Flemish Beef And Beer Stew

Flanders is the northern part of multicultural (Latin, Celtic and Germanic) and trilingual Belgium (Flemish/Dutch, French and German are all official). The language of Flanders is "Flemish," a dialect of Dutch, and it is therefore closely related to English, Low German, German, and Frisian. In more recent decades the term "Flemish" has been replaced more and more with "Dutch." The people of Flanders are called "Flemings," so if your family name is "Fleming," there is a chance that at least that part of your family tree traces back to Flanders, although that is not a certainty, as not all family names "Fleming" relate to Flanders. Belgium is known for its beer, and the stew I'm covering in this recipe uses beer as one of its main ingredients.

For a brief sketch of the history of the overall region, this is a link to my article on the subject. The history is very complicated, but my article should give you a little understanding:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/07/german-question-part-twenty.html  

As with all popular recipes, there are variations to this recipe, often determined by the use of regional beers in Belgium, or the addition of carrots, or mushrooms, or of another herb, like tarragon, but the basic recipe seems to be pretty firm. I only tried this recipe once, but it was at least fifteen years ago, and where I got the recipe, I'm not sure, but since I had it jotted down on paper, it may have been from some television show.

The amounts I'm using will give you a basis for how to make a larger amount.

1 1/2 lbs. beef chuck, bite size chunks
2 slices bacon, chopped
2 large onions, sliced or chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped (this was not in all recipes, but it was in the original recipe I used)
tablespoon or so of flour, enough to coat the beef
3/4 tablespoon dark brown sugar (if you only have light, use light, the "brown sugar police" won't get you)
1  12 to 16 oz bottle of brown or red ale *
1 to 1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1 teaspoon of thyme
2 medium leaves
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard ("Ah, pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" Actually I make my own.)
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
salt and pepper (use in two phases, first some mixed with the flour to season the beef, then later when all other ingredients are added, add a little more to the pan)
1 tablespoon of parsley

Coat the beef in the flour mixed with some salt and pepper. In a Dutch oven (I guess this is because Flemish is a dialect of Dutch .. okay, settle down, I'm just kidding) saute the bacon until the fat is rendered, remove the bacon and set it aside. Brown the beef in the bacon fat (you can pour off some of the fat, but it is only from 2 slices of bacon to brown 1 1/2 lbs of beef), when the beef is pretty will browned, add the onions and let cook until they begin to soften, then add the garlic and let cook until it also softens. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the parsley, the brown sugar and the vinegar, but include the bacon. Bake at 350 for about an hour, then add the brown sugar and vinegar, stir and let bake another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the meat is tender. Add the parsley and stir right after removing the dish from the oven. This is often, but not always, served with fries. Of course a glass of beer is mandatory, or the "beer police" WILL GET YOU! Then again, if you have more than one beer, the REAL police may get you.

* I checked several recipes and all but one used brown or red ale, but the one used light (in color, not calories) regular American beer. Of course, if you want to try to be authentic, you can pretty easily find Belgian beers nowadays, or American made Belgian-style beers. I love brown ale, so this kind of dish must have been invented with me in mind, albeit that I read somewhere that it was invented in like 1380, or some such date, but hey, they anticipated me. The United States now has lots of small craft brewers which make all sorts of beers once only generally available through imports, and that was if you could find them, or afford them. I prefer to support American made products, especially if they are from companies that pay and treat their workers decently. I'm not against a special treat of an import once in a while, so if you buy a Belgian import for this recipe, I'm fairly certain you won't trigger the "Great Recession, Part Two," or cause a gigantic leap in the trade deficit. English brown ales are excellent, and German Altbier is even more so, in my opinion. The German term "alt," is simply the English word "old," but it doesn't mean the beer has been sitting around since the turn of the century, but rather that it was brewed in "the old style;" that is, with yeasts fermented at room temperature, not at a chilled temperature. Ale is simply a type of beer, just like lager, stout, or pilsner.   

WORD HISTORY:
Leek-The ultimate origin of this word is unclear, but it "seems" the only forms outside of the Germanic languages were borrowed from Germanic (some Slavic languages have forms, as does Finnish ^). Some "suggest" its origins are from an Indo European word, the meaning of which was then developed into the name for the plants in Old Germanic. Besides the word itself, it is also the second part of English "garlic." Old Germanic had "lauka," which was a general word for "leek, onion, garlic, chive" (all from the same plant family). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "leac," with the "e" and "a" originally pronounced separately, and with the same general Germanic meaning. Later the "e" sound alone prevailed and the spelling became "leek," and the meaning narrowed to the more specific plant, as English had its own word "garlic," but English relinquished its own compound form "enneleac/ynneleac" in favor of "onion," a word borrowed from French ("chive" was also borrowed from French). The other Germanic languages have: German "Lauch" (leek), ^^ Low German Saxon "Look" (leek), West Frisian "knyflok," as the second part of a compound (garlic, leek), Dutch "look" (leek, garlic), Danish "løg" (onion), Norwegian "løk" (onion), Icelandic "laukur" (onion), and Swedish "lök" (onion).

^ The Slavic tribes often had lots of contact with the Germanic tribes long ago, so this is certainly possible. Finnish, a non Indo European language, borrowed words from both Germanic and Slavic sources.

^^ Some of the other Germanic languages still use compounds with their respective forms of "leek" for the more specialized plant meanings. For instance, German uses its word in compounds for two of the other plants: "Schnittlauch," meaning "chive" and "Knoblauch," for "garlic," but the word for "onion" ("Zwiebel") was borrowed from Latin, and besides the former English compound for onion, English too used a form, "cipe," borrowed from the same Latin word, but these forms were replaced by "onion."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Seven

"Hitler & The German Question" Part Three

In the Eupen-Malmedy region, which had been annexed to Belgium from Germany after World War One, and then annexed back to Germany during World War Two, the area was returned to Belgium after Hitler's defeat, but over time, the German population was given equal political rights, including for the maintenance of their language.

The South Tirol (or Tyrol) was a hot button issue for decades. This region of the Alps was heavily German,* but with an Italian minority, which actually had majority status in certain southern areas of the region. It was given to Italy after World War One as sort of a payoff for Italy's having chosen the Allied side. It had been a part of the Austrian part of "Austria-Hungary," and the rest of Tirol, including famous Innsbruck, remained part of Austria after World War One. The Italians tried to "Italianize" the Germans in the South Tirol, and this brought about extreme dissatisfaction among the German population. Hitler and Mussolini came to an agreement about the time of Germany's invasion of Poland to let Germans of the South Tirol choose to remain in the region, but to become "Italians," with all of the resultant restrictions on German language and German culture that carried with it, or to emigrate to Germany (which then included Austria). More than 150,000 chose to "resettle" outside of Italy, but the war interfered with much of this resettlement, and only about half that number actually left Italy. The South Tirol remained a part of Italy after World War Two ended,** but with much German unrest, including serious incidents (people killed), for several decades. Finally the Italian government agreed to grant a degree of "autonomy" to the German region, and several years later another more expanded agreement gave even greater autonomy to the German population. The Germans of the South Tirol have maintained their German language (German is now recognized by the Italian government as an "official" language in the region) and German culture, but they have remained a part of Italy as an "autonomous region," and some of the Italian majority areas were detached from this political entity to avoid further conflict.

After the war, Luxembourg went back to being Luxembourg, a separate country. In Alsace-Lorraine,*** Hitler never formally announced the annexation of the regions to Germany after defeating France in 1940, but the areas were just taken over again, and standard German was reintroduced as the language taught in schools there. The regions reverted to France at the end of the war, and French was again made the official language, and standard German and the German dialects of these two regions have been in serious decline ever since.

As to Germany herself, Austria became independent, although it was divided into occupation zones, with the country gaining full independence in the mid 1950s. Germany was divided into four occupation zones, with the Soviet zone in eastern Germany eventually becoming a communist state, commonly known as "East Germany," but officially the "German Democratic Republic." The western zones were occupied by the British, Americans, and French, and became commonly known as "West Germany," but officially as the "Federal Republic of Germany." Germany became the center of possible major Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union and its satellite nations in eastern Europe on one side and western Europe and the United States on the other. As communism lost its grip over eastern Europe in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Germany was reunited as a single nation, and the occupation officially ended. Whether occupation forces would have remained in Germany for such a long time if there hadn't been a "Cold War" is difficult to say, but I doubt it, as the costs would have probably been too great for the occupying nations, although I think it benefited the stability of the western areas, as unlike after World War One, when the Weimar Republic floundered around trying to establish democracy, the presence of foreign powers for so long after World War Two helped democracy take firm root during that time, and presently, Germany is a model democracy, as is Austria.

Germans born after the war are not responsible for what their parents or grandparents did during the Nazi regime, and increasingly, the more recent generations have little concept of those times, as the Nazi-era generation is fading from the scene. Quite a few of the Nazi-era Germans I've known over the years are quite ashamed of those times, but then again, I've known a few who were unrepentant. For a few decades after the war ended, there was a fear by many non-Germans that if Germany did reunite, Germans would seek to regain territories lost to other nations after World War Two, especially some areas lost to Poland, which had in fact been a sore spot for many Germans since the end of the war. Presently that has not happened, nor does it appear likely to happen any time soon, if ever. Germans have struggled to deal with their history during Hitler's rule, especially the murderous nature of his regime and the complicity of so many, but time is doing much to change attitudes. People like Sophie Scholl and Claus von Stauffenberg**** have become martyrs and heroes to younger generations of Germans for their willingness to oppose Hitler, and this seems to say, "the nightmare is over."

* Of course, it all depends upon where you draw the boundaries.

** While Mussolini was put back into power by the Germans in northern Italy, that government was obviously never recognized by the Allies; thus, Italy's switch to the Allied side in September 1943 helped Italy keep the South Tirol.

*** As noted in previous articles in this series, the struggle over these regions has gone on for centuries, but technically, this struggle has not been over both provinces in their entirety, but rather most of Alsace and about a quarter to a third of Lorraine, the Germans conceding the other areas as being French.

**** See Part 151 about the German Resistance.

WORD HISTORY:
Will-The noun form, meaning "determination (as in 'will power'), intended purpose or desire," goes back to Indo European "wel," with the meaning "wish, desire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wiljon," with the same basic meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "willa," with the meaning "self will or determination, desire." This then later became "wille" before the modern spelling. In the 1300s, the idea of "wish, determination" began to be applied to "a legal document expressing a deceased person's 'desires' for the division of his/her belongings," a meaning that also continues today. German has "Wille," Low German Saxon has "Will," Dutch has "wil," West Frisian "wolle," Swedish has "vilja," Norwegian and Danish have "vilje," all with the meaning of "desire, intention, will power," but not the legalistic "will," which seems to be confined to English.

The verb "will" seems to have been derived from the noun form of Old Germanic as "wiljan(an)," with the same basic meaning "desire, wish, intention to do." This gave Old English "willan" (also apparently "wyllan" in some dialects), with the same basic meaning. The "intention to do" meaning came to be used in future usage; thus, "I will go to the store." Later the word was spelled "willen" and "wollen," before the modern spelling. Extensively used in the other Germanic languages: German has "wollen" (just to show the similarity to English, conjugated as ich will=I will; du willst=you will; er,sie,es will=he, she, it will), Low German and Dutch have "willen," West Frisian "wolle," Danish and some Norwegian have "ville," Icelandic, some Norwegian and Swedish have "vilja."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Five/C
"The End of Hitler's Reich" Part Three

In 1945 in western Germany, the Allies gradually pushed back the German defenders, crossing the Rhine River at Remagen in March. By April, a large German force was encircled in the Ruhr industrial region. With Berlin temptingly lying east of their advancing forces, the Allies chose not to risk a drive on the German capital, leaving the job to the Red Army. In Italy, the Allies finally dislodged the stubborn German defenders in northern Italy, and the Germans surrendered there in early May 1945. German forces in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands also surrendered in May.

In mid April, the long awaited Soviet offensive against Berlin commenced. With tremendous superiority in men and equipment, some Soviet units broke through the beleaguered German line in quick fashion, although not without losses, but the German line directly in front of Berlin along the Oder River held out temporarily, with substantial casualties inflicted upon the Red Army. The German forces held some high ground, and they tenaciously defended it against the Soviet attack, but the inevitable breakthrough came, and the Red Army forces headed for Hitler's capital. The decimated German forces, a mixture of regular army units and Waffen SS forces,* fell back toward Berlin, where Nazi diehards organized Hitler Youth and old men to try to hold the city. While the fighting was very bloody, from street to street, and building to building, the outcome was never in doubt, although Hitler held out hope that a German force south of the city would break through the Russian lines to relieve the capital. This was just another of his fantasies, and the German attack made little headway. The last known pictures of Hitler were taken as he ventured above ground to the Chancellery garden to decorate some Hitler Youth boys for their fighting against the Soviets in the streets of Berlin. There was just no shame by this man or his regime; sending children into combat.

News came that Mussolini had been caught and executed by Italian resistance fighters in northern Italy. The "Duce" and his entourage were then hung upside down from girders for Italians to revile, which they did, often spitting on the dead fascists. For Hitler, already determined not to fall into Soviet hands, Mussolini's death and exhibition convinced him beyond any doubt that suicide was the only way out. He married his long time mistress, Eva Braun (not pronounced "brawn," but rather pretty much like English "brown," its close relative, and with the same meaning), who had arrived from Bavaria. Interestingly, the German public really did not know about her, as that information he been strictly controlled by the Nazi propaganda machine. Hitler dictated his will to his secretary, in which he named a new government to take over after his death. Still the hate spewing psycho, he ranted about how Jews had instigated the war and about how the German people had proven themselves to be too weak by not winning the war. Not long after their marriage, Hitler and Eva retired to his room, and killed themselves. The Russian forces were only a couple of blocks away. The German commanders surrendered Berlin a couple of days later, and German military leaders surrendered for Germany a few days after that. The nightmare, while not over, was beginning to subside.

* The Waffen SS was the "militarized" or "armed" force ("Waffen"="weapon," and is closely related to the English word) part of the vast Nazi SS organization, with a number of its units being considered elite. The early units had all been volunteers and composed completely of Germans, more specifically Reich Germans; that is, Germans born and raised in Germany or Austria. During the early war years, the Waffen SS expanded, and it took volunteers from other countries, most often initially from "Germanic" countries, like the Netherlands, Flanders (see note), Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Later still, it recruited Germans who had not been born in Germany or Austria, called "Volksdeutsche," typically from places like Slovenia, Croatia, Rumania, and later Hungary. Eventually casualties were so high, the SS began drafting men instead of relying strictly upon volunteers. By mid war, the expansion of the Waffen SS included men who were neither German, nor Germanic, but rather Latvian, Estonian, Russian, Italian, French, Walloon (see note), and even Albanian and Bosnian Muslims! (see note 2) The Waffen SS was noted for its toughness and combat prowess, with some exceptions, but it was also known for atrocities, as many of its members were steeped in fanatical Nazi ideology.

(Note 1) Belgium essentially consisted of two main groups of people; the people of Flanders, called Flemings, who spoke a Germanic language, now usually referred to by linguists as a dialect of Dutch, and who comprised roughly 60% of the population, and of the French dialect speaking Walloons, who comprised slightly less than 40% of the population (Germans comprised the remaining small percentage).

(Note 2) Much of Albania and Bosnia had been occupied for quite some time by the Turks, who were Muslim. The Turks forcibly converted some of their subjects to Islam, thus the Muslim population of these areas.

WORD HISTORY:
Want-This common verb traces back to an Indo European base "wen(o)" or "weun," with the general notion of "to leave, to abandon," and by extension, "be lacking, be empty." This gave Old Germanic "wanaton(an)" meaning "to be lacking." This then gave Old Norse "vantr," with the meaning "to lack, to be lacking." English borrowed the word in the late 1100s as "wanten," with the same "lack" meaning. Gradually the notion of "lacking something" took on more of the meaning "desire for something 'lacking,' " and that "desire, wish," meaning has carried through to modern English. From what I could find, Icelandic and Faroese, both North Germanic languages descended from Old Norse, still have "vanta(r)," meaning "lacking." The other Germanic languages, including Old English already had similar words with the same general meaning of "lack(ing)." See "Word History" in next article, "wane," a relative of "want," and "wan" is "likely" a relative from the notion of "lacking color," but its history is more than a little sketchy; thus, I put the quotation marks around "likely." 

The German Question, Part One Hundred Forty

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Two/B
"Hitler Rules Western Europe" Part Two: "More Territorial Adjustments"

With Germany in control of much of western Europe,* Hitler made border adjustments: the small Eupen-Malmedy region, ceded by Germany to Belgium after World War One, and with a substantial German percentage of the population, again became a part of Germany. Alsace-Lorraine (in French terminology, the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and Moselle), the centuries' long contested region along the Franco-German border, was annexed to Germany. It had last been ceded to France at the end of World War One. Luxembourg at first was simply occupied, and it wasn't annexed to Germany until 1942. Luxembourg had been a German state in the Old German Empire (Holy Roman Empire) and also later belonged to the German Confederation. It later became an independent entity in the late 1830s, as a "personal possession" of the king of the Netherlands, who was simultaneously "Grand Duke of Luxembourg;" however, it kept close economic ties with Germany by maintaining its membership in the German Customs Union ("Zollverein") until the end of World War One.

* Prior to the German offensive in western Europe, the Germans invaded both Denmark and Norway. There was little fighting in Denmark, which kept a "certain degree" of self government under the German occupying forces, and in fact, the Danish king remained in Denmark. German occupation policy in Denmark took a much stricter position from 1943 until the end of the war. There was no territorial adjustment with Denmark, although the German minority in North Schleswig wanted the area annexed to Germany. There was serious fighting in Norway, with the Allies also sending an expeditionary force, but in the end, the German military prevailed, and Norway fell under German occupation.

WORD HISTORY:
Set-There are two words in English with this spelling, so first I'll deal with the one that is related to "sit," which was covered in the previous article ("set," the noun, will be in the next article, as its history is totally different). Like its close relative "sit," it goes back to Indo European "sed," meaning "to sit." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "satjanan," which was the causative form of Old Germanic "sitjanan," the ancestor of "sit." "Causative" means just that, something that "causes or brings about an action," and "satjanan" meant "to place something, to fix something in place, make firm, to make or cause to sit." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "settan," with the same basic meanings. While primarily a verb, it can also be an adjective, "a set pattern," with the notion of a "fixed pattern," for instance. Later in English it became "setten," before the modern spelling. This is another common word in the other German languages, except Frisian: German has "setzen" (originally "sezzen"), and where English uses "Let's sit down," German uses "Setzen wir uns," literally, "Set ourselves," with the notion of "cause" obviously present. Low German Saxon has "setten," Dutch has "zetten," Icelandic has "setja," Swedish has "sätta," Danish has "sætte," and Norwegian has "sette."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-Nine

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Two/A
"Hitler Rules Western Europe" Part One: "France Falls"


These articles will not deal with all of the battles and details of World War Two, but rather they will be more of a general overview of events, with perhaps a little more detail on some subjects. There are literally tons of material on World War Two available, so use your local library's resources if particular events are of interest to you. There is plenty of information online, too.

The "Sitzkrieg" ("Sitting War," see "Word History" below) continued in western Europe throughout the fall and winter of 1939-1940.* By the spring of 1940, the German military, now with its forces transferred from Poland to western Germany, was ready to go on the offensive. The Maginot Line was a formidable barrier, so the Germans planned to go around it. The French and their British allies weren't stupid, and they knew Hitler, like Kaiser Wilhelm II before him, would choose to violate Belgium's neutrality (and probably Luxembourg's, too) with the idea of pushing into northern France via that area. The Allies stationed strong forces near the Franco-Belgian border, and these forces were prepared to enter Belgium to meet and halt the German offensive there.

The Germans kept their "West Wall" defenses (known as the "Siegfried Line" to many western Europeans and Americans) manned by scaled down forces, while the bulk of their "striking army" prepared to invade through Belgium, Luxembourg, and, unlike during World War One, through the Netherlands. The Germans weren't stupid either, and they knew the Allies would cross into Belgium once German forces invaded that country to try to defeat them there; thus sparing northern France the destruction it experienced in World War One. The thing about the German plan was, they WANTED the Allies to enter Belgium in force. Here's why: On May 10, 1940, the German offensive started against Belgium and the Netherlands. The Allies moved northward out of France into Belgium to meet the attack. The Germans then, in a stunning bit of strategy, sent strong armored and motorized forces through southeastern Belgium and Luxembourg, through the heavily wooded and rugged terrain of an area known as the Ardennes. The French border area opposite this area had been left relatively lightly defended, as the Ardennes was considered by the Allies to be impassable for heavy German forces. The Germans proved otherwise, and they broke through the French forces stationed around the city of Sedan and headed for the northern French coast. Once there, the Allies, still fighting German forces in Belgium, were cut off. It was a disaster of the worst kind, with British, French and some Belgian forces trapped around the city of Dunkirk. The British people rallied to the cause, sending every ship or boat they had available across the Channel to help evacuate the surrounded army. Many lost their lives, but an army of more than 300,000 was ferried to safety in Britain, albeit without their heavy weapons.

The handwriting was on the wall, but France fought on for a few more weeks.** The French signed an armistice on June 22 in the same railway car, on the same spot, used to get the German signature on the armistice ending World War One. Hitler now ruled much of western Europe.

* Just a note: In November of 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland. While the Soviets had a commanding superiority in men and equipment over Finland, the gallant Finns gave the Soviets an embarrassing tussle. Eventually the Finns could not hold on against such overwhelming force and a treaty was signed between the two countries, with the Soviet Union taking territory from Finland. This served to move Finland closer to a potential powerful ally, Hitler's Germany.

** On June 10, exactly one month after the German offensive started, Mussolini, fearful the war would end before he got into it; thus thwarting any Italian claim to territory in southern France (part of the "Riviera" had been disputed between France and Italy for quite some time), declared war on France and Britain. The relatively small French force on the Italian border gave the Italians all they could handle, and the Italian army gained very little ground.

WORD HISTORY:
Sit-This common verb goes back to Indo European "sed," with the meaning "to sit." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "sitjanan," with the same meaning. From this came Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "sittan," meaning "to sit, to be seated, to possess or occupy," which later became "sitten," before the shortened modern spelling and over time, it added the meanings "to be inactive, to be lazy, the act of a legislative body in session, to have a position of judgment over someone or something, to not get involved in some undertaking." Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "sitzen" (originally "sizzen"), Low German Saxon "sitten," Frisian "sitte," Dutch "zitten," Swedish sitta, Icelandic sitja, Danish sidde, Norwegian "sitte."

The German Question, Part One Hundred

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Three
"The Occupation Of The Ruhr"

(Just for some background, this paragraph and the note is from Part 99) "The Versailles Treaty made Germany responsible for reparations mainly to Belgium and France. When the Germans defaulted on some aspects (mainly timber and coal) of these payments, French and Belgian troops entered Germany in January of 1923 and occupied the Ruhr, the country's main industrial region.*"

Not only were the French concerned about losing the resources from the German reparations, but they feared that if Germany could not be made to comply with this aspect of the Versailles Treaty, the Germans would gradually get out from under other provisions of the treaty. They saw enforcement as imperative. The Germans called for strikes by workers in the Ruhr; thus beginning months of popular resistance to the occupation. Some German workers and organizers of the resistance were killed or arrested,** which only gained Germany sympathy from other parts of the world. The strikes had the further consequence of damaging the frail German economy, as production of many goods used for both domestic consumption and for foreign trade essentially came to a standstill. Escalating German inflation, already on the rise before the occupation, exploded, as the German government, in an effort to meet its obligations, printed money with little or no backing to give it value. While the German currency lost value, so did the value of French money, as without German reparations, other nations feared for the resilience of the French economy.

World War One and its aftermath really began American involvement in European affairs. Influential American leaders and businessmen wanted a stable Europe, including a stable Germany. This very much coincided with Britain's desires. With the tension of the Ruhr occupation escalating, a committee was set up consisting of two members each from France, Belgium, Italy, Britain and the United States. The committee, called the "Dawes Committee," after American Vice President Charles Dawes,*** devised a plan to restructure German reparations in an attempt to assure payment. America provided loans to Germany to help their economy recover and to help guarantee payment of reparations. Germany would collect various taxes to make the payments. The "Dawes Plan," as it was known, established a lowered payment plan for Germany, but with progressively higher payments over a five year period, with the maximum to be reached and continued in year five. In return, the French and Belgians would withdraw from the Ruhr industrial region of Germany (which took place in August of 1925). The Germans signed on the dotted line and Dawes received a shared "Nobel Peace Prize."****

Next: ""The Cost of a Loaf of Bread-Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany" (A "Word History" is below the notes)

* (From Part 99) "The German government claimed it could not meet all reparations. The Belgians and French argued that the Germans were simply playing games to see if the Allies would enforce the reparations' provisions of the treaty. The British and Americans wanted the amount of reparations to be lowered, which only irritated the French that much more."

** It certainly seems that more than a hundred Germans were killed during the occupation, but an exact number is difficult to determine.

*** Dawes, a Republican who was born in Ohio, came from a banking and financial background. He held financial positions in the former administrations of President McKinley and President Harding, both Republicans.

**** The other recipient, British Foreign Secretary, Austen Chamberlain, shared the award because of his work on a series of European treaties (collectively known as "Locarno Treaty" or "Pact"), but he had nothing to do with the Dawes Plan.

WORD HISTORY:
Republic/Public-The main part of this compound goes back to Latin "publicus/poplicus," meaning "about the people." Where Latin got the word is a matter of discussion, with some linguists believing it was a borrowing from Etruscan (see note). The first part goes back to Latin "res," which meant "matter, thing." Some linguists believe this traces back to an Indo European root "re" or "rei," others are not so certain. Regardless, Latin had "respublica," meaning "matter of the people." This gave French, a Latin-based language, "république." It seems to have been borrowed into English at some point during the 1600s. The word "public" was borrowed into English in the 1400s from French "public," which traces back to the Latin forms given above. Other Germanic languages also borrowed the word: German has "Republik" (capital "R," as all German nouns are capitalized), Dutch and Low German have "republiek," West Frisian has "republyk," Norwegian has "republikk," Swedish has "republik," and Danish has "Republik."

NOTE: Etruscan is something of a mystery language, but it was possibly related to some languages of the Aegean Sea area, including "Minoan." Etruscan was spoken in a fairly large part of what is now Italy, but it died out when Latin came to the area, although some of its words were borrowed into Latin.

The German Question, Part Ninety-Nine

"Germany's Weimar Republic"-Part Two
"Economic Mess"

The German post-war economy was a mess. The Allies continued the blockade of Germany, even after the armistice, severely restricting the type of goods that could be imported into Germany. The loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France and certain parts of the eastern territories to the reborn Poland removed large amounts of  industry, raw materials, and food products. The war's consequences continued economically, as trade relationships had been disrupted or destroyed by the war. The shift back to a peacetime economy was not easy for any country, but it was especially difficult in Germany, where economic conditions were even poor during the last couple years of the war. Factories that had produced war goods could not easily switch to non military goods and make a profit in an economy where many people by then were impoverished. With jobs scare, some demobilized soldiers joined the ranks of "political armies," like the "Freikorps," on the right, or the left wing groups more in concert with communism. Street fights between these various political "armies" were not uncommon, and periodic calls for strikes by both right wing and left wing groups only further disrupted the weakened German economy.

The unpopular Treaty of Versailles gave those on the far right a chance to blame the left of center government for signing the treaty, although these same extremists never made clear a viable alternative to signing the treaty. Would they have proposed restarting the war? That was really the only alternative and I think we all can make a very educated guess as to what the military outcome would have been. The question is, what would the political outcome have been? With economic conditions so poor during the last couple of years of the war, and with so many dispirited Germans, re-initiating hostilities may well have brought a communist government to power.

The Versailles Treaty made Germany responsible for reparations mainly to Belgium and France. When the Germans defaulted on some aspects (mainly timber and coal) of these payments, French and Belgian troops entered Germany in January of 1923 and occupied the Ruhr, the country's main industrial region.*

Coming up in the next couple of articles: "The Occupation of the Ruhr," "The Cost of a Loaf of Bread-Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany," and "The Right Wing Strikes Back-Blaming Socialists and Jews For Germany's Defeat"

*The German government claimed it could not meet all reparations. The Belgians and French argued that the Germans were simply playing games to see if the Allies would enforce the reparations' provisions of the treaty. The British and Americans wanted the amount of reparations to be lowered, which only irritated the French that much more.

WORD HISTORY:
Hem-The history of this word is a bit sketchy. It "likely" goes back to an Old Germanic form like hemjam/hemjan," which then traces back to Indo European "kem/khem," with the notion of "compress, enclose something, fit something inside an area." Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "hem," with the basic notion of "border," and thus also "block;" as in "block in;" that is, "hem in," (a border "blocks" easy access to other areas, and "border" also ties in with the "enclose something" idea). Later English also spelled it "hemm." The variant forms "hamm" or "ham" (not the meat), often used in English place names, like "Nottingham,* meant "something enclosed, enclosed area;" even enclosed or "bordered" by water, forests, hills, etc, when used of towns or villages. It is closely related to "home;" that is, "an enclosed place to live." The verb form "hem" came from the noun during the 1300s. Of course in more modern times, "hem" is used more for the "stitched border of a garment." German has "hemmen" as a verb, meaning, among other things, "to stop, impede, obstruct," and "Hemmung," a noun meaning "a restraint," and "Hemmnis," another noun meaning "an obstruction, obstacle." From what I can tell, Dutch once also had "hemmen," as in German, but it is no longer used. Low German has "hemmen," meaning "to brake," and "Hamme," "a fenced in field," Swedish has "hämma," which means "impede, hinder." The English expression "hem and haw" shows the "hem in/block in" notion, for an action or idea that can't get moving due to being blocked by procrastination. 

* Obviously this form also came to some place names in the New World too, brought here by English colonists.

The German Question, Part Ninety-Four

"A Divisive Treaty" Part Six/A
"Territorial Changes/Western and Northern Germany"

Germany ceded control of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to France. The overall region had somewhere around 1.8 million people. There was no vote of the population on this territorial transfer.* North Schleswig, along with more than 160,000 people, was ceded to Denmark after a plebiscite (referendum) brought in a vote of 75% of the region voting to rejoin Denmark. A fairly small area, called Eupen-Malmedy, with about 35,000 people, was "temporarily" ceded to Belgium, pending a plebiscite. When the vote was held, it was NOT done by secret ballot, but rather opponents of Belgium's annexation had to register their objection by name in their village town hall. So, we'll never know how a secret ballot vote would have gone, but under the circumstances, there were few objectors.

Part B will cover the situation with Austria.

* Just to keep some perspective on this hotly contested territory, there had never been a vote of the population regarding its many divisions and transfers, although under the monarchical systems of those times, the voice of the people was not considered to be important.

WORD HISTORY:
Flesh-The origins of this word are unclear, although it seemingly comes from Indo European, with the Indo European root being in dispute, but it may trace back to the Indo European base "pel/fel," which meant "skin or hide;" that is a "covering," in this case, a "covering of the bones." Or it may go back to Indo European "plehk," which meant "to cut or peel off." It may be related to English "flitch," which means "side of cured pork, bacon" (see related Germanic word meanings below), a term rarely seen in North American English, and to "fleck," "a spot, a mark, a piece or fragment." It traces back to a Germanic form "flaiskan/flaiskon," which meant "meat," but also could be used in reference to "close kin" (we still say "flesh and blood" in this sense to this day). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "flaesc," with the same meaning. This was the main English word for "meat" until overtaken by the word "meat" between the 1200s and 1300s. The spelling changed during that general era to "flesh." Old High German had "Fleisk," which has become modern German "Fleisch," and it also means "flesh," including for fruits and vegetables, as in English, but it is also the general word for "meat." Low German Saxon has "Fleesch," Dutch has "vlees," West Frisian has "fleis;" all with the meaning "meat, flesh," Danish "flaesk," meaning "bacon," Icelandic and Norwegian "flesk," meaning "bacon," and Swedish "fläsk," meaning "pork, bacon."

The German Question, Part Ninety

"A Divisive Treaty" Part Two-"Guilt or Responsibility?"

The Treaty of Versailles had many parts and articles; far too many to cover in this series, but I will attempt to lay out the most important and often the most controversial aspects of the treaty, together with the reasons behind the provisions and the reasons for any controversy, in the next articles.

Let's face it, the main reason for the treaty was to formally end the war which had started in the summer of 1914. The actual Versailles Treaty, while it served as a blueprint for treaties with other countries that were allied to Germany, was a treaty only between the Allied Powers and Germany, although Germany's allies are mentioned in the treaty, but usually simply as "Germany and her allies."

No one knows the number of wars fought since the time mankind set foot on this planet, but often there are "winners and losers," but also, at times, the results are more muddled. In the case of the "Great War," later known as "World War One," or as "The First World War," there was no question about which side won and which side lost, but because of the armistice of November 1918, there was no "knock out" punch delivered against Germany and the other Central Powers; rather, more of a "technical knock out," or "TKO," to use some boxing terminology. This will become important as we move along, as right wing politicians used the fact that there had been no "knock out" delivered, to incite Germans' anger against the treaty and against "liberal" politicians;* that is, those who tried to end a hopelessly lost war, to save their countrymen from starvation, to bring fundamental democracy to the Germany, and to promote respect for German workers.

One of the controversial provisions of the Versailles Treaty had "Germany and her allies" accept responsibility for damages to the Allied nations and to their citizens, brought about by "the aggression of Germany and her allies."** Germans saw this as blaming them and their allies for the entire war, with no acceptance of responsibility by any of the Allies. While some historians have tried to say this was not the case, their arguments are silly to me. That's exactly what the provision meant, and in pretty straight-forward terms. Let's be honest here, too; throughout history victors have imposed conditions on the losers, just as Germany did with France in 1871. Fair, unfair, whatever; that's what happens. I fully understand the intellectual argument that these various countries kept going tit-for-tat, with one country winning, and then the other wanting "to get even." Anyway, by laying blame to "Germany and her allies," this set up the framework for Germany to pay reparations, mainly to Belgium, France, and to a lesser extent, Italy. Let's not forget, Germany invaded Belgium, a NEUTRAL country, and the southern portion (especially) of the little nation was a battlefield for much of the war, suffering terrible devastation.

To be continued.....

* The circumstance whereby Germany and her allies were not truly "knocked out" of the war in a definitive way, certainly influenced the Allies in the later World War Two era to demand "unconditional surrender;" thus making the various Axis nations admit to defeat. This policy too had consequences, as Germany and Japan, especially, fought on, as they saw no way to negotiate peace, causing further casualties and destruction. More about this during the segments on World War Two, but it does show, seldom, if ever, do things work perfectly.

** This was one of the provisions that also went into the separate treaties with Austria and with Hungary.

WORD HISTORY: 

Wedge-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain. It does trace back to Old Germanic "wagjaz," which meant "wedge," so that the same basic meaning has continued for many centuries. This then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "wecg," which later became "wegge," with the final "e" being pronounced "eh," and then the modern form with the softened "dg" sound. Dutch has "wig," Danish has "vaeg," Norwegian has "vegg," Swedish has "vägg," and Icelandic has "veggur," the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic forms all mean "wall" (a "wedge" between rooms or spaces). German has "Weck," "Wecke," "Weckle," and "Wecken" (from the Old High German form "weggi"), but they have come to mean "(bread) roll" in certain dialects (Get it? Rolls are "wedge-shaped"). Just to show you the great variations in German dialects (although the actual shapes and sizes of the "rolls" can vary, too), the standard German word for a "(bread) roll" is "Brötchen" (which is literally "a small bread"); the forms related to English "wedge," "Weck" and "Wecke," are used in certain western parts of Germany, like Hessen, where it is common in compound forms, like in Frankfurt, where it is more commonly called a "Wasserweck" or other parts where it is a "Doppelweck" (literally a "double roll," as they are larger, with two rolls baked together); Weckle" is used in the region around Stuttgart, where the dialect is called "Schwäbisch;" and nearby it is "Wegg," then "Wecken," is used more in some parts of southern Germany and Austria, but in the Hamburg area it is called a "Rundstück" (literally a "round piece"), in Berlinerisch (Berlin dialect) it is a "Schrippe," and in most of Bavaria and Austria it is a "Semmel." Trust me, there are even more forms, but this covers most of the terms. "Apparently" neither Low German nor Frisian uses a form of the word "wedge" any longer.

The German Question, Part Seventy-Three

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/C "The Germans At War"
"The Strategy Fails & The Hun Reputation Grows"

Reports of German atrocities against civilians, especially in Belgium, were widely circulated in the newspapers in Allied countries and in the United States. It did much to further inflame public opinion against Germany. It is difficult to sort out fact from fiction, but several sources (including British) mention that after the war, many of the German atrocity stories were discredited, and some of the stories were so outlandish, I doubt their truth (unlike in World War Two).* That doesn't mean ALL stories were untrue. Kaiser Wilhelm's remark from many years before, saying that he wanted the Germans to be "feared like the Huns," opened the door to all sorts of atrocity stories, undoubtedly both real and imaginary. All of the horror stories only served to reinforce the image of German troops as savage. Several sources also mention that the shooting of prisoners of war was not uncommon by ALL sides, although such acts were not condoned by the high military authorities of any country. These actions, or so I have read, seem to have been individual acts against prisoners as they were being escorted to rear areas.

While Belgian resistance surprised and delayed the Germans in western Europe, Russian mobilization surprised them in eastern Europe. The Russian army moved into northeastern Germany much more quickly than the Germans had thought possible. At first it looked as if the vastly outnumbered Germans would be rolled over by the Russians,** as two Russian armies advanced into German territory (East Prussia) and scored an early victory. This prompted a change in the German command in East Prussia, with Paul von Hindenburg, who was in his mid sixties (a considerable age in those times), brought in to take charge. The Germans completely reversed their perilous fortunes in East Prussia by inflicting a devastating defeat on the Russians near the town of Allenstein. The continuing operations essentially destroyed both Russian field armies.*** In spite of the victory, the war went on, as the French and British held in western Europe, and the Russians, while stunned, eventually were able to stabilize their front somewhat. Now the nightmare of the German military became reality....a major two front war.

* Unfortunately, World War Two atrocity stories proved to be much more accurate, with some exceptions, no matter how gruesome (I'll be getting to this shortly). During World War One, it is certainly possible that individual German soldiers committed terrible acts, and while absolutely heinous, the incidents were presented as commonplace, rather than as isolated. Remember, armies are collections of people of ALL types, including those with twisted minds. While the originator of the quote is in dispute, "supposedly" one American senator once said, "The first casualty of war is truth." The thing is, if a nasty story appears in the paper about an enemy country, who would have the courage to challenge it? Or even want to challenge it? In an "ideal world" it would be better to know the truth during wartime, but this is not an ideal world, and like it or not, we most often check into stories after a war is over. In fairness here too, I have to say that it is not always possible to check into stories when the bombs are falling and bullets are flying.

** Remember, the overwhelming mass of the German army was operating in western Europe in an attempt to knock France out of the war quickly.

*** This area is now part of Poland. While the actual battle was fought near Allenstein, the Germans chose to call their victory "The Battle of Tannenberg" in an attempt to erase the defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Tannenberg in the early 1400s. The victory in 1914 showed German resourcefulness in the use of Germany's superb rail system, as Hindenburg was able to move his limited forces around quickly to where they were most needed. The Russian defeat in the initial operations was so complete, the Russian commander, General Samsonov, committed suicide.

WORD HISTORY:
Street/Strasse (also written as "Straße")-"Strasse/Straße" is the German for "street," and it is pretty well known in English. These words go back to Indo European "strehto," which meant "to extend, to stretch." This gave Latin the verb "sternere," which in conjunction with the meanings "to extend, to stretch," came the meaning "to spread out." The past participle form, "strata," with a long interior "a" sound, meant "paved." (Get it? "Extend, stretch, spread out.....paved.") So in Roman times, a "via strata" meant a "paved road," and it seems in every day speech it was shortened to just "strata." In those times, "paved road" meant "paved with stones." The Germanic tribes, especially the West Germanic tribes, had lots of contact with the Romans, and "strata" was borrowed into West Germanic, giving Anglo-Saxon both "straet" and "stret," depending upon dialect, which then became "strete," before acquiring the modern form. In "Merry Olde England," it was used in reference only to "paved roads," many of which dated back to Roman times. While there are exceptions, American English (and I'm sure in all English speaking countries) preserves the original meaning, too, as we tend to refer to city or urban area roads (which tended to be paved in some way) as "streets," and country or rural roads as...ah...roads, even though in modern times those roads are now usually paved. Why? Remember, as America developed, areas outside of cities and towns were usually countryside with unpaved roads; thus the roads around or leading into cities acquired that terminology, as in "Old Mill Road." Later, parts of "Old Mill Road" may have been included in the city limits, or become part of a suburb, and paved, but the name continued. Anyway, besides German "Strasse," some Low German dialects have "straat," while other dialects have "Strot;" Dutch has "straat," West Frisian has “strjitte.” The North Germanic languages use a different, unrelated word.

The German Question, Part Seventy-Two

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

"An Early Peace Becomes Virtually Impossible"

Just weeks after the war began, the Allies* announced they had signed a pact in London in which each agreed NOT to sign any separate peace agreements. Within a week, this brought a "war goals plan" from the Germans in response, a plan that was never made official, but once made public, it became "reality," official or not. With early German military successes in both western Europe and eastern Europe, the German leadership displayed both over confidence and stupidity...ah, I mean poor judgment. The "plan" announced Germany's intention to annex Luxembourg to Germany,** to annex  parts of Belgium to Germany, to station German troops and naval forces in both Belgium and the Netherlands (thus putting both nations under German influence and replacing any ideas of "neutrality"), to extract large reparation payments from France to pay for the costs of the war, to make France more economically dependent on Germany by forbidding French trade with Britain and by possibly even taking certain French industrial territory, to require France to dismantle fortifications near or along the German border, to take the Russian part of Poland and make it into a German dominated state, to expand Germany's colonies in Africa by taking French and Belgian colonies.

If this didn't scare the absolute hell out of the Allies, it certainly left them little or no wiggle room, except to fight on. The Allies certainly didn't need much of a propaganda machine with the above "goals," as the "plan" spoke for itself. In fairness, many German leaders opposed this whole thing, and again, it was never made official, but the damage was done. Further, by the Allies announcing that they would stick together, with no separate peace agreements possible (in theory), they also share a part of the blame for the mentality that overtook the war, as a fight to the death (again, in theory). (A Word History is below the notes)

* France, Britain & Russia. Italy and the United States did not enter the war on the Allied side until later.

** So here is Luxembourg in the "German Question" again. Remember, it had been a German state, but had gained independence, although keeping its association with Germany as a member of the German Customs Union ("Zollverein," in German). There's no question much of the population was German, although with French influences, naturally more heavily near the French border, but without much info on public sentiment, I don't really know how Luxemburgers felt overall. The problem France, especially, had with this, was not over whether most Luxemburgers were Germans or not, but rather how annexation of Luxembourg would have augmented Germany's power; something France already feared, and it would have lengthened the German border with northern France.

WORD HISTORY:
Helmet/Helm-"Helm" goes back to the Indo European root "kel/khel," which meant "cover." This then gave Old Germanic "(k)helmaz," meaning "a sturdy cover for the head, protective head cover." This gave Anglo-Saxon "helm," with the same meaning. Meanwhile, Frankish, a Germanic language or dialect related to English, passed along "helm" to Old French, a Latin-based language, but with a fair number of Germanic words (especially still in those days) bequeathed to it, mainly from its namesake, "Frankish." It was spelled "helme" in Old French, but then became "helmet," a bit later, with the ending making it smaller (called a diminutive); so "small protective head covering," was the more literal meaning. This form was borrowed into English in the latter part of the 1400s, and overtook the native "helm" form of the word. Very common in its various forms in the Germanic languages: Standard German, Low German, West Frisian and Dutch all have "helm" (technically German uses a capital "H," as all nouns are capitalized), East Frisian has "hälm," Danish and Norwegian have "hjelm," Swedish has "hjälm," Icelandic has "hjálmur."

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."

The German Question, Part Sixty-One

"Bismarck" Part Five/F "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' ""Ethnic Minorities in Bismarckian Germany/West

I should have noted in the last installment: Frisians in Bismarck's Germany, while proud of their heritage, would have undoubtedly also seen themselves as "Germans," just as those in the Netherlands would have seen themselves as "Dutch," and those in Denmark would have seen themselves as "Danes." In all three cases there may well have been a few "hold outs," but it was likely much more like what we have had with so many different groups in America; that is, immigrants came to the United States, but their children and later additions saw themselves as "Americans," while some still kept alive the traditions of their ancestors in various ways. Also, in Denmark, there are very few (North) Frisian speakers (and there were not that many even dating back to Bismarck's time onward); so few in fact, that I could not find any recent data on the subject. This is just a guess, but any Frisian speakers still in existence all undoubtedly speak Danish on an every day basis, and there are no Frisian-language newspapers in Denmark. Some sources even noted that Frisian is no longer spoken in Denmark.

In the western areas of Germany, in Alsace-Lorraine, lived more than 211,000 French-speaking inhabitants (according to the 1900 census), which represented 11 1/2% of the population of the province (the other 88 1/2% spoke German). Just an assumption, but I would think nearly all French-speaking inhabitants were Catholic (the "German" population was mixed Protestant and Catholic). Also, in a fairly small area in what is now part of Belgium, in the area usually referred to as "Eupen-Malmedy," there were some 12,000 Walloon and French-speaking residents (about 29% of the region), and it is just as likely that they were all Catholic.* (The "German" population there, about 71%, was undoubtedly Catholic too.) The Catholics in both Alsace-Lorraine and Eupen-Malmedy were subject to all of Bismarck's anti-Catholic policies mentioned previously in this series. Since there was no actual "Poland" (as a nation) at that time, the Polish population in Germany was certainly different from the French-speaking population in Alsace-Lorraine, since France was very much in existence, a major power, and the ties of the French-speaking part of the population to France were strong. The French-speaking residents were always "suspect" (to the Germans), but not even all of the German speaking citizens were always solidly committed to Germany, especially those of the upper classes, where people tended to be fluent in both French and German, but where French was often preferred to German. Interestingly, the German government permitted French to be used in schools in French-speaking areas, but German was used in all governmental affairs (not that this is necessarily unreasonable).*** Perhaps the main difference between the German residents of Alsace-Lorraine and the Germans in the rest of Germany is something that is difficult to gauge, but it had to do with the fact of French rule in the area for a couple of centuries, but most importantly, the French Revolution, and the participation by many people in the area in that revolution. In the German states, their own revolutions had not been successful, and they had lived under autocratic rule, so there was more of a lighter democratic tradition in Alsace-Lorraine. Time gradually favored the German point-of-view, as younger generations did not feel the same connection to the previous French rule.****

Next, "The Jewish Minority in Bismarck's Germany".... (A Word History is below the notes)

* Take your pick, Walloon is either a separate language closely related to French, or a dialect of French, based in part of modern Belgium (the other main linguistic group of Belgium being "Flemish," see note **) Linguists have had disagreements over its official classification. Whatever the case, it is Latin-based, but it has had many influences from the nearby Germanic dialects/languages, specifically Flemish, Dutch, and German (including German dialects in the area, like Luxemburgisch). For decades now, the debate is essentially only of historical importance, as Walloon is almost extinct, with only a handful of people actually being fluent anymore, since in the early part of the 20th Century, "standard" French (I'll use that term) was used in all schools in the Walloon region.

** Belgium is one of those countries where there is more than one language spoken by significant portions of the population. As I have attempted to show in some of these articles on the Germans, until the 1800s, territories were conquered, annexed, sold, or inherited, without regard to the "background," including language, of the local population. "Nationalism" among various "ethnic groups" began to spread, especially during the 1800s, and it became a serious problem for Austria, which possessed a wide variety of non-German populated lands. "Ethnically/linguistically" modern Belgium is about 39% Walloon (French speaking), most living in the "Wallonia" southern part of the country, and about 60% Flemish, most living in the "Flanders" northern part of Belgium. There is a German minority (the area discussed in this article) along the German border, but it numbers just less than 1% of the population, and an even smaller (less than half a percent) "Luxembourgish" population, believe it or not, located on the border with Luxembourg (imagine that). The relationship between the various groups has been contentious at times over the last century or two. Some linguists in just the last decade or so have declared Flemish to be a dialect of Dutch, rather than a separate language in its own right, but not everyone agrees.

*** There were fairly strong elements of the population of Alsace-Lorraine that were very pro-German, and I don't want to lead anyone to believe that this element was not influential.

**** It also should be noted that about 100,000 "pro-France" residents left Alsace-Lorraine for France after the German annexation. As these people were obviously the most "French," that must have lessened pro-French activities in Alsace-Lorraine.

WORD HISTORY:
Lore-This word, perhaps more common in the compound "folklore," simply means "knowledge, accumulated learning." It is closely related to "learn." It goes back to the Indo European root "leis/lais," which had the notion of "to follow a track or path." This then gave Old Germanic "laizo," which was passed on to its offspring, West Germanic, as "laiza,"^ and then also with the advanced meaning of "teach, instruct." (I suppose in the sense, "teach people to follow a path or course.") This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "lar," with a long "a" sound, and meaning "knowledge, things that are taught." The Middle English period gave us the modern spelling. So, "folklore" means "the accumulated knowledge of the people through the course of time." German has "Lehre," Low German has "Lehr," West Frisian "leare," Norwegian and Danish have "lære," Swedish has "lära," Icelandic has "laera," and Dutch has "leren," all with the basic meaning of "teach, instruct (instruction, for nouns)." 

^ These forms with 'z' came to be rendered with 'r' due to rhotacism; that is, a tendency to convert some consonant sounds, usually 'z,' to 'r.' This happened with the Germanic forms "laizo/laiza" that took the course about "teach, instruct," but another branch maintained the "z" sound (altered a bit to the similar 's') and the basic meaning "track, path," which gave German what eventually became modern "Gleis," the rails of a train track. This same Old Germanic form gave English some forms of "last," including the verb meaning "to endure, hold out" (from the notion of "continue on a path").      

The German Question, Part Fifty-Two

"Bismarck" Part Four/A "Prelude To War With France"

After Prussia's defeat of Austria and the formation of the North German Confederation, Emperor Napoleon III of France was in a bit of a precarious situation. There were rumblings in France from people who wanted more liberties, thus keeping the possibility of a revolution very much on Napoleon III's mind. Foreign policy blunders, including an attempt to install a French-backed ruler in Mexico (which failed), gave continued hope to French revolutionaries. After much damage to his prestige, Napoleon III needed a success to gain the support of a solid majority of the French people.

While Prussia's position strengthened greatly with the defeat of Austria, the south German states remained outside of Prussia's control, although Bismarck secretly signed alliances with these states, which guaranteed mutual assistance in any war, the importance of which would soon be realized.

There were numerous and complex diplomatic maneuvers in the time between the Austro-Prussian War and the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War; too many to go into here, but just briefly, Napoleon III wanted allies against Prussia to help tie down Prussian forces. He used Austria's humiliation at the hands of Prussia to try to lure her to side with France in a war against Prussia, and further, to try to get Austria to have the south German states follow Austria's lead. Austria wanted Italy drawn into any alliance against Prussia, but Italy wanted all French troops withdrawn from Rome, where they stood guard in protection of the Papacy. A French withdrawal would have given Italians control of their designated capital, which still remained outside of the new Italian nation. This demand put Napoleon III in a bind. With unrest in France so prevalent, he did not want to stir the pot further by permitting Italy to occupy Rome and antagonize French Catholics (France was an overwhelmingly Catholic country). Also working against Napoleon III was the fact that Bismarck had worked out agreements with Russia, essentially guaranteeing that Russia would remain neutral in a Prussian war with France, or that Russia would actually go to war with Austria, if the Austrians sided with France.

Prior to the Austro-Prussian War, Bismarck had negotiated with Napoleon III (see previous articles for more detail) to keep France neutral. He offered to "consider" Napoleon's desire to take over Belgium and Luxembourg, and perhaps other (German) territory along the Rhine River.* Later, after Austria's defeat, Napoleon III's representative reminded Bismarck of his promise to "consider" territory for France. Again, Bismarck outwitted the French by skillfully getting the French representative to put the matter in writing (no recording devices in those days). Bismarck then later released this letter, which brought cries of indignation from others against Napoleon III.** As to Luxembourg, Napoleon III tried to buy it from the Dutch king, but Prussia and other German states strongly objected, bringing the parties to the point of war. A special meeting of the major European powers in London resolved the matter by guaranteeing Luxembourg's independence and neutrality, and by requiring that Prussia withdraw its troops. Napoleon III lost out on territory again.***/****

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

* Belgium was not German territory, but at that point in time, Luxembourg, a personal possession of the Dutch king, was still a member of the German Confederation. Napoleon III was also interested in other German areas on the west bank of the Rhine River. Napoleon III made a serious error (from the French point of view) by not getting Bismarck to commit to territorial adjustments, rather than Bismarck's foxy "consideration" of such. (See Note 2)

** Napoleon III had earlier guaranteed the independence of Belgium. His new attempts to take over Belgium brought him sharp rebuffs from Great Britain; thus alienating another potential ally against Prussia.

*** Luxembourg, which was granted independence after the Prussian victory over Austria and the dissolution of the German Confederation, became a member of the (German) Customs Union ("Zollverein") and had Prussian troops stationed there. If Napoleon III had succeeded in buying Luxembourg, those troops would have been removed, giving him a better strategic position in any potential war with Prussia. On the other hand, Bismarck's military advisers naturally wanted to retain their military presence in Luxembourg, which is along the northern French border.

**** Napoleon III also lost the "public relations" war, as he was seen, correctly, as trying to take over other countries. While we are now approaching the point in this series where the Germans came to be seen by much of the world as the aggressors, up to that point, and for a couple of centuries previous, France was often, but not always, seen as an aggressor nation, and this certainly was not limited to Napoleon or his nephew, Napoleon III. That does not mean that other nations didn't periodically have similar aggressive intentions,"  back then.

WORD HISTORY:
Blitz-This word is more commonly part of the World War Two era compound German word "Blitzkrieg" in English, or just "blitz" for the American football term "to rush the quarterback." In England the shortened form "Blitz" has been used for the German air attacks on the United Kingdom in 1940 during World War Two, commonly known there as "the Blitz." This word goes back to Indo European "bhleg," or some sources say "bhel," which had the meaning of "shine, burn." This spawned the Old Germanic verb form "blikkatjan," which meant "to brighten, to flash" (this also gave Old English the noun "blæcern," meaning "candle light"). This then gave Old High German "blecchazzen," with the same meaning. Later this became "bliczen," which then simply meant "to flash," with the obvious progression to modern "blitzen," and the derived noun form "Blitz," which means "lightening" (all German nouns are capitalized; thus the capital "B"). Just for your information, the meaning of the names in the Christmas story with the reindeer "Donner" and "Blitzen," is "Thunder" and "Lightening."

The German Question, Part Twenty

"Going Dutch, The Move Toward Independence"

The history of what is now called "the Netherlands" (literally 'the Lowlands")* is extremely complicated, as it overlaps the history of Belgium, and Luxembourg, too. During certain periods of history, the area was  called, "The Low Countries." While most people probably think of both Belgium and the Netherlands as having been around for a long, long time, the actual separate political entities, as such, are not really all that old. It would take many articles to even try to explain in a fairly straight-forward way, even the basic history of this entire region. So I'm going to give just as brief a sketch as I feel is possible.

As was noted in earlier segments to this series, most of this general area was eventually settled by Germanic tribes, with the "Batavians" and "Frisians" being the most prominent, at first. Much of the far southern part of the area, what is now a part of Belgium, was settled long ago by a Celtic tribe, the Belgae, who gave their name to Belgium. The Romans later occupied much of the area, thus adding a bit of their genetic matter to the area of present-day Belgium. The Romans designated the Germanic speaking areas of the region as part of "Lower Germania." ** The Germanic tribe, the Franks, later conquered a substantial part of this general region. The modern Dutch language traces back to the Frankish dialects from those times (now called "Low Franconian" by linguists), although there is also Frisian influence (both Frankish and Frisian are West Germanic in origin, as are English and German), and even more, in the far northeastern area of the Netherlands to this day, Frisian is still spoken, more specifically, the West Frisian dialect.

With the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, much of this general area was a part of that German dominated empire,*** and a couple of the German emperors were born in this region. As with other parts of the Holy Roman Empire, the various "states" enjoyed tremendous independence within the loose organization of the empire, and the local rulers more or less "owned" the territories, often selling off or adding to their properties. Wars, advantageous marriages, and wheeling-dealing changed boundaries of the various states on a regular basis, and it was no different in this area of the "Lowlands." The area was taken over by the House of Burgundy (of France) during the latter part of the 1300s and well into the 1400s. In the late 1400s, along came the Habsburgs, who took over the area, and they eventually proceeded to unify the region into one entity (that is Belgium and the Netherlands were combined as one political unit).**** Karl V (Charles V), the Habsburg ruler and German emperor, was born in this area (in Ghent). He granted a special autonomy in the mid 1500s to the region within the old German Empire (Holy Roman Empire), and declared that these various provinces could only be considered as one political unit.^ Karl was also involved with the House of Burgundy of France and granted separation of the region from France. (Hey, I told you this was complicated, and we're not done yet! Just to show you how complicated these monarchies could be, Karl V, in addition to being German emperor, was also "King of Italy" and "King of Spain!")

Now, Karl's son, Philip, was raised in Spain (became Philip II of Spain). He succeeded his father and this began a period when the Netherlands became part of the Spanish Empire! (See, I warned you we weren't done yet!) The Reformation brought Protestantism to a large part, but certainly not all, of the Lowlands. Philip was a devout Catholic and he sent Spanish torturers...I mean "Inquisitors," as well as an army, to the area. This was the beginning of what is termed "The 80 Years War" (Ah, I WON'T be covering all 80 years!). The Spanish and local Catholic forces essentially did well in the southern part of the region (now mainly Belgium, which is still Catholic to this day), but they encountered far more stubborn resistance in the northern areas (which is now the Netherlands, and is still essentially Protestant, but not exclusively so). What were mainly "Dutch Protestant" provinces united and issued a proclamation of independence from Spain, with William of Orange (Willem van Oranje, in Dutch) as their leader and first monarch.^^ The war continued, however, although on a somewhat smaller scale. Thousands of people in the Lowlands were executed and tortured, especially during the first couple of decades of this war. To confuse matters more, if that's possible, the "80 Years War" actually evolved into the more general European war known as "The Thirty Years War," which will be covered separately, along with the changes it brought. (A Word History is below the notes)

* In every day English we refer to the modern country as "Holland," and even the Dutch use this term at times. "Holland" is actually only a part of the western Netherlands, and in modern times, is divided into North Holland and South Holland. The term comes from "holt" (wood) + "land" ("land" is a word common to all of the Germanic languages), thus "woodland," or forested land. "Holt" was once also commonly used in English, but is now archaic, although in close relative, German, it is still commonly used as their general word for "wood," as "Holz." 

** "Lower Germania" consisted of much of modern Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and a part of western Germany (the general area around the city of Cologne, which was the capital of the entire region).

*** In those times, all of the Germanic speaking people in the area commonly referred to themselves as "Germans," and not what we think of as "Dutch," although the terms "Dutch" (in English), "Diets" (in Dutch), and "Deutsch" (in German) are all actually the same word, just variants of one another. By the way, the Dutch call their language "Nederlands."

**** The Habsburgs had risen to rule (own) much of modern day Austria, and parts of Switzerland, and Germany. They also were almost always elected as German emperors for hundreds of years. The thing to remember is, just as the other local German rulers owned their territories, the Habsburgs did also, and their positions as German emperors were separate from their own possessions.

^ The area actually also contained parts of modern France and Germany, but you have to remember, these provinces frequently had boundary changes, as I mentioned previously, and the sense of belonging to a specific nation had not yet developed in many areas.

^^ William/Willem was born near present day Giessen, in the German state of Hessen.

WORD HISTORY:
Wain-While not a common word on its own anymore (sometimes in poetry), it is part of the fairly common name "Wainwright." It goes back to Indo European root "wegh," which had the notion of, "movement, ride, travel;" thus also, "transport/carry." This produced the Old Germanic offshoot "wagnaz," which then gave Old English "waegn," which then lost the "g" sound and became "waen," and later still "wain." This meant "wagon" (sometimes spelled "waggon") and remained our word for "wagon" until the more modern form, WAGON, was borrowed from Dutch in the 1520s, probably as a result of the common trade association with the Dutch. "Wagon" is from the same source, and has the same history. German has "Wagen," as in "Volkswagen," Dutch has "wagon," and West Frisian, in a development much like its cousin, English with "wain," has "wein."