Finished maps of the German states throughout the early 20th century (excluding the greater Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1907), for my greater overarching timeline, Boll Weevil Blues. While I don't have time to go into the whole timeline's lore, here's a summary of the relevant German bits: For starters, Otto von Bismarck gets shot at by an assassin a few months before the Austro-Prussian War just like in our world, only in this timeline he actually gets killed. Since Bismarck is dead, cooler heads prevail in the Holstein Crisis and the Prussians back down. Since the Austro-Prussian War doesn't happen, the German Confederation sticks around, and Germany doesn't unify. The Franco-Prussian War is also avoided when Prince Leopold actually manages to take the Spanish throne instead of arriving late. Flash forward to 1907 when the Conflagration (this world's WW1) starts, by which point Britain has allied with Prussia and Austria, bringing the German Confederation onto their side, while France, Italy, the US, and Russia fight against them (the fact that the alliances fell this way may seem a bit strange but just trust me that I thought it through, I don't have time to explain it all). As the war drags on, the Prussian and Austrian militaries basically take de facto control of the countries, much like OTL imperial Germany, and all but the largest states are absorbed by them over time as autonomous subnational monarchies. Finally, as things collapse and the war is lost in 1915, Prussia loses Posen to the Russians, Schleswig to the Danes, and the Saarland and Luxembourg to the French, and the Prussian monarch abdicates and is replaced by a council of aristocrats. Then, in 1921, a nationalist paramilitary overthrows the Prussian aristocracy, who flee to the Rhineland, and the nationalists form the Prussian National State. Meanwhile in 1925, the Habsburgs have to put down a Bavarian revolt, and end up forming a triple monarchy of Swabia, Bavaria, and Austria, since pretty much all the other Habsburg realms were lost after WW1 much like IOTL. Throughout the 1920s, the Rhenish form an aristocratic oligarchy, the Hessians and Hanoverians form constitutional monarchies, Carniola becomes an Italian vassal, Hohenzollern (the province) becomes an independent microstate/tax haven, the Saarland becomes a democratic French vassal, Liechtenstein still exists as usual, Bohemia and Moravia are Austrian vassals (Czech nationalism is kind of nipped in the bud in the 19th century with some reforms and an aristocracy-fueled "Moravianism" as an ideology), and the Prussians do some saber-rattling, abolish the subnational monarchies, and become a general international pariah. Until, in 1932, the British stumble their way into a brief naval war with the French and Americans (which they quickly lose (yes I'm aware that the British losing a naval war at that time seems strange, once again I don't have time to explain, but trust me that I've thought it through)) and the Prussians see the opportunity to take back the Rhineland, and march there through Hesse. In response, French, Austrian, Rhenish, and Hessian forces completely annihalate them in battle, take Berlin, and topple the nationalists. Austria takes Thuringia as a fourth constituent monarchy, Saxony is restored under their old king, and a Prussian Republic is formed, but the old Rhenish aristocracy in the shadows hold real control. Finally, in 1940, a massive wave of pro-democracy protests throughout Germany force the various states to implement electoral reform and become real democracies, and Germany once again slowly opens up to the world and eventually retakes its spot as the economic heart of Europe.
