The Birth of Modern Germany

When Germany was in separate pieces, it was difficult to travel, share resources, and even go from one end of the river to the other, as every 6 or 7 miles, the boats had to stop and pay a fee in order to continue down the river (p.70). Germany also had unrest among the empires, as they were all different sizes and wanted more land, so wars occurred frequently, along with the exchanging of cities.

There are a large number of rivers in Germany, which made it easy to transport goods, but also allowed the kings to charge a fee for passing through their kingdom.

When one of the empires was expected to collapse due to the death of a leader with no heir, the empire surprisingly had been built up enough to start a war with all surrounding empires and countries, which then triggered a European war that caused many countries to swap major cities as the borders changed.

The German identity evolved through the changing hands of major cities and borders. After the Diet of Regensburg, which was forced upon Germany by France and Russia after one of the many wars, Germany was broken into 30 territories and states, down from 314, and that does not include the 300 imperial knights (p.97). This caused many cities and cultural centers to disappear while many other cities grew in size just due to the minimizing of empires. The identity also evolved due to the addition of French and Russian government pushing to help Germany become a stable, unified country.

I find it interesting that in order to unify Germany; the leaders did not pick themselves or other great leaders to push for the unification. Instead, they used great writers, musicians, and artists, along with other, more creative people that did not have any role in the strength of the country. The book, on page 124, mentions that in the 1848 German National Assembly there were two poets voted into the assembly, Ludwig Uhland and Friedrich Theodor Vischer, along with other leaders that were helpful with the unification.

Friedrich Theodor Vischer, poet

Ludwig Uhland, poet

To me, France and Russia helped push for this because of all of the separation in kingdoms, and they knew that having present or past kings or leaders would make the newly consolidated country go into unrest. Using art, music, and writings were helpful for unification because it brought in something that anyone could enjoy, and show that good things can happen if you work together in a positive manner.

This method may have also caused problems, because once the Assembly went to vote for a leader and a type of government, they all had separate ideas. They all wanted it to be their way, or that their area of Empire would have the capital and the head of the government. Even after the country had formed a constitution based off of America and France, many people did not recognize the government, nor paid attention to the constitution.

The German Constitution in 1871. Many people were unhappy and did not listen to the constitution.

Since the government had no power, and the constitution was viewed as if it was a blank sheet of paper, it appears as though Germany had gone about the wrong way to create a stable government. However, in order to make government decisions, they must be in the correct mindset for the public, even if they do not agree at the time, and eventually Germany settled down and was able to correctly function under their government. Germany did something hard, and that was trying to stop the unsettlement of the country that had been very comfortable in how the kingdoms were constantly battling for more land. Germany had also been able to unify 314 territories into a consolidated country of 30 or so territories that are still under the government rule.

Germany before and after the unification.

(Word Count: 596)