How do historians commonly relate the ninth-century divisions of the Carolingian Empire to later Europe?
Historians commonly attribute part of the later split between French-speaking and German-speaking realms to them.✓Correct answer
Historians hold that those divisions fixed the borders of France and Germany exactly as they run today.
Historians hold that the modern nations of France and Germany already existed in the ninth century.
Historians agree that the divisions left no lasting trace of any kind on later Europe.
Explanation
The careful form of the claim is one of attribution and tendency: the western and eastern portions went on developing apart, and realms of French speech and of German speech grew out of that separation, which is why historians point back to it. The stronger versions fail because ninth-century rulers were dividing family lands rather than nations, and the frontiers between the parts moved repeatedly for centuries afterwards.