Roughly every hundred years since the Lutheran Reformation, the number of independent German political units has fallen by a factor of ten. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia reduced the number of independent units in the Holy Roman Empire from 3,000-4,000 to 300-400.
路德宗教改革后大约每过一百年，德国独立政治单位的数量就下降10倍。1648年《威斯特伐利亚和约》使神圣罗马帝国的独立政治单位从3,000-4,000骤减至300-400个。拿破仑战争后，德国只剩下39个州。到1866年，仅有34个州依然留在德意志联邦。