Imperial Germany without kings,princes and sovereigns

I sometimes wonder how the mentality of the citizens of the German Empire cope with the fact, that they had a regional monarch as an identety-figure and also the Kaiser. It is seldom mentioned in documentaries on WW1 that there had been other princes and kings in Germany during WW1 until their final dismission in 1918. What if the Prussians do not want any monarchs remain in 1871 , but rule the Reich in a different way ?
 
I sometimes wonder how the mentality of the citizens of the German Empire cope with the fact, that they had a regional monarch as an identety-figure and also the Kaiser. It is seldom mentioned in documentaries on WW1 that there had been other princes and kings in Germany during WW1 until their final dismission in 1918. What if the Prussians do not want any monarchs remain in 1871 , but rule the Reich in a different way ?

Sort of less like Germany OTL and more like Italy, you mean?
 
How Prussia would enforce royal houses from their offices? I guess that unification of Germany would be more difficult if monarchs are enforced to abdicate.
 
I think this changes little.
Main difference could be, that with other constituent principalities of Empire simply subdued into Prussia, there will be no separate parliaments for Prussia and Germany.
 
How do you expect to get rid of all of the royal houses that rule:
King of Bavaria
King of Saxony
King of Hanover
King of Württemberg
Grand Duke of Baden
Grand Duke of Hesse
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Grand Duke of Oldenburg
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt-Sondershausen
Prince of Lippe
Princeof Greiz
Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Duke of Anhalt
Duke of Brunswick
Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
 
How Prussia would enforce royal houses from their offices? I guess that unification of Germany would be more difficult if monarchs are enforced to abdicate.
Hanover WAS conquered and annexed.
Could you get Prussia which annexes more of Germany?

For example, consider the margin by which Prussia defeated France in 1870 - in alliance with Bavaria et al.
Suppose Prussia isn´t offering Bavaria their special deal in 1866-1871 - with the result that Bavaria fights on French side for self-defence. And still loses. France loses by a less overwhelming margin, and gets to keep Lothring - but Bavaria is crushed and annexed.
How big could Prussia plausibly get in 1866-1871?
 
Very true that Hanover did lose their monarchy. And if Bavaria did too, you're talking about unrest and most likely after the armistace of WWI you see the Bavarian independence movement do better, perhaps the Bavarian Socialist Republic doesn't succeed per OTL but an independent republic is still recognized per the Wilsonian points of national determination. OTL had a problem with Austria taking the name German Austria and to forbid any anschluss with Germany, to which the Entente forced them to abandon that name; perhaps ATL allows Austria to keep the name German Austria in a min-anschluss with Bavaria? This allows Germany to be weaker, and Austria to be a buffer. I can see Mussolini supporting a German Austria after he takes power in 1922; Mussolini always supported Austria as a natural Italian sphere of influence, in this case we may see butterflies where Hitler comes to power in German Austria as a Mussolini puppet and tries to re-create the Austro-Hungarian Empire and seize the "rest of Germany" as well while Mussolini tries to recreate the Roman Empire (and bumbles as per OTL) and WWII ends up being quite a bit shorter due to Mussolini and the weaker Italian army being the ones in charge.

All as a simple consequence of one PoD- the Kaiser doesn't want a king anywhere else in Germany. Plausible? Slightly?
 
I sometimes wonder how the mentality of the citizens of the German Empire cope with the fact, that they had a regional monarch as an identety-figure and also the Kaiser. It is seldom mentioned in documentaries on WW1 that there had been other princes and kings in Germany during WW1 until their final dismission in 1918. What if the Prussians do not want any monarchs remain in 1871 , but rule the Reich in a different way ?

If I may suggest, you should give a look at the Constitution of the German Empire. Despite the "Imperial" format, in internal politics if actually functioned in a rather Federal aspect (confederation, in fact): each of the constituent states (meaning those various kingdoms and principalities) had a proportional participation in the public matters, with the King of Prussia holding a significant proportion of votes, for example, in the parliament. Also, putting the King of Prussia as "head of state" meant he was, in this text, the president of the confederation.

Now, this is what's written... of course that real life and politics in the German Empire might have been somewhat different, especially considering the role played by more conservative rulers like Kaiser Wilhelm II.
 
Very unlikely.

In 1866, Prussia defeated many other German states and annexed three of them. But some fought on Prussia side: the Mecklenburgs, Oldenburg, Anhalt, Brunswick, Lippe, Waldeck, some Thuringian statelets.
If Prussia formally annexes them afterwards, that would be a huge diplomatic blunder. And practically a guarantee that the Southern German states will not ally themselves with Prussia in 1867 and fight for their independence at the side of France.

OTOH, Prussia annexing all of the defeated enemies in 1866, including the GD of Baden and the Kdms of Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony, that will overreach what France (and certainly Russia) are willing to concede. There will be the Prussian War of 1866 to ~68, and it will end with a humiliating defeat for Prussia, Austrian Silesia, Russian Posen and a French-led Second Rheinbund.

And after 1871? Wilhelm I was so honor-obsessed, he would never stand for betrying his princely allies this way. The first Hohenzollern I can see who would be willing to go with practicality and ignore traditions when it suited him would have been Crown Prince Wilhelm, the hypothetical Wilhelm III.
 
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