Remember that until 1871, there was no such thing as Germany. There was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, but that was about as much a country as the commonwealth is a country nowadays. It was a loose connection of about a dozen or so smaller nations that were in constant struggle and conflict with each other.
It was only in 1871 that Germany as a country was formed, more specifically, the German Empire. From 1871 to 1918 it was a monarchy, and after WW1 was lost, they reformed as a somewhat democratic country, the Weimarer Republic, which existed until 1933 when the Nazis took over and created the Third Empire, aka nazi Germany. After that it was reformed as the Second Republic, which lasts until today.
So at the time when Hitler came to power, Bavaria had only been part of Germany for 62 years. So at that time there were lots of older Bavarians who grew up in the independent Kingdom of Bavaria. Gaining “independence” wasn’t about an oppressed local minority gaining their freedom as it was about old people longing for their childhood.
About a month ago I watched a 2-hour video covering the entire history of the Germany basically from the neolithic onwards. So yeah I’m aware of the major major geopolitical changes (HRE from its beginnings under Charlemagne, Prussia vs Austria-Hungary, German Empire under Bismarck, etc).
But that wasn’t even enough time to cover much about the sentiments of individual regions at different points in history. So that’s interesting, thanks!
I’m curious, how much of that longing for the old kingdom was driven by nobility or wealthy merchants vs. the working-class? And how much was economic vs cultural?
Remember that until 1871, there was no such thing as Germany. There was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, but that was about as much a country as the commonwealth is a country nowadays. It was a loose connection of about a dozen or so smaller nations that were in constant struggle and conflict with each other.
It was only in 1871 that Germany as a country was formed, more specifically, the German Empire. From 1871 to 1918 it was a monarchy, and after WW1 was lost, they reformed as a somewhat democratic country, the Weimarer Republic, which existed until 1933 when the Nazis took over and created the Third Empire, aka nazi Germany. After that it was reformed as the Second Republic, which lasts until today.
So at the time when Hitler came to power, Bavaria had only been part of Germany for 62 years. So at that time there were lots of older Bavarians who grew up in the independent Kingdom of Bavaria. Gaining “independence” wasn’t about an oppressed local minority gaining their freedom as it was about old people longing for their childhood.
About a month ago I watched a 2-hour video covering the entire history of the Germany basically from the neolithic onwards. So yeah I’m aware of the major major geopolitical changes (HRE from its beginnings under Charlemagne, Prussia vs Austria-Hungary, German Empire under Bismarck, etc).
But that wasn’t even enough time to cover much about the sentiments of individual regions at different points in history. So that’s interesting, thanks!
I’m curious, how much of that longing for the old kingdom was driven by nobility or wealthy merchants vs. the working-class? And how much was economic vs cultural?