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.

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