The Story of Germany

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. I happened to be listening to audio lectures on modern European history in the past few weeks, and thus found a few interesting facts that gave me a more in depth perspective about the whole event.

The interesting thing is that, Germany had not been a united country for much of the history. Before 1871, while there were groups of people with an identifiable German culture, the Germans were governed by several kingdoms and principalities, chief among them being Prussia and Austria.

Before the French revolution in 1789, the concept of nations did not exist in most people's mind. People were ruled by their feudal lords and monarchs, with whom they swore their allegiance to. It is not uncommon for a king to rule several, in today's terms, countries.

What happened during the 18th century was fascinating, it was the change in ideology and philosophical concepts, that ultimately changed the world. Idea is such an abstract thing, yet it's impact on the fate of societies and human beings is so powerful and profound, as demonstrated by what happened on the European continent.

People started to believe that all men are created equal, as opposed to the monarchs have the divine right to rule, and this ultimately led to revolutions. The idea that people as a nation, should have the right to determine their fate, led to nationalist movements. It is interesting to note that, instead of deposing their monarchs, as happened in France during the French Revolution, most European countries preferred to have a constitutional monarchy. That is, they don't want to get rid of their kings, they just wanted to have their constitution, parliament and the right to vote. (Note: UK, Australia, NZ, Canada, Denmark, Japan...etc are examples of a constitutional monarchy today)


So finally in 1871, Germany was united, with the king of Prussia became the emperor of Germany. Austria was left out because of political complications (The Hapsburg monarchy in Austria also ruled over Northern Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Croatia...etc).

The fate of this new nation was dramatic to say the least. In 1914, at 43 years old - the age when a man would likely to experience the midlife crisis; it started World War I along with Austria. They lost the war, and the Hapsburg monarchy simply dissolved, with the empire split into pieces. At this point Austria wanted to join Germany, but the victor nations would not allow it. There was no way that they'll allow Germany to become bigger than it was before the war.

24 years later, in the name of unifying the greater Germany, the Nazi regime first annexed Austria, Czechoslovakia, then finally invaded Poland in 1939 and thus started World War II. At the end of the war, 84 years after its birth, roughly the lifespan of a human being, Germany was divided in half, and thus marked the beginning of the long cold-war.

Looking at Europe today, where most countries are united into a single economy, is nothing short of remarkable. The forces behind these changes, are once again powerful ideas profoundly shaping people's lives and destinies. We have not reached the end of the story that started in the 18th century.