remember that most of germany's great war army were drafted reservists or volunteers, who very soon lost their appetite when faced with MG and not fruit salad or straw
I think the myth of german militarism was born with "old Fritz" in the 18th C
the army at waterloo was prussian (which is very different from german in general) and mainly reservists
and 1870 was an amalgam of many then different german states
In my personal oppinion, the army with the outstanding professional attitude and performance throughout the centuries is the british army (maybe not so much for the period when the navy was more important), but in general