How Old Borders Still Impact Countries Today

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▶ In this video I talk about the old imperial borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary in Poland and Romania (as well as a few other examples) and take a look at how they impact those countries and their territorial differences today.
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[@General.Knowledge]

*Are there any other examples like this? Of old borders still being visible in modern countries?* Note: Poland was NOT created in 1918, it was reformed, my mistake, sorry!

[@carlfabian4640]

Åland is very Swedish despite being a part of Finland because Russia took it from the Swedish empire and the Scanian dialect of Swedish sounds a bit similar to danish despite having been a part of Sweden for hundreds of years.

[@Jovan89]

In northen Serbia or Vojvodina there are a lot of Hungarians living in Vojvodina and you can see there some vilages and citys with Serbian and Hungarian name

[@bujdososzekely]

@@Jovan89 , Delvidek (Vojvodina) was a region of Hungary for 1000 years before serbian occupation in 1918 .

[@jacky9590]

Those are not the borders of another former empire in "Romania". That is the more than a thousand year old border of the Hungarian kingdom/Crown, inherited by the empire.

[@cH3rtzb3rg]

What about USA vs CSA?

[@ukaszt3231]

In Poland we have even phrase for maps that shows this phenomenon "Widać zabory" which in free translation means that you can see where borders of partitions were.

[@General.Knowledge]

Nice!

[@danrejk9685]

Widać zabory

[@solgerWhyIsThereAnAtItLooksBad]

@@General.Knowledge that doesnt seem very nice to me tbh

[@denisdooley1540]

So my understanding is that after World War II, The people inhabiting the portions that were ceded to the USSR (e.g. L'Wow/L'Viv) were resettled in the portions of Poland called the "Recovered Territories" after the pre-WWII German population was expelled to west of the Oder-Neisse line. That being the case, I would expect the far west of Poland to be more like the far east of Poland with central Poland showing a different voting pattern.

[@Vielenberg]

@@denisdooley1540 First of all, not all former Prussian land were resettled, yet they are all "orange", so it's not that simple. Also, it was 80 years ago, so three generations have passed. But most importantly, the west is "orange" because it has more urban population and less rural population - which is indirectly the effect of Prussian agricultural policies during the XIX and early XX century.

[@xSkyWeix]

About Kaliningrad. Soviets were very dedicated to erasing all german and polish roots from these parts. Resettling all population with native Russians. So no impacts from the past there. Only their separation from their motherland makes them more west forward.

[@MrDarkx1000]

I actually knew someone from Kaliningrad and according to what he told me what you’re saying is spot on

[@robertnova6547]

Russians always prefers land to humans, and they build ugly rectangular boxes to replace more artistic ones. So it is not surprising that no one would culture such waste land after.

[@lukalazovic7459]

Polish Kaliningrad? Same as how Danzig became Polish i guess ahahahahahaha

[@xSkyWeix]

@@lukalazovic7459 If you wish to argue that Danzing has neither Polish history nor influence then you are free to jester further xD

[@nikitosha8066]

There is still a lot of German architecture left. Not so much in the city of Kaliningrad itself, but definitely in the outlying towns and villages. My dad grew up on a German-built house in Baltiysk (used to be called Pillau)

[@Yora21]

As a North German who has lived in several cities in South Germany for many years, I absolutely think that the Roman and Scandinavian influences in the South and North are still quite visible. Even Germany carnival (which originated from a Roman holiday) still shows very well where the old Roman territories were 2000 years ago.

[@albertdittel8898]

As a German I think you have a very poor understanding and think in stereotypes. Scandinavian influences are marginal, North Germans like to stress them, but that is more of an identity fashion thing, not so much history. And the Romans were not "in the south" but along the Rhine and Danube, so it is West as much as south and only at the outer borders. As for the inland, you will not find much evidence that Roman influnce was stronger e.g 200 km into the country than 400 km inton the country. The influence was more felt in trading and religious centers (monasteries etc.) than according to distance. E.g. Nuremberg is nowhere close to anything Roman, but was historically much more Italian influenced than many towns closer to the Rhine/Danube, because of its commerce.

[@canardeur8390]

@@albertdittel8898 I just cannot stop laughing when reading your comment. As a Frenchman that has lived in Germany, both in the North and in the South, I really liked Southern Germany (later, when I was living in Strasbourg, I drove many times to Southern Germany where I have friends), and I really hated Northern Germany! I have always found Northern Germans to be idiots, ignorant and "besserwisser". They claim to know best how the world is running, while they, for most of them, have never crossed the Elbe! Reading from you telling one Northern German having a very poor understanding made my day. And not only very poor understanding, but also very poor upbringing they have, lacking social skills and courtesy. Anyway... This being said, some Scandinavian influences, or at least some common traits with Scandinavians could be perceived (such as coldness), as I was living there. After all, Lübeck was part of Sweden a long time ago; one part of Hamburg, Altona, used to be a Danish enclave in the past. And all people in the north trading with each other must have influenced each other in their behaviors, I guess.

[@HansJuergBangerter]

North Germany are the Lame Germannen with no Joie de Vivre as South Germany are Allemans=Swabians and Bavarians= Bajuwaren, same as in Northen Italy are the Scandinavian Langobardi much closer to the South Germans and Swiss then to the South Italians...also the South Germans and Austrian Allemani mixed with Celtic Norrici and the Lombards are half Cis-Alpine Celtcs to same as the Helvetian-Allemani Swiss..this people are much more innovative and intelligent ...not for nothing does nobody likes the Saurpreiss/Pifkes in the South or Austria.

[@metapolitikgedanken612]

It's ethnic influence... And indeed this was noted in the past as well. The ethnicity in Northern Germany (old Saxons) is more similar to the Scandinavians... While the one in the South more congruent with the Celts. Apparently heredity matters.

[@HansJuergBangerter]

@@metapolitikgedanken612 Mixing Celtics and Allemanis gives a more explosive intelligent race compared to the lame Northeners the South Germans have proven it over and over, and yes even South German Goethe said Ach es wohen zwei Seelen in meiner Brust the lame German and the fiery Celt.

[@steffen-muenzberg]

You did forget to mention something very important about west Poland. The polulation of west Poland was exchanged by force. The Germans had to go west (including my mother). And polish people from the east (today Belarus und Ukraine) were forced by Stalin to settle in new west poland (they didn't like this move). In the new west poland there was not strong traditional structure of catholic church as in the east. The communist polish goverment prevented that the catolic church could get as strong in this regions as in the east. By this the population in the west votes today more liberal and the population in the east more traditional. This exchange of millions of Polish and German people should be General Knowledge. Or Not?

[@hubertflorianczyk9960]

Probably the more important factor for why elections look like they do nowadays than what he's talking about.

[@hubertflorianczyk9960]

Whereabouts in Poland was your mother from?

[@steffen-muenzberg]

@@hubertflorianczyk9960 My Mother comes from a village near Zgorzelec/Görlitz. When the Germans were pushed out, it was just a short distance to travel to remaining Germany, but they lost nearly everything. Now my mother did travel and travels sometimes to Poland and tells me when she spokes with Polish Women of her age . The Polish woman tell that they -as kids - didn't want to move from ther homeland in east Poland to the empty and destroyed former East Germany.

[@mikesmith7517]

@@steffen-muenzberg those germans must've done something wrong they had to hit the road

[@bryanroberts3652]

You nailed it. The population movements after the war are the key factor explaining today's pattern. But those movements are little remembered today. And the guy who made this video (and quite a few others) only regurgitates what he read in articles published in the Economist and Washington Post.

[@LarsSteenbreker]

In the Netherlands you can still see the former border between the Spanish controlled Lowlands and the United Provinces. Not only the religion is different, the language, traditions and even building style are different!

[@kirill6850]

wasn't it controlled by the austrian habsburgers? *edit: I mean the Lowlands)

[@christcosmique6619]

@@kirill6850 yeah… the southern Netherlands during the period (1714-1794) when the provinces that compose it are possessions of the Habsburgs of Austria after having belonged to the Habsburgs of Spain (1516-1714, we then speak of the Spanish Netherlands), while being part of the Holy Roman Empire, and in particular of the circle of Burgundy. The Spanish Netherlands emerged from the division of the Burgundian Netherlands during the revolt of the Dutch against Philip II, which began in 1568 with the formation of the United Provinces, a new state bringing together in 1581 the northern provinces, including that the independence was recognized by the King of Spain (Treaty of Münster). In 1701, the king of Spain Charles II of Spain designates as successor the French prince Philippe d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, instead of choosing a member of the cousin branch of the Habsburgs of Austria. Louis XIV having accepted this choice, a coalition is formed between the Habsburgs of Austria, England and the United Provinces against the France of Louis XIV and the Spain of Philip V. The War of the Spanish Succession began, in which the Spanish Netherlands was occupied by France on behalf of Louis XIV's grandson. At the end of the war (treaties of Utrecht and of Rastatt), the kingdom of Spain remained with Philip V, but he had to give up the Spanish Netherlands which were transferred to the house of Austria, constituting a buffer state between the United Provinces and France.

[@-haclong2366]

Yep, even different passports and different national flags.

[@sanderloogman4770]

@@-haclong2366 He doesn't mean Belgium, but the Dutch provinces of Noord-Brabant and Limburg. Those also used to be under Spanish control.

[@juliosalazar6924]

@@kirill6850 the Low Countries ( Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and some parts of Germany and France) became under Spanish rule in 1556, the Dutch revolted in 1566, declared independence in 1581 and obtained the Spanish recognition in 1648. The rest remained a Spanish colony until 1714 when Spain gave it to Austria. The Austrian rule lasted only until 1795 when it was taken by France

[@Aedar]

One more example with germany is that to this day wild deer populations of Germany (the part that was formerly west germany) and czech republic do not mix and do not travel across the border. It's a remnant of the iron curtain as Czechoslovakia was a part of the eastern bloc and as such the border with west germany was heavily guarded with fences, minefields etc. so generations of deer grew up learning they can't go over there so the just... don't... It will probably disappear over time but it is still being reported that it's very rare for the deer to cross the border... Same thing might be happening between east and west germany of course...

[@whitezombie10]

Wow, that's even more interesting

[@Dd-ks2fm]

Probs the coolest small fact I've heard in a long time

[@Grauwolf57]

Yes. Although there are cross-border movements of lynxes in the Bohemian Forest they are hard to find. In opposite stands the situation at the border to Poland. Despite that the rivers Oder and Neisse form a natural barrier(the Neisse is at many places easily to cross) in the last decades wolves came back to Germany. It ist reported that they use also low used bridges even in the bright day!

[@tubetotto]

Why there's so much suspicion and hostility between Czech and German deers??? Does Guy Verhofstadt know? We urgently need a debate in European Parliament about the matter! 😂

[@dariusz2303]

in recent years many raccoons from Germany invaidet Poland, even river Odra (Oder) don't stopt them... Again Deutschland is destroying Polen at least in that way

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

"4! Forgot Sri Lanka" while there are four countries that made up British Raj, the fourth one isn't Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was its own separate colony called British Ceylon. Initially they didn't rule the entirety of Ceylon as the island had a protectorate called the Kingdom of Kandy. However following the Kandyan Convention in 1815, it was absorbed into British Ceylon. The fourth country you're thinking of is Myanmar. British Burma as it was called, was a province of British Raj that lasted from 1824 to 1948.

[@josephwest124]

Actually, Myanmar became a separate colony in 1937. And the whole of the modern country wasn't under British rule until the 1880s; Lower Burma (the southern half of the modern country) was part from 1858 while Upper Burma (the northern half) was added in 1886. (As an added bit of trivia, "British India" also included Aden for the same period as Lower Burma and the Raj also included British Somaliland, Singapore and even the modern UAE for periods of the Raj's existence.)

[@williamjeffries5074]

Why do I keep seeing you everywhere on youtube?

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

And don't forget the Dutch heritage in Ceylon, laws etc...

[@allangibson8494]

Technically there were 565 semi independent states that were part of the Raj separate from the areas actually governed by the British government in 1948.

[@ferretyluv]

It’s still Burma. Myanmar is the name the Birman-supremacist junta gave it. It’s pronounced “Burma” anyway by the locals, it’s just a different way of writing it. That’s why the language and demonym is still Burmese.

[@barvdw]

Borders have a tendency to impose themselves; no mater how 'artificial' borders are, they will have a long lasting impact. That goes both ways, peoples that have been thrown in together by the fate of history will develop a lot of commonalities as well, it's not just where borders existed, but also where borders didn't exist

[@MrRonald2796]

The division between the old West and East Germany also translates to football, the top tiers are mostly populated by old West Germany teams, with old East Germany teams barely giving competition and being confined to the lower leagues (with a few exceptions).

[@braincytox7314]

the hole of east germany (13.9mio) has a comparable amount of people to bavaria (13.08mio) for example and even less then noth-rhine-westphalia (17.93mio). So you can't compare the total number off clubs.

[@General.Knowledge]

Wow! I didn't know this. Is there any specific cultural reason or do the Western clubs just have more money?

[@lkrnpk]

@@General.Knowledge more money, also East Germany is much less populated than West Germany, so it's not such a big surprise.

[@lkrnpk]

I think it has kinda changed a bit, I mean ok RB Leipzig is a new team, but still from the East and is among the top in Bundesliga, and 1.FC Union Berlin is an East Germany club which ended up 5th in the table, ok still 2 clubs out of 18 in Bundesliga from the East but really good results.

[@braincytox7314]

@@General.Knowledge I think it just comes down to population

[@jonaspfaumann5754]

In french speaking Cameroon there is a major english speaking Minority in the region of Ambazonia wich once was part of Nigeria. There is a whole war/conflict around this former border. You surely can find articles about it in major international media every few weeks

[@General.Knowledge]

Interesting!

[@KennyNGA]

It's funny I think part or all of ambazonia wants to be a part of Nigeria while other regions in Nigeria wish to decede

[@realbaron5714]

Western Togoland want to seeced from Ghana.

[@hectoristoomuch]

so is it a majority or a minority?

[@mathskafunda4383]

@@hectoristoomuch It clearly says "minority", doofus.

[@MqCorey]

Very well constructed, informative video.

[@richard999]

A great analysis - enjoyed it very much 👍

[@albevanhanoy]

My favourite thing about the East/West divide in germany is how the Berlin Wall can still be seen from space due to the different lightbulbs used in East Berlin and West Berlin.

[@basilbrush9075]

Is this still the case? Surely after 30 years most of those bulbs have worn out

[@crafterrium8724]

@@basilbrush9075 i think it's the type of light outlet that uses a specific type of bulb

[@StoneColdChewy]

@@basilbrush9075 It is still the case.

[@AlfaGiuliaQV]

Most cities are rapidly switching to LED streetlighting by now, so it´s not necessarely the case anymore.

[@Rocketsong]

@@AlfaGiuliaQV LED's are far more efficient than incandescent, mercury, or halogen lamps, but Sodium Vapor lamps are very efficient and still quite common.

[@MartijnVos]

Interesting that you haven't mentioned Ukraine at all. Some years ago, there was an election where the old border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was very clearly visible, with former Commonwealth being very pro-Europe and anti-Russia, while the areas outside it where more pro-Russian at the time. (This was 2014 or before; I suspect recent events have made pro-European/anti-Russian attitudes a lot more common since then.)

[@covfefe1787]

its the left bank and east bank dnipr divide. thats because western Ukraine belonged to Poland at the time and the industrial centers were Lwow Lviv today which is a Polish town in terms of architecture. and once use enter Kiev it looks like Russia and far more Eastern European. im also sure that Western Ukrainian's are genetically Polish and Eastern Ukrainians are Ukrainian with lots of Russian genetic admixture. after all Ukraine means borderland in polish and other slavic languages including Ukrainian. Ukraine is a recent creation with Ukrainians once being called Ruthenians in history but considered culturally Polish at the time.

[@Blastnikov]

The divide became a lot stronger after the Commonwealth with the split between the parts of Ukraine under Austria-Hungary and those under the Russian Empire. The Ukrainian Catholic Church was destroyed in the Russian part and favored in the Austrian part. The language was banned and preserved along the same lines too. There’s a common line in Russian agitprop towards Ukraine that the Austrians “invented” Ukraine because of this. But the Russian Empire’s language bans were what caused the Ukrainian intelligentsia in the Russian Empire to leave to Austrian Galicia and publish their works there in the first place.

[@lenheim]

@@covfefe1787 ukrainians>poles

[@ForageGardener]

Crimea and east ukraine have never been "Ukranian" or part of any ukranian state. Ukrainians are rusyn/ruthenian. Their cultural distinction stems from prestiege of the heritage of Kiev, and the fact they lived under the authority of the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth. Same goes for Belorusians with the addition that they became more culturally distinct from other Rus early on due to eaely adoption of christianity in Polotsk. These are all Rus peoples, kinda like scandinavian peoples, but eastern modern ukraine and crimea were never "ukranian". The soviet union gave the ukranian state the territory to pacify them when the soviets invaded in the 20s, and crimea later in the 60s as an apology for what stalin did.

[@makajarry8970]

@@ForageGardener This is untrue. Territories where ethnic Ukrainians lived went all the way to caucuses in the east (Kuban') Donbas region population was 80+% Ukrainian as recent as late 19th century. Of course, genocides and russification over the centuries, along with imports of russians from the east made them more russian.

[@Alexis_H.]

Thanks for your work, love your content !

[@ryantolliver1643]

This video was fascinating! I would love more videos like this about geopolitics on this channel.

[@antaryjczyk]

In Poland there's a recognized division for Poland A & B, Poland A being the more developed western and southern parts of the country mainly the former lands of Prussian and Austrian partition and Poland B, being the less developed eastern side of the country which used to be occupied by Russia. It's still visible in roads and rail density, towns architecture, urbanization rates etc...

[@la95921]

In Western Poland when it became part of Poland away from Germany would the people change their names to fit into the polish language or is there a divide between surnames etc?

[@AkaRyupl]

With south part I would argue. It was as undeveloped as middle-east part (apart Łódź, which had huge German and Jewish minority and Kraków). Galitia was mostly agricultural (produced most of food for Habsburgs monarchy), not industrial. Silesia was one, huge industrial complex, Poznan area was agricultural, Gdansk and Szczecin were industrial (heavy industry).

[@Vielenberg]

The division to Poland A and Poland B was a pre-WW2 thing. It's not relevant now. The A/B division line in 1920-30s Poland followed the Vistula river (at least in the center of the country). Significant parts of Russian partion were in "Poland A", and siginificant part of Austrian partion were in "Poland B".

[@GTAVictor9128]

@@la95921 That depends. One of Poland's most well-known actors on Polish TV is called Maciej Stuhr, spelled the original German way. Then on the other hand, it's not uncommon to find people with Polonised German surnames like Szulc (instead of Schultz), etc. So it really depends on the personal choice of the people themselves whether they want to Polonise their German surnames or to keep it in its original form - thus not too different to other European countries or the US where some choose to Anglicise their surnames while others preserve it in the original form.

[@la95921]

@@GTAVictor9128 thanks very much for your explanation. i couldn’t help but think that throughout the entire video.

[@Maus_Indahaus]

When you look at a map of Yugoslavia from 1931 showing percentage of people who were literate, you can clearly see which parts were under Habsburg rule, which were under Ottoman rule but had been liberated for decades, and parts that were only recently liberated from the Ottomans. Those differences in a way persisted until the modern age, possibly contributing to the breakup of Yugoslavia

[@forgottenmusic1]

Didn't it have a strong correlation with religion as well? F.e. when Estonia became independent in 1918, nearly 100% of adult Lutheran Estonians were literate (as this was required for getting married), while the Seto people, who were under Russia from the 13th century and therefore Orthodox, had literacy rate of only about 40%, vast majority of them men.

[@Maus_Indahaus]

@@forgottenmusic1 Not exactly, according to those maps

[@lucianboar3489]

Same in Romania, I saw a 1930 literacy map, Transylvania was the most literate whereas present day Moldova, formely in the Russian Empire, was a mess.

[@ediskuko5947]

You forgot one thing: by literacy Austria-Hungary meant Latin script. During the Ottoman rule (in Bosnia and Herzegovina especially but not exclusively) educated people spoke and wrote in up to three oriental languages (Turkish, as a language of administration, Arabic, as a language of faith, and Persian, as a language of literature), none of which was using Latin script. So, when A-H took over from Ottomans, all those (multi-lingual) people were considered illiterate. Utter paradox.

[@Maus_Indahaus]

@@ediskuko5947 Still vast majority of the population was illiterate, only the elite few had access to such high education

[@stifflermclovin]

Super interesting video! I remember seeing a video about "ghost empires" many years ago that focused mainly on the countries and regions that use to be a part of Austria-Hungary so it's awesome you show about Poland and Germany

[@Superrichy261985]

I saw a map once of prefered drinks in europe. Beer was the popular one in central eruope, spirits in eastern and northern europe and wine in western and souhtern europe. The suprising thing was: there was a clear cut in poland. Northern and western Poland, the majority choose beer as prefered drink on the almost same levels as germany, czech, belgium etc, whereas eastern Poland prefered vodka being on the same level as ukraine, belarus and russia (it was before Russia-Ukraine War).

[@mitux447]

In the case of poland i think the most impact on votig has the fact that in the lands of former German empire minus greater poland, all polish people living there were resettled after ww2. Having no continuous roots three and beeing mixed from different regions makes us more cosmopolitan and outward looking, although the more organized and industrialized reality might also be a factor.

[@tankadar]

the thing is, stuff like West Prussia, the bottom part of East Prussia amd Upper Silesia were already polish, so that is a bit confusing

[@RK-cj4oc]

Not all polish people there were resettle. those regions already had large polish populations before the resettlements ( read genocide) of the germans living there.

[@kosa9662]

Its more becouse of socialism/communism, in Eastern Poland there was strong invidual property, while land taken from Germans was state land, state farms etdm

[@kleckerklotz9620]

Is it possible that the former Russian territories are more rural and less developed? If that's the case. I would say the real reason is wealth distribution. Open-mindedness of the people is only one part of the chain.

[@stevejohnson3357]

There was a large exchange of population at the end of WWII but German and Polish people have been mixing for centuries (Schultz and Szulc are pronounced the same).

[@obrnenydrevokocur9344]

2:25 The thing is, that those Austrian and Russian parts of Poland have always been majority Polish, whereas the German part was largely inhabitaed by ethnic Germans. Most of those Germans were expelled after ww2, so the agricultural land was transfered to state-run "collective farms" while those in the east mostly remained in the hands of their original owners.

[@Vielenberg]

You are only partly right. The Poznań region was majority Polish. However there were in fact lots of collective farms there. Why? Because Prussia. The farms that were subject to confiscation by the communist government during the "land reform" in the 1940s were farms over 50 hectares. There were few such large farms in former Russian and Austrian territory. However in the former Prussian territory - both the German speaking Silesia and Western Pomerania, but also in the Polish-speaking Poznań region - the situation was completely different. The Prussians had active policies that encouraged larger and partially industrialized farms. Their agricultural policies are the reason for the blue/orange divide 100 years later, because bigger farms mean less rural population and rural population votes for the "blues", while urban population votes for "orange". Also, the Prussians had strict anti-deforesting policies - which furthermore decreased the potential rural population.

[@georgemitev-]

Earned a subscription! Well done :)

[@stonecoldjaneausten926]

Fascinating! Thanks 👍

[@Briefplayer06]

Another country in which old borders are kind of still visible is Italy. Italy has the more industrialized north and the poorer and less industrialized south. In fact the south was under the spanish, who left it in a disastrous situation (sort of) and when piedmont-sardinia, the most industrialized state of whole of Italy conquered the South, this last one just couldn't compete with the economy of the North and in the north southern italians are basically discriminated (for some reason) So yeah you can essentially still see the borders of the old Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

[@riograndedosulball248]

It didn't help much that when the kingdom of Naples was finally industrialising, the northerners showed up, plundered all the factories they could out their hands, on and settled them up north

[@icywindtm8127]

@@riograndedosulball248 so true

[@Morzo97]

Don't forget geography, please. The "Pianura Padana" is rich by itself, no matter who lives in. Geography is always forgotten in these analysis and it's a pity...

[@ludovicotriscari4536]

Ensomma, dire che siamo discriminati mi sembra un esagerazione

[@Karthagast]

"the south was under the spanish, who left it in a disastrous situation" That is FALSE. Trying to blame Spain for the economic inequality between Northern Italy and Southern Italy does not stand a close analysis. The Kingdom of Naples, together with Sicily and Sardinia were part of Spain until 1711, sure, as well as the "Milanesado", nowadays Lombardy, in the North. Are you going to praise Spain for the high economic development of Lombardy nowadays? I guess you won't. Now you can tell me how hard have Italians work in order to develop Lombardy in the last 300 years while expecting us to believe that southern Italy underdevelopment, after the same 300 years, is Spain's fault. F**** OFF!!!

[@richardmorgan9273]

Looking at a map, the Polish railway network is still focussed on Berlin and Moscow/St.Petersburg rather than Warsaw as you would expect. The railways, of course, were mostly built before 1918.

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

That's cool!

[@nopeoppeln]

@@robinrehlinghaus1944 well, I’d hesitate a bit with that one. you’ve no idea how much of a headache was the unification of all those lines after 1918 into a single network :p

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

@@nopeoppeln Ah, I guess you're right there. It just feels nice to see history still having such visible impact on us today

[@zhangzy123]

These are the most crowded stations in Poland - Wrocław Główny with 12.4 million passengers Poznań Główny 12 million passengers East Warsaw - 9.4 million Katowice - 9.1 million West Warsaw - 8.6 million Kraków Główny - 8.3 million Central Warsaw - 7.7 million. As you can see, it's not as you say. You can also see the current connection maps.

[@2mek99]

Bulshit. Look at the map. All lines come to Warsaw which is the centre of the country and capital.

[@derserthefoxxo3873]

Here in the UK, there are also some examples. In Welsh elections, you can see that the two central western areas (forgotten the names my apologies) last conquered by the English are much more open to Welsh independence, and as well have the most Welsh speakers. And in England itself, northern/eastern dialects have certain features which clearly show the rough shape of the Danelaw, viking controlled land from over a thousand years ago!

[@cameronwixcey9692]

For Wales you should have said Wales is split into 3. Cymraeg Wales being plaid cymru country which were conquered last and have the most Welsh speakers hence Cymraeg'. Labour voters are mostly found in the Welsh Marches being a mix of unionist but also feel Welsh. So Welsh Wales. The marches were the contested zone. Last British Wales (Monmouthshire and Little England in South Pembrokeshire) which vote conservative and have large English populations and are the least proud to be Welsh, have the fewest Welsh speakers because they were under Anglo-Norman rule the longest and with the most stability.

[@derserthefoxxo3873]

@@cameronwixcey9692 True actually- thank you for this addition

[@alansullivan8194]

@@cameronwixcey9692 that's not true though. Most of the Labour vote comes from the Glamorgan and Gwent Valleys which were heavily industrialised! Nowhere near the marches. They're the borderlands.

[@trystandavies7249]

It's interesting to see areas just over the border where Welsh speakers and Welsh place-names still exist - Oswestry's football club New Saints playing in the Welsh league.

[@adduced]

This was a good video, keep it up yo

[@kubaswiton9030]

"Poland was created in 1918" (3:09) No... Poland regained independence in 1918. Before this it had like nine and a half a century of history

[@piotrp1399]

Yep, that is indeed poorly phrased. The Kingdom of Poland was officially established in 1025. Still, nice of the author to mention things which are rather unknown in the West, like the Fourth Partition, that is Soviets attacking Poland alongside Hitler in 1939.

[@mateusz1578]

@TabbehEXE ♡ Poland had a (sort of) democratic system since the Middle Ages though.

[@DeutschlandMapping]

@@piotrp1399 Fun Fact: Originally Hitler expected the Soviets to help him with defeating Poland. But of course Stalin waited until all the work was done and then attacked. And Hitler was really mad about it because the Polish campaign wasn't as successful as often portrayed in media. E.g. Germany lost a big part of its air force to the Polish.

[@nopeoppeln]

@TabbehEXE ♡ that’s not going to hold up well either. in fact, it was a democracy only briefly between 1918 and 1926

[@ceebee23]

​@@piotrp1399 amazing how ignorant that most people (outside Poland) are of that fact

[@zsomi5968]

If we're talking about railways, take a look at the railway system in the Carpathian basin, you can see that it's like a spider web with Budapest at its centre, and the connecting parts were cut of with the treaty of Trianon, and to this day you have to travel through Budapest to reach other cities

[@atzutzu]

Hey man, I’m really interested to see that map if you have the link, thanks in advance!

[@EUTalks]

When you came as illegal refugees from Asia, you came on horses or by train? And why have you settled in Europe? You could have carried on after America was discovered.

[@anchor3740]

Very well put together video my friend. You deserve that 1 million views

[@anchor3740]

@Rabbi Noseberg Shekelstein no it deserves more

[@botatobias2539]

*sigh* It always ticks me off how it is said that the Ottoman Empire "ruled" the two Romanian principalities. The Ottomans essentially ran a protection racket, financially extorting the principalities. But... That's about it. There were no permanent Ottoman troops stationed there, no mosques, no official imposition of either the religion or indeed the language of the Empire. The maps showing the OE as a single chunk with one solid color are particularly inaccurate... Like one today would draw Belarus as part of Russia.

[@cedricl.marquard6273]

I feel that it is like that for many historical countries or states, cause they didn't have as clearly defined governments as nowadays and often weren't loyal to the Empire but to the ruler. So going into detail for every region would be too arguous.

[@trollinape2697]

That was quite common in many large empires. Many territories and nations were just vassals, or even just tributary states (pays its larger nation)

[@General.Knowledge]

I didn't know this! I thought they were full on protectorates where the rulers of the principalities were coordinated and under a mandate of the Ottomans / following their policies

[@trollinape2697]

@@General.Knowledge Can you make a video on vassal states please? I find it quite cool on how they work and the definition itself (what makes a country a vassal and not just a country with an ally of a stronger nation)

[@paulvladislav4280]

It is true that the Romanian principalities were not under the direct rule ot the Ottoman empire but they were squarely in it's sphere of influence, both economically and culturally. Bucharest used to look like Istambul before it became "little Paris"

[@Frankenbutt99]

I’m from Florida, and you can still see the influence of Spain on my state today. Infrastructure, city names, historic buildings, language, and religion are all descended from the Spanish empire. Even today with the rate of immigration from Hispanic countries, especially Cuba and Venezuela to Florida, the legacy of the Spanish empire is maintained

[@flozano8]

I'm curious to know how the infrastructure and religion in Florida have Spanish influence.

[@davidurrea1727]

You can see it too in the US southwest. Places like California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona used to belong to Mexico (and thus, Spain) and are heavily influenced by their cultures. A notable exception would be Utah.

[@GameyRaccoon]

@@flozano8 catholic latinos are a big slice of Florida and speak spanish.

[@aaronmarks9366]

@@flozano8 I'm from California, but what he said about Florida applies here too. We have a really widespread architectural style here literally called "Spanish colonial" which consists of white or beige stucco adobe walls and distinctive dark-red wavy tiled roofs. The 18th-19th century Catholic missions of the Franciscan order that were built here started the trend, but now you can find it in everything from apartment buildings to offices to pizza shops. There is even a clothing-boutique chain, Hollister, that uses the tile roof design as part of its façade, even inside shopping malls.

[@flozano8]

Well I asked because I was genuinely surprised to see this comment. Florida was a Spanish colony for a few centuries, but the truth is that Spain left very little in the state, and you have to really look to see much evidence of their past presence there. I'm talking in terms of physical things like buildings. They only had one major settlement, St Augustine. There are still some old buildings from the Spanish era there. Other than that, they had some Catholic missions in the state whose churches and settlements are below the ground, and they're subject to archaeological study. They're not still standing and preserved like California's missions. Spanish infrastructure? Where? The Americans built most of it. Historic buildings? You mean the few in St Augustine? (Florida is a large state).

[@CostaRica_Maps]

Excellent video!

[@theprussianmink]

Great video! I wish you would make a list of sources for your videos. Tthere are a lot of interesting articles and maps that are used here that I would love to study further.

[@Eniu7991]

I think it could be true, but there's one important detail - many Polish inhabitants of Western Pomerania, Silesia and Masuria don't have ancestors in there, because their grandfathers and grandmothers were forcibly relocated after WW2 by Soviets from regions of todays Southern Lithuania, Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, which were under control of Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary, to Pomerania, Masuria and Silesia, which are today northern and western part of Poland

[@madibajones8864]

I'm from Mozambique 🇲🇿 A long time ago the Portuguese leased the central and northern provinces of my country to the Brittish (for exploration) and most of the Portuguese citizens lived in the Capital Lourenço Marques (it's Maputo now). So the North has really bad infrastructure and living conditions, while the south is a little bit better off.

[@attilakovacs1415]

jugoslavia.....cheslovakia....ukraina....romania.....fiktion countties....fiktion.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@DukeOfTheYard]

@@attilakovacs1415 And then you woke up and looked at the map. :-D

[@attilakovacs1415]

@@DukeOfTheYard Yugoslavia-Czechoslovakia is gone....Ukraine is now over....Romania is coming after....

[@DukeOfTheYard]

@@attilakovacs1415 Big dreams, small pens. :-D

[@attilakovacs1415]

@@DukeOfTheYard history has no end....not even Serbia remained united...Kosovo is no longer part of it....you see, Ukrainians are also so stupid...and they had big egos like you...and what happened? ?? ....

[@beslim15]

Very interesting topic!

[@Feanor-hh1jj]

Very good Video!! I think that one characteristic example is the island of Hispaniola (Aiti) where it was divided in two separate colonies . In this case, it is not only a tangible proof of old (colonial) impact, but also how the 2 colonial powers (France and Spain) behaved in adiffernet way in ''their'' regions. For example, france imposed hard rules of work, people even died from hardship (and this is the reason for the revolution in the start of 19 century) whereas Spain was not so hard. The 2 countries that were formed from these colonies (Aiti and Dominican Republic) and share the same island, have vast differences between them, even today.

[@cordelldev]

In the portion of the video regarding official languages, it should be noted that French is also an official language of Canada, and spoken by roughly ~30% of the population. (source: I am a Canadian living in Canada)

[@SebastianBaos]

(source: My source is that I made it the fuck up)

[@JESL_TheOnlyOne]

Speaking as a Canadian-American of French descent, how delightfully tiresome.

[@attilakovacs1415]

jugoslavia.....cheslovakia....ukraina....romania.....fiktion countties....fiktion.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@666wurm]

@@attilakovacs1415 All countries are fictitious.

[@The_Frederix]

At the end of your video your talk about old colonies and how modern politics are still affected by the original colonizers. In Eastern Canada and specifically Québec, the initial settlers were French Catholics and to this day even though England took over in 1763 the french are still voting and thinking way differently then their Anglo-Protestant siblings.

[@matrixxpl3284]

Nice episode!

[@robertblumetti3357]

Your view ignores the unique situation in Poland that differs from of the other countries you examined. In Poland the regions that once belonged to imperial Germany not only changed from the Germany to Poland, but the population changed. Most of the western regions of Poland that votes differently from those regions once controlled by Russia and Austria were almost entirely (about 80%) German ethnically. After WW2 the Germans were driven out and resettled from Poles who lived in the former Russian territories. You explanations do not explain how the Poles who once lived under Russian control now have a western looking view that is reflected in the way they vote.

[@aliasDonaldDuck]

Maybe because the western areas are more urbanized than the eastern ones

[@ammarmar3628]

Wages in the west are generally higher. There is more industry where one can find employment. More schools, universities, hospitals. People with financial stability do not vote for populists. Nobody really cares today where his grand-grandfather lived 80 years ago.

[@Aciek25]

"former Russian territories" is not only offensive it is also wrong. These people were resettled from Eastern Poland or modern Ukraine and Belarus.

[@dawnrunner345]

@@Aciek25 he meant the territory of Russian Empire. The map suggests that there is a split between east and west because west was under German rule and East - under Russia/Austrian. However the fact is the people in western part were resetlled there after WW2 meaning they were also lived (and even born) in Russian Empire.

[@trzy6722]

@@aliasDonaldDuck But Western Poland was destroyed after the war

[@peterl5804]

It should not be forgotten that most of the people who were settled in what used to be Germany after World War II were actually driven out of what is now western Ukraine. Therefore, these do not represent an indigenous population in that area but many were refugees themselves, occupying the towns and houses the Germans had been forced to flee leave.

[@bujdososzekely]

Peter L , Ukraine is artificial state .

[@rogeriomonteiro760]

You got wrong, it is Western Poland: Pomerania, Silesia, Danzig (Gdansk) and Eastern Prussia.

[@user-tv4oi2xv6b]

Happens in Greece as well with the islands that were ruled by the English the french and the Italians being way more left wing than the rest of the country

[@attilakovacs1415]

jugoslavia.....cheslovakia....ukraina....romania.....fiktion countties....fiktion.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@bnn9549]

I dont think so, the Peloponnese has also been ruled by the Venetians (kingdom of Morea) like the islands, and a large part of it is extremely right wing

[@wordart_guian]

@@bnn9549 it was only venetian for 20 years, the ionian islands have been venetian from the crusades to the napoleonic wars and were virtually never ottoman

[@dinos9607]

@@bnn9549 Venetians were mostly installed at Patra which is an extremely left-wing city not just in Peloponesus but also throughout Greece. The Venetian hold of the rest of Peloponesus was more in form of an alliance with locals rather than in the form of some sort of occupation or installation of a Venetian-controlled system. In Greece traditionally the right wing Greeks, ncluding the very extreme right wing ones are the Macedonians, even more than Epirotans and Thraecians. In places such as Kastoria the question was not right wing or left wing but rather right wing or extreme right wing. In Florina the joke was that only civili servants (who often come from other regions as they are spread around the country) and the tiny minority of Bulgarian-speaking Slavs would vote for the left for the obvious reason that leftists in Greece were more prone to betray Greece and that minority hated Greeks and Greece and as such allied first with Nazis and then with Communists. Macedonians were always the more patriotic Greece and that is seen ever since Antiquity when of all Greeks first and foremost the Macedonians believed in the unification of the Greek tribes, not to mention Alexander I who sacrificed what could had been a wonderful career in the Persian Empire to save Greece from the Xerxes' massive campaign (and his role is still downplayed today by historians - I wonder why...). It is notable that in the WWII the Italian invasion was kicked out by the Macedonians and Thessalians before Attics and Peloponesians and Cretans had the time to arrive, without the slightest will to lower the contribution of the latter. The reason why Macedonians are statistically the most patriotic of Greece is simple : it is the region of Greece with the largest land border when most of Greece borders with no country at all which makes them more "insular". There is no point hiding the fact that some of the least patriotic Greeks come from the islands (except Crete where even leftists are kind of right wing in mentality) with some islands being filthily leftists. So much for "mariner culture" and "freedom loving people".

[@ionidhunedoara1491]

@@dinos9607 OK but Epirotans remember the enmity shown EDES and Zervas' people by by the Andartes and the attempt to introduce revolution and child evacuation (pedomastoma) by Michael Volousis and EAM. EDES members besides Greeks were also Vlakh who hated pro-fascist Diamandis and Arvantiki who hated the Chamalbanians allied with the Italians and Germans.

[@Cherb123456]

Thank you!

[@paulmicks7097]

Great work, perfect for student, small sample scaled up to worldwide affects on nations anywhere

[@michaelsalmon9832]

ukraine is a timely example. the old border between the polish lithuanian commonwealth and russia coincides nicely with election results, language preferences, economic situation, etc.

[@STikER326]

Not only that, the border between the Austrian and the Russian Empires is still visible as well

[@SiqueScarface]

For today's Germany, you have to note that most people living in the respective parts are still those who grew up in a divided country. You have to wait at least a whole lifespan (today about 80 years) to separate cultural effects from individual experience. Lets check back on Germany in 2069, shall we?

[@stavas05]

Young voters from the former GDR states are also more likely to vote Die Linke or the AfD (the extreme parties). It comes down to the economic inequality, which always leads to extreme political opinions. It is very hard to change the difference, but I wouldn’t say it is impossible. For example East Germany produces two thirds of all semiconductors produced in Europe and new investment like the intel fab will bring higher quality semiconductors to the region. Of course teslas Gigafactory helps too

[@thisathema]

The example of Poland shows that even if you wait 100 years you would still see the division.

[@SiqueScarface]

@@thisathema It is not that easy. The borders of today's Poland are less than 80 years old. Only West Prussia was part of Poland before 1945, while the eastern part of pre-1945 Poland is now mainly in Belarus and the Ukraine. So for the border you see, we are just reaching the 80 year age, especially those that separate former Prussian and former Russian Poland.

[@xalphax8488]

@@stavas05 that cannot be true, due to the point that the right-wing AfD does not have strong social policies. Moreover the voters of the AfD are not poor, on the contrary they are among the better earners.

[@MrAranton]

@@xalphax8488 There poor are much less likely to vote at all. Income inequality drives does not drive extremist voting because the poor want money. People vote for extremists because they fear to lose what they have. And sice increasing inequality tends to erode the middle class, it's the middle class that is most afraid. It's them that vote AfD, because they fear they're the ones who have to pay for all the social programmes die Linke promotes.

[@PolluxHistory]

i love your videos!!

[@darknessnight1115]

Great video. Love politics and history from post-Napoleonic Wars through the end of thr Cold War

[@juice3702]

In Romania we have a saying, that the Carpathians both separated and united us :) In reality there are visible differences between *all* of the historical regions of Romania. But the reason they do not have such a major impact in voting, for example, is that each region has its own rich "cores", which means that almost every region of the country is developing at some pace (voting is arguably most affected by the development of each region, regardless of the country). For example, although Transylvania is more well-developed than most of Moldova, the former moldavian capital of Iaşi and the surrounding areas are actually *much, much, much, much richer* than most of Transylvania or any other region of the country. This means that as a moldavian, you don't necessarily have to go to Transylvania or Bucharest for a better life as you can just go to Iaşi which is much more convenient. Growth of the city attracts investments which then further go into developing Iaşi, development which usually but slowly spills to the rest of Moldova as well. Now of course, not every region / subregion is developing at the same pace and people are constantly complaining about this, but because there is at least visible progress and development in most parts of the country, the differences between the historical regions are now starting to fade away.

[@Aerumora]

Couldn't word it better myself! Fellow romanian here and I also think our country is slowly developing, I don't see the point on hating it as much as others do, but I can see why. Either way let's hope for O România dezvoltată!

[@OldLemne]

what's up with the random overstating how rich Iasi is? Absolutely not true there are many places in Transylvania way richer than Iasi.

[@TheWoollyFrog]

@@Aerumora A Romanian that doesn't hate Romania, that's rare. Personally, I'm tired of the self pity and defeatism. Too many pre 89'ers use the very concept of Romania as a punching bag at social gatherings to dismiss personal responsibility and civic duty as if they aren't part of the generation that created the corruption they hate so much.

[@juice3702]

@@OldLemne the national media doesn't portray what's going on in Iasi, besides the corruption at the administrative level which is of course a big problem that needs to be addressed. I don't know, maybe the doubling / tripling of Iasi's suburbs' populations, maybe a growth of at least 100000 in the population of the city proper in the last 10 years alone... heavy development going on all throughout the city, lots of youth programs and projects, thousands of new jobs arriving every year to Iasi, a continuously expanding bridge/link between the rest of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, maybe this should tell you something about how fast the city is developing and its national significance. So those places in Transylvania that you're talking about won't be much richer than Iasi for very long :) Now of course there are also some bad sides to Iasi - development outside the very center of the city is often cramped and chaotic, slow traffic and public transportation, high pollution, bike infrastructure is still not very well developed... but in another 10 years from now on, these problems should mostly be fixed, hopefully.

[@StArShIpEnTeRpRiSe]

@@TheWoollyFrog I don't know how much Romanians hate Romania, but I know, if they start to argue with a Hungarian about who realy owns Transilvania, that transform every Romanian into a proud Romanian. XD

[@MeLoNarXo]

Some of the infrastructure of the Time the Germans had colonys are still being used because the germans built them so well like Hospitals and Water lines and stuff like that

[@boomerix]

The parliament in Samoa that is used to this day was built by the Germans. They even have a morning flag raising ceremony that they kept from the Germans. I talked to some native Samoans and they told me (I can only take their word for it, don't know how other Samoans feel about it), that their time as a German Colony was actually one of the best times in their history. The German Governor made a genuine effort to learn their culture and pretty much united their tribes by solving their differences and imprisoning the few chiefs who would refuse to compromise. Apparently they were treated well, got infrastructure and public services built and taught how to adapt to the modern world and have a good work ethic. They were less happy about their time under the control of New Zealand that followed after world war 1.

[@trzy6722]

most were rebuilt after 45

[@NorthSea_1981]

@@boomerix This seems to be true! I've heard similar from Samoans.

[@timswabb]

Even though the American Confederacy was short lived, there’s definitely a long-lasting political difference between former Confederate states in the “Old South” and former Union states in the “Yankee North.” The Western states are less affected. Of course even before the Confederacy there were slave states and free states, so the differences preceded - and indeed caused - the Civil War.

[@lq7777]

Those divisions were there long before the war and have continued long after. Of course, our greatest division is Urban vs Rural. In some cases (NY and IL) a single city controls the state politically while most of the state land wise is more right leaning.

[@JanuszKrysztofiak]

I would say the Confederacy was less the cause and more an intermediate result of previous decades of diverging development (high yield on the investment into cash crop estates with forced labor being a commodity) that translated into the economic, political and social structure of Dixie land. The North elites wanted to safeguard the developing industry from foreign competition, whereas the Southern elites wanted free trade to export cotton and import goods + secure slavery (its 'capital stock'). That is: different economic model -> different political stances -> CSA -> magnified different political stances (war destruction, the reconstruction).

[@ziegle9876]

Slave states were part of the northern union during the war against southern secession.

[@Iloveswedes]

And even before that, all of the states were slave states.

[@ferretyluv]

We all learned that in school. Pastoral south vs industrial north.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

General Knowledge: From 1795 to 1918, Russia, Austria, and Germany controlled what is today Poland Meanwhile the Polish people: *Tis but a scratch* We wish the DDR were the ones that reunified Germany. Because Auferstanden aus Ruinen didn't need to slap as hard as it did, it reflected a new Germany emerging. It would've been a better fit. Not to mention we miss Honecker. He got to visit Pyongyang in 1977, while my grandpa returned the favor in 1980.

[@DerVersteherPlus]

That is only partly right. Many territories of what is Poland today have been controlled by Prussia since the middleages.

[@danielsentertainmentproduc1527]

Oh yeah I am so impressed by your channel! You should do countries with urban/rural divides such as America

[@Mladjasmilic]

In Serbia: Vojvodina is multi- ethnic, with Austria influenced style of building. Every town and every village follow the same pattern. This is best visible in Belgrade, as the southern part of the city was part of Turkey, and northern part of Hungary.

[@simqvisten]

interesting, will actually visit Belgrade this summer and will keep a look out for this. Anything else you recommend I see or do?

[@Mladjasmilic]

@@simqvisten Well, you can try out our 1st high speed rail line Belgrade-Novi Sad. Trip is 80km/30 minutes, it costs 400 dinar (about 3.5€). As for Belgrade, I am more sightseeing type: Kalemegdan fortress (turkish name, original slavic was Beli Grad - white fortress, it is how city got the name) Belgrade silicone waley (Strahinjića Bana street, just across Belgrade zoo, where women pumped with silicone go out) Veliko ratno ostrvo - wild island, accessible by pontoon bridge during summer from Zemun. Avala mountain All the building that were bombed by NATO in 1999. Kaluđerica - most unplanned suburb in Europe, like flavela. New Belgrade near Sava - acres of identical tower blocks Karaburma - they put 10 story building on top of old 4 story Building, Patrisa Lumumbe street. Ada Međica is nice.

[@simqvisten]

@@Mladjasmilic thanks man, seems like quite a unique city. Look forward to it!

[@jamesvandemark2086]

A very good precis!

[@glishev]

I'm happy others have realized the same. I was stunned when I saw the election maps of modern Romania and Poland for the first time some years ago. The coincidence with old borders was remarkable.

[@astral_gamer9483]

I could think of more examples of this like the difference between Quebec and Canadá is mainly because of their history

[@rv_354]

I read „The shortest Hstory of Germany“ (in the German version). I didn‘t like it because I felt like the author present one point and just supported his point with arguements that arent that convincing (one of his arguements was that the Romans gave a name for a region), without presenting some alternative explaination or serious counter arguements. Also he centers all of German history on that point which is like saying: No wonder that person died of a herion overdose, he once ate two bars of Mars as a kid! Additionally I felt like he was speaking out against German reunification in the end, as a German I then wanted to klatsch den Engländer weg, so dass er nichtmehr so Müll erzählt.

[@geoffreycharles6330]

You should have not been reunited. In fact, that small region with the lignite along the czech border should have been given to the Czechs, as there are Slavs anyways.

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

​@@geoffreycharles6330 you have it wrong, by alot. genetic tests have shown that western Czechs are actually mostly bavarian (ie german) by blood, and even eastern czechs are not really slavs by blood either although they are not germans, they are pre-slavic natives to the region. only Czech nobility were slavs. as a result of slavic imperialism most Czechs are slavic but only by culture. there isn't german land that is mostly slavic, infact before ww2 there was Czech land that was mostly german by blood and culture (the sudettenland) which is only czech now because of forced migrations after ww2. and why shouldn't germany havve united?

[@seb_5969]

Eine rechtmäßige Rückhandschelle

[@namename3130]

Lol

[@namename3130]

A rare case of an Englishman trying to break up a nation other than his own then

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Obrigado por este vídeo. 😃👍

[@toddbonin6926]

This was really interesting.

[@tasosGRvocals]

You could also talk about the North and South Italy division in maps!!

[@sergiumecheres]

Well, the wallachia and moldova were not fully under ottoman empire but kinda autonomus. The ottoman empire used the two principalities as tax farms, that led to underdevelopment since almost everything people produced had to go to instanbul. Meanwhile, habsburgs and later hungarians, saw transylvania as their homeland so it got investments from the viena and budapest

[@bujdososzekely]

Sergiu Mecheres the Hungarian Kings created the vassal teritory Moldova and Ungro-Wallachia from Cuman teritory .

[@sergiumecheres]

@@bujdososzekely the unification of the vallachian voievodships has nothing to do with the hungarian crown. Indeed, most of the feudals before basarab were vasals of hungary. And anyway, i was talking about the reasons of differences in development. For most of their history, both principalities were under ottoman rule

[@bujdososzekely]

@@sergiumecheres , kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4eUn6dqndqSeJY

[@Bogdan-uu5oe]

Not really, Transylvania had huge problems due to Hungarian medieval ruling style. In Transylvania only the Hungarian and German parts were developed. Regions like Apuseni mountains or Maramureș were still poor and illiterate and Romanians were banned in big Hungarian cities. The region of Banat was as you said, but Transylvania not as great.

[@sergiumecheres]

@@Bogdan-uu5oe yes, but at least, there were some developed cities to start with

[@pimme043]

the background music at 3:13 is the belgian national anthem inspired by the tune of the Polish Lancers (the march of 1st Light Cavalry Lancers Regiment of the Imperial Guard of poland)

[@Tekisasubakani]

YES to the two Germanies video. That little snippet was fascinating.

[@NIDELLANEUM]

When you mentioned how the parts of modern Western Poland were already far richer 150 years ago, and the gap is STILL strong, I thought it was a prime example of just how much Poland had to go through in the last century and half

[@Fish_Priest]

Infrastructure. Just check railroads map in 1948, 1989 and now, you will see something funny

[@asasnat342]

western? i thought the east was always richer

[@Fish_Priest]

@@asasnat342 pre partitions time, eastern parts of PLC were less developed, but had strong aristocratic families having so much land, that sometimes made their own diplomacy (i.e. Radziwill, Wisniowiecki Potocki families), yeah, they were wealthy, but land was undeveloped. When industrial revolution hits, there were no Poland, only fringes of partitioners empires, who doesn't care about developing this land. In german part however, there were more investment in infrastructure, especially in silesia to exploit coal deposits, but in austrian and russian parts - only few cities could be compared, while province exploited only as farms.

[@im11yearsold63]

Actually it's the first 30 normal years of their sovereignity as a Polish state since 150 years. What did Poland do, to deserve over 100 years slavery?

[@1ProAssassin]

@@im11yearsold63 Ineffectual governance and internal strife leading to an inability to deal with many external and internal problems that foreign powers took advantage of to ensure that Poland would never be a threat.

[@MsFunnyguy1]

It could be interresting to hear how the old german dutchies and kingdoms have shaped the germen nation today.

[@Luicatus]

very complex process... Brief Version: Basically the big sweeping of Napoleon led to much less detailed structures, cemented in the Vienna Congress, the reunification movement of 1848/49 was gunned down by Prussia and some of the other monarchs; Under Bismark Prussia swallowed most of North Germany; In the Reichsgründung of 1871 the south german states keep their local borders, with almost everything else beeing the prussian local state. After World War 2 these areas were divided and combined to the federal states of 1949 (Saarland joining later, East germany 1990), which had now over 70 years to develop an identity (or didn't) That is why so many of them have a (very german) composit double name (like Baden-Württemberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommer - or brief: BaWü, NRW, SH or MeckVoPo.. etc) So some times you can still find the old borders, but usually no strong political/religious/economical divide (urban-rural oder north-south is here stronger), but more about regional names, dialects and traditional animosities :)

[@11Survivor]

@@Luicatus Southern Germany is still the richest part of western Germany whilst also being the most linguistically and culturally distinct though

[@edwardstd52]

Great info! If you have a chance to redo the sound track, could you slow down the narration a bit? I am an native English speaker but I found it hard to keep up. In any case, I loved the video!

[@brexistentialism7628]

Great video though!!

[@darrellbrown9523]

Yes please do a video on the current differences between Eastern and western Germany.

[@cognativehalozatkutatas3573]

There is a mistake in your map concerning the Hungarian Kingdom during the Ottoman time. One part was labelled in your map as Central Hungary but it was named Upper Hungary in that time and that was the remaining Hungarian Kingdom with the capital of Pressburg/Pozsony/Prešporok (since 1919 Bratislava) for 400 years. Hence the Habsburgs throned as the Hungarian kings that part became a territory under Habsburg rule so it was not an Ottoman vassal state.

[@yvanboniface4880]

Great video, thanks. In Eastern France, the départements that were under German control after 1870 (in Alsace and part of Lorraine) still raise taxes to fund churches. It is called the concordat system vs. the separation of Church and State in the rest of France.

[@pieceofschmidtgamer]

Actually, Hungarian settlement of Transylvania predates Hapsburg rule. The Hungarians ruled the area going back to the early 10th century. Hapsburg rule only began after the Battle of Mohacs in 1526.

[@predacorneliu]

Wrongly, the rule of the Habsburgs began at the end of the seventeenth century, and not after 1526, until then the Principality had a semi-independent state under Ottoman suzerainty.

[@alexandrutheodorbileca4266]

I think hungarians arrived in the 10 century, got screwed over by the ottomans later (1500 something?) losing transilvanya (which became another protectorate because the ottomans wanted it weak and because it was multiethnical), then after the ottomas retreated from the siege of vienna the hasburgs conquered hungary in 1690 and translivanya, where the two were again administred separatley. So, that adds up to 240 years of being scammed by the austrians for both hungary and translivanya.

[@pieceofschmidtgamer]

@@alexandrutheodorbileca4266 They arrived in the Pannonian Plain in the 890s.

[@alexandrutheodorbileca4266]

@@pieceofschmidtgamer Give or take 10 years, but the 10 years you mentioned is nit really what i was saying in the comment

[@Hungabrigoo]

ACTUALLY actually, Hungarian rule might not have extended to Transylvania until the 11th or 12th centuries, so that is a more realistic start of Hungarian settlement. Of course the statement in this video that it happened during Austria-Hungary (1867-1918, RIP) is still wildly off, and we are not talking about mere "thousands" either. The Szeklers on the other hand, were probably there quite a lot earlier than the Hungarians, and merely hungarianized.

[@cacamilis8477]

You can see the border of East and West Berlin from space, at night. Both halves used different light bulbs for their street lighting, and still do. East Berlin lights up yellow, while West Berlin lights up white.

[@Knutwolf]

I’d be interested in a separate video about the still exciting divisions within Germany

[@bujdososzekely]

Romania was a last slavemarcket in the world. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3enc5meh72Enbc

[@bentrig9128]

Awesome video and an extremely interesting topic. One way to think about the impact of legacy borders today is to imagine the result of existing borders disappearing. North and South Korea comes to mind. If those countries were to suddenly unify, how long would the cultural, demographic, social and economic distinctions remain? Probably would take at least a couple of centuries, if not more, for the full legacy of the divide to disappear. Makes it easy to see why these dividing lines still exist in Europe where so much of the borders were redrawn in the past two centuries.

[@jeremy1860]

I know those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, but even so it really feels humbling just how the past never seems to want to let us go 😟

[@stevenvallarsa1765]

Oops! You forgot to make Canada English AND French for European languages. And speaking of old imperial borders, you could have also mentioned how the province of Québec maintained its French language (and Catholic religion) due to it being the area where the most pre-Seven-Years-War settlement had been. The western part of New France was far less colonized and became English with post-American Revolution settlement in the late 18th century, though the north-eastern parts of Ontario to this day have sizeable francophone communities due to immigration from Québec in the 19th century.

[@GrandHoff]

I was gonna comment on this. You can even see it in things like election outcomes, religiosity, economic outcomes, etc. The core parts of New France are still vastly different then the RoC. Similarly you can easily pick out the original independent colonies and dominions from those provinces created by the government on similar topics (particularly in religiosity across the provinces)

[@arctix4518]

Good video overall, but in the case of Germany I have to clear some things. The book by James Hawes makes interesting assumptions, but they are not true and completely monocausal. He says the regions in the eastern side of the river Elbe have developed a basic xenophobic attitude over the centuries because they were always settlers and colonists in originally non-german regions. Hawes also said the "Ostelbien" regions were the reason, why Hitler came to power. Which is not true. Saxony, Thuringia, Middle Germany, Silesia, Berlin were in addition to the Rheinland and Hamburg the social democratic epicenter of Germany. South Germany was much more conservative, especially Bavaria with Munich the Nazi capital and birthplace of national socialism. Also to say west germany was always the heart of German development is not true. Regions like Bavaria, Rheinland-Palatinate, Hesse were completely rural until WW2. While for example Saxony was the richest and most developed region in Germany until WW2 for centuries. Middle Germany with the triangle of Leipzig, Halle and Erfurt were very high developed regions not only in the cities. And today the former rich regions of Germany, Saxony and Thuringia, are the most far-right and far-left voting regions in Germany. That has nothing to do with inner german borders or a supposed historic east west gradient. No it was just the War and the following German division which reshuffled the cards to disadvantage for East Germany and the advantage for Bavaria for example, which was until then a poor and left behind agrar state. West Germany is the winner of German history, East Germany has lost everything. Berlin was one of the two global birthplaces of the global electrical industry. And Saxony was the birthplace of the mining and mechanical engineering industry in Germany. Until WW2 Germany was pushed by Northern, Eastern and Western Germany, Southern Germany was underdeveloped Sorry for the long comment :D

[@sirsteam6455]

But Nevertheless Germany has remained a world power regardless of era

[@razzledazzle488]

Endlich sagt es mal jemand 👍

[@Luicatus]

Actually it is a little more complex, but the basic thesises are right. The Rhine valley was always economically strong, and large areas in the north were and are still rural. The West-German Eifel area were underdeveloped when it was united with Prussia. South-West-Germany had already an higher degree of industialisation (BASF and Berta Benz anyone?), Baden was from 1871-1918 already the liberal-engineering area, until Swabia took over, when Baden became border region to the hostile France. The Rheinland was already an important industrial area before WW1, and so on. But yes - until 1970 Bavaria was very rural and had to be supported by the other federal stated, which now completly flipped, but teh Bavarians seems to have forgotten their history

[@arctix4518]

@@Luicatus Well, but the Baden region wasn't in the first place. At the time of the german unification the Chemnitz-Zwickau region was already completely industrialized and the birthplace of german mechanical engineering. Like I said Saxony was at this time the most developed and wealthiest region in Germany. An almost forgotten fact. Another almost forgotten fact is that Saxony and Middle Germany are the birthplace of german social democratic movement and labour rights. I just wanna say that the "East" of Germany wasn't always an underdeveloped part. No, before WW2 it and especially before WW1 Middle Germany and Saxony were together with Berlin and Silesia a very strong counterpart to Rhein-Ruhr, Rhein-Main, Hamburg and Baden. But yeah we definitely agree that the Bavarians are the most arrogant and history denying part of modern Germany. It's ridiculous, but also very bavarian. Self-promoters...

[@tomsaltner3011]

@@Luicatus Check south-east Saxony and its technological heritage to understand that this was not a historical west-east gap.

[@Ryuko-T72]

I think this might e relevant. The Malaysian eastern half has an area known as Sarawak. Sarawak used to be a small area in the south. In the 1800s it came under rule of a British adventurer. At the time a subject of Brunei, he was able to expand the area to almost modern borders. Taking over the majority of Brunei and leaving it with its modern borders.

[@PereMarquette1223]

I’d love a Part 2 to this…

[@captainsidog5531]

8:15 Sri Lanka was never part of the British Raj. It was a separate colony controlled by Britain.

[@Kameliius]

Also, he forgot to mention Burma

[@General.Knowledge]

@@Kameliius Was Burma part of the British Raj too? I thought it was separate. But my mistake on Sri Lanka

[@captainsidog5531]

@@General.Knowledge Yeah, Burma was a part of the Raj until after WW2. Then it was separate. So you were right by saying that there were four countries, just you mixed up what the fourth one was. It's ok. We all make mistakes.

[@Kameliius]

@@General.Knowledge With my knowledge, Burma definitely was a part of the British Raj as well

[@DibyajyotiPatraAshu]

​​@@General.Knowledge Dude, Burma 🇲🇲 was part of British India 🇮🇳 till 1935, when it got separated by the Government of India Act, 1935!!! & Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 was rather a different colony, named British Ceylon!!!

[@blackwatertv7018]

With all eyes on Europe in this latest conflict, information like this is important a lot of people especially those living in the global south and east. Have rather shall we call them “interesting opinions” regarding Europe and I’ve noticed a lot of this comes from a massive lack of basic knowledge of the area in question.

[@SkiDaBird]

You’re also going to see that with conflicts in other areas though. As an American, our collective knowledge of Ethiopian history is rather low, and that affects our view of the situation there.

[@bujdososzekely]

Blackwater Tv , the Fury of the Tsar book on the collision of the West and the East in Central Europe and the Hungary . kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYiWcpWdr9ede6c

[@blackwatertv7018]

@@SkiDaBird I mean true, but with this conflict it’s particularly interesting whereas most Westerners couldn’t really care about the war in Ethiopia which funny enough alot of Ethiopians are denying is even happening.

[@Ystor]

Merci :) 😊

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Muito bem explicado. 👏👏👏👏

[@ASChambers]

I, for one, would love to see a video on the differences/similarities between East and West Germany. It would make for a fascinating sociological study, almost like looking at twins that were separated at birth then reunited years later. What would be even more interesting is seeing whether each part of the country started to learn or take on different ways of living from the other.

[@GeorgKallenbach]

Funny thing: Easterners don't tell the time with "quarter past" or "quarter to", but instead with f.e. "three quarters". Just like in hungarian "háromnegyed" or in czech "tři čtvrtě". This causes many misunderstanding in terms of timing with Westeners.

[@krazoe6258]

I live in east germany now, and indeed it is quite different from the west in a number of ways. They don’t speak English nearly as well as their western compatriots, and when they do, it’s a chore or unexpected - a bit like how the French would react. Meanwhile, west Germans are happy to hop between languages to fit the situation. Call me crazy, but I think this is indicative of cognitive flexibility where the East Germans developed a more insular culture due to a generational brain drain to the west. Hopefully this will revert now that the east is seen as cool. This is just a hypothesis though

[@wgaming2021]

@@krazoe6258 Well, try and talk to us in russian (sometimes even polish) XD English was the language of the enemy and american/british bands or radio shows were forbidden until the late 60s.

[@DasDieDerErik]

​@@krazoe6258 it's way more pronounced with older people though, younger people (like

[@Zugfaehrtdurch]

Very interesting! Throughout Europe one can find such sub- or supranational areas that divide the European countries into different areas which are then in their mentality very often much more similar to adjacent regions in neighboring countries than to other parts of their own country. Although many people see the "nation" as the only defining factor for culture, mentality, etc., Europe is much more colorful due to this very rich heritage of different old empires, confessions, languages, etc.

[@11Survivor]

Exactly. Alsatians and Badeners speak basically the same native dialect which is not very intelligible by Rhine Franconians or Bavarians but is a lot closer to Swiss German. Historically Baden, Alsace, and other Alemannic areas were split from the same core, then kept interacting with each other over centuries whilst being somewhat geographically isolated from the countries that had "control" until the invention of the telegram.

[@nlpnt]

On I-87 in New York State you'll see an exit sign for Gansevoort a few miles north of Albany. Traveling north it is the last, and south the first, Dutch placename you encounter as you pass between the land "discovered" by Samuel de Champlain for the French and Henry Hudson for the Dutch.

[@nei1mchugh]

interesting topic

[@the_addon]

6:15 Saxony: am I a joke to you?

[@sylwesterwierzycki7583]

Poland wasn't CREATED in 1918. It was brought back to existence. It's an important distinction to make.

[@General.Knowledge]

This is true!

[@lucianboar3489]

@Anhedon Tara Romaneasca was never called Romania, though.

[@Kalimdor199Menegroth]

@@lucianboar3489 Romania is an umbrella term for the territory inhabited by Romanians. Same as Hellas was used to describe the Greek world in Antiquity.

[@lucianboar3489]

@@Kalimdor199Menegroth well no, it wasn't used before mid 19 th century

[@Kalimdor199Menegroth]

@@lucianboar3489 Officially, as a state name, yes. As an umbrella term for territory inhabited by Romanians? Yes, it was.

[@politonno2499]

Also, today Catalan speaking territories match almost perfectly with the old Crown of Aragon (excluding a big part of the region of Aragon, where they speak aragonese), including a city in Sardinia, an italian island colonized by the aragonese kingdoms in the 12th century. All the way down from Valencia to a region called "Northern Catalonia", an old aragonese territory which became french in the 17th century. All regions with catalan speakers in Europe match with the borders of an acient, forgotten crown, totally different from what's today.

[@luispavon1250]

"Do you believe in life after love?" "Yes, I just can't believe it's not butter."

[@kleckerklotz9620]

German statistical maps are always distorted when it comes to the differences between East (former GDR) and West Germany. Two million people alone left East Germany between 1990 and 2010 and moved to West Germany. Because of the possibility of finding work. They always say East Germany was bankrupt. But they always forget that it was a completely different economic system. If you set wages at the level of the West, it had to be bankrupt. The real reason was short selling. The so-called "Treuhand" sold off the former state-owned enterprises. As a result, people became unemployed, sometimes overnight. What do these people do? They go where there is work. Most of them were very young and open minded. Therefore every map showing voting behaviour, health conditions, overaging, income and housing vacancy or shortage is distorted due to the fact of that brain drain in the early 90ies. If these 2 million had not moved away and had a good job back home, the maps would look very different. Well yes, the correlation of the former state borders and those maps is a thing. But the real cause is bad politics and inequality.

[@tomsaltner3011]

Klecker Klotz: I recently heard an interesting comparison of the east-west economic relationship before 1990 with a membrane. Cheap technical goods did pass from east to west while cheap labour didn't. Both the West German economy and workers benefited from this situation...

[@piotrwojdelko1150]

I want to mention that Polish language survived in good shape under Austrian and after Austran _Hungarian occupation.

[@lucianboar3489]

Yeah, German speakers of Austria Hungary weren't that keen on asimilating others (except maybe Czechs).

[@arnoldszwarzenegger6832]

@@lucianboar3489 because they were the minority even if they were the ones who had most power. Forcing minorities to anything always has a risk and in case of austria-hungary that risk was just too big for them to do a lot of things they would want to do in other scenarios

[@zedxyle]

Unlike what you implied in the video,, the Habsburg ownership of Tranylvania had nothing to do with the migration of Hungarians into the area. Hungarians moved into Transylvania hundreds of years before the existence of the Dual Monarchy. In fact, Hungarians were in Transylvania before the House of Habsburg was even established in the 1100s.

[@lucianboar3489]

Yeah, Habsburgs facilitated only the migration of Germans into (mostly) Banat from Swabia. They needed German catholics since the Germans already (for more than 500 years at that point) in Transylvania were almost all Protestants.

[@andrf1749]

this is what you learn from your history book in hungary, but the reality is what you saw in the video.

[@attilatasciko4817]

Thanks