It's good to be the king
Edit to add: Generally speaking (as in a lot of exceptions exist), the Germans sought hegemony through hard work and concerted efforts, the French thought they would have it, but not sure how to accomplish it, so they might just piggy-back it on the Germans (while sticking out their tongues and wagging them at the English). The rest wasn't really interested in ideals. Not a lot of trust amongst European countries and they tend to gang up on who is currently the "dominant" one. Nothing's really changed the last 2000 years.