Hagen Schulze's Germany: A New History

In Germany: A New History, Hagen Schulze dives into many different aspects of the creation of the German hence the title. I am obviously not an expert on the history of Germany but from my previous knowledge of Germany I do know that it is a relatively new country, having only been unified for about 30 years. What I did not know and was unaware of was the background of how the German people became who they were and how they settled in what is now Germany. Schulze states in chapter 2 that the German nation did not consist solely of German-speaking people. In fact, it was constructed of a group of princes who were given the power of making political decisions that would represent their emperor. I had no idea that this is what the early stages of the German nation consisted of. Having not known this I had inquired that the nation of Germany had started like many other nations around it. This being that the people had been there as long as they could remember and that they were all alike. I found out that this is not the case for Germany and Germans. Schulze also goes on to say that if these princes’ orders to reform were followed correctly, then that would give the German nation a chance to establish itself like the French and English nations before it. I found this very interesting because like I stated earlier I had thought that Germany was created like other nations where it was a set group who decided to establish a unified nation.

This is a map of 15th century Europe showing the many areas of the Holy Roman Empire that are discussed in Germany: A New History

A little later Schulze’s book, he states that after the death of Emperor Maximilian I, his grandson, Carl V, succeeded him and had different ideas for the nation of Germany. The book says that when Carl V came into power he had the idea of unifying and modernizing the entire empire and creating a “universal monarchy,” which forced the idea of actual “German lands” out of the picture. Although the German nation was being pushed into the background, they did not give up. Schulze goes on to explain that when the Turkish Diet was in effect, German prince electors had advised that instead of attacking the Turks at Constantinople, they should concentrate their power towards reforming the empire because of the disorder in some of the areas already in the empire that already speak the German-tongue. This jumped out at me because of the way the German prince electors presented their idea. They saw that the emperor’s delegation had interests in taking Constantinople, but instead they argued that before taking other lands, you must first strengthen your own. I feel that this is an excellent example of the German people fighting for their unification. What I also found interesting was that even though the German people were trying to better themselves and better their nation in order to better the empire as a whole, Rome was inventing a multitude of ways to part the Germans from their money. I found this interesting because even though Rome and the German nation were in the same empire, there were still feuds based on which area is receiving more care from the Holy Roman Empire. 

Emperor Charles V succeeded his grandfather, Maximilian I, and became emperor in 1519

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