So here I was thinking that what is peoples opinion on whether Netherlands should also give a cultural union with the cultures of the Low Countries (Dutch, Flemish and Wallonian).
Just about that.
Just about that.
Should forming Netherlands give a cultural union
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Well the cultures are already part of the French and German groups so they have to create a whole new culture group for it. Also the three group have never really been united. Flemish and Wallonian split from the Dutch to form Belgium and even today the Belgians are split along those lines. So unless there is a pressing gameplay need for it then I don't see any reason for it.
Indeed, it would have to come with a new culture group, and it shouldn't include Wallonian. That would be like adding Irish to the Great Britain cultural union.
As is, just Flemish and Dutch is not exactly enough to make for a decent sized culture group. If you add Frisian that doesn't really change either since the provinces would still be the same.
On top of that, it would actually greatly hurt most Dutch players, since that would also cause any of their German holdings to be in the wrong culture group.
As is, just Flemish and Dutch is not exactly enough to make for a decent sized culture group. If you add Frisian that doesn't really change either since the provinces would still be the same.
On top of that, it would actually greatly hurt most Dutch players, since that would also cause any of their German holdings to be in the wrong culture group.
There is also the issue that Flemish is arguably not an accepted culture of the Netherlands, isn't the reason Belgium exists as a nation partly because of divides between the Dutch and Flemish people of that reason?
I could be wrong, history of the Low Countries isn't exactly a passion of mine
I could be wrong, history of the Low Countries isn't exactly a passion of mine
The way the cultures are arranged at the moment is a bit weird. Paradox has divided the Dutch-speaking area into 'Dutch' and 'Flemish' according to where the border ended up at the end of the Eighty Years' War, even though the game starts in 1444. In real life, there were cultural (or at least dialect) divides within the Dutch-speaking area, but you'd need more than two cultures to represent them, and they don't really correspond to where the border ended up. It would make as much sense to just put all the Dutch-speaking area in one culture, as it's not such a large and diverse area compared to the other culture zones we have at the moment (such as 'Lombard'). I do think they should be separated from the 'Germanic' culture group, though - the Dutch don't belong in the cultural union of Germany, if it forms.
Walloons and Picards don't belong in the Dutch cultural zone, as they spoke langues d'oïl, the same family as standard French.
Walloons and Picards don't belong in the Dutch cultural zone, as they spoke langues d'oïl, the same family as standard French.
There was a cultural divide between Wallonians and the Dutch, but not really between the Flemish and the Dutch. They just sided with the Wallonians because they were largely catholic.
Then again, so was a large swathe of territory in what is now the Netherlands. In what sense were the inhabitants of Staats-Brabant closer culturally to Amsterdam than they were to Antwerp?