How did Germany Become a Country? | Animated History

the history of the German people is a Chronicle both complex as it is fascinating from the warring kingdoms of late Antiquity Germanic Lords converged under the Holy Roman Empire and its many banners yet the Germans remained distinct and fractured in a medley of independent cities thiefs and Petty kingdoms so how exactly did they arrive at the Modern Germany we see today I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair historian and today we will be looking at the evolution of German borders we begin in 1525 amidst the fervor of the Protestant Reformation following a conflict between the German Teutonic Knights and the kingdom of Poland the Treaty of Krakow was signed this treaty gave its Grand Master Albert of hohen zolern the autonomy to secularize the Teutonic order and transform its Prussian Holdings into a vassalized duchy under the Dominion of Poland as the first Duke of Prussia Albert established his capital in the city of koenigsberg fast forward to 1618 when the Prussian Hoenn solern Dynasty faced an upheaval in the male line as a result the Dougal title was passed on to the family's senior Branch based out of Brandenburg this Union solidified the connection between Brandenburg a thief of the Holy Roman Empire and dukul Prussia a Polish Thief more importantly the Brandenburg capital of Berlin became an integral part of Prussia over the 17th century Frederick William as duke of Prussia and Prince elector of Brandenburg sought to connect his disparate territories though his designs were Complicated by King Carl Gustav the 10th of Sweden who invaded Frederick's lands vassalizing the great elector in return for war support against the polls Gustav promised to cede his new vassal the provinces of helmno malborg Pomerania and varmia to which the prince elector agreed in 1657. in response to this threat King John Casimir II of Poland gave Frederick William a counter-offer promising him the territories of drachheim elbing laoenberg and Bhutto along with prussia's full Independence which Frederick William keenly accepted in 1657. with its independence secured Prussia was able to prosper later elevating from a duchy to a fully fledged Kingdom in 1701 with Frederick Williams grandson Frederick the first adopting the title King in Prussia from here the fledgling Kingdom began to establish itself among the empires of Europe during the Great Northern war the prussians secured the Swedish territory of Pomerania in 1720 with the prosperous Austrian province of Silesia becoming Incorporated in 1742 thanks to the Strategic prowess of Frederick II following the territorial deadlock of the Seven Years War King Frederick II wished to connect his territories much like his great-grandfather had wished over a century ago before we continue I'd like to thank the sponsor of today's video curiosity stream the global entertainment brand for people who want to know more curiositystream offers exclusive content from award-winning and original documentary films to shows and series that you can't find anywhere else new content drops every week with a deep selection of topics spanning science nature history technology military history music food and more I recently enjoyed two World War II documentary series apocalypse World War II and Berlin 1945. with plans starting at under five dollars a month and both monthly and annual options available you can access thousands of hours of high quality documentaries and series by choosing the plan that works best for you and your budget curiositystream is also available on multiple devices like your TV computer or smartphone making it easy to expand your knowledge on a variety of Topics by watching your favorite documentaries anytime anywhere support our Channel and go to curiositystream.com armchair or scan the QR code for limited access to the world's top documentaries and non-fiction series and save 25 right away the tail end of the 18th century saw Frederick teaming up with the austrians and Russians to cow the Polish into submission forcing them to cede further territory during the first partition of Poland this helped Frederick bridge the gap between East Prussia and Brandenburg from here Frederick could ratify his title fully and become the King of Prussia circumventing the legal loopholes imposed on his father by the Holy Roman Empire the beginning of the 19th century saw the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and with it a brief pause on German fortunes it was during this period that Prussia would come to blows with the pint-sized potentate suffering the loss of more than half of its territory after the Treaty of tilsit in 1807 which mostly remained with the Russians even after Napoleon's defeat however not all was lost as the Congress of Vienna in 1814 gave Prussia the regions of yulik clavesberg and the lower Rhine following the French Empire's defeat which were more industrialized and thus more valuable the Congress also Consolidated Prussia and other German states into the wider German Confederation much like how the Holy Roman Empire did before it was dissolved by Napoleon despite efforts from European Statesmen to stabilize the post-napoleonic world much of Europe itself would succumb to a bout of nationalist fervor in 1848 various uprisings occurred all across Europe with many seeing the unification of German territories as inevitable nationalist politicians formed the Frankfurt Parliament and even offered the crown of Germany to King Frederick William IV of Prussia who rejected it in disgust for the conservative hoen zolern this title was a crown from the gutter a dog collar offered by Bakers and butchers and reeking with the stench of Revolution this sentiment was echoed by the aristocratic juncker class who berated the Democratic liberals for their attempts to erode the monarchy the question of United Germany gave rise to disagreements the Lesser Germany parties led by Prussia advocated for a smaller Germany that would exclude Austria on the other hand the greater Germany Advocates called for the inclusion of Austria aiming for a larger Empire that encompassed all german-speaking territories during these proceedings the great Statesman Otto von Bismarck emphasized the need for decisive action over liberal speeches and majority decisions for Bismarck the unification of Germany had to be achieved under the leadership of conservative and militaristic junkers in 1864 a conflict arose when Denmark claimed sovereignty over both schlesvik and Holstein causing Prussia and Austria to declare war and ultimately emerge Victorious as a result Prussia gained control of schlesvik while Austria acquired Holstein however tensions mounted as Austrian access to Holstein was throttled by Prussian bureaucracy leading to further conflicts in 1866 Prussian troops occupied Holstein sparking a war with Austria and the majority of the German Confederation who backed them the Italians also seeking to unify their own Peninsula joined the conflict by declaring war on Austria just five days later within a mere two months Prussia achieved a resounding victory over Austria annexing significant portions of Northern German territory and establishing the north German Confederation with the Iron Chancellor at the helm German expansion was all but inevitable an opportunity for such expansion presented itself in 1870 when the Spanish Crown was offered to a Hoenn solern while the hohen zolerance prince's candidacy was eventually withdrawn Bismarck released the M's dispatch a telegram sent by Wilhelm the first rejecting French demands that Prussia never again support a Hoenn solern candidacy this telegram made it appear as if the Prussian King Wilhelm the first had treated the French Envoy vasol Benedetti with much disrespect the French Emperor along with his people took it hook line and sinker expressing outrage at the incident which ultimately led to France declaring war on the prussians in response the Germans marched in and thoroughly trounced the French much to the humiliation of their adversary following their Victory the Germans unified into a new Empire and with it against the advice of Bismarck who feared French revanchism annexed ausas Lorraine in 1871. from here the new German State expanded its borders having brokered new territories in Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1884. Pacific colonies were purchased from Spain following the Spanish-American War while the North Sea Enclave of helicoland was ceded to Germany from the Brits within Asia the Germans were also able to gain a foothold in China following the Boxer Rebellion in the late 1890s by the turn of the 20th century Germany had arguably reached its zenith events following the first world war would see the German Empire dissolved and with it a score of territories including ausas Lorraine the Polish Corridor and schlesvik Beyond its European Holdings Germany was forced to cede all of its Colonial possessions which included German East Africa and Southwest Africa along with Pacific colonies such as nauru Western Samoa and Papua New Guinea in the place of the Empire an unstable Weimar Republic was left to pick up the pieces not lasting long before the rise of national socialism under Adolf Hitler the iridentist Nazis quickly sought to restore what they felt had been stolen reintegrating these are land from the League of Nations after a successful plebiscite in 1935. following their rapid re-militarization German troops marched into Austria and the Sudan land in 1938 annexing them into their vision of a greater Germany by March 1939 all of Czech had been absorbed into the Third Reich with Slovakia forming a puppet regime Poland's refusal to hand over the free city of Danzig in September then sparked the second world war plunging Germany into a Titanic conflict that eventually ended with them having less territory than when they started Germany lost a quarter of its pre-war territory to Poland and the Soviet Union with the remaining territory being divided into four occupation zones the British French Americans and Soviets each controlled a quadrant Berlin was also divided between the east and west Eastern Prussia and koenigsberg became kaliningrad part of the USSR to counter the Communist influence in the Cold War the Allied zones United to form the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 while the Soviet Union established the German Democratic Republic France maintained control over the Tsar land until another plebiscite in 1957 led to its reunification with Germany German borders would remain the same until 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell which led to the two germanies uniting in 1990 forming the modern German federal republic from the patchwork remnants of the Middle Ages through the Imperial Ambitions of the Hoenn solerns Germany slowly but surely converged into the nation-state that we see today while politics and diplomacy had their influence the concessions of War had as much to do with Germany's gains as it did with its losses the Iron Chancellor himself said it best when faced with the question of German unification not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided but by Iron and blood

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 522,447

Keywords: military history, war, battle, the second world war, historical

Id: BbeoHDWy32Y

Length: 12min 47sec (767 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 05 2023