... of utter defeat? Or the people left on the ground couldn't / wouldn't ever be able to be / do that again because of the horror / repulsion / various effects of complete and utterly defeat made that impossible?

*good faith* not sure I get the point you're making wrt to original post - do you mean Ger 1946 could never be Ger pre-1933/39(?) because it was forced to not be that because of utter defeat? Or the people left on the ground couldn't / wouldn't ever be able to be / do that again because

How do you think that happened? Transpose it today.