Given a chance would you kill baby Hitler?

[abaris]

There were 36 independent German states and there was a Napoleonic era in Germany. Yet it says German states and German territories. So I'm wondering, at what point did the name German arise? Were the demographics in 19th century Germany markedly different from the people who followed Hitler?

There were over a 100 independent territories before Napoleon, as far as I remember from the top of my head. Some very small, some more powerful. German nationalism only did rise with Napoleon's conquest. Very slowly, and only among the elites. The demographics might not have been that different, but the mindset certainly was. For one, it depended on the particular ruler, how liberal or oppressive his regime was and how he treated minorities. Secondly, the people hadn't lost a war, didn't go through hyper inflation and the big crash of 1929 and didn't carry the same kind of resentment. The treaty of Versailes was considered a great injustice throughout the board. That's one thing, communists, socialists, nationalists, conservatives and the Nazis had in common.

For some misconceptions about Germany, you should look up Prussia. It's mostly associated with militarism, but that's not what it stood for. Oh yes, it was an absolute monarchy, but also strongly influenced by enlightenment. Frederick the Great fought his wars for territorial gain - they all did, but he also invited the French philosophers to his court and granted absolute religious freedoms. Which was a rarity at the time.