Radical Changes

Sarah Hayes

Assignment #2

Germany’s Radical Changes

Like every country, Germany went through many changes within their culture, economy, and government. Some may consider Germany’s changes to a bit more radical or extreme. One of the major changes that occurred, that I found most interesting, was the signing of the treaty of Versailles.

The treaty was what officially ended world WWI. The process and negotiations that led to this treaty did not include Germany extensively, but the outcome effected them in a major way. German’s had no support of this treaty, “The German reaction was almost universal opposition to the term” (203). I find this extremely shocking considering the terms and conditions of the treaty directly effected Germany, and I would have assumed that they would have been more involved in the decision making process and negotiations of the Treaty. The treaty reassigned the boundaries of Germany along with forcing Germany to pay for all the damages that were caused by WWI. The allied forces basically forced the National Assembly to sign the treaty due to a blockade of food supplies and a threat to continue hostility (203).

Signing of the Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles seemed to do nothing but negative things for the country. “Germany was placed under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated.” I do not see how a country could recover from such a negative event that held them back in many ways. Germany fell into a very depressed nation. They were struggling economically and the public was in a very oppressed, bleak state. This weakness made Germany extremely susceptible to political campaigns and it makes sense that they gravitated towards such a powerful leader. Unfortunately, that leader was Hitler.

English Version of Treaty

The government went through an extremely uneasy cycle of constant changes. “The republic experienced a succession of sixteen different governments, on the average a new one every eight- and-a-half-months” (207). There is no way that a country could go through any positive changes when a party could not stay in power for even a year. When a government seemed week, the public would switch to a party that promised an authoritarian rule.

The problems within the government led to problems within the German economy. During this time the production of coal was down, and for Germany it cost them even more to purchase because it had to be purchased abroad. Due to the taxes and tariffs the German government acquired a large deficit and tried to solve it by printing more money. This “solution” led to extreme inflation. Individuals would have to immediately exchange their wages for goods, “because a few hours later the money would buy practically nothing” (210). With money being virtually insignificant, the economy somewhat failed completely, at least the money economy. Germans had to return to the traditional way of buying and selling goods through bartering. This also hindered the economy from expanding because Germany could not keep up with other counties more modern economies.

Inflation in Germany

Assignment #1

Sarah Hayes

Assignment #1

10/22/2015

The Birth of the German Nation

The struggle of Germany becoming a state of its own was a prolonged series of events. Many factors let to Germany becoming a state including, “the shock of defeat, a sense of humiliation, the onerous financial burdens imposed on the defeated states, the devastations cased by French armies, and the rise of the cost of living” (Schulze 102). Although Germany was defeated by the French, they used this as a reason to be stronger, “by fighting for their own identity and freedom from French military and cultural dominations, Germans were serving the cause of progress” stated philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte in 1806 (104). It seemed as though Germany had to excessively prove their independence in order to gain respect from other states, and their way of proving it was to completely go against everything that the French believed in.

Johaan Gottlieb Fichte

As the Germany’s continued to demand the liberty and new constitutions that the government had promised, the government began to attempt to hold them back. The government began to punish individuals for speaking out and came up with “a policy of ruthless suppression of all revolutionary and liberationist movements” (111). I found this particular method very interesting. The German people could not speak out of they identity began to involve internally. They had the ideas of how they wanted their nation to be, and even though they could not speak out with those ideas, they let them grow. This let to an era known as Biedermeier, which was the longest span of peace that the country had ever seen. This was a period of two decades where Europe was not involved in any wars. I believe this is the Era in which the German people expanded on their identity. Political ideas and debates were pushed into the background leading the people to focus more on their small communities and development on a common identity.

German Nationalism

            Although overall Germany seemed at peace during this era, the national movement was still in the minds of many individuals. I found it interesting that the ideas of the movement were taking place within the minds of college students. This really interests me because in my opinion, college students have fresh minds and hopeful ideas. Exactly what Germany could benefit from if they listened to the ideas of the students. Students were not the only ones who were interested in the national movement, it also consisted of democratic working men and artisans and soon gained the support of local farmers. A huge issue in this era was overpopulation, and lack of food to support the overpopulation. These individuals who could not support themselves moved to the city which led to an excessive amount of urban poor individuals.

Separate German States

            Although the term “German people” and “German fatherland” started to become more prevalent in the vocabulary of the people, it still was not a term in which everyone understood. It was used to “heighten the contrast with the enemy, the French” (117). As I stated earlier, their nationalism was mainly in opposition to the French. “Germany” was more of a consolidation of ideas going against the French, rather than the idea of all separate German states being consolidated into a single nation. That idea would only be understood by the minds of geographers. After this period, the rebirth of German nationalism would reappear and grow in the minds of all German citizens.

Berlin

Sarah Hayes
4th Blog Post: Berlin

Frederick the Great

This documentary sets up Berlin to seem like one of the most interesting cities in the world and throughout the film Matt Frei continues to prove his point about how rich the history of the city actually is. So many large and well known events and leaders played a part in the history of the city, molding it and shaping it into what it is today. Berlin seemed to be a hub for extreme ideas and beliefs to begin, where individuals were easily influenced, and a city that was continuously changing. The political power of Berlin was always changing and creating a divided city, setting it up for constant hostility and separation of the city.

I found it fitting that the documentary started out with Frederick the Great. His life story and ideas seemed to coincide with the structure of Berlin. His ideas were very divided, yet he was still one human being. Berlin's ideas are very divided, but it too is still one city. His upbringing and beliefs interested me because of how extremely different they were. His father was a man of war and really pushed his beliefs onto Frederick, but Frederick was not so much interested in war as he was with philosophy and his specific interest in Voltaire. Focusing more on social reform and equality and believing that education would further human betterment. Although Frederick had this philosophical outlook on life, war was still in his blood and he strived for control. This constant power struggle within himself seems to me to be quite similar to the power struggle the Berlin had within itself. This struggle is also portrayed through the Brandenburg gate, which is known as an icon of the story of Berlin. It shows the clash of ideas within Berlin, one side of war and depression, and the other of hopes and dreams.
 The clash of ideas within Berlin became for prevalent and extreme in the 1960's. I found the section of the video about the Berlin Schloss to be very interesting. This building was considered the most historic building in Berlin, but the communist leaders in East Berlin decided it represented the wrong kind of history so they demolished it. Although the building was just a somewhat dilapidated shell, I believe that such great history like that should never have been demolished and even though it was, the decision should have been made between East and West Berlin. As if Berlin was not already divided enough, they pushed it to the limit in 1961 when the Berlin wall was built. I cannot imagine how shocking it would be to one day have your city literally divided. I personally believe the wall created more competition and problems than before, because now both sides of Berlin were competing in an architectural sense. Which side could have better, taller, and more noticeable buildings. I do see a benefit in this competition though, it did push Berlin to rebuild itself after being destroyed after the war. So even though the city was still divided, it was starting to move forward. At the end of this section I found it very surprising that they decided to rebuild the Schloss after destroying it. Even though it is supposed to be replicated, I think it no longer will have historical significance because it is not the original palace.

New Schloss being built in the exact same spot as the old.
Expected to be finished in 2019.

Old Schloss which was destroyed
in the 1950's

There was so much more interesting topics in this video and I am looking forward to exploring these places and buildings when we visit. There is so much history and significance to the city and I think it is going to be an amazing opportunity to learn more about it and get to see it first hand.

Blog Post #2

Sarah Hayes
Blog post #2
8/31/2015

Before I began to read, Germany: A New History, I had my own general viewpoint on the history of Germany and the country in General. I had previously never learned about German history besides the Holocaust. Unfortunately, that is what many people think about when asked about what they know about German history, and sometimes the only thing that they think about. Since it was such a prominent time period in German history, it was interesting to read about a more detailed history of multiple events in German history.

When I think of the country of Germany in general, I think of power. I think of a very structured and strict country that has a very powerful stance over many other countries in the world. My original outlook on Germany was that it was always a very structured country, but while reading this book I discovered that Germany was not as quick to establish a strong political system as other surrounding countries were. I assumed for some reason that Germany was one of the first powers in Europe, but while England, France, and Denmark were already established dynasties by the thirteenth century, Germany was not even called Germany yet and the Kings in power were very weak. I was surprised to read that Germany was actually falling behind other countries in Europe. As I understood it, the discovery of the Germania was a major turning point in the history of Germany. Finding out that the Tactius Germani were the ancestors of modern German people gave Germans a more unified feeling of being their own culture. Finally the country was more of an actual state which was recognized as Germany. After this point they were in the largest "peace-time era of their history" which took place from 1555 to 1618. This peaceful time came to an end when the tensions

between the Protestants and Catholics rose leading to the "Thirty Years' War." Without this series of wars, Germany may not have received its national sovereignty. The "Peace of Westphalia" made all states recognize the existence and right of every other state. I believe that this gave Germany a sense of confidence and a feeling of power, security, independence that they had never had before.

Signing the Treaty of Munster (Event known as the Peace of Westphalia 1648) 

In general I assumed that Germany was recognized as a state at a much earlier time than it actually was. I also assumed that Germany had always been as powerful as it is now, but clearly I was wrong. I find it interesting to learn about their constant changes and struggles to be officially recognized as a state. I found the first chapter very hard to follow because of all the changes going on in the history of the country, but in the second chapter it became easier to understand as the country became more recognized as Germany. I think it is too early for me to analyze what this development of sovereignty says about the Germany people, but I do think it was a major step towards a more defined culture and existence.

Word count (507)

Sarah Hayes

Germany D-Term

Blog post #1

6/4/2015

            The Germany d-term trip seemed like an excellent opportunity to continue with my passion of traveling. I do not consider myself an experienced traveler, seeing that I have only been to Greece and Italy on a past D-term trip, but I will soon be traveling to Greece again, and then of course to Germany. To be honest, I never really pictured myself going to Germany. During the d-term informational meetings, I only attended the Spain meeting. After learning a bit about Spain, I realized it was not really the country or culture that I wanted to experience. I spoke with my mom and a few friends about where their favorite place to travel was… I got an overwhelmingly high response that Germany was their absolute favorite. All of them said that I should experience Germany at least once in my lifetime. My Mom said it was the best six months of her life, and although mine will only be 20 days, she advised me to not miss such a great opportunity and to go on the trip. After meeting with Dr. Wolf, he convinced me even farther. I am a person who enjoys knowing what I am getting myself into, and Dr. Wolf had that covered. I am not opposed to spontaneity, but I like having a somewhat specific overview of what we will be doing and where we will be going. After leaving the one-on-one meeting with Dr. Wolf I immediately went to the Abe house to turn in my deposit without a second thought. Once I got over the initial wave of excitement about knowing that I was going to be able to travel to a new country, I started to look more specifically into the places that we will be visiting.

            I have searched and done minor research on a majority of the places that we are visiting, and they are look beautiful. I am looking forward to see many of the castles and experience the detailed architecture of the country, but I am especially looking forward to seeing how these structures reflect their culture and beliefs. I am really interested in learning more about the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. I find it fascinating that it is a norm in the German culture to not hide their past. In the United States it is not a common thing to exhibit events that may make our country look bad, but Germany seems to be very open about the history that took place in their country, especially at the horrible places like the concentration camps. I am interested to learn why the Germans are so open about this history and the events that occurred.

          

         I am also very interested in seeing the contrast between German stereotypes and what the German citizens are actually like. When I think of German nightlife, I think of a bunch of people getting drunk in loud bars, but from my understanding so far, this is not the case. I have heard from individuals who went last year they the bars are extremely quiet, and most people are actually sitting outside or at a Christmas market. I think the Christmas markets will be very fun too, I have been to the one in Chicago but I have a feeling that the one in Erfurt will top my expectations of what a German Christmas market it like. The idea of being outside so much is appealing to me so I am excited to experience the different culture of Germany and change the stereotypical view that I confess to having. I am looking forward to this opportunity and I already know it will be incredible.