The shortest history of Germany - J. Hawes

I was taking some Mustertests for the Einbürgerungstest and I realized that 1. I did not actually know much about German history, 2. I had a book about Germany history lying around at home, so I might as well read it. I’m a great supporter of having books just lying around. Also, it’s not that I do not really know about the history of Germany, but I think I was missing a good overview and some relevant details - like, WW2 ended in 1945 but it was in 1949 that Western and Eastern Germany really came to be.

I am not sure what to think about the book. The author pushes the idea that Germany is made up of tribes, the main important subdivision being given by what side of the Elbe they were settled on, and each of the tribes have their own agenda. The western part is either worrying about or admiring France, the eastern part either worrying about or admiring Russia, the western part is more commercially inclined, the eastern part more military inclined. I am not very familiar with this idea, so I guess I’m just a bit suspicious. Interestingly, I had first heard of the very notion of subdividing Germany (also today) in tribes just a few weeks earlier in this video.

The bottom line of this reasoning, anyway, is that the eastern tribes dominated most of Germany’s recent history, culminating with even the new capital being in Berlin rather than, say, Frankfurt, after their defeat, and that the western tribes should claim their power back instead of being psychologically subdued to the east. Fraglich.

The book does a decent job of reviewing German history, and it’s sometimes funny.