Germans are Over Powered in DM... so I'd say, if you went for those, people will flame you...hard.
Best civ for beginners in DM probably dutch. Good Easy eco... and Skirm ruyts spam military... probably the easiest way to play DM, and learn the basics of Micro, raiding, map control etc...
After that, French is good bet. They have great goons, great skirm, and great hand cavalry (namely cuirs). And on top of that, their eco is pretty top notch. However only if you learn the basics of Eco, will this be an asset in your overall power.
Some general rules to follow when playing DM;
eco, Eco, ECO.
The most comon mistake people make when they first start to play DM, is that they believe their 20k resources will hold them for the whole game, which is entirely untrue. The only way to survive is to have a great eco. From the very beginning of the game you must create villagers. It is also wise to send minutemen as soon as the game starts, and send them to the enemy's base and see if you can kill a few villagers.
Next, is to send your villies asap to build houses, church, and stables. Along with this, you should send your explorer to the natives available on the map. On the Map Great Plains, (most played map in DM, if not the only map...) it is essential to get the Lakota ASAP, and purchase the fast cav tech. Then send Fast train Cav ASAP from your homecity. You can do this quicker with the Church mercantilism upgrade (2k XP for 1.5k gold)
Getting up that stable and producing light cavalry (goons | archers) is important.
Then go for barracks, and a lot of em! start making 5, and then keep building onto that numbers as needed. art foundaries, and more stables are needed aswell. never have just one stable. Outposts can be essential to game play also.
Produce as many military units as you can, as quickly as you can. The quicker you amass a 200 population army, the better. Then on top of that, the natives you will have will be extremely beneficial as well. It is important to keep in mind that, upgrade cards > Military cards.
An average BO, French:
2 vills to houses, 1 vill to church, 2 vills to stable (preferably in the middle of the map, makes for easier map control) send minutemen to protect the two building the stable. when church is built send the vill to make barracks with the stable makers. and purchase mercantilism. send fast cav, cav upgrades, and cheap natives. Then send skirm upgrades, and native upgrades. and finally factories and eco upgrades. amass dragoons and skirms, and if needed send for cannon from the Home City. keep your army together for easier micro, and dont forget to raid the opponent's Villagers. Remember to keep pumping out vills yourself as well, and never run low on men, utilize your natives... then dominate the map, and you'll competing with the best soon enough.