AHC: Smallest 'Unified' Germany

The largest would probably be Grossdeutschland + Hapsburg lands in Italy and the Balkans. As for the smallest, perhaps if Prussia just managed to unite the North German Confederation whilst the southern Catholic states got drawn closer into the Hapsburg orbit, we might see a more kleine Kleinedeutschland.
 
The smallest is probably modern Germany but with the land West of the Rhine given to France or Belgium or some other local power, Brandenburg and Pommerania as part of an Independent Prussia, and Holstein with Denmark.
 

Dorozhand

Banned
The largest is a Germany unified under Habsburg Austria

The smallest was the Confederation of the Rhine.
 
I'd say the smallest Germany is modern Germany but with Schleswig to Denmark, the Saarland to France, and an independent Rhenish Republic - but it might be hard to get those lands taken out in the West and also have Germany lose all the lands east of the Oder-Neisse line in the East.
 
Theoretically, you could exacerbate the bigger state rivalries throughout the Enlightenment to the point where "German" makes as much sense to a Saxon as "Scandinavian" means to a Finn. Sure, we might be part of that area, but that's not who we are.

Meanwhile, those tiny states that have little hope of holding off the outsiders, like maybe the states of Thuringia, they actually do grasp "German" and make it about the 'little guys' of the area. So you'd still end up with the bigger players not wanting to take part - Prussia, Bavaria, etc - but those little fellas are the sort of 'unwanted' Germans.
 
Theoretically, you could exacerbate the bigger state rivalries throughout the Enlightenment to the point where "German" makes as much sense to a Saxon as "Scandinavian" means to a Finn. Sure, we might be part of that area, but that's not who we are.

Isn't Finnish culture pretty distinct from the other three states in the first place, though?
 
ethnically Finns are very far from the rest of scandinavia, but cultural they're close, mainly due to the fact that they've been under swedish rule for some 600(?) years and effectively been 'East Sweden' for much of this time, and there is still quite a few Swedish primary speakers in Finland and its still a official language
 

Dorozhand

Banned
I'd say the smallest Germany is modern Germany but with Schleswig to Denmark, the Saarland to France, and an independent Rhenish Republic - but it might be hard to get those lands taken out in the West and also have Germany lose all the lands east of the Oder-Neisse line in the East.

-Stalin deposed after taking power. After a short civil war, a new government is put into place

-All the USSR's best generals are preserved from purging and execution

-When Germany attacks, they are curb-stomped. The Soviet commanders order the armies to withdraw to defensive lines and watch as Germany pummels itself against the wall during winter

-Berlin is taken in 1943

-The French resistance liberates itself from Germany's grasp without the need for a massive allied landing

-The USSR creates the People's Republic of Germany, with the eastern border at the Oder-Neisse line, Schelswig-Holstein annexed into the People's Republic of Denmark, parts of Lower Saxony annexed into the People's Republic of the Netherlands, and the western border at the Rhine.

-France annexes the Rhineland, heavily industrializes it, and resettles the area with Frenchmen, sending the Germans to Soviet Germany. This is to prepare France for war with the USSR in the future, so that France (and Belgium and Flanders) can stand on its own for a while on a Rhine defensive line and buy time for the west to mobilize.
 
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Personaly I believe it is possible to keep Bavaria, Prussia and Hanover out of Germany for different reasons. If Hanover was still in personal union with Britain, it is likely to remain outside of Germany, just like Luxemburg was. The British king would keep out of any German wars and any noone would attack Hanover for fear of British involvement (even if the British actual don't want to get involved, the risk is simply too big).

Bavaria culturaly always was a bit different than the rest of Germany and it was big enough to be able to stand alone. I could see them remaining outside of Germany.

Like Bavaria (and Austria) Prussia was different. So it too could remain outside of Germany, if it did not have territory over all of Germany. So get rid of the Prussian Rhineland and limit Prussia to Prussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pommerania and Silesia and I believe Prussia could remain outside of Germany.

If we give other parts of Germany to other countries, like a French Rhineland, Danish Sleschwick-Holstein, perhaps a even a Dutch Cleves, you suddenly have a lot smaller Germany.
 
there was an independant bavaria for a short time after ww1.

they joined in reluctantly and the other dont understand their spoken language. the lack of independence movements is just the result of a comfortable life with lots of work, good pay and no shortages.
 
I recall some historians claiming that the damage done to Poland and Hungary during the Mongol invasion of central Europe during the 13th century was one of the reasons that eventually allowed the Germans a relatively easy eastward expansion - the Mongols had decimated the populations and the local nobility to such a degree that the Germans could later expand into a vacuum of sorts.

I'm not enough of an expert on the time period to judge how much water this thesis holds, but with an early POD where the Mongol invasion does not take place or does not wreak as much havoc as it did IOTL, there could be a stronger Poland and therefore a stronger barrier against German expansion into what IOTL became West Prussia, East Prussia and Silesia. The German-Polish border might never move beyond the Oder river in the first place. Or, if the Poles do extremely well and the Germans extremely badly, Brandenburg and Saxony could end up predominantly Polish and the border between the two states could be as far west as the Elbe river - an unlikely scenario perhaps, but not quite ASB in my opinion.
 
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