[alexander_busek]

Germany is ridiculous. Germans never recovered from their brutal civil war in 1612-1642 and the loss of their empire.

I always felt that things were never really the same after the demise of Otto der Große - though I suppose that an argument could be made that the Reich continued up until the execution of Konradin (the son of Konrad IV) in Naples in the year 1268, though we did at least gain an independent Italy, with Savoy, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Florence, the Papal State, Naples, and Sicily finally coming into their own.

Are you a student of history?

Regards,

[nickcarraway]

I’m a student history l. Germany didn’t exist until the 1860s.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

I always felt that things were never really the same after the demise of Otto der Große

I think so. By the beginning of the Thirty Years War, Germany's heyday was long gone, but that war utterly destroyed Germany.

From about year 1000, Europe's premier power was: Germany, followed by Italy, then Spain, Holland, France, England, and then no major power after WW2. The Poles and Habsburgs had nice runs in between, but never achieved "premier" status. And meanwhile, the Ottomans lurked outside.