What if Germany didn't Reunify?

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]As World War II ended in calamity for Germany, millions dead, stripped of their ancestral homelands, divided between client states of their two enemies, arguably the greatest loss of all was the complete and total erasure of Prussia. The very state in which Germany was conceived. The Prussian traditions of strict hierarchy, militarism, and tradition were equally an liberal democratic vision in the west and the Marxist Leninist vision of the Soviets.

[00:00:29]When Germany finally reunified as Eastern block collapsed at the end of the 80s and early 90s, any semblance of Prussia was a long deadad thing of the glory days from ages gone by when Tutons used to be the ones leading the charge of humanity. Something the self- flagagillating Germany seems to dread today.

[00:00:47]Despite billions in Western aid, integration has proved far more painful than promised. With easterners treated as secondass citizens to some, their factories closed, savings wiped out, and their concerns dismissed as backwards and racist. Three decades later, the former East still lags far behind the West in wages, infrastructure, and opportunity, which has given the rise to the right-wing AFD party, fueled by resentment over de-industrialization, immigration, and globalization.

[00:01:15]If only there was something that used to unify these people together that had been stolen from them.

[00:01:21]>> H So today we answer the question, what if Prussia never truly died?

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[00:02:37]History was forever changed in 1944 when FDR dies earlier, so Truman took power a bit quicker. With Truman at the helm, Churchill gained a bit more influence over Allied strategy, electing to heavily back the Polish underground, smuggling British officers into occupied Poland to professionalized resistance networks, stressing their importance to the Yanks.

[00:02:57]Churchill repeatedly reminded Truman that Britain had entered the war in 39 to defend Poland. Handing the country over to Stalin on a silver platter would be politically ruinous for him.

[00:03:07]Truman, while still willing to cooperate with Stalin to finish the war against Germany, proved far more open than Roosevelt to working with European governments seeking to exit the conflict without total destruction or Soviet occupation. The Polish underground, now well supplied and trained, proved effective, liberating large swats of territory ahead of the Red Army, forcing the Soviets to steer clear of Polish controlled areas in order to reach Berlin before the West, which was still the ultimate aim. Unfortunately for Poland, they were a bit too successful for Truman. Aware that Western publics were heavily propagandized in favor of the Soviets, he had no desire to risk open war with Stalin, but they were advancing too quickly through Western Europe. American troops were exhausted and eager to go home, and communist agents within the US exaggerated the impossibility of defeating the Red Army in a conventional ground war. So Truman redirected Western efforts towards the Balkans after yelled the negotiations.

[00:04:02]At the conference, Stalin had grown fed up with Poles and began to mistrust the Western advances, so changed his plans, instead electing for a weaker Poland and a sizable German buffer to counter any future Western attack. In response to the agreement, Churchill covertly warned the Polish underground that they were being left out to dry, urging them to maintain underground resistance indefinitely rather than negotiate with the Soviets.

[00:04:27]Numerous Polish terror attacks destroyed Soviet rail lines, and they even managed to assassinate some high-ranking Soviet generals, incurring the wrath of Moscow.

[00:04:37]Because the Red Army was forced to fight both Germans and the well-armed Polish forces simultaneously, it proved less successful at ethnically cleansing the Eastern German lands during its westward push. Instead of the wholesale expulsion seen in our timeline, Soviet commanders focus on capturing key cities while keeping supply lines intact rather than controlling all territory.

[00:04:57]In return for slowing the advance in the north, the Allies poured far greater resources into the Balkans, just as Churchill had long advocated, working with Croatian and Slovenian nationalists against both Tito's partisans and the Cetnik to curb the spread of communism from Italy.

[00:05:13]By the time the war ended, the Soviets had reached Berlin first, but the Western Allies controlled the Balkans and most of Austria. The Red Army had not cleared the Germans from East Prussia and had only just captured Kunnburg days before the final surrender. As a result, most of the historic Prussian population remained in their homelands rather than fleeing west. Truman then made it clear that he would not accept the mass exodus of Germans flooding into western zones as there was already a food shortage.

[00:05:41]At the Potam Conference, Stalin, furious at the fierce Polish resistance, took little lands from the Germans. So the pre-war border remained largely intact, albeit in Salicia and East Prussia. It was obvious to Stalin that the West would never allow the two Germanies to merge into a neutral state. So he deliberately militarized his Eastern German puppet to deter any Western aggression and wanted to keep them strong enough to keep the restless Polish underground in check. Plus with the terror attacks from the Poles, he sought no reason to reward them. East Prussia, though remained a headache.

[00:06:13]Stalin had no desire to absorb millions of Germans into the USSR. Yet the west refused to allow their wholesale deportation. Poland and Lithuania likewise rejected them. So after tense negotiations, East Prussia was left inside the Soviet German zone, ensuring permanent distrust between Poland and communist Germany.

[00:06:31]Poland still lost most of its eastern territory to the USSR. But as they had not expanded westward, they retained their ethnic eastern lands as Stin promised the West they would hold free elections.

[00:06:43]Meanwhile, the allies created the western aligned republic of Croat Slovenia in the Balkans while Austria remained in the western camp. With that, Europe was settled for the time being with a democratic western Germany and a communist Eastern Germany, albeit a far larger one.

[00:06:59]The Soviets then stripped East German factories and machinery, but the territory's size and retained population left a state with a significantly greater industrial capacity than historically. The Romanian people were extremely bitter still. They remembered every Soviet atrocity, every stolen harvest, every murder, every rape, etc. But they worked within the system for now, though many quietly dreamed of reclaiming their rightful place as the masters of Europe. Stalin, long suspicious of the Vulca Germans, ethnic Germans who had migrated to Russia centuries ago under the Romanovs, ordered their mass deportation to East Germany to rid them from the USSR.

[00:07:34]Around a million of them were forcefully resettled, bringing their distinct dialect, work ethic, and deep resentment towards both the Nazis and the Soviets into East Germany.

[00:07:43]Because the Polish underground remained active and dangerous, Stalin had far fewer troops in Germany as many were tied down fighting Poles. This gave the new German state a bit more breathing room and responsibility to defend the border to the west. So almost immediately the National People's Army was formed, heavily drawing from Vermach and SS veterans who traded in loyalty for a newfound power. Denoxification allegedly took place, but as across the Soviet block, it was essentially a sham.

[00:08:11]Military experience and tradition mattered far more as they needed competent people in case the West decided to attack.

[00:08:18]These men quickly formed their own secretive society under the Soviet's nose. retaining many elements from the Reich and Prussia.

[00:08:25]It became very esoteric, blaming the recent losses on the Hunzol's mistake of granting southern and western Germans, especially the weak-minded Catholics who relied on a foreign leader of all people, influence in a German state, while they likewise blamed the Reich for the same problem. They were not purely Prussian. Religion was dismissed as weakening nonsense to them. A true state in their eyes would be purely Tutonic.

[00:08:51]When the 1953 East German uprising erupted because of economic hardships and repression, the stronger military seized the initiative before the weak politicians could rely on the Soviets, deploying troops in Berlin and industrial centers, crushing the rebellion in a bloodbath. For the command, killing the more extreme communists was an opportunity for an ideological purge to reshape communism in East Germany to their vision. Having quashed a rebellion without Russian help, the brass blamed the Stazzi, their only real threat, for not detecting the rebels and demanded control of all internal security. The party, worried about being replaced by the Kremlin for their failures in preventing the outbreak, agreed, fusing army intelligence with political police functions, creating a more visible hierarchical system of control outside of their hands effectively. Though the military was technically under them, it wasn't really. A few years later, Kruev's desalinization gave the East Germans more room. Needing oil satellites against a much larger Hungarian revolution, which was now joined by Poland. He rewarded Germans for helping him crush these revolts.

[00:09:56]Moscow returned parts of East Prussia from Poland, worsening Polish German tensions, making them mistrust each other so that they would be further relying on Russia to be an arbiter. Over the decades, a parallel government system emerged. On paper, the SED handled daily affairs, but real power laid with the army command. Political commazars militarized workplaces, universities, and media. Strikes became sabotages against the government.

[00:10:19]Production quotas became strategic military targets, etc. The military elite never truly trusted the communist party. They upheld Marxism Leninism publicly, but solely wanted to corrupt it to a more centralized militarized state. In the purest Prussian tradition, ideology remained secondary to strength and survival. The Soviets sort of tolerated this because the leadership stayed outwardly loyal. Unbeknownst to Moscow, however, the highest echelons were quietly funneling aid to the Polish underground, keeping the Soviets distracted and the Slavs bleeding each other out.

[00:10:56]What emerged was a formerly communist state run by a Prussian-esque military elite that outwardly aligned with the Soviet block, yet was fundamentally at odds with itself.

[00:11:06]Many of the officers never forgot who they were, nor stopped planning for the eventual day when Russia could no longer hold them back.

[00:11:14]Despite these vast changes in East Germany, the rest of the Cold War unfolded along familiar lines. The Soviet Union faltered throughout the 1980s under economic stagnation, military overstretch, and Gorbachov's reforms after 1985.

[00:11:27]By late 1989, as the Soviet collapse became obvious, the East German officers acted with calculated boldness. They quietly funded massive protests across the country, directing crowds to burn communist symbols. As the Prussian people had had enough of communism, the civilian government ordered the army to crush the crowds. Instead, after fully mobilizing, the troops joined the revolution, declaring it a war of liberation that they were now taking command of. On a cold November night, they tore down the Berlin Wall themselves, sending shock waves through both east and west. The East German army at this point outnumbered the remaining Soviet forces, and Moscow lacked the will or capacity for a war. A swift, bloody coup followed, grimly reminiscent of Romania's overthrow of Chaescu.

[00:12:14]Communist leaders were arrested, tried and in many cases publicly executed as an oligarchical military yont was established under the guise of a republic.

[00:12:23]>> West German Chancellor Helmet Cole proposed rapid reunification. But the East German government stalled after secret talks with Britain and France.

[00:12:33]They declined. Both powers offered economic packs, large investments, crucially agreed to seed their sectors of West Berlin, and recognition on the condition that they remained separate from West Germany and backed their new currency, the Reich Shalar, with the pound and frank respectively.

[00:12:50]France, haunted by memories of a united Germany, welcomed a strong independent neighbor on West Germany's flank, while Thatcher saw it as a way to keep the Germans divided and preserve continental influence for Britain.

[00:13:03]They then struck a final deal with Gorbachev, full independence in exchange for a pledge to never merge with West Germany and a gradual Soviet withdrawal.

[00:13:11]Then they announced the revival of Prussia to the world, alarming some.

[00:13:16]Washington and Bon were furious and demanded a referendum. The Prussians refused. State media claimed only 10% of the population favored unity and that they could not yet trust foreign actors would not interfere if they held an election. In reality, the number was higher, but the regime had no intention of risking power at the ballot box.

[00:13:37]A formal treaty with West Germany saw the two recognize one another as both the Prussian Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, renouncing claims on each other's territories while keeping the door open for a future merger, at least in the West. Germany agreed to strong investments, hoping economic ties would eventually pull the next generations towards unity. Poland watched nervously, but preferred an independent Prussia to unify Germany that would be far larger here. After tense talks with the two, Poland recognized Prussia and vice versa, and they accepted their current border.

[00:14:09]Though many Poles still distrusted Prussia. Lithuania though proved more complicated.

[00:14:15]When Red Army units moved to retake Vnius after its declaration of independence, Prussian forces massed along the East Prussian border.

[00:14:24]Facing a two-front threat, Lithuania struck a bargain. Memo would return to Prussia in exchange for recognition and support against Moscow. Stuck between Iraq and a hard place and still unrecognized by Western states, the deal was sealed immediately as the Prussian leverage scared off the Soviet forces without a shot being fired. Shortly thereafter, the USSR dissolved in 1991.

[00:14:47]The new Prussian government moved swiftly to restore Kixbury to its former glory as they were still unsure what their future capital would be initially.

[00:14:55]The Soviets had left the city 95% rubble, give or take since World War II, deliberately blocking the reconstruction to lord the victory over the Germans while they still controlled East Germany. But once the leeches were out, tens of thousands of workers began the painstaking revival. Cranes rose over the ruins of the city as the Konxburg Castle, the king's gates, Koigburg Cathedral, Boreshar Konigburg, the old Albertina University, and fortifications were all rebuilt. The city was deliberately crafted as a pure Prussian monument with a relatively blank slate to start from, so it was free from foreign aid that they said muddled Berlin.

[00:15:35]Part of its importance was that Berlin had become a headache. The Americans initially refused to hand over their sector before internal pressure became loud enough and they withdrew in 1996 as holding a small sliver of Berlin while the rest of it was under Prussia had become unfeasible and was unpopular back home.

[00:15:53]But by that point Kingsburg had already been declared the official capital of Prussia.

[00:15:59]Unlike Germany's culture of repentance, Prussia cultivated fierce pride in its traditions. The old black and white flag with the Prussian eagle flew again and old military marches were turned in parades and political propaganda. There were many celebrations of their military victories and the restoration of Koigburg was framed as a national reclamation. Although they didn't maintain any claims on other lands, most other states in Europe knew it was only a matter of time before they might get carried away. The leadership outright rejected a German identity, declaring themselves ethnic tutans, not Germans.

[00:16:34]The formerly hidden ideas blaming disasters on the weakness of southern western Germans became very mainstream there. The result was a highly militarized society that place discipline, order, and state power above all else.

[00:16:48]Additionally, the new regime recognized true independence from NATO or Russia required a nuclear deterrent. Though the Soviets had removed all nuclear weapons, the high command launched a covert program similar to Israel's. Civilian nuclear energy companies that provided cheap and clean energy to modernize the state and decrease reliance on Russian gas and oil were staffed by military scientists and former experts. They took over the massive uranium mines at SDG Vismut, which was one of the largest in the world. So the first warheads were very quickly operational near the end of the millennium. The major powers all knew the truth but couldn't prove it and the Prussians denied the existence of a nuclear arsenal to remain independent from sanctions or have international oversight of their program.

[00:17:33]Economically, the state began in difficulty but expanded rapidly. A state directed mixed economy welcomed foreign capital while keeping strategic sectors under tight military control. Corruption was ruthlessly crushed.

[00:17:47]Prussia remained poorer than Germany, yet quickly surpassed other postcommunist nations in living standards due to their superior work ethic and a long-term national vision that was only really capable because they didn't have a true democratic process. Though this came at the loss of freedom, tons of right-wing Germans, disillusioned with American influences in Germany, began to move to Prussia, pushing the culture further to the right, while Germany welcomed many liberal Prussians who wanted to live in a more open, free system. So in turn they became more liberal. Thus Prussia refused to join the EU or NATO. Though many of the former Soviet regimes like Poland still did here.

[00:18:26]Ultimately Prussia was a nation that looked both backwards and forward. Proud of its Tutonic heritage, heavily armed and determined to assert itself as a global hegeimon once more.

[00:18:39]Let me know your thoughts on this Prussian state. Is this a better outcome? Is it a worse one?

[00:18:44]I have a few other ideas for videos I've planned out, but I do want to branch out a bit more. So, if you have any ideas for topics about or adjacent to history, please give me some ideas below. You appreciate my work, please subscribe and consider supporting me on Patreon to chat with me, uh, get ad free viewing, maps, and more. These videos are only possible thanks to my patrons, generous support. So, if you want to help me out, please do so. Thank you guys very much.

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