The German Question, Part Thirty-Eight

"Aftermath of Napoleon" Part Two

Here are more of the changes brought to the map of Europe by the Congress of Vienna ("Wiener Kongress," in German):

First, in "Part One," I inadvertently left out another gain by Prussia; the part of Pomerania that had been occupied by Sweden (most of Pomerania was already part of Prussia). Pomerania was a territory in the north along the Baltic Sea.

While the Netherlands was no longer connected with Germany, since it had been a part of the German Empire for centuries, I thought I'd mention here that the Netherlands, and much of what is now Belgium (then called "the Austrian Netherlands," as it had been a Habsburg possession), were formed into a single entity called "The United Kingdom of the Netherlands," under the Dutch king. It wasn't until 1830 that the southern part, then called "Belgium" (actually Kingdom of Belgium), was granted independence.

Luxembourg had dynastic connections with Prussia, but it was divided from Prussia by other German lands. A German land, "Nassau," was a possession of the Dutch king, but the territory was located essentially east of the Rhine River, smack dab in German territory. It was decided that the Prussian and Dutch monarchs would swap these territories, giving each easier access to his own land. While Luxembourg became a personal possession of the Dutch king, it remained a part of Germany (more precisely of the German Confederation, see below).

Austria gained Tirol (a German territory, much of which lies in the Alps, with the far southern part having some local Italian majorities),* Salzburg (of "Sound of Music" fame), some lands in the Balkans, some lands in Italy,** some lands from Russia (but contiguous with other Habsburg lands in eastern Europe).

There were various other border adjustments to some of the German states (and other countries, too), but one of the more important changes was the establishment of the "German Confederation" ("Deutscher Bund") to replace the old empire, and thus keep some semblance of German unity. Instead of the hundreds, and at times even thousands, of German states that constituted the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the German Confederation had only thirty-eight.*** In place of the former parliament, the Reichstag, there was the "Bundesversammlung" ("Federal Assembly"), which met in Frankfurt am Main, with Austria holding the presidency. The "delegates" were not elected by a vote of the people, but rather were typically appointed by the ruling prince (or whatever title used in each individual state) of each state. The French Revolution (and America's founding as an independent nation) had spread ideas of democracy throughout much of Europe, and in truth, the German ruling princes (as they were collectively known, regardless of each actual title) tried to keep a lid on such sentiments; thus the Federal Assembly was not democratically elected.

To be continued..... (A Word History is below the notes)

* Tirol had been a Habsburg possession, but when Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1805, the territory was handed over to Napoleon's ally, Bavaria (a member of the French sponsored "Confederation of the Rhine;" see previous article). The local population eventually rebelled, led by Andreas Hofer, a famous Austrian/German hero. The rebels won many victories, taking back much of the territory, but the odds against them were too great, as besides Bavarian troops, Napoleon had French troops and troops from the Kingdom of Italy (a Napoleon created state, mainly based in what is now northern Italy, with guess who as king? NAPOLEON). Hofer was eventually captured, tried and executed by firing squad, with Napoleon supposedly telling his subordinates, "Give him a fair trial, then shoot him." (What would he have gotten with an unfair trial?)

** At that time, Italy was not a united nation, but rather a number of kingdoms and principalities, much like the German lands.

*** Like with the old empire, the number of states varied from time to time, but unlike with the empire, the number didn't vary much.

WORD HISTORY:
(After)math-This is a compound of after + math, and here we are only going to be concerned with the second part, "math." I'll deal with "after" in a separate history later. This is not "math," as in 3+3=ah, don't tell me....now to the fingers of the other hand....let's see...6! This goes back to the Indo European root "me(h)" (not connected to our word "me"), with the notion of "cutting down grass or grain." It is closely related to "mow," as in "mow the lawn." The Indo European root developed into "maetha/metha" in its Old Germanic offspring, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "maeth," later changed to "math." German, a close relative of English, has "Mahd," which means "mowing," and also "a swathe cut through grass/or agricultural plants, and that which has been mowed," and Frisian once had "meth." So "aftermath" indicates "the result of mowing, that which is left after mowing." The modern (figurative) meaning of "aftermath" came about in the late 1400s; that is, "the results or consequences of an event."