Prompting jokes that the Saturn V is a great ride because "Duh, German engineering!"
** ''TheRightStuff'', among other accounts, suggests that TheSpaceRace was really a contest between "our Germans and their Germans."
*** Not really a contest. The Soviets were much too distrustful of the Germans and just tried to milk their ''knowledge'' (if even that), while the Americans were pragmatic and used their ''expertise'' - letting them actually do the job (at least after they got their internal Army vs. Air Force prestige power games sorted out - beautifully described in the book and the movie).
* German Counter-Terror unit GSG 9 is usually considered to be one of the world's best.
** This is not so surprising considering the circumstances of their founding (the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972) and the political climate in the 1970s Germany, with the [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Red Army Faction]] rampant and killing people left and right. [[IncrediblyLamePun But mostly right]].
*** Which actually subverts this trope, because the impetus for the group creation was the ''[[IdiotBall incompetence]]'' of the regular police.
**** Which was understandable, since the police was not trained as a counter-terrorist unit. In fact, the [[WeAreNotTheWehrmacht German Army]] were at the time effectively banned from intervening by the country's non-militaristic constitution, which acutely limited the powers of the armed forces.
*** Making it all the more tragically ironic, a major cause of the Munich massacre was a deliberate effort by the German hosts to underemphasize security at the games and keep the atmosphere friendly and open, you know, to [[TheAtoner not remind people of the last Olympic games held in the country]].
* AlbertEinstein arguably subverted it. While a very clever German, he was, well, AlbertEinstein.
* Michael Schumacher, statistically the greatest FormulaOne driver the sport has ever seen. So efficient, he tunes his car's settings ''as he drives''. He is also (possibly) [[TopGear The Stig]]. Which explains a lot.
** Which if true makes the scene where he '[[PaperThinDisguise secretly]]' swops places during ''TopGear'''s Germany vs. Britain competition even funnier.
*** He was unveiled as the Stig on the show, but when they started using the white Stig Schumacher still had a racing carreer. If he has taken up the helmet he probably wasn't the only driver to do so.
** Now there's Sebastian Vettel who looks set to break Schumacher's FormulaOne records.
* The German football team. Only missed two [[TheWorldCup World Cups]] they couldn't enter (one due to the Depression, other due to not having a national federation). Out of the 17 they qualified, twelve semifinals, seven finals, and three titles (and only once didn't reach the quarterfinals, due to falling in round 1).
** It's telling that nobody ever says that Germany is "an excellent team." They say that group with the Germans is "a difficult group."
** "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win."
** The women's team too. Two World Cup championships in a row and did not concede a single goal in 2007[[hottip:*:Then they got knocked down ''at home'' [[AntiClimax by Japan 4 years later...]]]]. Tied with USA in overall World Cup victories. The lowest FIFA ranking they ever dropped to? ''Third''.
** In fact, Germany is the only country to have won both the men and women's World Cups.
** It's important to note that German football, stereotypically, is usually contrasted to Latino football: no pretty tricks of star players, only mechanical precision and relentlessness.
* Heckler & Koch [=GmbH=] makes many of the {{Cool Guns}} known to audiences today: the [=MP5=], the G36, the USP, the [=XM8=], etc. Practically all of their products were designed with solid engineering and construction in mind.
** Before H&K, there was Mauser, whose legendary bolt-action design is probably one of the most widely used designs in bolt-action rifles today. Their C96 "Broomhandle" pistol is also highly regarded as one of the first practical semi-automatics, well-made and capable of firing a far more powerful cartridge than most other pistols at the time.
** It is a bit more complicated. German firearms are often renowned not for their ballistic efficiency (not that they are bad in that aspect) but for their ergonomics and manufacturing costs.
* During WW2, engineers working in aeronautic branch of the military (especially the armament designers) often joked that their superiors constantly want them to break the laws of physics, so ''some'' of their inventions might be slightly flawed.
* [[TankGoodness Rhein]][[MoreDakka met]][[CoolGuns all]] AG.
** To clarify; the Rheinmetall 120 mm gun is used on all Leopard II, Abrams, Type-90 and the K1A1 of S. korea. It is also being considered for the (excellent) British Challenger. This makes it one of the most common tank guns in the world, possibly the most common.
** And then before Rheinmetall, there was Krupp. During its heyday, the company was the backbone of German heavy industry, renowned for the quality of its steel products. That quality then in turn translated to everything else from artillery for the military to shipbuilding (also mainly for the military). The company still exists now as part of [=ThyssenKrupp=], one of the largest industrial conglomerates in the world.
** BASF (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory) the biggest chemical Company in the world. And owners of the biggest single industrial complex of the world.
* The Germans also prefer efficiency in speech, [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386 according to the BBC. They have no word for "small talk",]] and [[HatesSmallTalk some of them even perceive it as being quite close to lying]].
** The closest word to "small talk" in German language is the rarely-used "Schwatz", which comes from "Geschwätz", meaning pointless or nonsensical talk.
** The modern German term for "small talk" is in fact the [[GratuitousEnglish anglicism "Small Talk"]].
** There would also be "quatschen" (which comes from "Quatsch" or "nonsense" in English again) or "plaudern", "schwafeln" or more but these are even more negatively connoted.
** In the same vein, the concept of "white lie" is not well known in Germany. Lying in any way is seen as an insult, because you either don't care enough to give an honest answer, think someone has to be shielded from the truth like a child, or believe they're not intelligent enough to notice they're being lied to. Also, they wouldn't have asked if they didn't want a honest truth, right? (German directness, again.)
*** The closest translation German has for "white lie" is "Notlüge" ("emergency/distress lie"). As you can tell, this word doesn't exactly imply all too casual usage.
** And the German word for "talk show" is... "Talkshow".
* OlderThanPrint: ''Literature/{{Blossfechten}}'', Germany's brand of basic swordsmanship. It was and is highly efficient to the point that other European kingdoms, empires and territories ended up adopting and adapting it. For even greater detail, see UsefulNotes/EuropeanSwordsmanship.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams Dieter Rams]], product designer at Braun, is famous for his austere minimalist designs that influenced later Apple products.
* Dirk Nowitzki became a very curious case in the NBA in regards to this. His style of basketball is very different from the standard seen in America - he never showboats, he does not risk fouls, he does not make flashy moves - but he can score practically ''anywhere'' within range of the basket. And draw a foul in the process. He also rarely misses free throws.
** His style has some drawbacks. Nowitzki is a pretty bad defender, and his lack of physicality is one of the reasons his 1st-seeded team lost to the 8th-seeded Warriors in 2007.
* The cultural difference shows up in the branding of the Ritter Sport chocolates. In the US: "The handy chocolate square." In Germany: "Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut."[[hottip:translation: "Square. Practical. Good."]]
** The chocolate itself is an example: a perfect (4x4) square of chocolate, with the chocolate itself being delicious and the packaging engineered to open in ''just'' the right way.
* Staedtler is an office product company that, among other things, produces high-end fineline pens and engineering pencils. Their main selling point is ergonomic and (naturally) efficient design.
* Much of the characteristics described in the intro probably stem from Germany going up against much of the rest of the world twice in the first half of the 20th century and, while not winning, giving a hard fight. The morale and endurance of the German army of those two wars is considered by many historians almost miraculous. Especially in WWII, though not very nice, the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine did hold out long beyond hope of even a draw was gone.
* An engineering example: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Terzaghi Karl von Terzaghi]]. If you can build your house (or skyscraper) on soil today, it's largely thanks to him. None of his work has been significantly improved upon since the ''1920s''. Before him, there had been no major improvements in predicting how soils behave under heavy loading since ''the Romans''.
* Current European economic policies, which consist mostly in austerity, are strongly advocated by [[TheChancellorsOfGermany Chancellor Angela Merkel]] as the best solution, but she is heavily criticized for it throughout Europe, in Greece and France in particular (it led to government changes in both countries). In many ways, a ruthless adherence to this trope, insofar as Merkel's austerity agenda is hugely efficient at recouping the gambling losses of major German financial institutions.
* German soldiers in the period of AllTheLittleGermanies were a DoubleSubversion. Germany was famous for being a ChewToy. However that was because of their political divisions. When one wanted soldiers Germans were always a good buy.
* The architectural and design style associated with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus Bauhaus]] school tends to emphasize the functionality of the buildings or artifacts in question.
[[/folder]]

----