What is The German Question?

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What is “The German Question”?

What is “The German Question”? This is a question that has been posed by many analysts over the years, each having their own views on what fulfills this question. However, each agrees that it is a question of high complexity. According to Constantin Frantz, “The German Question is the most obscure, most involved and most comprehensive problem in the whole of modern history”. What makes Germanys’ question so difficult to pinpoint is the fact that for all of its existence, until 1871 and again in 1990, it has struggled to unify a nation into a single state. As history shows, the German nation has struggled to create its own nation-state. Unlike France and Britain, Germany was a nation before it was a state. That is, its people had a strong sense of nationalism and common identity as a social entity but they were lacking a strong state, or a form of political organization that claims the exclusive right to govern a specific piece of territory. As Dahrendorf states; “We want to find out what it is in German society that may account for Germany’s persistent failure to give a home to democracy in its liberal sense”. But can we really analyze the problem in this way? It has not always been the same “persistent failure” hindering Germany from giving a home for democracy, but rather the problems faced by Germany throughout history.

To truly understand the German situation and its multiple struggles for unification, it is important to know the history of the present day Germany. This history is a very unique one, one very different from other European nations such as France and Britain. Therefore one can draw sharp contrasts between the process of national unification in Germany as compared to France or Britain. However, once established; “Compared with its historical precursors in England and France, industrialization in Germany occurred late, quickly, and thoroughly”. Early German history can be traced back to the House of the Hohenzollern. A family of German rulers, originating as a family of counts in Swabia in the 11th or 12th century. The Hohenzollerns ruled Prussia and eventually united and ruled Germany until the end of World War I. Their strong, rigidly disciplined armies gave Prussia a reputation for military excellence. During the 16th and 17th centuries, territorial rulers and city councils in Germany expanded their ...

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...have provided some insight on answering these two very important aspects of “The German Question”. “When is Germany? Roughly speaking, in the last hundred years. Where is Germany? In all territories that belonged to Germany during this span of time.” I believe this is truly the most important aspect of the German Question given the countries’ constant struggle for unification. Now that Germany is finally reunited it is on a straight track to the great country it should be.

Bibliography

Conradt, David P. The German Polity, Longman Publishing. New York, 2001.

Dahrendorf, Ralf. Society and Democracy in Germany, Norton & Company.

Lamborn & Lepgold, World Politics into the Twenty-First Century. Prentice Hall,

Upper Saddle River. 2003

Microsoft Encarta Premium Online; Germany. Encyclopedia Source. History of

Germany. 2004.

Niewyk, Donald. Lecture Notes; Inside Nazi Germany. 2004

Rosinus, Franz. Interview; Topics; German government, Helmut Kohl, political parties.

2004.

Sax, Benjamin. Inside Hitler’s Germany. Heath and Company, Lexington Massachusetts.

1992.

Walbruck, Harry A. Deutschland; Ein neuer Anfang. National Textbook Company,

Lincolnwood, Illinois 1992.

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