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."

The German Question, Part Thirty-Seven

Just ever so slightly edited 8/15/2015


"Aftermath of Napoleon" Part One

When Napoleon was first sent into exile in 1814, representatives of many of the major European powers assembled in Vienna to work out the many border issues left in the wake of Napoleon's fall. By the time final agreements of this Congress of Vienna, as it was called, were signed in 1815, Napoleon was again on the march, after having escaped from his captivity on the island of Elba (off the western Italian coast). His final defeat came only days AFTER the agreements had been signed.

The Congress of Vienna changed the map of Europe, and the changes were far too numerous to enumerate here, but many dealt with the German states and what to do with them now that the Holy Roman Empire (the German Empire) had been dissolved. The negotiations and diplomatic twists and turns are also far too complex for this article. The Napoleonic creation, the Duchy of Warsaw, was divided between Russia and Prussia, with Russia receiving the largest portion (including Warsaw), but with Prussia receiving the territory in and around the city of Posen (Poznan, in Polish). This area was heavily Polish in ethnicity, with a German minority of about 25%.* Prussia also received a large chunk of Saxony (one of the German states),** Danzig,*** Westphalia (another German state), and the Rhineland, much of which had been occupied and then annexed by France during Napoleon's rule.**** Prussia came out of Vienna much larger.

To be continued.... (Two Word Histories are below the notes)

* Even after a hundred years of Prussian/German rule, about two-thirds of the population still considered themselves to be Polish.

** Saxony had been known previously as the "Electorate of Saxony" (" Kurfürstentum Sachsen," in German); that is, it had a vote in the election for German emperors, but it was given the elevated status of "Kingdom of Saxony" ("Königreich Sachsen," in German), by Napoleon. The ruler of Saxony, with the new title, "King Friedrich August I," allied himself to Napoleon. Previous family ties to the kings of Poland, which by then no longer existed (it had been partitioned out of existence-See previous parts of this series for details), had Napoleon choose Friedrich August as head of the French created "Duchy of Warsaw." The king's strong ties to Napoleon made it very difficult for him later, when other German states banded together to drive Napoleon out of German territory. He tried to have it both ways by establishing ties with his fellow German rulers, but by also remaining as an ally of Napoleon. Napoleon demanded that the king put Saxon (and Polish) military forces into the field against the other German and allied armies, but in the end, most of the Saxon forces defected and joined their fellow Germans against Napoleon. During the Congress of Vienna, the king's ties to Napoleon did him no good, and there's no question those ties helped negotiators decide to award part of Saxony to Prussia, although Friedrich August remained on the throne of the reduced kingdom, probably more out of Austrian concern that Prussia, its arch competitor in German affairs, would become too strong.

*** When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Napoleon had Danzig declared a "free city," separate from other German lands. Interestingly, this sort of pattern was used after World War One when Danzig was made a "free city," under the League of Nations. I'll deal much more with this later.

**** The Rhineland area in question was overwhelmingly German in population, but the French had long coveted the region for its many resources and industries, and they sought to make the Rhine River France's eastern boundary (as they had in Alsace), regardless of ethnic make up of the area (just as we can also say how German states took over areas often with Slavic or Hungarian majorities along their eastern borders).

WORD HISTORY:
Dale-This goes back to Indo European "dhel," which had the notion of "curve;" thus also, "valley." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "dalam/dalom," which meant "valley, gorge." This then gave Old English "dael," with the same meaning, and this then became "dale." The other Germanic languages have: German "Tal," Low German Saxon "Daal," West Frisian "delling," Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic all have "dal." All these forms mean "valley, dale," in the other Germanic languages too.

Dell-Like its close relative "dale," this goes back to Indo European "dhel" (notion of  "curve," thus "valley"). The Old Germanic base "dal," then gave Old Germanic "daljo." This then gave Old English "dell," which later became "delle," before reverting to "dell." Other Germanic relatives include Dutch "delle" and German "Delle," with the meaning "depression, dent, hollow,"  A famous old childhood song is "The Farmer in the Dell."

The German Question, Part Thirty-Six

"German Liberation"

There were various coalitions formed by many of the states of Europe, including many German states (usually led by Austria and Prussia), which then went to war against Napoleon and his allies over the years, and I will not get into all of the wars and the multitude of individual battles fought on German territory during those times. There are, however, a couple of important events that I will briefly deal with. Napoleon defeated the Prussians, who were part of one of those coalitions I mentioned, in 1806, bringing about the occupation of Berlin* and forcing the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III, to set up his government in the Prussian province of East Prussia for a time. In that same time frame, Napoleon reconstituted a "Polish state," called the "Duchy of Warsaw," which comprised a great deal of territory ceded by Poland to Prussia earlier in the various "Partitions of Poland."

The Prussian army was a total mess after defeat at the hands of Napoleon, but in one case, the Prussians managed to deprive the French of victory and simultaneously inspire some Germans to resist Napoleon.** This was at the town of Kolberg, located on the Baltic coast. The French besieged Kolberg for more than two months, and even heavy bombardment didn't bring a French victory. The Prussians held out until events elsewhere brought about a peace treaty. The military forces were led by someone who became famous in German history, Prussian officer August von Gneisenau.***

Gneisenau and Gerhard von Scharnhorst, another military man who became famous, pursued reform of the Prussian military. Already by that time, Scharnhorst had written a couple of manuals on military matters. The overall success by these two men helped foster a sense of German patriotism in the Prussian forces, and thus began the more "national" movement, not just Prussian, to liberate the German territories from French control. With Napoleon's famous defeat in Russia, the Germans rose up, inflicting a major defeat on the French near Leipzig, known to history as "The Battle Of Nations." Some of Napoleon's German allied states then defected to the cause to remove the French from German territory. The Confederation of the Rhine was abolished, and the defeated Napoleon (defeated by the coalition, which invaded France and forced Napoleon to abdicate) was exiled to the Italian island of Elba. Not long afterward, Napoleon escaped captivity, returned to France and mounted a new military campaign against his enemies. He was defeated at the famous "Battle of Waterloo" (located in modern Belgium, but then called the "United Netherlands") by British and Prussian forces, with the Prussians playing a decisive role near the end of the battle. Thus ended Napoleon. So what now for the Germans? (A Word History is below the notes)

* Napoleon went to visit the tomb of "Frederick the Great," which was in nearby Potsdam (about 15-20 miles south of Berlin). Napoleon so admired Frederick, that he ordered his officers to remove their hats in respect, and he "supposedly" said over the tomb, "If you were still alive, would we be here today?" (I've also seen it as, "If you were still alive, we would not be here today.") Whatever the case, the Nazis later made much of this Napoleonic visit to the tomb of one of Germany's most admired historical figures.

** It should be noted that there are numerous accounts from those times of German apathy about being subject to French dominance. In some areas actually occupied (or annexed) by the French, many French words crept into the German language (and the local dialects), displacing original Germanic words.

*** The Nazis, after seeing the potential for defeat in World War Two, began the production of an elaborate movie based on the historical siege of Kolberg, with the title simply, "Kolberg." While many Nazi themes echo through the scenes of the movie, the basic script has much based upon the actual historical events. No question though, it was a propaganda film with the main purpose of encouraging Germans to resist overwhelming odds. The movie is in color (I believe much of the color has been "restored," as it had faded a good deal), and it has English subtitles. The making of the film was considered so important by propagandist Joseph Goebbels and by Hitler himself, that thousands of soldiers, dressed in costumes from the 1800s, were made available for the battle scenes, even though German forces were under pressure in the real life war. There are some great battle scenes, for those who like such things. While many a German paid with their life for any kind of "defeatist" sentiment under the Nazis, it is interesting to note that the writing for the movie began in 1942, when Germany occupied much of Europe, and before Germany had suffered any of the major defeats which came later in the war. So, it looks to me as if the Nazis had a premonition of defeat, or at least of a long struggle. The movie was gradually filmed and edited over the next couple of years, only being released in the waning weeks of World War Two, in 1945.

WORD HISTORY: 
Foster-This word traces back to the Indo European base "pa," which meant "to feed, protect." In the Old Germanic offshoot the "p" became an "f" sound, giving Germanic the base "fo," (which also became the base of our word "food") and then "fostrom/fostra." This then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "fostrian," with the meaning "to feed, to nourish." The more extended meaning, "to support a child in growing up," came along in the 1100s or 1200s. As part of this, "fostor" (as it was frequently spelled long ago, then later "fostren"), was coupled with other words to indicate someone "supporting a child, or helping to raise a child, who was not the actual parent, as Old English had "fostorfæder," "foster father." Its Germanic relatives' words are all centered around "food, fodder," and the specific meaning and usage of "foster" appears to only have developed in English.

The German Question, Part Thirty-Five

"Napoleon Dominant"

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

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

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

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

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

The German Question, Part Thirty-Four

"The End of the Old German Empire" Part Two

There was a series of wars from the 1790s into the early 1800s between various German states and France, along with changing numbers of allies for both sides. Each of these wars is a subject in its own right, and the wars are far too complicated to deal with here. Initially in the early 1790s, the French were under the Revolutionary Government, and then, from 1799, under Napoleon. Austria tended to be the main German state to take the lead against the French, at times with the support of Prussia. The French Revolution stirred strong emotions in differing segments of the German population (and other European populations), with some Germans seeing the French as potential "liberators" from their own princes, who were hereditary rulers. The upper classes and the nobility naturally opposed the French Revolution, and indeed they were terrified of any chance that it might spread to their own territories. Interestingly, Bavaria, after being occupied by Austria, which created resentment, decided to cast its lot with France, although this was not during the revolutionary period, but when Napoleon ruled. So not all German states always joined the alliances against France during this time period.

By 1803, Napoleon had inflicted major defeats upon his German opponents (mainly Austria), and France not only controlled, but annexed all German territory west of the Rhine River. Napoleon essentially forced the Reichstag; that is, the parliament of the German Empire (Holy Roman Empire), along with the support of the Habsburgs, to redraw the boundaries of the many German states, abolishing some, thus enlarging others. Whether intended or not, this helped move the Germans toward true unification as a modern nation, since an expeditious consolidation of the many hundreds of individual states had been something Germans themselves had not been able to do, although the number of states had dropped since the mid 1600s.*

In 1805, Napoleon defeated the Austrians once again, occupied Vienna, took the German territory of Tirol (a Habsburg possession), and forced the German emperor, Franz II (a Habsburg),** to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the summer of 1806. Thus ended one thousand years of this historic empire, but the seeds of German revival and unification were now sown. (A Word History is below the notes)

* If you have been following this series, remember, the actual "empire" was not a particularly strong entity, especially after the Thirty Years' War, and German states were thereafter pretty much like independent countries under the umbrella of the "empire," which was led by the Habsburg family of Austria. The empire had no permanent professional army of its own (also known as a standing army). The rulers of the multitude of German states would provide military assistance in answer to an appeal by the emperor, something that often was contingent upon how persuasive any given emperor was, especially later. As centuries passed and as the emperor's clout declined, the individual rulers of the German states became less inclined to send troops, unless they were in some way motivated by a given issue at any given time. Because a Habsburg was always elected emperor, the Habsburg's own troops came to form the most reliable element to support the Old German Empire. 

** To confuse things, German Emperor Franz II had declared Austria as the "Austrian Empire" in 1804, two years before he dissolved the German Empire. As Austrian Emperor (Kaiser von Österreich, in German) he was therefore known as Franz I. Austria had long been an Archduchy. 

WORD HISTORY:
Reich-This word traces back to Indo European "reg" (I "believe" pronounced more like our word "reek," or perhaps as "reeg") which meant "to move in a straight line," and then also, "to direct straight away, to lead, to rule." It is closely related to "rich" and "reach," and indeed German uses "reich" (in this case with a small "r") as its word for both of those words. Linguists are a bit divided, but some believe Germanic acquired a form of "reich" from Celtic, which, like Germanic, is a branch of Indo European, although it might be just as possible that Celtic acquired their word from Germanic. Whatever the case, Old Germanic had "rikja/rikjan," meaning "rule, authority," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "rice," not pronounced like the grain, but similar to "rike-eh." This meant "realm, power of a ruler, particularly a king;" thus, "kingdom." It later became "rike" and "riche," in English. The Old High German (the direct ancestor of modern German) form was "richi/rihhi," eventually developing into modern "reich" and "Reich." The capitalized form (all German nouns are capitalized) means "empire, realm" in German, and the "empire" meaning did not truly develop in the English word, although the similar idea of "kingdom" did, and English borrowed the "empire" meaning from Old High German, which then was replaced when "empire" was borrowed. The spelling "Reich" also came from German later.

The German Question, Part Thirty-three

"The End Of The Old German Empire" Part One

The rickety old Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, not really much of an empire since the end of Thirty Years' War, was still dominated by the Habsburgs, when a little man from the island of Corsica* became the leader of France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. That man was Napoleon Bonaparte.

Prior to Napoleon, the empire had given both the Netherlands and Switzerland their independence, costing the empire huge chunks of territory and population, as we already learned in an earlier segment.** Over a period of more than a century, beginning in the mid 1500s, the French began to chip away at the territories of Alsace and Lorraine (Elsass and Lothringen, in German), taking control of more and more of these lands of the German Empire. Alsace was very heavily German in background, including its language, with a fairly small portion being French in character, but Lorraine was a bit more evenly split, with a large area being truly French in character and language.*** By 1700, the French essentially controlled both of these provinces.

The German emperor was greatly weakened after the Thirty Years' War, since the individual German states became much more like separate nations in the war's aftermath, and these states remained purely under a loose umbrella type of association with the empire, which truly lacked a central government organization. (A Word History is below the notes)

* Corsica is an island located some 100+ miles southeast of the French coast (at its nearest point), about 60 miles west of the mainland northwestern Italian coast and about 7 or so miles north of the Italian island of Sardinia. It was under the control of Genoa (before Italy was united as a modern nation) for a few hundred years before a brief period of independence, followed by a takeover by France in the 1760s. The ethnic composition of the island was varied in those times, as many peoples traipsed across the island at one time or another, but "likely" the population was more tilted to Italian than any other one group, and Italian and a Corsican dialect/language (closely related to Italian) prevailed as the languages on the island until French was strongly pushed by France, whereupon it became the dominant language during the mid 1800s, as it remains to this day.    

** I just want to note that the southern area of the "old" Netherlands (prior to the independence of the northern area) was not granted freedom by the ruling (and owning) Habsburgs, and was called "The Austrian Netherlands." The area was approximately 60% Flemish speaking (a Germanic language, closely akin to Dutch and some Low German dialects; and in fact, some linguists classify it as a dialect of Dutch and others classify it simply as Dutch) and 40% French speaking. This general area, which is not so much a part of our story, eventually became modern Belgium.

*** The German dialects in Alsace trace back to the Alemanns, a Germanic tribe. Interestingly, the French use their forms for the Alemanns as their words for Germany, "Allemagne," and for German, "Allemand." The German dialects of the German speaking part of Lorraine trace back to the Franks, another Germanic tribe, and the words "France" and "French" both come from the Franks.

WORD HISTORY:
Tribe-This seems to go back to the Indo European roots "trei" and "bhu." The first is the root of "three," and indeed linguists seem to believe that it was used to signify the division of Rome into "three" parts. The second root, "bhu," is the root of "be." This compound gave Latin "tribus," which denoted the "divisions of the people into groups," which then gave Old French "tribu." It was borrowed into English from French in the 1200s, often initially with reference to the biblical "twelve tribes of Israel."