Originally posted by Yago
That absorption is intersting. Absorbed they were. They had to put a lot of effort into convincing people to be "German" now. Their main tools where education, pushing through the standardized high-german they speak now and grinding "German" literature into the heads of pupils, German, German, not Saxon or Bavarian, German, German, German. And the mythology of a "German" nation.
It is the only there is. I remember that you said similar things in the "Mozart greatest German?" thread. You assume that Bavaria, Saxony were nations on its own which were kind of annexed (or absorbed) by another, different, nation.
But Nationalism is a phenomenon that's quite new, becoming a big factor in Germany (the German states) just around 1800 (with the French occupation). There has never been a Bavarian nation, a Saxon nation or a Bremen nation. They are all the remnants of the Germanic tribes, of which indeed some other nations seperated over the centuries, for example England, The Netherlands and to some extend Belgium and Switzerland.
When Nationalism began to sweep around the world those state developed single national identities.
You are probably right in saying that this
could have happened in German states that would have been left out of a union, like it did with Austria. But it is also possible that they would have joined eventually as German Nationalism was the only relevant Nationalism. In Austria that only changed after 1945, when being German was no longer desirable in any way, for obvious reasons. And even there German Nationalist were still around, though they probably are about to have died out by now.
Another factor which was used was militarism. Another factor the destruction of the former countries. The borders of the German states are different from the former countries.
They never were countries. And the references to the border shows your misconception quite clearly. The states of the time, in fact of any time, always encompassed different parts of what was later referred to as "the German people". Bavaria encompassed (and still does) most of the Franks, for example. Saxony and Prussia also encompassed many other, non-Saxon and non-Prussian, groups.
And the very small states also had no national identity on their own, I've never heard anyone referring to the city as a nation.
During the times of independence it was an independent German city - but still German.
The borders prior to 1871 were widely drawn on French incentives, it is quite laughable to say that encompassed countries that were lost...
Germans always differentiated between the local identity and the national identity, some still do - more or less serious - as the avatar should illustrate.
And some put more importance in the local identity (the Bavarians for example) some less.
That's just like a Frenchman of today who regards himself as French
and European or a Pole who does the same with Polish.
whereas Adenauer was known to spit out every time in disgust when he crossed the borders to Prussia.
Adenauer was born in 1876 (thus after 1871) in Cologne, which ironically was part of Prussia prior to 1871...
And after 1945, thus during his chancellorship, there wasn't even any Prussia anymore.
What many people disliked, even hated, was not the unification per se, but the way it was done. They (quite rightfully) critisized that it became too much of "Greater Prussia" and not enough of "Germany", but not that it became "Germany".
Until now, "federal" in German republic is only a meaningless euphemism, to some degree.
Federal is a meaningless euphemism in general, "to some degree" if you want to see it that way.
But how specifically in today's Germany?
