The Holy Roman Empire: Every State, Every Year

The Kingdom of East Francia was created in 843 as a partition of the Frankish Empire and result of the Treaty of Verdun. Through Crusades, conquests, and inheritance, it expanded significantly thought the next 200 years, becoming the Holy Roman Empire in 962 after the conquest of Rome. After this point, the Empire began to divide to the point where it was more of the union than a state, allowing foreign powers to control large swaths of imperial territory. It shrank to the benefit of France during the Renaissance, whilst other states, such as the Netherlands and Switzerland, broke off in 1648 due to the Peace of Westphalia. As Prussia and Austria became increasingly dominant through the 1700s, it finally came to an end when they were defeat at the hands of Napoleon in 1806. After Napoleon, a similar state was set up, the German Confederation, which would last almost until German Unification in 1871.
-KEY-
Colour = State in the HRE
White = Not in HRE
Colour-Colour = States within the HRE controlled by state outside HRE
Colour-White = Territory outside HRE controlled by state in HRE
Coloured Border = Within a March but not controlled
(States in HRE controlled by other states in HRE are coluored)
-MUSIC-
Alliance - Stand United
Aaron Wilde - Together We Rise
Anthem of Austria Hungary (1867-1918)

[@northcarolinamapping7239]

1231, "Ok kids! Name all the regions of the Holy Roman Empire!" "Uhhh..."

[@bullworthstudent9328]

Kanzelir Otto von Bismarck : Deutsche unifikation!

[@bullworthstudent9328]

Robert Garcia LOL! 😂😂😂😂

[@AlexS-oj8qf]

Ok kids which territory we lost to the french and which territory we gained from the Poles today, anyone could answer this question?

[@RingoDixie]

*OK KIDS STOP DYING OF MATHER*

[@fjusposting2103]

*ULM*

[@HappynHungryMapping]

When people say the HRE was a thousand or so microstates, they aren't kidding.

[@jumpinthefire23]

Right?! It looks like a total mess!

[@Hortifox_the_gardener]

Is was. Imagine bringing a cart of bale or spices from Italy to Cologne by land. The toll and taxes were so immense that you should have brought it ships in the first place. The economy was crushed by this.

[@elsasslotharingen7507]

+Oliver Kurzweg In turn, production was improved a lot by the competition!

[@stephengrimes5551]

+HappynHungry haha, it's so dumbed down in eu4 i had no clue

[@HappynHungryMapping]

+GOLF BOYS DOOM It's so dumbed down and still so confusing in EU4 thank you Bismarck for cleaning this clusterfuck

[@Yora21]

"You get autonomy! And you get autonomy! Everyone gets autonomy!"

[@mikemcguffey6458]

*but wait there's more!*

[@waltuh11121]

@@mikemcguffey6458 you also get autonomy!

[@mikemcguffey6458]

@@waltuh11121 :0

[@user-gk1xu7ec1z]

No autonomy TO THE GUILLOTINE!

[@nurval1093]

church: "come to catholicism and convert into a king, duke, bishop or any important person and get free land!!"

[@kanerises9526]

You gotta admit that it's pretty damn impressive the HRE managed to stay as a thing for 1000 years with thousands of micro states

[@feuerderveranderung6056]

Not really. Their neighbors were either nearly as fragmented as the HRE or at war with each other. So for the most of the HRE time it just had to stop Skandinavian incursions and stoping Italian rebellions and the "loyality" of the german princes was secured through offering them more and more power (which is one of the reasons why the HRE failed).

[@hanz2904]

Well it was a complex system but it worked without HRE There would be no unified Germany or Austria since if the HRE didn't exist those states would be very prone to invasion

[@xdgamer2765]

Kane Rises the micro states were pretty interesting there actually not that much of a country but they are probably independent germanic micro states.

[@LamiNalchor]

@@feuerderveranderung6056 This comback doesn't make much sense. It could still be considered impressive that it could remain intact. The fractured state only gradually developed. Of course, the generalization that all the neighbours were constantly at war with each other is meaningless.

[@jonsnow1055]

Imagine being called Holy Roman Empire when you are neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire.

[@EmperorTigerstar]

Fantastic job Ollie!

[@bobhacker10russia89]

:}

[@user-yf9ku1tl6b]

EmperorTigerstar who are the Prussians? I mean what race or ethnic group do they come from, polish? Germanic? Or some other group?

[@X3REME7]

+Marcelo Diaz they were a baltic tribe

[@rog3rinh067]

Oloco seu canal é zika

[@ernest747]

Still, pretty inaccurate.

[@XalphYT]

Ollie, you do realize that you have created a better overview of the political map than the rulers of this time themselves had? Congrats on such a huge work. This must have taken ages to do.

[@xenotypos]

I still didn't understand anything at all. I like European history but the HRE is too much for me, such a weird entity, what were they thinking.

[@XalphYT]

xenotypos as a ruler of one of these little flecks of land, you were probably only interested in knowing your neighbours, your enemies, and your friends. All the rest of them were too far away or didn't matter.

[@desmondng5375]

I beg to differ, you had to know the respective alliances of everyone. Imagine declaring war on one of your neighbors only to find they're friends with both Russia and France.

[@disasterman52]

You don't have to imagine, play EUIV. I experienced something very similar my second game.

[@CalifornianMapping]

Desmond Ng Cough Austria-Hungary Cough

[@camembertdalembert6323]

this is why in the Grimm's tales there are so much lords, princes, princess, queens and kings, many from small kingdoms, sometime from one city.

[@scottbilger9294]

Didn't take much to be a king. A couple villages and a river crossing. Official sanction from The Church, and long live the king!

[@alvarodavid9566]

Great observation.

[@dolsopolar]

Yeah

[@figtree_video_archive]

So fairytales take place in the Holy Roman Empire

[@camembertdalembert6323]

@@figtree_video_archive at least those written by the Grimm brothers who were born in the Holy Roman Empire (and died in Germany)

[@TheHunterTheory]

"since then, Germany has existed as a single, unitary state" Eisenhower and Stalin: "I'm about to end this man's whole career"

[@theidiot5496]

More like Britain france russia and the usa where about end this countries career

[@medic2289]

also germany isn't a unitary state, it's a federation

[@Rauruatreides]

Similarly, yhe German Empire wasn't a nation, but an empire. It was a s politically unified as Austria-Hungary, but it had nationalism on its side.

[@plarteey1316]

@@Rauruatreides and that nationalism worked because they all spoke German unlike Austria where they spoke including but not limited to- German, Hungarian, Czech, Russian, Polish, Italian, and whatever the balkins speak (Slovenian, Croatian? Are those languages or peoples of those countries) etc you get the point it was divided ethnically and politically

[@putuwahyuprabhawaadiwidya2169]

Helmuth Kohl: "Impressive"

[@markTheruler]

who stopped at 1444?

[@rodrigoeduardodeoliveiraba2472]

me! imagine if the borders on the game were like the ones on this map. half the tags would be hre members

[@TheBlondfrog]

+Mark Ze "Europa Universalis 4" reference iz real! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@brunocarlos3931]

+Mark Me, because EU4.

[@limon16025]

+Mark Who didn't?

[@razzl8219]

+Mark I was like 1440, 1441, 1442, 1443 and~ 1444 Europa Universalist 4!

[@WallaceDegamoMaiXyzxyzIsGuud]

Imagine Geography Lessons in 1231!?!

[@WhyheyCorp]

You think the state capitals are bad? Wait till you are tested on HRE microstate capitals

[@WallaceDegamoMaiXyzxyzIsGuud]

Whyhey Corp oh dear God no...

[@icelandcountryball7912]

+Harrison Shone ok Nassau,saxony,Saxe-coburg-gotha,Saxe-Weimar , Cologne , Munster , Baden , Wurtemberg , Bremen , olden burg , flopped burg , Prussia , Brandenburg , Liege , anhalt , Aachen , Bavaria , Nuremberg , Schleswig Holstein , mecklenburg ,Hannover , Schwerin , Hamburg , Lübeck,!Austria,Bohemia,. Well that's all I remember without looking at Eu4 or Victoria 2

[@necropants9971]

+Iceland Countryball münster. Munster is a province in ireland

[@icelandcountryball7912]

Stephen Clancy I know.

[@brainwasher9876]

This is what happens when a bunch of dukes and barons decide that they each need to be their individual special snowflake.

[@cicero1178]

Yet it was still a cultural powerhouse.

[@brainwasher9876]

Cicero politics =/= culture. The likes of Bach and Strauss did not write their works of ground-breaking music because their lords and barons decided that Eisenach needed to be its own, couple hundred acre state.

[@cicero1178]

Andrew Wang Valid point. Though I still like the Holy Roman Empire in general.

[@jacques8221]

Or as Voltaire said: "the Holy roman Empire, is not holy, not roman, and its not an empire"

[@cicero1178]

jaco Well he has a little French bias.

[@eisenfaust2888]

0:13 What the teacher tells you on the test 2:20 What the test actually is

[@cookieman3418]

Eisenfaust OOF

[@euproductions8615]

XD

[@marekvrbka]

Bohemia be like: Screw your fragmentation.

[@MaccaveliPL]

Not quite, Bohemia was really fragmented too, especially Silesian duchies.

[@Quickshot0]

So the fragmentation had fragmentation as well?

[@RummyLPs]

that is Feudalism for you :P

[@adamvanek5868]

Silesia was fragmented until the 14th century. During the bohemian reign over there, the country was "unified". The lands of the Bohemian Crown were actually very stable. Even as a part of HRE, the czech culture caused that this state always stood a little bit apart from the rest of the empire but the king was one of the electors and had a mixed (both czech and german speaking) court, but there were no imperial offices or properties there (unless the king of Bohemia was the Emperor). But even later under the Habsburg rule, "The Crown" was a realm being composed of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia that didn't change their shape that much (geographic reasons). Only the Silesia (as shown on the video) was divided into two parts that last until today. :-)

[@Punaparta]

Helvetia and the Netherlands had the same idea. Then came the Westphalian Treaty, and they were like: Screw your whole "empire".

[@AntonioBrandao]

It's pretty cool to have a Nation where so many smaller dukes, counts, lords and bishops locally run small areas. Lets these areas have a bit of their own identity, and self-manage in many ways. I lived in Germany and I could see the rich cultural effect it had across the country, even centuries after.

[@Risenoph]

Yes but that proved bad when Napoleon invaded

[@Icetea-2000]

It wasn’t a nation. I swear to god, people today have no idea what that word even means

[@Icetea-2000]

@@Risenoph Not necessarily, some states aligned themselves with Napoleon. Most notably the Bavarians who got their Kingdomship from Napoleon

[@AntonioBrandao]

@@Icetea-2000 the HRE is hotly disputed to fit any specific statehood definition, so you’ll just have to understand what I mean, which is certainly not to pretend I know better than others to end that dispute.

[@Icetea-2000]

@@AntonioBrandao What I mean is that nationstates in general didn’t exist at the time. Arguably the first nationstate was the first French Republic. Though the definition can become messy, since you could argue the English commonwealth of 1649 after the revolution was that too. Because in general the lords reigned over people with the people themselves not having any control over their politics. Nationalities always existed, but nationstates did not. But generally it is agreed upon that the ideas and widespread conscious discussion of national identities only really started in the late 18th and early 19th century, particularly in France from the revolution and in German lands as a response to the Napoleonic invasions and a unifying desire of liberation, and then throughout the rest of the century due to a desire to unify all german realms.

[@kasane1337]

So this is what it actually looked like in 1444...bloody hell.

[@markmeyer-delvendahl9766]

EU4?

[@TiyZzi]

Now try to get the last Reichsreform. :)

[@mg222.]

EU4 has actually done a decent job with it. It's nearly impossible for a game to try to represent that mess

[@kasane1337]

MG222 That's why there even is a mod for EU4 which limits the world map to the HRE but therefore adds every state, province etc., called "Voltaire's Nightmare" ;D

[@kasane1337]

TiyZzi That would actually be easier, considering the huge amount of princes in the HRE that would boost Imperial Authority extremely ;P

[@jemoeder51]

The Netherlands are just like 'alright lets get the fuck outta this mess'

[@AwoudeX]

it took them a mere 80 years of war, starting in 1568, ending together witht the 30 years war, but the overlord was Spain that needed to be kicked out, not some German dude far away. We actually got support from german states during our war of independance. It had something to do with catholic/habsburg hegemony being too suppressive for too many peoples. After cleaning up the mess, the Dutch became hegemons on the world's oceans untill the English took over (because the silly Dutch put one of their own on their throne and ended a very long time of turmoil, look up 'glorious revolution')

[@AwoudeX]

why is it mean? It was the year when our independance was accepted by the international community of that time. The Spanish weren't inclined to grant us that till after the 30 years war, though there was a long period of next to no hostilities before that huge religious conflict.

[@JipSlinger]

BMAN488877 fuck off you dumbass hater

[@ronaldderooij1774]

uhm look up "bommen berend" the bishop of Münster supported the Spaniards.

[@TexasViking_INFP-t_5w4]

Dutch and German sound and look soooo similar. I can imagine how easy it would be to learn. I imagine it like this. So your a person from England trying to understand hardcore, deep south, ghetto American English and you've never heard anyone speak like that. Even being an American it was awfully hard the first time I heard someone speak ghetto. Honestly I couldn't understand anything they said lmao...i was so lost. I was raised in Colorado springs Colorado then moved back to were I was born with my parents in 10th grade in a very ghetto part of Texas and I was unable to understand them, at first. I mean, I could understand the country people just fine, just not the ghetto people...it took awhile till I understood and even longer to be able to communicate in the same manner, as most of them, at that time, wouldn't strive to understand me because I was the outsider you understand? And we we're in high school so they didn't need to understand American formal because they we're not required to until they decided to grow up and enter the real world.

[@idkboredlord1391]

0:27 my food left for one day 2:21 my food left for a month

[@AvRand6]

I find it interesting how East Francia, a single unitary empire, slowly had its subservient states become more and more autonomous until it existed as nothing more than a loose Confederation of Independent States, before Prussia just united all that shit into a single country once more.

[@Siegbert85]

Napoleon united a good chunk of it as well.

[@rachelsombo9045]

MacX85 yeah Napoleon was good to the Germans he loved the bavarians but hated Prussia because it was a false state not German but a former Slavic state ! That is the truth the Germans never accepted he helped to form Germany again the true one, east of the Rhine !

[@areulsois8411]

@@rachelsombo9045 no

[@zyanego3170]

@@rachelsombo9045 Prussia was originally baltic, not slavic

[@LamiNalchor]

@@rachelsombo9045 Napoleon did not exactly unite it, since he annexed the states. It was his achievement to dissolve the fractured particles.

[@thecitizenoftheinternet1077]

Eight worst nightmares of every mapper: 1. Holy Roman Empire 2. The Russian Civil War 3. The history of the World 4. British Raj 5. History of the Iberian Peninsula 6. History of Italy 7. Balkans 8. Caucasus

[@jonangorman6341]

balkans?

[@dodolulupepe]

balkans aren’t even that complicated most of the time they were very simple like for example half Austrian half Ottoman and in the modern day they only have 11 countries. (Moldova, Hungary not Balkan)

[@_o_69]

Where is .. Iberian and italian Histories?

[@thecitizenoftheinternet1077]

@@_o_69 Added

[@_o_69]

@@thecitizenoftheinternet1077 Niceee

[@domagojcapko4152]

Modern people: To many separatism today! Holy Roman Empire: Haha dude! You know nothing!

[@doesntmakeanysence2u]

so interesting to see the Czech/Bohemian borders are over 1000 years old... D:

[@KeepAnimeDegenerate]

+doesntmakeanysence2u Since they are natural borders as well.

[@kubamakovsky]

+ImperialKuatSystems haha yes they are

[@BritishPrivateer]

+Jakub Makovsky they were murdered by slavs FREE SUDETENLAND

[@Josh-vg2lj]

+ImperialKuatSystems You clearly have a remarkably loose grasp on actual history

[@fernandgoedele9020]

+Joshua Bechhoefer They were indeed deported, but if they didn't want to leave, they were murdered in most cases, and a lot of them died in Germany, due to lack of food, shelter and safety. This cannot be justified, however it's understandable that this was the reaction of the French, Czechoslovak, Polish and more people...

[@Taxrenn93]

HRE: Yo I heard you like border gore, so how about some border gore INSIDE the country?

[@sciblastofficial9833]

Taxrenn93 Holy Roman Empire: Yo dawg, I heard you like border gore, so I put borders within your borders so you can have border gore while there is more border gore

[@mcveigh1579]

Hre did the hoi4 trick before hoi4 was even released

[@scipioafricanus5871]

I 've heard border gore is the shit, but I've also heard too many story of people bad-tripping on HRE, maaaan!

[@scipioafricanus5871]

æ

[@dodolulupepe]

Unpopular opinion but I think the HRE borders look nice :)

[@Yora21]

Northern Germany had a tradition of "the oldest son gets everything", while in the south land was split between all sons. I didn't know that this actually shows a bit with the borders of the empire. The north isn't nearly as fractured as the southwest. Even today, farms in Northern Germany are generally much larger than in the south.

[@Randleray]

First part ist generally right. But the second is not. With the unification of Germany all the states at the Rhine cleaned out the fracmentation because it was not possible to do anything with extremely small patches of land. The reason why today farms in north and central Germany are still way bigger than in south Germany is because the south simply does not have large flat areas such as the north. Bavaria somewhat has large flat lands in the centre along the Danube, but the land ist mostly very hilly/and mountains and also a lot is covered in forrest.

[@EndreaiYT]

Teacher: the test isn’t that hard The test:

[@enzogamerukbr]

Me: **says everything in HRE**

[@xdgamer2765]

EndermanYT if the test s that hard just because of so many city states, you have to figure out the names, how the holy roman empire was organized and how it worked and where the holy roman empire all started, but i do know there was something called francia and italy had straight up land shoved up north and broke apart francia and italy collapsed a little and had random unknown countrys and west francia was dieing and then east francia was actually germanic and became holy roman empire and had random independent micro countrys around.

[@makinishikino7410]

Question 1: Name every state, every ruler, and what significant thing that state did.

[@EndreaiYT]

Teresa Wong everyone gets a F

[@videosJose2014]

@@makinishikino7410 That will take 2 hours for question 1 lol

[@INCASEHASUTUBE]

sometimes I wonder just how long you spend making these videos. you definitely deserve more subscribers

[@OllieBye]

+INCASEHASUTUBE Well this one took weeks, it's my second largest behind the War of the Austrian Succession, I think. And thanks for the kind words!

[@Sorellalunamistica]

+Ollie Bye (History) congrats.. where r u from?

[@OllieBye]

rahlovers The UK. How about you?

[@Sorellalunamistica]

+Ollie Bye (History) I knew it! haha.. because ur name. I'm brazilian. :)

[@OllieBye]

rahlovers Oh okay, nice to meet you!

[@algaedrone1833]

I don't think I would have wanted to be the Holy Roman Emperor. That's got to be a ridiculously complex system to remember who has allegiance to who, and where the borders are, and what the rules are for each place. It feels stressful just looking at it.

[@MaccaveliPL]

+Algae Drone "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal". Emperor didn't have any real power in the HRE.

[@Siegbert85]

+Algae Drone He didn't had much to do with most anyway. At this time he would have his personal dominions and the free imperial cities to govern. Those mini states governed themselves and any dispute would be discussed at the imperial diet.

[@JumaX9]

I find this answer very funny because it is probably what Charles V thought when he moved to Spain

[@nayR5]

How to be the Holy Roman Empereor: Step 1, becoming emperor: the HRE's "provinces" are divided into three groups, the very important ones, the kind of important ones, and the not important ones. The leader of a "province" is an inherited position. When the time comes to pick a new "emperor"; the leaders of the very important "provinces" would vote for a leader. Step 2, doing stuff: When the leader wants to do something, the motion would be elected on by the leaders of the very important "provinces". If the majority vote for the motion; it would then pass on to the leaders of the kind of important "provinces". If the majority of them vote for the motion; it is put into place. And then all of the "provinces" can choose whether or not to follow it.

[@genghiskhan5701]

Pre 1200, you are probably the most powerful man in Europe.

[@RandomRomain]

Two brothers were born, of the two, the one upset the other, the other killed him in return. Born with France, Remade France, Destroyed by France.

[@JohnSmith-1066]

1871 1940 Lol

[@MMadesen]

Not born by France, not remade by France, but it was destroyed by France. It was born in the split of the Frankish (not french) empire. The franks were a germanic tribe ruling both the romanized celts in gaull and the other germanic tribes in Germania. There were no french people back then, there were just gaulls ruled by germanic franks and germans ruled by germanic franks. I dont know, what you mean with reborn. If you mean the Rhine confederacy, it was shortlived and destroyed even before Napoleon was banned. Then the germans made their own german confederacy in Vienna. But the HRE was indeed destroyed during Napoleons wars against it.

[@MMadesen]

@@crusader1041 Not quite. The Frankish nobility spoke frankish of course, their own germanic tongue. This remained like that, until Karls grandsons split the empire into three. One part became the germanic dominated east frankish empire, one part the gaullic dominated western frankish empire. The middlefrankish empire was of short existance and soon was split between its neighbours. Only then the franks in east frankia adopted their populations vulgar latin tongue, which later became old french. The Gaulls adopted the name of their ruling german tribe and became the french. The Franks were neither the majority in Germania, nor in Gaull, they just were the ruling class in both. Its true that not all of the german tribes submitted to the Franks, the Saxons for example warred against the Franks. Still, the two states of France and Germany both are descended from the Frankish Empire. Even if French and Franks were the same, the HRE woudnt have been created by France but rather split of from France. If anything France was created by Germans. Their very name takes its roots from a german tribe, they were conquered by, after the romans had fallen.

[@MMadesen]

@@crusader1041 I agree in some points, your historical facts are relatively true. But wrongly interpreted. When the franks took over roman gaull, they firstly destroyed roman culture and lingua. They were conquerers and gave a piss about the people they conquered. Frankish culture is a part of the german culture, there are even today Franks in Germany and a big region called Franken. As you can see by looking at the names, the empire just split. Karl der Große (french vesion Charles), was a frank, he probably spoke latin and frankish, but not old french, the tongue of his gaullish subjects, a peasent tongue in his eyes. His grandsons were called Ludwig (der Deutsche) and Karl (der Kahle) french version Louis and Charles. These are german names, who where later frenchified. Probably during Charles the balds reign. While there are several Louis in the french royalty, there are also hundreds of Karls and Ludwigs in the german one. Chlodwig (Clovis) even shows, that the name Ludwig was the more related one. The reason, the Franks focused more on their western empire, the reason, why its called France until today and the frankish names remained in the french royalty far longer, is because in the eastern half, the frankish leaders were replaced by the merovingian dynasty, who made names like Otto, Heinrich (Henry) and others much more common among the german kings. The brother Ludwig and Karl also show, that the Franks ruled both Gaulls and Germans. It is clear, that Ludwig spoke frankish, probably also latin, Karl the Bald also spoke Frankish, Latin and was the first, who took real interest in the western population, the gaulls, as he spoke old french/vulgar latin. All in all, the frankish heritage just split, both subsequent empires traced their roots back to Charlemagne/Karl der Große, both nations have own names for them, they ruled both people and spoke both germanic and romanic tongues. But all in all, the franks are a germanic tribe and thus culturaly more german, than french. As can be seen by the names, which are neither gallish, nor latin, but german names, which where pronounced differently by the gaullish population.

[@T60601]

@@JohnSmith-10661795 1806 1918 1944 Lol

[@MrMario4president]

I don't like Feudalism. It's course, rough, and irritating, and it puts Karlings everywhere.

[@wommyu]

Hello there.

[@jeffreychandra912]

@@wommyu General kenobi!

[@wommyu]

@@jeffreychandra912 so civilzed.

[@vectorstrike]

It's over, Anakin. I have the high bordergore!

[@saurie7861]

"Bohemia- 1260"

[@jiripodivin5409]

Tiny correction: Bohemia was electorate from 1356 to the very end.

[@OllieBye]

+Jiří Podivín It was both an electorate and a kingdom. Either colour would've missed something.

[@Josh-vg2lj]

+Ollie Bye (History) Indeed, that was also a condition for Bohemia's continued cooperation within the Empire, which became controversial when Prussia desired the same treatment.

[@padalan2504]

and Moravia was independent territory since fall of Great Moravia, only connected to Czech kingdom(sometimes to someone else) by one man called "Markrabě". He had almost no privileges as far as running the state, but he had some privileges as far as defending Moravia was concerned.(kind of like a president, he was elected by "zemský sněm", a congress of nobles from Moravia, and it could be almost anyone, but mostly they voted for someone with Moravian ancestors and someone who is from a state that they needed to keep peace with.) He was only a titular head of the state. A man responsible for running Moravia was called "Zemský správce"(Land keeper) or "", this man was a head of the congress of nobles and was responsible for day-to-day running of the state. the reason why this is not widely known, is because during second wave of national revival, some poople tried to "change" the history, so it would be more exciting or whatever(glorified it), they even managed to change our national trees with german national tree.(originally germans had either ash, or linden, depending on certain areas and oak was rare and was used mostly in areas with strong slav influence, but linden was also widely used among slavs, so was birch and fir(linden was a symbol of Lada, and Oak was a symbol of Svarog)) And there were later attempts to glorify, lie about history again during ww1,ww2 and during communist reing.(in order to unify nations under one cause) (oh and I forgot about period after Battle of the White Mountain) so now we must go trough several hundred years of lies, to find real historical facts.

[@Josh-vg2lj]

Pada LAN Well Czech history is bloody interesting then!

[@padalan2504]

Joshua Bechhoefer Let me correct that: Czech, Moravian and Slovakian history :D

[@wv8d]

0:23 im fine 1:00 im still fine 2:00 *AAAAAAAAAAAAAA*

[@denniseggert211]

Most people: Game of Thrones is the most complicated politicial story ever. HRE: ..... You´ve no idea ....

[@rezandrarizkyirianto-1933]

Three Kingdoms: Amateurs...

[@lollllolll.]

@@rezandrarizkyirianto-1933 Modern balkans:Pathetic.

[@toledochristianmatthew9919]

Medieval European history would like a word with you.

[@user-ci3xy9fe5u]

Considering how detailed maps didn't exist at the time, imagine how hard it must have been to know where every microstate was in relation to one another, on top of memorising every single one. It must have been confusing as hell.

[@arnaldoenriquez6191]

Imagine crashing one of the parties like hey, I'm Baron of Whitehall Oh would you mind refreshing me on its location would you Sure it's between Blackrock and Rough Palace Oh I see. . . . And they would just have to roll with it 😂

[@galacticpenguintv6752]

Extremely well done Ollie. This video is very complex and clearly took a lot of time and effort to make. I think it is fair to say that this is the best non-war video that you have ever made. Superb!

[@roldanianmapping5357]

When you let bob ross at the peace conference...

[@nayR5]

More like M.C. Esher

[@cumunist2120]

@@nayR5 Jackson pollock

[@milosevicchannel7596]

"Thomas had never seen such a mess"

[@tondarubes]

I just realized how fucking old the west borders of bohemia or czech republic are. I think one of the most stable in-land borders tbh

[@afdalridwan3813]

Sudetenland

[@cloroxbleach9222]

Brandenburg, Saxony and Bohemia, states actually not full of confetti.

[@xdgamer2765]

Cloгох Блять those are independent states OR recognized as micro countrys lying around which were ment to be germanic.

[@Nicholas3412]

East Francia looked like West Germany...

[@Nicholas3412]

+Nicholas3412 (at the beginning)

[@Siegbert85]

Right, even today in Eastern Germany most town names have Slavic roots, most famously Berlin.

[@Antares88_]

MacX1985 Because polabian slavs lived there but then Germans came and either germanized them or send them away

[@dzezikus]

MacX1985 . there was slmist the same movid sbiut Germans. and you claimed Slavs came here because Germans went away. now you write the thrue that germans just colinized slavic tribes. polabian slavs were autochtons and germans were new here. and that id dimole true. i can admire germand how they ruled slavs during ages but i hate the lie that germans were first here in central europe. slavs are autochtobs snd germans came much much later from scandinavia.

[@dzezikus]

i appologize for miss typing. it looks my google vocabulary did some stupid corrections.

[@yohanesm4375]

Any Germans here? I have a few questions: 1) How much of the Holy Roman Empire do you learn about at school? 2) What are the main things about the Holy Roman Empire that you learn? 3) How much detail do you go into? Do you really have to learn a lot of that? And most importantly 4) If someone like me wants to learn about the Holy Roman Empire but doesn't want to learn all of the obscure details, what are the best things to focus on? How much detail is necessary and how much is sufficient? Thanks for your help!

[@Siegbert85]

1. hardly anything really. We learned about Charlemagne and the division under his grandsons. It was so superficial that I was under the impression there hadn't been an empire at all. Sometimes "Kaiser" was mentioned but I didn't know which territory was attached to the title. 2. As I said: Charlemagne, later the Golden Bull, Ostsiedlung (settlement of the East), reformation, 30 years war... but most of those things don't actually have much to do with the Empire as it is. It's rather things that happened within it. 3. No, not at all.. The only times we looked at a political map was in 843 (division of the empire) and then again in 1648 after the 30 years war to illustrate how fragmented "Germany" (which I didn't think was part of a greater polity back then) was. 4. -You need to know how it started: division of the Frankish realm -East Francia under the Saxon(Ottonian) dynasty -the Roman imperial dignity being bestowed upon the German rulers -The annexion of the kingdoms of Italy and Burgundy which together with Germany made up the HRE - the big medieval dynasties: The Ottonians, Salians and Hohenstaufen. After the Hohenstaufen there was a longer period of lesser houses rivaling for the crown essentially starting the fragmentation. - the Reformation which started the devastating 30 years war - the rise of Prussia rivaling the Austrian rulers - Napoleon destroying the Empire

[@yohanesm4375]

MacX1985 Wonderful reply, thanks so much.

[@sapujapu6323]

We dont really learn a lot about it. German history in general gets swooped under the table. The only thing we speak about is prussia (wich appeared hundreds of years later) And austria. Of course we also speak a lot about Karl or Otto, and a few things about Alsace-Lorraine and how it is rightfully french and all that. Many germans dont like our history, wich is, looking at the last 100 years, understandable. Soo we dont learn a lot is what i cant tell you.

[@12tanuha21]

+Sapu Japu Habt ihr nicht die 3 Stände (Adel, Kleriker, Bürger) durchgenommen? Also Baueraufstand, 30jähriger Krieg, Barbarossa usw.

[@sapujapu6323]

12Tanuha Manglehaft, haben wir 2 Unterrichtsstunde mit beschäftigt

[@jacques8221]

Thank you Bismarck and napoleon !!! or geography would be my worst nightmare!!!

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Jacques Bismarck didn’t fix anything. Imperial Germany’s internal borders are almost as bad

[@croisaor2308]

NCR Master Race Internal borders of many nations are messy. They are really irrelevant though as long as they exist within a central state.

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Croí Saor imperial Germany’s internal borders have tons of enclaves and exclaves tho

[@wildfire9280]

@@goldenfiberwheat238 They really don't.

[@jrdardonl]

Hope you can keep that opinion in 50 years from now...

[@trygvek]

I wonder if people living in the H.R.E was patriotic against the states that they lived in, or if they were even aware of which state they were living in. Imagine a street crows marching in the streets celebrating the national day of Schamburg-Lippe or Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel or something. lol.

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Nationalism wasn’t a thing until the 1800s

[@Arcaryon]

To put it into perspective; most people were not really patriotic in the way nationalists are proud of their country. Nationalism did not exist in the same way we know it today but let's just say that belonging to one king, speaking a certain way and sharing certain cultural traits would likely have been enough to feel a sense of unity. To really understand this however, you have to understand that countries are fundamentally dependent on the idea that a group (us) is different from foreigners (they) - which is why German nationalism only really formed after the thirty years war, intensified during Napoleons invasion and wa s catalysed by Bismark afterwards. What I mean by that is, that most people only become truly patriotic when confronted with something different and going by this logic, I am almost certain that each duchy, each town and each village felt connected to it's place in the Reich, had rivals and friends and to conclude, was in a perhaps less defined way, patrioticm

[@duwang8499]

@Matthew Scholz Nope, it wasn't. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Brunswick-Wolfenb%C3%BCttel

[@Kai-tn4yx]

@@goldenfiberwheat238 The concept of nations existed (e.g. there were "nations" at universities in Germany, like German nation, French nation, Boheman nation etc.), but it was not the main focus of identity. Religion was more important.

[@nurval1093]

those microstates were formed only by monarchs. you only needed power to create a state in the HRE.

[@HipFire1]

Bohemia: those Germans and their crazy borders

[@kylemcmullan2831]

Incredible video. The amount of research this must have taken is astounding. Most HRE maps just say "minor states" even when just looking at one moment in time. While I have no doubt there are very minor states clumped together, this video clearly took time and dedication.

[@jackodees1765]

It's quite impressive that some borders from before 1000 are almost the same as in the present day. Czechia, the German-Danish, the German-Dutch and the German-Polish borders look quite a lot like they do today.

[@COPROO]

I agree with the the first points but the border between Poland/ Russia (when there was no Poland) and Germany has changed multiple times. As I've stated, there were times where Poland didn't even exist. After the Napoleonic Wars and during the Unification of the first United Germany, there was no Poland. During World War I, Germany released Poland out of the Russian Empire after making peace with them to concentrate on the western front, even though it was actually a puppet state, installing the first political border between a German and a Polish state. After Germany lost WWI, Poland gained land from Germany (A part of Lower Silesia, Poznan, Gdynia, Danzig) and Russia (parts of now-Ukraine and now-Belarus). As we all know, that changed again when Poland was split up between the Soviets and fascist Germany after it didn't accept the ultimatum that Germany has sent them (they wanted to get Danzig back). After Germany then lost WWII too, Poland had permanently lost their eastern land to the Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus and "in exchange" was rewarded with eastern German states and the southern part of eastern Prussia (the northern part is the exclave we call Kaliningrad nowadays). TLDR; there were definitely notable and important border changes, especially Poznan/Posen and Gdansk/Danzig have been switched between these two countries a lot.

[@theyoten1613]

The western Czech border is among the oldest in Europe, and you can see it from space, cuz it's all forested mountains.

[@arnoldyuii3101]

what if your teacher said make a European map in year 1202

[@cyruspasglop]

well, you would just put blobs for Austria, Bohemia, maybe a few others, and then merge the rest into an entity called "FUCK IT I'M DONE

[@ironwolfnl7365]

draw the large nations in europe, leave the hre open, and call it one country.

[@Siegbert85]

Well, it was. There isn't really a good reason for drawing every inner border. Those fiefdoms weren't sovereign polities.

[@belstar1128]

That was something you did at a high end university like oxford back then.

[@Hugh.Manatee]

The counties, duchies, margraviates, bishoprics, free cities and republics of the HRE had a good deal more autonomy than their counterparts in France or England or Hungary. The degree of autonomy varied per fief and over time.

[@BlackCommissar]

Holy Roman Empire: Oh boy, it's seems like I have too many regions... Prussia and Austria: Say no more

[@vincentbj84]

Génial ! Un énorme travail

[@y33t23]

Well done. Btw. HRE is like abstract art. It gets stranger and stranger over time, but if you interpret for a while, it all makes sense.

[@skatesuperbaby]

That happens if feudal lords take drugs.

[@plarteey1316]

No no no alcohol maybe but I bet ya if they got a hold of any of the good stuff it would have been an even bigger mess

[@dinubreu7477]

NICE. Exactly what I needed.

[@dinubreu7477]

+Dinu Breu Although I do think that the shape of the south-eastern part (bordering Switzerland) after 1815 is a bit off.

[@OllieBye]

+Dinu Breu Oh yeah, I know which bit you're talking about. Not sure how that happened.

[@SouthwesternEagle]

Absolutely superb work! That must have taken FOREVER to research all of this and put this video together!

[@ahmedbassam400]

The amount of work that went into this is fascinating.

[@tummywubs5071]

Someone in France in the late medieval ages "Hey honey! Lets go on holiday!" Where do you want to go? "Oh that country past the holy roman empire" WHAT HAVE YOU DONE...

[@freedomisfromtruth]

They would had a great time in Poland, if they deserved it and werent acting entitled

[@Xtrems]

so holy roman empire was not holy, nor roman, and not an empire, right?

[@OllieBye]

It was all three at first. It was Holy, because much of its territory was governed by Bishops (bishoprics), it was Roman because it controlled Rome, and it was an Empire because its borders extended over multiple ethnic groups. These three qualities were gradually lost, however. It wasn't Roman after the 12th century, because Rome withdrew from the Empire as the capital of the Papal States. It was no longer an Empire after 1648 with the peace of Westphalia, as only one ethnic group really remained in its borders - the Germans. And then it was not really Holy by about 1800 because Austria and Prussia had begun secular mediation within a lot of the ecclesiastical territories.

[@Siegbert85]

+Ollie Bye (History) The term was pure propaganda if you ask me. It was called "Roman empire" because they said that the ancient Roman empire never ceased to exist but shifted from the Romans to the Greeks and then to the Germans. It didn't necessarily have much to do with the possession of Rome. In fact I don't think they ever did. It was as you said part of the Papal states. Emperor Otto I. confirmed it in 962 and so did emperor Frederick II in 1213. The "Holy" part was a reference to the divine right in which the emperors ruled rather than being a vassal of the pope which was not clear in the 11th and 12th century.

[@OllieBye]

MacX1985 The name certainly boosted the prestige of the empire, yes, but it was justified earlier on at least.

[@Siegbert85]

Ollie Bye It wasn't even very specific in the beginning considering its extents. In the age of Charlemagne in the West there was the Frankish kingdom only. Then him and the pope made up the concept of translatio imperii which made him the emperor of the Romans without having a Roman empire to work with. It was interpreted that all of Catholic Christendom was part of this Roman empire which surely made more sense than in later centuries just calling the German king "emperor of the Romans" and limiting the "Holy Roman Empire" to German speaking lands and a bit of Northern Italy. At that point the term was merely wishful thinking, I would say, just as Voltaire so precisely mentioned.

[@pleasenohate7505]

+Ollie Bye (History) it didn't control rome. only a other parts of Italy

[@jadenearl5312]

thanks ollie for putting so much work in to creating a beautiful display of something so complex.

[@sniippiggydigg]

Love how you included the successor collective states after the 1806 dissolution, nice job

[@SuperMilkyWay]

HRE/East Francia in 843: Fine and good HRE in 1231: I wanna be a 1000 piece puzzle

[@napolien1310]

Every small leader: "mine mine mine mine mine mine mine"

[@neckreth]

wow kudos!! I am impressed by your effort!

[@jackpallace275]

Thank you for such a wonderfully informative and entertaining history. Remarkable achievement.

[@jakemapping2868]

excellent

[@laurenfreeman6867]

(reads title) Absolute madman. This must have taken so long to make.

[@JuanLizardKing2]

Thanks for these excelent and useful videos!!

[@gavout1511]

Actually using this for a project! Thank you so much!

[@OllieBye]

I suggest you use the 2017 version (History of Western Europe: Every Year). I'm also working on a 2023 version at the moment.

[@cawish6721]

dude this is literally the best.

[@miguelnunes3]

HRE: No one can be a bigger mess than me! EU:Hold my beer.

[@A_annoying_rodent]

African union: hold my Umqombothi!

[@aglassofmilk5779]

LOAKM ​ LMAO burn

[@hoseadavit3422]

CK2: Cute now see a real border gorw

[@Arcaryon]

USE?

[@berthold64]

EU is basically modern Holy Roman Empire (kind of)

[@emolohtrab3468]

Great presentation of context, great presentation of the territories continue like that it's great and thank you!

[@Herrminius]

Wonderful! Great job!

[@nesossin]

This makes me want to play EU4

[@MrOwnerandPwner]

Amazing!

[@ceplio]

+MrOwnerandPwner Fantastic!

[@brunocarlos3931]

+Problem ? Astonishing!

[@grifforuss8964]

I want someone to put a "to be continued" meme at the end.

[@vusalhumbatov5511]

+Grifforuss ij

[@hyunhokim5912]

Thank you so much for your contribution. Your works help me to deepen understanding of World history. Thank you so much again.

[@georgeheld1901]

Outstanding! Bravo!

[@warbosspapasmurf]

nice job

[@talhahhussain5603]

The comment section: *Europa Universalis IV memes* Crusader Kings II: Am I a joke to you?

[@theonebman7581]

Unironically this tbh

[@RabiaNWCougar33]

You are a total maniac! I love it!! Needed something like this for years! :-)

[@JM-vw3zb]

No matter what the video is about, when i see hard work, good honest work- it makes me smile. Good work, keep it up!

[@cheydinal5401]

Great video, I can't even imagine how many hours it took to get every single state just right :o

[@Tomenable]

Great video but with a few mistakes - the expansion shown in 0:35 - 0:36 against the Wends did not take place in 920, but was taking place gradually from 928 to 963 (including the battle of Lenzen in 929 and the battle on the Raxa in 955). Later the video is correct - in 983 they lost north-eastern parts of those lands, while south-eastern parts remained under their control. Another mistake, as far as I know, is with Bohemia - which became part of the HRE later than according to the video.

[@spyrospycrab1815]

I remember using this for a project and man is trying to find certain acquisitions and losses in the HRE hard and their reason for incorporation or loss took so many hours to research. Though ive gotta say this video made looking at them much easier.

[@cchanc3]

fine job, Ollie. cheers

[@InvictusByz]

Is it bad that I recognized the final song as Gott Erhalte Franz den Kaizer?

[@InvictusByz]

+achimvr Sorry friend, I do not speak or read German.

[@facefish4963]

+InvictusByzantium he asked if you would like to have the hymne back

[@trygvek]

I did aswell, lol.

[@Reiqi420]

+Facefish I would :)

[@facefish4963]

+Richard Spurný yes its pretty good :)

[@nintendologic5087]

"Since then, Germany has been a single, unitary state." East Germany: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@Judah132]

If Prussia could, they would have turned the German Empire into one unitary state

[@matthewchristiansen9978]

Yes.

[@mint8648]

Today’s austria and Liechtenstein: “am i a joke to you?”

[@georgeheld1901]

Thanks for giving Centennia Historical Atlas its due, I just checked it out and it is amazing!

[@martinpsi2705]

Lot of work! Great job:-)

[@ohjahohfrick9837]

I read that the massive decentralization in the HRE occurred when the Emperor gained the lands in Naples, spending most of his time there to try to get it under reins with the expense of having to grant a lot of autonomy throughout the empire. So it wasn't surprising that right after gaining the lands in Naples(@2:09), many of the Dukes received upgrades to their ranks, with the notable inclusion of the Duchy of Bohemia becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia.

[@depressitch457]

I've got no idea what's happening and I absolutely love it

[@nicklatino7157]

I love the music from the year 1000 to 1200! It is awesome and funny, because it goes along so well, with the HRE expanding into like several hundred different states

[@hamdifouzai4713]

congratulations i like your works thank you

[@northchurch753]

"The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire" -Voltaire

[@agentmmm2178]

In its beginning the Holy Roman Empire was an empire and it owned the city of Rome.

[@niccolorichter1488]

fucking stupid Voltaire qoute Yes it was all of those things It was an empire , a large teritory with many etnicities (yes) , realm ruled by an Emperor (yes ) Holy , well the idea was that the Emperor dint need Pope to bee Holy thats why Emperors became claiming that they empire was holy And Roman well not only did the empire control the city of rome during the first 200 years but also the idea of Roman Empire in madieval times is somthing completly different than what you think in modern times ( and as Voltaire would as well ) and what Ancient people believed . In mediaval times The Roman Empire was THE EMPIRE the last of the 4 empires , the bivblical last universal empire , ruling everyone ( imperio universali) and How did the HRE had clim to that well the Pope crowned them in a line form Charlomagne himself who became Emperor becase the East was without one (Irene being a women ) AND THE EAST DID MULTIPLE TIMES RECOGNIZES HRE EMPERORS AS ROMAN EMPERORS IN THE WEST

[@tugboat2030]

"Henceforth, Germany has existed as a single, unitary state." Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt have entered the chat.

[@johnkeefer3183]

tugboat2030 THIS IS A REDDIT MOMENT

[@LorKen17021991]

This commentary is pretty stupid. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt fought against Germany in World War II...But Germany existed as a single, unitary state prior to the first World war.

[@johnkeefer3183]

LorKen17021991 Ikr, comments like this are the black mold of the Internet.

[@kreuzritter4898]

@@LorKen17021991 You know something like West and East Germany genius?

[@thegreenbaron6439]

Germans today be like: we do not speak of the years 1914-1989

[@mint8648]

great video btw

[@dawnemile4974]

Loved the music.

[@lmaocetung]

Respect to our brothers from holy Roman empire! 🇦🇹🇨🇿🇩🇪

[@georgiebadr3479]

🇸🇾🇹🇨🇹🇹🖤🇺🇳🇹🇲🇰🇲🇨🇻🇷🇼🇨🇭🇶🇦💔🇹🇨

[@tonypierson1939]

6:17 It’s Beautiful!

[@FrozenaoDM]

I’ve been studying this, and this video is so accurate and detailed!! Awesome job!!

[@itsjohnnyboi3214]

So pretty much just a bunch of petty kingdoms inside of a bigger blob called an empire whose emperor really had no power over his vassals

[@wuestenfuchsxy]

+itsjohnnyboi not exactly. So pretty much just a bunch of petty kingdoms, and many lower rank realms inside of a bigger blob called an empire whose emperor had sometimes more and sometimes less power over his vassals. The same way it was in other kingdoms in the middle ages. Just because France was one big kingdom it doesnt mean it had no vassals inside who did what they wanted sometimes. The difference is the empire did not the right right steps to become a centralized power like France or England. Here some very powerful emperors for you: Otto I., Frederic I., Frederic II., Karl IV., Karl V., Maximilian I. and many more.

[@itsjohnnyboi3214]

***** by petty kingdoms, i didnt literally mean kingdoms. i meant as in they ruled their fiefdoms like petty kingdoms, since there wasnt much centralized authority to be accountable to.

[@xenotypos]

Some emperors had power it seems. I heard that Frederick Barbarossa (ruled from 1155 to 1190) was considered the most powerful ruler in Europe. Well it was the exception though.

[@sexyohhenry4192]

xenotypos so powerful, he got into Civ 6

[@vanaik]

living in a city state in the HRE was probably much nicer than under a mighty despotic king elsewhere..

[@rmjohndoe66]

6:20 when your teacher say how difficult is the test 3:47 the test

[@kuribayashi84]

Huh, I just watched Suomis' "The Holy Roman Empire"-Vid and was about to ask him to make something similar that includes the borderchanges of the HREs various Microstates, but thought otherwise, thinking that it would be an exercise in futililty. And then you went ahead and did exactly that! :D

[@Tata-ps4gy]

Very good

[@dodolulupepe]

How to find Ulm in four easy steps (using 1444:) 1. Find Switzerland (It’s green, and you should know which one is Switzerland.) 2. Find the kind of small yellow thing a little above Switzerland. That is Baden. (?) 3. Then, the one to the right of it (the brown one that is bigger than Baden,) it is kinda hard to discern because it blends in with its neighbors, it is Wurttemburg. 4. Finally, the tiny tiny tiny black free Imperial city right below Wurttemburg is Ulm.