The German Question, Part Seventy-One

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/A "The Germans At War"

"A Reputation Takes Hold"

The "Great War," or what later came to be called "World War One," was not about German "identity," as such, although "South Slav" ethnic identity in the Balkans certainly played a major role in the war's beginning. Of course, the French desire for Alsace-Lorraine was a contentious issue since that region's annexation to Germany upon German unification,* and German (and French) identity did play a part there. The war may not have been much about German identity, but its aftermath most definitely WAS about German identity. The war will only be covered in a general way here, and the various battles and campaigns will not be covered, but for those interested in the military history of the war, there are just a multitude of books and articles on the subject by authors of all nations, and written from various points of view.

As the various nations declared war, there were large public demonstrations in those countries celebrating the outbreak of hostilities, and patriotism flourished in most countries. Not all nations were jubilant, however. The Germans had a strategic plan to defeat France, called "The Schlieffen Plan," named after its creator, Graf (Count) Alfred von Schlieffen, who developed the plan in 1905/06. The plan was modified over time. It called for a quick strong German attack on France from Belgium before full French mobilization, slicing into northern France and trapping the bulk of the French army in an area from Paris to the German border. Much smaller German forces were to be retained along the Franco-German border to keep French forces in check. With the French defeat would come the transfer of large German forces to face the Russians, who, it was assumed, would still not be fully mobilized. There was one "little" problem with the plan (the old "fly in the buttermilk"); Belgium was a neutral country, and Britain had guaranteed its neutrality way back in 1839. Luxembourg was also a neutral country (and a former German state), although it continued in its relationship with Germany through the German Customs Union ("Zollverein" in German) until AFTER World War One. The Germans sought permission from Belgium to permit the passage of German troops through its territory to France. Belgium refused, as any self-respecting "neutral" country would have done, but it mobilized its army. It was this action which brought about the actual British declaration of war on Germany; although I have to believe the British would have entered the war at some point, but the timing would have been crucial in terms of troop deployments to the continent (remember, the German strategy to defeat France and Russia was based upon precise timing). The British wanted Germany to guarantee Belgian neutrality, something the Germans would not do. The German army entered Luxembourg, without incident, militarily occupying that nation, but leaving much of its day to day affairs in the hands of the Luxembourg government.** I've not found much info on the subject, but I suppose there were both substantial pro-German and anti-German sentiments in Luxembourg during the war. The Germans entered Belgium a day or two later, but in this case, the Belgians fought back heroically. In fact, Belgian resistance to the German invasion helped save France from a possible defeat. The German offensive was eventually halted near Paris, and the war in western Europe became one of bloody battles in northern France and southern Belgium, fought from a series of trenches, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on all sides, sometimes thousands died for the gain of a mere couple of hundred yards of territory; often with that meager gain relinquished in a day or two when the other side launched its own attack. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the Black Hand, Serbia, Herzegovina, all reasons for the war's beginning, were all but completely forgotten by the armies involved.

Germany and Austria-Hungary were called the "Central Powers," for their location in central Europe. Italy was also part of the alliance, but the Italians stayed out of the war until later, and then joined the Allies, not the Central Powers. In southern Europe and the Middle East, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire was allied to the Central Powers. Switzerland, another neutral nation, was divided in public sentiment along ethnic/linguistic lines, with the German majority population holding sympathy for Germany and Austria-Hungary, but with the French and Italian portions obviously favoring France and Italy, respectively.

The German invasion of Belgium coupled with Kaiser Wilhelm's long previous remarks about his wanting Germans to be feared like the Huns had been, provided the Allies with a devastating campaign against Germany. The German leaders were seen as willing to do anything to win, including invading neutral countries. The problem for the Germans was, it was true! (That's not to say the Allies always had noble ideas either, however.) This was the real beginning of the growth of a German reputation that put non Germans in fear of German national criminality. It would only get worse, especially in the next war. This all eventually had an effect on "German identity." (A Word History is below the notes)

* If you have been following this series, recall that Alsace and Lorraine had been a trouble spot for centuries. The French did not want the area to rule over "Germans," but rather for the natural resources of the area. The Germans too wanted the natural resources, and also had the further tie to the German majority population of the regions. Remember, when Germany annexed Alsace, it took the vast percentage of the province, and that province had an overwhelming German population (although in many cases with French influences), leaving the smaller French majority parts to France. In Lorraine, Germany left much of that province to France, taking the primarily German majority area, which was about a quarter of the entire province. After annexation, Germany combined the two provinces into one, as "Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen," or "Imperial Territory Alsace-Lorraine." If interested, a little more info is available here:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/12/german-question-part-sixty-one.html

** The German military wanted Luxembourg occupied mainly for supply and strategic reasons.

WORD HISTORY:
Ice-This word in its various forms is common in the Germanic languages, with connections to other Indo European languages. It "seems" to go back to Indo European "eyhso," meaning, "frost, solidified water from cold." Indo-Iranian had "isu," which meant "frosty, icy." Indo-Iranian is a part of the Indo European languages, and is therefore related to English, but much further down the family tree. Anyway, this gave Old Germanic "isa(n)," which gave Old English "is" (with a long "i" sound), which then became "ice" during the 1400s. German has "Eis," which means both "ice" AND (yummy, yummy) "ice cream," Low German Saxon has "ies," West Frisian has "is," Dutch has "ijs, Letzeburgesch/Luxembourgish has "Äis," Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic all have "is."