I agree that the "emancipation" (they were never not free) of jews was a terrible idea, but the unification of Germany was a great one. For the past few centuries Germany had been getting destroyed by foreign enemies. During the 30 years war Germany lost 1/4 of it's population, on top of the prior century of religious wars. The fact that they managed to grow at all was a testament to the extraordinary character of its people. When Germany was finally reunified it was liberated from the constant threat of domination and looting by foreign armies. Weimar era degeneracy required a lost world war to implement, but France and to a lesser extent upper class England and Russia already had that well before. Had Germany remained a region of minor competing states, it may have easily ended up with those same conditions imposed on it by England or France, exactly as the USA does now to the world.
I agree that the "emancipation" (they were never not free) of jews was a terrible idea, but the unification of Germany was a great one. For the past few centuries Germany had been getting destroyed by foreign enemies. During the 30 years war Germany lost 1/4 of it's population, on top of the prior century of religious wars. The fact that they managed to grow at all was a testament to the extraordinary character of its people. When Germany was finally reunified it was liberated from the constant threat of domination and looting by foreign armies. Weimar era degeneracy required a lost world war to implement, but France and to a lesser extent upper class England and Russia already had that well before. Had Germany remained a region of minor competing states, it may have easily ended up with those same conditions imposed on it by England or France, exactly as the USA does now to the world.
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