I believe that Ukraine should be part of Russia and that we should have never let them leave our control like they were during the reign of the Soviet Union.
Things were a lot nicer when Russia controlled east Germany and comrade and ex-KGB agent Putin has the best interests of Russia.
April fools
There used to be about 200 and they still ran everything.
Not true! Prussia and Austria were certainly powers to be reckoned with, but nothing like Germany is today. German unification and industrialization really did a number on the European continent.
I was referring to the HRE
I thought so, so that's Austria. Because the HRE was very decentralized (like Voltaire used to exaggerate, neither holy, Roman nor an empire) and the Emperor had very little power. In fact, the French kings continually made alliances with the Rhineland princes in order to fight the Emperor.
My point is that it was very decentralized. It was a feudal throwback amidst the absolute monarchies of Renaissance Europe. Each German vassal had enormous power over his own fiefdom, and virtually all of them were still industrial powerhouses with a rich merchant class. More than a hundred different Germanies, and they were still the greatest power in Europe.