Thesis: Germany and Prussia are distinct, and have always been throughout history, except for a short period from 1871 to 1945.
Around 500 BC, at our best guess, in a collection of Iron Age huts in southern Scandinavia or northernmost Germany, one branch of the Indo-European population of Europe began to pronounce certain consonants differently from everyone else. [...]
The First Germanic Sound-Shift is also known as Grimm's Law [...] Its effect can most clearly be seen in modern English, which uses both Germanic and non-Germanic, Latin-derived versions.
p became f paternal — fatherly f became b fraternal — brotherly b became p labia — lip c/k/qu became hv/wh/h century — hundred h became g horticulture — gardening g became k gnostic — know t became th triple — three d became t dental teeth
There's no point studying the past unless it sheds some light on the present. As the West grapples with crisis after crisis, the story of Germany carries a clear message. The brief Prussian/Nazi era of German history — 1866-1945 — must finally be seen for what it was: a terrible aberration.