This challenge is a bit complicated: make Germany divided between two countries , one in south and other in north, with the "north Germany" speaking some dialect of Low German and "South Germany" speaking High German.
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Actually not that complicated. The North German Confederation was a thing from 1866 to 1871, when it was transformed into the German Empire. During that time there were proposals to unite Bavaria, Würrtemberg, and Baden into a South German Confederation. So if that proposal works out and you somehow avoid further German unification (not too hard, actually), you'd have it!
Now North Germany would have a few exclaves in South Germany (most notably Hohenzollern) but that could easily be remedied.
Actually not that complicated. The North German Confederation was a thing from 1866 to 1871, when it was transformed into the German Empire. During that time there were proposals to unite Bavaria, Würrtemberg, and Baden into a South German Confederation. So if that proposal works out and you somehow avoid further German unification (not too hard, actually), you'd have it!
south
Now North Germany would have a few exclaves in South Germany (most notably Hohenzollern) but that could easily be remedied.
Trouble is, Bavaria was bigger than the other South German states combined. Why should Wurttemburgers, Badenese or Hessians be any readier to be dominated by Bavaria than by Prussia? What's in it for them?
That would not work as this Austria will still be part and the most important state of Germany (a Germany who will include the full HREFrederick the Great isn't around, and Joseph II's plan to trade the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) for Bavaria goes through. A few years later, the HRE gets consolidated as in OTL - but the Habsburgs don't write off "Hither Austria", their collection of minor domains around the headwaters of the Danube in SW Germany. OTL they let that go IMO because there was no possible connection to the Habsburg Realm in SE Germany - due mainly to Bavaria in the way. ITTL they have Bavaria, and take advantage of the consolidation to take over the the petty domains in that area.
So when the smoke clears at the end of the Revolutionary/Napoleonic Era, "Austria" holds the entire south end of Germany.
You need the Germanies in the west to unite (due to political or military threat) without Austria being part of it. It can be ally but not part of Germanies. The issue is the iOTL in 1815 Prussia had large part of the territory along the Rhine. Somehow you need them to stay east of the Elbe River for the West to unite alone. Hence my suggestion above.That would not work as this Austria will still be part and the most important state of Germany (a Germany who will include the full HRE
What defeat? Two Germaines mean different world after that. So not sure there a WW1, if there is not like ours.Could this partition lead to the survival of the monarchy, after a 1918 defeat?
Here's my idea:
The PoD is the early years of the Protestant Reformation, where the Lutheran Bible was translated into (Low) Saxon (aka Low German). For their part, the German Roman Catholics have their own translation of the Bible based on the language of the chancery of the Habsburg in Prague/Vienna, as well as the South Franconian dialects (said to be transitional between Central German and Upper German varieties.
In short, there would be three "Germanies" in this scenario:
What's your personal thoughts?
- Saxony (aka the Hanover-wank) in the northwest
- "Thuringia" in the northeast (aka the northeast High German-speaking Protestant state)
- A Roman Catholic-dominated Germany in the remainder (south an with and west), with Frankfurt as the capital.
They would remain autonomous, more or less. Or so I thoughtI think about the position of the non-german speaking parts of the Holy Roman Empire, like Bohemia and the french-speaking parts of the Low Countries. Could we see this languages being screwed because of the religion/language association ?