Germans (German:Deutsche) are the natives or inhabitants ofGermany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of theGerman language.[1][2] Theconstitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end ofWorld War II, defines a German as aGerman citizen.[3] During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history.[4] Today, the German language is widely seen as the primary, though not exclusive, criterion of German identity.[5] Estimates on the total number of Germans in the world range from 100 to 150 million, most of whom live in Germany.[6]
The history of Germans as anethnic group began with the separation of a distinctKingdom of Germany from theeastern part of theFrankish Empire under theOttonian dynasty in the 10th century, forming the core of theHoly Roman Empire. In subsequent centuries the political power and population of this empire grew considerably. It expanded eastwards, and eventually a substantial number of Germans migrated further eastwards intoEastern Europe. The empire itself was generally decentralized and politically divided between many small princedoms, cities and bishoprics, while the idea of unified German state came later. Following theReformation in the 16th century, many of these states found themselves in bitter conflict concerning the rise ofProtestantism.
In the 19th century, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, andGerman nationalism began to grow. At the same time however, the concept of German nationality became more complex. The multiethnicKingdom of Prussiaincorporated most Germans into itsGerman Empire in 1871, and a substantial additional number of German speakers were in the multiethnic kingdom ofAustria-Hungary. During this time, a large number of Germans also emigrated to theNew World, particularly to theUnited States. Large numbers also emigrated toCanada andBrazil, and they established sizable communities inNew Zealand andAustralia. TheRussian Empire also included a substantial German population.
Following the end ofWorld War I, Austria-Hungary and the German Empire were partitioned, resulting in many Germans becomingethnic minorities in newly established countries. In the chaotic years that followed,Adolf Hitler became the dictator ofNazi Germany and embarked on a genocidal campaign to unify all Germans under his leadership. His Nazi movement defined Germans in a very specific way which includedAustrians,Luxembourgers, easternBelgians, and so-calledVolksdeutsche, who were ethnic Germans elsewhere in Europe and globally. However, this Nazi conception expressly excluded German citizens ofJewish orRoma background. Nazi policies of military aggression and its persecution of those deemed non-Germans led toWorld War II andthe Holocaust in which the Nazi regime was defeated byallied powers, including theUnited States,United Kingdom, and the formerSoviet Union. In the aftermath of Germany's defeat in the war, the country was occupied and once again partitioned. Millions of Germans wereexpelled from Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990,West Germany andEast Germany werereunified. In modern times, remembrance of the Holocaust, known asErinnerungskultur ("culture of remembrance"), has become an integral part of German identity.
Owing to their long history of political fragmentation, Germans are culturally diverse and often have strong regional identities. SixteenLänder (states) make up modern Germany. Arts and sciences are an integral part ofGerman culture, and the Germans have been represented by many prominent personalities in a significant number of disciplines, includingNobel prize laureates where Germany is rankedthird among countries of the world in the number of total recipients.
The English termGermans is derived from theethnonymGermani, which was used forGermanic peoples in ancient times.[7][8] Since the early modern period, it has been the most common name for the Germans in English, being applied to any citizens, natives or inhabitants of Germany, regardless of whether they are considered to have German ethnicity.
In some contexts, people of German descent are also called Germans.[2][1] In historical discussions the termGermans is also occasionally used to refer to the Germanic peoples during the time of theRoman Empire.[1][9][10]
The GermanendonymDeutsche is derived from theOld High German termdiutisc, which means'ethnic' or'relating to the people'. This term was used for speakers of West-Germanic languages in Central Europe since at least the 8th century, after which time a distinct German ethnic identity began to emerge among at least some of them living within the Holy Roman Empire.[7] However, variants of the same term were also used in theLow Countries, for the related dialects of what is still calledDutch in English, which is now a national language of theNetherlands andBelgium.
The first information about the peoples living in what is now Germany was provided by the Roman general and dictatorJulius Caesar, who gave an account of his conquest ofGaul in the 1st century BC. He used the termGermani to describe theGermanic peoples living on both sides of theRhine river, which he defined as a boundary between geographicalGaul andGermania. He emphasized that theGermani originated east of the river, and that this river border needed to be defended in order to avoid dangerous incursions. Archaeological evidence shows that at the time of Caesar's invasion, both Gaul and Germanic regions had long been strongly influenced by the samecelticLa Tèneculture.[11] However, theGermanic languages associated with later Germanic peoples are indeed believed to have been entering the Rhine area from the east in this period.[12] The resulting demographic situation reported by Caesar was that migrating Celts and Germanic peoples were moving into areas which threatened the Alpine regions and the Romans.[11]
The modern German language is a descendant of the Germanic languages which spread during the Iron Age and Roman era. Scholars generally agree that it is possible to speak of Germanic languages existing as early as 500 BCE.[13] These Germanic languages are believed to have dispersed towards the Rhine from the direction of theJastorf culture, which was itself a Celtic influenced culture that existed in thePre-Roman Iron Age, in the region near the Elbe river. It is likely thatfirst Germanic consonant shift, which defines the Germanic language family, occurred during this period.[14] The earlierNordic Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia also shows definite population and material continuities with the Jastorf Culture,[15] but it is unclear whether these indicate ethnic continuity.[16]
Under Caesar's successors, the Romans began to conquer and control the entire region between the Rhine and the Elbe which centuries later constituted the largest part of medieval Germany. These efforts were significantly hampered by the victory of a local alliance led byArminius at theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, which is considered a defining moment in German history. While the Romans were nevertheless victorious, rather than installing a Roman administration they controlled the region indirectly for centuries, recruiting soldiers there, and playing the tribes off against each other.[11][17] The early Germanic peoples were later famously described in more detail inGermania by the 1st century Roman historianTacitus. He described them as a diverse group, dominating a much larger area than Germany, stretching to theVistula in the east, andScandinavia in the north.
Maps depicting theOstsiedlung, also known as the German eastward settlement. The left map shows the situation in roughly 895 AD; the right map shows it about 1400 AD. Germanic peoples (left map) and Germans (right map) are shown in light red.TheHoly Roman Empire after thePeace of Westphalia, 1648
German ethnicity began to emerge in medieval times among the descendants of thoseGermanic peoples who had lived under heavy Roman influence between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. This includedFranks,Frisians,Saxons,Thuringii,Alemanni andBaiuvarii – all of whom spoke related dialects ofWest Germanic.[11]These peoples had come under the dominance of the western Franks starting withClovis I, who established control of the Romanized and Frankish population of Gaul in the 5th century, and began a process of conquering the peoples east of the Rhine. The regions long continued to be divided into "Stem duchies", corresponding to the old ethnic designations.[12] By the early 9th century AD, large parts of Europe were united under the rule of the Frankish leaderCharlemagne, who expanded theFrankish empire in several directions including east of the Rhine, consolidating power over theSaxons andFrisians, and establishing theCarolingian Empire. Charlemagne was crowned emperor byPope Leo III in 800.[12]
In the generations after Charlemagne the empire was partitioned at theTreaty of Verdun (843), eventually resulting in the long-term separation between the states ofWest Francia,Middle Francia andEast Francia. Beginning withHenry the Fowler, non-Frankish dynasties also ruled the eastern kingdom, and under his sonOtto I, East Francia, which was mostly German, constituted the core of theHoly Roman Empire.[18] Also under control of this loosely controlled empire were the previously independent kingdoms ofItaly,Burgundy, andLotharingia. The latter was a Roman and Frankish area which contained some of the oldest and most important old German cities includingAachen,Cologne andTrier, all west of the Rhine, and it became another Duchy within the eastern kingdom. Leaders of the stem duchies which constituted this eastern kingdom — Lotharingia,Bavaria,Franconia,Swabia,Thuringia, andSaxony ― initially wielded considerable power independently of the king.[12] German kings were elected by members of the noble families, who often sought to have weak kings elected in order to preserve their own independence. This prevented an early unification of the Germans.[19][20]
A warrior nobility dominated thefeudal German society of the Middle Ages, while most of the German population consisted of peasants with few political rights.[12] The church played an important role in the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages, and competed with the nobility for power.[21] Between the 11th and 13th centuries, German speakers from the empire actively participated in fiveCrusades to "liberate" theHoly Land.[21] From the beginnings of the kingdom, its dynasties also participated in a push eastwards into Slavic-speaking regions. At theSaxon Eastern March in the north, thePolabian Slavs east of the Elbe were conquered over generations of often brutal conflict. Under the later control of powerful German dynasties it became an important region within modern Germany, and home to its modern capital, Berlin. German population also moved eastwards from the 11th century, in what is known as theOstsiedlung.[20] Over time, Slavic and German-speaking populations assimilated, meaning that many modern Germans have substantial Slavic ancestry.[18] From the 12th century, many German speakers settled as merchants and craftsmen in theKingdom of Poland, where they came to constitute a significant proportion of the population in many urban centers such asGdańsk.[18] During the 13th century, theTeutonic Knights began conquering theOld Prussians, and established what would eventually become the powerful German state ofPrussia.[20]
Further south,Bohemia andHungary developed as kingdoms with their own non-German speaking elites. TheAustrian March on theMiddle Danube stopped expanding eastwards towards Hungary in the 11th century. UnderOttokar II, Bohemia (corresponding roughly to modern Czechia) became a kingdom within the empire, and even managed to take control of Austria, which was German-speaking. However, the late 13th century saw the election ofRudolf I of theHouse of Habsburg to the imperial throne, and he was able to acquire Austria for his own family. The Habsburgs would continue to play an important role in European history for centuries afterwards. Under the leadership of the Habsburgs the Holy Roman Empire itself remained weak, and by the late Middle Ages much of Lotharingia and Burgundy had come under the control of French dynasts, theHouse of Valois-Burgundy andHouse of Valois-Anjou. Step by step, Italy, Switzerland,Lorraine, andSavoy were no longer subject to effective imperial control.
Trade increased and there was a specialization of the arts and crafts.[21] In the late Middle Ages the German economy grew under the influence of urban centers, which increased in size and wealth and formed powerful leagues, such as theHanseatic League and theSwabian League, in order to protect their interests, often through supporting the German kings in their struggles with the nobility.[20] These urban leagues significantly contributed to the development of German commerce and banking. German merchants of Hanseatic cities settled in cities throughout Northern Europe beyond the German lands.[22]
The Habsburg dynasty managed to maintain their grip upon the imperial throne in theearly modern period. While the empire itself continued to be largely de-centralized, the Habsburgs' personal power increased outside of the core German lands.Charles V personally inherited control of the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, the wealthy Low Countries (roughly modern Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia, and the Dukedom of Milan. Of these, the Bohemian and Hungarian titles remained connected to the imperial throne for centuries, making Austria a powerful multilingual empire in its own right. On the other hand, theLow Countries went to the Spanish crown and continued to evolve separately from Germany.
The introduction of printing by the German inventorJohannes Gutenberg contributed to the formation of a new understanding of faith and reason. At this time, the German monkMartin Luther pushed for reforms within the Catholic Church. Luther's efforts culminated in theProtestant Reformation.[21]
Religious schism was a leading cause of theThirty Years' War, a conflict that tore apart the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbours, leading to the death of millions of Germans. The terms of thePeace of Westphalia (1648) ending the war, included a major reduction in the central authority of the Holy Roman Emperor.[23] Among the most powerful German states to emerge in the aftermath was ProtestantPrussia, under the rule of theHouse of Hohenzollern.[24] Charles V and his Habsburg dynasty defended Roman Catholicism.
In the 18th century, German culture was significantly influenced by theEnlightenment.[23]
After centuries of political fragmentation, a sense of German unity began to emerge in the 18th century.[7] The Holy Roman Empire continued to decline until beingdissolved altogether byNapoleon in 1806. In central Europe, the Napoleonic wars ushered in great social, political and economic changes, and catalyzed anational awakening among the Germans. By the late 18th century, German intellectuals such asJohann Gottfried Herder articulated the concept of a German identity rooted in language, and this notion helped spark theGerman nationalist movement, which sought to unify the Germans into a singlenation state.[19] Eventually, shared ancestry, culture and language (though not religion) came to define German nationalism.[17] TheNapoleonic Wars ended with theCongress of Vienna (1815), and left most of the German states loosely united under theGerman Confederation. The confederation came to be dominated by the CatholicAustrian Empire, to the dismay of many German nationalists, who saw the German Confederation as an inadequate answer to theGerman Question.[24]
Throughout the 19th century, Prussia continued to grow in power.[25]In 1848, German revolutionaries set up the temporaryFrankfurt Parliament, but failed in their aim of forming a united German homeland. The Prussians proposed anErfurt Union of the German states, but this effort was torpedoed by the Austrians through thePunctation of Olmütz (1850), recreating the German Confederation. In response, Prussia sought to use theZollverein customs union to increase its power among the German states.[24] Under the leadership ofOtto von Bismarck, Prussia expanded its sphere of influence and together with its German allies defeatedDenmark in theSecond Schleswig War and soon afterAustria in theAustro-Prussian War, subsequently establishing theNorth German Confederation. In 1871, the Prussian coalition decisively defeated theSecond French Empire in theFranco-Prussian War, annexing the German speaking region ofAlsace-Lorraine. After taking Paris, Prussia and their alliesproclaimed the formation of a unitedGerman Empire.[19]
In the years following unification, German society was radically changed by numerous processes, including industrialization, rationalization, secularization and the rise of capitalism.[25] German power increased considerably and numerous overseas colonies were established.[26] During this time, the German population grew considerably, and many emigrated to other countries (mainly North America), contributing to the growth of theGerman diaspora. Competition for colonies between the Great Powers contributed to the outbreak ofWorld War I, in which the German, Austro-Hungarian andOttoman Empires formed theCentral Powers, an alliance that was ultimately defeated, with none of the empires comprising it surviving the aftermath of the war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires were both dissolved and partitioned, resulting in millions of Germans becoming ethnic minorities in other countries.[27] The monarchical rulers of the German states, including the German emperorWilhelm II, were overthrown in theNovember Revolution which led to the establishment of theWeimar Republic. The Germans of theAustrian side of theDual Monarchy proclaimed theRepublic of German-Austria, and sought to be incorporated into the German state, but this was forbidden by theTreaty of Versailles andTreaty of Saint-Germain.[26]
What many Germans saw as the "humiliation of Versailles",[28] continuing traditions of authoritarian andantisemitic ideologies,[25] and theGreat Depression all contributed to the rise of Austrian-bornAdolf Hitler and the Nazis, who after coming to power democratically in the early 1930s, abolished the Weimar Republic and formed the totalitarianThird Reich. In his quest to subjugate Europe, six millionJews were murdered inthe Holocaust. WWII resulted in widespread destruction and the deaths of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians, while the German state was partitioned. About 12 million Germanshad to flee or were expelled from Eastern Europe.[29] Significant damage was also done to the German reputation and identity,[27] which became far less nationalistic than it previously was.[28]
The German states ofWest Germany andEast Germany became focal points of theCold War, but werereunified in 1990. Although there were fears that the reunified Germany might resume nationalist politics, the country is today widely regarded as a "stablizing actor in the heart of Europe" and a "promoter of democratic integration".[28]
It is estimated that there are over 100 million Germans today, most of whom live in Germany, where they constitute the majority of the population.[31] There are also sizable populations of Germans in Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Brazil, France, Kazakhstan, Russia, Argentina, Canada, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Paraguay, and Namibia.[32][33]
Popular German dishes includebrown bread andstew. Germans consume a high amount ofalcohol, particularly beer, compared to other European peoples. Obesity is relatively widespread among Germans.[34]
A steadily shrinking majority of Germans areChristians. About a third areRoman Catholics, while one third adheres toProtestantism. Another third does not profess any religion.[17] Christian holidays such asChristmas andEaster are celebrated by many Germans.[36] The number ofMuslims is growing.[36] There is also a notableJewish community, which was decimated inthe Holocaust.[37] Remembering the Holocaust is an important part of German culture.[25]
A German ethnic identity began to emerge during theearly medieval period.[38] These peoples came to be referred to by the High German termdiutisc, which means "ethnic" or "relating to the people". The German endonymDeutsche is derived from this word.[7] In subsequent centuries, the German lands were relatively decentralized, leading to the maintenance of a number of strong regional identities.[19][20]
The German nationalist movement emerged among German intellectuals in the late 18th century. They saw the Germans as a people united by language and advocated the unification of all Germans into a single nation state, which was partially achieved in 1871. By the late 19th and early 20th century, German identity came to be defined by a shared descent, culture, and history.[4]Völkisch elements identified Germanness with "a shared Christian heritage" and "biological essence", to the exclusion of the notable Jewish minority.[39] After the Holocaust and the downfall of Nazism, "any confident sense of Germanness had become suspect, if not impossible".[40] East Germany and West Germany both sought to build up an identity on historical or ideological lines, distancing themselves both from the Nazi past and each other.[40] After German reunification in 1990, the political discourse was characterized by the idea of a "shared, ethnoculturally defined Germanness", and the general climate became increasingly xenophobic during the 1990s.[40] Today, discussion on Germanness may stress various aspects, such as commitment to pluralism and the German constitution (constitutional patriotism),[41] or the notion of aKulturnation (nation sharing a common culture).[42] The German language remains the primary criterion of modern German identity.[4]
^Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz (ed.). "Article 116".Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved3 June 2021.Unless otherwise provided by a law, a German within the meaning of this Basic Law is a person who possesses German citizenship or who has been admitted to the territory of the German Reich within the boundaries of 31 December 1937 as a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such person.
^abcMoser 2011, p. 172. "German identity developed through a long historical process that led, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to the definition of the German nation as both a community of descent (Volksgemeinschaft) and shared culture and experience. Today, the German language is the primary though not exclusive criterion of German identity."
^Haarmann 2015, p. 313. "After centuries of political fragmentation, a sense of national unity as Germans began to evolve in the eighteenth century, and the German language became a key marker of national identity."
^Moser 2011, p. 171. "The Germans live in Central Europe, mostly in Germany... Estimates of the total number of Germans in the world range from 100 million to 150 million, depending on how German is defined, but it is probably more appropriate to accept the lower figure."
^abcdHeather, Peter."Germany: Ancient History".Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved21 November 2020.Within the boundaries of present-day Germany... Germanic peoples such as the eastern Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians—all speaking West Germanic dialects—had merged Germanic and borrowed Roman cultural features. It was among these groups that a German language and ethnic identity would gradually develop during the Middle Ages.
^Troebst, Stefan (2012). "The Discourse on Forced Migration and European Culture of Remembrance".The Hungarian Historical Review.1 (3/4):397–414.JSTOR42568610.
^Haarmann 2015, p. 313. "Of the 100 million German speakers worldwide, about three quarters (76 million) live in Germany, where they account for 92 percent of the population. Populations of Germans live elsewhere in Central and Western Europe, with the largest communities in Austria (7.6 million), Switzerland (4.2 million), France (1.2 million), Kazakhstan (900,000), Russia (840,000), Poland (700,000), Italy (280,000), and Hungary (250,000). Some 1.6 million U.S. citizens speak German as their first language, the largest number of German speakers overseas."
^Moser 2011, pp. 171–172. "The Germans live in Central Europe, mostly in Germany... The largest populations outside of these countries are found in the United States (5 million), Brazil (3 million), the former Soviet Union (2 million), Argentina (500,000), Canada (450,000), Spain (170,000), Australia (110,000), the United Kingdom (100,000), and South Africa (75,000). "
^Haarmann 2015, p. 313 "Germans are a Germanic (or Teutonic) people that are indigenous to Central Europe... Germanic tribes have inhabited Central Europe since at least Roman times, but it was not until the early Middle Ages that a distinct German ethnic identity began to emerge."
