Interpreting the Visual Evidence
The New German Nation
In order to silence their
critics at home and
abroad, nationalists in
Germany sought to
create a vision of German
history that made unification the
natural outcome of a deep historical
process that had begun hundreds of
years before. In image A, the family of a
cavalry officer prepares to hang a portrait
of King William on the wall, next to
portraits of Martin Luther, Frederick the
Great, and Field Marshall von Blücher,
who commanded the Prussian forces at
Waterloo. In the lower left corner, two
boys roll up a portrait of the defeated
French emperor, Napoleon III. The implication,
of course, was that the unification
of Germany was the inevitable
culmination of generations of German
heroes who all worked toward the same
goal.
This unity was itself controversial
among German people. Image B, a pro-
Bismarck cartoon, shows the German
minister-president dragging the unwilling
liberal members of the Prussian
Parliament along with him as he pulls a
triumphal chariot toward his military
confrontation with Austria in 1866. The
caption reads: "And in this sense, too, we
are in agreement with Count Bismarck,
and we have pulled the same rope as
him." Image C, on the other hand, expresses
reservations about Prussian
dominance in the new empire. The title
"Germany's Future" and the caption: "Will it fit under one hat? I think it
will only fit under a [Prussian] Pickelhaube."
The Pickelhaubethe characteristic
pointed helmet of the Prussian
armyhad already become a muchfeared
symbol of Prussian military force.
Such an image may well have struck a
chord with residents of the non-Prussian
German states who now paid taxes to
the Prussian monarchy and served in an
army dominated by Prussian officers.
Images
Questions for Analysis
1. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d What is the significance of the familial
setting in image A? Why was it important
for nationalists to emphasize a
multigenerational family as the repository
of German national spirit? |
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2. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d How do images B and C treat the
question of Prussia’s role within the
new German nation? Was German
national identity seen as something
built from below or defined from
above by a strong monarchy? |
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3. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d What is the place of the individual citizen
in these representations of the
German nation? |
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