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There was no Germany in 1777. There were dozens of "Germanic States", ranging in size from tiny city states to fairly sizable entities, like Bavaria and Prussia. That's why the foreign soldiers hired by the British to fight the Patriots in the American Revolution were not called "Germans", but "Hessians". Many of them came from the city-state of Hesse, the leader of which made most of his money by renting out his subjects as soldiers. Military service was compulsory.

Germany was not united into a single nation until the 1860s, under the leadership of Wilhelm I of Prussia and his very able Foreign Minister, Bismarck. This new nation appearing on the European scene upset the balance of power established in the "Concert of Vienna", the peace settlement following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Ultimately this destabilizing and skewing of the balance of power helped lead to WWI, which led to WWII, which led to the Cold War and where we are today.

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15y ago

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