IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND

I just finished a German-language history of Germany from the pre-Roman times to just before the 1848 rebellions. It is an old book, written by a man forced to flee the Nazis. Therefore, it is not infected with either a Nazi-friendly slant, or post-war European relativism. The book makes a number of interesting points. However, the most interesting, I thought, was that with the exception of Germany, every country that was directly impacted by the Reformation was strengthened by it. The Dutch and Swedes gained their senses of national unity in the Calvinist and Lutheran movements, respectively, the Brits found a common Catholic enemy to rally round, the Austrians and French both strengthened the central government in the name of solidifying the Catholicism of the respective countries, etc. etc. Only Germany, which suffered through the Thirty Years War and came out with a million small states and a divided Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation came out weaker.

I guess the lesson there is, if you're going to have a Reformation, go whole hog, or don't go at all...