The German people also have experienced a variety of political institutions—rule by emperors, kings, and princes, representative institutions and republics. In studying German history one can benefit from understanding the relationship between geography and the growth of military institutions. Germany has often been contrasted to Britain, which has been protected by the water, while Germany has lacked frontiers and required a strong military to defend it from potential enemies on all sides. Germany also was internally weak, even though it encompassed the Holy Roman Empire, which began with the Saxon, Otto I, who was crowned king in 962. By the end of the Middle Ages there were, however, some 300 states—duchies, counties, ecclesiastical territories, free cities, and other territories. There was no clear boundary to the west, where the German states were threatened by the French king, or to the east, where Slavic tribes predominated. During this period the Germans themselves colonized the east in one of the greatest movements of peoples before the American West was settled. Here the Germans settled in areas associated with the names of Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Brandenburg, and they pushed into Silesia. This eastward expansion indicated a new direction of German influence, with which the Hohenzollern family, which created Prussia, was associated.
Many cleavages have divided German society throughout history. Ethnically, the Germans were not homogeneous. The religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation created other serious divisions. Some historians even claim that Germany was never thoroughly Christianized, and its pagan tradition erupted again during the Nazi regime. Other divisions existed in the political and cultural realm and among the social classes. Political disunity, however, was the most obvious division. The Germans oscillated between universal empire and localism. When nationalism belatedly developed, attempting to bridge these differences, it ended up becoming a most violent kind. The 18th century saw the rise of the state of Prussia and the violent threat of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, which revealed the weaknesses of Germany but led to a widespread growth of national feeling. Unfortunately, the Congress of Vienna militated against the growth of unity. The rivalry between Prussia and Austria prevented the growth of a true federation that might have led to a unified state. The revolutions of 1848 were a turning point for Germany, during which the Germans failed to turn toward democratic government and create a successful unified state based on a liberal constitution. In the end it was the authoritarian Prussian Junker, Otto von Bismarck, who set himself the task of destroying liberalism in order to strengthen conservative Prussia and maintain its position as a great power. Prussia and Prussianism eventually triumphed over the rest of Germany, which was more passive, liberal, and good-natured. Bismarck and Prussia impressed on the Germans a spirit of militarism and the Machiavellian doctrine of the reason of state, which justified every infringement of written and unwritten law. These were qualities that found even greater expression in the leadership of Adolf Hitler. The cleavages continued after World War II, as West and East Germany were divided between a democratic Federal Republic and a communist German Democratic Republic. Today the Germans are still trying to bridge those differences since they were reunified in 1990.
Posted on March 17 2010 at 08:02 AM
Do.217M
Unit: 2./KG 2
Netherlands, Winter 1943-1944.
Mike Merritt
WITH a population of around 10,000 during World War II, Peterhead seemed unlikely to be one of Hitler's top targets.
But a new book - Luftwaffe Over Scotland, by Les Taylor - claims the fishing port was the second most bombed place in Britain after London.
The reason was not because of its strategic value, but Peterhead's geographical position. It was the first urban area the Luftwaffe saw as they attacked the UK from Norway.
The town was bombed 28 times during World War II - followed by Aberdeen with 24 raids, Fraserburgh 23, Edinburgh 18, Montrose 15 and Glasgow 11.
In total, there were more than 500 German air raids on Scotland - ranging from single aircraft hit-and-runs, to mass bombings by 240 planes.
During the air war in Scotland, 2500 people died and 8000 were injured.
And more than 200 enemy aircraft were shot down on Scottish territory. Although Peterhead was attacked more times than any other Scottish town, Clydebank suffered the greatest loss of life in one raid - the Clydebank Blitz.
In the book, Les reveals that the terror bombing of the Clydeside - which killed 800 people over two nights - was never planned by the Nazis.
Les, 48, who lives near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, has spent the last five years carrying out detailed research for the book.
He read hundreds of documents from municipal authorities, the German military, the former Scottish Office, newspaper clippings, the Imperial War Museum and interviewed eye witnesses.
He said: "From that first attack until the Battle of Britain, all the action took place over Scotland."
The worst loss of life came in Clydebank in March 1941, when 236 German planes were sent to bomb naval targets such as the Admiralty oil storage farm at Dalnottar and the old John Brown Shipyard.
Les said: "It has never been explained before why so many people in Glasgow were killed in that raid.
"But it was because of what is known as 'creepback' - keeping away from the fierce anti-aircraft fire.
"The Germans were forced to release their bombs early over Glasgow to avoid the gun fire and get away from the danger area.
"The bombing was never intended. The bombs were scattered across the Glasgow area. Of the 1300 people who died, only 500 were in the intended target area of Clydebank."
The Greenock Blitz, again over two nights, in May, 1941 - the second and last of the German mass bombings in Scotland- claimed 250 lives.
But British night fighters from Ayr, who engaged the bombers, caused the fleeing Germans to also drop bombs across south-west Scotland, too.
However, the Germans did strike their intended targets in both raids - and only three German planes were downed, all in the Greenock attack.
However, Les said that raid was considered a failure because only one person was killed for every two tonnes of explosive dropped - roughly one per cent of the military's pre-war planning calculation.
In total, a massive 1000 tonnes of explosive was dropped in the two raids alone - equivalent to one of the war's most infamous attacks on Coventry.
Scotland's main interest to Hitler was that it was home to so many strategic naval anchorages.
One of the most important was Scapa Flow in Orkney, from where a major air battle was fought three months before the Battle of Britain.
In 1940, between April 8 and April 10, up to 60 German bombers attacked at a time.
"It was in effect a rehearsal for the Battle of Britain," said Les. "It was also the first time radar was used to intercept and attack enemy planes, which was a major factor in the Battle of Britain. The tactics used in Orkney were just the same.
"The Germans mounted the attack as part of their invasion of Norway and to try and drive the Navy out of Scapa Flow. In my view it should be officially recognised as The Battle of Orkney."
Scotland claimed many UK firsts during the war. The first civilian victim of the war in Britain was James Isbister, who was killed in a German air raid on Orkney on March 16, 1940.
The previous October, the Luftwaffe carried out their first raid over Britain, with an attack above the Firth of Forth on two warships. A total of 16 sailors were killed aboard HMS Mohawk.
The same day, painter and decorator Joe McCluskie was shot in the stomach. He was hit by friendly fire from a Spitfire chasing a Junkers 88 over central Edinburgh. Fortunately, he survived.
Les said: "This book is the first complete record of German air attacks on Scotland. Following the summer of 1940, the nature of those attacks turned to terror bombings against civilians."
The first strafing occurred in July, 1940, when a Junkers 88 machine gunned Queen Street in Peterhead. Incredibly, nobody died.
Hitler wanted to match the British terror bombing of German cities by inflicting the same devastation on the UK.
He appointed General Major Dietrich Pelz as attack leader and his first raid came on April 21, 1943, when 125 people were killed in Aberdeen after 29 German Dornier 217s from the elite KG2 Squadron attacked the Granite City.
It was also the last German raid on a Scottish city during the war, though the honour of being the last casualty fell to a Mrs McGregor on the same day.
The farmer's wife, from Fraserburgh, was hit on the head from a falling slate after a bomb exploded near her house. Luckily she survived.
Scotland also staged the last air battle in Europe, which was fought off the Aberdeenshire coast on April 21, 1945.
Mosquitoes from the Banff strike wing intercepted 18 torpedo bombers - only four made it back to Norway.
Posted on March 17 2010 at 07:52 AM
The eagle from the stern of WW2 German battleship Admiral Graf Spee, scuttled on December 17, 1939 off the coast of Montevideo after a fierce battle with three British battlecruisers in what is known as "The battle of the River Plate", is recovered from the depths of the estuary in 2006.
The Admiral Graf Spee, the German "pocket battleship" scuttled here in 1939, is caught in the middle of a struggle between the businessman salvaging it and the German government, which wants to prevent its commercialization.
"We always proposed a serious historical and cultural destiny" for the remains of the Graf Spee while "contemplating fair compensation" for the work and investment made to recover its remains, Alfredo Etchegaray, the businessman, told AFP.
During a visit to Montevideo this week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his desire was "to prevent the remains of the symbols of the Nazi regime from becoming commercialized."
"What we want really is to reach a constructive deal," he said, adding that Germany was prepared to support the presentation of the remains "in a historical context, like a museum."
In 2006, divers hired by Etchegaray recovered an imposing Nazi bronze eagle measuring 2.8 meters (nine feet) wide by two meters high and weighing 350 kilograms (770 pounds) from the stern of the Graf Spee.
Two years earlier, they had come up with a 27-ton rangefinder used to direct the ship's cannons. And in 1998, a 155 millimeter (six-inch) gun from the ship's secondary armament was salvaged.
The underwater salvage group planned to bring up more cannons and other pieces of the Graf Spee, but were barred from doing so by an Uruguayan government decree.
After the recovery of the Nazi eagle, with its outspread wings and swastika, Germany sent a note to the Uruguayan foreign ministry claiming ownership of the Graf Spee and opposing continuation of the salvage work.
Etchegaray, who had received permission from the Uruguay government to undertake the salvage work, has spent 2.5 million dollars over the past 25 years scouring the Rio de la Plata estuary for sunken ships.
The Graf Spee was scuttled by its captain just outside Montevideo harbor where it had gone for repairs after the first major naval battle of World War II.
The Nazi warship was used to raid commercial shipping in the Atlantic until it was intercepted by two British cruisers and one from the New Zealand navy off Montevideo.
Etchegaray claims the wreck was sold in 1940 by the then German ambassador Otto Langmann to Uruguayan Julio Vega Helguera, who concluded the deal as an undercover agent for the British government for the sum of 14,000 pounds.
The sale is recorded in the diplomatic dispatches preserved in the Public Record Office in London, a copy of which was provided to AFP by Etchegaray.
"The British took only eight items from Graf Spee" to examine their technology and design, he said.
Etchegaray said that in 1973 Uruguay issued a decree claiming ownership of all shipwrecks in its waters.
"For the past four years I have been proposing a museum... or an auction with a prequalification of interested parties and a guarantee of a historic-cultural destination for the (eagle)," he said.
"We all want a deal that is constructive and sensitive for the remains of the Graf Spee," he said.
The Graf Spee, halfway between a battleship and a heavy cruiser, was designed to outrun larger ships that might have sunk it, and outgun smaller but faster vessels.
But after capturing and sinking nine British cargo ships without loss of life following the outbreak of war, Captain Hans Langsdorff allowed himself to be trapped by the British force on December 13, 1939.
In the ensuing Battle of the River Plate, Graf Spee's 11-inch guns crippled the British heavy cruiser Exeter but the German ship suffered irreparable damage from the other two cruisers, the Ajax and Achilles.
Taking refuge in Montevideo, the Graf Spee was ordered to leave within 24 hours by the Uruguayan authorities. Facing destruction by the British ships waiting off the mouth of the Plate, Langsdorff blew up his vessel in the middle of the estuary on December 17.
Langsdorff, praised as a considerate gentleman by the crews of the British ships he had captured, shot himself two days later in a hotel room in Buenos Aires, after laying the flag of the old imperial German navy on the floor.
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Detailed book explores the landing gear systems of World War II German combat aircraft.
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Deutsche Panzer /
German Tanks
Original German Clip from 1940 how Tanks are
being manufactured.
