German History - Highways and Byways Quiz

Answer: 962 (Coronation of Otto I by the Pope)

Many American and some British reference works cling like desperadoes to the year 800. One of the main problems with this date is that Charlemagne's Empire fell apart soon after his death, so this date involves lack of continuity. German reference works opt for 962.

The German king, Otto I (912-973, reigned 936-973) managed to get the Papacy to accept that the King of Germany had a right to be crowned emperor. The earliest record of the use of the term 'Romanum Imperium' ('Roman Empire') for this imperial title is 1034, and for 'Sacrum Imperium' ('Holy Empire') it is 1157.

The two titles were combined in 1254.

Answer: Nibelungenlied

In the "Nibelungenlied" all the key characters die a violent death, and the epic ends with a massacre at Etzel's (Attila's) palace. The "Nibelungenlied" and "Kudrun" are anonymous. "Tristan" was written by Gottfried von Strassburg (?-1210) and "Parzival" by Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170-1220). Though the subject-matter and plots largely predate the period all four works are regarded as outstanding literary masterpieces. (Incidentally, Wagner's operas based on medieval German literature aren't particularly faithful to the originals and don't pretend to be). During this period German lyric poetry also flourished, the best known and most highly acclaimed of the lyric poets being Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170-1230).

Answer: True

In 1356 the King and Emperor Charles IV fixed the electors (in German 'Kurfürsten') as follows: the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine (ex officio Viceroy), the Margrave of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony. Usually, the elections were something of a formality and it was customary to elect the male heir of the previous monarch.

Indeed, from 1438-1806, when the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire were dissolved, this little electoral college always chose the Habsburg heir.

However, the elections created a time lapse between the death of one monarch and the confirmation of his successor. During an interregnum the Count Palatine (of the Rhine) exercised the functions of the king and emperor.

In the 17th century two further electors were added - the rulers of Bavaria (1623) and Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in 1692.

Answer: The Duke of Saxony

Luther enjoyed the support and protection of the Duke of Saxony, Frederick III (the Wise), who ruled from 1486-1525. It was probably this support, more than anything else, that prevented Luther ending his life in much the same way as Hus had done in 1415.

Other German states that supported the Reformation from an early stage included the Palatinate, Hesse and Brandenburg, as well as most of the larger Free Cities, including Strassburg (then in Germany), Augsburg, Nuremberg, Hamburg and Lübeck - to mention just a few. To the east, Ducal Prussia (later East Prussia) was the first state to adopt the Reformation officially.

Answer: England

In the late 1620s the Imperial armies were in control of much of the North German coast, and it seemed that Austria had achieved hegemony. However, in 1630, Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden, keen to prevent the Baltic becoming a 'Habsburg lake', landed on the North German coast with a large, well organized army and rapidly advanced southwards, reaching the Danube within under two years. France, eager to curb the power of Spain, vigorously supported Sweden and its allies from 1635 onwards. The Prince of Transylvania intervened on the Prostestant side. England gave only very limited assistance to the Protestants and was increasingly beset by its own domestic problems.

This is not the place to go into the details of the Peace of Westphalia (Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück).

The authority of the Empire was weakened. Key provisions included the definitive withdrawal of the Netherlands and Switzerland from the Empire. Many of the armies consisted of ill-disciplined mercenaries who merrily looted and wrought havoc and destruction.

Although economic recovery was quicker then expected, the war accelerated the relative economic decline of the German lands.

Answer: Prussia

In the 1740-42 Prussia seized Silesia from Austria - and retained it in the Second Silesian War of 1743-45. In 1756-63 Prussia, in alliance with Britain, defeated Austria again and also France. During the latter war, Russia sided - irrationally - with Austria and France, and at times the position of Prussia was desperate.

However, upheavals at the Russian court in 1762 strengthened the hand of those in Russia who argued that the country's interests were best served by keeping Austria and Prussia as major powers, and Russia stopped fighting in 1762.

Answer: Göttingen (founded in 1737)

Göttingen achieved internationl renown for this within about three decades of its foundation. At the time this was a novel departure: most other universities were overwhelmingly teaching institutions. When the University of Berlin was established in 1810 it took the further step of trying to extend the emphasis on research to nearly all its students.

Answer: True

In 1866 Prussia went to war against the majority of other states in the German Confederation. The principle aim was to create the basis for a unified Germany under Prussian leadership, which then happened in 1871. The chief obstacle to German unification had been the presence of two major powers in the German Confederation of 1815.

In view of the fact that the greater part of the Austrian Empire was not in any real sense 'German' gave this expulsion a clear logic. Austria suffered a severe defeat in what many German historians refer to as 'the German War' ('der deutsche Krieg'), which implies that at the time it was seen as a civil war.

In the aftermath of this war Austria swiflty transformed itself into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in order to forestall any attempt by Hungary to leave the Austrian Empire: Hungary had a strong nationalist tradition and in 1848-49 the Austrians had had immense difficulty suppressing the Hungarian rebellion. Arguably, it was only after 1866 that Austria developed a distinctly national, rather than dynastic identity.

Answer: None of these

Of course, the Nazi régime harnessed the economy for war, but so did all the major combatants in WWII: there's nothing inherently socialist about that. It's hard to find any socialist measure implemented by the Nazis, and there's no agreement as to what they meant by the reference to 'socialist' in their name.

It has been suggested that it may have meant something like 'soldierly comradeship'. Indeed, they were violently anti-socialist and subscribed to Social Darwinism, that is, to the active promotion of the 'survival of the fittest', accelerated by the government.

It appears that the term 'socialist' was adopted by them mainly for tactical reasons. To take the name 'National Socialist' at face value is *naive in the extreme*.

Answer: False

It was a long and painful process but was tackled with growing urgency from the early 1960s onwards. One of the recurring complaints of student rebels in the second half of the 1960s was that the attempts to confront Germany's past had hitherto been superficial. An important milestone was the publication in 1961 of Fritz Fischer's "Griff nach der Weltmacht" (the title of the English translation is "German Foreign Policy Aims ...").

It became apparent that the Third Reich could not simply be dismissed as an 'accident in the works' ('Betriebsunfall') but that a much more thorough examination of German history was necessary.

There have been occasional rebellions against the process of confronting the past, but the contrast with attitudes in Japan, for example, is striking.