Germany

 The boundaries of the German State have undergone tremendous change since the end of the Holy Roman Empire.

 To paraphrase Voltaire: The agglomeration, the German State is neither holy, roman or an Empire. (Voltaire 2010). In 1776 the German State consisted of over 300 States (State 2023). The map below shows Germany circa 1500 and the many different states that comprised the Holy Roman Empire. Within the Holy Roman Empire, two States would become dominant in the late 18th century, the Kingdom of Austria and the Kingdom of Prussia. (State 2023). The Kingdom of Austria ruled by the Hasburgs was traditionally the dominant power in the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia grew in power and influence in the late 1700s and became a power playing within the Empire.   


  IEG-Maps, Institute of European History, Mainz / © A. Kunz, 2007

Cartographer: Joachim Robert Moeschl


Napoleon swept through the continent in the early 1800s, and in 1806 the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15 established much of what we know as Modern Europe. What is now known as Germany existed as 39 states combined in a German Confederation. 

author: ziegelbrenner 

Debates over how Germany would be eventually combined included debates on whether Austria would  be a part of any new German State, as you can see from the above map Austria (Kaiserreich Osterreich) controlled a large territory in what would become Germany but more importantly the Austrian Empire contained over 15 minority groups and many felt the political needs of the Austrian Empire would differ than the rest of the States of the Confederation. (State 2023) Revolution came to Germany in 1848 but the greatest change would come when Otto Van Bismarck the Chancellor of Prussia through a series of wars and sharp diplomacy, created the North German Confederation which united with Western German States after the Franco Prussia War and formed the German Empire


By permission of Oxford University Press, www.oup.com.


 This combined entity along with the Austria-Hungarian empire contested the first World War against the Allied Powers 


© German Historical Institute, Washington, DC / James Retallack, 2007.
Cartography by Mapping Solutions, Alaska.

Hitler led the next expansion of Germany in the 1930s

Cartography by Mapping Solutions, Alaska.

Source: Map 1, "Territorial Changes, 1935-1939," in Germany and the Second World War, edited by the Research Institute for Military History, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Volume I, The Build-up of German Aggression, by Wilhelm Deist, Manfred Messerschmidt, Hans-Erich Volkmann, and Wolfram Wette. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1990.


Hitlers defeat caused the partitioning of Germany between an East and West, with the Soviets gaining control of the East. 

IEG-Maps, Institute of European History, Mainz / © A. Kunz, 2005


Germany was now two States the East and the West. T.he East is below and the West will follow subsequently

The west

IEG-Maps, Institute of European History, Mainz / © A. Kunz, 2005

The fall of the Soviet Union finally brought Germany back to its current State as both the the East and West unified. 




Voltaire. (2010). Essai Sur L’Histoire Generale Et Sur Les Moeurs Et L’Esprit Des Nations, Depuis Charlemagne Jusqu’a Nous Jours. Ebookslib.

Unification of German states - countries - office of the historian. (n.d.). State.gov. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://history.state.gov/countries/issues/german-unification




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

London Calling

Image
 London Calling London, England has in recent history, been a leader in efforts to reduce anthropogenic climate change. An earlier example is the construction of the Thames Barrier. In 1984 the Thames Barrier became fully operational. This massive structure "... spans 520 metres across the River Thames near Woolwich and  protects 125 square kilometres of central London from flooding caused by tidal surges" (Kelly 2018). In today's currency the Barrier cost ~1.5 billion pounds.  This is to illustrate that the local city government in London has been aware of climate issues for some time.  Today they are using both top-down and bottom-up approaches to combat climate change. London has established the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. To achieve this goal they have drafted a report on the best practices and possible policy solutions to achieve the goal of being carbon neutral in 2030.  One example of a top down policy that would reduce co2 emissions wou...
Read more

Migration

Image
The assignment was to compare and contrast migration patterns as well as immigration issue in the United States of America and the European Union. I am going to do a little bit different and focus on the internal migration between US States and EU Member-States.  The United States is currently, if media reports are to believed, undergoing a internal migration from higher cost of living states primarily in the Northeast to lower tax and warmer States in the Sun-Belt. Here is a sample headline   These articles go into the recent census data that show the fastest growing counties are in the sun-belt where the largest counties as far a numeric decline were LA County and Cook County, Ill (Chicago). The article goes onto state that a Wall Street Journal analysis of the census data concluded, in part, that the suburbs and small and medium size cities have experienced the greatest growth.(Allen 2023). It is too early to tell whether of not these trends will continue and it is als...
Read more