Fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire in 1789, the year of the French Revolution

Kleinstaaterei

Kleinstaaterei (German: [ˌklaɪnʃtaːtəˈʁaɪ], "small-state-ery") is a German word used, often pejoratively, 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 nearly 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 surrounding 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. Territorial fragmentation was compounded by the fact that, due to the haphazard territorial formation of many states or the partition of dynastic states through inheritance, a very large number of Holy Roman Empire states were constituted of non-contiguous parts, which resulted in countless enclaves or exclaves.

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That's not totally true! There was a 39 state union from 1815 to 1866, but it wasn't the holy roman empire anymore. It was the German federation, somethong like European union but only german. It filled the gap in central Europe after emperor Franz abolished the empire due to napoleon steeling al his vassals.

Not entirely. Geneva only joined in 1815.

It also used to be part of the Spanish Netherlands before that.

The land was at first comprised of various feudal states from the disintegration of larger kingdoms such as Lotharingia. Several of these, like the Counties of Flanders and Holland were significant local power centres. Over time, the Duchy of Burgundy would acquire the Netherlands area through purchase or royal marriage. Thus did the area become known as the Burgundian Netherlands. The lineage of the Dukes of Burgundy went extinct after an attempted invasion of Switzerland and Lorraine. Thus the titles of Burgundy went to the Habsburgs by royal marriage. They became known as the Habsburg Netherlands. The vast empire was eventually split between the Spanish and Austrian branches, with Spain getting the Netherlands. This was split by the revolt of the Protestants, forming the United Provinces and the Catholic Spanish Netherlands. When the Spanish Habsburgs died out, a continental war broke out over succession, resulting in Austria getting the Spanish Netherlands while the Bourbons got Spain. The Austrian Netherlands lasted until the French Revolution, when it was turned into a client state before being annexed into France. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch were given the territory, and eventually gained the Duchy of Luxembourg as well. It was only after a revolt by the Catholics against the Dutch that Belgium gained independence.

Well it was part of Austria, and Netherlands just means "Low Countries". So it's just the part of the Low Countries controlled by Austria :)

Young country on old land.

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Possibly someone on Wikimedia translating it from the one language to the other bit-by-bit, with this being an intermediate edit.

Mom said it's my turn to post the Voltaire quote!