User:Comitus/sandbox

Origins
In the first centuries CE, the Germanic tribes formed tribal societies with no apparent form of autocracy (chiefs only being elected in times of war), beliefs based Germanic paganism and speaking a dialect still closely resembling Common Germanic. Following the end of the migration period in the West around 500, with large federations (such as the Franks, Vandals, Alamanni and Saxons) settling the decaying Roman Empire, a series of monumental changes took place within these Germanic societies. Among the most important of these are their conversion from Germanic paganism to Christianity, the emergence of a new political system, centered on kings, and a continuing process of emerging mutual unintelligibility of their various dialects. From this new ethnic groups would gradually start to emerge which would slowly transcend the earlier tribal and linguistic structure. This process included antecessor groups to what would late constitute the German ethnic group, however the rate of formation for the German ethnic group (due to, among others, political fragmentation and linguistic diversity) was considerably less marked and more fluid than neighboring groups such as the Dutch, Danes and English, with the first signs of an emerging German ethnic consciousness dating to the 14th and 15th century. Much of the 19th and early 20th century German historiography was highly politicized and tended to axiomatically assume the existence of a medieval German people. However referring to any historical inhabitants of Central Europe between the post-migration period and early modern era (excluding those speaking Dutch, Danish, Slavic or Romance languages) as 'German' is largely anachronistic considering that the extent to which people self-identified and co-identified as Germans at the time greatly varied as did the concept itself.

"Any medieval 'German nation' which may have existed was of an altogether more limited, precarious and problematic in character than those to be found among the Germans' neighbours."

- The Shaping of German Identity (2012)

Nevertheless many elements of this gradual ethnogenesis can be retrospectively be attributed to the modern German ethnic group, though they should be placed in their respective historical contexts when projecting the concept of 'Germans' into the past. For example, the Second Germanic consonant shift (part of a linguistic process beginning in the 5th and completed in the 10th century) is often seen as the first innovation unique to the Germanic dialects which would evolve to become the German language. It should be noted though that taking the 'German language' as an ethnic marker can in some cases be problematic as not all native German-speakers identify as Germans. German-speaking Swiss do not define themselves as being German nor does the majority of the Austrians, though, in the case of the latter, this has historically varied. Furthermore, although the resulting 'High German' dialects would later form the basis for the German standard language, that standard form itself arose only at the end of the 15th century, with its adoption in writing occurring much earlier than the acceptance of its spoken form.

Consolidation
Despite the fact that many of the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the German people have their origins in medieval times, it is not until the time of the Napoleonic Period that explicit expressions of Germans belong together as a single people are expressed in great numbers.

Nationalism among the Germans first developed not among the general populace but among the intellectual elites of various German states. The early German nationalist Friedrich Karl von Moser writing in the late 18th century remarked that "compared to the British, Swiss, Dutch and Swedes" the Germans lacked a 'national way of thinking'. However the cultural elites faced difficulties in defining the German nation, often using broad and vague concepts such as defining Germans as a "Sprachnation" (a people unified by the same language) a "Kulturnation" (a people unified by the same culture) or as an "Erinnerungsgemeinschaft", a community of remembrance, suggesting a common history. When Johann Gottlieb Fichte; considered the founding father of German nationalism, wrote his Address to the German Nation in 1808, he devoted his 4th address to defining the German nation and did so in a very broad manner. In his view, there existed a dichotomy between the people of Germanic descent. There were those who had left their fatherland (which Fichte considered to be Germany) during the time of the Migration Period and had become either assimilated or heavily influenced by Roman language, culture and customs, and those who stayed in their native lands and continued to hold on to their own culture.

Later German nationalist were able to define their nation more precisely, especially following the rise of Prussia and formation of the German Empire in 1871 which gave the majority of the German-speakers in Europe a common political, economical and education framework. Though even in this period German national feeling was not always self-evident with prominent nationalist Heinrich von Treitschke (1834-1896) remarking that "The Germans are always in danger of losing their nationality, because they have too little solid pride"

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, some German nationalist added elements of racial ideology, ultimately culminating in the Nuremberg Laws, sections of which sought to determine by law and genetics who was to be considered German.

During the mid-19th century the main debate was whether the future state of Germany should be an Austrian-dominated "Großdeutschland" or a Prussian led "Kleindeutschland".

Close to one fourth of what is now Germany, including its capital Berlin, was not settled by Germans until the 13th and 14th centuries.

Close to one fourth of what is now Germany, including its capital Berlin, was not settled by Germans until the 13th and 14th centuries.

Endonym
The German endonym Deutsche derives from the Proto-Germanic root *theudo, meaning "people, race, nation", which was initially used as a blanket term referring to the 'common language' of Germanic people. Hence in its beginnings, it did not specifically indicate the German language or people. In the first recorded instance of the word (late 8th century) it is used to cover the language of the Kingdom of Mercia, which was English. As modern ethnic groups started to form, they increasingly used more specific terms for their respective groups. For example the Germanic speaking inhabitants of the British Isles became Anglo-Saxons, Angles and later: English. Many 'proto-Germans' did so as well, with many of the German authors of the High Middle Ages differentiating between (among others) "Bavarians", "Saxons" or "Swabians". These terms were modelled on the stem duchies, large land units generally ruled by local dynasties and, at least partly, based on earlier tribal affiliations. With the ever increasing political fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire following the Investiture Contest, these forms of self-identification became less prominent and the use of *theudo (in its many dialectal forms) became more prominent as a cover-all term to refer to Germanic/German speakers not otherwise specified. It is in this sense, that Diutisklant (Deutschland, Germany) is first attested in the 13th century.

The Slavic exonym for the German people, nemets/nemtsy derives from Protoslavic němьcь and literally means a mute. In Finish (Saksamaa) and Estonian (Saksa) the words for Germans originally referred to the Germanic tribe of the Saxons and were later adapted to indicate the German people. Similar developments took place in France, where the French word for Germans (Allemands) is based on the name of the Alemanni.

Language
Contemporaneously, the use of standard German in everyday speech can differ markedly from region to region. In northern Germany, the vast majority of Germans use Standard German in both formal and colloquial speech. In southern Germany however, Germans often opt to use local dialects or a form of language intermediate between the dialect and standard language when speaking colloquially. In Austria local dialects predominated up until World War II, while in German-speaking Switzerland Standard German is a de facto written-only language, with Swiss German being used for nearly all spoken interaction.

While predominant in Northern Germany as ,

In the 19th and first half of the 20th century many German nationalists, held the view that peoples like the English, Scots, Dutch, Swiss and Scandinavians were offshoots of an originally all encompassing German nation. For example, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, considered the founding father of German nationalism, defined the German nation as consisting of those who had left their fatherland (which Fichte held to be Germany) during the time of the Migration Period and had become either assimilated or heavily influenced by Roman language, culture and customs, and those who stayed in their native lands and continued to hold on to their own culture.

Following the rise of Prussia as the dominant German power and the eventual establishment of Germany under its leadership in 1871, many German philosophers and historians saw or sought to portray German history as if leading up to the definitive consolidation of the German people under the Hohenzollerns and in doing so tended to ignore other possible historical outcomes with respect to the Germans as a single ethnicity. For example it has been alleged that had the Hanseatic league not collapsed as a political and economic force in the 15th century, a separate ethnic group might have formed around a common political structure, an emerging standard language based on local Saxon dialects and a generally predominance of Protestantism among what are now considered to be northern Germans. Similarly, it has been asserted that had Prussia not gotten the upper hand in Germany over Austria during the 19th century, German dualism could have resulted in a more marked religious division (Lutheran vs. Catholic/Prussian vs. Austrian) to some extend comparable to the one observed between Serbs and Croats, who speak the same language but have different (Orthodox and Catholic) religious creeds.