Memories of a Nation

Red Baron likes to read books about German history written by foreigners. The author of the most recent one, Germany, Memories of a Nation, is Neil Robert MacGregor, Director of London's British Museum. The German translation of his book became so successful that MacGregor was nominated as the founding artistic director of Berlin's new Humboldt Forum in the year of his retirement. This Forum will be housed in the Berliner Stadtschloss, which is currently under reconstruction, and will later form the southern part of Berlin's Museumsinsel.

Neil's argumentation is mostly straightforward. He wants to entertain his well-disposed readers with exciting stories and avoid boring them with sophisticated reasoning. Nevertheless, I drew some interesting details from his richly illustrated book worth blogging about. 

The text marked in blue is copied from the book.

The Berlin Stadtschloss (Humboldt Forum) under reconstruction ©dpa

The German Bible

It is common knowledge that Martin Luther forged the German language by translating the Bible using "original" Greek and Hebrew texts. I learned from Neil that Albrecht, the Archbishop of Mainz and Chancellor of the German Empire, had refused a translation of the Latin Bible (Vulgata), claiming that the German language was simply too poor, too coarse, to convey the scriptures.

To get the word of God across to the people, Luther schaute dem Volk aufs Maul (used the idiom of the ordinary people on the streets and on the farms), and while translating, he coined catchy new German words when they did not exist. Nearly all of his neologisms are combinations of two already used words, e.g., Schandfleck (spot of shame) for blemish, Gewissensbiss (biting of the conscience) for remorse, Lockvogel (luring bird) for bait, and Landpfleger (caretaker of the country) for governor. Eventually, Albrecht was mistaken twofold: he took neither Friar Martin's posting of the 95 Theses seriously nor his ability to translate the Word of God for ordinary people.

25 of Luther's 95 Theses

Spreading the Word of the Bible meant printing the German text of what happened in Wittenberg in 1522. 

Interestingly, Gutenberg initially used movable type to print the Latin Bible, but later he printed letters of Indulgence instead, which the Catholic Church sold. This practice was at the origin of the Reformation. Gutenberg printed thousands and thousands of Indulgence forms. So, as well as giving the penitent buyer remission of sins in the next world, it gave Gutenberg a handy cash flow. In fact, these Indulgences were preprinted forms: some spaces were left blank for the name of the person who bought the Indulgence and the date of purchase. This was administratively useful for the Church, as it meant it did not need to employ people to sit around writing them out.

One of Gutenberg's Indulgence forms was printed for Albrecht of Mainz.

Reinheitsgebot

In previous blogs, Red Baron addressed the German Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law), which allowed only barley, hops, and water in beer brewing. 

The Reinheitsgebot

Initially, the Reinheitsgebot had nothing to do with purity but the fear of famine. It was simply to prevent people from brewing with wheat or rye because the latter would be better used for bread.

The issue became highly political in 1871 when Bavaria imposed the Beer Purity Law as a condition for joining the new German Empire. 

 And the issue arose again at the reunification of 1990. Across Germany, the so-called "Brandenburg Beer War," fought out in the courts, lasted for ten years, all over a black beer brewed in the former GDR that contained sugar, something forbidden by the Purity Law.

Magisch Dunkel

Nowadays, the Köstritzer Schwarzbier is so popular all over Germany that even Freiburg's Ganterbrauerei brews a magical dark beer ... during the night of a full moon.

The Hanse

The Hanseatic League, or in Lower German Hanse, was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. It dominated Baltic maritime trade along the coast of Northern Europe from the 13th to the 17th century. 

The city of Lübeck was called the Queen of the Hanseatic League, but suffered as trade routes shifted from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Nowadays, Lübeck is no longer autonomous. On the other hand, Hamburg and Bremen, facing the Atlantic, have prospered and are still Free Hanseatic cities and separate Länder within modern Germany ... Both cities saw themselves, and still do, as republican city-states governed after the Roman fashion, by consuls and senators adopting for public buildings the Roman letters SPQR, Senatus Populusque Romanus. To this day, you can read SPQH, Senatus Populusque Hamburgensis, on the door of Hamburg Town Hall, and, similarly, SPQB in Bremen. 

Germany's airline is called Lufthansa, "the Hansa of the air," with its Senator class for business travel.

The Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a disaster for continental Europe, particularly for German territories. Napoleon's success was undoubtedly due to his unequaled war machine but was considerably facilitated by the missing unity of the German people. When the petit corporal defeated Austria at Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, Prussia's King Frederick William III kept his powder dry.

When, however, in 1806, Napoleon forced Austria's Francis II to abdicate as German emperor, most of Europe, including Prussia, was shocked. Queen Louise told her husband, "The more compliance we show, the more Napoleon mocks us as fools. The only thing that counts is the force against force." Following his beloved wife, Frederick William demanded that Napoleon withdraw from all German territories on September 25, 1806, and declared war on France. The inevitable happened on October 14, 1806. The once-glorious Prussian army suffered crushing defeats at the Battles of Jena and Auerstedt. Napoleon triumphantly entered Berlin on horseback through the Brandenburg Gate two weeks later.

Prussia's existence hung in the balance. During a meeting between Louise and Napoleon, the new emperor started the conversation, "What a fantastic robe you wear. Where was it made?" Louise snarled, "Shall we talk about insignificant matters at such an important moment?" Convinced that his beautiful counterpart was the warmonger, Napoleon asked, "Why did you start the war?" She answered, "Sire, the glory of Frederick the Great had deceived us about our means."

Napoleon meets his beautiful foe.

But Napoleon had created a formidable foe in the process: Queen Louise spent her remaining years encouraging the Prussian people to hold out until they could recover their dignity and their lands. They loved and revered her as the "soul of national virtue." They called her the Prussian Jeanne d'Arc ... Napoleon, when she died in 1810, remarked that Frederick William had "lost his best minister."

Napoleon returning from Russia

In 1813, following Napoleon's disastrous Russian expedition, the military tide began to turn in favor of Prussia and its allies, and the king suspended all existing military decorations. He ordered a new one to be struck for those who took part in the war against Napoleon. The Iron Cross was awarded to men of all ranks, not just officers, a historic innovation in Prussia and a brilliant PR stroke. Henceforth, all Prussians would be honored on equal terms in their fight to free the nation, irrespective of wealth or social standing. In fact, Fredrick William had just copied Napoleon's Légion d'honneur system, introduced in 1804.

Frederick William, above an oak branch, and the year 1813

The victory against Napoleon forged Prussian unity and pride. After reading Memories of a Nation, I visited the commemorative monument in Viktoria Park on Kreuzberg on my last visit to Berlin.

Steep steps for an old man approaching
the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig on October 18, 1813,
the forgotten Battle of Groß Görschen on May 2, 1813, known
to my English-speaking readers as the (second) Battle of Lützen.

The entry of the Great Coalition Army into Paris on March 30, 1814
March 30 was the provisional end of Napoleon's rule.

Better known to my English-speaking readers
as the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815.

Bismarck's "Mein Kampf"

The following information about Otto von Bismarck was new to me. The Iron Chancellor had forgotten to write it in his literary masterpiece: Gedanken und Erinnerungen. 

In August 1862, on a visit to London, he revealed his plans to his host, Benjamin Disraeli. Jonathan Steinberg describes what Bismarck said, "I shall soon be compelled to undertake the conduct of a Prussian government. My first care will be to reorganize the army with or without the help of the Landtag [the Prussian Assembly]. As soon as the army shall have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first best pretext to declare war against Austria, dissolve the German Confederation, subdue the minor states, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership. I have come here to say this to the Queen's ministers." They were stupefied. On the way home, Disraeli accompanied the Austrian ambassador, and when they got to his residence, as they parted, Disraeli said to him, "Take care of that man. He means what he says." Disraeli was right to take him seriously: Bismarck did precisely what he said he would do.

Eventually, the Iron Chancellor's plans demanded another decisive step: Defeating Napoleon III's France. Still, I had always thought that Bismarck's leitmotif had been Prussia's "Gloria" rather than German unity. At least old King William was more Prussian than German when he wrote to his wife Augusta, "Dropping back the name Prussia is half of my tomb." He wailed and wept on the eve of his proclamation as German emperor, "Tomorrow I will live the most unhappy moment of my life. We are going to bury the Prussian kingdom." Emperor William always remembered what his chancellor had forced onto him. Once, he famously said: "Prussians need only fear God and Bismarck."

It's all history. On Wikipedia, we read: "In Law No. 46 of February 25, 1947, the Control Council formally proclaimed the dissolution of Prussia."

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