[rayiner]

Germans are a distinct ethnolinguistic group that existed prior to the unified German nation state.

Many (most?) countries exist because pre-existing ethnolinguistic groups got their own country. For example, Bengalis have existed for long enough that you can easily identify them as a tightly clustered, distinct group in genetic profiles,[1] but never had their own country until 1971.

[1] https://www.gnxp.com/WordPress/2018/07/09/the-main-interesti...

[laurencerowe]

This has often meant displacing huge numbers of people in order to create contiguous nation states. Some 15 million in the partition of India and a similar number in Eastern and Central Europe.

[rayiner]

But it also means freedom and self determination for those who would otherwise be minorities within an agglomerated state.