Ecce Germani

gunsandposes: Askari flag carrier of the Schutztruppe, the...

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:48:58 -0400

gunsandposes:

Askari flag carrier of the Schutztruppe, the African colonial armed force of imperial German East Africa, 1906.

collectivehistory: Children playing at the Berlin Wall, 1963....

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:41:57 -0400

collectivehistory:

Children playing at the Berlin Wall, 1963. (Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos)

King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom reigned for slightly less...

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:45:09 -0400

King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom reigned for slightly less than a year, between January and December of 1936, before abdicating to marry the American Wallis Simpson. He was created the Duke of Windsor by his brother, George VI, after the abdication.

As Duke of Windsor, he served as Royal Governor of the Bahamas during the Second World War, but after private accusations of holding sympathies to the German Third Reich, he retired to France, where he and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, lived the remainder of their lives.

The borders of the Principality of Liechtenstein (de: Fürstentum...

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:25:16 -0400

The borders of the Principality of Liechtenstein (de: Fürstentum Liechtenstein) have remained unchanged since their establishment in 1434, when the Rhine was used to denote the boundary between the Principality and the cantons of Switzerland.

King Harold Bluetooth Gormsson (non: Haraldr blatonn Gormsson,...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:04:53 -0400

King Harold Bluetooth Gormsson (non: Haraldr blatonn Gormsson, da: Harald Blåtand Gormsen) was born around 935 and died in 986. He reigned over Denmark from 958 until his death, and was King of Nrway for a time during the 970s.

Harold Bluetooth became the first Scandinavian king to convert to Christianity, probably in the 960s. He attempted to spread Christianity throughout Norway and Denmark, though met little success.

du bist nazzi ?

Tue, 07 May 2013 14:55:23 -0400

Ich bin Deutscher.

themodernhistory: Berlin, 1945 | After the Fall: Photos of...

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:21:32 -0400

themodernhistory:

Berlin, 1945 | After the Fall: Photos of Hitler’s Bunker and the Ruins of Berlin, 1945 | LIFE.com

In April 1945, as Russian and German troops fought — savagely, street by street — for control of the German capital, it became increasingly clear that the Allies would win the war in Europe. Not long after the two-week battle for Berlin ended, 33-year-old LIFE photographer William Vandivert was on the scene, photographing the city’s devastated landscape — and the eerie, almost unfathomable scene inside the bunker where Adolf Hitler spent the last months of his life; where he and Eva Braun were married; and where, just before war’s end, the two killed themselves.

A monument to Karl Marx in Chemnitz, then Karl Marx City (de:...

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:39:47 -0400

A monument to Karl Marx in Chemnitz, then Karl Marx City (de: Karl-Marx-Stadt).

In line with Karl Marx’s personal ideology, the government of the German Democratic Republic put forward an effort to drive away from Prussian history and connections between East Germany and Prussia, focusing instead on the Peasant Wars of the Protestant Reformation and the class struggle during the 19th century industrialization.

Jan van Riebeeck was an officer of the Dutch East India Company,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:01:33 -0400

Jan van Riebeeck was an officer of the Dutch East India Company, and volunteered for the command of the first settlement in what is now South Africa- the Cape Colony (nd: Kaapkolonie).

He served as Commander of the Cape from 1652 to 1662, and died in Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) in 1677.

Ludwig II of Bavaria, often also called Mad King Ludwig, the...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:02:10 -0400

Ludwig II of Bavaria, often also called Mad King Ludwig, the Swan King, or the Fairy Tale King (de: Märchenkönig), reigned from 1864 to 1886, to be succeeded by his brother, Otto, after dying under mysterious circumstances.

King Ludwig is probably remembered mostly from the circumstances of his death. On the night of 13 June, 1886, he disappeared, and his body was recovered in Lake Starnberg the following morning. His cause of death was officially ruled to be drowning, but his autopsy showed no water in his lungs, the area of the lake he was found was waist-deep, and Ludwig was reportedly a strong swimmer.

HRE Charles V of Spain was born in Ghent, Flanders in 1550. He...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:01:26 -0400

HRE Charles V of Spain was born in Ghent, Flanders in 1550. He spoke Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Latin, and was tutored in his youth by the future Pope Adrian VI.

Due to the irregular circumstances of the Ferdinand II and Joanna of Spain, he inherited the crowns of the Spanish kingdoms, under the promise that he would learn to speak Castilian, not appoint foreigners to Spanish offices, and not export precious metals from Spanish territory.

Upon his voluntary retirement, the Hapsburg monarchy was inherited by Ferdinand I, and the Spanish realms by Philip II.

During his reign, Charles’s official title was:

Charles, by the grace of God, Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of all Spains, of Castile, Aragon, León, Navarra, Grenada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Sevilla, Cordova, Murcia, Jaén, Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, King of Two Sicilies, of Sardinia, Corsica, King of Jerusalem, King of the Western and Eastern Indies, Lord of the Islands and Main Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Lorraine, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Limburg, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Neopatria, Württemberg, Landgrave of Alsace, Prince of Swabia, Asturia and Catalonia, Count of Flanders, Habsburg, Tyrol, Gorizia, Barcelona, Artois, Burgundy Palatine, Hainaut, Holland, Seeland, Ferrette, Kyburg, Namur, Roussillon, Cerdagne, Drenthe, Zutphen, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Oristano and Gociano, Lord of Frisia, the Wendish March, Pordenone, Biscay, Molin, Salins, Tripoli and Mechelen.

Housecarls (non: húskarl, ang: huscarl) were free men who served...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:02:22 -0400

Housecarls (non: húskarl, ang: huscarl) were free men who served lords as personal bodyguards. The practice originated in Scandinavia and spread to England during the Danelaw.

As many as 3,000 housecarls may have fought alongside King Harold Godwinson at Stamford Bridge and Hastings, and did not stop fighting upon Harold’s death; instead, they fought until the Norman invaders had killed every one. Pictured above is a fight between a housecarl wielding an axe and a Norman knight during the Battle of Hastings.

The German Imperial Navy (de: Kaiserliche Marine) was created at the formation of the German Empire...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:01:26 -0400

The German Imperial Navy (de: Kaiserliche Marine) was created at the formation of the German Empire in 1871 until 1919. It was formed out of the Prussia Navy and the North German Federal Navy- both of which had operated primarily with the purpose of defending coastal territory, not as a wartime force.

Under Emperor William II (reigned 1888-1918), the Imperial Navy saw a great expansion, executed mainly by Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. William envisioned a German navy to rival the British Royal Navy, and the naval arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany resulted in Germany’s maritime force growing to compete with the Royal Navy, even being called the second greatest navy in the world by contemporaries.

During World War I, the surface fleet merely matched the British forces, though the submarines operated by Germany proved highly effective against British warships and devastated British supply lines.

After the defeat and collapse of the German Empire, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of the remainder of the Imperial Navy to prevent the ships from falling into British and French hands. The scuttling of seventy-four ships was attempted, and fifty-two were successfully sunk at Scapa Flow, Orkney in June of 1919.

Hi, don't mean to be a spoilsport but the German translation on your side doesn't make a lot of sense. It sould either be: "Einfach ein Blog, der den deutschen Völkern gewidmet ist." or "Einfach ein den deutschen Völkern gewidmenter Blog." And I'm also not sure if you mean "germanische Völker"/ "den germanischen Völkern" since you are not only blogging about Germany. Otherwide: amazing blog, I love history :)

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:21:07 -0400

Don’t worry, I’m glad you told me! I was around a lot of German in my family growing up, but I’ve never had it as a daily language because I’m from the US. I’m working on my German so I can one day live/study/work in the country, but as you can see I’m not there yet :b

Wouldn’t ‘deutsche Völker’ be only about Germany? I’ve only ever heard ‘germanisch’ applied to the Germanen- Germanic tribes. Is there a better translation?

And thank you for the compliment! Keeping this blog is very enjoyable to me.

The regular posting schedule (2 posts per day on weekdays) will resume on the 12th of April. Please...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:35:48 -0400

The regular posting schedule (2 posts per day on weekdays) will resume on the 12th of April. Please leave suggestions for themes in the ask box!

Der regelmäßig Eintragsplan (2 Beiträge pro Tag an Wochentagen) wird am 12. April erneut anfangen. Bitte, stellen Empfehlungen für Themen in das Ask Box.

German troops entering Brünn, Czechoslovakia (cz: Brno), being...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:02:15 -0400

German troops entering Brünn, Czechoslovakia (cz: Brno), being greeted by Czech Germans.

Children at a Berlin soup kitchen, 1924.

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:02:33 -0400

Children at a Berlin soup kitchen, 1924.

A crowd in Berlin gathers around an officer reading the...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:01:54 -0400

A crowd in Berlin gathers around an officer reading the Kaiser’s declaration of war- 1 August 1914.

demons: American and Soviet armor standing off during the...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:02:24 -0400

demons:

American and Soviet armor standing off during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

Protest in front of the Reichstag against the Treaty of...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:02:18 -0400

Protest in front of the Reichstag against the Treaty of Versailles.

Berlin, 1919.