The Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor after 1400.
Source: Wikipedia

The fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 had drastic consequences for nineteenth century German history. For about a millennium a loose conglomeration of several different semi-autonomous German-speaking kingdoms under the Latin name of Sacrum Romanum Imperium ¹ had controlled a vast region in Central Europe which is now composed of Germany, the Netherlands, part of France, Austria, part of Italy, Switzerland, Bohemia and Silesia.² The collapse of this empire was caused by several different factors including the French Revolution and the subsequent military victories the French had over Germany under Napoleon. Here the major consequences of the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire and the ripple effects which led up to the Revolution of 1848/9 are going to be examined. These include the Congress of Vienna, the famines of the early nineteenth century, the Carlsbad Decrees, the development of the German Zollverein ³ and the Hambach Festival which all in some way eventually led to the Revolution of 1848/9.

Map of the Holy Roman Empire 1789.
Source: Wikipedia

It is no surprise that with the end of the Holy Roman Empire came vast changes in the German-speaking states of Europe. The end was caused by many different factors. In chronological order, it would make sense to begin with the French Revolution. Although the French Revolution did not have a direct effect on Germany because of social and political reasons such as Germany’s lack of a central concentration of power and the German population’s reverence for their rulers,⁴ it did have indirect consequences. The threat of a French invasion under the new regime pushed Austria and Prussia to unite under a defensive pact despite the tension in their relationship.⁵ Most significantly are the political changes which took place after the French invaded the Rhineland in 1792. Despite the alliance, neither Prussia nor Austria were able to defeat the French military. Austria had tried and was defeated while Prussia remained neutral.⁶ The French set into motion a series of legislation which was published as the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss on February 15, 1803 and which ultimately allowed larger German powers such as Prussia and Austria to seize smaller states, free cities and other small, formerly sovereign areas.⁷

It is no surprise, then, that states began to leave the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the French, under Napoleon who had declared himself Emperor of the French in December 1804, setup a confederation of states called The Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund). This new confederation began to attract states which were formerly part of the Holy Roman Empire. These states left because they claimed the Holy Roman Empire could no longer protect them and that the system was essentially dysfunctional.⁸ This led Napoleon and his officials in France to bring the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, an ultimatum demanding that he either give up the imperial title or face war with the new French Empire. Francis decided it would be a wiser decision not to risk war with France and officially abdicated on August 6, 1806 -- the date on which the Holy Roman Empire officially came to an end.

This entry is part of a multi-part series. You can find all of the entries either on the Nineteenth Century German History project page or in the category of the same name.

Part 2 of "Consequences of the Fall of the Holy Roman Empire (1806-1848)" will be coming shortly.

March Revolution - March 19, 1848 - Berlin.
Source: Wikipedia

No century has played quite a role in modern Germany history like the nineteenth century. It was during this time which the area now known as Germany went from being the Holy Roman Empire which it had been for almost a millennium to what we consider to be more or less the modern boundaries of the country. It was a period of industrial and social revolution which would forever change Europe’s political landscape and have adverse effects in the first half of the following century. Socially, the German people went from being a very oppressed people to earning more freedoms through revolution and during this time life improved for the average person with the invention and implementation of many technologies made available for the first time to the general public by the increase in industry.

The nineteenth century was a time of intensive change to Germany and its people. The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire created a void which allowed the rise of a new type of German empire to rise to power which would compete with the established world powers. Revolution, war and the rise of nationalism were all parts of this time period which would contribute to a new German Empire and ultimately to a unified Germany which continues to exist to this day.

This entry is part of a multi-part series. You can find all of the entries either on the Nineteenth Century German History project page or in the category of the same name.

The German imperial coat of arms.
Source: Wikipedia

Despite having just begun another series, I am going to be embarking on a second multi-part series which has to do with nineteenth century German history. The goal of the project will be to give a survey of nineteenth century German history.

You may ask why I am going to be pursuing such a project on a blog about American history, but the answer is two-fold. First of all, I enjoy German history quite a bit and so I find this project to be different and extremely interesting all at the same time. Secondly, I will be undertaking this project for a history class which I am currently taking.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this project and can learn something about German history. You will be able to find all of the entries either on the Nineteenth Century German History project page or in the category of the same name.

Der Ackermann aus Böhmen

One of the research papers I am currently working on for my German literature class is about the ad hominem style of argumentation in the rhetorical dialog Der Ackermann aus Böhmen, or The Ploughman from Bohemia. While I am not going to go into the style of argumentation used in the text on this blog, I do want to discuss its historic significance.

The text was written ca. 1400 by Johannes von Tepl (or sometimes also known as Johannes von Saaz) and was first published in 1460. To sum it up briefly, the work is a Streitgespräch, or rhetorical dialog, between der Ackermann and Death. Der Ackermann is grieving for his wife who Death had just recently stolen from him which leads to an argument between the two. Of course der Ackermann argues that Death murdered his wife and thus should be properly punished, while Death argues that everyone must die otherwise there would be no room for anyone anymore on this earth. This is done between insulting each other. There are necessarily many details that I am choosing to omit here that are quite entertaining, but irrelevant for this post.

What is most fascinating about the dialog is the change of emphasis from religion and God to the direct confrontation between man and Death. It isn't until the end of the text that God finally breaks in between the two and establishes his judgement. Other interpretations place der Ackermann and Death in a court-like environment of which God is the judge, der Ackermann the plaintiff and Death the defendant. Both of these views are valid, however whichever standpoint the reader comes from, he or she must admit that the text breaks new ground in the question of God and religion. Der Ackermann aus Böhmen was written about a century before Luther's reformation, so Catholic doctrine was still the norm at the time.

I've included some links to the full text in both the original High Middle German and an English translation:

Original German
English (titled here as "The Husbandman and Death")

The Berlin Wall by the Brandenburger Tor.

Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably noticed by now that today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was on this day, November 9th, in 1989 that the Wall was breached and East Germans finally allowed into West Germany.

This was the result of a long, complicated process by which the Soviet Union and other communist states in Eastern Europe slowly collapsed throughout the 1980s. Originally, the East German government only wanted to reform -- like its Soviet counterparts -- by offering its citizens more freedom. Part of this freedom was the ability to move between the two Germanys. Once the Wall was breached, however, the reunification of Germany became possible and even became a part of official policy. After almost a year of negotiations, Germany officially became one country again on October 3, 1990.

German WWI soldier, Dieter Finzen

I've been contacted by the person running the online journal of Dieter Finzen and asked if I would be willing to do translations for the site. The idea behind the site is to post journal entries made by the German World War I solider, Dieter Finzen. Each entry is posted 93 years after it was originally written. The entries were originally written in German of course, but I will be translating them into English. The English translations will be posted at the same time as the original German versions. There will also be French translations for those of you who prefer French.

I find the journal very interesting because it provides a good insight into the life of a German soldier during the First World War. As Americans, we hear about the American, British and French sides of the war, but we rarely get an opportunity to see it from the German perspective. This website gives us a unique view of what life was like for the German solider during this war.

You can find the blog here: http://dieter-finzen.blogspot.com.

Reinhard Gehlen in 1945

I have finally finished up my paper on Reinhard Gehlen. The final version was due today and it is a great relief to have it finished. I wrote up a brief summary of how the Gehlen Organization came to be on my German blog, but I will write a rough translation of it here.

Gehlen was a very interesting man. During the Nazi-period in Germany he was the head of the General Staff division, Fremde Heere Ost (Foreign Armies East). The division dealt with the condition of the soviet military. Just before the end of the war he foresaw that German was going to lose and thus decided to hide the information collected by his division in Bavaria. He wanted to give all of the information to the Americans so the Americans could be more prepared to fight against the Soviet Union in the upcoming battle of ideologies he saw coming.

After the war, he was taken prisoner by the Americans which is when he began to work for the Americans. In 1946, the Gehlen Organization was founded by the American Army and Gehlen. Gehlen worked with his colleagues from the Fremde Heeren Ost for the Americans until 1956. The Gehlen Organization was taken over by the new West German government in 1956 and the Bundesnachrichtendienst(Federal Intelligence Service) was born.

Reinhard Gehlen

As I have discussed before, I am doing a research project on the former German spymaster Reinhard Gehlen and the organization that he established after the second World War which eventually became the West German (and now just German) Bundesnachrichtendienst, or Federal Intelligence Service. The relationship between Gehlen and his spy ring had with the United States, in particularly the CIA, was extremely controversial as the American public would have been horrified to know that their government had employed former Nazis in their attempt to gather intelligence on the Soviets.

Because of the controversy of their relationship many officials in the CIA, the American military and the American government did not trust Gehlen or the intelligence gathered by his organization during the Cold War. This is going to be the focus of my research project. From a post-Soviet era, 21st century vantage point, I want to know if the intelligence gathered by Gehlen's spy ring was -- as many Americans claim -- actually inaccurate and deceiving or if that was simply something that the Americans unjustly accused the Gehlen Organization of. I watched a History Channel special about Reinhard Gehlen which presented Gehlen in a very negative light, claiming that his intelligence was falsified and incorrect. I guess we will see though.

Today I spent most of the morning and early afternoon researching at the university library. I have already spent quite a bit of time there this week, but this time I spent it looking for primary documents related to Gehlen and his organization. It turns out that the CIA declassified a huge number of documents in the late 90's and in 2004. That's lucky, but unfortunately it would require a trip to the National Archives in Washington DC, which I am unwilling to spend the money and time to do for a short undergraduate research paper. I was quite discouraged by this, but after a bit more looking around on the internet, I came across a site from The George Washington University which has all of the released documents in handy PDF files I can download for free. Needless to say, that pretty much made my day. I am now in over my head with primary documents on the organization and can't wait to start sifting through them.

The accounts may be true for all I know, but they are presented as though Gehlen told them (though he did not in his memoirs) and there are no references cited. It has been most frustrating and I do intend to report this inaccuracy to the university. Perhaps they will dispose of the book as anyone who is unable to read the German version would have no idea otherwise, possibly leading to inaccuracy.

Reinhard Gehlen in 1945

Gehlen was instructed to create a spy ring based in West Germany that would gather intelligence on Soviet affairs. Because of this he was excused from any warcrimes he had committed during the Nazi era. His spy ring became known as the "Organisation Gehlen" and included many of his former colleagues whom he worked with during the second World War. The Organisation Gehlen essentially became the forerunner for the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), or the Federal Intelligence Bureau, which is in many respects the German equivalent of the CIA. Gehlen served as the BND's first president.

For more about Reinhard Gehlen, see the Reinhard Gehlen article on Wikipedia.

As part of this particular assignment, we have to include memoirs from the person involved. Reinhard Gehlen wrote his memoirs in 1971 under the title of Der Dienst: Erinnerungen 1942-1971 (The Service: Memoirs 1942-1971). The library here does not have a copy of the book in English, so I have to resort to reading it in German. It shouldn't really be a problem, but it will take a little longer to plough through all 400 pages of it.