The Holy Roman Empire was a Holy Freaking Mess.
It was basically a pyramid scheme without the pay off.
It ran for a chaotic 1000 years between 800 and 1800, with a brief hiatus of a few decades
as a result of a few feuds.
The Holy Roman Empire has been out of action for 212 years… but what if it came back.
Hello and welcome back to Life’s biggest Questions – the channel that loves to ponder
a multitude of topics from science to history – pop culture to myth and legends.
Today we are back on the What If Wagon as we ask What if The Holy Roman Empire Reunited.
Before we get into this question – I want
to ask you where you are from in the world?
Is it a big country or a small country?
If it
is a big country – do you think you are more proud of your city or state than you
are your country.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
Also while you are down there, why don’t you like and share this video with a friend
and check out the names of the people who put time and energy into this video in the
description box.
Stick around to the end of the video where I will be reading comments from a previous
one.
Okay so the Holy Roman Empire was In theory a unified state but in actuality it was a
total scatter diagram of territories.
It includes much of what is modern day Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, most of Belgium,
Austria , Slovenia, The Netherlands and some parts of countries – the north of Italy
and the East of France.
Except all of the countries I just listed were divided up further into various kingdoms
and territories.
The Holy Roman Empire was supposed to be ruled by a Holy Roman Emperor, and it was, kind
of, except they didn’t really have much specific governing power.
The empire was a vast feudal system with a series of powerful lords and smaller kings
with their own powers across different territories.
In the Holy Roman Empire there were over 100 feudal land deals, 300 imperial states and
no real sense of centralized power.
There also wasn’t a capital city – it kept shifting depending on who was in charge.
It was a mess.
And that was at a time that most of the empire were catholic and agreed on religion – nowerdays
if the Empire was back in ac, then it would be even further divided than it was back then
as now only 58% would be Christians, and 45% Catholic.
The rest would be mainly atheists and around 3-4 percent Muslims.
One of the issues back in the day was national pride.
While there was a central flag for the Holy Roman Empire, there wasn’t a real sense
of national pride.
But lets play pretend for a second shall we, and say that the country reformed again and
all was hunky dory.
Well, firstly the population would have increased over ten fold to 215 million, making it the
fourth largest in the world and the third largest economy.
I wonder if the flag would be revived or if the empire would create a new one.
Also, I wonder what the passports would look like.
Perhaps the country would need some rebranding to as the word empire is a pretty dirty word
these days.
Whatever the marketing - there would be a new world superpower on the map and Russia,
amongst perhaps others, would be threatened by such a strong force so close to home.
Okay, as we have dipped a toe in political waters – things have definitely changed
since 1806 and no one is going to take a country seriously without a capital city and a central
business hub.
This would likely be somewhere in Bavaria….most likely Munich.
When the Holy Roman Empire was on the go it was comprised mostly of German people, closely
followed by Italian and Austrian, then French….
Then a whole bunch more.
The issue with a reunification would be language – would everyone be forced to speak just
one…and which would it be?
This would likely anger people…and of course splitting Italy and France in half and segregating
parts of places that have been countries for hundreds or years would be a mess.
Oh, and would this not destroy the EU?
I think it would.
Politically reunification would be a mess – it simply couldn’t go back to a Feudal
system – Europe is now a hub for business and innovation, not landowners and peasants.
During the original Holy Roman Empire years there was a lot of squabbling and actual fighting,
including the 30 years war in which 25 percent of the population of the HRE were killed.
This kind of boarder change and enforced religious state could and would cause chaos today.
Sure, the Empire could be a new world superpower, but for how long?
I think the majority of those in former HRE territory are pretty happy to leave the Empire
in the past.
Honestly the topic of the Holy Roman Empire is so vast and complex and territories that
we could talk about it for hours.
We’ve kept it brief and the answer is basically Europe in Chaos, but we could go on for hours!
As with every answer here at Life’s Biggest Questions, there is always much more to discuss
so we would encourage doing so in the comments section and by continuing to read around
the topic.
So – what do you think – where are you from.
Comments from Can We Live On Titan?
Bara Turk Race said: Titan will be Earth when the star becomes
the Red Giant Star.?
Durron said: There is a correlation between crime and the moon's phase.
Apperantly crime peaks during full moon.?
Daniel P said: Rebecca Felgate, I love ya.
You sound and are so smart.
Great video.?
– ha thanks!
I knew that British accent would take me fair…and…some book learning!
Stay curious etc!