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I recently read the novel 1632, which reminded me just how much of a mess the German (and, to be fair, Italian) lands were for most of their history; constantly squabbling amongst themselves, occasionally being manipulated and fought over by greater european powers of the time like France or Sweden or Spain or Austria, until they finally achieved Unification/Independence in the late 19th century, several centuries behind other nations like Spain, France, or the UK.

Now, I'm curious; what would history look like if Germany and/or Italy became unified nations around a similar time as France or others, strong enough to resist attempts by other powers to immediately chop them into little pieces again?

And, of course; how could this happen?

(Note that I'm not that knowledgeable about the details of medieval european history, so please don't scold me if I got things wrong, please...)

- Kelenas
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