In my opinion, Germany was founded
because the people were tired of the social tensions between socioeconomic
statuses, and demanded change. Hagen stated, “During this period, known as the Vormärz (“pre-march”, since the
Revolution of 1848 broke out in that month in Germany), the growing social
tensions added to the bitterness felt over broken promises to introduce real
constitutional reforms”(Hagen, 118). A major challenge of forming Germany as a
whole country had to of been the lack of a true Constitution. They had made
many, but none held actual power. Hagen also said, “But the constitution was
not recognized, and the government had no power ”(Hagen, 126); this was the
“Third Germany”, the one that wanted a democracy. This also made it hard to
create Germany, as one nation. Different groups of peoples wanted different
things and they couldn’t agree upon one idea or form of government.
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| Gluck, Bach, Strauss, Telemann, Wagner Welll, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann |
As the German identity evolved, I
believe that the culture really helped shape it. People such as: Ludwig von
Beethoven, Conradin Kreutzer, Friedrich Rückert, and Karl Friedrich Schinkel
really helped shape the German cultural. Without their own individual work,
Germany could not have its own individual and different types of arts. One of
the most famous things about Germany and its culture is its arts. People admire
Germany for its architecture, which has spread throughout the world, including
Chicago. Also, from a musical
standpoint, many famous composers either were from Germany, or studied there at
one point in time. This is shown above in the picture of all famous composers.
Most are before Germany became a nation, or just around that time. It’s
interesting to think that maybe they wrote their pieces to maybe help inspire
the people to stand up. We, of course, cannot know this but it is interesting
to think about. So much was going on at this time, and yet they rose and
created masterpieces. Some of the most
remarkable and famous compositions were written in small German towns, that
were not even part of a nation yet. It wasn’t until the 20th Century
style of Music that Germany became a nation. Therefore, one can guess that
German nationalism, culture, and life effected music in the Baroque, Classical,
and Romantic eras. It is remarkable to think how all of this was done without
the nation of Germany actually being formed yet.
A large issue that Germany faced
during its attempt to become a nation was that everyone wanted something
different than everyone else. So in a sense Germany was divided into three
different parts. You can see it in the picture above. There was “Großdeutschland”, which consisted of
German regions and part of Austria. It was also ruled by the Hapsburg emperor
(125). The other was “Kleindeutschland”,
which was the Northern part and was ruled by the Hohenzollern emperor (126).
However the third part was a small section of SouthWest Germany which wanted a
democracy and fought for it (126).
In this picture you can see the German
barricades that sprung up quite often from the people demanding their freedom and
a government. Around this time French Revolution was also taking place. It was
also right after America seceded from Great Britain. Freedom and Industrialization
was floating through the air and the oppressed people wanted every part of it
as well. They were tired of having nothing and were making that clear to the
people of power.
Eventually, they were successful.
They found a constitution that worked and a government as well. On January 18th,
1871, Germany was finally a nation. The map above shows Germany from 1871-1918,
finally Germany was one nation, and had one sense of identity.
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