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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/IdeaFragrant1099 on 2025-06-25 22:45:00+00:00.

I’ve always found the way EU4 draws cultural borders in Europe a bit odd — especially the division between Dutch and German cultures. I’m not a historian, so please correct me if I am wrong but I was taught that Low German (Plattdeutsch) used to be the dominant language family across much of Northern Europe in the 15. century — including modern-day Netherlands and Northern Germany. It was spread widely through the success of the Hanseatic League and wasn’t sharply divided along national lines like EU4 suggests.

From what I’ve learned, the “Dutch” identity as a distinct culture only really started forming during the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule in the late 16th century. That’s when a separate state, language standard, and national consciousness began to take shape. Before that, the region was linguistically and culturally part of a broader Low German continuum. Even High German (the basis for today’s Standard German) was more of a regional thing at that point — it only became widespread later due to the printing press and Luther’s Bible.

So seeing the Dutch culture split off in 1444 in EU4 has always struck me as anachronistic. But I get that the game has to simplify things and meabx my assumption where wrong

That said, I’m curious: 🟠 Do you think EU5 will handle this better? 🟠 Are there other culture borders in EU4 that really annoy you or feel way off?

The Dutch–German split has always personally bothered me, but I’d love to hear about other weird cultural borders that stand out to you — especially ones that impact gameplay in frustrating or immersion-breaking ways.