Classwork - Question # 1 “Storm and Stress” & German Nationalism – In 1806, when Berlin was under French occupation, German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte said,
“The first, original, and truly natural boundaries of states are beyond
doubt their internal boundaries. Those who speak the same language are joined
to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before
any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of
continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong
together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole”.
Johann von Herder said both, "spew
out the ugly slime of the Seine. Speak German, O You German" and “What a
treasure language is when kinship groups grow into tribes and nations. Even the
smallest of nations…cherishes in and through its language the history, the
poetry and songs about the great deeds of its forefathers. The language is its
collective treasure.”
How do these quotes show Romantic ideas inspired and shaped German nationalism?
