What Happened to all the German Kings when Germany Unified? (Short Animated Documentary)

Before there was a Germany there were lots of them and many of them were run by kings. But when Germany was unified under the leadership of the Prussian Monarchy, what happened to the rest of them? Did they stay or go? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

A special thanks to all of these Patrons below, without whom the show wouldn't be possible:

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[SnapplyPie]

Truly the moment when all cartographers let out a sigh of relief.

[aixtom]

I live in Württemberg, and I always liked the fact that the casualties of our "Revolution" of 1918 was one guard that was knocked out and woke up a few hours later, and the King moving from his main castle to the suburbs.

[johntr]

Fun fact: In the day of his dethronement, King Ludwig III of Bavaria was taking a walk in a park in Munich, were he was stopped by a passer-by who informed him that the Kingdom of Bavaria had been abolished. Ludwig then returned to his palace only to find it dark and empty, as all the servants had left.

[lemonde]

Funfact: King Wilhelm II of Württemberg (the Last one)was so popular that the leader of the communist/socialist front that pressed for his abdication told him openly that "it is because of the system" and that he was always a great king basicly.
He was also crying during the time his soldiers where leaving for the first World War (at this time many where happy to go to fight).
My favorite story is that he was often going for walks around Stuttgart (the Capital of Württemberg) with his two dogs and without bodyguards people said to him when they saw him "Greetings Mr.King" to which he raised his hat and greeted back. Often he gave Children sweets. So much so that Children just ran up to him when they saw him and asked him "Do you have anything for me"?( meaning sweets)
Because of his popularity he was allowed to live in the state and got a nice pension.

[nehukybis]

During world war 1, the German kingdoms *still* maintained independent armed forces, though they were integrated into the German army and used more or less the same uniforms and equipment. The armies of of Bavaria and Saxony were pretty big, and even included their own air forces. If you look at the front of the German soldier's cap there are two cockades (buttons)- one is black, white and red (for Germany) and the other is various colors, depending on which German state the soldier's regiment was raised in.

[nicolajrath]

"No one gets their feelings hurt despite the very obvious political reality" the humor on this channel is amazing

[pagansbasin]

Otto von Bismarck after collecting the infinity kingdoms: now this does put a smile on my face

[nqh]

Interesting Facts: 
- Prince Georg Friedrich, the current head of house Hohenzollern, is still the 170th in the line of succession to the British throne. If somehow the 169 people before were to die, the Brits would surely rejoice to have a German king again.
- If the current British law of succession had been applied 120 years ago, Kaiser Wilhelm II would've become the monarch of both German and British empire, and WW1 would've ended much differently.

[GummiRiegelBipfi]

fun fact: Frederick August III was actually a very popular king because he appeared very down-to-earth and bourgeois. he was also known for his strong Saxon dialect and his rather unroyal way of speaking. it is said that 500 000 people came to his funeral to see him one last time. (He also had beef with the pope)

[natarus]

Saxon here, living in Dresden former capital of the kingdom of Saxony.
King Friedrich Augustus III wasn't that unpopular among the people, just among those with political power. He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to regain his power (mostly for his children) and tried suing the new government over taking away his castles.
But during and after his reign the king was quite popular among the common folk, easily seen by the fact that around half a million people (nearly the whole population of Dresden) mourned his death in 1932, filling the streets to the brim. The source of this popularity was the fact, that FA III didn't like all the noble stuff like dressing fancy and speaking High German. Even in meetings with other nobles the king proceeded to talk in a heavy saxon dialect.
Even today many anectodes about him are told to tourists in Dresden. He tried to sneak out of the castle diguised in civilian clothes to play cards (most of the time the German "Skat") with the unknowing people.
Or one time he visited a field hospital in WWI and some soldiers carrying a cauldron, filled with murky water came across the king. Seeing it as a duty to taste the "soup" he stopped the soldiers and demanted a spoon. He didn't want to listen to the explanation and demanted a spoon a second time. Upon tasting the "soup" he spat out the water. "What kind of soup are you giving out to the wounded?!" - "That is dishwater, your majesty".

[rulerofeternity]

I have always thought about how Germany as an empire was run and this question always lingered in my head, thanks for the info!

[klamur]

Our local Graf (Earl) still lives in his castle nearby my village near Münster (Minster). They are very nice and allowed my wife and me to marry in his castle. Gentle people.

[CheapCharlieChronicles]

Germany has a fascinating history, would love to visit and explore the small historic cities and provinces some day.

[Osterochse]

a few fun facts about how federal the German empire was can be illustrated on a lot of points.

The German empire didn't have a common German citizenship. Every single citizen retained their Prussian, Saxon, Bavarian etc. citizenship. This can be nicely illustrated by the example of Albert Einstein who was born in Ulm and had therefore the Württembergian citizenship. He attended school in Munich without taking on the Bavarian citizenship. Later he gave up the Württembergian citizenship and was stateless for many years until he took on the Swiss one. After becoming a world renowned physicist he was basically given the Prussian citizenship in order to bind him to his new professorship in Berlin. People didnt seem to be bothered by the fact he unilaterally gave up his Württembergian citizenship earlier since it wasn't the Prussian one. It can be debated if that would have been the case if a German citizenship had existed.

Furthermore there was no such thing as a German postal service. That was founded in 1920. Up until that moment every state had its own postal service and sending a letter to another German state would be the same thing as sending a letter in modern days from Sweden to Italy. They were organized within their state but had to hand the post to the other states which distributed it within their area since the other services were basically "abroad".

Not all trade barriers disappeared after the unification of Germany. Hamburg and Bremen retained some special trading rights, in particular regarding tariffs until 1888. So basically the German empire wasn't even a unified economic zone.

The German empire didn't have a common army. Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and Württemberg all retained their own armies with their own equipment. There were two seperate war academies, one in Berlin and one in Munich. Even though only the Bavarians went to the one Munich, while the General staff of Saxony and Württemberg went to Berlin. Germany did have a joint navy though since it was basically newly founded with the unification of Germany and didn't have the same tradition and aristocratic privilege that the army had. I consider this to be the most fascinating point since I can not think of any other modern nation state that didn't even have a unified army but 4 instead. (edit: as max mustemann pointed out, I should have added that the German Armies had a joint command. So coordination wasn't really a problem. Difference in structure and equipment still lead to some problems in the first world war though. Interestingly the army and the navy never had a joint command and were basically fighting their own wars.)

All of this disappeared after the end of the first world war which is why I consider the end of the first world war to be the bigger change in German statehood than the end of the second world war. After the second world war Germany pretty much just reactivated the structures of the first republic (commonly known as Weimar) with some modifications. While after the first world war Germany really went through a lot of big changes that transformed it completely.

edit: PS: Another thing that I would like to add the name of the state. From 1871 to 1943 the official name was always "deutsches Reich" (German empire). It never changed in all of that time. It didn't matter if it was a constitutional monarchy, a republic or a nationalsocialist dictatorship. At all points the name always remained "deutsches Reich". Here you can see the difference in semantics since a Reich doens't require a Kaiser, a president or a Führer or anything for that matter. It is simply a term for a state. In English and other languages the term "Reich" obtained the connotation of a militaristic dictatorship, which is why the named was dropped after the second world war. Interestingly just because of that one of the fathers of the German constitution wanted to change it. Not because he himself had the opinion that the term Reich is actually a bad name for a state.

[dresden_slowjog]

Fun fact: upon abdicating, the highly popular Saxon King Frederick August III was supposed to have said "Nu da machd doch eiern Drägg alleene!" (Saxon for "Well then take care of this crap yourselves!"), but there is no documentation of this. // When standing in uniform on a station platform, he was asked by a lady to move her trunk. He is reported to have replied, "Madam, I am not a porter; I only look like one."
He was so popular that 500, 000 people attended his funeral procession, with even 2 being crushed to death.

[khairiisa]

One of the best history related YouTube channels out there. The puns, flowers on the field joke 😂, and not to forget the legendary James Bissonette. Keep up with the good work admin 😊.

[pomeranianproductions]

Funfact: Many of the Houses that existed at the time in Germany still exist to this day, including the House of Hohenzollern.

[thismuricanboi]

*Slaps Germany*
“This bad boy can hold so many Kingdoms.”

[teutonic_crusader]

Fun facts about the last King of Saxony, Frederick III:
He wasnt realy interested in the whole king stuff, so when he was asked via telephone in 1918 if he would abdiacte, he said "Oh, well, I suppose I'd better."
And upon abdicating, he is supposed to have said "Well then take care of this crap yourselves!"

[ThePerfectRed]

Here in Bavaria we still have our "duke" Herzog Franz von Bayern who does not carry an official title but is still very respected. I own a protectorate badge with his insignia which he awards to members of the shooting society. To the people in my environment, this means a lot more than an official merit.