Luxembourg Firestone Salad: Feierstengszalot

This salad seems to have developed in perhaps the 1600s or early 1700s as a way of using leftover beef. Lëtzebuergesch, the German dialect/language of Luxembourg, has "Feiersteng," standard German has "Feuerstein," and English has "firestone," originally as "fyrstan;" that is, "flint." The name of the dish "seems" to come from the slices of cooked beef representing, or looking like, pieces of "firestone." 

You can use leftover roast beef of any type, or you can boil or roast some beef just for this dish. When I made the salad for this article, the beef was so tender, even after being in the refrigerator overnight, that I really couldn't slice it properly, so I tore it into smaller pieces.

Often served with boiled potatoes and baguettes for a great lunch ...

 

Ingredients (4 servings): 

 

1 1/2 cups boiled or roasted beef in bite size pieces

2 to 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1/3 cup mild pickles, chopped

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup tomato, chopped or grape tomatoes halved

1/3 cup vegetable oil, regular olive oil or sunflower seed oil

1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt 

4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped parsley or chives

Cut or tear the beef into bite size pieces and put it into a bowl. Add the chopped onion, chopped pickles and chopped tomato, toss to mix. Distribute into individual salad bowls or onto individual small plates and top each with some hard boiled egg slices, then spoon some of the dressing (see further) over the salad and sprinkle each salad with some chopped chives or parsley. For the dressing: In a bowl, add the oil, mustard, tarragon, pepper, salt and cream. Whisk everything together until it thickens to the desired consistency.  

WORD HISTORY:

Firestone & Flint- Firestone is simply the combination of "fire" and "stone." For the history of the word "fire," here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred_13.html

For the history of "stone," here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/10/german-question-part-forty-nine_27.html

 

Relatives of "firestone": German has "Feuerstein" (once spelled "fiurstein"), Low German has "Füürsteen," Dutch has "vuursteen," West Frisian "fjoerstienne" (?) 

 

"Flint" is related to "split," a word of Germanic derivation that had a form in Old English, which died out, but then was later borrowed from Low German to give us our modern word. "Flint" goes back to Indo European "splei/spley," which had the notion, "to separate from, to split off from." This produced Indo European "splind," meaning "split, cleave." This gave Old Germanic "flintaz," "seemingly" meaning "very hard stone split from rock." This gave Old English "flint," with the meaning, "hard stone," and then "hard stone that sparks to start a fire;" thus, "flint stone," a meaning that is still with us to this day. German once had "flins," "hard stone," but German used forms of modern German "Feuerstein" (fire stone), and "flins" eventually died out, Low German had "vlint" and "vlintsten;" that is, "flint stone" in the Middle Ages, but apparently these have died out, and the same happened to Dutch "vlint." Danish has "flint," perhaps from Danish (or is it a borrowing from English, or perhaps a refashioning of the Low German form? Danish and Low German have had much interaction over the centuries, including up to the present). Swedish has "flinta," and German borrowed "Flinte" from Swedish in the 1600s as the word for a flintlock musket, where the gunpowder for firing was ignited by flint striking a piece of metal (called a 'frizzen').       

Germans and Apples

Because apples keep so well, fall and winter are good times to know about some dishes using apples. The Germans have a sort of love affair with the apple and I'd say their most popular fruit juice is apple juice. By German, I mean people of German background, not just the nationality German; so, people in Germany, Austria, about 2/3 of Switzerland, much of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, much of Alsace and a fair part of Lorraine, as well as a part of northern Italy.* Even if you're a "picky" eater, please don't turn your nose up at some of the combinations until you have at least tried them. I believe I've told this little story before, but it bears repeating. Back in the 1980s I was traveling on a train (common transportation in Germany, and Europe in general) between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, which are only about 20 miles apart. An American couple, likely in their 60s, was sitting across from me. Americans were frequently encountered in the area due to the large American military presence in what was then West Germany, but these folks were tourists. I started a conversation with them and found out they were from Seattle, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 5500 to 6000 miles from Germany. They were headed for Frankfurt and they wanted to know about places to eat, as this was their first trip to Germany. Since they would be getting off the train at the main train station in Frankfurt, I immediately recommended the "Dippegucker Restaurant am Hauptbahnhof," which simply means "the pot looker restaurant at the main train station." The lady then said she was afraid to try German food, as she might not like it, and that they would probably just go to McDonald's (McDonald's has many outlets in Germany, all of which sell beer and wine). So, she traveled about 6000 miles to eat a hamburger she could have gotten on any street corner in America? While it's been many years, I have to believe it took a great deal of self restraint on my part to keep from smacking her, kicking her in the shin, or calling her a "blöde Kuh," if not all three. ("Blöde Kuh" means stupid or silly cow, in German).
    
A pretty common German dish in many areas comes from Berlin and is simply "liver and onions," but the recipe includes sliced apples with the onions. For Germans, the liver is usually calves liver, but the substitution of beef or pork liver will not condemn you to prison, and while some Germans have told me the apples have to be green, like Granny Smiths, I've used Red Delicious for years and I have yet to turn into a pillar of salt, so use what you have and, by the way, I leave the skin on the apples. Here in America, you may see this dish on the menu of German restaurants as "Berlin Liver," or perhaps, "Berlin Style Liver."

Then there's "Himmel und Erde," or "Himmel un Ääd" in some Rhineland dialects, which means "Heaven and Earth." The dish is simply mashed potatoes and apples; that is, the (lightly cooked) apples are mashed in with the potatoes. The name idea is, the apples represent the "heaven or sky," as they come from a tree, and the "earth" is represented by the potatoes, which have to be dug out of the ground. There are variations on this dish, depending upon the area, and some Germans use pears instead of apples. In the south, in Bavaria and Austria, I've seen recipes simply calling it "Puree of Apples and Potatoes." Germans often serve it with blood sausage (Blutwurst), Bratwurst, or liverwurst (Leberwurst). To give it some texture, I often don't completely mash the apples up, or if I don't have fresh apples, I add the store bought chunky apple sauce from a jar after the potatoes are mashed. Now if you think potatoes and apples don't go together, see the next listing.

Speaking of potatoes, potato pancakes are common in German areas, and they are usually accompanied by apple sauce, which is pretty common in the U.S. too. See, you've probably had potatoes and apples before. The standard German word for potato pancakes is "Kartoffelpfannkuchen," but there are a number of dialect terms and recipe variations like,  "Reibekuchen," "Döbbekuchen," "Döbbekooche," "Dibbekoche," "Dippedotz," "Reiberdatschi," "Rievekooche,"  "Grumbeer Pannekuche," and others. Some Germans believe the potatoes should be freshly grated, while others use potatoes first boiled in their skins. Besides the potatoes, there is some onion added (either grated or finely chopped), as well as some flour and salt. To this base recipe some regions add chopped bacon, or even whole strips of bacon are placed on top and the dish is finished in the oven. In the past, lard was commonly used for frying, but nowadays oil is more common.

Swiss Germans make a fried apple dish (Apfel Bröisi), which is thin bread slices fried in butter and sugar, then apple slices are added and fried further until the apples are soft. The dish is topped with fresh dabs of butter, sugar and cinnamon. 

Germans add apples to sauerkraut or to red cabbage (called Rotkohl, Rotkraut, or Blaukraut, depending upon region). In some areas, especially in Austria and Bavaria, apples are cored, stuffed with raisins and walnuts or hazelnuts (sometimes cranberries and lemon zest are added too) and are baked in white wine, butter, and sugar, which combine in a syrupy sauce, to which apple brandy (Schnapps) can be added. The finished dish, called "Bratäpfel" (baked apples), or "Besoffene Bratäpfel" ('drunken' baked apples, because of the wine and schnapps) is often served with warm vanilla sauce, made with heated milk, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

If you're in the German state of Hessen (often Hesse, in English), you'll want to finish your meal with a nice glass, or ten, of apple wine, which is really like hard apple cider, and is a specialty of Hessen in general, but particularly of Frankfurt. The standard German word for this drink is "Apfelwein," but there are variations in Hessian dialect, including ""Ebbelwoi,"  "Äppelwei," or "Stöffche," and you can get it by the glass ("Rippenglas;" that is "ribbed glass," which has ridges for a good grip) or the "Bembel" (a stoneware jug), and after a few of either, you won't much care what name the Hessians call it ... ah ... at least that's what I've heard.  

* Alsace and Lorraine are parts of eastern France. 

 

WORD HISTORY:
Apple-This noun goes back to Indo European "abol," "abel," the exact meaning of which is unclear, but which had to do with "produce of trees and vines," and there are forms in other, non Germanic, languages too. Its Old Germanic offspring was "aplaz," which meant "fruit, nuts." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "aeppel," which meant "fruit," and later this became "appel," before the modern version. It wasn't until the 1500s and 1600s that the meaning narrowed to the specific type of fruit we now call an "apple." Translations of the Bible over time generally used "forbidden fruit" in the Garden of Eden, but some translations called this fruit "apple," from the general meaning of the word back then. Common in the other Germanic languages: standard German "Apfel," all sorts of German dialect forms like "Ebbel," "Appel," "Apel," "Äppel," "Äbbel," "Epfel," "Ebbfe," "Opfe," Low German Saxon and Dutch "Appel,"  West Frisian "apel," Danish "aeble," Icelandic "epli," Norwegian "eple," and Swedish "äpple." 

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 Eighty-Six

"The Aftermath of the Great War & The Weimar Republic"/Part Three

"Austria & Luxembourg"

NOTE: In 1919, negotiators met in Paris to lay out the specifics to treaties to actually end the war between the various nations; this was called the "Paris Peace Conference."

With the end of the war, Austria was again....Austria; not Austria-Hungary, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nor the Austrian Empire; just plain old Austria, well... not "plain old," rather "The Republic of German Austria" (Republik Deutschösterreich). With the various ethnic and nationality groups gone their own ways, the German population remained in the territory which once dominated German affairs and produced German Kaisers (emperors) for centuries. The new entity took the name "The Republic of German Austria." The boundaries were not exactly the same as today, although the core area was the same. The upcoming treaties would determine the boundaries, leaving some significant sore spots on the Austrian, and overall German, psyche; a subject I will be dealing with shortly. "German Austria" chose to be part of "the German Republic;" that is, the new German government established at the end of the war and known more so in the public mind as "the Weimar Republic," after the German city where the new constitution was drafted. To confirm the decision made by Austria's new representatives, a series of plebiscites, more commonly called referendums in America, were to be held throughout "the Republic of German Austria." Early regional referendums showed overwhelming support for unification with Germany, with 98% to 99% voting for the proposal (much of the early voting was in western Austria). I will come back to this.

Luxembourg had been occupied by Germany for much of the war, and it was a member of the German Zollverein, the German Customs Union, although it had not technically been a part of Germany (actually the German Confederation) since 1867. Talk about an area of divided loyalties! After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, peacemakers set up the area as a grand duchy; that is, a territory ruled by a grand duke. At that time Luxembourg was much larger, with the western portion, especially, being heavily French-speaking (but not exclusively). Much of that territory was ceded to Belgium in 1839, which borders Luxembourg to the west. Of the remaining territory, the population was majority German speaking,* but still with a French-speaking minority, and an inclination in some parts of the little country to be more French in custom than German (it also bordered on France to the south). Now, to confuse matters even more, the ruling grand duke was also the King of the Netherlands!** Let's see now, how many countries and nationality groups does that make which were involved here? It is important to remember, while the Dutch king was Luxembourg's head of state, it was not a part of the Netherlands, but rather a part of the German Confederation, and since its grand duke was the King of the Netherlands, he had a vote in the German Assembly! Now you know why some historians call it "The German Question;" sorting out who is a German national can drive one to drink. (Hic...hic..hiccup! Ah, 'scuse me!)***

* The German dialect of Luxembourg, called "Lëtzebuergesch" ("Luxembourgish," in Anglicized form), traces back to the Germanic tribe, the Franks. It is closely related to the German dialect of much of the German-speaking part of Lorraine and the nearby area of Germany.

** This set up is called a "personal union," and it has not been uncommon in European history.

*** Much of the confusing situation with Luxembourg, and also with Alsace/Lorraine, goes back more than a thousand years, to the time of the division of Charlemagne's empire. That time period has had much to do with the hostility between Germany and France over the centuries. For those interested, I covered that era in this article:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/03/german-question-part-three.html

 

WORD HISTORY:
Attack/Attach-These words go back to Indo European "steg/stek," which meant "pole, stake, stick." The Old Germanic offshoot was "stakon." After this, the details of the history are very confusing, but here's what I came up with: for "ATTACH," the Germanic word was borrowed into Old French from (Germanic dialect) Frankish "stakka." The French form became "estachier," with the "e" prefix, later changed to "a," meaning "to;" thus the verb form later changed to "atachier" (the "s" sound now gone) and meant "to fasten or fix into position with a stake or stick." The Normans brought the word to England, but it wasn't until the early 1300s that it became more widespread, as "attachen," by which time it had taken on the more figurative meaning "take into legal custody, arrest;" from a previous "seize possessions by legal means;" with the basic idea being "staked/fastened to the rule of law or the court." The word began to get back to the more direct original meaning seemingly under the influence of French "attacher," meaning "to tie, to bind, to affix." Now, you may wonder what "attach" has to do with "attack;" uh...you did wonder that, right? Well, "ATTACK" goes back to the same Old Germanic word as "attach." I mentioned that the details can be confusing, as some sources seem to indicate that there were separate borrowings from Germanic into Old French for "attach," and then into a form of (Old) Italian for the word that became "attack." Other sources indicate that the Italian form was borrowed from Old French, not directly from Germanic. What seems clear is that French picked up the "attack" meaning from (northern) Italian, which had "attaccare," which meant the same as "attach;" that is, "join, affix, etc." The Italian dialect, however, had coupled the word with "battaglia" ("battle") to form the translated expression "to join battle." The expression became so prevalent, that the "battle" part was dropped, with the form of "attaccare" alone coming to mean the same thing. French picked up the term as "attaquer," which then gave French the noun form "attaque" (modern Italian has "attacco"). English did not acquire the word until the early 1600s, having borrowed it from French. While not used as often as in English, German also borrowed the term as "Attacke," probably from French, and likewise, in the 1600s. German also has the verb form "attackieren."

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 Fifty-Six

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

Just a note about Luxemburg/Luxembourg to start: Luxembourg remained an independent country and a possession of the Dutch throne, but it also remained a member of the German Customs Union ("Zollverein"), thus, giving it continued strong ties to Germany without being a member state.

So with a newly united nation, Bismarck set out in his mind to strengthen that unity. Germany was a nation with a predominately Protestant north, and with a predominately Catholic south.* Now that staunchly Catholic Austria was excluded from the new nation, and with Protestant Prussia having led the unification efforts, Protestantism was the favored religion, and most positions in the national government were occupied by Protestants. The Papacy had been controversial for centuries, and not only in the German territories, but within Christianity as a whole. The Catholic Church was organized to control matters and adherents of the Church, with a central authority in Rome. With such a governing system, non Catholics always feared that adherents to Catholicism would have divided loyalties between Church and state.**

Bismarck was the "Reichskanzler" of Germany ("Imperial Chancellor," or "prime minister," for a term better known to many English speaking people), but he also was still the head of the government of Prussia. In his first few years as head of the new government, Bismarck implemented policies to try to lessen the influence of the Catholic Church in Germany, and sometimes just in Prussia. Further, there were efforts to "Germanize" Jews, Poles, and Wends (Sorbians). This overall approach to lessen various influences in Germany came to be known as the "Kulturkampf," or "Culture War;" although, some historians limit the term to the attempt to lessen Catholic influence. To be brief here, over time, the laws to lessen Catholic influence: forbade clergy from discussing or preaching about political matters to congregants, under threat of imprisonment; banished the Jesuits from Germany; gave the government the right to inspect religious schools; gave the government the right to train, appoint, and discipline members of the clergy; removed marriage from religious control to that of the "civil authorities." Clergy who protested the laws were arrested. The measures and their enforcement inflamed relations between the German government and the Papacy, with Bismarck literally breaking off diplomatic contacts with the Pope. This war against the Catholic Church, instigated by German nationalists and by the German government, enforced by German police and civil authorities, was an ominous precursor to what would come a little more than six decades later.

The overall measures against Catholic influence had some success, but it also had many negatives, including the negative view of such among some foreign nations, especially those with strong Catholic traditions. Political parties were growing in Germany, and Catholics rallied to the "Catholic Center Party," which gained in popularity, and which also contained traditional conservative Catholics, something Bismarck eventually needed politically. The whole matter tarnished Bismarck's reputation to some extent, and he reconciled with the Papacy to some degree when a new Pope took over the Catholic Church in 1878.

To be continued with Bismarck's attempts to "Germanize" the non-German population..... (A Word History is below the notes)

* Notice in both cases I used the word "predominantly." Especially in the north, there were some especially strong Catholic areas, including parts of the Rhineland, part of Alsace and part of Lorraine in the west. Then there were the staunchly Catholic Poles, and some German Catholics in the eastern part of the country. The southern areas were more uniformly Catholic, but there were some Protestants there.

** This was also the case in America. Catholic candidates, especially for high office, were often overtly and covertly thought to be puppets for the Papacy, which was trying to take control of the country. For those old enough to remember, when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, ran for President, many Protestants openly said how the Pope would give Kennedy his orders, if Kennedy won the election. I can distinctly remember some people saying, "We're going to be controlled from 'across the pond.' " Kennedy won, and all Americans did not suddenly become members of the Knights of Columbus, don Rosary Beads, attend six o'clock Mass, or say "Hail Marys," except in reference to long, desperate passes by quarterbacks on the football field. To be honest, however, in Bismarck's time, the Church had much more direct influence on many of its members than it seemingly has in more modern times, although the Papacy had been dealt a serious blow as a result of the "Franco-Prussian War," which was just covered in the previous installments here. Because of the war, Napoleon III withdrew his troops from their protection of the Papacy role in Rome. This permitted Italian troops to enter Papal territory and for Italy to annex the territory to the still relatively new Italian nation. Rome, which had been named the capital of the new nation nearly a decade before, then truly became the seat of the Italian government.

WORD HISTORY:
Krieg-Since I did "Blitz" earlier, here is the "krieg" part of the compound. First, interestingly the Germanic languages did not seem to have a common word for "war." I could not find a lot of information on this word; thus its origin is unknown to me. It goes back to Old High German "krig," which supposedly meant "stubbornness." Old High German is a term linguists use to denote the Germanic dialect that developed not long after the Germanic elements that went to Britain left the Continent, and it is the direct ancestor of modern German. Later the form "kriec" developed, with the meaning "strain, endeavor," and this then developed into the meaning "war."

For an updated version, see:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/11/revised-word-history.html

For "Blitz," see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/11/german-question-part-fifty-two.html

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 Forty-Nine

"Bismarck" Part Three/A- "The Day Of Reckoning"

The events prior to, and during the "Austro-Prussian War" ("Der Deutsche Krieg," in German, "the German War"), were far more complex than what I'll write about here.

Bismarck saw an opportunity for Prussia to place Austria in a sort of military vise grip. With a newly united Italy still desiring certain Italian majority provinces that were controlled by Austria, Bismarck made a pact with the Italians. The pact essentially committed Prussia and Italy to assist each other in any war either had with Austria; a war that seemed more likely to start between Italy and Austria, at that time. Earlier, Bismarck secured French neutrality in any conflict between Prussia and Austria,* with France's "Napoleon III" believing that any war between the two German states could only benefit France's territorial desires along the western areas of the German states (like Luxembourg), and further, he believed that Austria would defeat Prussia in any war.**

Prussia enjoyed several advantages over Austria. The Prussian army was large, well trained, well led, well equipped***, had a significant number of well trained reservists, and individual regiments had their personnel located close by, for quick mobilization. By this time, 1866, railways had developed throughout the German states, although somewhat unevenly, but Prussia's railways were especially well developed, giving Prussia's army the ability to quickly move troops from one location to another, and then to also quickly supply those troops. On the other hand, Austria faced the prospect of a two-front war; against Prussia in the north, and against Italy in the south. Further, the unrest of her many non-German subjects, and their resentments, made many of Austria's infantry units, where there were numerous non-Germans, a bit suspect in terms of reliability. Austria's cavalry and artillery forces, however, were renowned for their prowess. The threat of unrest also made the Austrians choose to keep many military personnel far from their regimental commands in an attempt to prevent armed organized uprisings. This meant it took time for Austria to mobilize its army, as many troops had to travel considerable distances to join their units, and Austria's railways were somewhat less well developed in certain parts of her vast territories than Prussia's.

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

* France was ruled by Napoleon's nephew, "Napoleon III." Bismarck and Napoleon III had a one-on-one meeting, at which time Bismarck secured France's neutrality.

** Luxembourg was a member of the German Confederation and the Zollverein (the Customs Union, led by Prussia), close to Prussian territory, and actually had, at times, Prussian troops stationed there. Any Prussian defeat could have helped France in their desire for Luxembourg. France also was interested in Belgium.

*** Prussia's infantry were equipped with bolt-action, breech-loading guns, which allowed their infantry to lie down and fire, making them more difficult targets. They could also fire at a faster rate than Austria's muzzle-loading guns, which pretty much required infantrymen to stand to reload. While the Austrian military leaders saw the effectiveness of the Prussian guns during their joint-effort with Prussia in the war with Denmark, they seemingly did not grasp the significance of the more modern gun, or Austria's strained financial resources may have forced them to abandon any plan to re-equip, as thousands of new guns would have been costly.

WORD HISTORY:
Stone (Stein)-For those of you who have been following this series on the Germans, you probably have noticed my tendency to do words which were borrowed into English from German, or words that we associate with Germans. While "stone" was NOT borrowed, its Germanic ancestor also gave German "Stein," which besides having the same meaning as the English word, also means "stone/ceramic beer mug," but only in certain regions of the German-speaking world. It is a shortened form of German "Steingut," or "stoneware." "Stein" is a word very much present in English. It is perhaps more prevalent in American English from the large number of German immigrants who came here.

This word goes back to Indo European "stai," which meant "stone." (Note of interest: It also had the meaning, perhaps the original meaning, of "hard substance, solidity," which gave some of our more distant relatives; that is, further down the "family tree," words associated with that concept, such as Greek "stear" which means "tallow;" that is "solidified fat," and Latin "stiria," which means "icicle." The Old Germanic offshoot was "stainaz," which then gave Old English "stan," with a long "a" sound, unlike the modern short form for "Stanley." Later it was spelled "ston," before acquiring its modern form. The verb form, as in "to stone someone to death," developed in English during the 1100s. It is VERY much present in the Germanic languages: as noted above, German has "Stein," Low German has both "steyn" and "steen," Dutch has "steen," Frisian has "stien," Danish and Swedish both have "sten," Norwegian has "stein," and Icelandic has "steinn." The term "Stone Age" originated in the 1830s from Danish archeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen.

The German Question, Part Thirty-Eight

"Aftermath of Napoleon" Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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