I prefer the Vibes-Based Magic System^TM^, where you grip it rip it and and tolerate ~~a little~~ ok a decent amount of variance in order to speed things along and avoid anything resembling powegaming.
Oh your fancy spell isn't working exactly as you intended 100% of the time? Guess magic is mystical and imprecise and ultimately subject to the whims of indifferent gods
It didn't take a generation for Europe to rebuild relationships with Germany after WWI or WWII. And at some point the frantic propaganda of "Russia is just going to invade everybody if we don't destroy them now!" will fail to materialize.