A simple question. Leading powers, including France and Britain, tried to prevent it, and the subsequent history was not a pretty picture. What do you think?
Yes
No
Undecided
Was the unification of Germany (1871) good for Western Civilization?
A simple question. Leading powers, including France and Britain, tried to prevent it, and the subsequent history was not a pretty picture. What do you think?
I have some mixed opinions regarding this I think Germany united because they were trying to develop one culture a unified culture to counter the French and the British. The German people are united linguistically and during that time period they were developing a common identity culturally. I think a unified Germany is very powerful indeed the problem is that I think Germany should have only unified during times of grave threat from other nations as the Germanic tribes did on a common base. On the other hand when Germany was not united there were a lot of Free cities that prospered in a cultured setting and had a great deal of autonomy that allowed them to operate separate of a very powerful unified state.Originally Posted by Joe McCarthy
The German nation tended to an ugly form of Totalitarianism which tended to blind the freedom and individual mindset of the people this was not healthy because people would just blindly follow their leaders like sheeps without questioning their commands such was the case with Hitler. I think I am rather undecided there were so many factors that were at stake. A strong German empire is critical to being able to keep Europe strong I believe when the strength of Germany is fractured all the wealth of culture is threatened in Western europe. A strong Germany has kept any Eastern threats from encroaching on the high and mighty culture of Western Europe.
To put it in other words Germany is the door the castle which is the rest of Europe if you do not have a strong door to protect you from enemies trying to bash in then you are risking the whole castle if you do not have a strong gate. A strong and unified Germany is key I believe to keeping the rest of Western Europe secure and well protected from foreign elements the problem is when Germany desires to take over land to their east that things really get dicey. Germany needs to be checked in a sense because the German spirit is wild and free but at the same time Germany should allowed be able to become very strong and actually should be the cultural, political, and economical center of Europe. When it was all of these during the Weimar Period Europe was very strong.
There´s not much Spirit to watch out for here.
Oh, yeah , most are mingling with foreigners ,even beautiful german woman
I wonder by what right France and Britain would have had any justification of interference?
Which right is superior, the one of German self-determination or France's fear of a too powerful neighbour or Britain’s policy of balancing and fracturing Europe?
The problem of the German question was always that it never was a German question alone.
Our neighbours always thought they had a right to interfere in German domestic politics.
Analogous to your finding one could also conclude: "and the subsequent history was not a pretty picture"
Check out the history of the devastating 30 Years war, when Germany became a battlefield for almost all European powers of that time, although the initial conflict was a domestic one.
I think it was Dante Alighieri who said that a strong German empire was key to preserving the European way. Germany was key to protecting Western Europe from many outside threats also one of the biggest threats was driven out by a Germanic tribe at the battle of Tours in 756 this was a big moment in European history.
The first Reich under Charlesmagne was good because he built one of the first strong European cultures and united most of Europe under his reign. Frederick the II another powerful German monarch also gave Europe a very strong cultural identity. The second Reich was also very strong led by Otto Von Bismark and I think he did a great deal of good for Europe by unifying Germany straightening up the messy conditions in Western Europe especially in France after the French revolution. During the Weimar period a lot of the great scientist, philosophers, and inventors came from Germany. At the same time though the Klassik period and the Romantic movements in Germany which produced high levels of culture were in a time frame in Germany where they were governed by principalities and dukedoms for the most part.
I think a decent sense of autonomy and a Totalitarian state would be good for Germany. A balance between an Autarky/Autocracy and a Totalitarian State would very healthy for not just Germany but for all of Europe as a whole. Unfortunately with so much foreign intrusion this is nearly impossible these days unless the German people rise up again and demand for Germany to get strong again. To break away from the EU and to once again claim their former power and glory which they have the potential to do if they stop giving themselves over to foreign command and a homogenous enterprise.
Many countries are envious and jealous of Germany and her success but it is quite possible that if the German people got rid of the foreigners in a decent manner stopped giving themselves over to American ideologies and stopped just letting the conditions in Germany get worse either do to external forces or negligence on the part of their own government then it would be possible to restore some semblance of order to Germany and to Europe. An Organized Germany and a strong Germany is an organized and strong Europe. There will be other peoples that are afraid of Germany when she is strong but this is only because they resent her power and Germany's innate destiny to rule the European continent. I do think does need to be pacts made between three big powers in Europe to keep the peace such as three way pact between England-Germany-Russia.
The unification of Germany destabilized the system devised by Metternich at the Congress of Vienna. I don't think 'right', as in morality proper, applies in international relations. From Germany's perspective they were certainly 'right'. The question is whether the Occident, and indeed Germany itself, was ultimately better off as a result of unification.
For me it begs the question, What is Germany?
I think in the end it hurt Germany's image most European countries don't like a strong Germany even though a strong Germany would offer them protection. The problem with most of Western Europe is that they turned against Germany after World War 1 during the treaty of Versailles this was a major blow to Germany. Germany was there to protect Western Europeans and preserve their culture from Eastern intrusion when Western Europeans did not give up their trust to Germany this isolated Germany and self alienated it from the scene in Western Europe. This isolation is what led to World War 2. I do think Germany is one of the most misunderstood countries of all time. I think there needs to be a strong Germany that mutually recognizes and respects other Western European countries and wants to protect and preserve them.
The unification was inevitable, it had been a wish of the German people for centuries and I refuse your premise that the German question was the business of other nations.
The European nations used to take advantage of the weak and fractured nature of the Holy Roman Empire and annexed huge chunks of lands in the course of time. F.e. France, Sweden and Denmark all had annexed German territory.
People tend to forget, that it wasn’t before the 19th century, when Germany was finally on the way to a nation state, which was able to defend its self-interests. There was a lot of unsettled business like the annexation Schleswig by Denmark, which had been German or the annexation of the Alsace between 1633 und 1681 in the aftermath of the 30 Years War by France, although the Alsace had an undoubtedly German speaking population back then.
The wars which broke out in the 19th century were nothing but retributive justice, after all our neighbours used to take advantage of the weak and divided German “nation” for centuries and nobody is asking if this behaviour turned out well in the later course of history.
By the way, after the Franco-Prussian war 1870/71 we had 40 years of peace in Europe, which was quite an achievement compared to previous times.
This rare period of peace ended of course in WW1, but who’s to blame? The Unification of Germany? In the end it was all the fault of the German Empire?
I guess such views would be a gross simplification of a complex historic process with a long and also complex background.
Winterwolf. Ignore him. He is just a mere colonial that is hell-bent on dividing Europeans and citizens of entire nations and setting them against each other. I remember a thread that he made "Are the Brits Europeans ?".
‘Quel autre pays ou l’on puisse jouir d’une liberté si entičre’
(In welk ander land kan men genieten van een zo totale vrijheid)
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René Descartes over de Nederlandse Republiek.
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