Most of history after 1700 just seems like follow-through to me. Like the American revolution, the Spirit of '48, and the march of liberalism just seems like a victory la(r)p for the Protestant Republics after the Glorious Revolution.
Follow
The emergence of a German nation-state is just output from Frederick the Great, who's basically following the response of Frederick the Soldier King after the Peace of Westphalia.
After the collapse of "universal monarchies," both France and Spain are out of the "continental superpower" business.
Between the Anglos' victory lap and the German consolidation, you basically have the table set for WWI. And so on and so on.
Maritimism vs Continentalism