Germany Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Germany

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Zusammenfassung von Germany

Name: Germany
Rating: 4.3 (48 reviews)
Author: Neil MacGregor

Neil MacGregor

Memories of a Nation

4.3 (48 Bewertungen)

22 Min.

Themen

General Knowledge German Politics

Inhaltsübersicht

Germany
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

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Kernaussage 1 von 8

What’s in it for me? Learn a bit more about Germany.

We’re all familiar with the two world wars. When we think of Germany, we often associate it with black-and-white footage from these horrific conflicts: Hitler delivering impassioned speeches from behind a podium; bombs raining down on European cities; half-starved people, freshly liberated from concentration camps.

But Germany’s history is much richer than this.

Though these blinks don’t pretend to give a comprehensive history of the country, they do strive to deepen readers’ understanding of Germany’s development. So let’s dive into German history and explore some of the facts that lie beyond common knowledge.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

that mere geography isn’t what unites Germans;
how Oktoberfest was born; and
which metal is preferred for German jewelry.

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the most famous monument in Germany, has a bittersweet history.

On July 13, 2014, a sea of wild soccer fans stood before the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital city, Berlin. It was the day of the FIFA World Cup finals, and, on a screen as tall as the gate itself, Germany went head to head with one of the federation’s most formidable teams, Argentina.

Why did Germany screen this historic game here?

Well, the Brandenburg Gate, according to professor and politician Monika Grütters, is a locus of symbolic power for Germans, a sort of centerpiece to all national celebrations. Indeed, this austere monument, which is considered a masterwork of neoclassical architecture, is the most famous landmark in modern-day Germany.

Commissioned by the Prussian king Frederick William II and intended as a symbol of peace, the Brandenburg Gate was constructed between 1788 and 1791. It was modeled after the gate to the Acropolis in Athens, and it served as a sort of capstone to Frederick II’s project of cultural improvement in Berlin. He’d already had a series of new and fashionable streets built, as well as an opera house and a palatial library.

But, though born in triumph and optimism, the gate soon saw darker days. In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte led the French army past the gate’s Doric columns and into Berlin. The French had prevailed at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt, defeating the Prussian army. Napoleon was now ruler of Prussia’s capital city.

Nor did Napoleon hesitate to demonstrate his dominance. He had the bronze sculpture that crowns the gate removed, carted all the way to Paris and put on display in the Louvre. This was a symbolic slap in the face, for the sculpture in question was the Quadriga of Victory – a horse-drawn chariot driven by the female figure Victory.

But the Prussians got the last laugh. Seven years later, with the assistance of the Russians, they defeated Napoleon and marched to Paris, where they reclaimed the stolen Quadriga. In 1814, it was returned to its rightful place atop the Brandenburg Gate.

It’s still there to this day. On that July day in 2014, it overlooked the crowd of joyful soccer fans as Germany scored one goal against Argentina and won the country its fourth World Cup.

But the Brandenburg Gate is far from being a symbol of victory and unity for modern-day Germans, as you’ll learn in the next blink.

The Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961, physically divided an already ideologically divided country.

If you were to walk along the Spree river past the Reichstag building where the German Parliament meets, you wouldn’t think that Berlin was a city with a grim history. In fact, it looks like any other affluent metropolis – except that, along the waterfront stand white crosses commemorating those who died while attempting to scale the Berlin Wall, which divided East and West Germany for almost 30 years.

The Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961, was the result of years of political disunity.

German influence once extended much further, making the country’s borders difficult to trace.

Like the Seine in France and the Thames in England, the Rhine river in Germany is as much a cultural symbol as a geographical feature.

Indeed, some of Germany’s most famous artists have incorporated it into their work. In his poem Die Lorelei, the nineteenth-century German poet Heinrich Heine situates the siren-like Lorelei on a cliff overlooking the Rhine, where she combs her long, blonde hair and sings bewitching songs that distract sailors on passing ships, causing them to wreck on the rocks. And composer Richard Wagner’s cycle of epic musical dramas, The Ring of the Nibelung, uses the Rhine as a backdrop.

German identity is constructed around the German language, standardized by Martin Luther.

During World War II, Thomas Mann, the German novelist and Nobel Laureate, went into exile. It would be more than a decade before he returned to his native land. However, when he did return in the summer of 1949, he told journalists that he’d never ceased to feel like a German author. For Mann, his language, in which he’d never stopped writing, was a truer home than his country.

Indeed, German identity is constructed around the German language.

Beer is about as German as it gets, and consuming it is a national pastime with a rich history.

France is the nation of wine, Russia, the nation of vodka. Indeed, some countries are so closely linked to a particular beverage that you can’t talk about one without thinking of the other. And for Germans the national elixir is beer.

In addition to solidifying German national identity, King Ludwig I also transformed the consumption of beer into a cultural institution.

Remnants of Germany’s vast medieval trade network can still be found abroad today.

Today, Germany is famous for its strong economy, but this is nothing new. Indeed, the Germans have been commercially successful for hundreds of years.

Back in the twelfth century, in the northern port cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, a number of merchant guilds came together and formed the Hanseatic League, later called Hansa. This confederation soon attracted new members, and by 1400, 90 German market towns had joined it.

Prussian royalty wore iron jewelry to show that they preferred utility to luxury.

Modern-day Germans aren’t exactly known for their frivolity, and it wasn’t much different two hundred years ago when Germans wore jewelry that was almost as sober as their personalities.

Unlike most European courts, which treasured gemstones and finery, Prussian royalty preferred iron.

One of the darker sides of Germany’s recent history is expressed in the art of Käthe Kollwitz.

In the 1860s, the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck led his country to the apotheosis of its military glory, and, in 1871, he became chancellor of the newly united German Empire. These were the first steps toward a modern German state and they were undeniably auspicious. Unfortunately, they were short-lived – crushed before the next century was even 20 years old.

This dark patch in Germany’s history is well expressed in the art of Käthe Kollwitz.

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Worum geht es in Germany?

Germany (2014) is about the culture and history of the Germanic nations that eventually came together to form modern Germany, a state which has had its share of dramatic historical moments.

Bestes Zitat aus Germany

The chariot makes clear that Napoleon had been defeated by a Germany which his invasion had largely created.

—Neil MacGregor

Wer Germany lesen sollte

Culture vultures
Historians
Travelers to Germany

Über den Autor

Between 1987 and 2015, Neil McGregor served as the director of multiple British art and history museums, including the National Gallery and the British Museum. His other work on Germany includes a BBC Radio 4 series and an exhibition at the British Museum. He’s also the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Shakespeare’s Restless World: An Unexpected History in Twenty Objects.

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