Adolf Hitler would be thrilled, and maybe a little jealous, by what is unfolding in Europe.

He’d be thrilled because his belief that Germany was “destined” to lead a united Europe is currently being realized. But he’d have a touch of envy too, if he saw how effortlessly the nations of Europe are lining up at Germany’s feet. For Hitler, the ease with which Germany is now steadily, even reluctantly, subjugating Europe was something he could only dream about.

Between 1937 and 1945 the task of implementing Hitler’s “New Europe” rested with the Reich minister for economic affairs, Walther Funk. In 1941, with the war going Germany’s way, Hitler had Funk launch the Europäische Wirtschafts Gemeinschaft—Nazi Germany’s plan for a postwar European Economic Community. Funk’s grand strategy not only called for the creation of a common European currency, it also included plans for the “Harmonization of European Rates of Exchange,” a “European Agricultural Economic Order,” a “Common Labor Policy” and “The European Regional Principle.”

Basically, Funk was responsible for the creation of a European fiscal union owned and operated by the German Reich.

Obviously, Hitler’s attempt to create a fiscal union failed. But beginning with the European Coal and Steel Community in 1950, elements of Funk’s European financial union were incorporated into the ongoing construction of a united Europe. Today traces of Funk’s plans are still evident in the Lisbon Treaty, the document that defines the European Union.

Inside Germany all these years, the long-held belief that it was Germany’s “destiny” to not just participate in, but lead, a United States of Europe has lived on. And since the reunification of Germany in 1989 in particular, Germany’s stalwart Europhiles have worked tirelessly to create a German-led united Europe. Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl counts among this group. It was Kohl who once said that the “future will belong to the Germans … when we build the house of Europe.”

Despite these efforts, Europe’s march to full financial and political union has occurred in fits and spurts, often slowly, always systematically—and never too quickly or dramatically.

Until now.

In the last two weeks, an anguished cry has gone out across Europe for more financial integration—and soon!

David Bloom, the currency chief for hsbc, warned this week that Europe was “heading towards fiscal union or break-up.”

As the sovereign debt crisis has worsened, it’s become evident that it can no longer be soothed with band-aids or half-hearted, short-term solutions. Investors are no longer studying the balance sheets, the facts and figures, of sovereign states. Rather, the markets are now putting the European Union under the microscope, and seriously questioning the level of commitment among Europe’s leaders to European integration. The EU faces an existential crisis, a crisis of survival. Right now, global markets want to see how resolved, how determined, and how far Europe’s leaders are willing to go to defend the euro, the eurozone and the European Union.

When Europe’s leaders stand and—employing whatever tools necessary—vigorously defend the eurozone, then the markets will too. This is why the International Monetary Fund (imf) stated this week that in order for Europe to overcome the crisis “we need more Europe, not less. And we need it now.”

Throughout Europe, the call has gone out for more integration, financially and politically. “Either the eurozone moves toward a different equilibrium—greater economic, fiscal and political integration … or it will end up with disorderly defaults, banking crises, and eventually a break-up of the monetary union,” Nouriel Roubini warned on Monday.

But there’s a catch.

Further financial and political organization must be endorsed and led by Europe’s largest, financially healthiest nation: Germany.

At the moment, the “market is worried about … Germany’s long-term commitment to the euro project,” said Bloom. But if we see “unreserved and absolute backing from the political establishment of Germany, that will be a soothing balm.” If Europe is to prevent the disintegration of the eurozone and the European Union, said Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, then Germany must cross “the Rubicon to fiscal and political union.”

Europe’s future, the Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner wrote earlier this week, rests with Germany. “The ultimate decision on whether to save the euro in its current form, reconstitute it in more sustainable guise, or let events run their course in disorderly exits and defaults, lies not with Europe as a whole, but with its economic powerhouse—the industrial heartlands of Germany,” he wrote (emphasis added).

The survival of Europe as a united entity now depends solely on Germany!

This is incredible. Here we are, 65 years after World War ii, facing a scenario in which Europe’s leaders specifically—but even global investors and the international community—are inviting, pleading,demanding that Germany lead the way in the creation of a European fiscal union.

When it comes to meeting its “destiny” of presiding over a European fiscal union, Germany is playing its role in these events perfectly. There’s no swagger, no aggressive push for financial dominion, no loud, in-your-face speeches demanding a European fiscal union. In fact, Germany appears to be dragging its feet, showing little interest in walking this path. With most of the rest of Europe screaming for further financial integration, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday made it clear ahead of today’s eurozone meeting that no “spectacular” steps will be taken. The process, she reiterated, will be a “controlled process of gradual steps and measures.”

For now, it seems Germany is in no rush for the creation of a financial union.

Try though she may, Merkel will not be able to dawdle for much longer. For now the fate of the eurozone, as we’ve seen over the past two weeks, rests with the markets. Until Europe’s leaders address their fears, investors will remain nervous, and are likely to pull the plug on Greece, setting off a Europe-wide contagion that will, according to the imf, come with major “global” ramifications.

The time of half-measures is over. Europe needs far-reaching solutions—solutions that must come from Germany!

The sense among analysts and in the markets is that very soon—perhaps today, or this weekend, or next week, or at some point in the months ahead—this crisis will explode into a full-scale financial calamity. “Eurozone politicians don’t—or don’t want to—understand that the eurozone as we know it is on the precipice,” Société Générale’s Suki Mann told clients this week. “Greece appears beyond repair, Italy is on the brink, and the chances are that the euro might be no more very soon.”

“We are approaching the endgame for this part of the European sovereign crises,” said Gary Jenkins from Evolution Securities. “The chances are that the EU will only take the step of fiscal union or common bond issuance at one minute to midnight on a weekend when it is clear that the system is close to collapse.” When this moment comes, the decision will be Germany’s to make. Will it rescue the eurozone and the EU, or will it let them disintegrate?

Either way, the fate of Europe now rests with Germany!

What will Germany do? Thanks to Bible prophecy it is possible to know the outcome of these major and seemingly unpredictable events. Prophecies in both the Old and New testaments reveal that rather than fragment into a mess of conflicting states, Europe will unite under German leadership. More specifically, a prophecy in Revelation 17 says that this German-led financial, political and military union will thrive, and even replace the United States as the global superpower.

Thanks to Bible prophecy, we can say with absolute certainty that Hitler’s dreams of a German-led European superstate will be realized. In fact, they are being realized—right now,today!

If you are not familiar with these prophecies, it is imperative that you make the effort to study them. It won’t be long till you begin to feel the effects of what’s happening in Europe.

You can start by reading this recent article by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry. After that, read the booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, carve out some time to also read He Was Right.

Don’t take your eyes off Europe, especially Germany. Don’t be naively misled into thinking that Germany has no interest in a fiscal union, and that there are not some in Germany today who share the aspirations of Hitler, Funk and Kohl. And above all, don’t ignore history or Bible prophecy!