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In the mid. Х century Saxony inherited
power, influence and traditions of Charlemagne.
Saxon nobleman Otto was crowned in Aahen.
Tribal leaders
chose him as their monarch in 936 A. D.
This rule remained effective for the next 9 centuries: the crown was not heritable.
The king had to be accepted by nobility.
With his ascension to the throne of Charlemagne after the coronation
Otto demonstrated his willingness to be Emperor.
In Quedlinburg cathedral he prayed near his father’s tomb.
He knew: some leaders envied for his crown.
However, the outer menace was stronger.
Hungarian cavalry devastated the state.
"Enemies of God and people"
broke through to Rhine in 953.
For the protection against them
fortifications were built across the state.
But their surroundings were robbed and destroyed.
On Lechfeld, near Ausburg Otto leaded the decisive battle.
12,000 warriors from different tribes followed the monarch.
"Be courageous! God protects us!"
The struggle with common enemy unite.
Otto’s victory later promoted united German ethnos.
The state gained its borders.
It lied between Northern and Baltic seas, and Alps,
and on the East it reached Elbe and Saale rivers.
But Otto thought in different dimensions.
As Charlemagne he went to Rome for the Emperor’s crown.
There he sware before Pope
that he would protect Western Christianity.
Otto: "that I will be protector and patron..."
"...of Holy Roman Church and all its property at all times."
Roman emperors’ tradition inherited by Charlemagne,
then preserved by German kings.
Pope: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Near 9 centuries they own the Crown of Empire
which then became known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
This was a symbol of the ultimate power and God favour.
But German monarchs still were dependent upon nobility recognition
and Pope’s support.
This caused conflicts.
The strongest pressure was put on Henry IV
from Salic dynasty.
He reached imperial greatness through power struggle and humiliation
which shake the whole Western Christianity .
With Henry German Empire still was not the centre of power.
As his predecessors he was king-traveller.
He passed 120,000 km: three times across the globe.
His valetry, more than 2,000 people, followed him.
Henry had special feelings for this place.
Speyer was Salic dynasty’s capital.
There he built the biggest cathedral in the West.
Dioceses also support him.
Since kings had privilege of investiture:
appointment of Church clergy.
That was how Henry appointed a bishop by presenting him a ring and a baculus.
Appointment of bishops guaranteed king’s power.
They were faithful to him, provided with wealth, control over lands, troops recruitment.
That was how monarch controlled his vassals’ lands.
This caused conflict with nobility.
In the second part of the XI century
Pope wanted to deprive the Emperor of these rights.
Is Roman Pontifex above monarchs or vice versa?
In Bavarian abbey of Prüfening
we find presentative image of Medieval tradition.
God set subcelestial power in the form of two swords:
clerical authority belongs to Pope,
while secular power is Emperor’s.
Therefore both were equal.
But Pope Gregory VII believed,
that cleric power is supreme.
"Pope’s title is unique "
"How behaves this Pope!"
"Only Pope’s feet must be kissed by nobility"
"I am the King of Rome, Emperor, successor of Charlemagne!"
"He alone, independently of others can decide"
In German kingdom power struggle also continued.
"He alone can appoint and dismiss bishops"
"Then the other ascend Saint Paul’s throne"
"Pope can dismiss the Emperor "
In the midst of the confrontation the sides were rocky.
But Pope had powerful weapon.
He banned the Emperor from Church and ordered to announce this through the whole state.
"You have all powers..."
"I say about King Henry, who against the will of Holy Church..."
"... usurped the power over Germany and Italy!"
"I exempt all Christians from the oath given to him."
How should react bishops and nobility to the Pope’s proclamation?
Ignore or follow Pope?
"He dishonour the Empire"
"We sware him"
"And you too, Rudolf!"
"I sware legitimate ruler"
They lay an ultimatum:
Henry must achieve ban cancellation within a year.
Otherwise he would lose the crown.
Emperor had to act.
In icy winter 1077 he battled his way through the Alps
to face the Pope.
Hard trip, as chronicler wrote.
Pope lived in Canossa castle
in Northern Italy.
He feared Henry’s assault.
But he came to repent.
In ice cold he wait in front of the castle.
"Father!"
Only after some days, as written, the Pope pointed out him.
Refusal to repentant is unchristian.
Gregory VII had no choice.
He had to cancel ban.
Some call this humiliation,
the others say this was wise Emperor’s act.
After the trip to Canossa Henry saved his crown
and strengthened his power in the Empire.
There he and his dynasty leaved many memorials.
His grandfather had begun Speyer cathedral building.
Henry finished it.
Henry’s idea of God, the world, and the kingship: all was embodied in it.
He supported monasteries building.
At that time few people could read and write.
Almost all were monks.
Orders preserved and developed antique knowledge.
A century would pass before first universities emerged.
Till then monasteries, under king’s protection,
had been the centres of medieval culture and knowledge.
But not only.
They were the basis of economy.
"Ora et labora!" — "Pray and work!",
— taught Benedict of Nursia, the begetter of European monkhood.
Monasteries owned lots of lands,
which they transformed into cultivable, thus forming German culture landscape.
Prominent monastery is in Disibodenberg, in Southern Hunsrück.
The church is almost size of Mainz cathedral.
The typical landscape of that time:
farm and residential buildings.
In Frankfurt am Main time of decisions came.
St. Paul’s cathedral was the place of first national assembly,
the first German parliament.
German people had to freely elect it.
First delegates gathered from the whole Germany
to take part in first elections.
First time in history Germans voted as a united nation.
At least, 80% of males.
Many of them had passed the hard way to the ballot boxes.
From Baltics to Schwarzwald,
from Alps to Pomerania they voted.
In towns and villages they chose,
who would enter the German parliament.
Turnout differed across the lands:
from 20 up to 70%.
Almost 600 representatives
took power in May 1848 in St. Paul’s cathedral.
First time in history German parliament debated
the constitution which guaranteed basic rights of all citizens.
Birthday of German democracy.
But which state form to choose?
Republic? Parliamentary monarchy?
Whether Austria belongs to us or not?
Double issue of freedom and unity
brought stalemate to parliament.
Not the class straggle, but the power of Prussia
further determined the future of Germany.
It saw its mission in leading of German consolidation.
Against Austria will.
Annexation of duchies Schleswig and Holstein
caused the confrontation with Austria.
Prussia was stronger military power
and was in the midst of economic boom.
Berlin became the capital.
King palace still was the centre of power.
But political agenda was determined by single-minded prime minister.
He desired the unity of Germans, but without Austria.
The war was the ultimate solution.
Otto von Bismarck provoked the Emperor in Vienna
to mobilise against Prussia.
That was the sufficient reason for the immediate attack.
Moltke: "Bavarian army is not a threat to us —
their railway is far enough"
Bismark: "You mean the line Regensburg, Plzeň, Prague?"
In Königgrätz, now Czech Republic, then Bohemia,
in 1866 a decisive battle took place.
Prussian troops oppose Austrians and their allies.
New weapon determined Prussian success:
first good working breech loader.
The needle-gun.
The deadly advantage against enemy barrels.
Bismarck was interested in quick peace.
He reached the goal: Prussia dominated in Germany.
"North-German Union"
The North-German Union emerged.
Only the South-German countries left.
France became nervous.
The war against France would unite Germans:
this was Bismarck’s calculation.
He provoked French Emperor to declare war.
Both sides were guilty.
But France appeared as an invader.
Now the South-German countries were on Bismarck’s side.
At Sedan in 1870 the decisive battle took place.
Prussian heavy artillery barrage wipe out the French army.
German troops took Paris.
Prussian headquarters were in Versailles prefecture.
Here Bismarck planned the next step to German unity.
He wanted to utilise national euphoria from the victory
and annex the South-German countries to the North-German Union.
But there was a resistance. To overcome it,
Bismarck wrote a letter to King Ludwig II.
He knew, that monarch was against the idea
of annexation his kingdom to the unite Germany.
But he also knew weak points of Bavarian monarch
and used them.
Dream castles are expensive.
Bismarck transferred several millions to Ludwig.
Full of feelings Bavarian King wrote a letter,
which had been compiled by Bismarck in advance.
In the name of all nobility Ludwig asked King of Prussia
to be German Kaiser.
With Ludwig’s letter in his hands Bismarck was not far from the goal.
1871 in Versailles unite German Empire was blessed
through enthronement of Wilhelm I as German Emperor.
Crown prince Frederick: "Long live Your Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm!"
This was the union of nobility, not the democracy.
Creation of national state from above,
which, however, was enthusiastically welcomed by bottoms.
Besides South-German countries
German Empire annexed Elsaß-Lothringen.
Bismarck was saturated.
It was enough for him.
"German Empire"
As he was in power, he strengthened security and peace.
But young Empire sought to expand its influence in the world.
It became unprecedented economic miracle.
on the threshold of the XX century Berlin
was the most modern European metropolis.
It was called "Spree-Chicago ".
The capital’s temp impressed contemporaries.
Germany could be proud of its technical and scientific advancement.
"Made in Germany" became the symbol of reliability and reference quality.
Krupp’s plants became the hugest industrial giants of the world
and Empire’s armoury.
From the world power’s competition for the markets
Friedrich Alfred Krupp also wanted to take advantage.
Krupp: "Expansion requires more raw materials and new markets"
Wilhelm ІІ: "Don’t worry, Krupp. We will expand our colonies"
Unlike Bismarck Kaiser Wilhelm II
wanted to convert Germany into world power.
But Germans were late. The globe had already been divided.
1898 Reich built the base in China.
The same year Wilhelm began to build his own navy.
Here he met the opponent.
England saw threat to the European balance in it.
Wilhelm ІІ: "Our future is on water".
Wilhelm wanted to give Germans their place in the sun:
either in Africa, or in China, or in distant southern seas.
Emperor behaved as autocrat,
although there were chancellor and parliament.
What caused such a megalomania?
1933 Hitler was in power.
"Saviour of Germany ", as called by Nazi propaganda.
March in step instead of diversity.
Unity of people instead of parties.
Order instead of freedom.
Fuhrer’s will instead of democracy.
Nazi cult promised new greatness for Germans
and Thousand Year Reich, which complete their history.
Hitler wanted to transform Berlin into world capital — Germania.
Gigantic. Colossal.
Hitler: "This state, this Reich
will exist in the future millennia!
We can be happy to know,
that this entire future belongs to us!"
In the midst of the 1942 most of the continent
belonged to Nazi-Reich.
President Truman, Soviet dictator Stalin,
and British prime-minister Churchill.
They formed 4 occupational zones. Eastern lands were tore away.
But contradictions between the winners split the country and the continent
to communist block
and liberal block under the American leadership.
Since more and more people escaped from GDR,
regime wanted to force back its citizens.
In August 1961 the wall building started in Berlin.
This concrete monster became the symbol of divided Germany.
Moreover: the symbol of Europe and the world split.
Still, many people hoped,
that one day it would fall.
For decades the wall, the death traps and barb wire
made inner German border almost insurmountable.
Both blocks — NATO and Warsaw Pact — demonstrated their military power each other.
Military maneuvers for the war which should not have happened.
It would have been more than conventional military strikes exchange.
Both German countries on the edge of blocks
were potential nuclear war theatres.
They existed in the "fear balance".
October 3, 1990
free unity of Germans became real.
Weizsäcker: "...in unite Europe
support peace in the world".
Overcome of the split of Germany
was the step towards European unity.
Time to make friends. Germany during football fever of 2006.
The fact that people can freely gather here in Berlin
is a happy chance given by history.
Only for two decades Germans have been united and free.
And they are in peace with their neighbours for the first time.
Not for decades,
for centuries the struggle for unity, freedom and peace have been continued.
Obstacles were always:
we went through the aspirations of greatness, enslavement and war.
Who we are?
Where are we from?
These questions accompany our history.
"The Way of Germans�