I'll Have The Goulash

This was published in August 2012, more as a general article, but I added the actual recipe November 29, 2016.


I got into my cooking mode a couple of days ago, and I fixed two great dishes, which lasted for a couple of meals. I made "goulash" and bacon dumplings (German: "Speckknödel" *). There is some disagreement about the history and preparation of goulash, but it developed among Hungarian herders** who fixed a thick soup of beef, peppers, onions, chopped tomatoes,*** paprika (a Hungarian specialty), and perhaps some other items, especially caraway, but also garlic, potatoes, or carrots, and typically thickened with flour. Hungary was ruled for quite some time by the Habsburg dynasty, and later it gained a large degree of equality in an agreement in 1867, making the former Austro-German dominated Austrian Empire into a shared empire called Austria-Hungary, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With Vienna (German: "Wien") the capital city of the multi-ethnic empire, lots of different peoples and foods influenced the culture of the city, and the Viennese picked up goulash from the Hungarians, albeit with their own version,**** which made it into more of a real stew, rather than a thick soup. The stew became something of a Viennese specialty, typically accompanied by bread dumplings (German: "Semmelknödel"), a close cousin to the bacon dumplings I made.

Well, many years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, there was a little restaurant called "Servus" (pronounced "zair-voos"). The word is known throughout the German-speaking lands, but it is more typical in southern German lingo; that is, more so in Bavaria and especially in Austria, and it is used as either a greeting or farewell, depending upon circumstance; thus it means "hello" or "goodbye." Wow did "Servus" have good food! It was owned by a fairly young couple, and I went in so many times, the lady asked me why I had become such a good customer. Well, one of the reasons was the goulash, or "Gulasch," in German, and the other was "Zwetschgenknödel" (plum dumplings). Now, the standard German word for "plum" is "Pflaume," a close relative to the English form, as centuries ago Old Germanic borrowed a form from Latin, giving both English and German forms of the word. For the history of the words "plum" and "prune," see my article at this link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/04/plum-pudding-and-plum-cake.html    However, many German dialects use forms of "Zwetsche"***** for "plum." There are numerous spellings and pronunciations, including "Quetsche" in much of Hessen, the German state where Frankfurt is located, and "Quetschkuche," or "plum cake," is common in that area.

Anyhow, the lady proceeded to tell me she was from Austria and that her husband was Hungarian. Alas, the old empire was recreated. When I asked her where she was from in Austria, she got a bit nervous, even saying I would have never heard of it. Finally she told me, and I certainly understood her anxiety about how I might react. She was from Braunau, a little town right across the border from the German state of Bavaria. In fact, during certain times in the past, the town had been part of Bavaria. So why was she so nervous? Because Braunau was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. The full name is actually "Branau am Inn;" the "am Inn" meaning, "on the Inn (River)."

Germans, the ethnic group, and not just the specific nationality from Gerrmany, love dumplings, and they make them out of flour, potatoes, or even stale bread or rolls. They come in all shapes and sizes, sweet or savory, and with various added ingredients. "Speckknödel" are made from stale rolls, which are sliced and soaked in warm milk. Small strips of bacon and sausage (usually smoked) are lightly fried together and then added to the bread. Today most of us would pour off the fat before adding the meat to the bread, but that was not the case in the past, when bacon and sausage fat added flavor to the dumpling mixture, along with a substantial dose of cholesterol. A little salt and some parsley are mixed in, and egg and flour help to bind the dough, which is then rolled into dumplings somewhere about the size of ping pong balls or golf balls. A little coating of flour helps to keep the dumplings from falling apart. Ten to fifteen minutes in some salted, lightly boiling water and you're ready to go. Any leftovers can be sliced and fried lightly in butter for a snack or even served with eggs for breakfast, which is not uncommon. I don't waste anything, as the water will have residue from the cooked dumplings, giving you something on the order of a thick porridge.

Vienna-Style Goulash (Gulasch, Wiener Art) Recipe (this is my own version):

Typically this dish is cooked on the stove top, but I prefer to bake it at relatively low heat for a couple of hours. In the past, the beef would not have had the fat trimmed off of it.

2 pounds beef stewing meat (bite-sized pieces)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or sunflower oil
3 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons mild paprika (Hungarian, if you have it)
1 tablespoon hot paprika ("hot" paprika tends not to be terribly hot)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar (this helps to smooth out some of the acidity, use a little more, if needed)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (or you can substitute oregano)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1/4 cup beef stock (I suppose you could substitute beef bullion, but don't be surprised if the Viennese put a curse on you, where you hear 24 straight hours of waltz music)
1 or 2 teaspoons salt (your preference; I use seasoned salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

I use a heavy duty pan with a lid to make goulash. I add the oil first, then I add all of the other ingredients, then I mix it all well. I bake it at 275 degrees (F) for an hour, then I stir it, then I turn the heat down to about 250 (F) and let it bake for another 90 minutes. Check to be sure the meat is tender, giving the meat as much time as it needs to bake. The relatively low heat isn't going to hurt it, and your patience will be greatly rewarded with a delicious goulash.
 
If you want the goulash very thick, as I do, mix 1 tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water, making sure the flour is well mixed in. Stir the mixture into the goulash near the very end of cooking, and return it to the oven for about 5 minutes. Since I fix my goulash in an oven safe pan, I simply put the pan on the stove (low heat) and add the flour/water mixture, stirring until it is thickened and the flour taste is cooked out, which only takes a couple of minutes. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving. I must admit, on occasion over the years, I have used bullion instead of real beef stock and nothing ever happened to me ... Hey! What's that music? Do I hear a waltz?  

* Also called "Tiroler Speckknödel."

** The Hungarian word for "herder, herdsman," "gulyas," lies behind the word "goulash."

*** I once read a recipe for goulash by a lady whose Hungarian mother or grandmother, I now cannot remember which, was adamant that "real Hungarian goulash" did NOT have tomatoes in it. I'll stay out of the argument, except to say that everyone has their own recipes for various foods, and goulash is no exception, including in Hungary. Just a possible explanation though: the passing down of recipes for goulash could likely date from a time before tomatoes were accepted as being safe in Europe. Tomatoes came from the New World, and they were originally thought to be poisonous, thus it is not out of the question that early recipes for the dish did not include tomatoes, and that omission was retained by many people, as the recipe was passed down.

**** The more typical Viennese style (German: "Gulasch, Wiener Art") uses beef, onions, some tomato puree or paste, paprika, salt, pepper and caraway, although some cooks add garlic, and/or, a bit of vinegar. I improvised a bit, using some tomato paste and about a heaping tablespoon of thick ketchup, which provided just a tad of vinegar. It should be slowly braised (a slow cooker is good for this) and end up rather dark in color, somewhat on the order of dark red wine. A variation of this is served with a fried egg on top, as well as one of the famous Vienna-style sausages ("Wieners," to Americans; German: "Frankfurter Würstl"), and a pickle, which in restaurants has one end cut into a fan shape. This is then called "Fiakergulasch," or "Cabbie's Goulash," with a "Fiaker" being the name for a two-horse carriage used as a cab long ago. The name was also used for the cab driver. 

***** The various forms of Zwetsche are not native German words, but another borrowing, "perhaps" from a non-German dialect from the alpine border area of northern Italy and eastern France.

WORD HISTORY:
Cook-This "seems" to go back to Indo European "kekewo," "perhaps" a variant form of "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. Latin had "coquus," which was borrowed into Old Germanic as "kukaz," a noun form. This gave its Anglo-Saxon (Old English) offspring "coc," which later became "cook." The Latin verb form "coquo" was likewise borrowed by Old Germanic as "kokanan," which then gave Old English "cocian," as well as "gecocsian," both meaning essentially "to cook." The latter died out or merged with the former, which then became "coken," before the modern form. Noun and verb forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "Koch" and "kochen" (meaning "cook, boil"); Low German Saxon "Kock" and "kaken/koken;" Dutch has "kok" and "koken;" Danish has "kok" and "koge;" Icelandic has the noun "kokkur" ("chef"); Swedish has "kock/kocken" and "koka;" and Norwegian has "kokk(en)" and "koke" ("boil"). Apparently Frisian does not use a form of the word in modern times, but it once had "koka."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/1)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 1)

First a little background:
Czechoslovakia was formed after World War One from parts of the former "Austria-Hungary." The western areas, usually referred to as "Bohemia and Moravia," were Czech majority, and the eastern areas were Slovak majority. When Austria and Hungary agreed to share power in 1867, Hungary had ruled the Slovak areas and Austria had ruled Bohemia and Moravia. The significant thing was, the outer border areas of Bohemia and Moravia (sort of a semi-circle and much of it mountainous or hilly) were populated by Germans, some settlements dating back hundreds of years, and indeed, the area was part of the Old German Empire, and specifically became a Habsburg family possession in the 1500s. Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenians also formed smaller minorities within the nation's boundaries. When the Old German Empire was dissolved, these lands remained under Habsburg control, and thus became part of what was then called, the Austrian Empire, which later became Austria-Hungary, as noted above. When Czechoslovakia was formed, the Czechs essentially dominated the government, and although closely related to the Slovaks, both ethnically and linguistically, the two peoples did not always get along well together. The German population was upset that it then found itself as a distinct minority, with somewhat less than 25% of the population.* Later, when the Great Depression struck, the German areas were heavily hit by unemployment, which only caused further discontent. When Hitler came to power in Germany, and German nationalism surged, the German population of Czechoslovakia began to stir, and the situation was eventually set for Hitler to make claims against Czechoslovakia.

* It should be noted that some Germans also lived in the "interior" parts of the Czech lands, and also, but to a lesser degree, in the Slovak areas, but the vast majority lived in the outer edges of the Czech lands. This outer boundary area came to be called the "Sudentenland" by Germans, after the Sudeten Mountains in the area.

WORD HISTORY:
Whole-This word goes back to Indo European "koilas/kailo," which seems to have meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," with the same meanings, but the meaning "complete" eventually began to dominate. That meaning comes from the notion, if you are "unharmed, healthy," you are "complete." Later it was spelled "hool" and then "hole," but by the late 1400s or early 1500s, the "w" was added to differentiate it from the word of the same spelling, but meaning "opening, orifice, or perforation." In northern England and parts of Scotland it came to be pronounced and spelled "hale," where it also retained the meaning, "healthy," and indeed, "whole" and "hale" are closely related to "health and healthy." Numerous forms are common in the other Germanic languages, although with variations in exact meaning, but all generally centering around "healthy" and "unharmed," and some even with a similar meaning to English "whole;" that is "complete:" German has "heil," Low German has both "heel" and "heil," Dutch has "heel," West Frisian has "hiel," Norwegian has "heil," Swedish and Danish have "hel," and Icelandic has "heill."

The German Question, Part Eighty-Four

"The Aftermath of the Great War & The Weimar Republic"
Part I, "The Staggering Toll"

Technically, the war with Germany did not end on November 11, 1918, as this was only an armistice, although the idea that Germany could go back to war with the Allies was more than a little absurd. The actual treaty ending the war with Germany was not signed until June of 1919 at Versailles, France.* Germany's reputation suffered serious damage during the war over cases of brutality and murder against civilians, some documented, others only sketchily so, especially in Belgium, and for their invasion of Belgium in the first place, as Belgium was a neutral country.

With war on such a scale, it is difficult to determine the actual casualties. Further, civilian, and even military, deaths in some countries continued after the war, but these deaths were certainly attributable to the war. On the German side here is what I have come up with: the German military suffered some 2 million dead and more than 4 million wounded, and I believe these figures to be pretty accurate. German civilian deaths are very difficult to determine, but it seems somewhere between 425,000 and more than 750,000 died from starvation, mainly as a direct result of the highly effective naval blockade of Germany.** Austria-Hungary suffered about a million military deaths, and more than 400,000 civilian deaths, mainly from starvation and disease.***

By comparison, the United States suffered some 117,000 military deaths in the war, with 53,400 being given as combat deaths. France lost between 1,300,000-1,400,000 military dead and 250,000-300,000 civilian dead. The United Kingdom suffered nearly 900,000 military dead. Italy suffered about 650,000 military deaths and about 500,000 civilian deaths, mainly from starvation. Russia, that is, the Russian Empire, seems to have suffered 1,800,000 military deaths and some 1.5 million civilian deaths, again mainly from disease and starvation. These numbers are not given to lessen the deaths and suffering of other nations, but purely to provide some comparisons. (A Word History is below the notes)

* Germany's allies signed separate treaties with the victorious powers. Interestingly, both Austria and Hungary signed separate treaties, since by that time, there was no longer a unified Austria-Hungary (see Note ***, below).

** There was not much fighting on German soil during the war, except during the first few weeks, and that was in the northeastern area of Germany known as East Prussia. So civilian deaths from direct military operations were limited.

*** It was not until near the very end of the war that Austria and Hungary formally separated into individual countries, but the war had actually been fought as "Austria-Hungary," which encompassed many different ethnic and nationality groups. Since this series is about Germans, one later estimate put the German part of Austria-Hungary; that is, Austria, as having suffered about 150,000 military dead and about 25,000 civilian deaths from starvation and disease.

WORD HISTORY:
Haversack-I will only deal with the overall history of the "haver" part of this compound here; "sack" will follow in the next installment of the "German Question" series. The ultimate origin of "haver" is unknown, and some sources noted that it may not be of Indo European derivation. In Old Germanic "habra/habro(n)" seems to have meant "goat." Latin had "caper," which also meant "goat," and indeed, modern Italian has "capra" as its name for this animal, obviously derived from the Latin form. Most sources seem to believe that Germanic "habra/habro(n)" and Latin "caper" come from the same source, which has led some to speculate the original word was "khabro/khabra(n)," with Latin emphasizing the "k" (spelled "c" in Latin) beginning sound, but Germanic emphasizing the "h" sound as a beginning. Latin is an Indo European language akin to English, but somewhat further down the family tree. Anyway, in Germanic the theory is, the "goat" meaning eventually transferred to the food often eaten by goats; that is, "oats," as that became the meaning of the Germanic form. The Old Germanic form then gave Old High German "habero," which later became "haber(e)." Meanwhile, the Low German dialects had "haver," and this pronunciation influenced the High German form, which became "haver(e)," and then modern "Hafer" (modern German nouns are capitalized), although "Haber" is still commonly present in some German dialects. Apparently Anglo-Saxon did not have a form of this word originally, but in some of the northern English dialects, "haver" is still present to this day as a word for "oats." This was a borrowing in the 1300s from Old Norse "hafri," as the Danes had a substantial influence upon northern English terms, where the Danes raided and settled. Old Norse is a Germanic language from the North Germanic branch of the family, which includes modern Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. French borrowed the term "havresac" from German in the latter part of the 1600s. The German form simply meant an "oat sack," and these bags were carried by cavalrymen and then slipped over the heads of their mounts to feed them. English acquired the term from French in the mid 1700s. The term eventually came to mean "a bag that was slipped over the shoulder to carry a soldier's provisions."

The German Question, Part Eighty-One

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

"Revolution Comes To Germany"

As the Allies pushed back the German lines in the late summer of 1918, and with the prospect of another winter looming, Prince Maximilian "Max" von Baden, heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Baden, was appointed Chancellor of Germany. The prince was known for his opposition to the unrestricted submarine warfare which had so antagonized the United States, and for his opposition to the general policies of Germany's right wing, in both the government and in the military. The Prince included in his government members of Germany's Social Democratic Party, a first for the nation. The Social Democrats were German socialists. (Please be kind and revive any right wingers who may be reading this. They may need a tranquilizer, and dab away any foam from around their mouths, as I'm sure they are shouting, "Head for the hills... the socialists are coming. This is the end...the end of civilization! Burn my picture of Barry Goldwater! If they find it, they'll send me to a gulag." [Ah, what's a 'gulag?' ] "I don't know, but they always send good upstanding right wingers, I mean, conservatives there. They like to use those foreign words, too, to confuse people. Long live Ronald Reagan, unbalanced budgets, health care only for those who can afford it, and tax cuts for the wealthy! Down with Keynesian economics, except when we use it!")

Prince von Baden was negotiating to end the war on the best possible terms for his country, but with the army losing thousands of men each day to surrender and desertion, the German negotiators had little leverage. Then, with President Woodrow Wilson calling for the abdication of the Kaiser, and the prospect of a harsh peace appearing to be more likely, General Ludendorff and the German admiralty decided on a last ditch major naval attack on Britain's Royal Navy in late October 1918, without permission from the new civilian German government. German naval personnel weren't stupid, and many resisted the order, unwilling to risk their lives in such a futile endeavor. A number of sailors were arrested, but the planned attack was halted. While total proof of a right wing conspiracy is lacking, there are those who believe Ludendorff, who had already shown signs of emotional instability, and other military leaders were seeking to shift any blame for the impending German defeat onto the new left-leaning civilian authorities. The whole fiasco caused, at least in part, Kaiser Wilhelm to dismiss Ludendorff, who escaped to Sweden within a short time. Even though the naval attack had been called off, German naval officers felt their sailors were no longer reliable, and word of the naval revolt spread throughout the country. With the Russian revolutionary example fresh in the minds of many, demonstrations took place, and navy personnel joined shipyard workers and other workers in calling for the release of the arrested sailors and for an end to war.

In the meantime, Austria-Hungary literally fell apart, as the various nationality groups declared independence, as attempts at government reforms failed to satisfy their quests for independence. Strikes and protests to end the war crippled the empire. The clincher came on October 31 when Hungary withdrew from its part of the empire, essentially leaving the Habsburg Kaiser, Karl I,* with only his German part of the former empire. On November 3 Austria signed a treaty with Italy.

* Karl was emperor of the entire empire, but he was also simultaneously "King of Hungary."

WORD HISTORY:
Lager/Lair-The word "lager" is pretty much confined to use in English as the short form of "Lagerbier," a term which English borrowed from German in the mid 1800s. While "lager" was a borrowing from close relative German, English has its own related word, "lair." These words go back to the Indo European base "legh," which meant "to lay, to lie (down)," and indeed it is related to English "lie" and "lay." This gave Old Germanic "legraz/legran," with the same meaning. This then gave Old High German "legar," which meant "bed;" that is, "a place to lie down." That meaning began to recede somewhat, as later the spelling became "leger," and it took on the broader meaning of "place to lay things in storage, storeroom;"^ and also, "camp, encampment;" that is "place for soldiers (or others) to lie down, settle down." The base word is also used as a verb in German, meaning "to store," and it also has given German their word for "siege," a "Belagerung;" that is, "a place where you keep an enemy 'stored,' " if you will (the verb being "belagern," "to besiege," and English has the related "beleaguer," ["besieged"] which we got from Dutch "belegeren," with the same meaning). The modern German spelling developed as "Lager," with a capital "L," as German nouns are capitalized. The word's use with beer is due to a process developed in Germany which had the idea of "storing" the beer in a cool place for a second fermentation of yeasts which were on the bottom of the cask and needed cool temperatures to activate. The process didn't become an immediate success in terms of popularity, because it required brewers to have "storage" space (usually caves, back then, or fairly deep cellars) for the process to work, and small breweries couldn't afford that. Prior to that time, yeasts fermented on the top, and didn't need cool temperatures, and these are usually called "ales." "Lager" still does have the meaning "bed or couch" in German, but to be quite honest, to my knowledge, it is not used in that sense very often anymore, although one never knows about regional uses of words in German, or even in English, for that matter. Further, like its English cousin "lair," German "Lager" can also mean "a place for animals to live, a den," but not all that commonly in more recent times. (See further)

Meanwhile, the Old Germanic form "legraz/legran" gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "leger," which, like its German relative, meant "bed, place to lie down." (It had some other meanings too, even "grave;" that is, "a place to lay someone to final rest"). The spelling and pronunciation seems to have altered to the current mode during the Middle English period,^^ and the meaning of "bed" began to recede, as it did in German, and the meaning "place where animals live, a den" became the main meaning in the 1500s, and it has so remained into the modern era. With German "Lager" sharing in that meaning, it may be that long ago that was another general meaning of the Old Germanic word.

^ When I was a kid, it was common to hear people say, "We'll have to lay things in for...," and then whatever the reason, like bad weather, a flood or winter, and the obvious meaning was "store things." I don't know about you, but I don't hear that expression as often today. My point, however, is that English "lay" and German "lager," relatives of one another, have that connection of "store," too, although the German word much more so.

^^ The "g" sound obviously died out, or more precisely, blended with the vowel to produce the "ai." Many English words once had a "g" in their spelling, which then took the similar course of blending with a vowel, while some of the close relatives retained the "g." "Day" was once spelled "daeg" (compare Low German "Dag" and standard German "Tag") and "say" was once spelled "secgan," then "seggen" (compare Low German "säggen," standard German "sagen" and Dutch "zeggen"). Note: English, like its Germanic relatives, only had to use one word to express the infinitive form of a verb, like "seggen," meant "to say." English grammar changed pretty radically during the Middle English period, simplifying things considerably. Most of its Germanic cousins have retained many of the more complex grammatical features.

The German Question, Part Seventy-Seven

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/G "The Germans At War"
"An Ally Stumbles"

Kaiser Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary died in November 1916, age 86. He was succeeded by his grand nephew, Karl (Charles), who ruled as Karl I. The war had strained his empire's resources and his subjects' patience. Karl and his immediate advisers feared that the multi-ethnic conglomeration of Austria-Hungary might disintegrate if the war continued. By March of 1918, Austria-Hungary entered into secret peace negotiations with France (through Karl's brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus). France's main objective had been regaining Alsace-Lorraine, and Karl and his foreign minister, Ottokar Czernin, agreed in principle, even putting it in a letter to his brother-in-law, who then showed the letter to the French government. Meanwhile, Karl and Czernin also tried to persuade the German leadership to try to work for a negotiated peace settlement. Czernin made the mistake of publicly criticizing France's Premier Georges Clemenceau as an obstacle to peace, and Clemenceau promptly released the gist of the Austro-Hungarian letter to the press. The Germans were furious and there were even fears in Austria-Hungary that Germany might send troops into the aging empire. To stabilize the situation, Karl and his government denied as much as possible, promised new loyalty to their allies, and Czernin resigned.

WORD HISTORY:
Might-(noun)-This word, meaning "power," traces back to the Indo European root "magh/megh," which had the notion of "be able to do, have the power to do." This gave Old Germanic "makhtuz/makhtiz," with the same basic meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "maeht," then "miht," and finally "might" (remember, the "gh" was pronounced). Dutch, German, Low German and West Frisian all have "macht," although the German word is spelled with a capital "M," Danish and Norwegian have "magd," Swedish has "makt," Icelandic has "máttur." All have the same general meaning of "power." The German word was "maht" before the modern spelling, as compared to Old English "maeht" and "miht." Likely the "h" was highly aspirated in all forms, thus then becoming "gh" and "ch."

The German Question, Part Seventy-Four

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/D "The Germans At War"
"Italy Jumps"

In April of 1915, Italy, which had been in alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary since the 1880s, but which had declared neutrality upon the outbreak of the war,* signed a secret agreement with the Allies in London. The agreement promised Italy substantial territorial gains if/when the Allies won the war. Other provisions of the agreement laid out plans for much of the Balkans. In exchange, Italy would declare war against its former allies, which it did in May 1915. The agreement is important because the territorial gains for Italy would include areas with substantial German populations, especially the South Tirol.

* Italy saw their alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary as purely defensive, and they noted that Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which was not a defensive measure. Others, including historians later on, saw the Italians as indecisive, even waiting to see to which side would be the likely winner. Fair or unfair, it is a view that has persisted to this day.

WORD HISTORY:
Same-This goes back to the Indo European root "sem," which had the notion of "one, together, united." This gave Indo European "samos/somos"), which meant "same." Sanskrit, an ancient Indo European language (still in use on a limited basis, primarily in India) had "sama(h)," which meant "identical," and also "level, even," all obviously with the basic meaning of "same." The Indo European form gave its Old Germanic offspring "samaz," with the "same" basic meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "same" (I "believe" with a short "a" sound back then, and the final "e" would have been pronounced as short), which mainly seems to have been used in "swa same," an expression that meant "the same as" ("swa" having a long "a"). Old Norse, a North Germanic language, brought "samr" to England (simply the North Germanic form of the word), which seems to have reinforced the original English word, so much so, that "same" overtook the common English word for "same," which then was "ilca," whose descendant is modern English "ilk," most commonly used in the comparative expression "of that ilk," meaning "the same as." Various forms of the word are quite common in the Germanic languages. German uses the base word in different forms and anyone learning German will have to learn these various forms, as they are EXTREMELY common: "samt" = "together with, all together;" "zusammen"="together, jointly," which is very common in verb compounds, for example, "zusammenarbeiten," which literally means "to work together;" that is "cooperate, collaborate," and also in noun compounds, "Zusammenarbeit," the noun form of the previous verb; thus, "cooperation." Bavarian dialect, and in some areas which speak Thuringian dialect or Upper Saxon dialect have "zam." Further, German has "sammeln," a verb meaning "to gather, to collect," and "versammeln," "to assemble;" that is, "to collect together," these from one of the original meanings, "together, one." Low German has "zamelen," Dutch has "inzamelen," Frisian has "sammelje," all meaning "to collect." Danish and Norwegian have "samme," Swedish has "samma," Icelandic has "sama," all meaning "same."

English had other words related to "same," but with its further meaning of "gather, collect, bring together as one." All of these words still go back to their Indo European ancestor's basic notion of "one, together." Old English had, for example, "samnian," "gesamnian," and "tosamnian;" all with the "general" meaning of "gather, collect."* Over time, these words, which often had very slight variations in meaning, died out in English, with words of similar meanings overtaking them in common usage, like the old form of modern "gather," which was already an English word, and it took on all of the nuanced meanings of the above words. Further, English eventually borrowed "collect," which is a Latin-based word.

* As noted in the history above, other West Germanic languages closely related to English still have similar words: German has "sammeln," Dutch has "inzamelen," and Frisian has "sammelje," all still meaning "gather, collect."

The German Question, Part Seventy

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/E "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part Two-"The War Begins")

There were many meetings, attempts at mediation and diplomatic communications between the various nations during the time after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of the war. The whole process was very complex, and most of these matters go beyond the scope of these articles. It will be difficult enough to keep this highly complicated situation as simple as possible here. Since this series is about Germany, the point of view of the German leaders, both civilian and military, is the concern here, and the German military strategy had much to do with the outbreak of what came to be called "The Great War." That basic strategy bears repeating: mobilize quickly, keep minimal forces along the border with Russia to hold off any Russian attacks, first deploy the vast bulk of the German army against France, attack and defeat France and then turn forces against slow to mobilize Russia. So the German strategy, with its reliance on such precise timing (often seen as "characteristically German"), became a major player in the road to war. This didn't make the Germans "wrong," as it was their perception of what they needed to do to survive a war against major enemies on their eastern and western borders. Once Bismarck's policy of keeping the Russians and French (and somewhat, the British) apart was lost, German military strategists could do no more than draw up plans on how to survive a two-front war.*

Some historians have argued that the German upper classes, fearful of the rising workers' movement and its electoral successes for seats in the Reichstag (the German parliament), desired war to unite the country, and slow down the advances made by workers. I'm not really sold on this point of view, but there may be some limited truth to it. It was certainly more true in Russia, where Tsar Nicholas II and the three hundred year old Romanov dynasty faced numerous problems, including pressures about workers' rights. While initially apprehensive about war with Germany, as a major Russian military overhaul was incomplete,** Russian military leaders came to believe the Russian army could, especially with French forces (and deploying British forces) attacking Germany's western frontier, roll over the German army and bring any war to a quick, decisive conclusion. This miscalculation of Russian strength by Russian military leaders also made war more possible. And, as noted in the first part of this segment, Austro-Hungarian leaders wanted to destroy the Black Hand and other Serbian nationalist organizations and seriously limit Serbia's expansionist dreams, thus thwarting any immediate threat of South Slav unity and the threat such unity posed for Austria-Hungary. Emboldened by the open-ended backing of Germany, this hardly restrained Austria-Hungary on wanting to go to war with Serbia.

Austria-Hungary presented an ultimatum with a 48 hour deadline to Serbia, with serious implications for Serbia's respect from others, and thus its own self respect, and it was essentially a guarantee of war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.*** Germany told Austria-Hungary it backed the ultimatum. Behind the scenes, however, German leaders had decided to act as if they knew nothing of the details of the ultimatum, and the entire German government, including Kaiser Wilhelm, went on vacation as a sort of cover. The idea was, once Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Germany would plead no knowledge of the matter and would negotiate with the other major powers about the whole thing being between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and this then would keep the war localized and small, with Serbia undoubtedly defeated and Germany's main ally, Austria-Hungary, bolstered in international eyes as being decisive.

At that moment in time, Serbia could not get backing from its foremost ally, Russia, and the Russians advised Serbia's leaders to accept the ultimatum, even the provisions that would have violated Serbian sovereignty. Not long afterward, however, Russian leaders, discouraged by Austria-Hungary's refusal to grant Russia's request for an extension of the deadline for Serbia, decided to take a stronger stance, with the hopes of getting Austria-Hungary to at least begin to back down from the overt threat to Serbia. When this didn't happen, in an effort to put teeth into the Russian stance, Nicholas ordered a partial mobilization of his military "specifically" against Austria-Hungary to begin in a few days. Serbia accepted the ultimatum, except for the part cited in "Note 3," below. European diplomats encouraged Germany to tell Austria-Hungary to agree to the Serbian acceptance, but no such encouragement was given by Kaiser Wilhelm. Serbia, now expecting an attack by Austria-Hungary, mobilized. Austria-Hungary mobilized forces along the border with Serbia in preparation for its (already planned) attack on that country. The system of alliances was now very much in play. "If" Russia declared war on, or attacked, Austria-Hungary, Germany was obligated to declare war on Russia. (Remember, with the German strategy, German leaders felt they had to attack and defeat France BEFORE Russian mobilization had gathered full steam and posed a major threat to Germany's eastern frontier. Thus any Russian announcement of mobilization would force Germany's hand.) With France and Britain allied in ways to one another and to Russia, this would bring them into the war, and indeed, France cancelled all leaves for its military personnel.

Now, just before Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, Kaiser Wilhelm began to think matters over. He saw the Serbian acceptance of most of the ultimatum as positive, stating that negotiations could work out the parts of the ultimatum not accepted by Serbia. He saw Serbia as humiliated and he proposed making the humiliation even worse by having Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in the Serb capital of Belgrade until all matters were resolved. Wilhelm decided to influence Austria-Hungary against attacking Serbia. The German leaders, including the military, were furious with Wilhelm; so furious, that in communications with their ambassador in Vienna, they deliberately left out any reference to the Kaiser's desire for Austria-Hungary to rescind military plans against Serbia. On July 28th Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

To keep this brief, all of the major powers' system of alliances made the dominoes fall, and Germany's military strategy prompted her response. On July 29, in support of Serbia, the Tsar ordered Russian general mobilization. Germany demanded that the Tsar rescind the order, but Russian mobilization continued, prompting German mobilization. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The French ordered mobilization. With France obviously prepared to honor their alliance with Russia, Germany declared war on France on August 3. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on August 6. The "Great War" had started. (Italy, Belgium and the Ottoman Empire will be covered in the next segment.)

* Each nation had its own perception of self interest and I'm not making moral judgments here about right or wrong. France needed Russia as an ally in any war to tie down German forces on Germany's eastern border; thus helping to keep France from facing the full brunt of German military power. France needed Britain to help bolster the forces opposing Germany in western Europe. Britain's role in these alliances was perhaps less important as an individual country, as without France, if for some reason Britain went to war with Germany, where would their armies fight? Naval actions were possible and colonial military operations, but in Europe itself, there was no common area. The only major European country that benefited from an alliance with Britain against Germany was France, where British troops could cross the Channel into France and then move to the German border. The strong ties between the British and German monarchies (and other nobility) could have benefited Germany by keeping Britain neutral, but Kaiser Wilhelm's policies did anything but encourage British-German cooperation. Austria-Hungary's desire to crush Serbian nationalist groups and Serbia's expansionist notions was in its interest. More examples could be cited, but I'm sure you get the idea.

** On the other hand, German military leaders were more inclined to war with Russia, simply because the Russian military build up was incomplete in 1914; thus they saw a weaker Russia at that moment. Another strike at any peaceful solution.

*** One of the provisions required Serbia to permit Austro-Hungarian authorities to operate inside Serbia to investigate Serbian nationalist groups and connections of Serbian nationals and officials with the assassination of the Archduke. Just imagine what would happen if another country, even an ally of the United States, demanded (by ultimatum) permission of the US government to have their own officials operate within American borders to seek out anyone associated with some similar incident. That's one thing that would undoubtedly unite many people along the American political spectrum.

WORD HISTORY:
Chancellor-This word's German form, "Kanzler," is used in Germany and Austria as the title for the leading minister of government, and it is equivalent to what some countries, most notably Britain, call the "Prime Minister" (also called the "Premier" in some countries). In Switzerland, "Kanzler" is also used in government (among the majority German-speaking population, and the similar French and Italian words are used among those respective parts of the population), but the position there is not for the leading minister of government, but rather for the head of a federal council. In the United States, it is more common to find the term used in reference to the head of some universities. The word, then as "canceler," came into use in England prior to the Norman Invasion (which occurred in late 1066 A.D.) as a term for the king's secretary (ah, not the kind with a typewriter or computer), who attended to legal matters. Later, probably under the influence of the Norman-French dialect brought to England, it was spelled "chaunceler." Most sources show no history for the word further back than Latin, although one source notes "kar" as the Indo-European source (I'm not sold on this theory). It does go back to Late Latin "cancellarius," which meant "a type of secretary or official who sat behind a latticework barrier in Roman government." The key here is "lattice" or "latticework," as this was the original meaning in Latin. By the way, it is closely related to "cancel," which originally meant "to put lines (like latticework) through some written matter to 'cancel' it out." See how words and their meanings come about. Who would think that a word meaning "lattice" would have anything to do with a position in government AND a word to remove another word or phrase from a text?

Just a note: The English position of "canceler," as mentioned above, having to do with legal matters, and dating to around 1000 A.D., is still around! It eventually became "Chancellor" and then "Lord Chancellor," and the position is still involved in legal affairs, essentially being the head of the courts.

The German Question, Part Sixty-Nine

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/D "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part One)

On our long march through German history during this series, we have seen numerous wars. Most of those wars (and in other parts of the world, too) were not fought so much about the ethnicity (real or perceived) of the people of one region or another, but rather about religion, or more especially about nobles or rulers squabbling over territory and lands with certain natural resources of some kind, or about which particular noble would take the throne of some particular entity. Especially by the 1800s, things began to change, as various groups of people considered their ethnic identity as more important. These groups, including many Germans, often wanted to be ruled by people like themselves; that is, people of the same ethnic background. This created many a "flash point" throughout Europe, as the national maps up to that point had seldom been drawn with ethnic identities in mind. Even when the "new" German Empire was formed, while overwhelmingly German in ethnicity, it was NOT exclusively German, as I pointed out a few articles ago, but rather contained some fairly large minority groups, especially Poles. Now we have entered into the Twentieth Century and the tensions have escalated, as aging empires with many different ethnic groups as subjects felt the strain of nationalism among those ethnic subjects. Serbia, not an overly large country back then, sought to join other Serbians, then under Austro-Hungarian rule, to their nation, as well as to establish a sort of new empire, containing mainly people of close ethnic relation to the Serbs, but who saw themselves as distinct, for any number of reasons, including religion. Serbian desire for a "Greater Serbia" made many an official in the Austro-Hungarian Empire feel that the existing Serb state would have to be reduced or completely smashed. So that's where we are. Like them, not like them; love them, hate them; nationalism and ethnic identity were and are facts.

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, along with his wife, Sophie, visited the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its capital at Sarajevo. The planned visit was full of tension, as the province had many Serbians or other separatists. The Archduke had previously made it clear that, when he ascended the throne, the various minority groups of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be given more local independence. As the Archduke's plan might quell Serbian and South Slav nationalism, separatists felt he had to be eliminated. During a motorcade through the city, a bomb was thrown at the Archduke's car, but it ended up rolling under the car next in the motorcade where it exploded, injuring several people, including a couple of officials, who were taken to the hospital. The Archduke, his wife, and the other officials continued the motorcade which ended at City Hall, where a ceremony took place. After the ceremony, the Archduke changed plans and decided to go to the hospital to see those injured by the bomb. Another assassin stood waiting for the return of the motorcade along the originally planned route. The driver of the Archduke's car made a wrong turn onto the street where this man, Gavrilo Princip, was standing. One of the officials shouted for the driver to stop and back up to take the street to the hospital. Princip saw his chance and fired shots at the Archduke and his wife; both died.

Even after all of these years, there is uncertainty about all those involved in some way in this assassination. Basically, the Black Hand had agents, supported in spirit, if not directly (bombs, guns, ammunition, and money) by officials in the Serbian government, who went over the border into Bosnia-Herzegovina and participated in some way in the attack, with some later making their way back into Serbia. Whatever the truth, perception is reality, and Austria-Hungary saw the assassinations as a chance to seriously damage Serbia and to smash the Black Hand.* Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany offered his support to Kaiser Franz Josef and his government to decimate the Black Hand and to go after Serbia, if it was felt to be necessary. Although undoubtedly not seen as such at the time, this open-ended support now put Germany's fate into the hands of Austria-Hungary. With Germany now publicly supporting Austria-Hungary, within weeks the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the plotters be turned over to them by Serbia, something Serbia refused to do, citing its own sovereignty. This brought an ultimatum from the Austro-Hungarian government; an ultimatum worded so as to be almost impossible for Serbia to comply with and not be humiliated as an independent, sovereign nation. Up to this point, it was thought that any war would be very limited. The problem was, there were so many moving parts in other areas of Europe.** (A Word History is below the notes)

* It certainly didn't help that the Serbian government, early on, denied being in on the plot, and Serbian officials stated that they had warned the Austro-Hungarian government of the attack, only then to turn completely around and state that they had no foreknowledge of the attack. You can't have it both ways.

** Just briefly: Russian government and (seemingly) public opinion wanted Russia to stand up for Serbia in its role as protector of Orthodoxy and Slavic people. France still wanted Alsace-Lorraine. The German military, well aware of the Russian alliances with France and Britain, and therefore the possibility of a two-front war for Germany, had developed plans over time to deal a quick blow against France, and then turn against Russia, if such a war ever came about. This is a VERY important detail, as the Germans, once the Russians, French and British began to show that they would honor their alliances, were faced with enacting their overall strategic plan, or being battered in both the west and the east. Further, their plan rested upon fast action against France. Russia was a huge country with a large military age male population, but it was also an antiquated country, with far removed provinces, where mobilization of its large forces would take several weeks. Germany, with its reservists and excellent rail system, could mobilize substantial forces quickly, deploy a major portion of them against France, and defeat France before the Russians could get sufficient forces mobilized and into the field against Germany, or at least that was the German theory. So, time was of the essence for the Germans, something that worked against peace. The Germans also advocated a quick and decisive surprise attack by Austria-Hungary against Serbia, before too much involvement by other European nations could take place. Instead, the situation festered.

WORD HISTORY:
Gift-This common word is simply a form of the verb "give," but it has taken an interesting turn in meaning in most of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ghebh-ti," which meant "something received or given," a suffixed form, the main Indo European root of which, "ghabh/ghebh," is the source of "give." This then gave Old Germanic "giftiz," which related to a "dowry" for marriage. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gift," with much the same meaning, "dowry, a family's marriage contribution or portion" (Old High German had "gift," and modern German has the compound "Mitgift," with the same meaning, "dowry"). There are some who believe "gift," meaning "dowry," died out in English, as that word "gift" was "seemingly" replaced by "dowry," a word borrowed from French. They believe English then reacquired the word "gift" in the 1300s from Norse "gipt" (North Germanic), and it has kept that word's most common meaning, "present, something given or received." Others believe this general history to be true, but that the original English word did NOT die out, and that it was simply influenced in meaning by the Norse form "gipt." The interesting turn in this word is, in some of the other Germanic languages, it came to mean "poison, venom." "Possibly" we don't use "gift" with that meaning, as English had borrowed the word "poison" from French, which had replaced our own English word "ator" (which had several forms); thus, no need for another word with that meaning. Anyway, the idea of "marriage portion" (remember, it still meant this in other Germanic languages) came to be applied to a "portion" of other things, including a "portion" or dose of medication, and then later to a dose of "poison," or an injection of venom by insect or snake. So the base word means "poison" in the other continental Germanic languages and they use other words to convey the sense "a present, something given." So, forms of "gift" in the other Germanic languages German and Low German have "Gift," Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish all have "gift," West Frisian has "fergif," Dutch has both "gif" and "gift" (Dutch "gift" has the duel meaning "poison" and "present/gift," which could pose some interesting statements. Hmm....). Only (non-continental) Icelandic varies, and it has "gjöf" for "gift," and "eitur" for "poison" (notice the Icelandic word and the former English word for poison, "ator," plus modern German "Eiter" and Dutch "etter" both mean "pus," and all forms come from the same original Germanic source). The verb form of "gift" came along in the late 1500s meaning "to give a gift to someone," also, "to give as a gift to someone," but the verb isn't very commonly used; at least, not in the U.S. 

The German Question, Part Sixty-Eight

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/C "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Moves Closer To The Powder Keg"

The main question in this entire series is, "Who is a German?" By process of elimination for a variety of reasons, we have found that a number of Germanic-based groups, some originally referred to as "Germans," came to be viewed otherwise over time. We found that in 1871, Austria, the leading German state for centuries, was not included in a newly unified German nation.* Even though the German part of Austria remained outside the borders of Germany, the ties between the two countries remained strong, and the overall issue of the "German-ness" of Austria still was not totally solved, although it may have seemed to have been. The alliance between the two nations (and alliances between other European nations) would now help to ignite a war like none ever witnessed up to that time.

The Ottoman Turks had ruled a sizable portion of the Balkans for centuries, including an area known as "Bosnia-Herzegovina," where a large element of the Slavic-based population had converted to Islam. Eventually, restlessness by the population, out and out rebellion, and continued decline of the Ottoman Empire, brought about a deal where Austria-Hungary would occupy and administer the region (1878), and in the same agreement, Serbia, another (South) Slav region,** and Eastern Orthodox in religion, which had earlier gained independence from Ottoman rule, was recognized as an independent nation (as a "kingdom"). Serbia lay on the eastern border of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A few years later, Germany and Russia agreed that Bosnia-Herzegovina could eventually be formally annexed to Austria-Hungary. However, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and with Austria-Hungary's restless South Slav minorities, the Serbs more and more wanted to form an independent "South Slav" nation, a nation where they would be the dominant entity. By the late 1890s, the Serbian Eastern Orthodox religion and Slavic identity brought them many supporters in the Russian Empire, where Tsar Nicholas II pulled back from the earlier Russian consent for Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.*** Ethnic and religious unrest, along with various rebellions and military actions, over time, had kept the Balkans region extremely unstable; always with the possibility of bringing clashes between some of the major powers. This question about Bosnia-Herzegovina simply continued this "distinction." In 1908, with turmoil and revolt within the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Russian consent.**** The international reaction was very negative, but in the end, the annexation stood, and Bosnia-Herzegovina became a formal province of Austria-Hungary.

Serbia's dream of leading a unified nation of South Slavs was dealt a major setback, and the Serbian leaders, without support from Russia, had no choice but to accept the annexation, at least in public. With the more extremist Serbian nationalist elements inflamed by the annexation, matters became more clandestine, with anti Austro-Hungarian literature distributed within South Slav areas of the aging empire, in an effort to stir the local populations to revolution. The most famous of the pro-Serbian nationalist groups was the Black Hand, which, in the public mind, has tended to be associated with any of the Serbian groups. The actual Black Hand seems to have led several, although connected, lives. The organization was so secretive, details on all of its activities and editions, including its founding date, are still subject to question to this day.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Josef, lost his only son and heir, Rudolf, to suicide in 1889, making his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, the new heir to the throne. He was the son of one of Franz Joseph's brothers, Archduke Karl Ludwig, who renounced his right to succession, thus making his son the presumptive heir. The new heir was far more liberal in his thinking than his more staid and conservative uncle. He had sympathies for the non German and non Hungarian groups in the multi-ethnic empire, and he made it clear that if he became emperor, he favored regional self governance for these groups within the empire. Conservative Kaiser Franz Josef was not impressed, and the two men were never close.

Next...."The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (A Word History is below the notes)

*Just the constant reminder that the Austrian Empire by that time was called "Austria-Hungary," or the "Austro-Hungarian Empire," as the former empire had been divided between an Austrian (German) part, and a Hungarian part, both with large numbers of people who were neither German nor Hungarian, but with a common Habsburg ruler and a common foreign policy.

** The term "South Slavs" was used to distinguish between the Slavic people in the Balkans (like Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, etc) and those in other parts of Europe (like Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, etc).

*** The Russian Empire was the largest Slavic entity in the world, although it contained large numbers of non-Slavic people, and indeed, non-Russian Slavs (like Ukrainians, for example). Likewise, while many religions were part of the Russian Empire, Russian (Eastern) Orthodox was the dominant and official state  religion.

**** In exchange for Russian consent, Austria-Hungary agreed to provide support for Russian naval access into the eastern Mediterranean Sea; something desired by Russia for quite some time, but opposed by others, including Great Britain. The uproar over the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the possibility of outright war, however, caused the Russians to shelve the idea of their naval entry into the Mediterranean, thus forcing the Russians to accept the annexation, without any benefit for themselves. Remember, all of the major European powers were seeking to maintain some sort of "balance of power" in Europe, although this did not exclude the individual powers from attempting to gain certain advantages for themselves. The threat of a war, which could potentially draw in all of the European powers, brought the parties involved in these maneuvers to step back and take a deep breath; at least up to this point.

WORD HISTORY:
Strudel-Now this is my kind of word! Unfortunately, there is not much information about how German either acquired the word from another language, or developed it from some form of Old Germanic. English borrowed the word from German in the late 1800s, and it goes back to Middle High German "Strudel," which meant "whirlpool, eddy," which it still means in modern German, alongside the name for the pastry. This seems to have gone back to Old High German "stredan," a verb form which meant "to swirl, whirl, boil" (modern German still has the little used verb "strudeln," with the same meaning). I could find no word in Old English that would have been an English form of this word. The pastry name was applied in Vienna, and is thus south German, and it seems to come from the "swirling layers of thin dough" looking like a "whirlpool" when the dough is rolled up. Regardless of the word's lack of better history, I'm sure glad we have it! While it originated in Vienna, it is common throughout Germany, although more so in the south, in Bavaria, where in Bavarian dialect it is pronounced more like "shhdroo-ool." Give me some, regardless of how it is pronounced!

The German Question, Part Sixty-Six

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/A "Europe Moves Toward War"
"The Tinderbox Of Aging Empires"

The (Second) German Empire ("Reich") was the neighbor of a number of aging empires that were so much in decline, they threatened to come apart at the seams, and this then could precipitate a general European war. The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire had been around since about 1300, with widespread territories in the Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe; that is, the general region known as the Balkans. Throughout their empire, the Ottomans faced challenges from their multi-ethnic subjects who wanted independence. In the Balkans, an area with much mountainous and rough terrain, the population tended to be split into groups where each saw itself as a separate entity. To this day, the region is very divided, and it has been the center of unrest and fighting.* The Turks had mingled with the local population over the centuries, and some of these people had converted to Islam from Christianity, with the Christian population also being divided (often bitterly) largely between Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

In the northern part of the Balkans were territories of Germany's foremost ally, Austria-Hungary. Germany's connection to Austria-Hungary, and that troubled empire's connection to the powder keg of the Balkans, threatened to draw Germany into any conflict in this highly volatile region. Like the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary (aka, the "Austro-Hungarian Empire") had similar problems with its many ethnic groups. The former multi-ethnic Austrian Empire had been divided between Austria and Hungary in 1867, with each ruling numerous ethnic groups, but joined together by the Habsburg emperor, who was simultaneously "King of Hungary." The division of the empire had quieted the Hungarian population, but it did little to satisfy the other ethnic groups, which looked to the "Hungarian model" as a solution to their own desire for some sort of independence.** Austria-Hungary was ruled by Kaiser Franz Josef I, who seemingly ruled from the time of the Crucifixion, but who, in reality, ruled for 68 years!

Russia, or more precisely the Russian Empire, lay to the east of Germany, where Germany's majority Polish areas bordered Russia's even larger Polish area and Polish population. Here was another multi-ethnic entity, with all sorts of peoples and religions, and a land troubled by the threat of revolution, mainly from its very own Russian population.*** Tsar Alexander III had ruled the empire with an iron hand. He was a huge man, whom historians often cite as the symbol of "the Russian bear." This powerful man died at the early age of 49, from kidney disease ("nephritis"). The Russian throne passed to his eldest son, Nicholas, who ruled as "Nicholas II." Nicholas did not inherit his father's immense size, but rather took after his dainty mother; one of the unfavorable comparisons to his father that followed him throughout his life. Nicholas was married to German princess, Alix von Hessen (Alix of Hesse),**** who is better known by her given Russian name, Alexandra.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was a grandson of England's Queen Victoria, his mother having been the queen's daughter and namesake, Victoria. Alexandra too was a grandchild of Queen Victoria, her mother having been the queen's daughter, Alice, thus making Wilhelm and Alexandra first cousins. Kaiser Wilhelm and Nicholas were second cousins, once removed, each being descended from former King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III.***** (A Word History is below the notes)

* The terrain certainly made it easy for each of these groups, like Albanians, Serbians and Croatians, to develop a sense of "ethnic identity" and to remain somewhat separate. The terrain has also made it difficult for invaders to really control the area, and in fact, the rugged terrain and the hearty people of the Balkans are famous for bedeviling occupying military forces.

** What I mean here by "Hungarian model" is, some leaders of the other ethnic groups saw the possibility of further dividing the empire into other portions, where they would get regional independence, but would still be bound together at the top by the Habsburg emperor (who by the way carried the title "Kaiser").

*** Tsar Alexander II (grandfather of Nicholas II) was assassinated in 1881, when a revolutionary threw a bomb at his feet after he had left his metal-plated carriage. He was carried into his palace, where he died shortly thereafter.

**** Hessen (usually rendered as "Hesse" in English) was a grand duchy of Germany, ruled by a grand duke.

***** The "once removed" simply means they were "removed" (distanced) by a generation; that is, they were of different generations. The children of your parents' brothers and sisters are your first cousins, but the children of your grandparents' brothers and sisters are your first cousins, once removed. Most of my cousins wish I were just plain removed. haha ... Wait, what the hell am I laughing about?

WORD HISTORY: 
Knock-It seems that most linguists believe this word to be an original Germanic concoction, imitative of "a sound." Old English had slight dialectal variations in "cnocian" and "cnucian," which later became "knokken," before the modern spelling. Remember, the "cn/kn" was pronounced in times past. It certainly seems that German "Knack" (the "a" is pronounced like the "a" in father) as in "Knackwurst" (usually spelled Knockwurst, in English) is really the same word. In German it means the sound of a "snap or crack," and it was applied to the sausage because of the "snap" sound made when biting into the casing.

The German Question, Part Sixty-Five

"Bismarck" Part 5/J "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' "

"The End Of Bismarck"

Kaiser Wilhelm I, the man who appointed Bismarck to power and then stuck with him in that capacity through the years, died in 1888. His son, Friedrich III, became Kaiser (emperor), but he was dying of throat cancer, and he passed away a little more than three months after his father. Then Friedrich's son, Wilhelm, came to the German throne, as Wilhelm II. I would dare say, when many Americans hear the term "Kaiser," this is the man they think of (besides Kaiser rolls, haha), as he was the German leader during World War One. In fact, it would not surprise me in the least if some Americans think his first name was "Kaiser," as he is commonly referred to simply as "Kaiser Wilhelm," and I will use that here.

Once German unification had been achieved, Bismarck worked to keep peace in Europe often through alliances, although the very alliances he used to keep the peace, eventually led other countries into alliances, which then made war more likely if a lit match touched some powder keg. Whatever Bismarck's strengths or faults, he was able to help keep the Europeans from the throats of each other, and he worked hard to keep Germany from the possibility of a two-front war. He also sought to keep a distance from the hot issues in the Balkans, where the declining Ottoman (Turkish) Empire held large non-Turkish areas under their control, and these areas were interested in independence. Here, Russia's role as "protector of the Slavs" came into conflict with the Turks (and Austria-Hungary), as some of these areas were populated by large Slavic majorities.* Germany's closest ally, Austria-Hungary, also had large restless Slavic populations there, but Germany's treaty with Austria-Hungary did not guarantee German military involvement, unless Austria-Hungary was attacked by Russia.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was far more brash. Unlike his long-ruling grandfather, Wilhelm I, who essentially permitted Bismarck to run governmental affairs, this Wilhelm intended to take a far more active role in the governing of his country. This was bound to lead to conflict with Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany.** The relationship between Kaiser Wilhelm and Bismarck was complicated by the fact that Wilhelm had grown up during Bismarck's time as the head of the Prussian government, and then as chancellor of a unified Germany, and Bismarck probably never thought of Wilhelm becoming Kaiser during his time in office, or perhaps even in his lifetime, but Friedrich III's terminal illness intervened. Bismarck saw Wilhelm as something of a "pupil," who could be reined in, but he was terribly mistaken. Bismarck had been in office for so long, he undoubtedly assumed that the new Kaiser would go along with the policies he, Bismarck, decided to continue or to pursue. Bismarck was 73 years old when Wilhelm became Kaiser, at the ripe "old" age of 29. Just as an example, Bismarck had not shown much interest in a large German navy, but Kaiser Wilhelm did. Big, flashy ships were a way to demonstrate German power (and the Kaiser's), but big, flashy ships also antagonized the European naval powers, especially Britain, drawing them closer together to resist growing German power, instead of keeping them apart, as was Bismarck's policy.

Domestically, Bismarck was disillusioned with workers who, in spite of his "state sponsored socialism," could not be brought into the fold against socialist political views. With growing German prosperity, Bismarck decided to quash the German socialist movement. A large strike by coal miners in 1889 brought the focus on workers.*** Bismarck basically supported the mine owners, but Kaiser Wilhelm felt the miners had valid points and he wanted mine conditions improved. Bismarck then pushed for permanent anti-socialist laws in the Reichstag, where his allies (a majority) essentially supported the legislation. One part of the law permitted the police the power to evict socialists from their homes. A bit of German democracy showed, as even some of Bismarck's supporters felt this part of the law, which had been used against political opponents previously, was too extreme, but hardliners, following Bismarck's lead, insisted on the measure. The Kaiser disapproved. Bismarck had hoped that the strict legislation would bring socialist protests and violence which then could be used as a reason for a strong crackdown on the workers' movement. Bismarck and the Kaiser had a serious disagreement over this whole matter, and the Kaiser made it clear that he did not intend to wage war on his own people. Bismarck, seeing how he had misplayed the matter, backtracked, but the well had been poisoned. Bismarck also made it quite obvious that he did not support the Kaiser's position; a dangerous thing to do, when the chancellor's office relied only upon the Kaiser's support. The whole matter made voters turn away from Bismarck's supporters in the next election, and Bismarck had to put together a new coalition among the political parties in the Reichstag. He met with one party leader without informing Kaiser Wilhelm. Unlike his father and grandfather, Wilhelm expected to be kept informed of Bismarck's actions. The two German leaders clashed heatedly. Bismarck resigned at Kaiser Wilhelm's insistence in March of 1890. He eventually moved to the Hamburg area, where he died in 1898. Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm never really reconciled, although the Kaiser bestowed certain honors upon the former chancellor and founder of modern Germany. (A Word History is below the notes)

Next..."Kaiser Wilhelm and World War I"

* Being seen as "protector of the Slavs" was not the only reason Russians were involved in the Balkans, as they had a longstanding interest in acquiring territory there themselves.

** Chancellor is really just the chosen German title for the head of the government, and it corresponds to the British "Prime Minister," or to the title "Premier," in certain other countries, although it bears repeating, in the governing system of Germany at that point in time, the chancellor was appointed by, and therefore beholden to, the Kaiser. He did not have to align himself with any particular political party, or have a majority in the Reichstag for that particular party, or even form a coalition with other parties, except on specific issues, which is what Bismarck did. While the German Reichstag was elected by a truly democratic vote of the German people (that is, "democratic" in those times, meaning "proper age males"), the German political parties lacked clout because of their "disconnect" with the head of the German government, the chancellor. What had developed in the British system, on the other hand, was that the Prime Minister was affiliated with a political party, that party, or in coalition with another party, was able to form a majority in Parliament, and the king/queen then "asked" the party leader (or chosen leader of the coalition) to become Prime Minister. (Note: In Bismarck's time, the British monarch was Queen Victoria, and her oldest child, her namesake daughter Victoria, was married to Friedrich, who later became Kaiser Friedrich III, but who died of throat cancer shortly thereafter. Their son, Wilhelm, became Kaiser Wilhelm II; and yes, he was, therefore, Queen Victoria's grandson.)

*** Coal was big business in industrial powerhouse Germany. The companies showed big profits, but paid low wages, implemented longer working hours, and refused to pay workers for their time spent descending into, and ascending from, the mines. Mine supervisors were known for ruthlessness and brutality. These were the main reasons for the strike.

WORD HISTORY:
Frau/Fräulein-These two German words have both come into English over time; "Frau" by the early 1800s, although "likely" earlier, but more widespread by the early 1800s, and, "Fräulein" came into English in the 1600s. The main word is "Frau" (the "au" pronounced like the "ow" in English "how"), which means "married woman," and is also the equivalent to the English title "Mrs.," but also, more generally, means "woman, lady, wife." This goes back to Indo European "pro(w)," one of the notions of which was "main, first, chief." This then gave its Old Germanic offspring "frawan," which meant "lord, master," and the feminine form "fraw(o)." Originally the word had a connection to the nobility, but then became more general. This then gave Old High German "frouwa," which then later became "vrouwe," before acquiring its modern form. (The Old Germanic form also gave Old English "frowe," meaning 'woman, lady,' which later died out.) "Fräulein" simply uses the base word "frau," and the diminutive (see note) suffix "-lein," which initially was spelled "lin," giving the German of the Middle Ages "vröuwelîn," which meant "young noble woman." Later it just came to mean "young woman, unmarried woman," and is equivalent to the English title "Miss." It is properly pronounced as if "froy-line." Low German has "Froo" and "Frölen," Dutch has "vrouw," West Frisian has "frou." NOTE: Diminutive means it makes it "smaller or less;" in this case, "less in age."

The German Question, Part Sixty-Four

"Bismarck" Part 5/I "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' "

"Bismarck & Foreign Policy"

Bismarck's overall foreign policy is far too involved for this series. To keep things simple, Bismarck was always on guard against France, as the French clearly wanted revenge for their defeat by Prussia (Germany) in 1870/71. As part of his overall strategy to keep France isolated, Bismarck wanted Russia on his side; thus keeping them from allying with France and putting hostile powers on Germany's eastern and western borders, but his moves to cozy up with the Russians angered the Austrians, as Russia and Austria-Hungary were competitors in eastern and southeastern Europe.* So, he signed agreements with both Russia and Austria-Hungary.** This agreement was so loose, it really meant virtually nothing, but it did symbolize the protection and preservation of monarchies ( a conservative principle in those times), as it was called "The Three Emperors League" or "Dreikaiserbund," in German.

Over the years, I have read so many books and articles about Bismarck and Austria, I know I've seen comments that, ruthless pragmatist though he was, Bismarck regretted that Austria's German population had to be excluded from a united Germany. There's no question that the common German language kept the two contentious relatives close, and the two European powers were, therefore, natural allies, but Bismarck was not one to let pure sentiment get in his way; there had to be the practical side. In 1879, he signed a treaty with Austria-Hungary which said that either country would aid the other if attacked by Russia, but that if either were attacked by "another country,"*** the other partner could remain neutral. This treaty remained in effect long after Bismarck, and kept Germany and Austria-Hungary as allies during World War One. It is usually referred to as "The Dual Alliance."****

Other European countries, like England, France and Spain, had long been involved in establishing colonies. At first, Bismarck refrained from such matters, but what was becoming Germans' collective inferiority complex shifted public sentiment toward building an overseas empire to compete in status with the British and French. Added to this sentiment was the desire by German companies for overseas resources and markets, and this prompted Bismarck to act. Africa was a prime spot. Togoland^ became a German colony in 1884 and remained as such until 1914 in World War One, when the British and French sent troops into the colony, which had virtually no German troops protecting it. It fell without combat. Cameroon also became a colony in 1884 and it too was invaded by British and French troops during World War One. There were some German troops in Cameroon, however, who were supported by even more native colonial troops. There was a fair amount of fighting, and it wasn't until 1916 that the final German outpost there surrendered. What was called "German East Africa"^^ became a colony in 1885 and remained such until the end of World War One. There were some German troops in the colony and many more colonial native troops, which together put up quite a fight against numerically superior British forces. The colony was lost at the end of the war. German Southwest Africa^^^ became a German colony in 1884, remaining such until 1915, when far outnumbered German and native troops surrendered to British and South African forces. Germany also gained some Pacific island colonies, mainly in the New Guinea area, some gained during Bismarck's time, some a few years later. All were lost either during or after WWI.

Next, the final part on "Bismarck"... (A Word History is below the notes)

*With Russia being the largest of Slavic countries, it had come to be seen as the "protector of the Slavs." Austria-Hungary had various Slavic peoples within its borders, all somewhat restless for independence.

** The former Austrian Empire had been divided between the German-Austrian part and the Hungarian part, as "Austria-Hungary," but was united under rule by the Habsburg emperor, who was simultaneously "King of Hungary."

*** At that point in time, 1879, "another country" obviously meant "France," without specifying it.

**** Italy later joined the alliance, making it the "Triple Alliance," but during World War One, Italy remained neutral at first, and then shunned the alliance and joined the Allies against Austria-Hungary and Germany, in 1915.

^ Togoland is now basically the nations of Ghana and Togo.

^^ German East Africa became the modern countries of "Tanzania," "Burundi," and "Rwanda."

^^^ Now the nation of Namibia.

WORD HISTORY:
Frolic/Fröhlich/Frog-Don't laugh, believe it or not, the first two words come from the last! Here's the story: first, I've included German "fröhlich" because of the holiday season, and because of my desire to tie in the German history articles with word histories of common origin between German and English. For those of you who know German or for those who may have had German speaking relatives or neighbors, you may have heard "Fröhliche Weihnachten," which is the German equivalent of "Merry Christmas." It is obviously very close to the English word "frolic." I didn't spend a huge amount of time checking, but I did not find a similar word in English, even going way back to Anglo-Saxon times, that took on the same meaning of "happy, merry," as the German word has.

So let's get on with "frog:" this word goes back to Indo European "preu," which had the meaning of "hop, spring upward, move hastily." This gave Old Germanic "fruska(z)," which was applied to the "hopping" animal, the frog, and simply meant "hopper" or "jumper." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "frosc" (also spelled "frox"), which then had a diminutive form "frogga." This form continued side by side with "frosc," later spelled "frosk," with the latter still in use by some English dialects in the 1800s! Eventually "frog" ahh.... leaped to the forefront (I couldn't resist that!). The other Germanic languages have: German "Frosch," Dutch "kikvors," Frisian "frosk," Norwegian "frosk," Danish "frø," Swedish has "groda" (I assume this is just a variant of the same Old Germanic word), Icelandic "froskur." "Frolic" came to English in the 1500s, likely  from Dutch "vrolijk." The Dutch form and German "fröhlich" mean "happy, cheerful, joyous" both having been derived from the respective word for "frog" with the idea of "jumping for joy like a frog!" The suffix "lic," in English, "lijk" in Dutch and "lich" in German are from a common Germanic form which gave English "like" (in the sense to be "like" or the same as someone or something).