The German Question, Part Thirty-Five

"Napoleon Dominant"

With the various German states subdued, Napoleon set up "The Confederation Of The Rhine" ("Rheinbund" in German). This confederation eventually consisted of all but Austria, Prussia, part of Holstein (under Danish rule), and part of Pomerania (under Swedish rule).* The confederation was highly subservient to Napoleon, providing him with many men for his army. The German princes who ruled the individual states were always looking for ways to boost their personal territories, and Napoleon and the French were more than willing to adjust state borders of the larger German states at the expense of the smaller ones. Further, at times the French granted new titles to their German allies, as for instance with Bavaria, which they renamed as a "kingdom," thus making the Bavarian ruler a "king" (prior he had been called "Kurfürst," a "prince-elector;" that is, a prince entitled to vote on who became German emperor).

With France frequently at war with Great Britain, Napoleon had implemented a trade embargo against Britain. In order to enforce the embargo, Napoleon literally sent French troops into several northern German states along the North Sea coast (naturally there were a number of German port cities there), and formally annexed these areas to France. While so many Germans seemed subservient to the dominant Napoleon, there was opposition beginning to take shape.

* Holstein, still in existence today, was/is a German state in the northern part of Germany. As I've noted before in this series, the borders of all the various German entities mentioned do not necessarily match what the borders are today. A significant part of Holstein was under Danish rule during the period of the "Confederation." "Pomerania" was a German area (formerly populated by Slavic people, who later "mixed" with the incoming (ruling) Germans, with many thus losing their Slavic identity, although in the eastern part (near Poland), Slavic dialects and identity persisted. Pomerania is located along a stretch of coast of the Baltic Sea. During the period of Napoleon, the western part was under Swedish rule, with the larger part being part of Prussia. Today, most of what was considered to be Pomerania is now part of Poland.

WORD HISTORY:
Hind-I'm just dealing with the noun in this case, not the "hind" of "behind" or "hind leg." While this is no longer a common word (at least in American English), I always encourage people to use some of our more antiquated words, or to at least get to know something about them. Famous English seafarer Sir Francis Drake named his ship "the Golden Hind."^ This means "female deer," and it goes back to Indo European "kem/kemti," which meant hornless. This gave the Old Germanic offshoot of "khindo/khinda" (then "hindo?"), which then gave Old English "hind" (then "probably" with a short 'i' pronunciation).  Germanic relatives include German "Hinde," Low German doesn't seem to have a modern form, but it once had "hind(e);" likewise, I could not find a form in modern Frisian, but it too once had "hind," Dutch "hinde," Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish all have "hind," the form passed onto them from their ancestor, Old Norse. All the Germanic forms mean "female deer."

^ When I decided to do the history of this word, I already knew of it, as back in the early 1960s, NBC ran a TV series for a short while (made in England) named "The Adventures of Sir Francis Drake," and his ship, the Golden Hind, was often shown in the series.