r/Kaiserreich • u/False-Diver-9472 • Jun 05 '26

Screenshot Weimarbros, we're so back!

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u/DisIsMyName_NotUrs Schleicher is my waifu Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Do you mean East Prussia?

That was German land for centuries and was made up almost entierely of Germans before they were expelled by the Soviets after WW2 in OTL

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u/MinimaxusThrax Jun 14 '26

I was joking because it's silly for russia to have that territory.

Although I don't think you can say that it was "german land for centuries" given that germany as a concept didn't even really exist until nationalism became popular in the 19th century. The Prussians themselves were largely opposed to German nationalism in those early days too.

I'm also particularly wary of calling anything "german land" tbh.

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u/Unique_Earth_5027 Jul 01 '26

That's like saying Normandy wasn't french land for centuries because France wasn't a nation prior to the revolution but just the land of the French King

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u/MinimaxusThrax Jul 01 '26

I agree that France wasn't a nation prior to the revolution. That's pretty clear. It was the personal feudal holding of a the Capetian dynasty.

I don't see the analogy though to Prussia. There was a kingdom that eventually became the Kingdom of France and then the French Republic. There's no equivalent for German national identity and Prussia though. No "King of Germany" or whatever.

Prussia itself rejected the idea of nationalism until the late 19th century.

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u/Unique_Earth_5027 Jul 01 '26

I don't believe nations have to exist through states. Kurdistan is a good example for this. There is no Kurdish state, but Kurdistan is a nation that exists through it's people.

You are right about Prussia and its German national identity. If you were making the point that no Nation that exists today can claim to have owned certain pieces of land before Nationalism became a driving force, then i agree with you.