A not-very-common-but-still-present AH trope is that following one or both of the World Wars, countries like Germany or Italy (depending on which side one in the ATL) which were not yet united until fairly recently in the 19th century, were re-split into their pre-unification constituent states. Now, that seems to me pretty unlikely, because it's not like there was much separatist sentiment in any of those countries (except perhaps in specific regions), and it doesn't seem like it was really considered by anyone during the war (the Morgenthau plan doesn't really count). Nevertheless, it hasn't really been that long since those countries were united, still within living memory in WW1 and even WW2, and strong regional identities still persist to this day. So is there any likelihood for this kind of plan to ever be considered seriously?
PC: undoing German\Italian unification in a post-WW scenario
- Thread starter Orko
- Start date
Grey Wolf
Donor
I don't think you could ever return to the status quo ante-unification, but you could certainly spin off regional entities approximating to some of them.
Bavaria retained a strong identity and its Regent was well-loved. In theory you could see it spin off as a separate state again in a German defeat. Interestingly with this scenario it would have a lot more viability than the idea of a surviving independent Bavaria had under Ludwig II, as the development of the internal combustion engine has seen a good amount of such industry, in automobiles, trucks, and aircraft, located within Bavaria.
Also, under the German Empire Bavaria was the kingdom which retained the most of its prior-existing independent institutions. It even continued to have independent relations with the Vatican IIRC.
Bavaria retained a strong identity and its Regent was well-loved. In theory you could see it spin off as a separate state again in a German defeat. Interestingly with this scenario it would have a lot more viability than the idea of a surviving independent Bavaria had under Ludwig II, as the development of the internal combustion engine has seen a good amount of such industry, in automobiles, trucks, and aircraft, located within Bavaria.
Also, under the German Empire Bavaria was the kingdom which retained the most of its prior-existing independent institutions. It even continued to have independent relations with the Vatican IIRC.
Not very without winners being able to occupy and motivated to split countries and ensure that they never unite. Both Italy and Germany had really strong national feelings regarding united Italy/Germany by 1914 despite that there was indeed lot of people who remembered times before unification.
Perhaps you can permantally split some areas like Bavaria or Sicily. But not much more.
Perhaps you can permantally split some areas like Bavaria or Sicily. But not much more.