AH Challenge: Die Vereinigte Europäische Provinzen

The First Reich? All I can say is, why? The Germans took Alsace Lorraine from France to form the Reich. Please don't argue it was originally German, that was before the age of nationalism.

Considering what the Germans would have done to the Poles if they had won.....

By the way, Gdansk was always a Polish speaking city,as was/is (1st Reich held) Posen. Going by your logic in regards to German ownership of Alsace, these former territories that were "stolen" by Prussia ought to be reffered to by their Polish names.
No, they didn't take Elsass-Lothringen. They took most of Elsass, the eastern part of said area. And there was a reason why the Germans had much nationalist ambitions about Elsass, namely the Elsässich.
And no, Danzig weren't always a Polish speaking city. That city changed demographically quite a lot during it's history! In fact, in the 20s and 30s, Danzig had a majority German population (the entire area between Germany proper and East Prussia didn't, but neither did it have a majority Polish population, at that).
 

Deleted member 1487

He means the Holy Roman Reich. It was the oringinal holder of the province, but Elsass-Lotharingia was depopulated during the thirty years war by French and Spanish armies. Fun Fact Verdun used to be a German city too. The French gradually overran and conquered much of western Germany in the 1600-1700's and killed or converted the inhabitants to good French speaking people. The perceived 'natural' border of the Rhine was the goal of France for centuries before Napoleon. The 2nd reich under the Prussians took back the province in the franco-prussian war, which they considered righting an old wrong. I would agree with them, but the French were pissed and gladly. fought in a war to confirm their ownership to these foreign provinces.

Makes one wonder what Europe would have been like without the thirty years war...(hint, hint)
 
by 1848 the netherlands had a democratic goverment.

the king ruled but the parlement has the real power and only the people who pay more then 20 gulden ( not even 10 euros) taxes pro year can vote its democrasy more or less...

Just as much as the US at the time (more even)
 
The First Reich? All I can say is, why? The Germans took Alsace Lorraine from France to form the Reich. Please don't argue it was originally German, that was before the age of nationalism.

Considering what the Germans would have done to the Poles if they had won.....

By the way, Gdansk was always a Polish speaking city,as was/is (1st Reich held) Posen. Going by your logic in regards to German ownership of Alsace, these former territories that were "stolen" by Prussia ought to be reffered to by their Polish names.

1. When it was retaken in 1871, it was still German-speaking, and that was in the age of nationalism. The majority of the people who lived there were Alsatians, not French. Despite long campaigns of more or less officially approved assimilation campaigns. (What'd the word for that be? Franconisation?)

2. Actually, the Poles did pretty much what the Nazis had intended, if I'm to be frank, just reversed and on a smaller scale (I'm not a Nazi apologist or polonophobe or anything, but that's the way it is): Threw the Germans (some 8 million) out and colonised the territory, killing hundreds of tousands. A small, harmless minority was retained for menial work.

Things weren't so clear-cut in real life, of course - there were many Poles who tried to protect German friends or neighbours, often at risk to themselves. I'm not condemning the people. But the Communist regime and ruthless elements and exploiters did perform a rather thorough ethnic cleansing. No way can this be excused or justified, any more than the earlier Nazi atrocities. Two wrongs don't make a right.

3. No, you're wrong. Danzig had been German for hundreds of years; there wasn't even a Polish name for it in 1918, they had to have a competition to create one! And within the interwar German borders in the East, there lived millions of Germans and only a couple of hundred thousand Poles. Even the Corridor wasn't majority Polish, but Kashubian.

Sorry if I come across harsh, but that's how it was.

By the way, Bismarck's Empire was the Second Reich.
 
By the way, Bismarck's Empire was the Second Reich.
To explain, the first Reich was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the second Reich was the German Empire (which went by the name of Deutsches Reich, as said), and here comes the confusing thing: both the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany (the third Reich) went by the name Deutsches Reich!
 
With a POD no earlier then 1812, have one of the major European states be a democratic federation called die Vereinigte Europäische Provinzen (meaning United European Provinces). The state must have German as it's lingua franca, and must include non-Germanophone territories, as well as all of OTL Germany's territory (Elsass not necessarily, but if you can do it, even better).
The mightier and more influential the VEP is, the better.
The VEP must be a stable democracy!

The Austrians win the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. They do so by moving quickly enough to avoid the Battle of Koniggratz, and are able to make the war last longer. this brings the greater resources of the Austrian Empire and its German allies to bear against Prussia. The Austrians form a new German Reich, with all the German states (including Prussia) in it, and Franz Josef as its Kaiser. Franz Josef is crowned at the city of Aachen.

Over the years the Reichstag slowly gains more power, eventually forcing a showdown with the Princes, essentially between the Liberal Nationalists, and the conservative princely states. Hungary gets a separate administration as a separate Kingdom, but Bohemia is in the new German Reich.

That solve everything?
 
Over the years the Reichstag slowly gains more power, eventually forcing a showdown with the Princes, essentially between the Liberal Nationalists, and the conservative princely states. Hungary gets a separate administration as a separate Kingdom, but Bohemia is in the new German Reich.

That solve everything?
The only problem is how to make that ATL Germany change name to 'die Vereinigte Europäische Provinzen', since it would most likely be called Germany in the TL you presented.
 
Perhaps the hungarians and various non-german minorities [a few poles, the danish in schleswig, sorbs, czechs, italians] start kicking up a fuss about the name, and persuade them to change it?
 
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