Evolution of Germany from 1867
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Jun 10, 2011 @ 13:29:30
Mark
Thank you for your effort, I called up this YouTube video and must say it appears to come from a fairly right wing point of view – for these reasons:
Germany as a state was proclaimed by Bismark in Versailles , France in January 1871 in the hall of mirrors in the Versailles palace (the supreme insult to France). There the crown of the new empire was assumed by Wilhelm, King of Prussia who in the decades before had gone to war against Austria and Denmark (and even some of the German states) to consolidate Prussia’s supreme role among the many sovereign German states. The Franco-Prussian war in a way forced the remaining German states to join Prussia and later to become a part of the new empire – the 2nd Reich
The Norddeutscher Bund was not a state in that sense, nor was the 1st Reich – also called the “Holy Roman Empire of German Nations” a state.
The remainder of that video for the most part details some of the proclamations of the Nazis during WW!! – none of them in any sense legal. Though over the centuries the German people / tribes (as opposed to a German state) suffered many injustices and constant meddling on part of the better organized neighboring nation states (such as Louis XIV wars against South West German states) this video fails to put any of these territorial “adjustments” into any historical perspective, most glaringly it fails to see the current German state as a part of the European Union which put an end to all the territorial disputes, claims, and counter claims.
The new Europe is a most welcome gift to the peoples of Europe who even early in my lifetime went to war with each other and now – thanks to wise leaders such as Schuman, Adenauer, DeGaulle, Mitterand, and Kohl – who created the new Europe – can now enjoy what hopefully will be everlasting peace AND freedom.
Maybe my info can be of some value to you.
Cheers
Paul
PS: as an aside, the current German flag was first flown at the Hambach Castle demonstration in 1832 as a sign of a new and freer Germany and as a token to the volunteer militias in the liberation wars against Napoleon whose troops used black uniforms with red borders and gold buttons. That demo[onstration] btw was for a United Germany, a United Europe, a Free Poland, Equal Rights for Women and for a Free Press (among others) and against the opressive rule of the monarchies reestablished at the Congress of Vienna. I received my historical training at the history department of Denison University in Granville, Ohio (BA).
Jun 10, 2011 @ 13:33:42
Hi Paul, thank you for your thoughts and comments. As for the orientation/ bias of the materials you may be correct. But the maps and the evolution of the land area seem pretty accurate, politics not withstanding. …mark