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German state names
See also Wikipedia:History of Germany
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Terminology related to Germany covers the different names of the country of Germany (WP), especially in English, over the last 2000 years
The terminology' for "Germany", the "German states" and "Germans" is complicated by the complicated history of Germany. This can cause confusions, in German, English as well in other languages. While the notion of Germans and Germany is older, only since 1871 there is a nation state called Germany. Later political quarrels and the partition of Germany (1945-1990) made it difficult to use the proper term.
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Pre-modern Germany[edit]
See also Wikipedia:Germania and Wikipedia:Theodiscus
Roman authors registered a number of tribes they called Germani; it is not certain what this word means or where it comes from. Originally it may not even have something to do with ethnics, and these Germanic tribes did not call themselves Germani. Later these tribes where identified by linguists as belonging to a group of languages, the Wikipedia:Germanic languages which include modern languages like German, English and Dutch.
Germani (for the people) and Germania (for the area where they lived) became the common Latin words for Germans and Germany.
Germans call themselves Deutsche living in Deutschland. Deutsch is an adjective (Wikipedia:Proto-Germanic *theudisk-) derived from Old High German thiota, diota (Proto-Germanic *theudo-) meaning "people", "nation", "folk". The word *theudo- was distantly related to Celtic *teuta-, whence the Celtic tribal name Wikipedia:Teuton, later anachronistically applied to the Germans.
In the Late Medieval and Early Modern period, Germany and Germans were kown as Almany and Almains in English, via Wikipedia:Old French alemaigne, alemans derived from the name of the Wikipedia:Alamanni and Wikipedia:Alemannia. These English terms were obsolete by the 18th century.
Germany until 1871[edit]
A modern German nation state exists only since 1871 (see Wikipedia:Unification of Germany), before that Germany referred to a geographical entity.
In the Middle Ages, the territory of modern Germany belonged to the realm of the Wikipedia:Holy Roman Empire, the Roman Empire restored by the Christian king of Francony, Wikipedia:Charlemagne. This feudal state became a union of relatively independent rulers who developed their own territories; modernisation took place on the level of these territories like Austria, Prussia, Saxony or Wikipedia:Bremen, not on the level of the Empire.
This Empire was called in German Heiliges Römisches Reich, since the late Middle Ages with the addition Deutscher Nation (of German nation), showing that in the meanwhile the former idea of a universal realm has given place to a concentration on the German territories. The last Emperor lay off the crown in 1806 under pressure of Wikipedia:Napoleon I of France.
In the 19th and 20th century historiography, this Empire has been often referred to as Deutsches Reich, creating a link to the later nation state of 1871. Besides the official Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, common expressions are Altes Reich (the old Reich) and Römisch-Deutsches Kaiserreich (Roman-German Empire of the Emperor).
Reich and Bund[edit]
See also Wikipedia:Reich
In German constitutional history, the expressions Reich (reign, realm, empire) and Bund (federation, confederation) are quite exchangeable. Sometimes they even existed in the same constitution, like when in the German Empire (1871–1919) the parliament had the name Reichstag, the council of the representatives of the German states Bundesrath. When in 1871 the Wikipedia:North German Confederation was transformed into the German Empire, the preamble said that the participating monarchs are creating einen ewigen Bund (an eternal confederation).
Due to the history of Germany, the principle of federalism is strong. Only the state of Hitler (1933–1945) and the state of the communists (East Germany, 1949–1990) were centralist states. This makes the words Reich and Bund used more frequently than in other countries, because politicians and citizens had and have to distinguish between an imperial or federal level on the one hand and the subnational territorial level on the other. For example, a modern day German minister is called in German Bundesminister, in contrary to a Landesminister in, e.g., Rhineland-Palatinate or Lower Saxony.
Because of the Hitler regime, partially also because of the Imperial Germany until 1919, many Germans - especially on the left - have negative feelings about the word Reich. However, it remains a common word such as in Römisches Reich (Roman Empire), Königreich (Kingdom) or Tierreich (animal kingdom).
Also Bund is a general word used for contexts other than politics. Many associations in Germany are federations or have a federalised structure and differentiate between a Bundesebene (federal/national level) and a Landesebene (level of the regional states), similar to the political bodies. An example is the Wikipedia:German Football Association Deutscher Fußballbund. (Its Bundestrainer, the national coach, does not refer to the Federal Republic, but to the Fußballbund itself.)
In other German speaking countries, the words Reich (Austria before 1918) and Bund (Austria since 1918, Switzerland) are used too. An organ called Bundesrat exists in all three of them, in Switzerland it is the government and in Germany and Austria the house of regional representatives.
| Name of the state | National Diet | House of regional representatives |
|---|---|---|
| Heiliges Deutsches Reich Deutscher Nation (-1806) | (did not exist) | (Immerwährender) Reichstag |
| Deutscher Bund (1815-1848/1866) | (did not exist) | Bundestag (officially Bundesversammlung) |
| Deutsches Reich (Wikipedia:Paulskirchenverfassung, 1849) | Reichstag (Volkshaus) | Reichstag (Staatenhaus) |
| Norddeutscher Bund (1866/1867-1871) | Reichstag | Bundesrat |
| Deutsches Reich (1871–1919) | Reichstag | Bundesrat |
| Deutsches Reich (1919–1933/1945) | Reichstag | Reichsrat |
| Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1949-) | Bundestag | Bundesrat |
19th century until 1871[edit]
The French emperor Napoleon made the Emperor of Austria step down as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Some of the German countries were collected in the Wikipedia:Confederation of the Rhine, which remained a military alliance under the "protection" of Napoleon rather than transforming into a confederation. In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, the German states created a Wikipedia:German Confederation with the Emperor of Austria as president. Some member states like Prussia and Austria had only a part of their territories inside the Confederation. Within the Confederation and in other territories belonging to member states lived some people who did not have German as their native tongue, for example Poles and Czechs. On the other hand, some German speaking populations lived outside the confederation.
When Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841 wrote the song Das Lied der Deutschen, the national anthem since 1922, he dreamt of a unified Germany (Deutschland über Alles) instead of the single states. Germany was in this age of the emerging national movement still merely a geographical term.
In 1866/1867 Prussia and her allies left the confederation, made the confederation dissolute and created a new state called Wikipedia:North German Confederation. The remaining South German countries joined the new confederation in 1870, with the exception of Austria and Liechtenstein.[1] Since then exists a state that is called the German nation state or simply Germany, although huge German speaking populations remained outside Germany.
German nation state 1871-1945[edit]
The official name of the German state became Deutsches Reich, linking itself to the former Reich before 1806. This expression was commonly used in official papers and also on maps, while in other contexts Deutschland was more frequently used.
The creation of a German nation state had as a consequence that some Germans lived inside of it and were called Reichsdeutsche, and others lived outside and were called Volksdeutsche (ethnical Germans). The latter expression referred mainly to the German speaking minorities in Eastern Europe. Germans living abroad (for example in America) were and are called Auslandsdeutsche.
After the forced abdication of the Emperor in 1918, Germany became the Wikipedia:Weimar Republic, named after the city where the National Assembly gathered. The official name of the state remained the same. It became necessary to find a proper term for the Germany between 1871 and 1919: Kaiserliches Deutschland (Imperial Germany) or Deutsches Kaiserreich. English speaking people feel an unease to use the title German Empire for a republic, that made them call the republic German Reich. Contemporary Germans called the republic Deutsche Republik, the term Weimar Republic already existed but become common use only after 1945.
Nazi Germany[edit]
After Adolf Hitler was seized power in 1933, the offcial name of the state was still the same. For a couple of years Hitler used the expression Drittes Reich (Wikipedia:Third Reich), which was introduced by conservative antidemocratic writers in the last years of the republic. In fact this was only a propaganda term and did not constitute a new state. Another propaganda term was Tausendjähriges Reich (Reich of thousand years). Later Hitler renounced the term Drittes Reich (officially in June 1939), but it already had become popular among supporters and opponents and is still used in historiography (sometimes in quotation marks).[2] It led later to the name Zweites Reich (Second Empire) for Germany of 1871-1919. The reign of Hitler is most commonly called in English Nazi Germany. Nazi is a colloquial short for Nationalsozialist.
There are cases in which an uncertainty comes up whether to use German or Nazi. Talking about World War II, some find it inappropriate to say that the Germans decided to invade Yugoslavia or Germany murdered the Jews of Poland, as Germany was no democracy. The use of Nazi, such as in Nazi troops, can be confusing or incorrect considering that the German army itself was not national socialist, and that there were indeed troops of the party, especially the Waffen-SS. A wording considered by others as improper can cause the accusation of being apologetic, or giving the German people a collective blame.
Greater Germany and "Großdeutsches Reich"[edit]
In the 19th century the German politicians, for example in the Wikipedia:Frankfurt Parliament of 1848/49, argued about the question what should become of Austria. In the Austrian Empire then lived not only German speaking people, but also Czechs (even on the territory considered part of the German Confederation), Hungarians and others. Including Austria (at least the German speaking parts) was called the Greater German Solution, a Germany without Austria the Smaller German Solution.
After 1871, the notion Germany no longer included Austria automatically. In 1919 the Weimar Constitution postulated the inclusion of Deutsch-Österreich (the German speaking parts of Austria), but the Western Allies objected to this. This was granted only in 1938 to Hitler (Wikipedia:Anschluss). The national socialist propaganda stated the realisation of Großdeutschland, and in 1943 the German Reich was renamed officially Großdeutsches Reich. However, these expressions never became common and popular.
In National Socialist propaganda Austria has been called also Ostmark. After the Anschluss the previous parts of Germany were called Altreich (old Reich).
Germany divided 1945-1990[edit]
After the defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the troops of Britain, France, the United States and Soviet Union.
Berlin was a case of its own, as it was situated on the territory of the Soviet zone but divided into four sectors. The western sectors were later called West Berlin, the other one East Berlin. The communists tended to consider the Soviet sector of Berlin as a part of GDR; West Berlin was according to them an independent political unit.
The name Deutsches Reich was still in use for a couple of years; when in 1947 the Social Democrats gathered in Nuremberg, they called their rally Reichsparteitag. In many contexts people still called their country Germany, even after two German states were founded in 1949, for example when someone emigrated from Germany to Canada or a bicycle race went through Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Federal Republic of Germany[edit]
The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) Bundesrepublik Deutschland, established in 1949, saw itself as the same state founded in 1867/1871, only under a new name and with a new constitution. The expression Reich gave place to Bund, for example the Reichskanzler became the Bundeskanzler, reichsdeutsch became bundesdeutsch, Reichsbürger (citizen of the Reich) became Bundesbürger.
Germany as a whole was called Gesamtdeutschland, referring to Germany in the international borders of 1937 (before Hitler started to annex other countries). This could cause confusions internationally (all German, pan germanique, a chauvinist concept), and in 1969 the Federal Ministry for All German Affairs was renamed into Federal Ministry for Intra-German Relations.
Until for about 1970, the other German state - communist Wikipedia:German Democratic Republic - was called Sowjetische Besatzungszone (SBZ, Soviet Zone of Occupation), Sowjetzone, Ostzone, Mitteldeutschland or Pankow (the GDR government was in Berlin-Pankow).
The term Westdeutschland was relatively unusual, because it could mean not only the Federal Republic, but also specific regions in the West of the Federal Republic of Germany.
German Democratic Republic[edit]
The communists, protected by Soviet Union, established in 1949 a Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, German Democratic Republic, GDR). This state was not considered to be a successor of the Reich, but, nevertheless, to represent all good Germans. Rulers and inhabitants of GDR called their state simply DDR or unsere Republik (our republic).
Until for about 1970, the GDR still supported the idea a German nation and the need of reunification. The Federal Republic was often called Westdeutschland or BRD. After 1970 the GDR called itself a socialist state of German nation.
Reunified Germany since 1990[edit]
In 1990 the re-established regional states of GDR joined the Federal Republic, and Germany was reunified. Keeping the official name of the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e., "Bundesrepublik Deutschland", the country was now being referred to more often simply as "Germany". "Westdeutschland" and "Ostdeutschland" are used more frequently to denote the western and the eastern part of the German territory:
- Westdeutschland is also called "alte Bundesrepublik", or "alte Bundesländer" (old regional states)
- Ostdeutschland is also called "neue Bundesländer" (new regional states) or "ehemalige DDR" (former GDR)
Although the formal reunification was officially completed on 3 October 1990, the "Wikipedia:inner reunification" of the formerly divided country is still an ongoing process to this very day.
Notes[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- Bithell, Jethro, ed. Germany: A Companion to German Studies (5th ed. 1955), 578pp; essays on German literature, music, philosophy, art and, especially, history. online edition
- Buse, Dieter K. ed. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture 1871-1990 (2 vol 1998)
- Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 (2006)
- Detwiler, Donald S. Germany: A Short History (3rd ed. 1999) 341pp; online edition
- Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany (2004)
- Maehl, William Harvey. Germany in Western Civilization (1979), 833pp
- Ozment, Steven. A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People (2005)
- Reinhardt, Kurt F. Germany: 2000 Years (2 vols., 1961), stress on cultural topics
