Germany Blog #5
In the novel Germany.
A New History by Hagen Schulze, chapters three through five covers the fall
of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, the development of the modern
German nation, and the founding in 1871 of the German state.
Although the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation
had come to an end, there was no final battle that ended in dismay and
destruction to bring the Empire down. On
July 12, 1806, the sixteen states that represented Germany, signed an act which
eradicated their connection to the Holy Roman Empire and established a
protectorate with Napoleon known as the Rheinbund (Confederation of the Rhine)
(Schulze 99). This was the final blow
that led to Francis II laying down the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor on August
6, 1806 (Schulze 99).
Francis II
At the time, the actual significance of the term
“Germany” remained indefinable. Ludwig
von Seckendorff in 1656 declared in his Teutscher
Fürstenstaat (“The German Principality”), that a “German nation” in the
political sense existed, but stated that it was challenging to describe and
that several other nations existed within it on lower levels (Schulze 86). Numerous
proceedings contributed to the development of the modern German nation. In the second half of the eighteenth century,
Germany saw the growth of the educated elite.
The elite consisted of civil servants, clergymen, academics, jurists,
teachers, doctors, book-dealers, as well as other professional men. The growth of the elite class contributed to
the development of the standard German language from the regional dialects and
local idioms (Schulze 89). The German
nation was then born in the minds of the intelligent. This made it logical that the heroes of
Germany were not the princes or military leaders but the rather a collection of
poets and philosophers (Schulze 91).
Two challenges that existed in the creation of the
German state were the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück. These treaties were a part of a larger treaty
commonly known as, the Peace of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Year’s War. The
treaty of Osnabrϋck was signed between Emperor Fredinand III and Queen
Christina of Sweden and their allies. Then
the treaty of Münster was between Fredinand III and King Louis XIV of France
and their allies. Both of these treaties
were considered setbacks in the establishment of the German state.
The signing of the Peace of Westphalia treaty
Germany became unified in 1871. Bismarck was the chancellor and architect of
the German unification and teamed up with the Hohenzollern Dynasty to establish
the German Empire. Based off of
Bismarck’s decision, Germany was to be run with an authoritarian style government
by the Hohenzollern family. This ruling
started with Kaiser Wilhelm I from 1871 to 1890. Wilhelm I was considered weak but worked with
Bismarck. Kaiser Wilhelm II then took
over until World War I in 1914. World
War I began due to the effects of trying to unify a country that was not
prepared for the task at hand. Unifying
Germany did not actually create a unified country because they did not have one
religion, one powerhouse, one culture, etc.
Individuals wanted to be able to identify with something but struggled
when the unification did not work. So
they fought for what they believed in and what they thought their country stood
for. The unification was supposed to
solve all their problems but instead left individuals with more questions than
answers.
World War I
Germany Flag
This reading has helped me to understand how Germany
developed and the struggles they went through to get to where they are
today. I look forward to being able to
see Germany’s past history in different cities and how it has changed over
time.
Word Count: 625
