Anti-German sentiment (also known as Anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment largely began with the mid-19th-century unification of Germany, which made the new nation a rival to the great powers of Europe on economic, cultural, geopolitical, and military grounds. However, the German atrocities during World War I and World War II greatly strengthened anti-German sentiment.