History UsefulNotes / AllTheLittleGermanies

* The bitingly satirical poem ''Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen'' and many other works by [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker Heinrich Heine]]

* ''Literature/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing'' and its adaptations.

* ''Deutschlandlied'', the national anthem of Germany, is a celebration of the end of this era.

** When new thrones were created or old ones became vacant, people would often look for a German prince to sit on it. Thus in 1831 newly-independent UsefulNotes/{{Belgium}} selected Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as its new king, and a year later the [[UsefulNotes/Greece Greeks]] did the same with Otto of Bavaria. Later they became discontented with him, deposed him and in 1862 chose the Prince George of Denmark as his successor. Later that decade the possibility that a prince from a Catholic side-branch of the House of Hohenzollern might become king of Spain was one of the factors that led to the [[UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar Franco-German War]] in 1870.

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, that anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British commoners or minor nobility (Catherine "Kate" Middleton, and Lady Diana Spencer[[note]]Daughter of an earl[[/note]] and Camilla Parker-Bowles,[[note]]granddaughter of a baron[[/note]] respectively).

When Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 and assumed the title of Francis I of the Empire of Austria, the implied acceptance of the death of the [[HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation]], though dictated by Napoleon, was simply a recognition of reality. Napoleon, however, having shattered German unity legally, ironically went a good way toward re-establishing it politically by amalgamating the tiny imperial states into larger units; Bavaria and Württemberg became Kingdoms on January 1, 1806, Saxony followed on December 20, and Westphalia was created as a Kingdom for Napoleon's youngest brother Jérôme in 1807. After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 ratified most of Napoleon's foundations (Westphalia being a notable exception) while restoring some of the larger earlier units such as Hanover (now also raised to a Kingdom). {{Prussia}} increased dramatically in size, having been awarded substantial territories in the Rhineland, in recognition of the magnitude of her efforts against Napoleon - and of her army.[[note]]This included the restoration of the territories west of the Elbe that had belonged to Prussia until 1806 and was in part considered a compensation for those territories in the east that were not restored to Prussia but used to form the Russian-controlled new Kingdom of Poland.[[/note]] After the Empire itself ceased, the run-up to the establishment of the ''[[ImperialGermany Deutsches Reich]]'' may be considered the period of AllTheLittleGermanies (or, as the Germans called it, the 'Biedermeier' period).

* Any version of the story of the ''[[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Gebrüder Grimm]]'' (e.g., ''The Brothers Grimm'' and ''The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm'')

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: This area was famous for this. With the complex proviso that many were regular soldiers rented out for a war their ruler had no interest in but money rather then consciously being mercenaries themselves.

-->-- '''19th-century German patriotic song'''

-->--'''19th-century German patriotic song'''

* Sizable part of [[VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun both Victorias]] is about supporting, slowing down or outright stopping German unification, depending on country player picked. And there are [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified many]] [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized different]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption ways]] [[ToWinWithoutFighting to]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship achieve]] [[{{Ambadassador}} that]].

----

* Sizable part of [[VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun both Victorias]] is about forming, slowing down or outright stopping German unification, depending on country player picked. And there are [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified many]] [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized different]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption ways]] [[ToWinWithoutFighting to]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship achieve]] [[{{Ambadassador}} that]].

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, that anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British commoners or minor nobility (Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, that anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British commoners or minor nobility (Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, that anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British commoners (Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, that anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British "commoners (Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, than anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house, albeit one whose ancestral territory was near Denmark, had inherited Denmark first, and had come to consider themselves Danish), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British "commoners (Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, than anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate. Things went right back to form for HMTheQueen, who married Prince Philip of Greece (the Greek royals are actually a ''junior'' branch of a German ducal house), but since then the heirs to the throne have married British commoners (Lady Diana Spencer, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, respectively).

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour--and the Danish monarchs had been marrying lots of Germans, too. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, than anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate.

When Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 and assumed the title of Francis I of the Empire of Austria, the implied acceptance of the death of the [[HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation]], though dictated by Napoleon, was simply a recognition of reality. Napoleon, however, having shattered German unity legally, ironically went a good way toward re-establishing it politically by amalgamating the tiny imperial states into larger units; Bavaria and Württemberg became Kingdoms on January 1, 1806, Saxony followed on December 20, and Westphalia was created as a Kingdom for Napoleon's youngest brother Jérôme in 1807. After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 ratified most of Napoleon's foundations (Westphalia being a notable exception) while restoring some of the larger earlier units such as Hanover (now also raised to a Kingdom). {{Prussia}} increased dramatically in size, having been awarded substantial territories in the Rhineland, in recognition of the magnitude of her efforts against Napoleon - and of her army.[[hottip:*:This included the restoration of the territories west of the Elbe that had belonged to Prussia until 1806 and was in part considered a compensation for those territories in the east that were not restored to Prussia but used to form the Russian-controlled new Kingdom of Poland.]] After the Empire itself ceased, the run-up to the establishment of the ''[[ImperialGermany Deutsches Reich]]'' may be considered the period of AllTheLittleGermanies (or, as the Germans called it, the 'Biedermeier' period).

In popular culture, the unrest of this time period is all but ignored. AllTheLittleGermanies, so far as fiction is concerned, is pure ''Gemüthlichkeit'', with lots of diplomats waltzing in embroidered tailcoats and silk stockings, ''Burschen'' dueling (as often with large Steins of Pilsner as with sabres), mob-capped grandmothers telling fairy tales, blue-eyed peasant maidens singing folk songs (especially [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdOUWbYnsFA Die Lorelei]] [[hottip:* :Although that one is NOT a folk song. The Lorelay as a fair maiden dooming passing boats was a contemporary invention which afterwards got [[NewerThanTheyThink misrepresented as folklore]]), and dozens of aristocratic Uhlans and Hussars in multi-colored uniforms to woo them.

** Britain was particularly fond of marrying German princelings. From the accession of [[TheHouseOfHanover George I]] until quite recently, the British monarchs fairly consistently married only German consorts, with the occasional Dane for flavour. It wasn't until HMTheQueen's own father, George VI, than anyone with a good chance at the throne married a British subject (George, or rather Prince Albert at the time, [[BertieAndElizabeth quite famously married the Scottish earl's daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], known affectionately as the Queen Mum), and even then Prince Albert was seen as a preferred but unlikely candidate.

* ArrangedMarriage: Royalty would give away ''whole nations'' as dowries here.

* Thomas Mann's ''Literature/{{Buddenbrooks}}'' chronicles the downfall of wealthy a bourgeois family of [[CityWithNoName an unnamed city that has to be Mann's native Lübeck]] from 1835 to 1877.

* Thomas Mann's ''Literature/{{Buddenbrooks}}'' chronicles the downfall of wealthy a bourgeois family of [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed an unnamed city that has to be Mann's native Lübeck]] from 1835 to 1877.

* Thomas Mann's ''Literature/{{Buddenbrooks}}'' chronicles the history of a bourgeois family of [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed an unnamed city that has to be Mann's native Lübeck]] from 1835 to 1877.

----