Germans are quickly rearming, BTW.
And if we look at the numbers, their planned military budget is going to be the size of Russia's. The efficiency of its use, despite all the jokes about German military bureaucracy, is going to be better too.
So I'd say it's a huge question who's being cornered, them or everybody around. Considering the size of Germany's economy, its dependent economies and allied states. Considering that France, Poland, obviously Ukraine are interested in participating, so there's bigger total scale of the system achievable.
Even for the old-fashioned kind of militarism they have sufficient population.
And about Putin - one of that regime's worst unseen qualities is that not only it's sadistic and barbaric and generally evil, it's also incompetent. Well, competent in killing people, preserving power and all kinds of sadism, incompetent in strategy. In 5 years when Germany rearms well enough, they might, to optimize expenses, do something huge for old times' sake after solving the immediate problem, and for this kind of aggression Putin's Russia will not be ready, not even on the level of 1941.
But also Putin&co have that common for Soviet nomenclature fetish for the German empire. And they are psychopaths. They might be bringing this about because they want this to happen. They will all be in European countries, after all, living just fine, and nobody will put them in jail or take away their stolen riches.