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Texas... or Bavaria?

Both the USA and Germany have a southern state that has always been a bit different from the other states: Texas and Bavaria. But does different from the rest mean similar to each other? Take the quiz to find out. For each statement, guess whether it applies to Texas, Bavaria, or both.
Quiz by MarcellDAvis
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Last updated: September 12, 2022
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First submittedAugust 9, 2022
Times taken655
Average score41.7%
Rating3.56
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1. Is the southernmost of the contiguous states of its country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Florida is further south than Texas. Bavaria is just barely further south than Baden-Württemberg.
2. Is the biggest of the contiguous states of its country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Alaska is bigger than Texas but is not part of the contiguous United States.
3. Is the second-richest state of its country in terms of total GDP
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Only California and NRW have higher GDPs, respectively.
4. Is the second-most populous state of its country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Similar to question 3 (GDP), only California and NRW rank higher, respectively.
5. Has at some point been an independent country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
The Republic of Texas existed from 1836 until 1846. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 until 1918 and was a fully independent country from 1866 until 1870.
6. Has at some point at least in part belonged to France
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
The first European colony in Texas was Fort Saint Louis in Matagorda Bay, lasting from 1684 until 1689, which was part of the French colonial empire. Bavaria was allied with the French Empire between 1805 and 1813 but was never a part of it. Some Bavarian possessions west of the Rhine were occupied by France after WWI but were never formally claimed or annexed.
7. Has at some point had an emperor as head of state
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Texas was part of the Mexican Empire (1821–1823) under Emperor Agustín I. While Bavaria was part of the German Empire (1871–1918), not the German emperor but the king of Bavaria served at its official (yet de facto powerless) head of state. However, before Bavaria became a monarchy in 1806, its head of state was the Holy Roman Emperor.
8. Has at some point been a Soviet Republic
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
The Bavarian Soviet Republic existed briefly in April 1919 during the German Revolution.
9. Has the highest proportion of citizens in favor of secession among all states of its country (according to a recent YouGov poll)
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
In Texas, 42% of 219 citizens polled in 2021 support secession according to the raw data of this source, which is only slightly above the 39% of 293 polled Californians and only the 10th rank in total. Wyoming ranked 1st with 67%, however this result is based on data from only 3 people (N=2750 for all 50 states plus DoC); in Bavaria, 32% of polled people were in favor of secession according to this source (N=2076 for all 16 states), the highest percentage among all 16 states.
10. Has been a conservative majority state in all federal-level elections since at least 1970 (relative majority; conservative refers to the one of the two major parties generally considered to be more conservative, i.e. Republicans in the USA and CDU/CSU in Germany)
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Democrat Jimmy Carter received the majority of Texan votes in the 1976 presidential election. That was the only exception.
11. Has been the home state of at least one head of government of its respective country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Texas was the home state of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson; while born and raised in Bavaria, chancellor Ludwig Erhard lived and was elected in the district of Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) when he was chancellor. He was the only German chancellor ever to have been born in Bavaria, all the way back to Bismarck.
12. Has the highest crude oil production among the states of its respective country
Texas ✓
Bavaria ✓
Both ✓
Threw this one in for fun. In 2019, Texas was responsible for 41% of domestic crude oil production, about four times as much as the second-ranking state, North Dakota, according to this source. In Germany, where domestic oil production is negligible anyway, more than 90% comes from offshore fields in the states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, while Bavaria contributes only about 2% according to this source (in German)
stalintime
+2
Level 76
Sep 8, 2022
9/12, and I live in Bavaria. Damn difficult quiz. I'd rephrase the question on independence though, the "unlike most states" threw me off, because quite a bunch of German states have been independent before.
Pedrito
+1
Level 58
Sep 8, 2022
Totally agree with the question 5. And the answer brought adds to the confusion. I still would answer both after reading the explanation.
MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Sep 12, 2022
I knew the quiz was difficult, and I was afraid it might be too difficult, when I made it. Its premise is the joke that Bavaria is the "German Texas" due to the many similarities (big rich conservative southern state with secessionist tendencies), however I admit I had to research several of the anwers myself.

I've now removed "unlike most of the other states" since it threw off so many people. The idea behind this was that of the states existing today, only very few have ever been independent countries. As far as I know, of the US states, this applies only to California and Texas and arguably Hawaii and Vermont, but definitely not a majority. In Germany, of the 16 states existing today, only Bavaria and the city states of Bremen and Hamburg have ever been fully independent. Saxony and Hesse arguably had some degree of independece but have always been part of an overarching entity such as the North German Confederation. All of the others existed only as provinces or federated states.

WhatIsLove
+1
Level 59
Sep 8, 2022
You know the multiple-choice quiz is good when a you have some answers below 10% success rate!

I have a question about question 5, wasn't most of germany independent during most of its history? The 'unlike most of the other states' is a bit misleading, did you mean it in the sense that the current states were not named as they are now during the Holy Roman Empire times?

evilcheeser
+1
Level 72
Sep 8, 2022
It wouldn't just be their names, but is there a continuous entity that was independent at some point which is still a modern state? Baden-Württemburg, for example, was two and a half independent states at one point, or like 30 at a significantly earlier point, but they were never grouped under a single entity until after they were incorporated into Germany, so you wouldn't say the state "was an independent country".
MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Sep 12, 2022
Thank you, this is what I meant, but I realise the supposed hint "unlike most of the other states" added more confusion instead, so I removed it.
BMDragon
+1
Level 82
Sep 8, 2022
I feel like "unlike most of the other states" is misleading since most German states have at some point been a quasi-independent kingdom, especially when going back to HRE days
evilcheeser
+1
Level 72
Sep 8, 2022
Were the Hapsburg emperors never the heads-of-state of Bavaria? Or, for that matter, pre-Hapsburg HRE?
MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Sep 12, 2022
Ah yes, the HRE. Neither holy nor Roman nor an empire as we all know, but was its emperor the head of state of Bavaria? The Baravian monarchy was introduced in 1806 when the HRE collapsed, and Bavaria was definitely a kingdom in its own right with its own head of state after that. But what before? The Emperor was the head of state of the HRE, Bavaria was part of the HRE, and unlike after 1806, it had no king but only a prince-elector who was arguably no head of state. I guess I overlooked this...? I changed the answer to both now.
mrputter
+2
Level 81
Sep 14, 2022
That... was probably the single most deceptively difficult quiz I have ever taken on JetPunk.

But also highly enjoyable!

5⭐ and nominated! (Not that it's likely to ever garner enough nominations to be featured, but whatever; I enjoyed it mightily.)

MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Sep 14, 2022
Thank you! It's my first quiz, and as written above, I knew it's difficult and I was afraid that it might be too difficult. If it's still fun though, then I guess this is no drawback. The point of the quiz is mainly to highlight the ridiculously many similarities between Texas and Bavaria, with a few odd facts thrown in for fun (Soviet Republic, crude oil production)
MCdoesgeography
+1
Level 69
Jan 20, 2023
I have lived in Bavaria all my life, I have talked to thousands of people and not ever has A SINGLE PERSON told me or anyone I know that he/she wants Bavaria to succeed from Germany. This myth is and has always been absolutely ridiculous. If anything similar has ever occured, it was that Franconia has a SMALL group of people that want Franconia to succeed from Bavaria.
MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Jan 23, 2023
I think in both Bavaria and Texas, the majority of people are not in favor of secession, or we'd have situations like in Catalonia or Scotland. That being said, people might answer anonymous polls differently from what the tell other people face to face. In the YouGov poll I cited in the quiz, 32% of polled Bavarians were in favor of secession.

In another, more representative poll by the Bavarian think tank Hanns Seidel Stiftung, about 23% of polled people were in favour of secession (although mainly elderly people). I am not sure how serious these people are, of course, but it's definitely not nothing. Let's also not forget there's the openly secessionist Bavaria Party, even though it's just a small group.

MCdoesgeography
+1
Level 69
Jul 20, 2023
Bavaria IS Ludwig Erhard's home state.

You should have phrased your question differently.

MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Jul 21, 2023
That is debatable and really depends on the definition of home state. I am going with the more common definition that the home state is the state in which a politician has their political base as member of parliament when they are elected to office. In the case of Ludwig Erhard, while born and raised in Bavaria, he lived and was elected in Baden-Württemberg when he became chancellor. Let's compare that to a well-known example from America, president Obama, who as we all know was born and raised in Kenya Hawaii but was based in Chicago when he was elected president. If you google "home state Obama", the result that comes up is exclusively Illinois.

Wikipedia lists "Birthplaces" and "States of primary affiliation" separately for US presidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_home_state#States_of_primary_affiliation

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