Identification.
The name Germany is derived from the Latin word Germania, which, at the
time of the Gallic War (58–51
B.C.E.
), was used by the Romans to designate various peoples occupying the
region east of the Rhine. The German-language name Deutschland is derived
from a Germanic root meaning
volk,
or people. A document (written in Latin) from the Frankish court of 786
C.E.
uses the term theodisca lingua to refer to the colloquial speech of those
who spoke neither Latin nor early forms of Romance languages. From this
point forward, the term
deutsch
was employed to mark a difference in speech, which corresponded to
political, geographic, and social distinctions as well. Since, however,
the Frankish and Saxon kings of the early Middle Ages sought to
characterize themselves as emperors of Rome, it does not seem valid to
infer an incipient form of national
consciousness. By the fifteenth
century, the designation
Heiliges Römisches Reich
,or "Holy Roman Empire," was supplemented with the
qualifying phrase
der deutschen Nation
, meaning "of the German Nation." Still, it is important to
note that, at that point in history, the phrase "German
nation" referred only to the Estates of the Empire— dukes,
counts, archbishops, electoral princes, and imperial cities—that
were represented in the Imperial Diet. Nevertheless, this self-designation
indicates the desire of the members of the Imperial Estates to distinguish
themselves from the curia in Rome, with which they were embroiled in a
number of political and financial conflicts.
The area that became known as Deutschland, or Germany, had been nominally
under the rule of the German king—who was usually also the Roman
emperor—since the tenth century. In fact, however, the various
territories, principalities, counties, and cities enjoyed a large degree
of autonomy and retained distinctive names and traditions, even after the
founding of the nation-state—the
Kaiserreich
or German Empire—in 1871. The names of older
territories—such as Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Saxony—are
still kept alive in the designations of some of today's federal
states. Other older names, such as Swabia and Franconia, refer to
"historical landscapes" within the modern federal states or
straddling their boundaries. Regional identities such as these are of
great significance for many Germans, though it is evident that they are
often manipulated for political and commercial purposes as well.
The current German state, called the Federal Republic of Germany, was
founded in 1949 in the wake of Germany's defeat in World War II. At
first, it consisted only of so-called West Germany, that is the areas that
were occupied by British, French, and American forces. In 1990, five new
states, formed from the territories of East Germany—the former
Soviet zone, which in 1949 became the German Democratic Republic
(GDR)—were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany. Since
that time, Germany has consisted of sixteen federal states:
Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg,
Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia,
Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein,
and Thuringia.
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