Thande
Donor
AKA a thread in which Susano argues with people 
But seriously, I was thinking - German nationalism, or to be more accurate German nationalism in the form which we know it, is often said to be an effect of the War of Wars:
So, let's say the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are avoided somehow. The reforms of the early part of the revolution are enacted and Louis XVI becomes King of the French, but there is no violent overthrow, revolutionary republic, or major European war. France sits there struggling with reform and rebellious nobles for twenty years or so, then comes through its difficult period and perhaps the pattern of 18th century wars resumes.
But what happens over in the Holy Roman Empire? When and how would German nationalism come to prominence, and what form would it take? Perhaps copying the French to produce a reformed HRE led either by a modern-minded Hapsburg Emperor or by a Prussian King who accepted the imperial dignity as Frederick William IV refused it in OTL after the 1848 revolutions? A Germany much less dominated by a single state than OTL's Second Reich?
Discuss.
But seriously, I was thinking - German nationalism, or to be more accurate German nationalism in the form which we know it, is often said to be an effect of the War of Wars:
- The contagious national awakening from the early French Revolution: if legally complex, mediaevally structured France can be centralised as a single unitary state, why not Germany?
- French annexation of the Rhineland and vassalisation of the states of the Confederation of the Rhine sparked popular resentment against how disunited Germany could be rolled over by outside powers - already a factor in the 18th century wars and indeed as far back as the Thirty Years' War, but now really blown into overdrive
- Prussia's role in the war led to it ending up in a very advantageous position to go on to create a Kleindeutschland with itself at the head
So, let's say the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are avoided somehow. The reforms of the early part of the revolution are enacted and Louis XVI becomes King of the French, but there is no violent overthrow, revolutionary republic, or major European war. France sits there struggling with reform and rebellious nobles for twenty years or so, then comes through its difficult period and perhaps the pattern of 18th century wars resumes.
But what happens over in the Holy Roman Empire? When and how would German nationalism come to prominence, and what form would it take? Perhaps copying the French to produce a reformed HRE led either by a modern-minded Hapsburg Emperor or by a Prussian King who accepted the imperial dignity as Frederick William IV refused it in OTL after the 1848 revolutions? A Germany much less dominated by a single state than OTL's Second Reich?
Discuss.