German Restoration?

[Cory]

A pretty simple example: in 1868 the Kingdom of Prussia usurped the Kurfürstentum Hessen, the Herzogtum Nassau, the Freie Stadt Frankfurt and formed the Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau. In 1929 also the Fürstentum of Waldeck and Pyrmont was usurped and added to this Prussian province.

So a German restoration in which big boy Prussia simply bullied away the Elector of Hessen, the Duke of Nassau, the Free Citizens of Frankfurt and the Fürst von Waldeck und Pyrmont?

After 1945 the Allied Powers redrew the map of Germany. The present Bundesländer in Germany were created out of the former principalities, not always with an eye on history and with some misdrawings.

That task is so immense, that a return to the monarchy (which one?) would be alike opening Pandora's Box. And why? Germany is a powerful and wealthy state, directing the tone in the European Union and a mayor player at the world stage. Why would the honourable Bundespräsident in Schloss Bellevue ever make place for an unelected great-grandson of the last Emperor?

Your opposition to the restoration of Monarchy is certainly not new.
Depends certainly of what the Germans want for their future.

 

[Iolanthe]

Just this week there is an article about the last days of the German monarchy in the German newspaper Zeit. But it's not for free yet (and in German): 1918: "Eine Schweinebande!" | ZEIT ONLINE
If I find the time I will buy (and read) it next week and if you're interested I could summarize it.

From the few things you can read already it seems to be a pretty anti-German-Monarchy article, painting the abolishion of the monarchy as the true begininng of "our time". )

There is really no even slightly realistic scenario for a German restauration IMO. Some Germans (like me) might enjoy to read about the royal families of other European countries - but even to the most of them the idea of a (reigning) German royal family would seem rather odd and weird, maybe even frightening IMO.
That isn't necessarily connected to strong (theoretically founded) republican feelings, a monarchy just wouldn't fit in modern Germany. Maybe it has (among many other things) something to do with the (probably historically based) dislike of many Germans of ceremonial pomp (at least when it is executed by Germans) and the great distrust (so at the same time fascination) of rather self confident and seemingly powerfull personalities?
Also there is a great trust in the German Grundgesetz/constitution and the constitutional state - so no one would want to change it radically IMO. (Infact the institution of the Bundespräsident was prised highly by many journalists in the last weeks while the Bundespräsident tried to persuade the party leaders to try (again) to finally build a government - here an example, also from the Zeit: Frank-Walter Steinmeier: In dieser Krise ein Glücksfall | ZEIT ONLINE).

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Restoration is already difficult in states with a simple, centralistic structure: Portugal, France, Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, etc.

The German Kaiserreich was a sort of confederation of "sovereign entities". Not always with open heart and mind: many centuries old sovereign entities were just usurped by Prussia anyway. But now comes the point: how to restore the German Empire when the brickstones of said Empire -the sovereign entities- are ALL eleminated? Their successors are the current Bundesländer, each with their own Landesregierung, their own Landesparlament and the Länder have a seat in the Bundesrat (the Upper House) while all Germans together, irrespective their Bundesland, vote for the Bundestag (Lower House).

Why would a Bavarian, whose former royal family still lives at Schloss Nymphenburg in München, vote for a restoration of a Prussian royal on a German throne? The same counts for the people of Sachsen or of Nordrheinland Westfalen. The people from the Rhineland, or of Bavaria, or of Saxony, have not at all a favourable idea about Prussians.

On the scale of "The Throne Most Unlikely To Be Ever Restored" Germany is a strong Number One. That has nothing to do with my assumed anti-monarchal tendences: it has everything to do with a realistic assessment of the situation.

 

[Blog Real]

In Portugal it is possible if they make a referendum. In other countries I'm not sure. But I still have hope in some restorations.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

In Portugal it is possible if they make a referendum. In other countries I'm not sure. But I still have hope in some restorations.

Portugal has been a strong centralistic state for centuries. Incomparable with Germany which evolued from a confederation of sovereign states into a sort of federative Empire, into a republic, into a dictatorship, into two countries, into an re-united country but which had lost almost 1/3rd of the original size to the modern state it is now, drawn by the four allied powers after WWII. The situations of Portugal, where the European territory of the kingdom still is the same as the European territory of the republic and which always had (and has) a strong unitary state structure and Germany with its complicated system is incomparable.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Who would be Kings of Germany today?