History of the German Borders - How did they end up there?

[@MausTheGerman]

Did you know that there is a region in Austria, inhabited by about 5000 people, that can be entered by road only from Germany? It’s the Kleinwalsertal valley. So it’s a „kind of“ enclave.

[@victorsamsung2921]

Switzerland has the same with Samnaun, which can only be entered through Austria near Ischgl.

[@AndrewTheMandrew531]

“You wanna know how I got these borders? My father was a Hohenzollern, and a state builder. One night, Europe goes off crazier than usual.”

[@PKowalski2009]

You know, my great-grandparents lived in Russia, Poland, Germany and Poland again. And not once did they move 😛 (All in all, a unique piece of land, because during World War II most of Poland became a “General Government” and the lands of former Germany were incorporated into the Third Reich. In their case, however, they rounded up a chunk so that a chunk of former Russia was included in the Third Reich).

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Hohenzollern it is like "bandits", "Diebe" in Poland. Hap/bsburg not that much, but still.

[@theChaosKe]

I thought Alsace Lorraine could have gotten a mention about the part where King Louis annexed it in the 30 years war, as it was a possession of the Holy roman empire before, which explains the linguistic situation.

[@MedEwok]

Indeed. It was always ethnic German settled land that was annexed by France thanks to the weakness of the HRE. There is otherwise nothing inherently French about the area

[@Argacyan]

While it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, the empire was so loose that it would be more accurate to say it was multiple independent states inside of the empire rather than a "possession". The linguistic situation however pre-dates the HRE by a lot of time, the HRE is not the explanation for the linguistic situation. It merely explains why that area wasn't colonized by the French quicker.

[@Reichsritter]

France has been eating up German lands for over 500years, Alsace-Lorraine is just the most recent part (if you disregard the failed 2 attempts to take the Saarland)

[@renemagritte8237]

@@Reichsritter So did Germany eastwards. The border between German and Slavic tribes was the Elbe for a long time before the "Drang nach Osten" began. BTW: the Poles did exactly the same.

[@sub_bacchus]

​@@MedEwokFrenchness has always been a civic based nationalism rather than an ethnic one, though; anyone can become French

[@JohnSmith-rk7zy]

I like that meme where it’s the jokers face in Germany saying you wanna know how I got these borders.

[@michaelbell3952]

Litteraly what i thought about when I saw this video.

[@edwinsparda7622]

Its worth noting that Elsaß and Lothringen were part of the HRE for over 800 years before France took it from them.

[@yaldabaoth2]

North Sea, Alpes, Rhine, lost two wars.

[@historyinbits]

Very good summary!

[@u.s.1974]

Many Nations have lost more than one war. It took the whole world twice to beat Germany. (Or Germany was silly enought to challenge the whole world twice. [The second time because Wilson did not keep his promises.])

[@anthonyschocke2831]

@@u.s.1974 The first time, Germany chose the wrong ally and lost because they were fighting so many nations at once and then got punished for the extreme measures they took to even the battlefield. As for the second time, Germany did not have ANY good options for allies, so they went for sheer numbers of them. Then Germany proceeded to throw the game by invading the Soviets and declaring war on the US at nearly the same time.

[@ChanceKearns]

@@u.s.1974bro is blaming nazi Germany entirely on Woodrow Wilson

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

I'd say rivers in general

[@marmac83]

Because they lost two world wars.

[@Bern_il_Cinq]

That's kind of an oversimplification that's less relevant than you might think. There has been a decently powerful Polish polity west of the Vistula since 1000 AD. Same goes for Bohemia/Czechia. The very identities of the Dutch and Belgians were formed by their "subcultures" being wedged between German and French hegemonies. After the Migration Era and the Slavic Migrations the only huge waves of ethnic change have come from steppes peoples who mostly integrated into the local cultures; that is to say that 1000 years of wars have done little in the face of sedentary ethno-national identities at the core of each of the states in Central Europe. As the lines are drawn today most of the German citizens are German ethnically, and the same with their neighbors. Statecraft, language and ethnic identity have been tightly interwoven. Germany looks this way because it has always kind of looked this way. (Or at least for the past thousand years it has retained this relative core and that relative core took shape in the thousand years before that. Even the Carolingians and HRE couldn't do anything but project their power from that core.)

[@Bobertthecoolkid]

@@Bern_il_CinqI mean, Silesia and Pomerania were in German hands for awhile, same with east Prussia and to an extent Sudetenland, which all lost German ethnicity from one nation, the USSR which forced them out

[@wildfire9280]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@Bern_il_Cinq You’d actually be more correct _earlier_ in German history than the last millennium. For most of the past thousand years (1100s-1945) “Germany” has extended further east (and south). It is the early medieval Kingdom of Germany that most closely matches modern Germany on the east, but not at all on the western border (mainly due to the incorporation of Lotharingia as two duchies after the last partition treaty in 880 finalized borders). You mention the ancient migrations, but forget there _were_ waves of migrations in the medieval period from non-steppe peoples as well. And by were, I mean was because the Ostsiedlung is really the only example I know of (but I have heard that, when they could, peasants often migrated to Iberia or the crusader states).

[@oliverhendrix8176]

@@Bobertthecoolkid Actually the Czechs forced them of the Sudetenland after that WW2 proved coexistence impossible in the eyes of Czechoslovak government.

[@Argacyan]

@@Bobertthecoolkid In the case of the "Sudetenland", areas in Bohemia & Moravia & Silesia which were majority German(ic), the Czech were in the area around as long as Germans in the modern sense of "German". It's a nationalist myth that the Czech populated that area before, which is often recited along a migration bill the Bohemian king signed off at that time, when that bill was precisely created because the area was depopulated. At the same time as the Czech moved in from the east as settlers, Germans moved in from the west. So it was not German "for a while", but since the last time the area was occupied by Celts around the Roman era.

[@derheimatliebendesteirer9296]

17:07 Germany didn't lose Silesia completly, there is still a small part of it left which is nowadays part of Saxony

[@orktv4673]

Okay, 1648, but these borders were already older. How did the various Dutch provinces of the time get their borders: Groningen, Gelre, Drenthe (which was for a long time a possession of the Bishopric of Utrecht).

[@electricVGC]

Imagine the ludicrous world where Köln is Dutch

[@joehoe222]

Well, the bishopric of Cologne had a lot of territories in The Netherlands in his domain until not so long ago. The church of 'Grave' (North-Brabant, close to the border with today Gelderland) was long in hands of the Bishopric in Cologne. Also were many other places. The bond only got cut off in the French age by reorganising religion and some other German owned castles and holdings in the region by 1945. So in short: you started it!😂 There is a Dutch proverb: 'Alsof ze het in Keulen horen donderen.' 'As if they hear thundering in Cologne.' Meaning that hey hear something quite new and unbbelievable. So that would be a new angle for this verb...

[@MedEwok]

Well, we already live in a ludicrous world were cities that were forever German are occupied by slavs, such as Königsberg, Stettin, Danzig or Breslau.

[@electricVGC]

@MedEwok brotherman has not heard of the Wendish Crusade

[@Argacyan]

@@electricVGC Of the 4 cities they mentioned only 1 (Breslau) was slavic. Two of them were founded by Germans, while one (Danzig) predates the presence of slavs in the area and had always a sorta mixed (majority non-slavic) history up until being violently ethnically cleansed at the end of WW2.

[@electricVGC]

@Argacyan .... Szcezcin was not founded by Germans. It was a Pomerianan town with records from the Polish Duchy before the Teutons came to the area. Gdansk was an actual city, but yes, flourished due to trade with Germans and had a mixed population even before the Teutons. Breslau was fully Slavic.

[@marcuss9181]

I always find it so ironic that the region where the nation that unified Germany due to expansionism and nationalism, is no longer part of it due to the same reasons.

[@GÓRAL-o2j]

Prussia was a country not a region. And they were Baltic people not Germans. Also, western Prussian lands belonged to Polish Kingdom.

[@SageElliott-j4t]

​@@GÓRAL-o2jbut Brandenburg was German and Prussia and Brandenburg entered a personal union and took the name Prussia to be able to have a "King in Prussia"

[@iubk1247]

@@GÓRAL-o2j The original Baltic Prussian's you're talking about have no correlation to Prussia as a whole. The Region was Ethnic German people who adopted the name Preussen from the Pruzzje true, but that does not make them Baltic

[@iubk1247]

@@GÓRAL-o2j "Belongs to the polish kingdom" this is a false statement as well it switched hands numerous times

[@renemagritte8237]

@@iubk1247 "The Region was Ethnic German people". Correction. The region became inhabited by ethnic German people between 13th and 17th century. Prussian's and Mazur (who were Slavic people) have not disappeared over night, neither they were expelled. They partially assimilated and/or mixed up with German settlers.

[@edwardblair4096]

I got kind of lost when you were naming cities that were not clearly marked on the corresponding map (For example, starting at 3:20 I can see Emden, but not the next few cities mentioned.) Maybe add some additional animation (such as red circles) highlighting the exact sections of the border that are being discussed.

[@P4Tri0t420]

When you see the "Bodensee" just speak the O three times like "Booodensee" and it will sound more familiar :D Really good video, you have my sub

[@BurnBird1]

I feel that a mention of Szczecin/Stettin which is on the wrong side of the Oder river, as well as Usedom, the Island split between Germany and Poland. They obviously have the same origin as the rest of the border, but a sentence or two explaining why the map your are showing doesn't agree with what you are saying (that the Oder and Neisse define the border), would have been good in my opinion

[@historyinbits]

Thank you for the feedback! We‘ll partly cover this in our next video on Poland

[@david.84]

This !! As someone that lives on usedom I was low-key hyped to hear about the silly little part and it’s silly history that I call home

[@thelvadam2884]

map makers were really upset when the border didn't follow the river fully.... such a strange border... and i cant find any real sources why that is the case when the river is just fine

[@ClementsDan04]

I've heard that it was a last-minute decision by Stalin. He gave the Soviet Union an extra bit of land that Poland was supposed to have, and "compensated" Poland by giving them Stettin.

[@hans-wernerstengle5491]

​@@ClementsDan04So it could be..??!..The plan in firstmate decision,was that the future Westborder of Polen behind from Stettin and Usedom must be line along..But..!??.Churchill and 3:28 Stalin in this time Till will be dringend good friends..😮😊😅..!??..

[@maximkretsch7134]

1:24 When you look at the Western borders of Germany after the Treaty of Westphalia you notice that they have close to nothing to do with what are Germany's Western borders today, except for the Netherlands, which gained independence in 1648, but this within borders that had existed long before. All the rest is mostly a result of the Treaties of Vienna (1814/1815), of the First and Second Treaty of London(1839/1867) and lastly of the Treaty of Versailles (1919).

[@maasro]

4:00 For some reason all of the Limburg border is coloured purple, whereas the Venlo border is only a few km of that (more specifically, the Netherlands were given the fortress of Venlo as an exclave, but most of the surrounding area went to Prussia). Over 90% of the purple border was actually decided upon over a century later, in the general redrawing of European borders after the Napoleonic wars. Several treaties in the years 1815-1818 created most of the purple demarcation, generally (but with exceptions) based upon the distance to the Maas river of a canon shot.

[@francisdec1615]

I knew most of what he was talking about in the video before, but this is the first time I hear why the border has the braindead course it has here with both banks of the Maas being in the Netherlands.

[@historylover8139]

But we (czechs) had those exact borders even before 1526, with only small changes in the areas bordering Saxony.

[@PVZzombieguy]

The border also changed in 1938/1939 and was restored in 1945

[@Karl-HeinzBöhm-j4r]

It should be mentioned, that the border between Saxony and Bohemia dates back to the Treaty of Eger in 1459. It is one of the oldest borders still existing today.

[@maximkretsch7134]

No, you Czechs had no borders at all. Instead the Bohemians and Moravians had, a population which was a combination of ethnic Germans and ethnic Czechs.

[@PVZzombieguy]

@@maximkretsch7134 Ok i guees...

[@mirekpavlik7334]

​@@maximkretsch7134These borders existed before you Sudeten Germans came here, they existed even before Germany existed:) just for your information Bohemia= Čechy

[@oskarzemcik1548]

The border area was not "given" to Czechoslovakia. That is a completely absurd claim. The fact that a border location was inhabited by mostly German-speaking citizens at that time does not make it German territory, that would require Germany to get most of Switzerland... This area was part of the Czech lands for a thousand years and was never part of Germany.

[@sarahlynn7807]

Isn't it kinda weird to put Austria's border at 1945 but not Czechia's?

[@historyinbits]

Hi, Seb here, Austria-born writer for HiB. I was anticipating this input and think it is also valid. What I would use as argumentation FOR our decision to put Austria‘s border as 1945 in the end is that 1) the Anschluss was voted for (and supported, which is important to stress due to the problematic circumstances of the vote) by a majority of the Austrian people, 2) the majority of international actors legally accepted the annexation (with the famous exception of the Soviet Union and Mexico, which is why we have a Mexikoplatz in Vienna) Also, even if we didn‘t count this peaceful annexation and therefore consider the border to be „new“ after WW2, the borders of Czechia to most of Germany would still be considerably older

[@ShadrolGER]

@@historyinbits I think the best way would to always state very earliest year that a border was established. Then state the last time that same border was reestablished if it had ceased to be for a while and additionally list how many years the interruption(s) had lasted.

[@dernochjungenoergler]

exactly, as a locally involved person I must agree

[@greywolf7577]

@@historyinbits It is ironic that Prussia and Austria were rivals for centuries, yet the Austrians in the 1930s voted to join a Prussian-ruled Germany.

[@Rickardo9828]

I really enjoyed this, fantastic concept for a video, I'm for sure interested in seeing the video on Poland and then any more followups in this new series.

[@historyinbits]

Glad you liked it :)

[@Filip-uw9jp]

Well, pretty much only the southern part remained stable for a significant time since the country regained its independence, apart from that, constant invasions, wars, and other changes moved other borders back and forth a lot. The southern border tho, mostly with Slovakia (and the Czech Republic) to some extent is the one that remained more or less stable for a long time, it even resembles the boundary that was there during the PLC

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

"History in bits" is a German(influenced?) liar! Check "the newest" Polish-German border about the year 1000.

[@Bannermann]

Alsace is Swabian, and nothing will ever change that.

[@DT-wp4hk]

Klaus is trying to get it back via EU

[@iubk1247]

alemannisch* nicht alle sind Schwaben

[@Bannermann]

@ Alemannen ist ein Fremdwort, die „Alemannen“ selbst, bezeichneten sich als „Sueben“ also das Vorgänger-Wort von „Schwaben“. So ist es aus meiner sicht (der eines Schwaben) also schon korrekt alle Alemannen als „Schwaben“ zu bezeichnen. In der Siebmacher Wappenrolle werden beispielsweise, Badische und Ostschweizerische Adelige als „Schwäbische Edle“ bezeichnet. Wie gesagt, „Alemannen“ wurde nur Historisch gesehen nur von jenen verwendet, die selber keine waren. (Römer, später die Franken usw.)

[@vueno8552]

It looks like France changed that in 1919

[@Bannermann]

@ No, trying to erase a dialect, and changing names into French versions, doesn’t change the fact, that the inhabitants and the culture are not French, but still Swabian by blood, only their passport says that they are French, their blood says something different.

[@embreis2257]

8:42 when talking about the 'infamously contested region of Alsace-Lorraine' it would help to understand this topic much better than to begin with the 1871 swap. France has been pushing its border eastwards for centuries and the way it finally acquired all of the region in the 18th century is crucial in understanding what let to the 1871 decision of taking it back. 😔

[@nifrain9494]

You have to understand that there are limits in a 20 minute KZbin Video?

[@spotlight-kyd]

@@nifrain9494 Drawing the historical horizon for this border at 1815 but looking much further back for the other borders seems arbitrary at best, though.

[@Robespierre-lI]

When to begin then? Charlemagne's death? Roman Gaul? That would be the full history of that particular border

[@roxdegabba]

Interesting topic, faithfully executed. I like your work, thank you for publishing it.

[@Ohwowthatsabigguy]

Really impressive video! I can feel the effort put into this. Keep it up brother.

[@historyinbits]

Thank you for the positive feedback!

[@Wereldburger01]

It is not entirely true that the 1648 border between Germany and the Netherlands has remained virtually unchanged. In the period 1816-1817 there were notable border changes in the area between Emmerich and Arnhem. Until then, the Dutch-Prussian border was very close to Arnhem, parts of present-day Arnhem (Malburgen and the Kleefse Waard) were even built on former Prussian territory that became part of the Netherlands in 1816, see the history of the Cleves enclaves.

[@jandenijmegen5842]

5:40 The Duivelsberg has remained part of the Netherlands to this day. The border has shifted a fraction, so instead of Dutch people eating German pancakes, Germans can enjoy excellent Dutch pancakes over there. The whole thing covers about 3 square kilometers. You can even enjoy an old (replica?) border marker.

[@densnow4816]

Great video!

[@smoothbeak]

Fascinating, this explains so much

[@dernochjungenoergler]

as a personally involved person, I would say it's far more complicated in some cases, yet thanks for an interesting idea!

[@SpaceTalon]

Staring a talk about Germany's eastern border with the year of our Lord 1914 is genuinely misinformation.

[@Slipperysnake_227]

0:33 Belgium doesn’t look like that? 😅

[@perhapsme988]

Living in Australia, it is strangely fascinating the degree of excitement in the comments on this video. I guess history is also about border changes. Lucky Australia...

[@passatboi]

I've never ever heard Eupen pronounced "You-pin" before. It's always been Oy-pen.

[@chrism6539]

16:52 "Prussia"'s heartland was Brandenburg, not Prussia proper. The Brandenburgians named their country that way because "King in Prussia" was a much more prestigious title than "Margarve of Brandenburg". Other than that, the formerly Teutonic lands were pretty insignificant.

[@hrs6480]

Isn’t Saxony Anhalt the real Prussia ? Thought they also forbid them to be named Prussia-Anhalt.

[@Sock_30]

what about the split on the city of görlitz?

[@meinolfwestig9463]

And Frankfurt, Guben etc.

[@3chmidt]

18:55 Schleswig and Holstein were independent duchies under the king of Denmark. After rebellions that were caused by the king of Denmark trying to integrate these duchies into Denmark lead to the first Schleswig-Holstein war. This ended in the treaty of London which prohibited the Danish king from integrating these duchies. This treaty then was broken by the Danish king and lead to the 2nd Schleswig-Holstein war, which ended in the cession of the duchies Schleswig and Holstein in the treaty of Vienna. So it wasn't an annexation and it was lawful.

[@travissutherland8502]

Love the new format.

[@Jakub777J]

Polish-German border is roughly a return of how it was in 10th-12th century.

[@maximkretsch7134]

Yeah, before the German settlers were called in by the local princes to teach their tribes agriculture, to cultivate the barren land and to found cities. If you at all could call the territory in question "Poland" back then, because it had been Gothic even before...

[@hrs6480]

that border was wrong, back then the polish dukes send people there to settle in order to try to claim the lands.

[@tedbed1389]

@@maximkretsch7134 Of course you could... more so than calling germans "Prussians" and vice versa, and Pomerania "West Prussia".

[@maximkretsch7134]

@@tedbed1389 It is quite clear to me that those involved in the biggest expulsion crime in history are feverishly busy finding excuses.

[@ActionRexMan]

A very informative and well presented video. I fairly enjoyed it. I just wish it had even more insight into the history of some of the borders, as it fell a little short in that regard. Especially the history behind the borders to Alsace-Lorraine and Czechia could have been explained in more detail. The part about the Austrian Border was also a little confusing as you mentioned that it's origin lies in 1815 but marked it as 1945 because of the German annexation pre WW2. Another part that fell a little short was the Polish border, but I am looking foward to it in a future video, as you mentioned that. It also would have been nice to have the history of the Danish border and Schleswig explained a bit more in detail, but in the end I guess there is only so much that can be talked about in a 20 minute video. I suppose the time is just not enough for a more in depth dive into this topic. I for myself would be up to watch even a 2 hour video on such a topic, going into even more detail, if you ever feel up to making such a long video. Anyway, wishing you the best and looking foward to future videos!

[@johnpeeters2131]

there was actually another re-arrangement on the border between the Netherlands and Germany in 1817, involving the town of Siebengewald (south of Nijmegen and Wyler).

[@maximkretsch7134]

13:08 You missed to mention that the old city of Constance south of the Rhine remained a part of Germany which you can also see on your map. In fact it is the only German territory south of the Upper Rhine.

[@ursus911]

Its even more interestings, that the City of Constance owns a territory in Switzerland, the Tägermoos , which makes Constance a swiss city....

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

France took a big chunk of Flanders (Dunkirk), a big chunk of Germany ( Elzas-Lotharingen) And got away with it... one day the Language borders will be restored one must hope..

[@silphonym]

I was a little irritated by the Dutch-Belgian border in the map animation, lol. It gives a part of the Netherlands, I think it's Zeeland, to Belgium.

[@historyinbits]

Which animation are you referring to? :)

[@silphonym]

@@historyinbits well, the drawing of the modern borders of Europe at around 00:21 in the video. It immediatly stood out to me because I know that the border looks kind of horizontal on average when looking at a map of Europe (mercator, north up).

[@historyinbits]

@ you are right, our bad!

[@FulmenTheFinn]

5:48 you mean the Netherlands. Might be a good idea to add a caption at that timestamp pointing out the error.

[@tacotaco288]

8:56 such a obscure writer, I wonder what he wrote about?

[@R3PKL04]

Nitpicky detail: 5:24 you can´t see Elten there, the map should be significantly more north and show the area around Emmerich, where the Rhine crosses the border

[@ltmapk]

Very interesting.

[@EdwinWalkerProfile]

At 5:48, Duivelsberg means "the devil's mountain" in Dutch so I guess you meant to say it's part of the Netherlands.

[@historyinbits]

Yes, our mistake!

[@desuno2609]

could do better with pronunciation too but alas

[@HotelPapa100]

On the city of Rheinfelden being split by the national border: The German part of the City is relatively new, being built only after the industrialisation that arrived with the power station, the first one on the Rhine and the first such installation damming a major river. Before that the city had been limited to the left bank and the castle on the Stein, the island in the river that was used to bridge it here below the rapids. On the right bank there were only smaller villages (Nollingen, Warmbach, Degerfelden, Karsau), and none of these had major settlements right across the Rhine of Rheinfelden. So, while there is a lot of cooperation between the two municipalites: They were never one single unity.

[@edwardwacker3533]

Near the area where you started, there's a border dispute between The Netherlands and Germany: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollart

[@ulrichbeckultra]

You can argue that the German-Polish border is even newer than 1945, as East Germany agreed on it in 1950 and West Germany in 1970/1972 (Treaty of Warsaw). Before that, children in West Germany lerned in school about the "German territories under Polish and Soviet administration". Many people in Poland and even the government didn't bother to invest into these lands even 20 years after the WW2 because they feared that a united Germany would claim them in the future.

[@D.Thomas-59]

@ulrichbeckultra // Ja ... das stand noch eine Zeitlang in den Schulbüchern mit der (vorläufigen) sowjetischen oder polnischen Verwaltung, und doch wussten wir schon als Kinder, dass es endgültig war. Russe gibt nix mehr her.

[@oliverrainer5771]

more of these videos!!

[@belerophon5878]

Maybe it was a bad idea to choose germanys border for the first such video. The concept is good, the border of my fatherland is one of the most complex ones neighboring 9 countries. This explaines my dissatisfaction because of mistakes and inaccuracies. Examples: 1. If you argue that the border to Austria dates to 1945 as highlighted in the map, thats also true for the border to Czechia, as Sudetenland was also annexed. Either this or that, no mixture please! 2. There is a remaining part of Silesia, part of northern Saxony today. So its untrue all of Silesia was lost. premodern territories raraly had borders at rivers so thats no surprise. Its no small piece, it contains Görlitz. 3. The Alsace-Lorraine / Esaß-Lothringen Region is mixed in Language. It was part of the HRR before 1648. Just to mention that despite all the bla-bla of german-french friendship the country of France is the only neighbor without any minority rights for german speakers or culture. 4. It is debated if Belgium needs to give back the Vennbahn-territory. The treaty gives them the right over the railway. But the railway is gone. germany posseses bridges over the railway for example, because the treaty only states the railway, not the territory per se. 5. The referendum on the border to denmark was biased. It was not counted by village etc, but in two regions. Denmark gerrymandered this regions this way, that germany was disadvantaged. Otherwise they would have lost Tondern. As this referendum was forced upon germany after WW1 where denmark did not even participate it is seen as Denmark being a vulture. Not fighting, but afterwards stealing from the looser. Same was true for the referendums in Upper Silesia after WW1, but that did not play an important role in your video of course. 6. The border to the Netherlands is disputed where the Ems flows into the north sea. There are other videos about such borders on youtube, which i would advice to watch and rethink before covering the same topic. This way you could simplify by purpose if necessary, without getting critique for poor knowledge.

[@nifrain9494]

You have to understand that there are limits in a 20 minute KZbin Video? And some of your points are not really the content of the Video. Its about how the Border exists, not if there are some injustice on the way or some debates...

[@Engy_Wuck]

to point 1: in Austria there was a referendum (at gunpoint, but a referendum). The Sudetenland was annexed without one, if I remember correctly.

[@tammo100]

There still is a border dispute between Germany and the Netherlands nowadays. In the Ems estuary between Emden and Delfzijl, Germany thinks the border is close to the Dutch landside. According to Germany even some parts of the harbour of Delfzijl are in Germany. The Dutch think the border is in the middle of the Ems. They agreed to disagree up to this day

[@jakegarvin7634]

4:40 I'd totally be down with the purple parts

[@elementsounds7027]

Hello! I really loved the Ck3 series and i wonder is it possible to show some love to Finland and make a video of it? It is never spoken about and in the game or videos. many things including the name of the faith "ukonusko" is wrongly made.

[@herbyhulsebos]

Please check Google Maps, because the Duivelsberg (near Berg en Dal) is a part of the Netherlands. Or do you mean another location?

[@eastfrisian_88]

The border between the Netherlands and Germany in the north (Dollart bay) is disputed, but is shared peacefully

[@dabbasw31]

In fact several borders at water bodies are not 100 % clear. The area of Lake Constance is shared somehow by Germany, Austria and Switzerland - but it is not agreed on how exactly. At Schengern the river Moselle separates Luxembourg from Germany - but it is not agreed on where exactly.

[@itshalo3220]

Being somewhat familiar with German history, it does throw me off seeing a united Germany like we have now with hardly any core Prussian territories. If you didn’t already know of Prussia’s influence on German unification you’d have never thought what is now parts of Poland were once considered very important German provinces

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Yes, "somewhat". Take a look of the map from year ~1000.

[@hrs6480]

Germany is a product of Prussia. Hence the prussian borders still exist in their heads and for many it’s still as if it’s their land after what the Soviets did. If we go to the latest major ancestry change point, besides 1945/46 and 1989, the standard German is a product of the Prussian, which is the mix of new balto germanic widows and russian invaders that just killed their men.

[@erikosericos8271]

3:55 OMG, a Florryworry reference!!!

[@ThomasH7887]

The official Denmark didn't want to annex more of Germany after WW2. Mainly because of the fear of future relations

[@johnholt890]

Could have highlighted the German city of Constance being on the Southern side of the lake/bulge in the Rhine, and amongst other things largely avoiding bombing in WW 2 because of this.

[@telewiza]

NIce video you mention Duivelsberg in the Dutch german boarder. Actually it transferred from germany to the Netherlands and it is still Dutch. Mianly because the family who lived there (one house) wanted to keep on being dutch.

[@historyinbits]

Very interesting, how do you know this story?

[@cybrielquantum7257]

Dinxperlo mentioned! My childhood village!!!

[@telocho]

5:16 Fun fact, when Süderwick was returned to the Germans in 1960ties, this happened overnight. So many transport companies parked their trucks in town, fully loaded. When it became German the next day, it did not need to pass customs anymore. Biggest smuggle ever.

[@cybrielquantum7257]

@ yeah, I heard that story from my grandfather. It is hilarious and we got quite some money from that move 🤣

[@Yora21]

"the unholy consequences" Oh dear, what a phrase...

[@Yora21]

Even Holstein was effectively ruled by Denmark for a good while, when the Kings of Denmark were also the Dukes of Holstein. Though the Duchy of Holstein was still part of the Holy Roman Empire. Like how the Kings of England were also the Kings of Hanover, which also remained part of the Holy Roman Empire and not Great Britain.

[@anerd42]

You missed one of the strangest borders of Germany: In the Bodensee/Lake Constance the borders between Germany, Swiss and Austria is not defined.

[@ReadersOfTheApocalypse]

Let's pretend it's in the middle... doesn't matter anyway as this region doesn't belong to any of these foreign occupiers - it's the SWABIAN SEA!

[@D.Thomas-59]

​@@ReadersOfTheApocalypse // Dir gebb ich eine ... Ihr Schwobe habt einen wesentlich kleineren Teil der Uferlinie als die Badener, aber dafür laut krähen, es sei das schwäbische Meer. Und wenn Du jetzt weiter heulst, gibt's gleich noch eine.

[@hrs6480]

It’s even more complicated: Austria, Bavaria, Germany and Switzerland all want to claim it 😂

[@KarlKarpfen]

It's Zittau, not Sittau. The z is always pronounced like in the name of the US Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Żytawa

[@kevinyorkshire5173]

In Britain we used to call German Shepherd dogs 'Alsatians'. Now, if Alsace is French, why aren't those dogs named 'French Shepherds'? Just a thought...

[@historyinbits]

Good point haha

[@Sollyst1909]

Sydslesvig referred to as the landscape of Southern Jutland "Sønderjylland" in Danish including the islands in the Wadden Sea, the island of Fehmarn and Heligoland are the only parts of the Federal Republic of Germany that were never part of the German Confederation 1815-1848 &1850-1866, Confederation of the Rhine 1806-1813 or The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 800/962-1806. The river Eider was from 811 to 1864 the southern border of the Danish Kingdom. The Eider border followed the Eider from the west as far as Flemhuder Lake and the river Levenså to the east as far as Holtenå at the Kiel Fjord. Between Levenså and the Flemhuder lake there was an approx. 2 km long land border with an earth rampart.

[@tempo5366]

Say what you want about us Germans. We’re one of the only countries on this earth that lost homeland territory in recent time and didn’t adopt a revisionist policy on it.

[@historyinbits]

Indeed, very civilized!

[@Olivenpaste]

Debatable in the young Bundesrepublik the “Bund der Heimatvertriebener” was in the 2. Adenauer Goverment and revisionist politics regarding the Oder-Neiße Border gas the norm even in the SPD until Brandts ”new easter politics”

[@MattieK09]

wtf are you talking about. It’s literally illegal to question history in your country. You put grandmas in jail.

[@ReadersOfTheApocalypse]

Alesia? I don't know any Alesia! I don't know where Alesia is! Nobody knows where Alesia is!

[@charliev906]

What is the music in the introduction?

[@historyinbits]

Opening movement of Bruckner 7th Symphony.

[@realwizardry834]

2:53 *slow zoom-in to broken Belgium* noo NOOOOO

[@Fr1kaD3ll37]

Mom, look! Stadtlohn was mentioned :O

[@hendrikhans3729]

Very interesting, very informative. I assume there wasn't much more available but I would've loved more information on how the late medieval Bohemian border came to be!

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Very German-centric, very lied.

[@whatsgoingon71]

The part about the northern border lacks in regard to the role of danish nationalism in the matter of how Schleswig ended up inside the german empire in the first place. 😂

[@Nils_Ki]

I would never have expected this video to give a satisfactory description of the history of the German Danish border. Thus, I could only have been surprised positively if proven wrong. I wasn't.

[@iucasabon]

This video was really good hope you make more like this one

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

biased

[@DadgeCity]

Eupen, not Yoopen Elsass, not Alsacha

[@Timmi429]

Fun fact the Eupen Malmedy vote was no real vote the Belgium King just took it anyway

[@Robespierre-lI]

I don't mean to be critical, but it's almost weird to start with the contemporary borders and work backwards. Only children aren't aware that borders have changed repeatedly across history.

[@richardtjan4757]

The stress is on Bo not den!

[@kissofanangel3198]

There are a lot of mistakes .. told in the sense of the neighbour countries ..

[@meinolfwestig9463]

Small part of lower Silesia is still German. Was given to Saxony after 1990 reunification.

[@QemeH]

Interestingly enough, there are parts of the german border that still aren't settled today - so even without talking about wars or annexations, there is a very real possibility that in a few years time this video has to be updated to include a piece of border established in 2025 or something. Namely: 1) The exact demarkation through "lake Konstanz" (or _Bodensee_ to give it the native name) is debated between Switzerland - they say it should be divided by a line following the middle of the lake all across - and Austria/Germany, who say that everything beyond the immediate shore should be a condomunium by the three parties (and formerly had even more complicated claims between them as they tried to argue for deepest point, main stream of the river rhine through the lake and stuff like that). 2) The sea border between the Netherlands and Germany is disputed along the delta of the river Ems. Germany claims the entire river, the netherlands say it should be the midway line. 3) The sea border between Denmark and Germany is disputed, both in the north and baltic sea. But with the EU and Schengen and all of that, nobody has really cared for a loooong time now, so... eh...

[@hrs6480]

Bodensee is swiss, bavarian and austrian. Romans already made it clear

[@mikesands4681]

What about it's lost colonies?

[@yungfiend6830]

I would really like a video on the deluge in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and how they lost their territory over time and ceased to exist.

[@ricardocoesel4706]

Your pronouncement of those cyties makes is funny.....

[@historyinbits]

Haha

[@trueSconox]

What I do not like in this video, is the translation of regions in to English. Please stay with the regional names, even when you butcher them, quite a lot.

[@greywolf7577]

I have mixed feelings about that. While it is good to learn about the natural region names, in day to day use, it is better to use the English translations. There is no point in people struggling to pronounce foreign names when we could just help by spelling it as it is pronounced. In the Hispanic world, they don't say "The United States". They translate it into Spanish, which is fine and expected. Why can't English speakers do something similar to hard to pronounce foreign names?

[@trueSconox]

@greywolf7577 Because there is a ruling between English and German, to not do it. Otherwhise, as a native, I sometimes wondered, if we are in the same Region, because some English words are abstruct constructs, not translations.

[@Михаил_Благодарный]

I thought you abandoned your channel

[@hrs6480]

Bavaria is only still annexed and oppressed inside the German Republic because the western allies wanted Austria and Bavaria separated. So there are way too many different people inside the German republic that then have it hard to find a consensus and to progress fast. Now Bavaria is having to pay for all the money the Germans send around the EU and the world, while they say the Bavarians can’t exist for themselves which is clearly a bad joke considering Bavaria had the combined economy of Finland, Hungary and Portugal in 2023.

[@rebeccawinter472]

Great research! Thank you. New subscribed. Don’t do video games but a big history, alt-history, spec fic & sci-fi nerd.

[@EssenMaastrichtCracow]

This may be a bit of an unpopular take, but the fact that the FRG could just buy back Selfkant leaves a bit of a bitter after-taste, in my opinion. I used to live right across the German border for about 2 years. Selfkant isn't all that different from other places in the region. A lot of people used to be able to communicate with the rest of the Limburg (this region of the Netherlands) just fine because they used to be able to speak Limburgish. Kids growing up in Selfkant were still allowed to receive their education in German. The Dutch government subsidized housing projects (the Dutch architectural remnants are still visible today). Dutch groceries used to be cheaper than German products. The overnight transfer of territory caused a brief period of economic mayhem. In other words, being German in the Netherlands definitely didn't bring too many downsides and a fair few upsides. So why didn't you let the people who lived there choose?

[@EssenMaastrichtCracow]

I should probably stress that I'm German, so I'm not a random Dutch dude being salty about losing territory. Also, I didn't grow up there, so what do I know lol.

[@historyinbits]

Very interesting, thank you for this personal insight!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

You say the "Duivelsberg" is German, but it is quite the opposite. For some reason the Netherlands returned the occupied territories to Germany in 1963 but not the Duivelsberg. Nobody knows why. it is probably just a silly mistake. But still, it is Dutch now, not German. It is only a small hill and maybe 100 meters of land. Nothing special and no inhabitants.

[@historyinbits]

Yes this was a simple mistake, pointed out to us already! Thank you for contributing anyway (and for watching so detailed) :)

[@Steve14ps]

Eupen is pronounced oy-pen

[@leond9547]

The presentation isn't complete concerning the borders with the Netherlands in the southern part. The story is correct till you mention Venlo which belonged to the 'Land of Gelre'. As from this point you missed some crucial information. The southern part of the later created (1839) Dutch Province 'Limburg', was till then shredded land belonging to the 'House of Gulik', 'Valkenburg' and many others. This part had unclear borders for a long time. In the 'west' with Belgium it was the 'Maas' river that later clearly created that border in 1839. On the east with Germany it was still unclear for a long time. For a while a part of this southern land belonging to 'The House of Gullick' became part of to the German Confederation (1815-1866). The Selfkant was as from 1815 part of that German Confederation and was no longer Dutch. Till then it had belonged to the 'Amt of Sittard' and the 'Amt of Born'. Many other villages like 'Vaals, Bocholtz, Kerkrade etc' stayed officially with the Netherland but also belonged also to the German confederation. In 1869, after the conferatation had come to an end, the border was created along the 'Worm/Wurm' river at the east. The residence of the Duck of Rimburg (Fam. Von Brauchitsch) became part of Germany. However, the village of Rimburg and also the official entrance to the residence over the river, belonged suddenly to the Netherlands. As you mention in the video, the 'Selfkant' was taken back after WW2 and became Dutch again. However, a border correction in 1963, with a part of land in the North, the Selfkant was given to Germany again. What existed was a 'closed road' for Germans between Schinveld and Koningsbosch which connected these parts of the Netherlands through the Selfkant. Also this 'closed road' was given to Germany in 2002, and they reconstructed and integrated it in 2004.

[@gerhard6105]

5:44, je bedoelt, remains a part of the Netherlands untill this day.

[@bjdon99]

DIn the Deutschland Ũber Alles verse of the national song, the verse that isn’t usually sung any longer, its very problematic because all 4 of the geographic locations mentioned in the song are now outside the current borders

[@hrs6480]

Yes not mainly because of that. There are still geographical locations now in the anthem that were lost because of the Soviets. It’s mainly because “Deutschland über alles” means “Germania above all” . The antifascists said it meant above all countries, people and races. Not in the term of like “Germany first”

[@D.Thomas-59]

When the national song of Germany was written in 1841, the geographical borders have been the borders, that "Germany" had this time. It was a reaction to tell the French, to respect the borders, what they did not have done since about 200 years at that time. Louis XIV! Napoleon!

[@endbaum8513]

Great viedeo, keep doing great

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

biased

[@Bruce-h8w]

Correct pronunciation would help: Eupen, Duivel...

[@Bruce-h8w]

Everyone but you seems to know the Bodensee has its stress on the first syllable

[@achimkunisch8619]

Not so fun fact, the German-Polish border is parchally illegal, The City of Stettin was ilegally annexed by Poland.

[@max-imal8588]

We agreed to keep the current border so it isnt illegal, you could argue that thereare inconsistencies, like the previous polish government saying the previous agreements arent valid due to being signed by the communist polish government, if you follow this logic then the border would still be as it is today, it just wouldnt be recognised by Germany, which wouldnt really change anything in practice.

[@Hubabe008]

Was it legal when Prussia annexed nearly half of Poland during the partitions and treated it like a colony?

[@achimkunisch8619]

@@Hubabe008 Colony?? The reason Poland was patitioned was because they wuld not stop comiting genocides to there nabors!! and All of the land exept Posen was clearely German majority! Stop spreding Allied Propaganda the only "German" gouvernament that miss treated the Poles were the NSDAP!

[@u.s.1974]

@@Hubabe008 Definetly not, but two wrongs still don't make one right.