The Territorial Evolution Of GERMANY

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You know what's ironic? Both Prussia and Austria had a bitter rivalry over who should rule Germany. But neither of them are part of Germany today.

The thumbnail is wrong: by 1701, when the Kingdom of Prussia was created, it did not include Royal Prussia and Silesia. It was comprised by 2 disjointed territories: the electorate of Brandenburg and the ducal Prussia. Silesia was conquered from Austria around 1740 in the First Silesian War. Royal Prussia belonged to Poland up until the First Partition of Poland in 1772.

The Kingdom of Germany (regnum Teutonicorum) was the realm of the Germans within the HRE and the origin of the German state. Prussia was merely the leading power behind the reunification of Germany after it was shattered by Napoleon.

As a German I really hate the idea that Germany evolved out of Prussia or that German history prior to 1871 can be reduced to prussian history. No Prussia was just one german state among many that only gained significance at a relatively late point in German history and happened to be the driving force behind the eventual unification. Yet a much more appropriate starting point for German history would be the Holy Roman Empire wich was preceded by the kingdom of East Francia. The king Otto I. of East Francia united the different German speaking peoples, the Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians and Franconians in the famous battle of Lechfeld in 955 against the Magyars and was crowned holy roman emperor in 962 by the pope. Prussia would not even exist for another 700 years at this point.

Even before Prussia was a thing, as early as 16th century, thanks to Luther's reformation movement, the roots of a German identity were starting to grow in the Holy Roman Empire, in the development of the high German language and antagonism towards France and the Ottoman Empire. They were still separate princely states politically, but linguistically and culturally, they were beginning to form a common identity.

As a german and a frisian i have a Problem with that. Prussia Was the First german Triberg to expand and Flourish, but the roots of germany lies in all its tribes

I think the HRE is missing in this Video, Prussia was a great power that influenced the HRE for the last 300 Years but the HRE is much older, Prussia just occupied it after the HRE was dissolved. And many germans dont like that we are called prussians, because there were so much else german tribes than the prussian. Edit: changed a p to b

The origin of the state is in Prussia, but the cultural origins are probably more where the country is today. It was always hard to define as , unlike France or England, it is not defined by natural borders.

Prussia is not Germany. Please do your research before putting so much work in editing your videos. The thumbnail and very start of the video shows a fundamental lack of historic background. You should read about the history of the Kingdom of the East Franks, which later becomes the Holy Roman Empire. This is the most plausible starting point for your map comparison. Prussia wasn't even Part of the Holy Roman Empire. Not untill the Hohenzoller (also not Prussian, but Brandenburgian) gained control of Prussia. They used these lands outside of the HRE to rise from Duchy to Kingdom, since there couldn't be more than one King within the HRE.

Germany did not occupy all of Poland in 1939. They've split it with Soviet Union in result of a Ribbentrop-Molotov pact signed with USSR just before the outbreak of war in 1939. It's important to note that both Nazi Germany AND Soviet Union started the war in September 1939.

>General Knowledge posts a video >Day instantly becomes better

Prussia united Germany, similar to how Muscovite did Russia and Ottomans did Turkey. Its always fun to research about the historical development of modern nations

This makes my family tree make more sense. My great-great grandparents lived in Danzig until they moved to Kansas in the 1880s. It was part of Prussia at the time, but is now part of Poland.

i always love your content! thanks for this! i would say, however, it would be wonderful if you could get a solid pop filter for your mic, as listening through this there are some plosive pops that are a bit distracting. nonetheless, great video :)

3:47 It's ironic that Poland gave sovereignety to Prussia for the military aid in the Northern War with the Swedes, only to be partitioned by them a 154, 175 and 177 years later alongside Austria and Russia. And then again in 1939 alongside the Soviet Union.

Much as it discomforts me to add to an already fairly loud chorus of dissent, I must say this seems a departure - albeit an unusual one, in defence of our charming and diligent host - from the usual high standards of historical accuracy and critical analysis which are normally a feature of this channel's output. As it stands, it seems there was uncertainty as to whether the aim was to delve into the formation and development of the Kingdom of Germany - or to give us a history of Prussia! To my mind, had the basic idea been to expand one particular entity, to keep it slightly simpler and focussed - as happened with Prussia in this film - it would have been far better to start with East Francia, resulting from the splitting of Charlemagne's empire, which, very simplistically, became Germany, France and Italy. Not only did this happen at least 300 years before the beginnings of "Prussia" emerged, since we are after all talking "origin stories", I would also contend East Francia makes a much better geographical case as a progenitor of the German Kingdom, given that East Francia, as was, is more or less still Gernany today - while Prussia, correspondingly, was really mostly where Poland now is! Finally, and yes sure, it's true the Hohenzollerns, the Electors of Brandenburg (with that territory comfortably in today's Germany) effectively merged with Prussia in the early 17th Century but a) that's miles later than the story of "Germany" actually begins b) the previously mentioned sheer territorial extent of East Francia and c) the perhaps even more significant linguistic and cultural ties between the constituent parts of East Francia, namely Bavaria, Swabia and Saxony - all conspire to make East Francia a better place to start, when talking about Germany's development, than Prussia. 😏❤

Loved this video, thank you

Very interesting video. Congrats!

Germany did actually briefly occupy the Baltics during WW1: Lithuania and Courland in 1915, then added Livonia and Estonia in 1918, then were forced to withdraw as part of the armistice, but they did occupy Courland again briefly in 1919. Also in WWII Germany did actually officially annex a few of their occupied territories, notably Alsace-Lorraine, Danzig, West Prussia, Pomerania, Posen, and parts of Silesia