Question: Fate of Thuringia in a surviving German Empire

During the Kaiserrreich, There were no less than eight separate states totally within what now and what historically (it was smaller) constitutes the German State of Thuringia. So, had the German Empire survived, either as a result of a divergent great war, or there never having been a great war, does Thuringia consolidate, or will it remain eight different statelets to the present day?
 

Anderman

Donor
It will remain eight different states, because the states were monarchies and can not simply merge. Until the line of the ruling family die out.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
At most you'd probably end up with unified Reuss, the Thuringian saxons united, and Schwarzburg united. Accident might lead to the biggest chunk of Thuringia being part of Saxony; it doesn't matter much as they were all part of the NDB, but this might lead to saxony trying to claim more autonomy within the empire on par with Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg.
 
At most you'd probably end up with unified Reuss, the Thuringian saxons united, and Schwarzburg united. Accident might lead to the biggest chunk of Thuringia being part of Saxony; it doesn't matter much as they were all part of the NDB, but this might lead to saxony trying to claim more autonomy within the empire on par with Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg.

But how/why would the Saxon duchies consolidate, presumably taking the name of the largest one, if their ruling families have not doed out?
 

archaeogeek

Banned
But how/why would the Saxon duchies consolidate, presumably taking the name of the largest one, if their ruling families have not doed out?

I said assuming the families do die out.
Saxe-Altenburg died out in 1991
Prince Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen is the last living male Saxe-Meiningen and assuming he dies without children (he's 36 and has no children so yeah) the branch will go extinct this century.

That leaves 3 branches plus the royal branch.
The royal branch is itself likely to go extinct soon and the succession rules (the marriage of Maria Emmanuel, Margrave of Meissen, had no issue and he's in his 80s) laid out in the saxon constitution mean that the likely heir to the throne would be the duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach (who will also inherit Meiningen and already inherited Altenburg). It does leave a succession crisis open if the princes of Saxe-Gessaphe contest but IIRC they are excluded due to an unequal marriage in the 70s.
 
I said assuming the families do die out.
Saxe-Altenburg died out in 1991
Prince Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen is the last living male Saxe-Meiningen and assuming he dies without children (he's 36 and has no children so yeah) the branch will go extinct this century.

That leaves 3 branches plus the royal branch.
The royal branch is itself likely to go extinct soon and the succession rules (the marriage of Maria Emmanuel, Margrave of Meissen, had no issue and he's in his 80s) laid out in the saxon constitution mean that the likely heir to the throne would be the duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach (who will also inherit Meiningen and already inherited Altenburg). It does leave a succession crisis open if the princes of Saxe-Gessaphe contest but IIRC they are excluded due to an unequal marriage in the 70s.

But the dying out of the royal lines would have been sufficient to dissolve those states?
 
Seems I heard somewhere the princely family of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen died out in the last few decades sometime. Would this Fuerstentum have merged with another one of the statelets in the area?
 
Seems I heard somewhere the princely family of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen died out in the last few decades sometime. Would this Fuerstentum have merged with another one of the statelets in the area?

The two Schwarzburg principalities were merged in a personal union in, I think 1909. The male line has since died out, but again, I think they were Semi-Salic, so there would be succession through the female line.
 
Of course, whether the lines would have died out had the Grand Duchies etc. still existed is a matter to contest, for it is somewhat likely that the removal of actual territory and recognised titles has led to something of a decrease in the marital prospects of the various branches.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
Of course, whether the lines would have died out had the Grand Duchies etc. still existed is a matter to contest, for it is somewhat likely that the removal of actual territory and recognised titles has led to something of a decrease in the marital prospects of the various branches.

They all married equally within great german houses. The saxon branches mostly died out due to lack of children.

Also it would probably go through a phase of personal union but it would be a formality to, say, plebiscite the united Saxon duchies in Thuringia and the kingdom of Saxony into a single state. Or Schwarzburg into a single state (under the house of Solms-Widenfels).
 
They all married equally within great german houses. The saxon branches mostly died out due to lack of children.

Also it would probably go through a phase of personal union but it would be a formality to, say, plebiscite the united Saxon duchies in Thuringia and the kingdom of Saxony into a single state. Or Schwarzburg into a single state (under the house of Solms-Widenfels).

I'm not clear as to why they would want to merge into Saxony instead of forming a single Thuringian state:confused:
 
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