American Reacts What Happened to Prussia?

Hi everyone! I'm an American from the Northeast (New England). I want to create a watering hole for people who want to discuss, learn and teach about history through YouTube videos which you guys recommend to me through the comment section or over on Discord. Let's be respectful but, just as importantly, not be afraid to question any and everything about historical records in order to give us the most accurate representation of the history of our species and of our planet!

#Prussia
#Germany
#American
#WW1
#WW2
#HistoryMatters
#McJibbin
#History
#AmericanReacts
#Reaction

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[dyutimandas]

4:05 I think the one beside frederick the great is clausewitz or gnisenau?? Possibly..

[tommy]

Love It!:

ready to learn, and if you are not, there is the door, HomeEc is down the Hall"

Maybe if you went for a walk down the hall you'd have learnt how to fix your Jacket :D

[berlindude]

De jure, Prussia (a kingdom until 1918, then a so called free state within Germany) existed until 1947 when it was officially dissolved by Allied decree because they deemed it "a bearer of German militarism and reaction". And that although, in the early inter-war years, the Free State of Prussia was quite the opposite. Then in 1932 came Papen's "Preussen-Schlag" (a coup d'etat in Prussia) weakening the federalist Weimar Republic further in an attempt to establish a new state, essentially a precursor to a restored monarchy. But contrary to Papen's intent, the move ultimately had the effect of easing Hitler's path to power.

[alexion]

From my perspective the summary of what happened to Prussia: They were once great and then went to far. Prussian militarism and ideas eventually contributed a large percentage both directly and indirectly to the creation of Hitler, who in 1934 removed Prussia from existence and only left it as a symbolic title to give his friends. Additional and probably best example of Prussia going to far is WW1, as the German Empire up to that point was mostly Prussian, the dissolution of said Empire and change into the Weimar Republic almost completely removed Prussian dominance of German politics.

[GdzieJestNemo]

They skiped on first half of Prussia's history though

[Codex]

The unification of Germany was a lot more than a loose alliance under Prussian military hegemony and the term 'Empire' owes as much, if not more, to the fact that Germany saw itself as a great colonial Empire, similar to Britain and France. Infact, by the end of the Nineteenth Century it had a sizeable overseas Empire, mainly in Africa and the Pacific and with huge economic and diplomatic influence in Latin America and Eatern Asia. The German state was also a full customs union, aka - single market and had a common currency and a German central bank. Yes, it was dominated by Prussia but there was national taxation and expenditure, a common welfare system, the first modern welfare system in the World, and a centralised national education system. Even the army was the German army, even though many regiments came from single states. The impression the video gave was VERY misleading. As for the Kaiser, it was the norm for crowned heads of state to have multiple royal titles and for the monarch to come from the dominant region. For instance the King of Austria was also the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the King of England was also the King of Scotland and Ireland, as well as the Emperor of India. It's true that it was a looser system than existed in the other great European powers at the time, Britain, France and Russia, with many of the old states retaining much local autonomy. In some ways it had similarities to the US system, though with one state undoubtedly dominant. It wasn't anywhere near as loose and insignificant as the video implies. It was a proper nation state. This was solidified even further by sharing a common language and due to most of the new Germany having been the major part of the Holy Roman Empire and the core of it's power, for over a thousand years which, after Napoleon became the German Confederation. Both of these also included Bohemia and German speaking Austria, of course, which would echo down to late 1930s Germany. Although there were regional differences, as within any nation, most of the unified Germany already had a significant shared culture, due to untold centuries of networking and association. The Prussian state still existed, of course, but although dominant, it existed as part of a new nation state, rather than as a nation state in it's own right.

[jaccilowe]

Connor, so sorry about your button...☹

[davemac]

Germany's problem was that they were late to the colonial party, as Spain, Portugal, France and Britain, had already carved up most of the world between them. The Germans have been engaged in a very real version of the board game of 'Risk' ever since, because if you can capture the other great powers in Europe itself, then winner takes all in the global influence stakes.