Understanding the German mindset 

Another great video. There is one point though where I would disagree and this is the one at 8:55 whith the claim that Eastern Germans want Government solutions in difference to the Western Germans. It's actually a bit more complex. Many Eastern Germans are very suspicious about the government and the media, because of their bad experiences during the Communist regime. They have developed a sense to smell when things go bad and the massive decline after 1990 has attributed a lot to an attitute not to rely or trust the government. In the West on the other hand, most people had it really nice since WW2 and they are completeley oblivious towards government and media manipulation. They still fundamentally trust the public sphere, which is why they don't realize the adverse effects of more government control and increased public spending towards Socialism. This complete lack of understanding of the extremely negative experience made by Eastern Germans contributes a lot to the political, social and cultural frictions between West and East.

Acutally, Prussia had to be a "powerhouse" in order to avoid being a (Holy Roman Empire style) punching bag. Prussian militarism was a reaction, not the core problem.

Nowadays Germany is divided into Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd...

1) germany _did_ have a revolution in 1848/49. it didn't succeed in the long run, but saying germany didn't have a bourgeoisie revolution is like saying the french revolution didn't happen, just because napoleon I. and napoleon III. later became french emperors. 2) in west germany there were still former nazis in positions of power and/or influence (like judges, teachers, secret agents and politicians/political advisors) until at least the late 60ies / early 70ies - e.g. hans globke (one of the co-authors of the nuremberg racial laws, who later became the head of the chancellery under chancellor adenauer) or reinhard gehlen (who was a major general under hitler and later founded the german intelligence service BND). it took roughly one generation to get rid off the old nazis and remaining nazi ideas in west germany and was mainly initiated by those born after the war. i would even argue that it was a good thing that it was initated by this generation, because they weren't the ones who lost the war and they didn't need to pander to the western allies. they did it because they believed it was the right thing to do - not out of diplomatic necessity. 3) west germany didn't really _learn_ to solve regional problems on a regional level (in contrast to centralized solutions) _after WW2._ 'regionalism/federalism' is/was an old german(ic) tradition anyway and was applied for centuries - actually even millenia. in fact the east german centralism was actually 'totally ungerman' and is a relatively new phenomenon that only occured after the nazis took over and was continued by the socialist regime. west germany on the other hand just became 'typically german' (i.e. non-centralized) _again_ after the nazis lost the war. 4) the far-left (usually) isn't anti-immigration (anymore). they are however anti-EU though. other than that a pretty good analysis for someone who doesn't live in germany.

I have been born and raised in East-Germany and live in West-Germany now. One of the fundamental differences between East-Germans and West-Germans on the personal level is a much stronger individualism in the West versus a much stronger group-identity in the East. It took me more than ten years in the west to realize, that West-Germans don't call themselves "West-Germans". (Almost) only East-Germans use terms like "Ossi" ("Easterner") or "Wessi" ("Westerner"). Most West-Germans do not know that they are seen as some kind of foreigners - identified by their group-membership rather than their individual personality - by easterners.

Germany is like "Can I go to the toilet please?" "I don't know if you can but you're allowed to"

The idea that the Prussian culture was the reason that the NSDAP came into power is completely absurd. The old Prussian aristocracy was in strict opposition to the Nazis. Just because the two ideologies were based on militarism and authoritarianism doesn't make them the same (or even that similar). Edit: I honestly don't know what the fuck I intended to write originally but it certainly wasn't "The idea that the Prussian culture was the reason that the NSDAP is completely absurd." so I added "came into power " to make the comment less dyslectic. (Disclaimer: I do not have dyslexia, I just never proof read what I've writen.)

Soooooo much wrong in this video: 1. Prussia was defacto already dissolved in 1932 with the "Preußenschlag" by the German government at the time, leaving only an empty non-sovereign husk behind that was essentially just a mere cultural region from that point forward. 2. Crediting solely the Marshal Plan for the recovery of West-Germany is simply wrong, there were a multitude of other factors at play such as the currency reform and returning German soldiers in need of work, as well as a whole host of other beneficial factors. West-Germany received only a fracture of the total Marshal Plan funding, which was about the same amount as the Netherlands received. France and Britain meanwhile received tons more and were overall way less destroyed than Germany, yet they didn't see a meteoric economic rise in the way West-Germany experienced it. 3. It's "Pegida", not "Pediga". And they are not a party like the AfD or the NPD, they're a populist street movement basically. 4. The idea that the government ought to step in and help is not an exclusively East-German mindset, it applies to all of Germany. Since Germany is a highly collectivist society. Sorry, your stuff is usually really good Shirvan, but this one was not so good. Edit: Saw that the comment gained traction again, thus went over the grammar to make it a bit clearer to understand. Also toned down the language a bit.

Your economic and historical insight is strong, but your political analysis is dated and inaccurate.

Your Analysis of the prussian eara is incorrect. Germany had revolutions prior to ww1. They had little success but forced the Gouvernement to make some form of Parlament and recognise at least the people as a unignorable force in the country. And your Part on kapitalist conservatives leading to rascist socialisms is just a thesis without any reasoning. The later analysis of the current German state is fairly correct and interessting.

I usually think you do a good job of presenting material with an objective outlook, but lately this hasn’t been the case. This video in particular is heavily one-sided and simplistic. Seems like you didn’t delve very deeply into the “bourgeois revolutions” and are trying to portray Germany as some autocratic regime from the outset when the truth is not so simple. Germany wasn’t as liberal as say Britain or, to a lesser degree, France but it was far from what you’re implying. That coupled with your uncritical acceptance of Prussia being the root of nazism and your labeling of benign forms of nationalism as “extreme” really have me question either your research or your intentions. Not sure which is worse.

According to Alexander Clark, your views on Prussia are not right. They are based on the idea of ​​the "German special way". This view is clearly criticized and questioned in modern historical science.

Oversimplifieing many things After 1/3 of the Video is filled with halftruths and lies

This video is totally not biased /s I normally like your videos, but this one seems like not enough research was put in.

The "far right" AFD is quite similair to our SVP in Switzerland, which is our biggest party. So is Switzerland "radical" and "authoritarian" in your opinion?

1:30 While the revolution of 1848 ultimate failed in Germany, to say Germany wasn't affected is an understatement

Hi Shirvan, the idea that Prussian culture was the root cause of Nazism and German militarism has been touted for a while but recently there are some works out there that do a good job at arguing against this. I suggest “Iron Kingdom” by Christopher Clark.

"Prussia was the source of recurring pestilence, and that its destruction was a symbolic necessity" Churchill was dead right! And the video lost all credibility!

You are simplifieing too much Shirvan. First of all: I am a muslim turk that lives in Germany and I am not a fan of Pegida or die Linke. Now to the points you are simplifieing too much: -Pegida is arguably xenophobic, but not alt-right/far-right. For some strange reason, european rights have no issues with other european rights and a large portion of them don´t even have issues with qualified or well-behaving non-european foreigners. I had a friend in school that supported the NPD (a clear right party). In this regards, right parties don´t argue against migrants in general, but for preserving their own culturue, which is (to a certain degree) understandable. -Left or far-left parties on the other hand, are usually immigration friendly. They sometimes even exaggerate it with their diversity and what should be allowed and what shouldn´t. Die Linke for example might not be far-left, but they support the legalization of the PKK and openly support the PKK ideological wise. -What you ignore the entire time, is the fact that Western-Germany has traditionally wealthy cities. Hamburg, Frankfurt, Ravensburg and so on, were relativly rich, sometimes even super-rich cities/city-states. In Mannheim Mercedes was even found and up to this day it plays an important role in the automobile-industry. Eastgermany on the other hand has none of these, which is why a huge difference appears in the first place. However not even Westgermany has an equal standard. Munish for example is one of the wealthiest cities in all of Germany. The income there is significantlly higher than in almost all other german cities. The same goes for prices there. -The last thing I would like to mention (what you didn´t cover at all), is the shift from militarism to a trade-based-ideology/mindset. Your average guy in Germany is more worried about his income or his personal prosperity than the country or its military capabilities. This is not only stopping German aggression in Europe, but is also providing stability to Europe. That´s one of the most important aspects of the German mindset.

Did you base some of the "post-communist" mentality from your experience as an Azerbaijani?

I have to say, that I, as a German, can not really identify with most things said in the video. Despite of some mistakes (stated in other comments), this video does not reflect the German mindset very well. In my opinion, there was too much focus on the west-east conflict, which implies that this is present in everyday life. I am rarely confronted with this though. Far more important is our self-understanding with the impacts of the world wars, the genocide and the resulting educational goals. I do travel a lot and am involved in many cultural-exchange programs. As I experienced, what “differs” the mindset of Germans the most, is our sensibility for certain topics, that we try hard to be political correct, include people, I think everything that comes from a intense reprocessing of nazi-Germany history and the divided Germany. This is just one example of “what to learn” from this period, but I think it is great to show, that the solely focus on east-west issues is not drawing an accurate picture.

The remark about east german companies going bankrupt because of "inefficiencies" is not quite correct. During the currency conversion from Ostmark to D-Mark the government used a ratio of ~1:2. Good for everyone with savings in the east but bad for the state owned companies as they had loans from the state. The "true" value was around 1:7; so every company with a state-loan went virtually bankrupt overnight, regardless of production efficiency.

Damn you went plus ultra on the graphics this time around

I think it's an insult to lump the Prussians together with the Nazis. Prussia not only was a militarily advanced country, but it was also an economic and industrial powerhouse with modern east germany at its center. They are responsible for the unification of germany and their militarism was what made this possible in the first place. During the Weimar Republic the Free State of Prussia was the most democratically advanced country in germany and its militarism had already been undermined. It's very easy to characterize Prussia as the antagonist of the Nazi-Party during that period. After the second world war Prussia as a political entity had already perished under the Nazi "Gleichschaltung". It was only symbolically abolished by the allies. Due to the destruction during the war (which was focused on Prussia) and due to the communist occupation, the lands (which had been drastically downsized) and people of Prussia (of whom many were forced to migrate to west germany from their lands that were now repopulated by poles and russians) were completely obliterated and forgotten. Now - you could say - the last remnants of this once thriving country, who hate the way they are now treated by west germany, are regaining a local and national identity, which is very distinct from prior german identities. And you just stigmatize them as "radical". Now the new left just continues what Nazis and communists had started: The destruction of distinct german cultures first by forcible coordination and now by population replacement is in the interest of a central elite that likes to make its countries people denounce and hate themselves. I am one of the germans who think that germany should have never become a part of the west.

never experienced the revolutions in the 19th century? Ever heard of Revolution of 1848? And the paulskirchen constitution? And of course the industrial revolution also took place in germany, so I really don't know why the society would be different to most other european societies at that time.

This is a pretty bad assessment, Shirvan. It overemphasizes the old German division within a framework similar to Fukuyama's teleological way of thinking. If anything, such '90s way of thinking might be outdated within the contemporary post-recession context. Your understanding of its pre-WW2 history is also riddled with outdated assumptions like the Sonderweg thesis, which is now debunked by mainstream historians. I don't think you should have done this, if you couldn't reach an objective point of view required to properly address the German mindset.

>Western Germany is different because they liberalized and shunned ex-nazis while the east hired them as spies >East Germany’s economy is bad 27 years after the fall of the Soviet Union because of communism >Wanting a government that serves its citizens is an authoritarian mindset This is the most IDEOLOGY Caspian Report video yet.

I've watched quite a few of your videos and I found them to be objective, but not this one. The eastern german provinces rely on local gov't to push patriotic agenda inter alia, not the state. And they don't seem to be pushing communist agenda if one can judge on election results and growth of right wing parties throughout Germany, not just in east.. As far as use of nazis after WW2, Russia was not the only country and many western countries used them too. If eastern germans are opposing mass immigration I'm not sure it's because of some nostalgia for good old times under communist reign. I think you may be simplifying issue. If they are poorer and unemployment levels are higher, and people from anywhere in Europe can access the few jobs left jobs - not to mention the flood of refugees vying for same jobs - well it's quite understandable that they're becoming increasing anti-immigration and patriotic. One could also argue that west didn't enrich east but rather enriched themselves by using east.

As a German I'd like to clear up a misconception a lot of people seem to have: Germans are not self-hating and I have never met anyone who feels guilt for what happened during WWII, because it happened before we were born!

"...lower standards of living do not necessarily encourage social unrest; discontent occurs when a long period of rising expectations is followed by a period during which gratifications suddenly decline while expectations continue to rise." This really had me thinking, Shirvan.

0:42 "Churchill was dead-right." Ok I stopped listening here.

While the divide between east and west is an interesting and significant political issue for Germany, I don't think it forms the central tenant of Germany's mindset. Rather, it is the idea that history must never repeat itself and the feeling of a special responsibility to history that manifests itself as a strong but practical devotion to liberal values that is the underlying drive for many of Germany's beliefs, including their response to the refugee crisis and their push for further strengthening of the EU.

Sounds like you've got your knowledge from wikipedia. Btw, there was nothing about a "mindset" in there. And what "bourgeoise revolution" did the UK go through?

Thank you for such a great video. There is a lot of food for thought here. I also appreciate the comments and perspectives written below. Most of the comments are made with sincerity, which shows the quality of the viewers who come to this channel. I think I've come to the right spot.

Nice video overall, despite some inaccuracies. Former SS-officers were also employed in West Germany, with the (simplified) reasoning that "the enemy's (communism) enemy is my friend".

4:38 is great. It really gives you a sense of how pivotal Germany's geographic position is within Europe.

Asking for control of immigration is begging for state control? And thats just one point where I was baffled. Did you even research what choices we have in migration control with our current partys? We can choose between "completely open borders" and "every foreigner gets the fuck out". How do you justify this harsh judgement on AfD-Voters given the alternatives? I am really disappointed by the quality of this video after seeing so much good stuff from you before :/. One more important point probably: You also did not mention, that the additional income tax with the purpose to be invested in east germany had to be paid by east germans included and that this money was not bound to a special purpose by law. So it was justified by the economical difference by east and west but the investments in east germany are actually lower than the money they supposedly collected for it. Its de facto simply an additional tax. Also some formulation like "the marshallplan allowed germany to thrive again"... if u ask me thats typical anglo-american overexaggeration of their influence but in no way the truth. The marshall-plan was helpful but not at all more than a helpful hand getting us on our feet again. It made the process faster, not a possibility. And u really make east germans sound like if they are some backwarded retards and as if they have no proper justification for their criticism on the behaviour of the state towards them.. that sucks mate. I am really disappointed. It would have been okay to just leave this one out if it is too much work. But this looks simply rushed and its missing out so many points of view. You also began on a far too late point in history to explain the todays society. Things like "commonweal" as the best goal for the state were discussed in the german lands of the 16th century and you make it sound like "western germany" just adopted it from the oh so literate "western civilizations". This is so half-baked. Okay, maybe I am too deep into the topic to ever be happy with a twelve minutes video about the "german mindset" but... this is just unacceptable for me. Well, lets just leave it on these points, before this becomes an essay.

Congratulations as usual... I am happy for you having sponsors to support your work, you deserve it...

Nationalism isn't a radical idea...

I have watched many episodes from the Caspian report. The breadth of your topics is stunning and seems to come with a real understanding of the local issues

It's a shame that because of WW2, Germans have lost any national pride, for fear of being called Nazis. Germans should be proud of their history and culture.

As a German, I can see some inaccuracies in this video. However, your general point is valid, and this video is very well done.

Interesting how you avoided the term "Client State" for Western Germany, while using the term overwhelmingly for East Germany, although both had/have limited sovereignity.

Bounced back from 2 world war loses the country still had the determination and will to rebuild their nation and it’s looking beautiful wow That’s something

I would avoid political comments and connotations in a serious geo political analysis

I've been bingeing Caspianreport for like 10 hrs now. These are factual in the historical sense, currently prophetic in alot of instances.

So in your opening summary you argue that germany was at the center of aggression? Do you believe that germany was the cause for WW1? If you are then I ask you to reconsider. WW2 is obviously not to be argued over.

Germany tried to do the philanthropist's work, and it has backfired big time. Nationalism isn't radical.

Multiculturalism is a radical idea, rejection of it (nationalism) isn't

How would you describe yourself? Germany: "Have you ever played Whack a Mole?"

As a German with international background, I find myself really enjoying your videos. Its rare to find an unbiased, historical look at geopolitics of the world we live in. Keep it up Shirvan!

A Excellent Video.. Highly Recommended... Thank You Very Much For Sharing..

I don't know for certain, I'm not an eastern German, but my impression was, that one of their major complaints post reunification was a feeling of being patronized by a western German dominated central political structure, not at all a desire for more centralization and power in the political system. I also think it is foolish to think, that because an area was communist, it must now value at least slightly more communist ideals. Often enough the opposite is the case, with communism identified as the problem, all of its perceived aspects are rejected once the areas, countries, etc. free themselves from it.

There are incorrect statements here: While East-Germany was under the influence of the soviet union, the soviets also took care of any SS and Nazi residuals, with sometimes drastic measures. The soviets lost the most people in this war and Nazi-Germany tried to eradicate bolschewik Russians from Earth, so the resentments and animosities were actually quite big (around 30% of PoW died in soviet camps while only 5% in US camps) It was actually the opposite, that in West-Germany Nazi-bureaucrats stayed in power and were exonerated („Persilscheine“) and only with the growing unrest of the next generation in in the 60s the former Nazis were prosecuted or publicly denounced (e.g. Kurt Kiesinger). Also the miraculous economic growth in Western Germany was mirrored in the East and Eastern Germany was known as an economic powerhouse in the soviet countries. The downfall of the economy came in the 1990s when the complete dismantling of the entire industry and economic structure left millions of people jobless and sparked a mass movement of skilled labour from the East to the West (similar things happened in most former soviet states and a lot of people resent the fact that they feel like their land and industry was bought off by international corporations, while they themselves had no monetary means to buy it themselves, since in their socialist economy money was not a driver of decisions and wealth could not be accumulated).

This channel is absolutely amazing! I thought i knew something about geopolitics. Boy, i was wrong.

Please note that liberalism is not synonymous with equality. Liberalism is the broad term for reformist. If your society is already very equal and fair, liberalism does a 180 and becomes the reformists calling for less equality. Conservatism is the broad term for people that think what they already have is either good enough or as good as is reasonable. This means it was once the conservative standpoint to be pro monarchy, and 2 generations later it was pro- democracy, and 2 generations later it was pro republic, and then it was pro monarchy again (all in France). This is also different from country to country. For example American conservatives are more center leaning than Arabic conservatives who would be off the right end, or chinese conservatives who would be quite left. Politics is weird in multipartisan governments because as a state of affairs becomes more normalised, it becomes less of a liberal idea and more of a conservative one, until the only people against that idea are a new group of liberals (or anarchists who hate all government equally). This means no party can just call themselves "the liberal party" or "the conservative party" because every few generations it does a flip. The democrats were the conservatives in the American civil war for example, and now the republicans are the more conservative party. When you hear conservative don't assume "republican" because many of us only vote republican because we disagree with democrats more, and "constitutionalist" would be a more accurate term (see CPGray's video on gerrymandering on why it's dumb for us to try to form and vote for our own party).

"Russia wanted S.S. officer in the government", Putin is so wanting of this kind of policy. Kill the Nor-Stream gas line.

Fun fact: in West Germany there where more former nsadap members in the foreign ministry than under Hilter

20:00 That wasn't planned it just happened when talks between the Soviets and allies broke down.

I was born in the GDR and your research is really well made. There is also a problem between German West and East population, where the western think about the eastern as second class people. Over the decades I gets lesser and lesser but it still remains in the heads. Also by the younger generations.

>Nationalism >Radical Well this channel used to be pretty unbiased, I guess that sadly changed.

And in the west former nazi leaders remained in their positions more often than in the east. Like almost every judge was also a judge as the Nazis ruled over germany and in politics were many former SS and NSDAP members, like Hans Globke, Karl Carstens, Hans Filbinger or Kurt Georg Kiesinger and the list goes on and on. So there was no real historical reappraisal of the Nazi reign in the west before the 1968 generation started it.

>AfD >far-right >Nationalism >Radical Wew I guess I'm RADICAL

Very well done ... really captures the german spirit and the problems we face. Greetings from west germany

Major mistake on the video: FYI AfD is not Far-right. They are as all parties in Germany should be a Nationalist party, something Germany needs desperately over this last 80 decades, hence their success in voting.

For Europe, the problem also involves integrating the eastern countries. Western Europe doesn't always get on with itself, but it would probably be more than capable of maintaining a political union. The main destabilising parts of the EU are: 1. Weakness of european institutions compared to national ones, 2. It derives its authority from member states rather than its citizenry, 3. Trying to reconcile the western bloc with the eastern bloc is a fucking nightmare. Not that it shouldn't be done, but it is a significant challenge that must be overcome.

I like how you start this video right with WW2. Keeping in Mind that Germany has a rich history to the 1st venture.This is Germany’s problem that everything they do goes right back to it and they can’t move forward. Now they have suicided their identity and lost their culture. What does it mean to be a German? It means to please anyone and anything in order to be avoided being Labeled a nazi

Funny aspect by a non-football fan: Prussia slowly took over, even though the founding core of Prussia Königsberg located in what is now Russia Kaliningrad. The aristocrats of Brandenburg in Berlin adopted the name Prussia to become Kings. Many football (soccer) clubs in the very west of Germany were founded during the time of Prussian-Berlin cultural and military hegemony and dominance. So you find clubs with the name of Preußen or "Borussia", latin for Prussia.

WHile historical and economic backgroud is very accurate - the understanding of the current political situation and sentiments is 3/10 :)

As a german I can explain our mindset best:"work work work invent invent invent work work work"

As a foreigner living in Germany now for roughly 20 years, I don't really agree with this analysis. IMO, Germans (both East and West) are great believers in social and economic engineering and as a nation they have a very collective mindset. They are not great libertarian thinkers nor are they able to deal with critics or a lively debate, but instead the Germans ("orders are orders") quickly and collectively align themselves with whichever person is in power. This has not only resulted in the horrors of the First World War and the Holocaust, but also in a repressive Communist system as in the DDR. As history repeats itself, these social and economic engineering obsessions again shifting Germany towards a more totalitarian society where criticism of the multicultural society, the European Union and the Euro (i.e. social and economic engineering) are quickly condemned as "right wing fascism." Germany is rapidly falling back to it's totalitarian, collective and repressive socio-economic engineering roots. Is it therefore a coincidence that both "Das Kapital" and "Mein Kampf" have originated in Germany?

Amazing as usual Shirvan . I think that since MLK and HRE the autonomy of Germans regions through out history was and still an advantage as it allows the country to develop and flourish to reach a top level put most important that it prevents it from falling apart into despair even in the hardest lowest times .

"Apparently the CaspianReport is the source of recurring politically correct pestilence lately and must be destroyed!" Signed: Winston Churchill ! And i must say Churchill is dead right in this!☺

Two things: 1. West Germany integrated a lot of the old Nazia too. The denazification is a highly discussed subject among historians and its efficiency in West Germany is largely doupted. The Western government needed the knowledge, talents and networks of the old regime to built up their own structures. Konrad Adenauer one phrased it like this: You don't throw away dirty water as long as you don't know where you get clean water from. (e.g. Heinz Globke, co-author and commentator of the Nürnberg race laws, later close advisor of Adenauer; Franz-Josef Strauß, member of the NSDAP and later ministerpresident of Bavaria and federal minister for the defence; Kurt Georg Kiesinger, members of the NSDAP and later chancelor; Reinhard Gehlen,Wehrmacht officer and later founder of the German secret service BND) The same holds true for leading economic positions. This led to a huge discussion in the late 1960s, when young ppl wanted to know what their parents did in the Nazi regime. Only after that the society started to reflect on theses continuities and distanced itself from them. Both regimes integrated Nazis, the Socialists just did it more secretly. 2. It's worth mentioning that the privatization of the state owned East German economy after 1990 was managed by the government (Treuhandgesellschaft). This process has not been reflected on properly in society, because we only now start to gain access to the respective archives. There are a lot of suspections and myths about how poorly this process was managed and how the government and the Western investors failed to (and even not intended to) restore the East German economy. This led to a lot of distrust into the political and economic system which is further enhanced by the dominance of Western politicians, entrepreneurs and scholars in the East German society. A lot of ppl gain the impression that the reunification was actually a "taking over" from the West, which triggers a desire for an indipendent East-German point of view or identity, which manifests itself in the successes of Die Linke and AfD.

Its great but i cant understand enough, my ears struggling. Please add subtitles, thank you

I'm an American born and raised. My father was a West German. I have seen that many Germans especially in the north still consider themselves as Prussian. East Germans are definitely more against foreigners moving in. They are very much like Eastern Europeans and Russians. Germany is like the past Kingdoms of old. They are very proud of what they were before the wars and would very much want it back. Russia, Poland and Checolosvakia have land that belongs to the original German country. I can tell you that many Germans want that land back and they want the US bases out. East German thinking has definitely contributed to helping balance the right and left political views. Germany does need more right politics currently. The left have went crazy. They are rushing things that should take time. Very I interesting honestly. It's a lot more complicated than this video of course. You can't sum up Germany that easily. They are proud though and if they get their shit together they can easily have the most powerful military again. They very innovative and efficient. Compared to most country systems. But if you ask a German how is government is and they will complain like hell about how inefficient they are. This is what helps keep themselves in check and makes them fix problems fast.

Prussia wasn't abolished, it was killed, raped and devasteted in a giant genocide. Of course it was the core of germany and german mindset up until 1918, and of course the transition of power from nobles to the "Bürgertum" as we call it in german to avoid a marxist term took place later than in most western european countries. But 1.) is that really a bad thing? The french revolution devastated France for the entire 19th century with political turmoils, chaos, injustice and purges taking place every 2nd decade or so and it wasn't until 1871 either that they finally abolished a strange monarchy. 2.) to connect noble prussian conservatism with Nazism is straight riddiculous. Around 50% of the Stauffenberg conspirators that were executed by the Nazi government were noble in name. Prussian noble conservatism was in fact the only opposition that ever stood a chance against the Nazis after 1933. Hindenburg himself made jokes about crushing Hitler politically after he gave him chancellorship, he was just underestimating him. National socialism was by contrast something that united working class and "Bürgertum", they were called "primitive upstarts" by most of nobility. To quote Churchill on german matters is, by the way, an insult. That man didn't want to transform germany into a liberal, flourishing democracy, he intended to turn germany into an agricultural wasteland. He didn't want to destroy the roots of tyranny in germany, he wanted to break german self-confidence forever by bombing non-military targets into submission. He didn't hate Nazis, he hated germans, and if it wasn't for the americans, germany might still be that agricultural wasteland that it was right after the war.

This is, hands down, the best channel on RU-vid imo.

"Please consider funding the CIA on Patreon."

There was a revolution in 1848. It failed ultimately but the first parliament made a constitution which, even though never used, lived on in the weimar constitution (aka first democracy here)

i think its still important to note, that the "far right afd" is probably more left than obama.

this is the best video I have seen on this subject yet! I,m very impressed by the video,s grasp of how the "allies" remade both german " Nations" after the war particularly EAST Germany and the Soviets keeping former Nazis in power! Amost NO ONE addresses this!

It says it just came out 45 seconds ago.. strange

God I love these videos. You are the only content creator that actually describes and reveals the factual truths about the current state of our world without any shred of bias or underlying agenda. Keep up the great work!

Do a video on Taiwan

As a german grewing up in eastern germany, now living in Berlin, which is more like a western oasis, I can totally confirm your analysis. Just some corrections: the far left party "Die Linke" (who is by the way the official continuation of the ex-government party of east germany with the same staff and finances including Stasi officials, but of course changed over the years with fresh faces) is strongly pro-immigration; the right-wing party the "AfD" is as well divided between east and west. The AfD in the west is more like the conservative mainstream in many nations, but in the east go as far as embracing national-socialism, so is fundamental different in it´s views on society and economics and internal heavily opposed and divided. Especially eastern germany suffers greatly from the Braindrain to western germany, partly as well due to the more radical political situation and less economic opportunity. Keep up your good work!

Die Linke isn't far-left or populist. It's just simply left. The reason it's popular in the east is that it's an eastern party.

I was not expecting such an interesting analysis. I would appreciate a part 2 which goes in depth please? Thanks a lot Sirvan!

Prussia wasn’t viped out because it was „evil“. US, Ussr and UK feared Prussia. Prussia produced military geniuses, the greatest minds of the 20th century and made Germany the country that united the culture of west and east. Sure they made bad stuff too but they weren’t evil. They were a threat to the west.

Another great video, as your prognosis for Europe includes creation of separate blocks and one of them includes Poland i'd like to ask you to expand on your views on this matter perhaps with cooperation with Romanians as well other dynamics between nations of Three Seas Initiative and possible relations between blocks after they amerge plus strategy of Hungary and Serbia with their alliances.

10:00 Nationalism , a radical ideal? Really? Nationalism is a radical idea how?

Have to correct here: both West and East Germany prosecuted Nazi criminals and turned a blind eye and employed former nazis both enforced or supported by their occupying powers. It was the conflict of wanting to do justice and clean up the ground for a new, democratic or anti-fascist state and rebuilding admistration as well as economical and military power to help against the new enemy as an ally.

Apparently, according to this video, rejecting liberal values ​​makes you an "extremist" or "radical" A somewhat subjective and ridiculous vision.

There is much more to the German mindset: 1. The two kingdoms doctrine, a state-minded and collectivistic world view, which lies on top of even older pagan ideas of the all-pervading duty. Both have shaped the mindset of Germanic-speaking Europe and the Anglosphere in general and Germany in particular. All these countries are much more concerned with upholding social order than Romanic-/Slavic-speaking Europe. (Sidenote: Regulations regarding the lawful addressing of certain genders and debates about transgender bathrooms just scream "social order" and shows a very conservative world view, not a "liberal".) 2. The 30 years war 1618-1648, which devastated central Europe and proved the geopolitical challenges of a relative weak mid. This war later taught German officers to always plan for offensive, to "take the war to the enemy territory". Needless to say, the centre (Germany) was too weak to overcome its geopolitical weaknesses and the logic consequences are either having a weak mid again or a strong mid to the advantage of its neighbours. This shows the overall positive attitude towards the EU. 3. Till the world wars many conservative German thinkers (even Thomas Mann) argued to belong to a separate civilisation jammed between the decadent and unauthentic West (i.e. UK and France) and the backwardly Slavs. Germans are a "people without space" as was the titel of a popular book (1926). Again the EU is a sort of solution. As half-German myself I see many Germans having an amusingly wrong image of themselves. Individualistic and liberal is the peoples choice, but the emphasis on rule of law and social order stem from a conservative and collectivistic way of seeing the world. They confuse liberal individualism with progressiv conformity, parallels can be made to Canada and Scandinavia.

Long live Prussia, long live the Kaiser

West Germany had also a lot of ex Nazis in governmental and bureaucratic positions. Only after the 68 revolution it began to change. For example my mother had an Ex Nazi as teacher.

10:32 "AfD (far-right)" I wish

Yepp. Living in and watching Germany since 1988, I've come to the same conclusions. The problem is that the governments after unification underestimated or even neglected the workforce migration from east to west and how important transitioning-assistance during first years was. Imo this was the essential failure.

Nope. So damn NOT true ! Greetings from good old Germany !

One of the best foreign videos about my country i ever seen. Most ppl dont understand how complex germany is.