German Empire split up

I was just thinking, after World War I Germany was the only one of the 3 Empires not broken up, now I know thats largely because Germans are all one people unlike the people living under the Ottomans, but what if the Allies broke Germany up after the War, is there a POD that would make them do that, or a POD that would make the Germans themselves do such a thing? what might a post-WWI split up of Germany look like, would they keep the monarchies, or become republics?
 
I don't see it happening voluntarily. There were cultural divides through the nation - the Catholic South and Rhineland, the largely agrarian Prussian Northeast, the Low German Northwest (itself split between its industrial south, its agrarian heart and its maritime fringe) and the industrialised heart of Prussia and Saxony, but these were not really felt to matter. The public consciousness of being German was extremely highly developed, except among ethnic minorities, and it was an idea with mighty juju, politically speaking.

Of course the allies could do it, if they'd wanted to. It would be against the wishes of the population, though. They'd probably make it Republics.
 
sure why not.. The french would have loved that.. Alas if you think WW II was full of animosity and such.. imagine a protracted entanglement with an entire nation of pissed off Germans. on a side note. by 1919 Germany just wasn't going to be carved up wholesale. as much as the french detested the germans, it would have been chaotic and devastating to have a multitude of mini fiefdoms to contend with instead of one central government.

The germans were the wall against the slavs of the east and was nowhere as unstable as the Astro-Ungaran or ottomans. Lets talk national identity here. The A-H empire was held together by the emperor, not being Austrian or Hungarian or slovak or sloven or rumanian or polish :) same wth the ottomans. heck the Austrians considered themselves German not necessarily Austrians.


So in short.. it would be like trying to split france... not gonna happen
 
The Germans are unlikely to split themselves up voluntarily. As people have said, Germanness didn't just exist, it was a really strong idea that led even the socialist leadership to support the war effort during WW1.

Bavarian seperatism is always majorly exagerrated. There was a little resentment of the "the Prussians", but that was well below the surface compared to the all-German political divisions that led to the brief existence and destruction of a soviet in Munich.

The most likley candidate I can think of would be a much more leftist Weimar which leaves less of the Imperial structures intact, causing a Taiwan analogue in East Prussia (probably, with delicious irony, a Polish marrionette).

Many in France certainly talked about splitting Germany, but they weren't ready to make the indefinite commitment to a gaggle of extremely wobbly dictatorships (since the split couldn't be enforced democratically) that this entailed.
 

Susano

Banned
I was just thinking, after World War I Germany was the only one of the 3 Empires not broken up, now I know thats largely because Germans are all one people unlike the people living under the Ottomans, but what if the Allies broke Germany up after the War, is there a POD that would make them do that, or a POD that would make the Germans themselves do such a thing? what might a post-WWI split up of Germany look like, would they keep the monarchies, or become republics?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Its that silly concept again... that Germany is ready to break apart at the drop of a hat...
 
They were the what now.

Britain (not France) figured that a strong Germany was an innoculation against German and Russian communism, but communism is not "eastern Slavic horde" in the real world as opposed to Nazist fantasy.


Toche on the wording :) .. however let me just state for the record that my post was not intended to nor in any manner espouse Nazi Fantasy.
 
Toche on the wording :) .. however let me just state for the record that my post was not intended to nor in any manner espouse Nazi Fantasy.

Sorry if I came across a bit brusque, but I'm genuinely curious. What are you basing this idea on? I mean, Poles are also Slavs of the east. Czechs, too, for a given value of "east".
 
I ment in a manner that there was fear amongst many of the anarchy in Russian and general restlessness of the east moving Westward, of Germany falling to the communists or falling into civil war.

I think that the consensus was even with a disarmed Germany to have a Strong centralized German state in the heart of Europe that would hopefully fall into the political arena of the French and British. Unfortunately we know how well that wishful thinking panned out. Kinda like hoping comrade Stalin was a rational kinda fella
 

Markus

Banned
Many in France certainly talked about splitting Germany, but they weren't ready to make the indefinite commitment to a gaggle of extremely wobbly dictatorships (since the split couldn't be enforced democratically) that this entailed.

Agreed! Has anybody mentioned this plan would not have made it past the UK and USA anyway?
 
Top