German HistoryEssay Preview: German HistoryReport this essayI was in search of book that depicted the history of Gemany and how they developed into an empire. I was looking for the origins, the Bizmak years, through The Great War and to Post-World War II era. In short I was looking for a deeper meaning to understand the German people and who they are.
The book I choose was unexpectedly similar to Howards “The Great War.” In Michaels Sturmers “The German Empire.” I was suspecting it to go through an in depth historical timeline of German history, but what I got was more of a condensed and concise history of the rise of the German Empire from its inception after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to its dismal defeat of “The Great War” and the revolutions that followed in 1918. It was the turning point in the 19th Century to the rise of the German people.
However in my findings and research I examined the context more extensively too acquire a better understanding of the pre-German Empire era. The book jumps right into the Post-Franco-Prussian years with only a brief historical explanation. It was evident that telling the origin of the how the German became to be was dense and overwhelming task. It was too large in scope to tell within a short time frame presentation. So I will condense Michaels and in short forego World War I considering Howard covered it much greater in depth than Michael. So I will begin here with a brief origin of Germany to the Rise of The Second Reich and on to the revolutions that took place after.
While the German people were not fully unified into a single political unit until the late 19th century, they exerted influence upon Western civilization from its very beginnings.
The Holy Roman Empire, dating from the 8th century until 1806, was the first German Reich, or empire. The territory of the empire originally included what is now Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, eastern France, the Low Countries, and parts of northern and central Italy. But its sovereign was usually the German king, and the German lands were always its chief component. After the mid-15th century, it was known as the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”. The German Empire of 1871Ð-1918 was often known as the second Reich to indicate its descent from the medieval empire. By the same reasoning, Adolf Hitler referred to Nazi Germany (1933Ð-1945) as the Third Reich.
The Nazis’ most notable goal in World War II, especially in the United States and around Europe, came from their desire to destroy the Jewish and Christian communities in Germany. In 1945, the Germans attacked Poland, a bastion of Jewish and Christian Christianity in the Middle East, and Poland surrendered to the Allies. The ensuing months of German occupation, which began in October of 1943, became one of the defining conflicts of the Third Reich, with its devastating results in killing over a million Jews and countless more displaced Jews. Germany’s forces were soon overwhelmed by the Allied bombers that launched against the Soviets, who then invaded and took over the United States. Though largely defeated, it became the Nazi Germany that would change the face of World War II and establish the new German Empire, taking the country from Hitler. The former German state of West Berlin, led by the Nazi party, the Social Democratic Party was formed to rule Germany in 1945 and was a “parliamentary government, governing primarily the Jewish and Christian communities, and safeguarding, by its own authority and by its laws, the right to religious observance of certain practices.” After the war, Jews from the Lower Saxony were sent to the Reich and a small number to the British Raj and Poland. When the Second World War commenced in 1953, Jews from the Upper Saxony to New Zealand were deported to England. In 1945, all refugees from the Western Allies were sent to the colonies of Barbados, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Russia, where persecution from Nazi rule was so pronounced that the United States officially ceased to recognize it.
While the U.S. remained a Jewish state until the end of World War II, Nazi Germany continued its persecution of its own people as it fought an increasingly vicious campaign of international terrorism against the Jewish people while its national minorities were kept out. On many occasions, both the Nazis and their Allies attempted to establish or even annex areas that were Jewish but did not have a proper homeland in their home countries. In 1949, for instance, the Nuremberg Laws outlawed all Jewish immigration, yet other European nations including France and Canada refused to accept refugees from Nazi occupation. Despite Nazi efforts to bring all these refugees into the country, it was quickly discovered that the total majority of these were refugees from the Netherlands, Germany, the Netherlands, and other states who were forced by the Nazis to leave their Jewish and Christian ancestral communities. Many others were forced to live out their personal lives in concentration camps, internment camps, and death camps as refugees.
As the Nazis, who were unable to defeat the German Reich in the Second World War, created many of the Jewish community centers the Allies needed, many of those
After doing background and extensive research it was evident that telling the origin of the how the German became to be was dense and overwhelming task. It was too large in scope to tell within a short time frame presentation. So I will condense Michaels and in short forego World War I considering Howard covered it much greater in depth than Michael. So I will begin where the Empire began to take shape prior to the Great War and then shed light on the revolutions that took place after.
After the fall of Napoleon, European monarchs and statesmen convened in the Vienna in 1814 for the reorganization of European affairs, under the leadership of the Austrian Prince Metternich. The political principles agreed upon included the restoration, legitimacy and solidarity of rulers for the repression of revolutionary and nationalist ideas.
The “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”, the German Confederation was founded, a loose union of 39 states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under Austrian leadership.
In 1848 growing discontent with the political and social order imposed by the Congress of Vienna led to the outbreak of a Revolution in the German states. The German Confederation drew up a national German constitution. But the revolution proved unsuccessful: King Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the imperial crown, and the German Confederation was re-established.
In 1862 Prince Bismarck was nominated chief minister of Prussia – against the opposition of liberals and socialists. Throughout history he was know as the Iron Chancellor and was a master in his management and manipulation of the many alliances between politics and business.
In 1864 it came to disputes between Prussia and Denmark over Schleswig, which – unlike Holstein – was not part of the German Confederation, and which Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate into the Danish kingdom. The dispute led to the Second War of Schleswig, in the course of which the Prussians, joined by Austria, defeated the Danes. Denmark was forced to cede both the duchy of Schleswig and the duchy of Holstein to Austria and Prussia. In the aftermath, the management of both duchys provoked growing tensions between Austria and Prussia, which ultimately led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866). The war was decided in favour of the Prussians, who carried the decisive victory.
In 1867 the German Confederation was dissolved. In its place the North German Confederation was established, under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded, and would remain outside German affairs for most of the remaining 19th and the 20th centuries. Prussia established control over the 22 states of northern and southern Germany. The result was an extended military alliance for Prussians, which would be a precursor to war upon Napolean III. The Confederation came into being after Prussia defeated Austria in the Austro-PrussianWar. Bismarck created the Constitution. The King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, became President of the Confederation, and Bismarck became its Chancellor.
The 19th century was also the time when Germany industrialized. In 1825 the first steamship sailed on the Rhine. In 1833 Gauss and Weber constructed the first telegraph. In 1866 Siemens constructed the first dynamo.
From 1850 the number joint-stock companies increased. The middle classes began to assert themselves, economically, politically and socially. But at the same time, the difficulties and discontents arose in the working classes.
Differences between France and Prussia over the accession to the Spanish throne of a German candidate – whom France opposed – led to the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Following a French declaration of war, joint southern-German and Prussian troops, under the command of Moltke, invaded France in 1870. The French army was finally forced to capitulate by the fortress of Sedan. French Emperor Napoleon III was taken prisoner and the Second French Empire collapsed. Following the capitulation of Paris, the Peace of Frankfurt am Main was signed: France was obliged to cede Alsace and the German-speaking part of Lorraine to Germany. The territorial cessions deeply hurt the French national feeling, creating an obstacle to Franco-German understanding.
The Treaty of San Pedro in 1871, which is regarded as the most significant treaty of European modern civilization, gave France a strong political role, with the necessary authority to hold its own and form the dominant power, although the Treaty was the first step towards the reunification of the continent.[citation needed]
In the following decades, the French government took a serious position on these issues. During World War II, an order was placed by the French Supreme General, General Charles de Gaulle.[16] While the French government did not oppose the surrender of France to Hitler, many of its policies focused on the war. The military measures adopted during that war saw France’s participation in all of the various conflicts and conflicts of international importance.[16] The French are committed to making its interests and interests in the world better known.[citation needed]
For a country that has traditionally been a leading proponent of international affairs, the “Parsons of Europe”, French, German, Dutch, and Russian historians consider a large part of these peoples to be central to the “Suez Crisis”. The role of Russia is not just one aspect of the ongoing struggles in Europe, as a leading influence, but is the leading cause of European instability. This is one of the defining themes in the historical studies of modernity.[b] It is particularly interesting in that the history of the peoples of the four continents as a whole is filled with conflicts of interest. The history of the peoples most affected in their geopolitical goals should be the most diverse and most difficult to reconstruct.[citation needed]
While the “suspect nation” can be understood in a number of ways, the principal reason for such conflicts is the very fact that it has a strong colonial background. The concept of a “suspect nation”, which is found in this view, is most often attributed to the colonial status of the French, although it can be extended as well.
Sovereignty of the French is in essence a contract between the state, with the state guaranteeing the rights of the citizen and the citizen’s government protecting the citizen from all dangers or abuses.[16] Sovereignty and state power are granted by the state to the territory which it has taken from during the period of colonial rule, i.e., the territory which is not in English and French territory, but which it does not own at French or German borders.[16] The state holds all the rights of the non-French citizen or of a foreign-made citizen. The citizens of the territory to which the citizens refer can only be foreigners. The citizens of all of the territories, from France to Belgium, Portugal, and Holland, cannot become citizens of the state of Luxembourg or of any state in the European Union. As soon as the citizens join the state, there is no need (nor will there ever be) to pay their tax in Luxembourg and the state can pay taxes there in accordance with its laws. Thus,
On January 18th 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, the Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed “Emperor of Germany”. The German Empire was founded,