The real difference between ledaership by Austria vs Prussia would have been this: Germany under Prussia was a classic nation state. One nation, one language, etc. Thereas a German Empire under Austria would have been a multinational entity. Including Hungarians, Slavs, etc. This would have been feasible only with some highly decentralized system. All in all, this would have been an even larger, but less homogeneous country. A country much more concerned with internal problems and internal strife. Just like the Holy Roman Empire had been for centuries. (It's hard to believe, but between 955 and 1806 the Holy Roman Empire did not fight a single external war! All the war's you read about were fought by some principality such as Prussia or Saxony - but not by the Empire itself). Such a multinational entity was considered very unmodern in 1870. (Other multinational empires such as Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were in decline, while new small nation states were carved out of these old Empires). From the perspecitve of 2021 though, it's different. We now have new multinational entities such as the European Union which are doing quite well. So maybe the Austrians were just 150 years ahead of their time? And that's what makes these speculations so interesting from a modern point of view. Maybe with an Austrian-led Germany, all the follies of nationalism could have been avoided and the 20th century would have been much different and more peaceful.

Nice reactions but I was under the impression that the last thing the Hapsburgs and Austria wanted was for the German States to be United but I guess I’m wrong

Kaiser means emperor, König means king. Cant have be a kaiser if youre not an empire yet.

Königsberg is nowadays Kaliningrad in Russia.

Napoleon III is so underestimated

Do Geography Now! Slovenia

Greater Germany very epic

@jemand1537

Жыл бұрын

Greater Austria is better. Germany was 800 years a part of Austria. There was even a plan after of ,,Großösterreich“