When I was a child I knew map of Poland and thought that Kaliningrad region is the whole Russia, so when someone told me Russia is the biggest country in the world I thought they lost their mind, because Poland is clearly bigger.
When I was a child I was told I lived in the biggest country on Earth. At age of 4 or 5 I first saw the map of Russia - it looked like a huge horse pooping a tiny piece on the west. I asked ‘so where are we here?’ Imagine my disappointment when they pointed on this tiny piece:)
@@jerrytc2978 "When I was a child" he said. I don't think children care a lot of who what country is historical ennemy of what country, unless the parents want to brainwash them.
Also Kaliningrad was an important strategic position for the military because it was one of the few places where the sea didn’t freeze in winter (unlike St. Petersburg).
@@josephsaafan7838 yes, but its so far from Europe. In Russia people have strong mind that if global war Ru vs USA would start, Europe will be on USA side. So in military purposes bases in Kaliningrad justified.
@@rochitgurung9090 the current Russian government uses that as a justification for war. Therefore not having any Russians in your country grants you protection from that, at least (ofc if they want they'll find another bullshit claim)
@@stlouisix3No land truly "belongs" to anyone. Regions can easily have their culture wiped, and Prussia was a region that belonged to the Baltic Prussians until the Germans came in and slaughtered and germanized them.
@Gobrech i mean, you can raze cities which technically counts as ethnic cleansing if you think abt it There was this one game a civ settled in a place I claimed so the turn it became a free city, I took it, razed it, and then brought a settler to settle in that same exact place so it wouldn’t be questioned that the land was mine XD
A thing I noticed while look at on some maps, during the German empire days, what looks like bridges connect to east Prussia/Kaliningrad and they got in half while they permanently lost it
I used to take care of a German woman at a nursing home who most people dismissed as crazy because she'd always say she wanted to go home but couldn't. Asked her one day if she was from Konigsberg and she came alive with the biggest smile and told me all about her childhood there and how all she ever wanted in life was to go back and visit just once, but the Russian government forbade it as her family fled to West Germany. Sadly, she passed away a few years ago still here in the states.
Most likely she couldn’t go there cause her family were Nazi, it is well known lots of Nazi escaped to the USA and didn’t receive any juridical punishment
That's pretty depressing, dying alone in a nursing home more than a thousand miles from home and not being able to visit. I wonder how she would've felt had she visited with it being so different
I live in Poland near Kaliningrad. And we smuggling cigarettes, fuel, alcohol from there. Because Russia have this cheaper. And they have a very good sweets and chocolate.
EverydayNormalGuy that’s true. I like those cigarettes, especially blueberry ones... I am looking forward to come back when they will open borders. I use to travel there from Gniezno
Aleksander Lisowski Но не только контрабанда! Вообще она на последним месте... У вас вкусная кухня и хорошие люди))) Есть тоже много что можно увидеть. Мне Калининград нравится очень
2:32 "(T)he people there weren't Lithuanian and its leaders felt that incorporating so many Russians into its territory would cause long term issues" *Putin:* "Clever girl"
@@european-one i wish it was that easy for things like Crimea but the difference would be that Lithuania never had a claim for Konigsberg in recent modern history, while Crimia is a solid claim by Ukraine
@@robloxgaara22 Nah, it's not a case of "ethnic homogeneity good". It's more a case of "it's better not to have a territory inhabited by the ethnicity of your bigger and more powerful neighbor that is known for its agressive foreign policy". If it had been inhabited by literally any other ethnicity, they'd all be fighting to get it.
It so annoys me that people tend to ignore that "Prussia" itself derives from the Baltic ethnic group Prussians. They were very close to current Lithuanians and Latvians but sadly went extinct because of Teutonic wars
The people didn't go extinct, the language did. The locals assimilated into German culture. And also they were from East Prussia, West Prussia was German for longer.
Germany : Give it back USSR : No Germany : Give it back USSR : No Germany : Give it back USSR : No * the soviet union disolves * Russia : You want it back ? Germany : Nah you can keep it Edit: its been 3 years, a lot has changed since then and i acknowledge this is grossly oversimplified, but i believe its worth keeping it around.
@@kingdomofprussiaball7438 I think that it was pretty smart of them as there were virtually no Germans left in the region as they were replaced by Russians, which could cause instability if incorporated into Germany.
The fate of Königsberg is one of the most tragic in history for cities, imo. Huge cultural center for Germans with lots of historical buildings now is neither a cultural center, nor German, nor filled with historical buildings (most were destroyed in ww2)
Agree, Königsberg and Prussia is literally the birthplace of modern Germany, and it all doesn't even exist anymore. If you were back in the 19th century and told people that in ~100 years Königsberg would be Russian territory with 0% German population, you would be called crazy.
I live in Kaliningrad rn. Yeah alot of buildings are destroyed, but there is some beautiful buildings like the german airport. its very huge like almost 2 villages.
@Mor Dor 1. Vilnius was lithuanian city since it was first built, by grand duke Gediminas. So it wasn't polish, even thou majority were speaking polish, because of polish influence. 2. Your sentences " right from Stalin's hands" is not correct, because USSR were supporting lithuanian claims on Vilnius region. 3. Molotov-ribbentrop pact had nothing to do with it, except the fact that whole Territory were given to soviets. 4. It was an ultimatum for Lithuanians. If they refused the deal they would have been invaded by soviets. Stalins' words: "No matter if you take Vilnius or not, the Russian garrisons will enter Lithuania anyway".
@Mor Dor Vilnius region was occupied by Zeligowski with the blessing of Polish rulers after WWI. Rather weird to portray Poland as a victim here and Lithuania as an agressor tbh. However, as a Lithuanian I love my Polish neighbours. Let's be friends forever!
Or just Prussia. What the Germans called West Prussia had nothing to do with the Baltic Prussians in the first place - it was either East Pommerania or Pomerellia, but after Teutonic takeover, and especially due to propaganda by the later Prussian kingdom, the area was referred to as West Prussia. So from native Prussian perspective it's weird to call the region "East" Prussia, when it was JUST Prussia - Prūsa in their native language.
Okay guys look, i live here and i know what i talking about). Its really can be looks like Kaliningrad can be very good trading port on the baltic for Russia... but actually... NO=) The problem is poor relations of the Baltic countries with Russia and expensive duties, what makes transportation goods to the center of Russia inefficient. But for fleet, that placed here, in the Baltiysk(Pillau) its a really good place.
@@jakubwolski2277 Yeah, really think so? For all time russian "baltic" fleet was a bauble. It was created to fight with sweds, and since 18's times its used not too offen. It takes part of fighting in WW1, but nothing serious. In WW2 its stay in St.Petersburg and using like defence artillery cause germans mined all o the sea. Every time its actualy used for defence or support black seas fleets, or british... OR PACIFIC in japanese war. Danmark block free way to ocean and in modern war this fleet are not too handle...
Polish name for it is Królewiec. If you are interested what happend to the Eastern Prussia peaople after the war I recommend the movie Rose (Róża), is a 2011 Polish film directed by Wojciech Smarzowski. It depicts the love story of a Masurian woman and an officer of the Armia Krajowa in postwar Masuria. It's pretty drastic like it was back then. And nowdays polish part of Eastern Prussia is great place for a travel!
Edwin No, it’s not true. There was a democratic referendum where people of Crimea made their choice voting to reunite with Russia. So it was a historical reunification. Meanwhile, at the time Ukraine was experiencing yet another violent revolution and illegitimate coup.
Edwin It was actually. And there were international observers invited to accompany the procedure. Also, there was not a single drop of blood spilled during the Crimea-Russia historical reunification. For me it’s like when the Berlin Wall fell and West Germany and East Germany got reunited. People got what they desired and longed for, for many years. And their choice should be respected.
My grandfather a s axon married to a Prussian said. Bleibe Im land. Und nahre dich redlich. Stay in your country. And earn your food honestly....he went through 2 wars....i miss my opa. And oma
You failed to mention the strategic position of Kaliningrad extremely important in the deployment of Russian Navy in the Baltic sea as against st Petersburg, the harbor is not subject to ice. Which means that the Russian Navy got a harbor open all year
I live in Kaliningrad. We locals often call her just König. In general, there are many slang abbreviations of city names in Russia, such as Vladivostok-Vladik or St. Petersburg - Peter. And I see Russian soldiers here almost every day. In fact, it is quite a protected area. A deeply echeloned, dense air defense system has been created here, the Baltic Fleet (missile ships and submarines, naval aviation and a tank regiment), missile brigades, shock aviation regiments, and army corps have been deployed. I think we can easily compete with Moscow and Crimea in the field of security :)
Then foreigners must not be allowed? I went to pushnoy and then they stopped me because I didn't had Norwegian visa. Looked like lots of security and stuff.
@@3r8y8cKHdfkwei89 well visa must be in any case when visiting Russia. visa-free regime is valid only with friendly countries. there are a couple of exceptions. where are you from? there is a difficult situation in the world haha. it has always been a protected region and even more so now
Lithuania refusing the territory is actually very smart in hindsight. If they had accepted that territory filled with ethnic Russians then they have been facing what the Ukraine is today - a Russia that views it as lost territory.
Prior to the Russian empire conquering the Baltics they were other nations or principalities. In fact, they maintained their linguistic and cultural independence even under the Russian rule. That’s like saying that because India only formed as a United nation after British colonial rule that it’s really just a lost British territory.
Russia offering Kaliningrad to Lithuania who declines is the real world equivalent to a queen sacrifice in chess where the opponent is smart enough to not accept.
But knowing that Russians know everyone else knows they are experts at chess and would suspect its a trap and refuse the gambit, so maybe thats what the Russians wanted them to think that they really had something up their sleeve when they really had nothing, so they held onto Kaliningrad. 🤔 Russians can be crafty if they can manage to stay off the volka.
How does the sacrifice of the queen work? I'm not a grossmeister but isn't the game lost when you lose your queen? Or it's not just plain sacrifice but a bait to set it up?
@@filipkopec525 that place was a home to Prussians, not germans, not poles. One Polish prince invited teutonic order to get rid of prussians and they did just that, it was basically a medieval holocaust.
I live in this part of Poland. It's an amazing place. We have hundred-old prussian buildings, nice and majestic, along with a horrible, post-soviet architecture that's already crumbling down. But the nature here is soooo beautiful!
Ох уж эта жуткая советская архитектура. Ты уж прости, что эти ужасные коммунисты, которые потеряли десятки миллионов сограждан в войне, десятки тысяч городов и деревень, вместе с инфраструктурой, не успели тебе за пару десятилетий отстроить роскошных зданий и домов. А строили быстро и из того, что было, чтобы у таких поляков, как ты, был кров над головой после войны. Странно, что ваша демократичная власть так мало думает о вас и не построит вам бесплатно новые и раскосные дома, вместо «ужасных советских», раз ты жалуешься. Вроде войны то подобной той не было, да и «злых русских» у вас нет уже более 30 лет
@@th3WhiteKnight No, the south of Prussia already had a sizeable Polish population for a long time, which was even mentioned in this video. Much different situation than that of Russia - before 1945 there was virtually no Russians in this area
@@th3WhiteKnightyeah pretty much most of eastern and balkan europe had massive ethnic cleaning post WWI, well before WWII kicked off. Turns out large multiethnic empires tend to become quite mixed in a way nationalistic ethno states really dont like
meatBALL, methinks... Meatloaf is, well, a "loaf" made of meat and "other stuff" (herbs, oatmeal, bread/ roll crumbs,, and such. Klopsen are small balls - Auntie Wiki says "Königsberger Klopse, also known as Soßklopse, are a German specialty of meatballs in a creamy white sauce with capers". And who am I to question her knowledge and undermine her authority, ja? ;-)
@@mikelytou "No like, no eat", as they say... ;-) But hey, lutefisk is NOT minced, maybe you should try this? Or "pickled herrings" (Surströmming), another Scandinavian "specialite de la maison"? Bon appétit! ;-)
Funnily enough, some Volga Germans (Germans who settled in Russia centuries ago who astonishly STILL speak German, and number 500000+) who have been unable to return to Germany for one reason or another have taken to settling in Kaliningrad, so it now has a small German speaking population of around 3000.
they are called Kazah germans nowdays. Since during WW2 they were sent from central Russian to Kazahstan. But you are right. There are some. But also Kaliningrad is kind of transit city for them. They come here to handle papers for getting to germany and prepare to the move.
@Amon Ra there's not much left of that old Königsberg, it's been a different city for decades. Renaming it doesn't make any sense now. And it would be costly, in the first place.
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Of course the Volga Germans can’t “return” to Germany. Because they’re not and never were German nationals. They’ve always been Russian nationals. They’ve been in Russia for well over 3 centuries now since long before any unified German state. The dialect of German that they speak is barely comprehensible to most Germans now and they’re all bilingual in Russian (which hey speak outside of their homes). And no none are settling in Kaliningrad (why the fuck would they want to?)
@ You dont know what you talking about. Many wolgagermans got citizinship of federal german republic from helmut kohl. Furthermore the ethnicity dont change just because an minority group lives in a foreign land.
This Not juste so in Russian!.. Калининград / Kaliningrad = only in efemery Sovietic ; in Russian = Кенигсберг/ Koenigsberg ; in Russian Gréât Poetry [Иосиф Бродский / Joseph Brodsky], after 1945 = «В городе К.» / Poem «In city K.»
@@piotr4048 yes, I know. Russian is my native language. I just know a little bit of German and Polish word sounded a lot like Russian word for king. So I just wanted to make it sure. Thanks:)
@Jhae 3 that's awesome hear, Kaliningrad is pretty unique. I've always felt like it's too small, though. Haha St Petersburg, on the other hand is richer in culture, in my opinion.
I used to live 6km from that region. The reason why Russia kept it is strategic, they have a massive army there just in case if anyone wants to make a move against them, they are protected in the middle Europe. It is actually a well thought move. I'm from a town in Poland which is pretty much the neighbours of that region and we have the biggest army based in Poland. Everything is very well thought and prepared.
Yeah , but saying we Germans didn't want it back is incorrect. There was a very big movement to reclaim it but the chancellor refused and lost the next election
I don’t believe in Russia massive army anymore, peasants with ak, but yeah Kaliningrad is heavy militarised with a lot of strongpoints. Question is if they would fight for this shitty life quality which Putin deliver to them?
Well, actually, they offered it to Lithuania in 1954, When Khruschew was gaining favor in the Soviet republics, like the same year he gifted Crimea to Ukraine, on top of the Donbas, Kherson and Odesa they already got from Russia, but the Presidium of the Lithuanian SSR declined, since, then, they would have a lot of Russians (maybe 1/3 or 1/2) on their territory. And they could vote and stuff so it was not worth it. The second time, Russia offered it back to Germany, when they were reunifying, but the Germans never even answered. They didn't even consider it seriously... They say that they were too busy with reunification back then... Check it up
@@beyondrecall9446 Печально, что глупость одного человека заложила бомбу замедленного действия, которая разорвалась, не без помощи США конечно, много лет спустя. Я думаю потерю Калининграда в 1991 в Рф никто бы особо не переживал, а вот потеря Крыма с Новороссией это было больно. Кстати тогда Украина первая оккупировала русские земли. Так как в 1954 году передавали только Крым, а город-герой Севастополь оставался в составе РСФСР. В 1991 году Россия была предана собственным руководством и почти уничтожена, поэтому пришлось смириться с этой оккупацией. Но сейчас бумеранг вернулся отправителю...
I wonder if "hot potato" is a euphemism for a live grenade. It would explain the game a lot better. I mean you can eat hot potatoes. Heck, I prefer them over cold ones.
Kaliningrad: the country version of the last slice of pizza at a company party. "No, you take it... I insist." "I couldn't, really... you should have it!" In the end, the fat guy who already had too much takes it.
Worth noting that Prussia proper, including Königsberg, was always exotic to most Germans, as it was outside of the Holy Roman Empire and the ceremonial Kingdom of Germany. It was only settled by Germans during the late Crusades. Berlin was the seat of the Prussian kingdom when it came to unite Germany.
What people know as "Prussia" is mostly the margraviate of Brandenburg with its Capital Berlin. They inherited the duchy of Prussia (called a Polish "puppet state" in the video, actually a vassal) at some point and when that was converted into a kingdom later on, the margraves of Brandenburg had the chance to call themselves "King in Prussia" instead. An as kings are way more prestigeous than margraves, they just did that. "Prussia" as in the lands around Königsberg aren't the heart of Germany and the dynasty ruling "Prussia" as well as the German Empire later on wasn't Prussian either, they were Swabian.
Remember when Prussia was Germanic? Otto von Bismarck does
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@Luuk R. but the ruling class sets its spirit. It's like saying that Indian isn't indian on behalf of the majority of dravidians and muzzis living there
Kaliningrad was a very important strategic position. USSR sent a lot of soldiers on its storm. About 750000 people got “medals for capturing Konigsberg”
it had a very symbolic value to USSR. It was the center of German militarism - the Original Prussia. Capturing it signified the end of that chapter of German history, which eventually led to the rise of Hitler and WW2. The core of German Wehrmacht were Prussian officers.
@@aaronmarks9366 wow i appreciate the affort you make trying to disgrade communist in any way possible. Germany lost it during a war they STARTED. So why wouldn't the communist "tell you about that"?
Prussia wasn't the origin of the German imperial dynasty, nor did it expand out across Germany. It was inherited by the Hohenzollerns, rulers of Brandenburg, and was ruled as Brandenburg-Prussia until 1701. The rulers of Prussia were Brandenburgers, and lived in Berlin. Brandenburg was always the center of this state. The reason it became known as Prussia was because Duke Frederick III of Brandenburg replaced the Duchy of Prussia with a kingdom in 1701 and became king in order to increase his prestige. He could do this because Prussia was his territory, but Brandenburg was still technically a fiefdom of the HRE, so he couldn't become King of Brandenburg. This is why for most of the 18th century the Hohenzollern king was known as "King in Prussia" rather than "King of Prussia"
You are very correct - and the ruling family of the Hohenzollern dynasty has its roots in an area from around the town of Hechingen, Baden-Württemberg, about as far away from the area that you can get in the opposite direction and still be in German lands. The original Hohenzollern castle near this town, from where the family took its name, I think is still owned by someone in the family. So where this fellow came up with the idea that ruling family came from Kaliningrad/Königsberg is something I can't explain. Totally against what I understand to be true. Also, it is likely that my distant ancestor, an officer in the Prussian Army, was somehow connected to this family out of some duty to the family - so I am very aware of the history of the Hohenzollerns. This distant ancestor was born not far from Hechingen, but served and died in or near Königsberg. This was all very odd until I figured out the probable connection to this royal family. How and why did a Swabian born peasant join the Prussian military, and die in or near Polish lands. Incidentally, he had a stop in Ansbach, another part of the ruling family's domain. So when I ran across the Hohenzollern history, it made sense.
Small correction: It was King in Prussia bc they did not own all of it from the start. They only had East Prussia while West Prussia belonged to Poland. They became kings of Prussia when they took those lands. Also fun fact: Hohenzollern Castle is in south Germany (would have to look up though if the house is from there)
It’s also because that’s where Russia houses its Baltic fleet. Russia will never give it up as, if I remember correctly, it is the only warm water port that Russia has in the Baltic.
if Russia ever gets into another war with Europe, i see Russia's borders shifting east, Belarus's borders shifting east, Poland's borders shifting east, and Germany returning to what it was pre-WWI.
@@ugandanwarrior5657 Russia becomes a radioactive desert too, and China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Japan, and America will all move to make claims in Siberia
Gibraltar is in a weird situation where we kind of agree that it should be returned but the population actually living there has to agree as well, which they will never do because voting to pay more taxes will never happen.
@@arandombard1197 Gibraltar has been a part of the UK since 1713, 63 years prior to American independence. Scotland at that time was only recently added to the UK, 6 years before. Why on earth you think there's a legitimate reason to return the territory to Spain a full 307 years later, I've no clue.
@@jamesmccomb9525 There in a principle known as territorial integrity. The UK as a sovereign power owning Gibraltar damages the territorial integrity of Spain. It's also the product of a time when land was governed by those who could conquer it, rather than by the people living there. Again, I'm not saying it should be handed over as the people living there don't want that to happen. But instead, I'm just acknowledging that the land is part of the Iberian Peninsula, not the British Isles.
@@arandombard1197 Territorial integrity? I'm sorry but... What? Should the Spanish towns across Morocco be ceded to Morocco, konigsberg to Germany, North Ireland to Republic of Ireland, so on so forth? You seem to be in favour of removing border gore or inconveniences but I'm sorry, the world isn't that simple.
@Don't question my comment Only Poles and Lithuanians now about Królewiec/Karaliaučiaus. The rest of smart people in the world knows it as "Königsberg". Sorry, my Polish and Lithuanian friends.
I remember having fun trying to figure out this answer for myself, and it's nice that I did find myself backtracking its history all the way to the Teutonic Knights.
Fun fact: One of the terms for Prussian independence from Poland in the treaty of Oliwa was that Prussia would be returned to the Kingdom of Poland if the ruling dynasty died out.
@@larsviktorfreirewakenhut6930 And then you have to factor in that you could even argue that the you would have to wait until all of the german dynasties would die out
The answer concerning the present day is quite simply, Russia owns Kaliningrad because the German Kohl government didn't want it back in 1990 when it was offered by Russia.
@@Ratselmeister why we should give you back or offered your previous lands? Who the fuck start the World War II? Blame yourself and your shame country for start it! That’s the compensation for this what you’ve done! It’s not even enough, your nazi country should pay us a lot of reparations for destroying our buildings and houses! How dare you even ask for that!
@@Ratselmeister mate... you don't get my conclusion 🤣 For us you always gonna be nazis no matter what year we are in! You only change the name but you always gonna be German Nazis for us. You don't have to teach me history because I know exactly what was in 1990. You just don't get my sarcasm 🤣
You should be aware that initially these lands were inhabited by Prussians - Baltic people related to Lithuanians and Latvians. In 13th century these lands were conquered by German crusaders.
Leonardo David 28 you right , so the short version of the answer is: Kaliningrad is Russian because Russians are ready to dye for this land . If someone think , That he has more rights to own this land , no problem. Come and claim .
last name first name de facto its British . What does it mean “ someone have right to ... “ , it means that there is a way , that someone have ability to inforce his will on others . Or directly - the rule of the strongest , or not directly through social agreement and common lows. If u dig deeper , then someone can ask , how can anyone have right to own something, that was not created by him. Spain got these lands as a result of recanquista . If some group of people will prove , that they successors ( inheritors ) of moors , do they have right to this land ?
My Grandmother was among the german refugees who had to flee Königsberg after WW2. She fled with a newborn over the frozen baltic sea to Kiel in northern Germany. Btw Königsberg kind of remains an important part of german identity and culture. Through german philosophers and poets who lived there (like Kant), artists and also cuisine (Königsberger Klopse are a typical german meat balls dish).
My Grandmother was among russians who had fllee western Ruassia at the beginning of Nazi invasion with my mom (newborn). Without that your Granmother can stay in Konigsberg until the end of her days
My grandmother lived at about 100 miles from Moscow. German Nazis bombed and destroyed her house, killed her husband, and tried to burn her child alive. The child was saved because Germans had to leave, as the Soviet army was advancing. Stop fuck..g pretend to be a victim. Your Germans were fascist monsters in WW2. Clearly, nothing has changed as you dismiss your devilish nation's crimes.
@@kakasy5335 Oh c'mon expecting what exactly Soviet Union made a deal with a wolf invading Poland a couple of days after Germany not even declaring war sending very simple minded soldiers from far far east commanded by proper Russian officers so they wast the land commit unspoken atrocities and nowadays both the aggressors try to show up as victims. Just to be clear I'm not talking about common people who regardless of side and nation always suffer most through mindless decisions of their governments who see them mainly as tax numbers. Wars bring the worse in people, some get mad some turn psychotic when their minds can't bear with what they've seen some will sell their best friends to survive others to thrive some will even find pleasure in hurting other. There are so many differences. Yet if not for government decisions we speak, we lough, we trade, we have fun together even merry. Think about it when blaming whole nation you should be really thinking of their governments and the propaganda they enforce at their citizens through so called ''News"
the official story says “people fled” but the truth is that it was an ethnic cleansing... there are people who still remember the atrocities that happened to German people in Kaliningrad/Königsberg...
Exactly!!! Same was with Crimea where Tatats were sent to russias interior or just killed... I hope this russian sh.thole will just collapse from inside...
@@BocaoZ oh yeah don't start this shitty russian propaganda, both russia and Germany are totally guilty of death and misery of milions in eastern europe.
@@BocaoZ there are no winners or good guys in the WW2 and the WW2 didn't end in 1945. It's just the part of the history that you know because the West washed its' hands and betrayed the whole Eastern Europe condemning it to the second wave of atrocities, tortures and genocides, that it had already lived under nazis, but this time committed by soviets. Germany excused itself, recognised its' mistakes and is feeling guilty till today. Russia however built up a "glorious liberation" fairytale and have been feeding its' population (and the naive uneducated foreigners) through generations ever since. It became truth, because if you repeat for so long something, everyone forgets what was the truth, so this becomes the truth. That's why people in Russia support Putin and this myth of the "above-all-the-other-humans-RUSSIAN-SOUL" because they are the "great liberators". This sort of extreme nationalism and superiority feeling is no different from nazism. And you probably don't know that Soviet soldiers did exactly the same atrocities what they did in Bucha also back then. And not only that. Our grandparents remember all those things very well. But sadly, it doesn't find its' way into the Western historical narrative too much. The truth about the WW2 is that it started with Ribbentrop-Molotov pact through which two psychopaths Russia and Germany divided Europe into two influence zones, like Tordesillas. And decided to eat each its' own part. One got condemned, the other was called "liberator".
WW2 was a war of warcrimes and ethnic cleansing, and atrocities. neither alliance was pure, although most of the allied ones happened after the fact in east Europe.
Fun fact: Kaliningrad has a lot of Russian movies that featured it, because the city is the most European looking one in Russia, so its the easiest access to Europe for Russian producers
Fun fact: in the 1990es there was a german far right movement, called "Aktion Deutsches Königsberg" that tried to settle down in Kaliningrad to make it german again.
My father was born in Konigsberg in 1938; Russians really screwed up the city in rebuilding. Paid a visit to the city this Summer and its sad what has become of East Prussia.
we had a friend at our church that came from Königsberg and her father was a draftee in the German Army during WWII. Near the end when defeat was near he got a message to his family in Königsberg, Get west as far as possible!!. They did. Years later she was a US citizien and so was the rest of the family. When getting her US passport it showed her birthplace as "Russia".
Very bad story, she was born in Königsberg and not in Kaliningrad. Did she have any difficulties? Btw, that escape in the winter of 44/45 must have been hell on earth. The Russian soldiers wanted to take revenge for what the Wehrmacht had done in Russia. People often had to flee across the frozen Baltic Sea because the land route was already blocked. A total of 13 million Germans fled from the areas east of the Oder River to escape the advance of the Red Army. The greatest tragedy occurred when a civilian ship used as a cruise liner before the war was sunk by a Russian submarine with 10,000 refugees on board, 9,000 people drowned. When these refugees from the Eastern territories arrived in the West, they had to learn that they were not welcome there either. The locals had to take in the refugees, housing was extremely scarce because millions of homes had been destroyed by the air raids of the British and Americans.
@@ruhri0411 She was too young to remember that trek. A lot of ethnic groups were displaced in WWII. after the war a large German ethic population was displace from the now Czech Republish and they were Germans that had lived there going back centuries.
It's a pity that you don't mention the fact that Königsberg was the city where Immanuel Kant, arguably the greatest German philosopher spent his whole life. East Prussia was at the periphery of the Prussian Kingdom even during the 18th century and played an analogous role in encouraging Enlightenment ideas and free trade conceptons against the mercantilism which at the time ruled in Continental Europe as the periphery of the United Kingdom, namely Scotland and its unique Scottish Enlightenment.
While I love your videos, Köningsberg, and by extension, Prussia, was *not* the birthplace of the Prussian (and later German) ruling dynasty, nor did Prussia grow from Prussia to, well, greater Prussia. The Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia/Germany was originally in charge of the Electorate of Brandenburg (though natively from Ansbach IIRC) in the Holy Roman Empire, centered around Berlin. Prussia was also ruled by a junior branch of the same Dynasty, and this caused Brandenburg to come into possession of the Duchy of Prussia in the early 1600s. As Brandenburg's power and prestige grew, they adopted the title "Kings *in* Prussia", as they were legally not allowed to be a Kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire. As their Prussian possessions were outside of the Empire, using this specific wording, they were able to claim the prestige of a Kingdom without actually breaking any Imperial laws. This is also why Königsberg isn't the capital; it was never the capital of what we know as the Prussian state. That was always Berlin.
@@petibatyo By the time we're talking about the kings of Bohemia were also the Holy Roman Emperors, so there was no conflict. Also Bohemia had been a kingdom before it was incorporated into the HRE, Brandenberg had not.
@@petibatyo There were other Electors who held kingdoms OUTSIDE the HRE. The Elector of Saxony was also King of Poland, and the Elector of Hanover was King of Great Britain and Ireland.
nope, natively from Zollern, Swabia, dating from 11th century and splitting in different branches (swabian, franconian, brandenburg-prussian etc.) latter in history.
2:28 Lol wow, Lithuania literally avoided having the same issues Ukraine has had with the Donbass region. The ethnic tensions between Western-Ukrainians and Eastern-Ukrainians (ethnic Russians) is one of the main source of this war happening there.
I came across an info about that some time ago. President Yeltsin made such an offer to President Walesa along with a motion to move all the remaining Poles from USSR to the province. Unfortunately, it's been withdrawn the moment the Russian generals heard about the offer...
Just a small correction the first "Kings of Prussia" were called "Kings in Prussia" as to not suggest a claim to all of the region, which was then partly Polish.
@@Toast0808 you mean superiority complex.... and you westerners just keep underestimating them last time someone did that, there was soviet flag over Berlin
@@overlord4404 except the Russians were supported by the allies, and had Britain ferrying supplies to them throughout the war. The winter beat the German army not Russia. Just as Japan beat Russia before ww2. You are deluded if your think Russia made it to Germany because they were better. They made it because Hitler was not a good general and started to many battles, and because Russia threw soldiers into combat like lemmings.
Well that fills in some questions I had, thanks. Does seem amusing to me that humanity has fought so hard to take land throughout history, and here we have several nations being offered it and they're just like "nah."
@@mtrunkello I think Khrushchev transferred Crimea to Ukraine because it would be easier for Ukraine to manage than Russia, without regard for what the people there wanted. Edit: an earlier version of this said it was Stalin who transferred the peninsula, but @Alex Mason corrected me (thanks).
Great video, learned something. Most important, Lithuania refused it twice because they did not want Russians in their country and they would start trouble. Boy they foresaw what is happening to Ukraine, happening there. 👍🏻 to Lithuania.
"Hey UN, could you please give us Königsberg back please? We would reeeeally appreciate it if we could have the Sudetenland back too. And just a smidgen of land from Western Poland where there are a lot of German speaking people? You know what would be awesome? If we could have the Ruhr Valley back too. Oooooh could we bother you for one more favour and let us annex Austria? Hey don't mind those soldiers we just moved into the Rhineland...."
I get the joke, but demanding Sudetenland today wouldn't hold any water. The Third Reich demanded Sudetenland because of the ethnic German majority living there, but those were forcibly pushed out into Germany after WW2 ended.
Some interesting footnote: during Seven Years' War Russian Empire ocupied eastern prussia and city of Konigsberg. Some say the city offered its allegiance to the russian empress Elizabeth and Russians did actually plan to annex Eastern Prussia on peace terms with Frederick the Great. But Elizabeth had died too soon and Peter the 3rd being a real fan of Frederick canceled those plans and did white peace with Frederick
@@naepfus8993 Check out any history book on the subject. It's true. And the governor of Prussia during the Seven Year's War occupation was the father of legendary Russian army leader, Suvorov.
Would’ve been awkward AF if Germany wanted it back. The UN was already having WW1/2 flashbacks, then Germany starts making moves 5 seconds after its reunified.
One of the bigger reasons for the world wars was that the great powers never treated the germans equally. Same with japan. Giving them back lost territory and so taking back some of the humility suffered by the germans could have been a step in the right direction. it also would have prevented the 2nd ww.
Falain I think, without the Treaty of Versailles (or maybe just lighter economically), there wouldn’t have been WW2; Sure the Wall Street crash would’ve been bad, but it was bad everywhere and not everywhere turned facist. Maybe a generation of extremely bitter Germans would be around, who felt betrayed and all. The next European war probably would’ve been France, UK, Germany vs USSR.
@CheatyTycoon 2 common decency? Why would a nation that is the most reaponsible for ww1 deserve common decency, as far as i am concerned, the germans got it easy, im both wars
A very curious place is the Kaliningrad Olblast. Despite it's very Russian and ex-soviet buildings constructed after the war, the whole place is still very German looking in places. Especially any still standing pre-war architecture.
My grandmother was Lithuanian-Prussian and lived close to the city which is today called Sovjetsk. She and one of her cousins were the only survivors in her family. She also lost all her close friends during this cleansing. The winners in conflict always tell the story and that's why many still today believe that such profanities as the annexation of Königsberg were a " soft" ethnic cleansing.
_"The winners in conflict always tell the story and that's why many still today believe that such profanities as the annexation of Königsberg were a " soft" ethnic cleansing."_ - yes, and "just for the record" let me add that the conflict you were kind to mention was started by a country led by a democratically elected leader, chief of a socialist workers party, that had a great support among that country electorate... and that the country in question was then actively engaged in some "not so soft" ethnic cleansing of certain groups of people (Jews, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Gypsies - you name it...) Oh, boy - there were really good at it, yes they were... German efficiency at its best... or worst? Never mind, the number of "cleansed" Jews alone is well over five MILLIONS. Hats off... Keine "Polnische Wirtschaft" - a good, proper "Ordnung und Wirksamkeit. ...but then the capricious Fortune has shifted her favours, and as they say, "you reap what you sow"... And while your Oma might not had been herself a supporter of that charming Austrian fellow and his gang (she was probably too young back then to be eligible to vote), she was the member of that nation and community nonetheless. Should she (or rather her family) back then choose to build their future in less progressive countries, like Switzerland, Argentina or Paraguay, her entire family could have survived - and they all could be telling now their stories of the suffering and hardship associated with their involuntary emigration... but I digress here. (Besides, you can find easily many other Grannies "further east" with even "better" life stories, so let us not delve too deep in that rather unsightly morass, shall we? Good...) And yes, I do agree that "collective responsibility" is a bad thing, but that's how it works, unfortunately, when it comes to war - if you don't distance yourself from "the lot" in time, you'll benefit from the spoils (in case "your side" wins) - or suffer the brunt of defeat. Such is life - "Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it" - so "always look at the bright side of life". Which is... well, I don't know. Right, back to the subject. Now, on a bit more serious note - forgive me that bit of sarcasm and irony above, but as nearly sixty yrs old Pole I find it always... amusing, let's say, when some German decides to whine and complain about the aftermath of WW II - and not that I'm trying to say "they didn't suffer" (or belittle it), or that their civilians didn't bear the horrible consequences of it - because they DID suffer, and German civilians DID bear HORRIBLE consequences - especially woman, if you get my drift... (some call it "ancestral uncertainty", others... well, never mind). "I know many of you will die in this battle, and some of you will even die horribly, but that's the sacrifice I'm willing to endure" was the battle cry of all kings, warlords and warmongers for millennia. There was a time to learn, but if history ever provides us with any lesson, it is that people never take any lessons from history. Case in point - The Fourth Reich, proudly declared few months back, and now in full swing doing its best to block any help for Ukraine, 'cause it might offend their best ally. Ribbentrop - Molotov, second take, eh? But I'm getting carried away here, sorry. Still, any "German complaint" related to WW II sounds to me just like that angry outburst by Fletch, the main character of "Porridge" comedy series, who landed himself in jail after the brick-laden lorry he just stole crashed because of faulty brakes - "that should be a criminal offence!" (faulty brakes, that is). Amusing way of thinking, innit? : ) Oh, well, nothing is simple in life, I know. So I'm not berating you or anyone here, it's just some food for thought, if you will. And yes, I know - it's hard to swallow, and even harder to digest - sorry, it wasn't my recipe. Shalom.
@@atisalvaro You weren't particularly attentive during your history classes, were you? Most death camps (aka concentration camps, Konzentrazion Lagern) were located on occupied territories - mostly what used to be Poland before the war. (And now they use it as excuse to call them "Polish concentration camps", effing bastards). Auchwitz Birkenau (Polish: Oświęcim-Brzezinka), Sobibór, Bełżec, and others. Babi Yar - German-occupied Ukraine. Ponary massacre - Germany-occupied (pre-war) Poland (then Germany occupied Lithuania, and now also Lithuania). And so on, and so forth. Siege of Leningrad - USSR. They say, "there's no shame in being dumb, but then there's no reason to boast about it either"...
@@MrKotBonifacy We are not in the theme of concentration camps, that existed long time before in Soviet Union than in Germany. Germans did not do ethnic cleansing of Russians, nor colonisation of Germans in Russian land. Soviets did murder, rape, torture and expell all Germans from their homeland in Eastern Prussia, and settled Russians there
@@MrKotBonifacy I completely understand your reaction to that comment. However two wrongs don't make a right and in the end i don't think the victims of any of the conflicts (which were just random people like you and I) deserved the horror that they had to go through. I think the OP was just frustrated of the double standarts that the germans were so heavily condemned for their genocide (and rightly so) yet the soviets never had to attone for theirs and are widely seen as oppressive but never as bad as the third reich (even though they definately were)
Why you didn't say about 1758-1762 years? East Prussia swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizabeth. Immanuel Kant was a subject of the Russian Empire for 4 years :)
The truly lovely old city of Königsberg exists only in memory now. The British bombing and Russian siege tore it to pieces. Only fragments of the original place remain. A terrible cultural and human loss to Europe. Look at photographs of what it once was and it will break your heart.
Königsberg used to have 7 bridges and then the guy who invented e went there and because of the bridges created two new areas of Math: topology and graph theory. Interesting video!
@@Vasily_dont_be_silly the constant e - Euler's constant. Here's a video about it from Numberphile with Cliff Stoll. Prof. Stoll is a great teacher!!! EDIT: The video is about the seven bridges problem. Mathologer has an awesome video about the constant and it features The Simpsons! I hope the new EU sanctions against Russia at least get people interested in History and perhaps Math. wooow ... the History of Math!!!!
I don‘t want to criticize you, but the Prussian royal family does not originate from Prussia (proper)/Königsberg! The family originated from from Baden-Württemberg in South-Western Germany. At some point in time they were given the Brandenburg-March (Border Region) Which they developed against all odds. Then there was the Teutonic Order, a knightly order, like the Templar’s, who were hired by the Polish to defeat and convert the Baltic people (Like Lettgallians, Estonians and (Old) Prussians [the Lithuanians did their own from the Baltic to the Black Sea reaching stuff] ). But afterwards they just stayed there and more an more Germans flocked there. After a while they were brought back under Polish fold. At some point a Hohenzollern was appointed the next grand master of the Teutonic Order. Later on he also inherited the March of Brandenburg and combined the two. But because part his realm was still a vassal to the Polish he could only call himself the king in Prussia. Only after his successors achieved independence, they could call themselves king of Prussia. Later on a lot of Germans came into Prussia and the old traditions, culture and language were surpressed until they died out (in the 18th or 19th century I think). So please try not to tell wrong information. It might seem a small mistake at first, but you could suggest a lot of misleading facts. Please be careful!
You have the basic jist of things And many of things you said in your narrative is correct however you have made some serious mistakes. You are right of course about the Prussian royal family the Hohenzollerns originate from southern Germany from a place called Hohenzollern actually and Hohenzollern castle. Where it's still around today and you can visit. The Prussian royal family also had the tradition of burying all of their family there as well. I do not know if one of the last Teutonic grandmasters was a Hohenzollern. Maybe you are right because i never fact checked this, but you could be wrong also. You where right also about Prussia being a march of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. They got their independence after the end of The Deluge the war against Sweden and also Russia. The treaty forced the Poles to make the Duchy independent a mistake that only the polish realize to this day and is their biggest regret in history because they'd never imagine that in the future that small duchy would subjugate them repeatedly on separate occasions. Just to add, Prussia was always called Prussia out of the native Prussians, They were practically force converted on the first Teutonic crusade and the Teutons kept the name of the land even though it was now german not really Prussian. Also many Prussians integrated with german society. So Prussia in reality is much bigger than people think, it connected with the Holy Roman Empire and it included Dazing and the Polish corridor as people later called it, and Konigsberg. After the Poles defeated the Teutons they split Prussia in two parts. Because they kept one part for themselves to connect themselves with the sea. This was Danzig. That was the "polish corridor" and was known as Royal Prussia. The other half they left independent as a subject and was called Duchy of Prussia. So you have Royal Prussia and Duchy of Prussia, which always made things confusing. Even at the time of Frederick in the 18th century the Poles still held the corridor, but the Prussians finally regained Royal Prussia in the first Partition of Poland which obviously must have been their number one priority. And finally connected german lands with East Prussia. This splitting up of Prussia is the reason that lead to the generational mentality of Western and Eastern Prussia. West Prussia was Polish Royal Prussia. Thus the thing you said about the last Grandmaster of the Teutons inheriting Brandenburg and uniting the two Cannot be true.. Because the Teutons ceased to exist centuries before the Duchy of Prussia even gained independence from the Poles in the treaty thus being able to conduct it's own foreign policies. So it's impossible. I don't know these Dynastic details it must have occurred by some royal marriage as was usually the case. Brandenburg and East Prussia united like in the 1680's or 1690's and was from then on simply called Prussia. Also Brandenburg was never a march like you mentioned it was a duchy. March is a form of subject to somebody else and Brandenburg was never subject to nobody. And finally the mistake you made that annoyed me the most is that it is impossible, even when Prussia became a thing in the 1690's for its rulers to be called King of Prussia. It is one of the reasons Frederick the Great even started the Silesian war which then turned into the 7 years war a global conflict in the mid 18 the century. One of his goals was his obsession to force the Holy roman Empress ( which he didn't even recognize because she was a woman), to allow him to use the title of King. Up to this point The Holy Roman Empire was still a thing and before this war no one was even remotely allowed to use any sort of title like King which implies total authority. The last Authority was the Emperor no matter how de facto independent the states of the HRE had become by this point. By the end of the war Frederick managed to get the title of King on the condition he only referred to himself as the King "in" Prussia and not the King "of"Prussia, because the king of Prussia was the Emperor. So now I hope you see your mistake. The only time any state in the HRE was free to call themselves king of something was only after Emperor Francis abolished the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars as the writing was on his wall. By that time both Württemberg and Bavaria were elevated to the status of Kingdoms by Napoleon. So yea please try not to tell wrong information.
When I was a child I knew map of Poland and thought that Kaliningrad region is the whole Russia, so when someone told me Russia is the biggest country in the world I thought they lost their mind, because Poland is clearly bigger.
Can't stop laughing =)
When I was a child I was told I lived in the biggest country on Earth. At age of 4 or 5 I first saw the map of Russia - it looked like a huge horse pooping a tiny piece on the west. I asked ‘so where are we here?’ Imagine my disappointment when they pointed on this tiny piece:)
@@jerrytc2978 just shut up man... holy fuck
@@jerrytc2978 "When I was a child" he said. I don't think children care a lot of who what country is historical ennemy of what country, unless the parents want to brainwash them.
Oh man 🤣😂
Also Kaliningrad was an important strategic position for the military because it was one of the few places where the sea didn’t freeze in winter (unlike St. Petersburg).
I think Russias pacific port like in Vladivostok also doesn't freeze in winter
I think Russia got a Pacific warm water port after the Second Opium War also, when Britain lopped northern Manchuria off China and gave it to them.
*Królewiec
@@josephsaafan7838 yes, but its so far from Europe. In Russia people have strong mind that if global war Ru vs USA would start, Europe will be on USA side. So in military purposes bases in Kaliningrad justified.
@@josephsaafan7838 Murmansk port doesn't freeze but it's too far from Baltic
"Lithuanians refused because they felt incorporating so many Russians would cause long term issues"
Dodged one hell of a bullet there
explain
@@Serek_Studios you know the answer, if you haven't lived under the rock for the past year
@@xeanderman6688 that doesn’t prove anything
@@rochitgurung9090 the current Russian government uses that as a justification for war. Therefore not having any Russians in your country grants you protection from that, at least (ofc if they want they'll find another bullshit claim)
@@xeanderman6688 i hate when people are a dick instead of just explaining, so now please stop being an asshole and just explain
"incorporating so many Russians into its territory would cause long-term issues"
Wise decission
Unfortunately you turned into Nazis and lost all credibility about "land"@@stlouisix3
@@stlouisix3there are more Armenians in Kaliningrad than Germans and Poles combined. There are more Germans in New York than Germans in Poland.
@@stlouisix3 Bro thinks he's the next Austrian painter 💀💀
@@stlouisix3No land truly "belongs" to anyone. Regions can easily have their culture wiped, and Prussia was a region that belonged to the Baltic Prussians until the Germans came in and slaughtered and germanized them.
Especially since this was around the same time Ukraine was offered Crimea
I am german and my deceased grandpa was from Königsberg. He often told stories of how his family had leave their home.
@wlodek bąk Sadly your words are true. That´s why many young good educated people leave the country. I am not exception.
@@jpk190988 Please, can you tell where most of your people going? Just interested what country preferred more from your perspective
@@alexanderbell4976 I think most Germans go to Switzerland and Austria. But there are also many that go to Hungary and the US. I live in China now.
@@jpk190988 Thank you! Still valid subject for me. Hope you are doing well during these difficult times🙏
@@jpk190988 how do you get access to TH-cam meanwhile China bans yt?
To be honest Russia and warm water is like America and oil.
If you had snow at home 7 months a year, you would also be ready to fight for warm water xD
Wrong conclusion.
but U.S. bigges oil producer
@@seniorilay8291 And Russia makes warm water with Gas boiler systems.
@@seniorilay8291 U. S. Is major terrorist.
This story of Kaliningrad is so surreal it feels like it could only happen in a Civilization game.
Named after Michael Kalnin which signed the order of killing over 21k polish officers in the 40s. I despise this goddamn name.
@Gobrech i mean, you can raze cities which technically counts as ethnic cleansing if you think abt it
There was this one game a civ settled in a place I claimed so the turn it became a free city, I took it, razed it, and then brought a settler to settle in that same exact place so it wouldn’t be questioned that the land was mine XD
@@GobrechEvery Stellaris, Victoria and HOI4 players 👀
@@Gobrech that ship sailed the ethnic German natives have been driven out or murdered long ago...
A thing I noticed while look at on some maps, during the German empire days, what looks like bridges connect to east Prussia/Kaliningrad and they got in half while they permanently lost it
I used to take care of a German woman at a nursing home who most people dismissed as crazy because she'd always say she wanted to go home but couldn't. Asked her one day if she was from Konigsberg and she came alive with the biggest smile and told me all about her childhood there and how all she ever wanted in life was to go back and visit just once, but the Russian government forbade it as her family fled to West Germany. Sadly, she passed away a few years ago still here in the states.
Most likely she couldn’t go there cause her family were Nazi, it is well known lots of Nazi escaped to the USA and didn’t receive any juridical punishment
Бывает
That's pretty depressing, dying alone in a nursing home more than a thousand miles from home and not being able to visit. I wonder how she would've felt had she visited with it being so different
@@КИМ-х5у why are you guys always so bitter
@@Paul-ck3dm Because everyone around is very kind
I live in Poland near Kaliningrad. And we smuggling cigarettes, fuel, alcohol from there. Because Russia have this cheaper. And they have a very good sweets and chocolate.
EverydayNormalGuy that’s true. I like those cigarettes, especially blueberry ones... I am looking forward to come back when they will open borders. I use to travel there from Gniezno
Ну, так разумеется. "Под контрабанду" толкаите туда сюда. Польша-Литва, Россия-Польша...
Aleksander Lisowski Но не только контрабанда! Вообще она на последним месте... У вас вкусная кухня и хорошие люди))) Есть тоже много что можно увидеть. Мне Калининград нравится очень
😳🤔
GERMAN CHOCOLATE!!!
You forgot a very important thing that Russians love, ICE FREE PORTS.
Nah, russians really love exporting poverty, corruption and political instability.
@@mignas Lol. Do you prefer genocide and governmental disintegration supplied by US?
If things go south with NATO this is their unsinkable aircraft carrier group.
Russia, your number 1 choice when it comes to poverty in Europe!
@@mutaitomaster that is the balkans
2:32 "(T)he people there weren't Lithuanian and its leaders felt that incorporating so many Russians into its territory would cause long term issues"
*Putin:* "Clever girl"
That was some remarkable foresight.
@@european-one i wish it was that easy for things like Crimea but the difference would be that Lithuania never had a claim for Konigsberg in recent modern history, while Crimia is a solid claim by Ukraine
@@robloxgaara22 Nah, it's not a case of "ethnic homogeneity good". It's more a case of "it's better not to have a territory inhabited by the ethnicity of your bigger and more powerful neighbor that is known for its agressive foreign policy". If it had been inhabited by literally any other ethnicity, they'd all be fighting to get it.
@Blackwood G. Yeah. I think Vilnius can attest to that.
@Jonathan
If it was filled with Latvians or something it wouldn’t have been an issue.
It so annoys me that people tend to ignore that "Prussia" itself derives from the Baltic ethnic group Prussians. They were very close to current Lithuanians and Latvians but sadly went extinct because of Teutonic wars
The people didn't go extinct, the language did. The locals assimilated into German culture.
And also they were from East Prussia, West Prussia was German for longer.
@@crusaderACRso we can say that it was latvians/lithuaninas with german culture. Im stupid, i didnt get it first time
Yes, the history of why the "lands of the Teutonic Knights" became technically German is pretty shameful and disturbing.
The soviets forgot to puppet it and they annexed it by mistake in the peace conference.
Unturned is hell of a drug
Never again, not even once
Stalin missclicked
Just reset the Peace Conference
@@3mir420 nope. Stalin was really serious about that. Churchill laughed about this, when Stalin talked about that, but Stalin still got it.
Damn peace treaty menu.
Germany : Give it back
USSR : No
Germany : Give it back
USSR : No
Germany : Give it back
USSR : No
* the soviet union disolves *
Russia : You want it back ?
Germany : Nah you can keep it
Edit: its been 3 years, a lot has changed since then and i acknowledge this is grossly oversimplified, but i believe its worth keeping it around.
Hahahah
Different leaders, it's sad.
Dumbasses
@@kingdomofprussiaball7438 I think that it was pretty smart of them as there were virtually no Germans left in the region as they were replaced by Russians, which could cause instability if incorporated into Germany.
@Daniel Who cares about that? If I got offered a free city (especially Königsberg) I would take it without question.
In Hearts of Iron, we call this: "border gore".
When you forgot to select a country to cede a province to in HOI4
There is always that 1 province you forget to annex lol
@@lieutenantsupascoop2126 Always press take all states.
And then slowly carve it up afterwards.
In hoi*
This is what happens when I accidentally don’t select a small province, then I ponder my life choices. Lol
The fate of Königsberg is one of the most tragic in history for cities, imo. Huge cultural center for Germans with lots of historical buildings now is neither a cultural center, nor German, nor filled with historical buildings (most were destroyed in ww2)
Agree, Königsberg and Prussia is literally the birthplace of modern Germany, and it all doesn't even exist anymore.
If you were back in the 19th century and told people that in ~100 years Königsberg would be Russian territory with 0% German population, you would be called crazy.
Just like constantinople
@@thecakeisalie6392 And I assume if you said that during the Nazi regime you could be hung for treason.
I live in Kaliningrad rn. Yeah alot of buildings are destroyed, but there is some beautiful buildings like the german airport. its very huge like almost 2 villages.
They commited such horrid atrocities that taking away Kaliningrad was righteous
“Lithuania thought incorporating Russians would lead to long term problems”
Crimea: “good move”
It was ultimately a bad move. Now Russia has nukes and probably will never return it. Should have deported those Russians when we had the chance
@Mor Dor 1. Vilnius was lithuanian city since it was first built, by grand duke Gediminas. So it wasn't polish, even thou majority were speaking polish, because of polish influence. 2. Your sentences " right from Stalin's hands" is not correct, because USSR were supporting lithuanian claims on Vilnius region. 3. Molotov-ribbentrop pact had nothing to do with it, except the fact that whole Territory were given to soviets. 4. It was an ultimatum for Lithuanians. If they refused the deal they would have been invaded by soviets. Stalins' words: "No matter if you take Vilnius or not, the Russian garrisons will enter Lithuania anyway".
Vilnius has been Lithuanian since before the fall of the Roman Empire you absolute sperg lol
@Mor Dor In the wars following WWI lithuania held that land but lost it to the 2nd polish republic
@Mor Dor Vilnius region was occupied by Zeligowski with the blessing of Polish rulers after WWI. Rather weird to portray Poland as a victim here and Lithuania as an agressor tbh. However, as a Lithuanian I love my Polish neighbours. Let's be friends forever!
russians be like, change all the ''bergs'' to ''grads''
HAHYSH YESSS
Heisengrad
@@Sylykyn hahaha :-D
Berg means city and grad means city. Logic
@@ndrechtseiter i cant tell if you are serious or joking.
Russia be like:
W A R M. W A T E R. P O R T.
Normie.
Crimea
@@BobuxGuy Crimea can't really be used as a good port because everything would have to go through Turkey to get to the Mediterranean sea
@@sammybeaver9130 military ships can pass trough Instambul, it aint 1939 anymore
@@BobuxGuy true
I haven't learn history so fast ,straight, simple and full of knowledge. Thank you.
Königsberg was the capital, not the region itself. The region was called East-Prussia.
Or just Prussia. What the Germans called West Prussia had nothing to do with the Baltic Prussians in the first place - it was either East Pommerania or Pomerellia, but after Teutonic takeover, and especially due to propaganda by the later Prussian kingdom, the area was referred to as West Prussia.
So from native Prussian perspective it's weird to call the region "East" Prussia, when it was JUST Prussia - Prūsa in their native language.
@@Vitalis94 Prūsa? Waht do you mean with Prūsa?
@@moinulf4503 Exactly what I've said... Prussians called their region Prūsa.
@@Vitalis94 nah I think Preußen
@@moinulf4503 I ment the Baltic Prussians.
As far as I understand it also had a lot to do with Russia wanting a port on the baltic which didn't freeze during some winter periods
well yes exactly
That's the version of history I read as well. St Petersburg can freeze up in winter, leaving only Kaliningrad as their only open winter-long sea port.
Okay guys look, i live here and i know what i talking about). Its really can be looks like Kaliningrad can be very good trading port on the baltic for Russia... but actually... NO=) The problem is poor relations of the Baltic countries with Russia and expensive duties, what makes transportation goods to the center of Russia inefficient.
But for fleet, that placed here, in the Baltiysk(Pillau) its a really good place.
@@komrade5361 yeah I realise it's not the best economically, and the port gives Russia a lot of control over the baltic if a war happened
@@jakubwolski2277 Yeah, really think so? For all time russian "baltic" fleet was a bauble. It was created to fight with sweds, and since 18's times its used not too offen. It takes part of fighting in WW1, but nothing serious. In WW2 its stay in St.Petersburg and using like defence artillery cause germans mined all o the sea. Every time its actualy used for defence or support black seas fleets, or british... OR PACIFIC in japanese war. Danmark block free way to ocean and in modern war this fleet are not too handle...
That legendary German efficiency removed one letter from the owners of Konigsberg. From Prussia -> Russia.
RIP Prussia. It’s so sad that it was dissolved 😭
What does Prussia even mean? Productive Russia?
that does not make any sense, Preußen is not simmilar to Russland. Пруссия is not that simmilar to Россия.
@@thelastprussian6491 well, Пруссия is similar to Россия tbh
@@matvejkap its close but not that close
Polish name for it is Królewiec. If you are interested what happend to the Eastern Prussia peaople after the war I recommend the movie Rose (Róża), is a 2011 Polish film directed by Wojciech Smarzowski. It depicts the love story of a Masurian woman and an officer of the Armia Krajowa in postwar Masuria. It's pretty drastic like it was back then. And nowdays polish part of Eastern Prussia is great place for a travel!
imagine, if Lithuania had adopted Kaliningrad, now they would have the same problem as Ukraine with Crimea, they dodged a bullet
@@ДорианГрей-ъ4ш It was annexed against Ukraine's will. So the annexation was in no way compliant with the international law.
Edwin No, it’s not true. There was a democratic referendum where people of Crimea made their choice voting to reunite with Russia. So it was a historical reunification. Meanwhile, at the time Ukraine was experiencing yet another violent revolution and illegitimate coup.
@@ДорианГрей-ъ4ш It was not up to international standarts and not verified by independent sources.
Edwin It was actually. And there were international observers invited to accompany the procedure. Also, there was not a single drop of blood spilled during the Crimea-Russia historical reunification. For me it’s like when the Berlin Wall fell and West Germany and East Germany got reunited. People got what they desired and longed for, for many years. And their choice should be respected.
@@ДорианГрей-ъ4ш stop drinking vodka, it was putinxuiloendum.
Königsberg was where my paternal grandmother was born in 1899. She emigrated to the U. S. in 1911. The stories she told us were pretty cool.
SHARE ONE OR TWO WITH US,
My grandfather a s axon married to a Prussian said. Bleibe Im land. Und nahre dich redlich. Stay in your country. And earn your food honestly....he went through 2 wars....i miss my opa. And oma
I have been living in Kaliningrad for many years, ask questions)
@@GermancreatorA Do historical buildings from the Teutonic Knights and the Prussians still exists?
@Tonya Lover That’s political history. It doesn’t have much effect on the people actually living in an area
You failed to mention the strategic position of Kaliningrad extremely important in the deployment of Russian Navy in the Baltic sea as against st Petersburg, the harbor is not subject to ice. Which means that the Russian Navy got a harbor open all year
Yeah but they depend on Lithuania and/or Poland/Belarus to get access to it from their mainland.
@@carultch What about sea access?
@@Vitalis94 They have sea access to Kaliningrad, except when the port of Sankt Peterburg freezes solid.
@@Vitalis94 for sea access you would need an ice free port and if they would have one then why should they care about Kaliningrad?
@@SchwertKruemel But Kaliningrad IS a ice free port, nearby Baltyisk even more so.
I live in Kaliningrad. We locals often call her just König. In general, there are many slang abbreviations of city names in Russia, such as Vladivostok-Vladik or St. Petersburg - Peter. And I see Russian soldiers here almost every day. In fact, it is quite a protected area. A deeply echeloned, dense air defense system has been created here, the Baltic Fleet (missile ships and submarines, naval aviation and a tank regiment), missile brigades, shock aviation regiments, and army corps have been deployed. I think we can easily compete with Moscow and Crimea in the field of security :)
who cares
Here comes the easily bored guy
Then foreigners must not be allowed? I went to pushnoy and then they stopped me because I didn't had Norwegian visa. Looked like lots of security and stuff.
@@3r8y8cKHdfkwei89 well visa must be in any case when visiting Russia. visa-free regime is valid only with friendly countries. there are a couple of exceptions. where are you from? there is a difficult situation in the world haha. it has always been a protected region and even more so now
India.
Lithuania refusing the territory is actually very smart in hindsight. If they had accepted that territory filled with ethnic Russians then they have been facing what the Ukraine is today - a Russia that views it as lost territory.
Russia still sees all of the former eastern block states as a lost territory.
@@samuela-aegisdottir in fact, the way it is, the states - Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia appeared only after the collapse of the Russian empire.
Prior to the Russian empire conquering the Baltics they were other nations or principalities. In fact, they maintained their linguistic and cultural independence even under the Russian rule. That’s like saying that because India only formed as a United nation after British colonial rule that it’s really just a lost British territory.
This comment aged sharply.
@@samuela-aegisdottir Yeah but Lithuania has the smallest russian population of the Baltics so with Kaliningrad we would be in big trouble…
Russia offering Kaliningrad to Lithuania who declines is the real world equivalent to a queen sacrifice in chess where the opponent is smart enough to not accept.
Best comment 😂
Underrated
Exactly. Chess is Russia’s game. I applaud.
But knowing that Russians know everyone else knows they are experts at chess and would suspect its a trap and refuse the gambit, so maybe thats what the Russians wanted them to think that they really had something up their sleeve when they really had nothing, so they held onto Kaliningrad. 🤔
Russians can be crafty if they can manage to stay off the volka.
How does the sacrifice of the queen work? I'm not a grossmeister but isn't the game lost when you lose your queen? Or it's not just plain sacrifice but a bait to set it up?
0:29 The newly fomed Prussia, a puppet state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
That didn't go well for long.
Yep, and it was the Polish that brought germans too prussia too
@@majk5995 Teutons. But they broke the agreements cause Poland was divided like HRE and weak
@@filipkopec525 Teutons were from germany, so Germans does work
@@majk5995 the Germans were arriving as civilians before the Teutons
@@filipkopec525 that place was a home to Prussians, not germans, not poles. One Polish prince invited teutonic order to get rid of prussians and they did just that, it was basically a medieval holocaust.
I live in this part of Poland. It's an amazing place. We have hundred-old prussian buildings, nice and majestic, along with a horrible, post-soviet architecture that's already crumbling down. But the nature here is soooo beautiful!
We should embrace a peaceful Europe that doesn’t define itself in borders only!
Ох уж эта жуткая советская архитектура. Ты уж прости, что эти ужасные коммунисты, которые потеряли десятки миллионов сограждан в войне, десятки тысяч городов и деревень, вместе с инфраструктурой, не успели тебе за пару десятилетий отстроить роскошных зданий и домов. А строили быстро и из того, что было, чтобы у таких поляков, как ты, был кров над головой после войны. Странно, что ваша демократичная власть так мало думает о вас и не построит вам бесплатно новые и раскосные дома, вместо «ужасных советских», раз ты жалуешься. Вроде войны то подобной той не было, да и «злых русских» у вас нет уже более 30 лет
@@th3WhiteKnight No, the south of Prussia already had a sizeable Polish population for a long time, which was even mentioned in this video. Much different situation than that of Russia - before 1945 there was virtually no Russians in this area
@@th3WhiteKnight There were massive population movements after the war, yeah, they were all organised by Russians though
@@th3WhiteKnightyeah pretty much most of eastern and balkan europe had massive ethnic cleaning post WWI, well before WWII kicked off. Turns out large multiethnic empires tend to become quite mixed in a way nationalistic ethno states really dont like
The germans still cook a very jummy traditional dish called “Königsberger Klopse” (Königsberg’s meatloaf)
Nice
meatBALL, methinks... Meatloaf is, well, a "loaf" made of meat and "other stuff" (herbs, oatmeal, bread/ roll crumbs,, and such. Klopsen are small balls - Auntie Wiki says "Königsberger Klopse, also known as Soßklopse, are a German specialty of meatballs in a creamy white sauce with capers". And who am I to question her knowledge and undermine her authority, ja? ;-)
Pretty debatable, if that's yummie. Just the thought of minced fish makes my stomach turn.
@@mikelytou "No like, no eat", as they say... ;-)
But hey, lutefisk is NOT minced, maybe you should try this? Or "pickled herrings" (Surströmming), another Scandinavian "specialite de la maison"? Bon appétit! ;-)
@@MrKotBonifacy *blargh XD
0:01 The baltics make a german flag
And switzerland with Austria make Polish flag
Deutschland über alles
Sounds like rightful german clay to me lmao
HOLY SHIT
And Belarus makes the flag of Saudi Arabia
Funnily enough, some Volga Germans (Germans who settled in Russia centuries ago who astonishly STILL speak German, and number 500000+) who have been unable to return to Germany for one reason or another have taken to settling in Kaliningrad, so it now has a small German speaking population of around 3000.
they are called Kazah germans nowdays. Since during WW2 they were sent from central Russian to Kazahstan. But you are right. There are some. But also Kaliningrad is kind of transit city for them. They come here to handle papers for getting to germany and prepare to the move.
@Amon Ra Koenigsberg is also fine.
Same pronunciation
@Amon Ra there's not much left of that old Königsberg, it's been a different city for decades. Renaming it doesn't make any sense now. And it would be costly, in the first place.
Of course the Volga Germans can’t “return” to Germany.
Because they’re not and never were German nationals. They’ve always been Russian nationals. They’ve been in Russia for well over 3 centuries now since long before any unified German state. The dialect of German that they speak is barely comprehensible to most Germans now and they’re all bilingual in Russian (which hey speak outside of their homes).
And no none are settling in Kaliningrad (why the fuck would they want to?)
@
You dont know what you talking about.
Many wolgagermans got citizinship of federal german republic from helmut kohl.
Furthermore the ethnicity dont change just because an minority group lives in a foreign land.
Czechia is now the proud owner!
♿♿
That is the weirdest take on Kaliningrad I've ever heard
least delusional czech
German-Könningsberg
Russian-Kaliningrad
Polish-Królewiec
It comes from the word king, right?
This Not juste so in Russian!.. Калининград / Kaliningrad = only in efemery Sovietic ; in Russian = Кенигсберг/ Koenigsberg ; in Russian Gréât Poetry [Иосиф Бродский / Joseph Brodsky], after 1945 = «В городе К.» / Poem «In city K.»
@@СиняяЗвезда-ж8б not russian one but the others yes
@@piotr4048 yes, I know. Russian is my native language. I just know a little bit of German and Polish word sounded a lot like Russian word for king. So I just wanted to make it sure. Thanks:)
Wow polish is hard to work out! Hope if i get lost looking for kaliningrad i dont ask a pole for directions! .
Oh man, whenever I told people I'm from Kaliningrad, people would say :"oh, Leningrad, awesome..." 🙄
@Jhae 3 in Kaliningrad?
@Jhae 3 that's awesome hear, Kaliningrad is pretty unique. I've always felt like it's too small, though. Haha St Petersburg, on the other hand is richer in culture, in my opinion.
@@anyak885 hey Anya,
Do russian recognise past of konig?
@@LukasSRR yeah, we are taught in school about its history and there are many museums you can visit to learn about it if you want.
@@anyak885 maybe one day when there wont be so strict border control
I used to live 6km from that region. The reason why Russia kept it is strategic, they have a massive army there just in case if anyone wants to make a move against them, they are protected in the middle Europe. It is actually a well thought move. I'm from a town in Poland which is pretty much the neighbours of that region and we have the biggest army based in Poland. Everything is very well thought and prepared.
Yeah , but saying we Germans didn't want it back is incorrect. There was a very big movement to reclaim it but the chancellor refused and lost the next election
I don’t believe in Russia massive army anymore, peasants with ak, but yeah Kaliningrad is heavy militarised with a lot of strongpoints. Question is if they would fight for this shitty life quality which Putin deliver to them?
Well, actually, they offered it to Lithuania in 1954, When Khruschew was gaining favor in the Soviet republics, like the same year he gifted Crimea to Ukraine, on top of the Donbas, Kherson and Odesa they already got from Russia, but the Presidium of the Lithuanian SSR declined, since, then, they would have a lot of Russians (maybe 1/3 or 1/2) on their territory. And they could vote and stuff so it was not worth it. The second time, Russia offered it back to Germany, when they were reunifying, but the Germans never even answered. They didn't even consider it seriously... They say that they were too busy with reunification back then... Check it up
Если Польша будет много болтать ...мы придём из Кёнигсберга отбирать Восточную Прусию
@@beyondrecall9446 Печально, что глупость одного человека заложила бомбу замедленного действия, которая разорвалась, не без помощи США конечно, много лет спустя. Я думаю потерю Калининграда в 1991 в Рф никто бы особо не переживал, а вот потеря Крыма с Новороссией это было больно. Кстати тогда Украина первая оккупировала русские земли. Так как в 1954 году передавали только Крым, а город-герой Севастополь оставался в составе РСФСР. В 1991 году Россия была предана собственным руководством и почти уничтожена, поэтому пришлось смириться с этой оккупацией. Но сейчас бумеранг вернулся отправителю...
I wish everyone watching this on new years,a very pleasant year
Happy New Year!
Do a video on Yugoslavia in WW2, theres much to talk about, for example that Yugoslavia joined the axis shortly
That's fortunate for you because the next one is on the Yugoslavian Partisans.
@@HistoryMatters thank you
@@HistoryMatters Sweet
Be ready for a heated comment section then.
@@brandonlyon730 I can just hear it.
Kaliningrad: *is the hot potato of eastern Europe*
Russia: Man, I really love hot potatoes!
I am from Kaliningrad. We smuggling a lot from Polland.
I wonder if "hot potato" is a euphemism for a live grenade. It would explain the game a lot better. I mean you can eat hot potatoes. Heck, I prefer them over cold ones.
That's very good 👍🇷🇺🇷🇺
*Królewiec
@@polishavokadomapping414 Przez jakis czas. Wczesniej Koenigsberg, jeszcze wczesniej Conigsberg, a jeszcze wczesniej Twangste.
Kaliningrad: the country version of the last slice of pizza at a company party.
"No, you take it... I insist."
"I couldn't, really... you should have it!"
In the end, the fat guy who already had too much takes it.
the only guy who likes pineapple migrated all his pineapple on to the slice first, then acts surprised when nobody else wants the slice with pineapple
Your Boy Mr Mac What's wrong with pineapple? You racist against pinapple or something?
Very funny..lol
@@abren5974 pineapple pizza is an abomination
I feel personally insulted
I love the Mikhail Gorbachev figure, complete with unfortunate birthmark!
You instantly know exactly who the figure is because of the birthmark!
Bit sad that the birthplace of Prussia, the German kingdom that essentially united Germany, is now no longer German at all.
Not sad at all because. Last time Russia conquered it was middle of 18th century
Worth noting that Prussia proper, including Königsberg, was always exotic to most Germans, as it was outside of the Holy Roman Empire and the ceremonial Kingdom of Germany. It was only settled by Germans during the late Crusades.
Berlin was the seat of the Prussian kingdom when it came to unite Germany.
What people know as "Prussia" is mostly the margraviate of Brandenburg with its Capital Berlin.
They inherited the duchy of Prussia (called a Polish "puppet state" in the video, actually a vassal) at some point and when that was converted into a kingdom later on, the margraves of Brandenburg had the chance to call themselves "King in Prussia" instead. An as kings are way more prestigeous than margraves, they just did that.
"Prussia" as in the lands around Königsberg aren't the heart of Germany and the dynasty ruling "Prussia" as well as the German Empire later on wasn't Prussian either, they were Swabian.
To be fair - who knows what comes next?..
Prussia wasn't German to begin with; originally it was a Baltic culture similar to Lithuania, but was colonised by Germans in the Medieval Period.
Remember when Prussia was Germanic? Otto von Bismarck does
@Luuk R. but the ruling class sets its spirit. It's like saying that Indian isn't indian on behalf of the majority of dravidians and muzzis living there
Remember when prussia was old prussian? Mantas herkus remembers
Remember when germans tricked poles into giving them prussia?
Bismark always had a plan
@@Aggie1295 Bismarck a l w a y s has a plan
Everyone from Kaliningrad watching this video: 🗿
@MrFryingPan OwO потому что мы слишком мелкие для более-менее приличной автономии. Получилось бы очень сомнительное государство
@MrFryingPan OwO nope mate.
Fuck Kaliningrad, all my homies are from Königsberg
@@peterlustig6888 hail
@@peterlustig6888 хэйл то Кёниг!!!!
Kaliningrad was a very important strategic position. USSR sent a lot of soldiers on its storm. About 750000 people got “medals for capturing Konigsberg”
it had a very symbolic value to USSR. It was the center of German militarism - the Original Prussia. Capturing it signified the end of that chapter of German history, which eventually led to the rise of Hitler and WW2. The core of German Wehrmacht were Prussian officers.
The tale of Prussia sure ends sadly
It's not a tale the Communists would tell you
@@aaronmarks9366 wow i appreciate the affort you make trying to disgrade communist in any way possible. Germany lost it during a war they STARTED. So why wouldn't the communist "tell you about that"?
@@mikeock7919 Dude, it's a Star Wars meme
all hail gaben First, improve your English.
@@aaronmarks9366 oh now thats... shit for me
Prussia wasn't the origin of the German imperial dynasty, nor did it expand out across Germany. It was inherited by the Hohenzollerns, rulers of Brandenburg, and was ruled as Brandenburg-Prussia until 1701. The rulers of Prussia were Brandenburgers, and lived in Berlin. Brandenburg was always the center of this state.
The reason it became known as Prussia was because Duke Frederick III of Brandenburg replaced the Duchy of Prussia with a kingdom in 1701 and became king in order to increase his prestige. He could do this because Prussia was his territory, but Brandenburg was still technically a fiefdom of the HRE, so he couldn't become King of Brandenburg. This is why for most of the 18th century the Hohenzollern king was known as "King in Prussia" rather than "King of Prussia"
That always has sounded like the most loopholiest workaround ever for being a king
Ah feudalism always so complicated
You are very correct - and the ruling family of the Hohenzollern dynasty has its roots in an area from around the town of Hechingen, Baden-Württemberg, about as far away from the area that you can get in the opposite direction and still be in German lands. The original Hohenzollern castle near this town, from where the family took its name, I think is still owned by someone in the family. So where this fellow came up with the idea that ruling family came from Kaliningrad/Königsberg is something I can't explain. Totally against what I understand to be true. Also, it is likely that my distant ancestor, an officer in the Prussian Army, was somehow connected to this family out of some duty to the family - so I am very aware of the history of the Hohenzollerns. This distant ancestor was born not far from Hechingen, but served and died in or near Königsberg. This was all very odd until I figured out the probable connection to this royal family. How and why did a Swabian born peasant join the Prussian military, and die in or near Polish lands. Incidentally, he had a stop in Ansbach, another part of the ruling family's domain. So when I ran across the Hohenzollern history, it made sense.
Small correction: It was King in Prussia bc they did not own all of it from the start. They only had East Prussia while West Prussia belonged to Poland. They became kings of Prussia when they took those lands.
Also fun fact: Hohenzollern Castle is in south Germany (would have to look up though if the house is from there)
What about Bismarck? Germany's greatest chancellor. Pretty sure he was born in the east.
It’s also because that’s where Russia houses its Baltic fleet. Russia will never give it up as, if I remember correctly, it is the only warm water port that Russia has in the Baltic.
if Russia ever gets into another war with Europe, i see Russia's borders shifting east, Belarus's borders shifting east, Poland's borders shifting east, and Germany returning to what it was pre-WWI.
@RadTheLad but in that scenario, Germany and Poland would be on the same side. that's why I said they would all shift east.
@@jwil4286 if Russia ever gets into another war with Europe than Europe becomes radiocative desert.
@@ugandanwarrior5657 Russia becomes a radioactive desert too, and China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Japan, and America will all move to make claims in Siberia
@@jwil4286 nice
Comes
Explains a complicated in detail topic in 3-4 minuets
Leaves
Refuses to elaborate
“Warning: Politics”
The Weimar Republic in a nutshell 😂
XD!!!!
it's literally a country
UK with the Gibraltar.
"Oh I thought that was mine"
I mean it is they won it in a war with Spain when they wished to invaded
Gibraltar is in a weird situation where we kind of agree that it should be returned but the population actually living there has to agree as well, which they will never do because voting to pay more taxes will never happen.
@@arandombard1197 Gibraltar has been a part of the UK since 1713, 63 years prior to American independence.
Scotland at that time was only recently added to the UK, 6 years before.
Why on earth you think there's a legitimate reason to return the territory to Spain a full 307 years later, I've no clue.
@@jamesmccomb9525 There in a principle known as territorial integrity. The UK as a sovereign power owning Gibraltar damages the territorial integrity of Spain. It's also the product of a time when land was governed by those who could conquer it, rather than by the people living there.
Again, I'm not saying it should be handed over as the people living there don't want that to happen. But instead, I'm just acknowledging that the land is part of the Iberian Peninsula, not the British Isles.
@@arandombard1197 Territorial integrity? I'm sorry but... What?
Should the Spanish towns across Morocco be ceded to Morocco, konigsberg to Germany, North Ireland to Republic of Ireland, so on so forth?
You seem to be in favour of removing border gore or inconveniences but I'm sorry, the world isn't that simple.
Normies: Kaliningrad
Me, an intellectual: Königsberg
me, an actual intellectual: Królewiec
Normies: Königsberg
Me, an intellectual: Karaliáučius
also germans don't even call it Königsberg anymore lol
me, an actual actual intellectual: Královec
Me, a philistine: A circle jerk.
@Don't question my comment Only Poles and Lithuanians now about Królewiec/Karaliaučiaus. The rest of smart people in the world knows it as "Königsberg". Sorry, my Polish and Lithuanian friends.
Очень интересно смотреть видео про свой город, узнавать кто что о нем думает.
Братииишкаа
Жизяка,ток я с Немана👍🏻
Дык это не твой город, а немецкий. Вы там эмигранты по факту)))
@@msitelrd6102 только почти все коренные немцы ушли))
@@gorgon0531, ушли? Просто так взяли и ушли?)))
I remember having fun trying to figure out this answer for myself, and it's nice that I did find myself backtracking its history all the way to the Teutonic Knights.
it goes further back though!
Fun fact:
One of the terms for Prussian independence from Poland in the treaty of Oliwa was that Prussia would be returned to the Kingdom of Poland if the ruling dynasty died out.
Well the family who ruled Prussia "Hohenzollern" are still alive
@@larsviktorfreirewakenhut6930 And then you have to factor in that you could even argue that the you would have to wait until all of the german dynasties would die out
@@larsviktorfreirewakenhut6930 it was not the dynasty but "the line" in the origina ltreaty. But the polish politicians did fuck up... again
The signing parties were the Commonwealth and Prussia. Both entities are no more
Yeah, that's nice. But the Kingdom of Poland no longer exists. The Republic of Poland exists, which is kind of the same but not the same.
Kaliningrad is just a longer and more complicated word for border gore
The answer concerning the present day is quite simply, Russia owns Kaliningrad because the German Kohl government didn't want it back in 1990 when it was offered by Russia.
At least the russians offered it. The polish never offered us to give us back east-germany.
@@Ratselmeister why we should give you back or offered your previous lands? Who the fuck start the World War II? Blame yourself and your shame country for start it! That’s the compensation for this what you’ve done! It’s not even enough, your nazi country should pay us a lot of reparations for destroying our buildings and houses! How dare you even ask for that!
Show the facts where Russia offered Kaliningrad to Nazis(Germany pretty much the same) in 1990 🤣 can’t stop laughing 🤭🤣🤭🤣🤭🤣 Nice joke buddy🤣🤦🏻♂️
@@Vintage8411 There were no Nazis in 1990 in Germany. Cancelor was Helmut Kohl.
@@Ratselmeister mate... you don't get my conclusion 🤣 For us you always gonna be nazis no matter what year we are in! You only change the name but you always gonna be German Nazis for us. You don't have to teach me history because I know exactly what was in 1990. You just don't get my sarcasm 🤣
You should be aware that initially these lands were inhabited by Prussians - Baltic people related to Lithuanians and Latvians. In 13th century these lands were conquered by German crusaders.
@@leonardodavid2842 they dont care look at all the poles fighting in the comments
Leonardo David 28 you right , so the short version of the answer is: Kaliningrad is Russian because Russians are ready to dye for this land .
If someone think , That he has more rights to own this land , no problem.
Come and claim .
@@BoboTheSunniestPalDog so Gibraltar was British and rightfully so?
last name first name de facto its British . What does it mean “ someone have right to ... “ , it means that there is a way , that someone have ability to inforce his will on others . Or directly - the rule of the strongest , or not directly through social agreement and common lows.
If u dig deeper , then someone can ask , how can anyone have right to own something, that was not created by him.
Spain got these lands as a result of recanquista . If some group of people will prove , that they successors ( inheritors ) of moors , do they have right to this land ?
@@leonardodavid2842 It does matter because every story has the beginning. And history of this land did not start with crusaders conquests.
My Grandmother was among the german refugees who had to flee Königsberg after WW2. She fled with a newborn over the frozen baltic sea to Kiel in northern Germany. Btw Königsberg kind of remains an important part of german identity and culture. Through german philosophers and poets who lived there (like Kant), artists and also cuisine (Königsberger Klopse are a typical german meat balls dish).
Glad she has survived. My grand-grandfather was a surgeon in the army hospital in the events of the Battle of Kaliningrad
My Grandmother was among russians who had fllee western Ruassia at the beginning of Nazi invasion with my mom (newborn). Without that your Granmother can stay in Konigsberg until the end of her days
My grandmother lived at about 100 miles from Moscow. German Nazis bombed and destroyed her house, killed her husband, and tried to burn her child alive. The child was saved because Germans had to leave, as the Soviet army was advancing. Stop fuck..g pretend to be a victim. Your Germans were fascist monsters in WW2. Clearly, nothing has changed as you dismiss your devilish nation's crimes.
@@ik7584 true, The Soviet Union had every right to destroy Germany as a country and all its people for what they had done on their land
@@kakasy5335 Oh c'mon expecting what exactly Soviet Union made a deal with a wolf invading Poland a couple of days after Germany not even declaring war sending very simple minded soldiers from far far east commanded by proper Russian officers so they wast the land commit unspoken atrocities and nowadays both the aggressors try to show up as victims. Just to be clear I'm not talking about common people who regardless of side and nation always suffer most through mindless decisions of their governments who see them mainly as tax numbers. Wars bring the worse in people, some get mad some turn psychotic when their minds can't bear with what they've seen some will sell their best friends to survive others to thrive some will even find pleasure in hurting other. There are so many differences. Yet if not for government decisions we speak, we lough, we trade, we have fun together even merry. Think about it when blaming whole nation you should be really thinking of their governments and the propaganda they enforce at their citizens through so called ''News"
the official story says “people fled” but the truth is that it was an ethnic cleansing... there are people who still remember the atrocities that happened to German people in Kaliningrad/Königsberg...
Exactly!!! Same was with Crimea where Tatats were sent to russias interior or just killed... I hope this russian sh.thole will just collapse from inside...
@@BocaoZ oh yeah don't start this shitty russian propaganda, both russia and Germany are totally guilty of death and misery of milions in eastern europe.
@@BocaoZ there are no winners or good guys in the WW2 and the WW2 didn't end in 1945. It's just the part of the history that you know because the West washed its' hands and betrayed the whole Eastern Europe condemning it to the second wave of atrocities, tortures and genocides, that it had already lived under nazis, but this time committed by soviets. Germany excused itself, recognised its' mistakes and is feeling guilty till today. Russia however built up a "glorious liberation" fairytale and have been feeding its' population (and the naive uneducated foreigners) through generations ever since. It became truth, because if you repeat for so long something, everyone forgets what was the truth, so this becomes the truth. That's why people in Russia support Putin and this myth of the "above-all-the-other-humans-RUSSIAN-SOUL" because they are the "great liberators". This sort of extreme nationalism and superiority feeling is no different from nazism. And you probably don't know that Soviet soldiers did exactly the same atrocities what they did in Bucha also back then. And not only that. Our grandparents remember all those things very well. But sadly, it doesn't find its' way into the Western historical narrative too much. The truth about the WW2 is that it started with Ribbentrop-Molotov pact through which two psychopaths Russia and Germany divided Europe into two influence zones, like Tordesillas. And decided to eat each its' own part. One got condemned, the other was called "liberator".
In the Shadow of Wolves is a novel about german kids of Kenigsberg and how did they survived or not 2WW.
WW2 was a war of warcrimes and ethnic cleansing, and atrocities. neither alliance was pure, although most of the allied ones happened after the fact in east Europe.
Romania just voted and approved that this is new Czech territory so they can also have sea access.
Fun fact: Kaliningrad has a lot of Russian movies that featured it, because the city is the most European looking one in Russia, so its the easiest access to Europe for Russian producers
What? The Russians can't travel in Europe?
@@CalvinNoire they can travel to Europe, obviously. Its just cheaper to travel within Russia. Crossing the border often times causes extra expenses.
"In Russia" 🤣
"Most European looking city" is as funny sounding as saying Russia is not Europe.
@@doctorno1006 ok, ok. Let me rephrase - "most western/central-European looking city'
Fun fact: in the 1990es there was a german far right movement, called "Aktion Deutsches Königsberg" that tried to settle down in Kaliningrad to make it german again.
Mach Königsberg Deutsch Agegen?
When Germany wants to settle its own former area, it is far-right, but when Russia settles German area, it is not.
@@ygma1460 Its is rightfull Russian Clay! Russia has claims all over the entire world!
@@ygma1460 Now now, the Ruskies did what the Germans did to Prussia.
Yeah then they met some gopniks from Baltiysky district and returned to Germany
My father was born in Konigsberg in 1938; Russians really screwed up the city in rebuilding. Paid a visit to the city this Summer and its sad what has become of East Prussia.
@Matie К thats right? So why they claiming all achievements of ussr? Of course only good ones.
Except a few buildings, there is nothing German left in Konigsberg
It’s especially said what happened to the centuries old castle. Left in ruins after WW2 and then it got destroyed completely in the 70s.
@Nadelwald Königsberg russians also should admit what they ancestors did wrong like germans did for nazi crimes.
"Why does Russia Own Kaliningrad/ Königsberg?" Two words: "Ethnic", "Cleansing".
It's how, not why
@@khamphaTG Crippling warm water port addiction.
Try, "Won war".
Lol, google "what did third reich do to slavs"
@@fertfert4661 google how many slavs fought for the Third Reich, even against their own governments... we're talking millions...
we had a friend at our church that came from Königsberg and her father was a draftee in the German Army during WWII. Near the end when defeat was near he got a message to his family in Königsberg, Get west as far as possible!!. They did. Years later she was a US citizien and so was the rest of the family. When getting her US passport it showed her birthplace as "Russia".
😥😥
Very bad story, she was born in Königsberg and not in Kaliningrad.
Did she have any difficulties?
Btw, that escape in the winter of 44/45 must have been hell on earth. The Russian soldiers wanted to take revenge for what the Wehrmacht had done in Russia.
People often had to flee across the frozen Baltic Sea because the land route was already blocked.
A total of 13 million Germans fled from the areas east of the Oder River to escape the advance of the Red Army. The greatest tragedy occurred when a civilian ship used as a cruise liner before the war was sunk by a Russian submarine with 10,000 refugees on board, 9,000 people drowned.
When these refugees from the Eastern territories arrived in the West, they had to learn that they were not welcome there either. The locals had to take in the refugees, housing was extremely scarce because millions of homes had been destroyed by the air raids of the British and Americans.
@@ruhri0411 She was too young to remember that trek. A lot of ethnic groups were displaced in WWII. after the war a large German ethic population was displace from the now Czech Republish and they were Germans that had lived there going back centuries.
They forgot a 'P'
@@ruhri0411
Not the Russian only how want to revenge the Poland did to and kill a lot of German citizens
It's a pity that you don't mention the fact that Königsberg was the city where Immanuel Kant, arguably the greatest German philosopher spent his whole life. East Prussia was at the periphery of the Prussian Kingdom even during the 18th century and played an analogous role in encouraging Enlightenment ideas and free trade conceptons against the mercantilism which at the time ruled in Continental Europe as the periphery of the United Kingdom, namely Scotland and its unique Scottish Enlightenment.
while an interesting tidbit, it'd be weird if he shoehorned that in. It's not relevant to the premise of the video.
Why nobody mentions Hoffmann? And that the idea of Christmas tree came from this city?
While I love your videos, Köningsberg, and by extension, Prussia, was *not* the birthplace of the Prussian (and later German) ruling dynasty, nor did Prussia grow from Prussia to, well, greater Prussia. The Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia/Germany was originally in charge of the Electorate of Brandenburg (though natively from Ansbach IIRC) in the Holy Roman Empire, centered around Berlin. Prussia was also ruled by a junior branch of the same Dynasty, and this caused Brandenburg to come into possession of the Duchy of Prussia in the early 1600s. As Brandenburg's power and prestige grew, they adopted the title "Kings *in* Prussia", as they were legally not allowed to be a Kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire. As their Prussian possessions were outside of the Empire, using this specific wording, they were able to claim the prestige of a Kingdom without actually breaking any Imperial laws. This is also why Königsberg isn't the capital; it was never the capital of what we know as the Prussian state. That was always Berlin.
“as they were legally not allowed to be a Kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire.”
So, why Bohemia was a kingdom?
thanks, sound legit
@@petibatyo By the time we're talking about the kings of Bohemia were also the Holy Roman Emperors, so there was no conflict. Also Bohemia had been a kingdom before it was incorporated into the HRE, Brandenberg had not.
@@petibatyo There were other Electors who held kingdoms OUTSIDE the HRE. The Elector of Saxony was also King of Poland, and the Elector of Hanover was King of Great Britain and Ireland.
nope, natively from Zollern, Swabia, dating from 11th century and splitting in different branches (swabian, franconian, brandenburg-prussian etc.) latter in history.
2:28 Lol wow, Lithuania literally avoided having the same issues Ukraine has had with the Donbass region. The ethnic tensions between Western-Ukrainians and Eastern-Ukrainians (ethnic Russians) is one of the main source of this war happening there.
Another liberal clown
First time I hear Poland had an offer to get Kaliningrad and were not interested
not only you
I don't know where this guy gets his informations from but it never happened.
Wouldnt mind having it back
I came across an info about that some time ago. President Yeltsin made such an offer to President Walesa along with a motion to move all the remaining Poles from USSR to the province. Unfortunately, it's been withdrawn the moment the Russian generals heard about the offer...
@@mordapl1641 Never ever in Human history was it yours.
Just a small correction the first "Kings of Prussia" were called "Kings in Prussia" as to not suggest a claim to all of the region, which was then partly Polish.
Russia finally got its warm water port.
The end.
BLACK SEA IS WARMER
@@Ifyouwantyoucan2 WHO CARES
They already have one at St Petersberg
@@asdf3568 that port in winter may have ice
Love this channel’s humour.
Gorbachev with the “I Broke It” sign cracked me up 😅
That's funny nowadays I'm pretty sure Britain and France would rather of Germany have kaliningrad than Russia
thankfully nobody cares what those two countries think of, one is american lapdog and another is france
Filip Stanojlovic And Russians are still have their inferiority complex.
@@Toast0808 you mean superiority complex.... and you westerners just keep underestimating them last time someone did that, there was soviet flag over Berlin
@@Toast0808 How does it feel getting your ass handed to you by people with an "inferiority complex" throughout your history?
@@overlord4404 except the Russians were supported by the allies, and had Britain ferrying supplies to them throughout the war. The winter beat the German army not Russia. Just as Japan beat Russia before ww2.
You are deluded if your think Russia made it to Germany because they were better. They made it because Hitler was not a good general and started to many battles, and because Russia threw soldiers into combat like lemmings.
Well that fills in some questions I had, thanks.
Does seem amusing to me that humanity has fought so hard to take land throughout history, and here we have several nations being offered it and they're just like "nah."
Visionary move. Look at how russian ethnic citizens worked out for ukraine.
My thoughts exactly..lol
@@mtrunkello I think Khrushchev transferred Crimea to Ukraine because it would be easier for Ukraine to manage than Russia, without regard for what the people there wanted.
Edit: an earlier version of this said it was Stalin who transferred the peninsula, but @Alex Mason corrected me (thanks).
@@mtrunkello This is why you remove those people
@@tsarcube9284 very nice attempt, but no, tell your alternative history tales somewhere else
Очень интересно читать комментарии когда сам живешь в Калининграде
И как там живется?
Russia has no right to occupy any country, it’s absurd to think the referendum was legal in Crimea
@@evelinawe8816 ok, mate.
@@hifromspace с пивком покатит.
@Nenad Tomic No, they didn't
Great video, learned something. Most important, Lithuania refused it twice because they did not want Russians in their country and they would start trouble.
Boy they foresaw what is happening to Ukraine, happening there. 👍🏻 to Lithuania.
Cause Russia isn't good at giving things back.
xxTheFlyingPigxx ю гаддэм райт
@@pomiklom2499 America Took Alaska? Are you high or something?
@Deniz Metinoğlu T. Our weak government declined cause they didn't want to make the German nationalist boner nut
@@daniellap.stewart6839 Alaska was Russian and in 1863 the Russian Empire sold to America
@@pomiklom2499 Keyword is SOLD not occupied like crimea
"Hey UN, could you please give us Königsberg back please? We would reeeeally appreciate it if we could have the Sudetenland back too. And just a smidgen of land from Western Poland where there are a lot of German speaking people? You know what would be awesome? If we could have the Ruhr Valley back too. Oooooh could we bother you for one more favour and let us annex Austria? Hey don't mind those soldiers we just moved into the Rhineland...."
Whilst you are all arguing the Germans are as usual well organized and forging ahead.
You know you are German if you want to invade Poland
To make things easy: annex all West of the Rhine and East of the Oder ;)
I get the joke, but demanding Sudetenland today wouldn't hold any water. The Third Reich demanded Sudetenland because of the ethnic German majority living there, but those were forcibly pushed out into Germany after WW2 ended.
make things dectructable
burn it to hell
1:46 look what they did my boy
My great-grandfather stormed Kaliningrad in 1945, and now I live in it, ironically
I really enjoy this channel, it explains stuff so simply.
Some interesting footnote: during Seven Years' War Russian Empire ocupied eastern prussia and city of Konigsberg. Some say the city offered its allegiance to the russian empress Elizabeth and Russians did actually plan to annex Eastern Prussia on peace terms with Frederick the Great. But Elizabeth had died too soon and Peter the 3rd being a real fan of Frederick canceled those plans and did white peace with Frederick
Source please
@@naepfus8993 Check out any history book on the subject. It's true. And the governor of Prussia during the Seven Year's War occupation was the father of legendary Russian army leader, Suvorov.
Peter the 3rd was dumb as fuck
There’s a reason they made his wife the Empress and made him abdicate.
@@brandonlyon730 yup. You know you are truly shit when your spouse who are outside the royal family became the Empress after Public agreed
Would’ve been awkward AF if Germany wanted it back.
The UN was already having WW1/2 flashbacks, then Germany starts making moves 5 seconds after its reunified.
European union "allow us to introduce ourselevs"
One of the bigger reasons for the world wars was that the great powers never treated the germans equally. Same with japan. Giving them back lost
territory and so taking back some of the humility suffered by the germans could have been a step in the right direction. it also would have prevented the 2nd ww.
Falain I think, without the Treaty of Versailles (or maybe just lighter economically), there wouldn’t have been WW2; Sure the Wall Street crash would’ve been bad, but it was bad everywhere and not everywhere turned facist. Maybe a generation of extremely bitter Germans would be around, who felt betrayed and all.
The next European war probably would’ve been France, UK, Germany vs USSR.
@@falain5117 what reason did they have to treat germans equally after ww1.
@CheatyTycoon 2 common decency? Why would a nation that is the most reaponsible for ww1 deserve common decency, as far as i am concerned, the germans got it easy, im both wars
Update needed; It's part of Czech Rep now xD
A very curious place is the Kaliningrad Olblast. Despite it's very Russian and ex-soviet buildings constructed after the war, the whole place is still very German looking in places. Especially any still standing pre-war architecture.
Matty112uk
Yes, kind of like Helsinki, with its combination of old Russian and new European buildings, or Alaska....
So Hrushchev tryed to do the same with Kaliningrad like he did with Crimea.
That guy was always causing trouble.
In hindsight, Lithuania was smart to not accept Kaliningrad because Russia would have pulled another Crimea there.
@@ElTigre12024 You know what poland did in the end of WW2 to avoid it: Expel all the Germans!
@@dimaignatiev6370 I'm aware.
@@ElTigre12024 now that got me thinking. imagine how a hotbed that would be today
@@dimaignatiev6370 literally the USSR proposed it why would the poles reject it when they just were at war?
0:59 Minorities in 1930's germany?
Oh no...
Germany: Spring Cleaning
Could that not be said in any country?
Minorities that took advantage and used the natives
@@mikeobama69 ,promoted degeneracy, and high interest rates.
*terrified Sorb noises*
Thanks for this clarification. Always wondered.
My grandmother was Lithuanian-Prussian and lived close to the city which is today called Sovjetsk. She and one of her cousins were the only survivors in her family. She also lost all her close friends during this cleansing. The winners in conflict always tell the story and that's why many still today believe that such profanities as the annexation of Königsberg were a " soft" ethnic cleansing.
_"The winners in conflict always tell the story and that's why many still today believe that such profanities as the annexation of Königsberg were a " soft" ethnic cleansing."_ - yes, and "just for the record" let me add that the conflict you were kind to mention was started by a country led by a democratically elected leader, chief of a socialist workers party, that had a great support among that country electorate... and that the country in question was then actively engaged in some "not so soft" ethnic cleansing of certain groups of people (Jews, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Gypsies - you name it...) Oh, boy - there were really good at it, yes they were... German efficiency at its best... or worst? Never mind, the number of "cleansed" Jews alone is well over five MILLIONS. Hats off... Keine "Polnische Wirtschaft" - a good, proper "Ordnung und Wirksamkeit.
...but then the capricious Fortune has shifted her favours, and as they say, "you reap what you sow"... And while your Oma might not had been herself a supporter of that charming Austrian fellow and his gang (she was probably too young back then to be eligible to vote), she was the member of that nation and community nonetheless. Should she (or rather her family) back then choose to build their future in less progressive countries, like Switzerland, Argentina or Paraguay, her entire family could have survived - and they all could be telling now their stories of the suffering and hardship associated with their involuntary emigration... but I digress here.
(Besides, you can find easily many other Grannies "further east" with even "better" life stories, so let us not delve too deep in that rather unsightly morass, shall we? Good...)
And yes, I do agree that "collective responsibility" is a bad thing, but that's how it works, unfortunately, when it comes to war - if you don't distance yourself from "the lot" in time, you'll benefit from the spoils (in case "your side" wins) - or suffer the brunt of defeat. Such is life - "Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it" - so "always look at the bright side of life". Which is... well, I don't know. Right, back to the subject.
Now, on a bit more serious note - forgive me that bit of sarcasm and irony above, but as nearly sixty yrs old Pole I find it always... amusing, let's say, when some German decides to whine and complain about the aftermath of WW II - and not that I'm trying to say "they didn't suffer" (or belittle it), or that their civilians didn't bear the horrible consequences of it - because they DID suffer, and German civilians DID bear HORRIBLE consequences - especially woman, if you get my drift... (some call it "ancestral uncertainty", others... well, never mind).
"I know many of you will die in this battle, and some of you will even die horribly, but that's the sacrifice I'm willing to endure" was the battle cry of all kings, warlords and warmongers for millennia. There was a time to learn, but if history ever provides us with any lesson, it is that people never take any lessons from history. Case in point - The Fourth Reich, proudly declared few months back, and now in full swing doing its best to block any help for Ukraine, 'cause it might offend their best ally. Ribbentrop - Molotov, second take, eh? But I'm getting carried away here, sorry.
Still, any "German complaint" related to WW II sounds to me just like that angry outburst by Fletch, the main character of "Porridge" comedy series, who landed himself in jail after the brick-laden lorry he just stole crashed because of faulty brakes - "that should be a criminal offence!" (faulty brakes, that is). Amusing way of thinking, innit? : )
Oh, well, nothing is simple in life, I know. So I'm not berating you or anyone here, it's just some food for thought, if you will. And yes, I know - it's hard to swallow, and even harder to digest - sorry, it wasn't my recipe.
Shalom.
@@MrKotBonifacy Germany was doing it in their country. USSR was doing it in Germany
@@atisalvaro You weren't particularly attentive during your history classes, were you? Most death camps (aka concentration camps, Konzentrazion Lagern) were located on occupied territories - mostly what used to be Poland before the war. (And now they use it as excuse to call them "Polish concentration camps", effing bastards). Auchwitz Birkenau (Polish: Oświęcim-Brzezinka), Sobibór, Bełżec, and others. Babi Yar - German-occupied Ukraine. Ponary massacre - Germany-occupied (pre-war) Poland (then Germany occupied Lithuania, and now also Lithuania). And so on, and so forth. Siege of Leningrad - USSR.
They say, "there's no shame in being dumb, but then there's no reason to boast about it either"...
@@MrKotBonifacy We are not in the theme of concentration camps, that existed long time before in Soviet Union than in Germany. Germans did not do ethnic cleansing of Russians, nor colonisation of Germans in Russian land. Soviets did murder, rape, torture and expell all Germans from their homeland in Eastern Prussia, and settled Russians there
@@MrKotBonifacy I completely understand your reaction to that comment.
However two wrongs don't make a right and in the end i don't think the victims of any of the conflicts (which were just random people like you and I) deserved the horror that they had to go through.
I think the OP was just frustrated of the double standarts that the germans were so heavily condemned for their genocide (and rightly so) yet the soviets never had to attone for theirs and are widely seen as oppressive but never as bad as the third reich (even though they definately were)
Why you didn't say about 1758-1762 years? East Prussia swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizabeth. Immanuel Kant was a subject of the Russian Empire for 4 years :)
Да, они об этом важном факте забыли!!
Hometown of my grandparents. Königsberg used to be referred to as the Venice of the north. Would love to visit it one day. Greetings from Germany.
It's abject. Don't go there
Auch meine.grosseltern....
The truly lovely old city of Königsberg exists only in memory now. The British bombing and Russian siege tore it to pieces. Only fragments of the original place remain. A terrible cultural and human loss to Europe. Look at photographs of what it once was and it will break your heart.
Richtig. Meine gute oma kam von wehlau vor konigsberg. Due hatte einen sussen dialekt. Sie bannte mich. MAUSCHEN. Kleine maus....
Hey, i’m living in Kaliningrad)
Love, love, love your animations. And your history lessons.
Königsberg used to have 7 bridges and then the guy who invented e went there and because of the bridges created two new areas of Math: topology and graph theory. Interesting video!
"The guy who invented e"
Like, the letter e?
I rmmbr tims bfor it was invntd, horibl mmoris
@@sim.pobedishy Nic commnt!
@@Vasily_dont_be_silly the constant e - Euler's constant. Here's a video about it from Numberphile with Cliff Stoll. Prof. Stoll is a great teacher!!!
EDIT: The video is about the seven bridges problem. Mathologer has an awesome video about the constant and it features The Simpsons!
I hope the new EU sanctions against Russia at least get people interested in History and perhaps Math. wooow ... the History of Math!!!!
@@maxheadrom3088 I know about th svn bridgs problm, I just wantd to mss around with th original commnt
I don‘t want to criticize you, but the Prussian royal family does not originate from Prussia (proper)/Königsberg! The family originated from from Baden-Württemberg in South-Western Germany. At some point in time they were given the Brandenburg-March (Border Region) Which they developed against all odds. Then there was the Teutonic Order, a knightly order, like the Templar’s, who were hired by the Polish to defeat and convert the Baltic people (Like Lettgallians, Estonians and (Old) Prussians [the Lithuanians did their own from the Baltic to the Black Sea reaching stuff] ). But afterwards they just stayed there and more an more Germans flocked there. After a while they were brought back under Polish fold. At some point a Hohenzollern was appointed the next grand master of the Teutonic Order. Later on he also inherited the March of Brandenburg and combined the two. But because part his realm was still a vassal to the Polish he could only call himself the king in Prussia. Only after his successors achieved independence, they could call themselves king of Prussia. Later on a lot of Germans came into Prussia and the old traditions, culture and language were surpressed until they died out (in the 18th or 19th century I think). So please try not to tell wrong information. It might seem a small mistake at first, but you could suggest a lot of misleading facts. Please be careful!
Too loncc word.
I no reed
Sources or it didn't happen
You have the basic jist of things And many of things you said in your narrative is correct however you have made some serious mistakes. You are right of course about the Prussian royal family the Hohenzollerns originate from southern Germany from a place called Hohenzollern actually and Hohenzollern castle. Where it's still around today and you can visit. The Prussian royal family also had the tradition of burying all of their family there as well. I do not know if one of the last Teutonic grandmasters was a Hohenzollern. Maybe you are right because i never fact checked this, but you could be wrong also. You where right also about Prussia being a march of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. They got their independence after the end of The Deluge the war against Sweden and also Russia. The treaty forced the Poles to make the Duchy independent a mistake that only the polish realize to this day and is their biggest regret in history because they'd never imagine that in the future that small duchy would subjugate them repeatedly on separate occasions.
Just to add, Prussia was always called Prussia out of the native Prussians, They were practically force converted on the first Teutonic crusade and the Teutons kept the name of the land even though it was now german not really Prussian. Also many Prussians integrated with german society. So Prussia in reality is much bigger than people think, it connected with the Holy Roman Empire and it included Dazing and the Polish corridor as people later called it, and Konigsberg. After the Poles defeated the Teutons they split Prussia in two parts. Because they kept one part for themselves to connect themselves with the sea. This was Danzig. That was the "polish corridor" and was known as Royal Prussia. The other half they left independent as a subject and was called Duchy of Prussia. So you have Royal Prussia and Duchy of Prussia, which always made things confusing. Even at the time of Frederick in the 18th century the Poles still held the corridor, but the Prussians finally regained Royal Prussia in the first Partition of Poland which obviously must have been their number one priority. And finally connected german lands with East Prussia. This splitting up of Prussia is the reason that lead to the generational mentality of Western and Eastern Prussia. West Prussia was Polish Royal Prussia.
Thus the thing you said about the last Grandmaster of the Teutons inheriting Brandenburg and uniting the two Cannot be true.. Because the Teutons ceased to exist centuries before the Duchy of Prussia even gained independence from the Poles in the treaty thus being able to conduct it's own foreign policies. So it's impossible. I don't know these Dynastic details it must have occurred by some royal marriage as was usually the case. Brandenburg and East Prussia united like in the 1680's or 1690's and was from then on simply called Prussia. Also Brandenburg was never a march like you mentioned it was a duchy. March is a form of subject to somebody else and Brandenburg was never subject to nobody.
And finally the mistake you made that annoyed me the most is that it is impossible, even when Prussia became a thing in the 1690's for its rulers to be called King of Prussia. It is one of the reasons Frederick the Great even started the Silesian war which then turned into the 7 years war a global conflict in the mid 18 the century. One of his goals was his obsession to force the Holy roman Empress ( which he didn't even recognize because she was a woman), to allow him to use the title of King. Up to this point The Holy Roman Empire was still a thing and before this war no one was even remotely allowed to use any sort of title like King which implies total authority. The last Authority was the Emperor no matter how de facto independent the states of the HRE had become by this point. By the end of the war Frederick managed to get the title of King on the condition he only referred to himself as the King "in" Prussia and not the King "of"Prussia, because the king of Prussia was the Emperor. So now I hope you see your mistake. The only time any state in the HRE was free to call themselves king of something was only after Emperor Francis abolished the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars as the writing was on his wall. By that time both Württemberg and Bavaria were elevated to the status of Kingdoms by Napoleon.
So yea please try not to tell wrong information.
@@vdagr8795 Me Tarzan, you Jane
IdkGoodName Vilius Liguistically they are not, you are right, but locationwise they are.
The Hohenzollerns were given the March Of Brandenburg in 1411... that really was the birthplace of the dynasty, not Konigsberg...
Yotam David
Which ever king this city is named in honour of, it ain't the king of Prussia.
Actually Hohenzollerns were from Hohenzollern and Habsburgs were from Habsburg....
The dynasty comes from Hohenzollern in today's Baden Würtemberg...
@Jose Raul Miguens Cruz hmm I always thought it was just a prestigious title as it means "with good manners"
I would saz the birthplace of the Hohenzollerns is Hohenzollern?
Cute, quick and succinct and all very well put!