Pornocracy? Finally I've found my political home.

Some remarks: True, the HRE due to it's domestic issues wasn't able to project power westwards, but it wasn't a pushover either. From the 960's up until the 1640's it's borders remained pretty much the same, meaning none of it's neighbors were able to conquer large (or even small) parts of it via military force. In fact local powers like the Hanseatic League, the Swiss Confederation, the Rhein Confederation, the Swabian Confederation of towns were able to stop or even defeat major players at the time like Denmark, Poland, France, Burgundy or Milan. It took France 700 years to even consider taking some territories during the 1640's in Alsace and if you look at the map how little they have taken and how much money and manpower it actually took, Voltaire's words come off as salt. 😏 Btw, the (Habsburg) emperor was busy fighting the Swedes, the Ottomans and the Hungarians of Transylvania so his forces vwere nowhere near the Western border. (Although the Spanish were protecting this area due to family ties) In the beginning of the 18# century emperor Leopold was able to hold his own against Luis XIV, while simultaneously kicking Ottoman ass and conquering like 200 000 square kilometers of territory (practically doubling the size of the Habsburg Empire) while the western front moved 1-2 kilometers back and forth. The collapse of the HRE in 1806 was due to multiple reasons: dimwit rulers in both Prussia and Austria, armies stuck in the 18# century with outdated equipment, tactics and doctrine, no real buffer state in the west (both Prussia and Austria were in the East), the third power Bavaria siding with France, overall low public order due to feudalism and medieval authocracy. West German states greeted French troops as liberators and were keen to adopt modern forms of government like the code civil and capitalism. Capitalism transformed the Rheinland from a mediocre vine producing region to a center of German industry, thanks to Napoleon's brother Jerôme, king of Westphalia.

Yeah, John XII died of a stroke in the bed of a married woman while in his mid 20s. Guess he "stroked" too hard. Stay away from sin, kids.

Voltaire omitted to mention that his name wasn't really Voltaire.

Now my evening routine is not to watch some silly shows on TV - but to watch your videos. Fascinating! Neuronal stimulation is much more enjoyable than mindless sitcom/reality TV 'entertainment'.

As the always brilliant "Yes, Minister" said it "the Napoleon Award is granted to the statesman who has made the greatest contribution to European Unity, since Napoleon... Unless you count Hitler". Dissolving the mess that was the HRE certainly helped.

Something that survives for 1000 years is no mess

What a great channel and resource this is!! Thankyou!!

"Ok, whatever, who cares?" 🤣

Interesting that Byzantine Emperors are not considered Roman Emperors but the Germanic Carolingians are despite not having a direct connection to the Roman Empire like the Byzantine Empire which was created by Constantine the Great.

You're giving the Holly Roman Empire a bad rap. Decentralized authority is a good thing for the actual people living there, even if it's not the best thing for a historian trying to keep track of who's in charge. Also realize that the conventional historical perspectives we received as Americans are from an anglo-centric point of view and they tend not to give us much credit to the accomplishments of Germans in the past.

How to surmize the HRE in a second: A F**KING MESS.

Very informative!

Well @Thersites the Emperor was in a strong position during the Ottonian, Salian, and Hohenstaufen eras. It truly fragmented after the power vacuum that emerged after that dynasty was deposed. There was a 60 year interregnum that saw the remaining power of the monarchy shattered. The HRE had a chance of centralizing as it was slowly doing so during the Renaissance. Had the 30 years war not occurred, Germany’s religious unity and the Hapsburg political vice-grip wouldn’t have been shattered.

AMAZING!!

Holy Roman Empire are basicly state held by Noble Electorate, feudalism at it's strongest arguably due to how autonomous it's subject was. But ultimately Thirty Years war really reduce HRE authority to non existent. HRE was a mess but it was an empire and thank you on not falling on Voltaire trap

U should grow. Ur video quality is amazing

Mieszko was not a King, but a Prince, he was the first ruler of Poland, not the first King (his son Boleslaw the brave became the first King) and He did not became a vassal of HRE.

22:55 I think you made a mistake, or I didn´t get your argument: When Voltaire says that the Holly Roman Empire wasn´t "Roman", he meant, that it had not the culture of the roman empire, or the still existing eastern roman empire, on the opposite, the HRE consisted of complete barbarians, pretty much the opposite of "Rome" or "Roman"... Even including Rome wouldn´t make you "Roman", since being "Roman" is an attitude and a culture and a state-form, and the HRE was nothing of all that...

Awesome video, thank you. Keep up the good work. :) However i have a minor remark: as far as i know the Hungarian rulers were not exactly pushed by the HRE to convert, because the Hungarians themselves invited the missionaries by their own will. This theory is supported by the later HRE-Hungarian wars in which the Hungarians have beaten the Imperials very badly several times, meaning they were not afraid of the HRE (see the campaign of Conrad II for example in 1030). The conversion of Géza and Vajk can be accounted to their ability to predict what must be done in order to unite the basin. It just happened to be they invited German missionaries. :)

I love your videos. I have a suggestion: a review of the game "Crusader Kings". Think your take on the game would be very interesting!

"Established norms?" Bit blinkered don't you think?🤔

Keep up the good work🤓

Doubt the 18 year old that's fair but an 18 year old name octavian, 18 year old octavians have done well before

so the Pope calls himself The Authority in all things regarding Christianity. then he makes himself THE Authority to name Emperors. I'd say the Pope forgot his role. no wonder the Eastern Church was against him. never knew this piece of fact. i always thought that Leo III named Charlemagne Emperor of Rome because, at THAT moment, the seat was vacant, since only Irene of Athens was on the throne. and since she was a woman, it was unacceptable for a woman to have the title. but to actually pull this "ancient power" out of his butt in order to protect himself... wow. Adaptability was strong with him.

Thank you so much for these very informative videos very much appreciated

So...what what about Count Dracula, he's got a cool Cape right?

Basically only China and Rome encompassed enough structure to survive to the 21 st century from ancient times. Hindu is to decentralized to be included, but its a close third and it earns a bronze medal.

yeah it would be kind of interesting if such a divided state had survived in to modern days...

SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS

Great video as always. Just a heads up, Mieszko is pronounced as "Mye-shkoh".

John XII indeed died of a stroke in the bed of a married woman. In contention is that some have alleged that the married woman's husband, with a STROKE of his fist, defenestrated John XII to the pavement below to his demise.

in those days most men that were found dead in a married woman's bed died of sudden on set strokes.

Should have talked about the Investiture Controversy.

There are so many different definitions of "empire" that I've heard...

Very interesting, thank you. A subject that is for some reason completely ignored in Anglo-Saxon and Dutch written histories

Hohenzollern castle you have on your photo was actually built in 19 century, so lol, this cool castle is not a result of HRE castellation 😉

The only thing you got wrong was that Austria was not a rival of the HRE but in fact WAS the HRE. The HRE post-1200 is essentially Habsburg Austrian domination of Germany

Your videos are great but do you think you could edit them a little more? E.g. when you talked about those dates & between the 20s & 30s you could have edited that in in just a line of text or so. Also maybe listing ( briefly) the other duchies when you talked about Franconia.

Technically speaking the Holy Roman Empire covered all of western Christendom and any Catholic ruler whether German or not could be elected as Holy Roman Emperor as long as they had the money and support.A notable example of a non-German trying to be elected was the great Renaissance French king Francois the First who tried to be elected but was defeated by the Habsburg Charles the Fifth.Earlier in the Middle Ages Spaniards and Englishmen had made bids to be holy Roman Emperors -king John of England's son is an example.

23:46. I find that to be a really bad definition of an Empire. Could you name a single country in the world that according to that definition isn’t an empire?

Oh, come on, holy roman empire was nice

Otto i was crowned on february 2nd

I originally thought "pornocracy" was clickbait. Thanks for the clarification.

" The HRE is like a life form between a mold or a spore and a plant." haha good!

Your videos are very interesting I'm not being mean. Just messing around.

In 20:00 you say Stefan and Mieszko converted to catholicism. Actually it was one church. So, they converted to christianity in reality. St. Stefan of Hungary celebrates on 20.08.

You pronounced "subatai" sub a tie and then soo bah tie in the same video. Although I'm no expert in mongolian

Was Louis the II also known as Louis the German?

Otto the Great defeated the Hungarians on the Lechfeld and unified the Germans for the first time!

P- what?

I wish my society were a real pornocracy; it's such a great word.

Byzantiam bizantiam byezantiam respectively

In Voltaire's time the Holy Roman Empire was basically the Hapsburg Austrian Empire. Rome was an Elective Monarchy originally before the Republic.

Hard and soft " c,s " in your greek and latin

Yet another Carolingian Emperor - there is factual error at 1‘16“ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_Carinthia

There are 2 key facts about the Holy Roman Empire. 1) It was not holy 2) It was not Roman

I like Secular Germanic Confederation history

Rome wasnt western roman capital, Rawenna was, when it collapsed. Emperoers was elected, by Senators.

I am sorry, but this video is waaaay too short, and skips over too much, effectively skipping the entire high middle ages to the era of Voltaire obfuscates things, it does not explain things.

You really ought to focus more on rote memorization of dates rather than providing profound and relatable context for historical events. Final answer.

Never heard someone be more bored by history.

Etc etc

1. Learn to pronounce "philosopher". 2. Come up with an excuse to call The Holy Roman Empire a "monster".

It's intereting that even from the begining of the Vatican and the popes, it seems the Catholic Church wasn't primarily a spiritual organization - but a political one. That forgery the :Document of Charlemagne" was it, is truly amazing! So the popes took it upon themselves the right to legitimize whoever they chose to be the emperer. What chutzpah!! They didn't offer the Carolingians any money to be their military protectors, just offered them a title. Reminds me of diploma mills that are basically worthless in terms of education, but provide a piece of paper that can advance a career, or fiat money that only has value because of the power of consensual validation. I also find it interesting that when the HRE took control of a territory like Hungary and Poland was it?, the king converted. It sounds as if these were forced conversions at the tip of a sword, like the Islamic fundamentalists are doing today, and what Islamic leaders with large cavalry units did when they swept through Africa and other places - convert or die.. Then once the King or crown prince of a place the HRE gained control over converted, the people had to submit or be killed. It was mass conversion from the top down - not a 'bottom up" grassroots movement. And those who didn't convert were forced to practice their indiginous pagan religion in secret. . It sounds like the European people were never really INSPIRED to become Christians, it was forced upon them. I'm starting to think that all of organized Christianity has nothing to do with Jesus at all, at it's centers of power. Eric Zuesse, who writes mostly on geo-politics also wrote a very interesting book on how the Early Christian church, after the death of Jesus was quickly usurped by Paul of Tarsus who was really working on behalf of the Roman Empire. As Lenin said once "How do you overcome the opposition...??? By leading it." Zuesse's book is Christ's Ventriloquist. According to him the REAL leadership of the followers of Jesus was headed by John the Younger, the brother of Jesus and his followers were poor, mostly uneducated Palestinians, not a match for someone like Paul with the political saavy and family connections to the wealthy Roman elite and government to subvert the teachings of Jesus to advance his own agenda. The vatican is sounding more and more corrupt even from its beginning. Maybe someday you'll also make some videos on the horrible mass starvation, mass rapes and other atrocities inflicted on the German civilians after tne end of WW2. I just bought 4 books on the subject because I wasn't sure I believed the horror stories two commenters on a comment section made, so I asked what their sources were. There is a lot of historical documentation on the subject, it seems, even though none of it is taught to us in grade school. Maybe you can look into it as well. Two of the books just came today Gruesome Harvest by Ralph Franklin Keeling and Hellstorm by Thomas Goodrich.

Charlemagne was a fictional character.

Sounds like you're trying to avoid speaking of something which isn't immediately obvious, but becomes so the more that attention is paid.

“Neither holy nor Roman nor an empire” hilarious . We should probably be careful who we look up to. Holy as in crowned by the pope defenders of the faith Roman as in king of the romans and they took land through imperialistic measures. Really not that hard to figure out. They’re not saying that they’re Roman .

Great I listen all the time. But your pronounciation of the latin an Greek is really bad, your Arabic is hilarious. And even your English could do with some work. 😎

I'm from the UK. Established norms in American english don't really apply to someone who lives less than a kilometre from the queen. Your English is crap Haha. 😎

Wait a second, father of Louis 2nd was also an emperor, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_I Is it Material mistake in 1‘16“?

Charles the Bald was also an Emperor: factual error at 1‘16“. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_II_of_Italy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Bald

He was also the Emperor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Fat