system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What exactly was Prussia vs. Germany? What exactly was Bavaria in relation to both? I'm trying to get a handle but it's very convoluted with monarchies that covered different countries, and independent states that aren't really independent, but also had its own monarchy?
gpt
Germany is a modern nation state that was created in 1871. It unified several of the German states, two of states included Prussia and Bavaria.

In the middle ages, there was realm called the Holy Roman Empire. This empire has origins in the empire that Charlemagne created in France, the Benelux countries, and western Germany. However the HRE shifted more towards the Germany states, as well as other central European powers. Within the Holy Roman Empire was the kingdom of Germany, and many of the early HRE emperors were Germans (such as the Ottonians).

In the early modern era, the Hapsburg family became the Holy Roman Emperors. This family comes what from what is now Austria. That is why Austria became the leading nation withing the HRE in its later history. During the Napoleonic Wars, the HRE collapsed and was essentially replaced by the Austrian Empire.

Starting in the middle ages, the Hohenzollern family became powerful in North-East part of the HRE, which is Prussia. They basically replaced the rule of the Teutonic Order. First as a duchy then as a kingdom, the Prussian country grew real powerful real fast, and essentially became a competing power to the Hapsburgs rulers of the HRE. In the late 19th century, it was the Prussian that really pushed for German unification and were the driving force in that. The German Emperors were Hohenzollerns.

I am not too familiar with the history of Bavaria, but they were a duchy and then kingdom that was a part of the HRE. They were mostly ruled by the Wittelsbach family. They joined the Prussians during the push to unify Germany.