Alternative Capital to Germany?

Alternate Capital For German State

  • Hamburg

    Votes: 16 7.7%
  • Frankfort

    Votes: 158 76.0%
  • Munich

    Votes: 20 9.6%
  • Bremen

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • Hanover

    Votes: 8 3.8%
  • No Capital Whatsoever

    Votes: 4 1.9%

  • Total voters
    208
I really fail to see why this is in any way relevant. Consider how many other much more important parameters are there. Population, trade routes, cultural relevancy, historical foundation e.t.c.. Picking Fulda really is random.

Central position is more important than these, I would say. Population is not unimportant, but there are many countries where the capital is not among the largest in the country. And of course, once it becomes the capital, its size will increase. Another possible choice could have been Kassel. Still, Frankfurt is a better choice than Berlin, as it is closer to the consentration of population in the Ruhr area.
 
In the 19th century several contenders are no longer possible as a German capital. Prague, since it's a town with a diminishing German majority and later plurality, surrounded by a purely Czech-speaking countryside, Aachen, because it hasn't played any important role in imperial politics or even just ceremony (a role Frankfurt took over in the 16th century) for centuries and on top of that is located directly on the border. Königsberg isn't even located within the territory of the German Confereration while being very close to Russia. The Hansa cities of Hamburg and Bremen aren't good choices either both due to their very northern locations as well as their republican traditions.
 
In the 19th century several contenders are no longer possible as a German capital. Prague, since it's a town with a diminishing German majority and later plurality, surrounded by a purely Czech-speaking countryside, Aachen, because it hasn't played any important role in imperial politics or even just ceremony (a role Frankfurt took over in the 16th century) for centuries and on top of that is located directly on the border. Königsberg isn't even located within the territory of the German Confereration while being very close to Russia. The Hansa cities of Hamburg and Bremen aren't good choices either both due to their very northern locations as well as their republican traditions.

Couldn´t Prague be a strategic choice? If it became a capital, more Germans would probably move there, making sure that Bohemia would remain part of Germany. Of course this assumes a timeline where Bohemia (and possibly Moravia) becomes part of Germany, which probably means that the rest of Austria also becomes part of it. Maybe this could happen if Austria looses Hungary?
 
The choice should be obvious: Bielefeld.

Selling points:

1. It is a natural center of Northern Germany (so Swabia and Bavaria are not necessarily a part of Germany with its capital in Bielefeld; Austria may have them: we don’t really need them all that much anyway). It is on halfway between Rhine and Elbe, halfway between Rhine-Ruhr and Saxonian industrial regions (well, kinda), halfway between Cologne and Berlin. If Netherlands are also part of Germany its central position becomes even more obvious.

2. It is located in Prussian territory (assuming the POD is not before XIX century) but is not associated with Prussian militarism and authoritarianism but neither is it a symbol of constitutionalism and democracy like Frankfurt is. Thus it can be result of compromise between constitutionalists and Prussians (and of course without early PODs Prussia should be major player in unification).

3. It is right in the middle of Teutonburg Forest, so romantic German nationalists of XIX century should be ecstatic (and since nationalism is one of the main driving forces for unification it should matter a great deal).

4. It doesn’t really exist, so even if enemy would be able to crush TTL Germany in a war, it won’t be able to find and capture its capital and thus the German defeat would not be complete.
 
Wouldn´t Hannover be a more natural choice for Northern Germany? (at least within post-1945 Northern Germany

Towns are less than 100 km from each other so if POD is before XX century as far as central location goes they are more or less in the same ship (however if POD is after WW2 than Hannover is not a very likely choice of capital – it is disturbingly close to DDR border; OTOH Bielefeld is not in the center of postwar FRG either – OTL Bonn or even Mainz fit the bill much better).

If we imagine TTL scenario with Germany based on OTL North German Confederation that includes Netherlands Bielefeld position looks more preferable. Also unlike Hannover it was never in personal union with perfidious Albion, which is also a huge boon.


However its geographical location is not the hugest factor in favor of Bielefeld. There are items 2 and 3 and especially 4 in my previous post that make Bielefeld uniquely qualified for being German capital
 
Odd given how he was talkng about the center of an entire country, a little pot and kettle of you eh?

And again Madrid.

WRT the US, isn't it sort of on point given that at the time of the Constitution/when the capital was located the US consisted of the Eastern Seaboard, plus the Old Northwest (which was basically unpassable woodland that was thinly settled at best, and probably therefore not good as far as "places to build a major city"? DC was famously picked as a compromise site in terms of how far north/south it was on the eastern seaboard and for being on a river that (at the time was thought to be) a major potential route into the west even if it was eclipsed by upstate NY, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
 

Kaze

Banned
Wittenberg.

Martin Luther unites Germany!

Ostercappelin.

Birthplace of Baron Ludwig von Windthorst, chief political rival of Otto von Bismark. Bismark said about him - "Everyone has someone to love and someone to hate. I have my wife to love and Windthorst to hate."

Trier.
Birthplace of Karl Marx.
 
Wittenberg.

Martin Luther unites Germany!

I doubt that the kings and princes that supported Luther would be very keen on giving up their powers for a united Germany, even if you were able to screw the Catholic church sufficiently to make all Germany Lutheran, which is itself probably ASB.
 
I would also have suggested Kassel. But not because it's in the center, but because it's a good compromise candidate: It never was *that* important to German history, but it was at least a bit important at one point in history or another. It isn't really associated with any of the big 'blocks' in Germany. Nobody really likes Kassel, but it's also not worth the effort for anybody to hate it with a passion (except for us Göttinger).
 
Cologne is the only Ruhr choice with any historical Oomph, so that seems a good one.

If you were deliberately avoiding the Ruhr area, Frankfurt is a choice.

Dresden is a very pretty option these days, though obviously requires Silesia and Bohemia to be part of Germany to make sense.

And Hamburg, for the London/Amsterdam-style appeal of being a great city on trade routes.
 

Kaze

Banned
I doubt that the kings and princes that supported Luther would be very keen on giving up their powers for a united Germany, even if you were able to screw the Catholic church sufficiently to make all Germany Lutheran, which is itself probably ASB.

The easiest way to screw the Catholics would be the POD at the Diet of Worms. After a long impassioned argument by Luther, Emperor Charles sees the light and becomes Lutheran - he sees Protestantism as a way to unite Germany. A good part of the southern German Catholic resistance was directed from the seat of Emperor Charles, if Charles became Lutheran - the southern German Catholic resistance would slowly crumble or not exist in the first place.
 
The easiest way to screw the Catholics would be the POD at the Diet of Worms. After a long impassioned argument by Luther, Emperor Charles sees the light and becomes Lutheran - he sees Protestantism as a way to unite Germany. A good part of the southern German Catholic resistance was directed from the seat of Emperor Charles, if Charles became Lutheran - the southern German Catholic resistance would slowly crumble or not exist in the first place.

The problem is that there were advantages with being Holy Roman Emperor. For instance, if one royal family died out without a heir, their lands returned to the emperor. Besides, even the protestant princes had no interest in a strong central power. Why should they give up their own power?
 
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