I will forever be saddened that Konigsberg was taken away from Germany, it was practically a cultural heritage city for Germans and then the Soviets destroyed it and built a city on top of it that will never be as important as Konigsberg
In that logic, the same applies for Breslau (Wroclaw), and the whole of Silesia and Pommerania. The primary reason that Kaliningrad is not a city as culturally important as Königsberg was during the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, is because Russia in general is not, and why is that? Personally, I believe mostly because all the western block has had them excluded from trading with them (already long before the invasion of Ukraine).
@@melkor3496 no problem. I am for sure not a military expert or know much on this subject, but as you already said, it depends on what Germany (so the german government) wants Germany its armed forces for. What does the german government want the german armed forces for? Why do you compare Germany with France? Are they the same geopolitically? France has deployed its armed forces a couple of times outside of France as far as I know, usually in Africa, for reasons I am not aware of. It seems it wants (or wanted) things done in Africa, and this is why France used its armed forces. Does Germany want something similar? You also compared Germany to Poland. Again, why? If you were the polish government, wouldn't you think like "in a case of war (with either Russia or even Germany) if NATO or any other group of allies fails to defend Poland, the only source of power Poland would have in such a case, would be its armed forces. Therefore we need respectively big and effective armed forces". But Germany is inconceivable to be threatened militarily by anyone. So why should Germany copy what Poland does? So if I were the german government, I would probably finance a very small army, perhaps the size it is now, and on the other hand try to make Germany a country where high tech military equipment is developed (tanks, planes, ships, submarines, missiles, artilery, radar, firearms, anything). Which is what they are already doing for decades. A big army, in manpower, and financially for me personally, looks rather foolish, because it would just consume taxes, without any important outcome. The government(s) should invest taxes in better investments I believe.
My great great grandfather allegedly spoke a dialect of German called "Low Prussian"... Is this still spoken in Germany today anywhere?? Or even Poland??
It's fairly endangered since the expulsion of Eastern Germans included most of the ones who spoke the Low Prussian dialect of Low German, but other Eastern Low German dialects like Pomeranian which still has quite a few speakers would be close to it. Plaudietsch/ the language of Russian Mennonites would also be similar.
As a person of German nationality I find it disgusting that Poland got so much of the former Prussia. They didn't need the land and the Soviet union certainly didn't need the land concerning the part they took. Truman and Atlee sat around like a couple of dummies at Potsdam and let Stalin have his way.
Stalin, ussr and the U.S. didn’t really care to nor wanted to take the Prussian lands away or dissolve Prussia. Nazi’s basically stripped Prussia of its importance and established a German nation identity that erased it. Ussr had the most experienced, largest, best equipped army and land military on earth, its mic was producing at unprecedented levels and rapidly was modernizing across all industries. Eastern Europe was flattened and Russia was the undeposited super power from Berlin to Korea. Germany’s military was completely destroyed, the country flattened, huge preventage of military aged men were killed, the high level Nazi and German military were killed, captured looking to support and join the USA or ussr to avoid death. The U.S. had long ties and support with the Prussia and helped fund Prussia establishing the German empire and Nazi regime. Russia did to once the Soviets were trying to take over Russia, Russia and USA had no reason nor care to divide Germany and dissolve Prussia. France and the UK did. The ussr and USA wanted to reunify Germany way back in the 50’s but the uk and France said no. The USA and ussr would rather have an independent Germany to serve as a fence and buffer instead of a single wall
Some of my ancestors were Prussian and some were from the Sudentenland. Some of my ancestors were from Königsberg specifically, although at least one was Danish on my dad's side and another was German on my mom's side. 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 St. Boniface, pray for Germany and all in the German diaspora. ☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️
Polish duke Konrad Mazowiecki invited Tautons to Prussia to defeat and christianisate ...Prussians(tribes living north frm Mazovia). Without that invitation Germans wouldn't be Germans as we know them even today.
Prussia didnt start WWII. Prussia was dissolved before WWII. In 1932-34 by Von Papen and that Austrian. Most of its institutions were merged with the state government. The dissolution (and cession) was made permanent after the war. (Im sure it made france happy). I find interesting how they refer to Prussians at as war mongers as France, UK, USA, and Russia were waging wars decades after WWII ended. My Grandparents came from Königsberg, Ostpreußen. I hoped to visit the area in the near future but you know. Russia. There's always the Kaiser's resting place in the Netherlands.
My grandparents on my mother's side were born in Prussia. When the Allies dissolved Prussia after the war they did so illegally, having no legal authority to do so. Being naiive non Germans they also thought getting rid of Prussia would kill the Prussian spirit. It didn't. A tragedy all around.
Prussia was an army with kingdom and principality. Its entire history was going to war and fighting. Prussia does not get its warmongering title from ww1 or ww2. It established that before Napoleon.
Yep, this was really interesting. I didn't know that Prussia's power was reduced after WW1. Only a pity the video couldn't give any idea of what an amazingly successful military state Prussia had been. Still, a great video, thanks. 👌
It wasn't though. It was the largest state in Germany by far and Conservatives Prussian nobles/Junkers held a ton of power in post WW1 Germany as politicians and judges and they helped radical right wing groups like the Nazis escape legal punishment and get into power.
The lands taken away during ww1 weren't to destroy Prussia. They were largely non-German lands or lands that wanted to be part of another country. The Polish corridor was mainly Polish and Northern Schleswig was mainly Danish and both parts had been heavily oppressed during Bismarck's Kulturkampf policy which banned Polish and Danish and only allowed Danish in schools. Alsace-Lorraine was not treated well under the German Empire and there had been several brutal crackdowns by the Imperial German military that were never condemned. Most of the people living there preferred the comparatively freer life under the French than the often autocratic rule of the German Kaiser and military apparatus. Belgium is the only country where the people didn't want to join a new country, but Belgium had been turned into the battleground of the largest war in human history at that point. They needed some compensation to drive up their economy again after their country had been brought to ruins and they were only given a railroad and a few towns and some monetary compensation. The treaty of Versailles was harsh(although it has been heavily exaggerated, especially since the Central Powers planned a much worse treaty than losing lands that had their own distinct groups in the first place), but the Great war was incredibly destructive for the Entente and they needed reparations to rebuild their often heavily damaged economies and infrastructure. The dissolution of Prussia after ww2 was done for the sake of getting rid of the Prussian militarism that started two world wars. It was the realpolitik of Prussian King and German Kaiser Wilhelm ii and his Prussian Junker generals that pushed for increased aggression against its neighbours such as the arms race with Britain and that pushed for war with Russia and Serbia instead of negotiation. Prussian Junkers turned generals like Ludendorff and Hindenburg created the stab in the back myth to shift the blame of defeat from themselves to Communists and Liberals and later far right groups would latch onto this and say Jewish Germans were involved. It was Conservative Prussian judges that refused to prosecute violent far right groups, leading to their spread. It was a ex-Prussian Junker general Hindenburg who appointed Hitler as Chancellor. We didn't blame Prussia for starting both world wars for no reason. It was the autocratic militaristic Prussian elite of Imperial Germany who undermined democracy and further expanded the powers of the Kaiser and military who went on to continually undermine post-war/ Weimar Germany's democracy and work with far right groups to gain power. That's why Prussia was dissolved. It was the state in Germany by far and its conservative Protestant elite held way to much power over the state long after WW1.
Very interesting channel. Can I request a video on German political parties and German elections (American here). Would also like to know how the Third Reich era is taught in German schools. And lastly, can you do a response video to the episode of the Simpsons where Mr. Burns sells the power plant to the German investors "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk". Thank you!
I heard other Germans also weren’t too keen on the Prussians, especially other German princes who saw the Prussians as trouble makers. When I tell Germans I’m of Prussian descent, they just shrug and say, ‘it’s gone’ with no emotion!
What happend to the Prussian Baltic tribe??? The Teutons (Germans) "Christianized" them. But in 1410, on the fields of Grunwald, the Polish-Lithuanian army stopped the Germanic "Drang nach Osten" for several centuries.
More than America criticizes that. Many in Europe do too as Germany is not carrying its eight in NATO and needs to not go above its weight like before but at least carry itself. Germany needs to demilitarize because having a strong military is necessary in an alliance and outside one. Having an army doesn’t automatically mean to invade Poland because a democracy can have strong armies.
The US does not complain that Germany is not militaristic (enough). They complain(ed) that 1. it was/is too energy dependent from Russia, and 2. that they did not pay enough for NATO and their military expenditure.
Also Germany is getting criticized because it refuses to carry it’s own weight in NATO, people aren’t asking for Germany to push above their weight just carry its own. And the sad part is even if Germany wanted to rearm it wont be able to rearm like many thought they would. I could write a long explanation as to why but there is a detailed video that can explain why much better than I ever can. But the two main factors as to the problems are broken german bureaucracy and the german mentality to war. These two factors are the main reasons as to why Germany no longer is able to even carry its own weight. Germany won’t rearm but desperately needs to even if they are or aren’t in an alliance because national defense is extremely important in both cases. It’s like Germans don’t understand that having a strong military doesn’t automatically mean go invade Poland. Countries can be democracies and also have a bloody military. Here is a video which I highly suggest actually watching in it's entirety to understand the issues in detail from a channel called Perun who predicted last year that Germany won’t be able to rearm and he explains why: ua-cam.com/video/8jDUVtUA7rg/v-deo.html
@@tomorrowneverdies567 And so the US *bullies* Germany and takes matters into their own hands by blowing up the Nordstream 2 Pipeline. Credit to Seymour Hersch.
My German family in Germany and us never think about or even remember learning about the hre, Prussia, Austria hungry, Charlemagne or even care about it. The nazi’s were successful in making Germany into a unified identity nation state and modernizing the German identity and state leaving behind the complex and divided web of feudalist domains. They rid the nobility or royalty, or regional identities for a nationalist one like the U.S. we are all Americans first and foremost. I’m not praising the Nazis at all , fuck them, they barged into my grandmas house at night unannounced and took my great grandfather away, he didn’t get to say goodbye, he just looked at my great grandma and grandma one last time, sent him to front lines in the Black Forest, he was killed like a month later. Prussia thought its self as separate and better than the other Germans, Germany does not miss it
East Prussia, the land separated from the rest of Germany as a result of Germany losing territory to Poland after World War 1. East Prussia was divided up between the USSR and took the northern portion. Poland the southern portion after World War 2. The Soviet section became Kaliningrad Oblast.
I will forever be saddened that Konigsberg was taken away from Germany, it was practically a cultural heritage city for Germans and then the Soviets destroyed it and built a city on top of it that will never be as important as Konigsberg
Same Königsberg really was one of the most important German cities and it’s sad that it was taken away.
In that logic, the same applies for Breslau (Wroclaw), and the whole of Silesia and Pommerania. The primary reason that Kaliningrad is not a city as culturally important as Königsberg was during the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, is because Russia in general is not, and why is that? Personally, I believe mostly because all the western block has had them excluded from trading with them (already long before the invasion of Ukraine).
@@melkor3496 what does Germany need a big military for?
@@tomorrowneverdies567 I thought I responded to a different comment so I deleted mine
@@melkor3496 no problem. I am for sure not a military expert or know much on this subject, but as you already said, it depends on what Germany (so the german government) wants Germany its armed forces for. What does the german government want the german armed forces for? Why do you compare Germany with France? Are they the same geopolitically? France has deployed its armed forces a couple of times outside of France as far as I know, usually in Africa, for reasons I am not aware of. It seems it wants (or wanted) things done in Africa, and this is why France used its armed forces. Does Germany want something similar?
You also compared Germany to Poland. Again, why? If you were the polish government, wouldn't you think like "in a case of war (with either Russia or even Germany) if NATO or any other group of allies fails to defend Poland, the only source of power Poland would have in such a case, would be its armed forces. Therefore we need respectively big and effective armed forces". But Germany is inconceivable to be threatened militarily by anyone. So why should Germany copy what Poland does?
So if I were the german government, I would probably finance a very small army, perhaps the size it is now, and on the other hand try to make Germany a country where high tech military equipment is developed (tanks, planes, ships, submarines, missiles, artilery, radar, firearms, anything). Which is what they are already doing for decades.
A big army, in manpower, and financially for me personally, looks rather foolish, because it would just consume taxes, without any important outcome. The government(s) should invest taxes in better investments I believe.
Thank you Martina Navratilova
My great great grandfather allegedly spoke a dialect of German called "Low Prussian"... Is this still spoken in Germany today anywhere?? Or even Poland??
It's fairly endangered since the expulsion of Eastern Germans included most of the ones who spoke the Low Prussian dialect of Low German, but other Eastern Low German dialects like Pomeranian which still has quite a few speakers would be close to it.
Plaudietsch/ the language of Russian Mennonites would also be similar.
As a person of German nationality I find it disgusting that Poland got so much of the former Prussia. They didn't need the land and the Soviet union certainly didn't need the land concerning the part they took. Truman and Atlee sat around like a couple of dummies at Potsdam and let Stalin have his way.
I am sorry, but at the time the whole of Europe and the US hated Germans.
Stalin, ussr and the U.S. didn’t really care to nor wanted to take the Prussian lands away or dissolve Prussia. Nazi’s basically stripped Prussia of its importance and established a German nation identity that erased it.
Ussr had the most experienced, largest, best equipped army and land military on earth, its mic was producing at unprecedented levels and rapidly was modernizing across all industries. Eastern Europe was flattened and Russia was the undeposited super power from Berlin to Korea. Germany’s military was completely destroyed, the country flattened, huge preventage of military aged men were killed, the high level Nazi and German military were killed, captured looking to support and join the USA or ussr to avoid death. The U.S. had long ties and support with the Prussia and helped fund Prussia establishing the German empire and Nazi regime. Russia did to once the Soviets were trying to take over Russia, Russia and USA had no reason nor care to divide Germany and dissolve Prussia. France and the UK did. The ussr and USA wanted to reunify Germany way back in the 50’s but the uk and France said no. The USA and ussr would rather have an independent Germany to serve as a fence and buffer instead of a single wall
Some of my ancestors were Prussian and some were from the Sudentenland. Some of my ancestors were from Königsberg specifically, although at least one was Danish on my dad's side and another was German on my mom's side. 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 St. Boniface, pray for Germany and all in the German diaspora. ☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️
Polish duke Konrad Mazowiecki invited Tautons to Prussia to defeat and christianisate ...Prussians(tribes living north frm Mazovia). Without that invitation Germans wouldn't be Germans as we know them even today.
Prussia didnt start WWII. Prussia was dissolved before WWII. In 1932-34 by Von Papen and that Austrian. Most of its institutions were merged with the state government. The dissolution (and cession) was made permanent after the war. (Im sure it made france happy). I find interesting how they refer to Prussians at as war mongers as France, UK, USA, and Russia were waging wars decades after WWII ended. My Grandparents came from Königsberg, Ostpreußen. I hoped to visit the area in the near future but you know. Russia. There's always the Kaiser's resting place in the Netherlands.
My grandparents on my mother's side were born in Prussia. When the Allies dissolved Prussia after the war they did so illegally, having no legal authority to do so. Being naiive non Germans they also thought getting rid of Prussia would kill the Prussian spirit. It didn't. A tragedy all around.
Prussia was an army with kingdom and principality. Its entire history was going to war and fighting. Prussia does not get its warmongering title from ww1 or ww2. It established that before Napoleon.
At the end the German looks like he’s about to march right into Prussia and form the fourth reich
Yep, this was really interesting. I didn't know that Prussia's power was reduced after WW1. Only a pity the video couldn't give any idea of what an amazingly successful military state Prussia had been. Still, a great video, thanks. 👌
It wasn't though. It was the largest state in Germany by far and Conservatives Prussian nobles/Junkers held a ton of power in post WW1 Germany as politicians and judges and they helped radical right wing groups like the Nazis escape legal punishment and get into power.
The lands taken away during ww1 weren't to destroy Prussia. They were largely non-German lands or lands that wanted to be part of another country.
The Polish corridor was mainly Polish and Northern Schleswig was mainly Danish and both parts had been heavily oppressed during Bismarck's Kulturkampf policy which banned Polish and Danish and only allowed Danish in schools.
Alsace-Lorraine was not treated well under the German Empire and there had been several brutal crackdowns by the Imperial German military that were never condemned. Most of the people living there preferred the comparatively freer life under the French than the often autocratic rule of the German Kaiser and military apparatus.
Belgium is the only country where the people didn't want to join a new country, but Belgium had been turned into the battleground of the largest war in human history at that point. They needed some compensation to drive up their economy again after their country had been brought to ruins and they were only given a railroad and a few towns and some monetary compensation.
The treaty of Versailles was harsh(although it has been heavily exaggerated, especially since the Central Powers planned a much worse treaty than losing lands that had their own distinct groups in the first place), but the Great war was incredibly destructive for the Entente and they needed reparations to rebuild their often heavily damaged economies and infrastructure.
The dissolution of Prussia after ww2 was done for the sake of getting rid of the Prussian militarism that started two world wars.
It was the realpolitik of Prussian King and German Kaiser Wilhelm ii and his Prussian Junker generals that pushed for increased aggression against its neighbours such as the arms race with Britain and that pushed for war with Russia and Serbia instead of negotiation. Prussian Junkers turned generals like Ludendorff and Hindenburg created the stab in the back myth to shift the blame of defeat from themselves to Communists and Liberals and later far right groups would latch onto this and say Jewish Germans were involved. It was Conservative Prussian judges that refused to prosecute violent far right groups, leading to their spread. It was a ex-Prussian Junker general Hindenburg who appointed Hitler as Chancellor. We didn't blame Prussia for starting both world wars for no reason. It was the autocratic militaristic Prussian elite of Imperial Germany who undermined democracy and further expanded the powers of the Kaiser and military who went on to continually undermine post-war/ Weimar Germany's democracy and work with far right groups to gain power.
That's why Prussia was dissolved. It was the state in Germany by far and its conservative Protestant elite held way to much power over the state long after WW1.
Thank you very much for this insightful comment! Much appreciated and super interesting!
Very interesting channel. Can I request a video on German political parties and German elections (American here). Would also like to know how the Third Reich era is taught in German schools. And lastly, can you do a response video to the episode of the Simpsons where Mr. Burns sells the power plant to the German investors "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk". Thank you!
I heard other Germans also weren’t too keen on the Prussians, especially other German princes who saw the Prussians as trouble makers. When I tell Germans I’m of Prussian descent, they just shrug and say, ‘it’s gone’ with no emotion!
What happend to the Prussian Baltic tribe??? The Teutons (Germans) "Christianized" them.
But in 1410, on the fields of Grunwald, the Polish-Lithuanian army stopped the Germanic "Drang nach Osten" for several centuries.
And now the americans complain that we didnt are militaristic enough
More than America criticizes that.
Many in Europe do too as Germany is not carrying its eight in NATO and needs to not go above its weight like before but at least carry itself. Germany needs to demilitarize because having a strong military is necessary in an alliance and outside one. Having an army doesn’t automatically mean to invade Poland because a democracy can have strong armies.
The US does not complain that Germany is not militaristic (enough). They complain(ed) that 1. it was/is too energy dependent from Russia, and 2. that they did not pay enough for NATO and their military expenditure.
Also Germany is getting criticized because it refuses to carry it’s own weight in NATO, people aren’t asking for Germany to push above their weight just carry its own. And the sad part is even if Germany wanted to rearm it wont be able to rearm like many thought they would. I could write a long explanation as to why but there is a detailed video that can explain why much better than I ever can. But the two main factors as to the problems are broken german bureaucracy and the german mentality to war. These two factors are the main reasons as to why Germany no longer is able to even carry its own weight. Germany won’t rearm but desperately needs to even if they are or aren’t in an alliance because national defense is extremely important in both cases. It’s like Germans don’t understand that having a strong military doesn’t automatically mean go invade Poland. Countries can be democracies and also have a bloody military.
Here is a video which I highly suggest actually watching in it's entirety to understand the issues in detail from a channel called Perun who predicted last year that Germany won’t be able to rearm and he explains why: ua-cam.com/video/8jDUVtUA7rg/v-deo.html
@@tomorrowneverdies567 And so the US *bullies* Germany and takes matters into their own hands by blowing up the Nordstream 2 Pipeline. Credit to Seymour Hersch.
Nah, just that we fund NATO too much. I find it strange that we take such an interest in a league that mostly comprises countries overseas from us.
My German family in Germany and us never think about or even remember learning about the hre, Prussia, Austria hungry, Charlemagne or even care about it.
The nazi’s were successful in making Germany into a unified identity nation state and modernizing the German identity and state leaving behind the complex and divided web of feudalist domains. They rid the nobility or royalty, or regional identities for a nationalist one like the U.S. we are all Americans first and foremost.
I’m not praising the Nazis at all , fuck them, they barged into my grandmas house at night unannounced and took my great grandfather away, he didn’t get to say goodbye, he just looked at my great grandma and grandma one last time, sent him to front lines in the Black Forest, he was killed like a month later.
Prussia thought its self as separate and better than the other Germans, Germany does not miss it
East Prussia, the land separated from the rest of Germany as a result of Germany losing territory to Poland after World War 1. East Prussia was divided up between the USSR and took the northern portion. Poland the southern portion after World War 2. The Soviet section became Kaliningrad Oblast.
Giz eine??
Herz von Deutschland? Militärisch vielleicht.
Dazu hatte Deutschland ja keine Bevölkerung nach den zweiten Weltkrieg verloren, also wurden sie nicht viel ökonomisch geschwächt.
Wieder dein Ernst..du hast keine Ahnung???machst auf gebildet kannst gut englisch aber hast davon kein Plan???????
I found it weird a person who named his channel "history matters" described a fascist coup d'etat as "replacements"