Kleinstaaterei

Kleinstaaterei (German: [ˌklaɪnʃtaːtəˈʁaɪ], "small-state") is a pejorative German word, mainly used to denote the territorial fragmentation in Germany and neighboring regions during the Holy Roman Empire (especially after the end of the Thirty Years' War) and during the German Confederation in the first half of the 19th century. It refers to the large number of virtually sovereign small and medium-sized secular and ecclesiastical principalities and Free Imperial cities, some of which were little larger than a single town or the grounds of the monastery of an Imperial abbey. Estimates of the total number of German states at any given time during the 18th century vary, ranging from 294 to 348 or more.

Furthermore, many German states were composed of two or more non-contiguous parts, often politically united through a marriage. Most states had at least one or two enclaves or exclaves, and some considerably more. In the summer of 1789, young Wilhelm von Humboldt and some friends, leaving Brunswick, capital of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, for France to observe the revolutionary events unfolding in Paris, would need to enter and exit six duchies, four bishoprics and one Free Imperial City (Aachen) before reaching the French border.

The political fragmentation of the Empire was the single most salient characteristic of German history throughout the early modern period; it underlay and conditioned development in all areas of public life.

Whereas in other parts of Europe, such as France, coherent nation states emerged from the early modern trend of political concentration and centralisation, no such state emerged within the Holy Roman Empire. While two relatively large states developed within the Holy Roman Empire, both—the Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia—were really multinational empires that included substantial non-German territories and lands outside the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, while excluding major parts of Germany proper.

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