The German territories, and provinces came together to form
1 German state in 1871. During the 30
years war, the people of the German territory learned that it was better to
make alliances with each other rather than fight each other. This idea carried on even in 1806 when the
Holy Roman Empire fell, and the people of the German states started taking
action to unite the provinces, and create a unified Germany.
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| The German Provinces before 1871. |
Shulze says in the text that “the subjects of
Prussia, Baaria, Saxony-Gotha, or, say, Schwarzburg-Sonderschausen might feel somehow
“German.” (pg.102). After the Holy Roman
Empire fell, the provinces were beginning to feel a sort of nationalism, and
they were proud to call themselves Germans instead of the name of their
province. Shulze goes on to say later in
the text that in “1840 there was a rebirth of German nationalism and strong
growth in organizations promoting it.” (p119).
I found this interesting because the organizations that he was referring
to were the gymnastics movement which quickly spread throughout Germany. This gave the Germans a team to root for, and
the team wasn’t representing any specific province or territory, it was representing
all of them as one. It amazes me at how,
even today, sports can bring a nation together. Even for me,there is no stronger feel of nationalism or patriotism then when the
United States is competing in the Olympics.
A huge step in the unification of Germany came on May 18th,
1948 when the German National Assembly which consisted of 585 representatives
met in St.Paul’s church in Frankfurt to create a constitution, and elect
national government. There was a major
debate on which regions should actually be involved in the new Germany. They would either use all of the German
regions including Austria, or they would “exclude the Austrian areas and be
ruled by the Hohenzollern emperor” (p126).
This was a major issue, and there many of the people were split between
a “Great Germany” and a “Small Germany”.
This issue escalated into violence, and even revolutions. The whole thing was a mess at the start
because even the people that were being appointed to run the new Germany didn’t
want the job because it was “filthy” if it was coming from the parliament and
not from the princes themselves.
Nevertheless, they successfully became one unified country in 1871.
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| Painting of the National Assembly that met in 1848 |
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| St.Paul Church where National Assembly met The unification of Germany was an extremely important event in German society. Although, when they were first unified, there were people of many different cultures, that spoke different languages and that did every day activities differently. Also, the people of the new Germany had many different beliefs both political, and religious. However, the majority of the people knew some type of unification was necessary because they would become one strong nation, instead of many weak nations. They would both have a stronger army, as well as a stronger economy if they were unified as opposed to separate. They wouldn’t have known this now (and probably not in the 1940s either) but today, Germany’s economy is one of the strongest economies in the world. |
The German identity took time to evolve to what it is
today. Although the people still have
their differences (much like everywhere else in the world) they have overcome
so much as a unified nation. They have a
common German language, they have common political beliefs, and for the most
part the cultures of all of the provinces have blended magnificently into one
culture. That isn’t to say that they
culture of the provinces have vanished, it is more likely that the culture of
the provinces have all come together to make one unique German culture.
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| What Germany Looks Like Today. |
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