German region we backed way before failure, some might say (10)
I believe the answer is:
westphalia
'german region' is the definition.
(I know that Westphalia is German)
'we backed way before failure some might say' is the wordplay.
'backed' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'way' becomes 'st' (abbreviation for street).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'some might say' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'failure' is a homophone of 'phalia'.
'we'+'st'+'phalia'='WESTPHALIA'
(Other definitions for westphalia that I've seen before include "Treaty" , "Region of Germany" .)