The Birth of the German Nation

     First off, I have to say I think I am at a lucky advantage over the rest of the group. I met with Professor Wolf this morning to make up for not being able to attend our past meeting, and we dove into a little discussion of the German history and unique unification process we read about in Chapters 3-5. However, I still have a long ways to go before I feel I can call myself ready to travel to Germany and not just be your typical American tourist.
     I have always found it hard to be interested in European history prior to the 19th century, as I have always felt it is all somewhat similar and plays off of itself. What I mean, is that most of Europe operated in similar fashion with the other countries, and kingdoms, and Lords dominated the lands of all major nations for quite sometime. However, being the typical American I am, I was wrong again. One of the things Professor Wolf and I discussed was how unique and unlike typical reasons for unification Germany used to come together.
     German unification came less out of a need based drive towards one common goal, and more was brought about from an opening of minds and abundance of intelligence. Germany was a divided nation politically and religiously, the second of the two being a problem that other European nations did not have to deal with. The following map shows purely religious divisions of Germany in the year 1610, with the northern half practicing forms of Christianity and the southern half being Catholic.

    Despite the religious divisions and multiple kingdoms of power in Germany not wanting to budge and conform with one another, the Germans had more to unite around than they believe. For instance, Germany has long since been a culture of artistic and liberal intelligence in almost all aspects of the maths, the sciences, music, and other arts of all times. German love of arts led to the love and feelings of expression and outward public opinion. Differing opinions and liberal representations of opinions can often lead to repression from church or state, however, Germany truly gained a voice in central Europe with its liberal opinions and knowledge. This liberal uprising in central Europe brought about the Enlightenment, which gave us many philosophical thinkings. One of my favorite being the ideals of Immanuel Kant when he stressed that we as humans truly live in "two worlds simultaneously, the realm of appearances..."where we are just one of billions, and "the realm of practical morality, in which we are free" (95). Kant and other liberal ideas gave way to a freedom of thought and expression, the liberal and artistic Germans were able to see amongst themselves as their first real common identity. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, gave an eye opening view of human morality, and individual human freedom. 

     From the late 18th century during the Enlightenment and an opening of liberal and outward thought, Germans never looked back. "In the period of Wars of Liberation and the Revolution of 1848, the reading public grew as many more people attained literacy" (117). I believe that with literacy comes a yearning to learn, and an expanding mind learning through text and ideals of others is an amazing thing. The German culture could now relate to one another through teachings other than religion that was conflicting for them. A Northern Lutheran and Southern Catholic in Germany now had readings like Kant, and music from Beethoven and Wolfgang to relate with one another and see past religious differences. 

     The mid-1800's finally saw Germany truly become a part of the European markets and grow and unite in a big way as a nation. The Germans were slowly developing a military presence as more than just a bunch of divided kingdoms that would team up when threatened. Germany experienced an industrial BOOM that brought about great and phenomenally unifying railway systems that created jobs and benefited greatly from cheap labor. 

     With transportation options, trade and market activity becomes easier and finds ways to take off with "amounts of money in circulation, bank deposits, and capital investment with the German Customs Union increasing three-fold" from 1850-1857 (130-131). 

    While Germany progression toward unification and the true birth of a nation was slow, long, and different than many other nations of history and of the time, it gave Germans a lot to be proud of and come together on. Germans were able to come together through artistic and intelligent ideals, Enlightenment thoughts and literary growth, as well as booming industry and economic expansion. 

Word Count- 768