Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine -
Vol. V, No. 4, Whole Number 28, January 1982
By Michael
Redmond
According to the popular mythology, World War II was
precipitated by the attempt of the Germans under the Third Reich to invade and
conquer the territory of their European neighbors, with world conquest as their
ultimate goal. The reality is that after World War I, the Germans were deprived
of substantial territories they had occupied for centuries, and the announced
goal of the Third Reich was the recovery of those portions of the lost
territories which were still occupied by German speaking populations.
Historically,
Germans have contributed much to the vitality of the nations of Europe, and
German boundaries once extended far beyond even the 1914 limits. Never fixed,
they have oscillated backwards and forwards throughout generations. If we wish
to understand rightly the historical distribution of the German political,
settlement, and culture areas, we must go back to the very beginning of
European history.
The
earliest forefathers of the Germans were the Norsemen of the early stone age
(2500-1800 B.C.). After the ice, which originally covered a large part of
Europe, had worked its way back on to the mountains, the Norsemen descended
into the western regions along the East Sea. For many thousands of years, they
dwelt in southern Sweden, in Denmark, and northern Germany.
The
Norsemen developed a high agrarian culture. They practiced husbandry, cattle
raising and seafaring, setting up permanent monuments to their dead which still
survive as the giant tombs of the Luneburg heath or the Oldenburg land. These
early Norsemen dwelt in high gabled, wooden houses which are very similar to
those of North German farmers today. The household furnishings consisted of
beds, cupboards, benches, and other articles. Beautifully formed vessels and
tools carved out of wood were in use. The Norsemen made their clothing out of
linen materials and twill. They knew how to tan the finest leather out of
animal hides. Their artistic sense was highly developed. It showed itself very
clearly in their beautiful stone weapons, the dagger and the battle ax.
The
Norsemen of the early stone age were energetic, well developed men of the
Nordic race. They multiplied very rapidly so that a time finally came when
their arable land was no longer sufficient for all. The youth, the pith of the
folk, had to go forth in order to acquire new land. The Norsemen wandered away
along many routes following every direction under the sun. They settled in
neighboring and far distant regions inhabited by foreign races. In only a few
cases was it possible for them to preserve their racial character. Frequently
they mixed with the natives and formed new peoples such as the Celts,
Illyrians, etc. In some cases, however, they acquired, almost unmixed, new
territories and created there – as Indo-Iranians, Greeks, and Romans – the
highly developed cultures of antiquity. The cultural values and the racial
traits of the Norsemen were spread throughout Europe in the course of these
wanderings. The unity of former times is still evident today in the languages
of most European peoples. Science has grouped these people together under the
name of Indo-Germans.
The
culture of Europe and particularly that of antiquity, as well as all that is
today based thereon, does not come therefore out of the east. Its origin lies
in the north, to a considerable extent on German soil.
At
the conclusion of the Indo-Germanic wanderings the Norsemen of the early stone
age united to form in their homeland a people unified internally and
externally, the Germans.
The
bronze age (1800-800 B.C.) brought German culture to a flourishing state and
also the first acquisition of land by the Germans on the continent.
The
heritage of their forefathers was developed still further and to an
unprecedented degree by the Germans. Land cultivation, animal husbandry, and
seafaring experienced a great upward swing. Objects of use, clothing, and weapons
were refined. Weapons which are objects of wonder even today were created out
of gold, amber and bronze, the first metal. Fighting and sports were encouraged
on all sides. Music and art also flourished to a high degree. All in all the
bronze age presented such a magnificent picture of the cultural development of
the Germans that it gave rise to the expression “golden age of the Germans.”
Natural
catastrophes, apparently spring floods along the coast of the North Sea,
suddenly produced a great need for land among the Germans. The rapidly growing
people was forced to decamp and take up new land. Constantly struggling with
their neighbors, they spread out unceasingly. They pushed across the Weser and
Oder. By the end of the bronze age they had reached the lower Rhine in the
west, the mouth of the Vistula in the east, and mountain ranges of central
Germany in the south.
The
iron age (800-50 B.C.) followed the golden age. It did not derive its name
solely from the new material, iron, which now came into use. But the name also
signified that now a real iron age had emerged fully of fighting and tussling
for new land.
Nevertheless,
German culture showed further progress even during this hard time. The
handicrafts and especially the art of forging blossomed forth, to which the new
weapons, swords, daggers and spears bear witness. The raising of horses and the
building of wagons attained a high degree of perfection, thereby giving for the
first time the possibility of great advances in farming.
Once
again youth was forced to stride out after new land. A climatic disturbance in
the western part of the East Sea region reduced the productive capacity of the
greatly overpopulated land. Food for man and beast no longer sufficed. In long
trains the heavy wagons of the peasants once again rolled out of the homeland.
In great battles and continual fighting the young peasants were obliged to
force their way into new lands. This time they spread out over an enormous
area. The greatest expansion took place toward the east. From the coast of the
German East Sea branches of Germans pressed across East Prussia, the interior
of Poland, and southward along the rivers as far as the Black Sea. Their
numbers were so weakened, however, in the course of numerous battles that they
were unable to establish themselves in south Russia and were absorbed by
foreign peoples. Groups of Germans from Denmark and south Sweden wandered into
the region vacated along the East Sea. They spread or rather worked their way
forward as far as the Sudeten. The western Germans went forth after new land
too. They advanced across the lower Rhine to south Holland and Belgium and
pressed on along the Rhine as far as the Rhine-Danube- Winkel. The iron age
had, in this way, brought about a tremendous enlargement of the German
territory. It was now bounded on the continent by the line Flanders, south
Holland, the upper Rhine, Danube, Carpathians, Bug and Memel. In consequence of
this great expansion the German people, up to this time unified and compact,
assumed the form of numerous branches which we classify as north Germans in
Scandinavia, east Germans east of the Elbe, and west Germans to the west.
The
age of the Romans (50 B.C.-375 A.D.) which succeeded the iron age is replete
with countless struggles of Germans with the Roman Empire which was powerful at
that time. The splitting up of the German people into branches now proved to be
especially disadvantageous. For all the successes of the Romans, even though
they were only temporary, are traceable back to the disunited, defensive
struggles of the Germanic branches. Nevertheless the Romans were unable to
conquer the core of the German territory, the Germany of today. In the great
and decisive battle in the Teutoburg Forest (9 A.D.) the west Germans under the
leadership of Armin were victorious over a powerful Roman army. This army was
completely destroyed and Germany was preserved for all time from Romanization.
The frontiers of the German territory in the west and southwest remained almost
unchanged. In the east, however, a powerful expansion took place once more.
East Germans, Goths and Gepidae pushed out from the region between the Vistula
and the Memel across Poland towards south Russia to the Black Sea and the lower
Danube. Here they separated into eastern and western groups. The east Goths
spread out from southern Russia to the east and north. They founded a powerful
empire which, under King Hermanarich, “united all the land between the Ural
Mountains, the East Sea and the Black Sea.” West Goths and Gepidae moved up the
Danube and in a similar manner created a great empire between the Danube and
the Carpathians which was able to withstand the onslaughts of the Romans. The
Marcomanni forced their way into the territory of the Sudetens and likewise
established an empire which gave the Romans a great deal of trouble. By the end
of the Roman period, therefore, the Germans had taken possession of all the
land between the Urals, the Black Sea, the Danube, and the Rhine.
The
period of Germanic migrations (375-1000 A.D.) is the heroic age of the Germans.
The invasion of Mongolian hordes from the far distant steppes of the east set
the east Germans in movement. Giving way before this pressure they abandoned
their old homeland and turned westward. After tough assaults they overflowed
the boundary walls and streamed into the Roman Empire which fell to pieces
under this onslaught. Some of the Germanic branches succeeded in winning new
land out of the territory of the old Roman Empire and in building up great
kingdoms beneath the southern sun. The Vandals erected an empire in north
Africa, the west Goths in Spain, the east Goths and Lombards in Italy, and the
Burgundians on the soil of southern France. These kingdoms could not last long
however, for the Germans constituted only a thin layer of leaders above the
older peoples and were gradually extirpated in the course of constant strife.
Once
again, some centuries later another stream of Germanic peoples poured out over
Europe. This time it was the north Germans branch, known as Normans, Vikings
and Varangians. The Normans, aboard bold dragonships, pushed as far as the
Mediterranean and settled down on its shores. They established states in
southern Italy and in Antioch, as well as in northwestern France and southern
England. While the Vikings and Normans wandered about over western Europe the
Varangians pushed across the East Sea onto the continent, proceeded with their
ships downstream to the Black Sea and even appeared before Byzantium, the
capital of the eastern Roman Empire. In that part of present-day Russia, to
which they gave their name, they established a powerful Varangian Empire. The
Varangians, therefore, overran Europe from the east.
The
Germanic territory had, during the period of the migrations, spread out over
all Europe. The political significance of this lies, not only in the fact that
for once the peoples of Europe were refreshed with Nordic-German blood and the
common basis of western culture was strengthened, but also in the fact that
through Germans Europe achieved unity for the first time. Whereas the Roman
Empire had not pushed beyond the limits of the Rhine and Danube and did not
include all of central and eastern Europe, the Germans flooded Europe from the
Urals to Gibraltar, from the North Cape to Constantinople. Europe, as a
cultural and spiritual unity, is therefore the work of the Germans.
The
west German branches had not participated in the great migrations. They
remained in their old homesteads, spreading out westward, however, over the
Ardennes and the Vosges. One of the west German branches, the French, founded
an empire in western and central Europe, which, after long continued struggles,
also included the remaining Germanic branches on the continent. About the year
900 this empire of the French split into an eastern and western empire. From
the eastern empire emerged the German Reich. Its eastern boundaries coincided
with the frontiers of the territory thickly populated by Germans and extended
along the line of the Elbe – Saale – Bohemian Forest – Enns. Its western
limits, after fluctuating back and forth, finally followed the line separating
Germans and Romans. Small territories belonging to the Romans were added to the
Reich, while the northwest tip of the Germanic region remained with France.
During
the succeeding centuries the branches of the Eastern Empire – Frisians, Saxons,
Frankonians, Thuringians, Swabians and Bavarians – merged to form the German
people, a people that blossomed forth mightily and governed the course of
history throughout the middle ages. The greatest accomplishment of the German
people was the winning back, during the middle ages, of the eastern territory
between the Elbe and the Vistula.
After
the migration of the east Germans, Slavic tribes pushed their way into this
territory. They shared the land with the hardy remnants of Germanic settlers
who had remained on the land.
The
colonization movement was first taken hold of by the Bavarians. In the course
of tough struggles with mountains and forests they spread out along the Danube
to the southeast under the bold leadership of the Babenbergers. Slowly they
forced their way high up into the valleys of the Alps and the Bohemian primeval
forest. These regions were for the most part uninhabited so that here the
acquisition of land could proceed peacefully. And, in this way, the Germans won
the central and eastern Alps, the Danube region as far as Pressburg, and the
southern interior of the Bohemian basin. To be sure the Bavarians in their
thrust towards the south and southeast found exceptional support from the
German Kaiser, since the territory acquired cleared the way to Italy. Thus the
oldest settlements of the Reich came into being, the Austrian, Styrian,
Carinthian and Krain districts. They have remained for all times the southern
outposts of the Germans. After the dying out of the Babenbergers (in 1156) the
new districts were separated from the Bavarian motherland as independent
duchies. The propelling forces of the homeland were thereby cut off and the
southeastern movement came to a standstill.
In
the northeast, along the Elbe and Saale, special districts were set up to
protect the German frontiers and to give the Reich military security. Hermann
Billung administered the northern district, Count Gero the central one, and
feudal counts of the King administered the one in the south, the Sorbische
mark. Since there was still enough land for pasturage and cultivation within
the German Reich, these special districts remained purely military areas
partially populated by Slavs. So long as the German Kaiser, who was of Saxon
parentage, focussed his attention primarily on the internal building up of the
Reich and, therefore, on the security of the frontiers, peace and order reigned
in these districts and the neighboring territories of the Slavs. When, however,
Emperor Otto II suffered a defeat in Italy and, in consequence of incessant
fighting in Italy, the Reich became weak, the Slavic tribes revolted in the
year 982 in order to shake off the German overlordship. The German towns and
settlements along the frontiers of these districts were destroyed and the
Germans massacred. Only with the greatest difficulty was it possible to bring
the onslaught of the Slavs along the Elbe to a halt.
After
this crucial insurrection the Elbe remained the frontier toward the east for
almost 200 years. However, during this period the German population increased
considerably. The German soil could no longer provide for this increase. In
this emergency the broad, thinly settled regions east of the Reich were
remembered. The procession of the German peoples toward the east began. To be
sure the German Emperors fostered the new eastward movement only in exceptional
cases. They had taken a fancy to the south and now pursued the dream of Roman
world domination. The Princes of the German frontier lands, on the contrary,
realized the great possibilities which the east offered them. They put themselves
at the head of the movement and thereby assured the success of German
colonization on that side of the Elbe. The protection of German Princes was all
the more necessary in as much as the Slavs interposed bitter opposition at
first to the onward march of the Germans. The sword had to clear the way for
the settlers at first.
Along
the coast of the East Sea Henry the Lion, the Guelf Duke of Braunschweig, with
the aid of his friend, Adolf of Schauenburg, won the territories of Holstein,
Lübeck and Mecklenburg. For the first time the German Reich extended as far as
the East Sea. Trade with lands along the East Sea was developed. Henry the Lion
devoted himself to this task with particular zeal. The founding of Lübeck,
later head of the German Hansa, was one of the farseeing acts of this great
colonizer. After the unfortunate rift between the Lion and Kaiser Frederick
Barbarossa the former’s work was destroyed because of the southern policies of
the Reich. Nevertheless the regions had been so thickly settled with German
peasants and urban dwellers already that, in spite of later seizures by the
Danes, they henceforth retained their German character.
At
the same time Albert the Bear, leader of the German Askanians, originating in
the old frontier district of Geros, secured control over the lands along the
Havel, Spree and Priegnitz. By negotiation and seizure, he gradually extended
his territory to the limits of the district of Brandenburg, he was the first
who could properly call himself Margrave of Brandenburg. His successors were
inspired by the same spirit. They extended the Askanian lands across the Oder
and so shaped the point of departure for the later state of Brandenburg.
South
of the district Brandenburg the Wettinian Princes strove to win land back
again. They built up the old Sorben district and recovered the territory of the
present state of Saxony for the Germans. Besides peasants there are primarily
miners and lumbermen here, people who settled the mountain ranges and the
interior of the Bohemian foreland.
About
this time the Sudeten territory, in which the German Marcomanni had formerly
resided, also seemed to defy complete Germanization. The Dukes of Przemysl, who
were friendly to Germany, called German settlers onto the land in order to
further its development. Likewise, Ottokar II, King of Bohemia, a whole-hearted
German, continued the Germanization of the Bohemian region. However, when he,
with shrewd, political insight, undertook to build a solid front from Bohemia
toward the east he was driven out of his lands by the vile, power politics of
the Hapsburgs. Once again a wave of Germans moved into the Bohemian lands when,
during the middle of the 14th century, Charles IV of the House of Luxemburg
attempted to make the Bohemian lands the center of the German Reich. He died,
however, before he could complete his work. The settlements of the Czechs had
already been pushed back to little remnants of land. The Germanization of all
Bohemia seemed to be assured. Then, just before the outbreak of the
Reformation, the Hussite war flared up and completely destroyed the whole of
German life in Bohemia. Since that time the Germans in this region were forced
into a defensive position. Although Bohemia belonged to the German Reich up to
World War I, that is to say to Austria, it was never possible to bring about
complete Germanization. And so, a deep wedge was driven between the northern
and southern regions of the German population area hindering the development of
a unified German front on the east.
Whereas
the land between the Elbe, Saale and Oder had in the main been acquired by
warfare, the winning of Silesia and Pomerania followed a more peaceful course.
The Slavic Dukes of these countries called German peasants and settlers onto
the land. The German settlers came at first from cities established by Germans.
The penetration of the lowlands proceeded slowly on account of the ideological
opposition of those living under Polish influence. In spite of that, however,
by the 13th century both of these lands were added to the German Reich, and
attached to the German population area.
With
the incorporation of Pomerania and Silesia the area about the Oder was
completely Germanized. In the territory about the Vistula, on the contrary, the
task of German colonization succeeded only in the northern parts. The opening
up of the eastern territory for the Germans was accompanied by the conversion
of the pagans residing there. The Poles settled along the Vistula, had already,
after the first meeting with the Germans, laid aside their paganism. So long as
these Polish regions were subject to the archbishopric of Magdeburg there
existed no obstacle to colonization. For the first time, in the year 1000, when
the religious enthusiast Kaiser Otto III founded the Polish archbishopric
Gnesen, the Poles received their own Polish national church. They also became
independent politically and culturally thereby. So, a second bulwark against
the Germans came into being. Further penetration of the Germans on the north
was checked. They were forced to follow the shores of the East Sea and leave
behind them the national territory of the Poles as a standing threat on their
flank.
The
recovery of the East Sea region lying east of the Vistula was the work of the
German Order of Knights. Conrad Massovia, a Polish Duke, called upon the German
Orders for protection against the still pagan East Baltic, Prussians and
Lithuanians. During the course of yearlong struggles they took possession of
the whole region from Danzig to Riga. Moorlands, islands and numerous estuaries
of the lower Vistula, and impenetrable wildernesses opposed them. Nevertheless,
after 50 years of bloody fighting the Order overcame the Balts. The German Order
of Knights that ruled over the region which is East Prussia drew German
peasants and manual workers into the country, gave them land and soil and
protected them from attacks. About the year 1300 the power of the Order reached
its high point. Emigrants to this eastern land from all parts of the Reich
built up new settlements everywhere.
The
colonization of the Baltic lands situated to the north of East Prussia, in
which the Order of the Brothers of the Sword took part, was more difficult. On
account of the long sea journey a sufficient number of German peasants and
manual workers could not be induced to go. Consequently, the Germans in these
districts were confined principally to the cities, which were strengthened by
Hansa merchants from Bremen, Luebeck and Lueneburg.
In
the course of time, since the Order of German Knights had been weakened by
internal conflicts, Poles and Lithuanians united against the Germans. As a
result of this alliance the Germans were defeated in battle at Tannenberg in
1410. The Order of the Brothers of the Sword was completely driven out of the
Baltic provinces and only the land around Marienburg was left for the Knightly
Order of the Cross. But East Prussia was now German and remained German
although for some decades it became a Polish fief under the overlordship of the
Polish crown.
During
the period of the decline of the German Orders the power of the German Kaiser
had also sunk to a mere shadow of what it was once. The driving force of the
German people was spent, the march toward the east came to a halt. Much of that
which the Germans had built up in the east by blood and toil was now exposed to
the onrushing flood of Slavs. Only after Brandenburg-Prussia rose out of the
ruins of the Thirty Years’ War did a new power appear which devoted itself
consciously and with determination to the eastern frontiers of the Germans. The
Great Elector rescued East Prussia from the feudal domination of the Poles and
attached it firmly to Brandenburg. The soldier king, Frederick I, devoted his
whole energy to building it up economically. Frederick the Great, with the
acquisition of Silesia, offered for the first time a strong united German front
in the northeast. He was able also to win back the bridge to East Prussia. As a
result of the first partition of Poland in 1772 he obtained West Prussia and by
the third partition of Poland in 1792 Posen together with Thorn and Danzig fell
into his hands. In that way the compact German population area was again united
under German rule.
For
more than 500 years, therefore, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, East and West Prussia,
Silesia and Sudeten Germany and German Austria were to be listed as part of the
German population area. In the course of a truly historical accomplishment all
branches of the German people won back these territories which comprise almost
one-half of the 1914 German population area. This reconquering was primarily a
colonizing process and a cultivation of waste and unproductive districts by
German peasants and townsmen under the leadership of its Princes and Nobles. In
no case were foreign peoples deprived of culture areas. German work and German
achievements alone transformed these districts into cultural areas. Out of this
fact arose the claim of the German people to these regions.
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