Savage Ingratitude by Ari Ben-Tzvi

Author:Ari Ben-Tzvi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, politics, jews, judaism, conservatism, liberals, jewish politics
Publisher: Elderberry Press

CHAPTER 24

CENTRAL EUROPE: LANDS AND SPIRIT

As always, it is easier to understand history by looking at maps. In 1812, France, under Napoleon, was at the height of its power. Looking at a map of Europe at that time shows that French speakers were generally located west of the Rhine, and German speakers east of the Rhine (map V). The problem is generally. Who will rule the border lands? Those areas with mixed populations? Look at the map more closely and locate the Rhine River as it leaves the mountains of Switzerland. Just north of Switzerland, along the west bank of the Rhine, lie the two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Rulership of this territory was fought over between France and Germany. Follow the Rhine as it continues north, until it reaches the border of Holland. There is a long, narrow strip of land, along the western bank of the Rhine. The people in this area speak German. Immediately west of this northsouth narrow band, the population speaks French, until we get to Belgium, when most of the people along the Belgian-German border speak Flemish, a dialect of Dutch. The soil of these areas along the northern Rhine absorbed the blood of millions of soldiers from 1870 to 1918.

Germany, at the beginning of the nineteenth century was not a single land. It was composed of about 300 independent political entities. Among these, there were a few large states, of which the most important was Prussia. Austria was a German-speaking state also, but it was a special case, as it was part of an empire ruled by the reigning head of a dynasty named the Hapsburgs. As such, it cannot be considered a part of Germany.

By 1812, the French, under Napoleon, controlled large amounts of German territory. The French directly controlled all the German-speaking land on the left (western) bank of the Rhine. Most of the German states east of the Rhine (except Prussia) were consolidated into one and termed “The Confederation of the Rhine.” The Confederation was controlled from Paris as a puppet state. In 1806, French troops defeated the Prussian army at Jena (see map V) and proceeded from Jena to occupy Berlin. From Berlin they dictated peace terms to Prussia. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia was humiliated by France. Two major things happened as a result of the French occupation of “Germany.” First, an unintended consequence was the reduction in the number of small German-speaking states, helping to speed the unification of Germany. Paradoxically, the French-engineered amalgamation of these small states was to have a devastating effect upon France. The second thing was the very powerful enmity toward France on the part of many Germans. There followed from this a very strong growth of German nationalism, which was to be of enormous consequence to the entire world.

German Nationalism

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the language of all the courts of Europe was French. It is the greatest irony that when German, Russian, and Austrian generals met to discuss strategy against the French, they spoke in French.

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