i'm christopher clark,australian, professor of history. the germans and their countryi want to explore. your great sagatell through the millennia. first of all i want to knowhow it all started. how is this beautiful countrycome about? and where do you find the originsthe germans? welcome to my tripby your country and its history. the land of the germans.
as for me, especially in germanyamazed, is the diversity of this country. it has indeeda checkered past. and that began in antarctica. the piece of the earth's crust,germany is on, went on tour. and trained hundreds of millionsyears with other land masses ever new forms. and when sothe tectonic plates formed,
it has puffed pretty hereand nuts. volcanoes exploded,mountains were formed. huge masses of water came. and in this peaceful valleyon the swabian alb, far below sea levellay, said to themselves shark and rays:good night. yes, germany has just as smallas we all started. but germany under wateralready has a special feature. this is the same hotas in the pacific region.
then pile upthe first mountain on. germany is to jurassic parkwith flying reptiles and dinosaurs. you will feel at home here. until a meteorite impactextinguish it. the ice age is coming, and germanynow looks like siberia. really colonized the country will35,000 years before the birth of christ. during this time comes homo sapiensprobably from south africa. about the levant and the balkanshe follows the large herds of animals. and then colonized europe.
these first quintessentially german, we calltimes as they are exhausted. because they havea long journey. and long the journey lasted. germany isin the speed of 5 miles per generationcolonized. come firstthe homo sapiens walker in a southern germany. yes, the ancient german were swabia. "create, manage, homeowners build"
was then called, in the ice age,looking for a cave. in icy times did thehomo sapiens a roof over their head. his name translates,knowing monk means he made all the glory. the oldest tracesof lighting fires in europe were in the cave worldthe swabian alb found. even the first germanloved it warm and cozy. but simply was not this life. they must have been ambitious,if they wanted to survive out there.
and with such instrumentsthey went to work. a hand ax. an early knives of stone,very sharp. here's an awl, an earlyneedle made of bone or horn. whether they had traits how tothe germans nachsagt today? orderliness, discipline,punctuality? who knows? but these ancestorshad been good to do so,
to organize their lives. necessity is the mother of invention, it is calledin a german proverb. this applies to homo sapiensthe ice age in any case. for those timeshis instruments are ultra-modern. and he even drives alreadybarter with them. such tools from the homehave also been found in france. also culinary are gaysapiens people already on the height. you will find out that fish ora mammoth steak in a mantle of wet leavescan be cooked to perfection.
perhaps a precursor ofdelicious, german cabbage rolls. tinkerers and inventors were herealready 35,000 years ago in the swabian albin southern germany. where even today the cleverlesare at home. anything that the life,or better survival made easier, people haveinvented the cro-magnon period. useful things like gluefrom birch bark. right think tanksthere was in this area. with the stone age-hardpermanent adhesive,
they produce under heat, repair the early cleverlestheir spears. they need dailyfor hunting. your imagination is directed wellstill full of practical things. or is it? was there among the people herelived as ancestors of the germans, even poets and thinkers? did the rigors of survivalbecause at all time and leisure for something like artand philosophy?
in such cavesit all started. the first inhabitants of this countrylived here. but here was her painting studioand her music room. bit creepy hereso all alone. in fact, now startingthe spiritual world the early germans to form. the depths of the cavesare special places for them. cathedrals of old, in which one the empiresthe supernatural suspected.
they seem to suspectthat there is something higher. worship nature and feelperhaps a unit with her. the first could be signs of a kindhave been religion. from a mammoth tooth carved the cavemana being between humans and animals. the lion people. his head comes from the animal kingdom. yet the bodyhas human characteristics. this artfully from mammoth ivorycarved miniatures
one of the oldest art worksthe world. how old may very well be? 2000 years or 4000or even 10,000? all wrong. at a whoppingat least 35,000 years is estimated her age. of the cro-magnon people who arethe swabian alb lived, are the oldest, previously knownsculptures survived. for examplevenus of hohle fels.
what a wonderfully graceful,but also mysterious female figure. and here its counterpart. a prehistoric phallus. was it here to sexor reproduction? or to the survival of all? who in uk todaysurvives, the neanderthals. which was discovered in 1856. its original skeleton is todayto see the landesmuseum bonn. a strange skeleton.
robust bone, low body height,powerful bulging eyes. no direct precursorof modern man, but another stammbaumast. but a piece of genetic materialneanderthal carry the germans stillin itself. even before the homo sapiensfor he was traveling there, where now germany is. yes, and then it camefirst contacts between neanderthalsand homo sapiens.
perhaps the neanderthalmen have a certain attraction the homo sapiens womenexercised. difficult to understand whenneanderthal man sees so. but goethe has sealed: sun can not without pretense,man shall not be without love. this was precisely for this lovebetween species. the limits were, so to speakromantic exceeded. and so the neanderthals hasimmortalized in the genome of the germans. the neanderthals died out then.
we still do not know why. but the first child,consisting of love between a man and neanderthala homo sapiens woman arose, is a kind of high ahnall europeans. and thus the germans. the germans of the timeare not yet settled, but nomads. and i'm moving on. i want to know where and whenpeople in this country
for the first time found somethingwhich one could call home. in the neolithic period, there are alreadysettlements like this unteruhldingen on lake constance. why is this first rightsettlement in germany been built on the lake? at that time they had therebetter protected from predators. and was able to trade in goodscontrol, the over the water of lake constancewere transported. now arable farmingand it is forged.
there are tools and weaponsof copper. all progress,the people here immigrants from southeastern europeowe to. with which they mixand whose ideas they receive. 2,000 years later,christ's birth around, attract families, the north of thealps and east of the rhine are at home,more and more influence. was that perhaps those which can later be grouped underteutons summarized?
this is supposed to the exact centerbe in germany. whether the germanshave somehow guessed? over there who have settled. who were the germans? here in the english-speakingworld is your name, so the germans,always "the germans". but who gave yougiven this name? a roman of course. in a world famous descriptionthe tribes of northern europe
coined by the roman senatorand historian tacitus the image of the populationgermanias for all time. all the various strainsnorth of the alps were on the road, he summarized below germans. to the romans their own decadencebe available that he created an idealized image of the germans. as a freedom-loving,combative close to nature and mankind. but they were also aggressiveand brutal.
they were rude and uneducated incustom and religion. so barbarians. and the literatifrom the cosmopolitan city of rome like the germans ratherunwashed and hairy have occurred. the roman empire at that timethe ancient superpower. and in the capital, romegoverns the luxury. most citizens of the eternal cityneed of nothing. about the barbarian germaniamake it more than jokes. most people therelead a frugal life.
worse, as the roman tacituswant to admit that. it's cold in germania,and the bottom is not much to look at. many are malnourished,have joint disease, dental and spinal disc damage. being close to animalsleads to infections. births are often fatal. by the way: tacitus was probablynever been in germania. through articles forand soldiers he wore all the facts together.
and from caesar's writingson the gallic war. germania, which were for the romansespecially dense, dark forests. something they did not know. the roman travelers andmilitary envoy, in this eerie countrypenetrated, afraid. and counted on their expeditionsthe worst. tacitus writes: "on the whole, makes this country withits forests dismal, with its marshes arepulsive impression. "
what we do understandare the complaints roman travelers about using theweather in the land beyond the rainbow. music tacitus admired,how tough the germans were. and someone needs himof the strange, but reasonable garmentcalled "pants" have been reported. that did not exist in rome. the travelers were amazed, as the germans in their villagesgot along without luxury.
they were also impressedthe hospitality and austeritythis alleged barbarians. and tacitus describesthe germanic women, which hold everything here. they create the ideal conditions for braveand warlike men. who practice it faithfully. sound familiar? all terms
later in germanywere also list abused. the foodare simple, according to tacitus. wild tree fruit, fresh gameor simple cheese. without special preparation. so writesthe roman gourmets. "without gaumenkitzeldrive them their hunger. " "the thirst againstthere is not the same moderation. " tacitus describes the germanicmen quite drunkards, the after worklike drunk on beer.
after all, we know through him andhis "germania" quite a lot about how theancestors of the germans lived. but who describe tacitus andhis informants really? and what do they want it? the romanbunga bunga-society somewhat oppose as a model? the false impressionwhich was created according to tacitus, is the ideathat the inhabitants of germania all were one people.
so wrong this messagethe purity was. they became independent from theearly modern period a myth from a purely held bloodthe germans. in the racial doctrine the 19th century.century the theory of pure bloodand the pure breed a dangerous ideology. the third reich transferred thisthought in political practice. with terrible consequences. by the germansand also their ancestors
about the blond,blue-eyed comb cared, lost to the incredible diversityout of sight. the time has in germanyprevailed. the whole paganreligious beliefs of the germans fascinated by the nazis. at the extern stones, a rock formationthe teutoburg forest they built a place of worship formemory of the alleged ancestors. that really herea germanic sanctuary was
could never be proved. incidentally amazed tacitusnot bad about the religiositythe germanic tribes. and what he says, sounds,when he was writing an ice-cold showerran down his spine. just like me when i quote him: "at a set timecome in a sacred forest all nationsthe same blood together. " "then they sacrifice on behalf of thewhole people. "
"and commit the shower fullceremony a barbarous worship. " "the priest invokes old germanicthe god wotan. " so this has probably sounded. prayer often, in honor of the godssacrificed princesses of a tribe. in a longsolemn procession bringing in the dawnthe body of the bog. he pierces the veil so that,
of the real worldseparated from the other world. and responds to the realm of the gods,in order to appease. a opfermoor. here are bog bodiesbeen found certainly stuckalso that in there. they were sacrificed this goddess. it is in facta goddess. not only those who sacrificed to the godswas able to land on the moor. many a dead man was simplyburied in the swamp.
how this boy, who at onebad tooth infection died. at that time not a rare cause of death. the chic hairstyle thisdecapitated germans from the tribe of swabia hasreceived almost 2,000 years in the bog. the bog bodies, borders between the humanand the divine world. the acidicbacteria enemy moore have the bodiesget a fascinating way. the religious rites were inalmost all germanic tribes
the same. but otherwisethey were quite different. and came up constantlyin the hair. these are the lombards,the long beards, who lived on the lower elbe andwere particularly belligerent. originally they werethe great tribe of the suebi, the proud mensuebian knot in the hair wore. perhaps to save the hairdresser. after all, thethe later swabia.
the ubii,who settled on the banks of the rhine, behaved almost like theromans, with whom she made a pact. this gave them the hatredthe other strains. for example, the proudand earthy chat, as the founding fathershesse apply today. sometimes confederated tribes, into the fightto go against the romans. this was then applied to a thingdiscussed, a general assembly of these strains.
since you can so by thefragmentary beginnings a fundamental democracyspeak. tacitus describes in his"germania" the sequence of a things. what are the first dayin heavy alcohol consumption political and military issueswere discussed together. the next day, when allwere sober, decisions have been taken. so first was franklyspoken, then decided to cool. everything revolvedto fight and kriegertum.
with an oathbe tied fortified men as allegiance to a leader. but that had to be chosen first. hear this! hear all about! i, only i'm going to prosperity,glory and bring peace. silence! my familyis considered as well! look at you:your betray the old ways! serfs of the romans!
in wotan's name: ended the dispute. no, we choose the leader!so it wants the custom! well in! i will crush this worm! never! jeah! all cheer in their thinking, the germans werein some respects
modern mansurprisingly close. they felt no meansthe gods delivered. each individual has somethingdo for his fate. the word "salvation"was the core of this thinking. they knew that the skillsamong men were not equally distributed. one of them had more weapons healing,the other more money salvation. with honorable and wise behavioryou could control it. is not that what we nowwould call happiness?
not quite. the remedy was tocertain objects bound. siegfried was the only reason victorious,because he had his sword. the thus obtained sieg heil!a guide also spread the sameon his army. the "heil hitler" and the sieg heil!the masses of the nazi period was a perversionof the original concept. and brought nothing but disaster. but first, in year 9. chr.comes the disaster for the romans. the general varusmoves his army
in the muddy jungle german. and there is by an angry bunchrebellious germans invaded. which are still under the commandof generals, the once roman legions in thehas fulfilled his ministry: arminius. the romans are the dark germanforest times not up again. especially not the rains,the rain down on them. to the 15,000 roman legionaries be of arminius andhis germans destroyed.
and the world power of rome isthis disgrace never get over. is not until the 19th centuryfrom arminius arminius the cherusker. martin luther had called him thatand saw him as a brother early in the fight against the hated rome. this is the beginningan equally cheesy how dangerous germanic transfiguration. the romans built, still underthe trauma of their defeat, the limes. the stretches across the danube regionand along the rhine
across germany. make sure you get the westand the south and let the deeper partgermania henceforth in peace. the germania magna. links of limes arise cultureand flourishing cities such as cologne, trier and mainz. right forests, moorsand countless germanic tribes. name as the narister orangriwarier today knows no more. i always feelthat the human
once on the other side of the limesthe romans are grateful today. that they them their culturebrought there, where still blooming cities andvery special way of life prevails. in the 2nd century, is alsothe roman calendar with its seven-day weekin germania by. this solis. the latin this solis,day of the sun, is sunday. thursday is named after thunder,jupiter in roman the germanic goddess freya,identical to the roman venus,
friday was his name. this iovis. this veneris yes, they were able to learn,these alleged barbarians. the weekdays are a partthe roman-germanic heritage, the germansaccompanied today. this ... solis. romans and germans were not locatedonly as enemies against.
especially the border germanshad no reservations, but were the progressagainst susceptible. many of them admired,which came from rome. the modern weapons,send the helmets. but there was also a germanizationthe romans? well, that's not so simple. the germans brought the romanswith their beer in touch. the drinkingat every opportunity. the romans tasted the germanicbut not brew.
their wine was dear to them. but the feeling was mutual. the germans were with grape juicelittle start. so roman greekas this museum on the river spree, which in the 19th centuryarose, as you here from aprussian arcadia dreamed. so roman would probablyall of berlin looked when the romans farhad come. in general, it would bebecome another germania.
with a roman infrastructure,with bridges, roads, towns and aqueducts. another kitchenand other drinking habits would peopledifferently shaped. instead knuckle would perhapsflamingo tongues the highest of the feelings become. probably would have thelate roman decadence spread in germania. effeminate city dwellersinstead of hard-core fighters.
and today would anyroman emperor in berlin germanic governorvisit angela merkel. but it did not come up. and both seemso hostile worlds there were quite a long timenext to each other. and on both sides knew it,to benefit from it. when it comes to business, thelimes suddenly very permeable. since neither know nor germanic romaninhibitions. on the border marketshawked everything,
what you can imagine. the germans sell the romanswood, fresh fish, furs, animal skins and honey. in exchange for cattle onthe roman side is grown. roman weapons against germanicjewelry and wooden combs. this went on back then. and understand the bread bakingthe descendants of the germans still morethan the italians. the romans like to put forth their handfor products made from germania.
even with wine from the moselletraded schwunghaft. this is a copy of the tomba roman wine merchant, the good wine with suchships until the rhine, and then over the alps to rometransported. and thus probablywas very rich. and this is a famousroman market gate, today in the pergamon museumstands in berlin. the romans celebratedtrade like. this is nothing elseas an early shopping mall.
and markets just gave it tooalong the limes in germania. if they could do business,the romans were always quick. the roman empire acted as a ausgefuchstesbusiness enterprises. the pumped his surplusof goods in its provinces. and sucked all goodsand resources markets, after which it islonged in the eternal city. and this involved people. namely germanic slaves.
and the beautiful blond hairswomen behind the limes. real, strong,german blond hair is a bestseller. the coolest giftfor your sweetheart, when roman soldiershome leave to go back in the eternal city. and who can afford to buyis a germanic slaves or a slave. which are particularly popular because theyare considered to be industrious and frugal.
and in the best casea never-ending source for the status symbol of blond hair. so far enough from the more or lessidyllic coexistence between romans and germanic. times are changing. over 200 years laterbe the huns, a mishmash of central asianhorse people, germanic tribes such as the gothsredistribute to the west. the great migration begins.
do you remember? in school we had manycards with many arrows burned the most. but finally wasalmost all europe in motion. a chain reaction began. the goths migratedto italy and spain. the vandals even to africa. and the germanic and fishingaxes are to blame that today in anglo-saxon englandis spoken.
if you are honest, you knowstill not exactly what this mass migrationhas tripped. what made so many germans from theirtraditional territories go to the south and west? well, lured the distancewith other options. a different climate, more peace,better harvests. quite simplywith a better life. and so the germans in europe wereto the main conquerors. and sparked so to speak,from the romans.
more and more german tribes invadedthe roman empire in. and conquered all the provinces. and that was also quite fast. is not it incrediblethat during the lifetime of a single generationthe entire western part of the roman empire went down? of an empirethe more than half a millennium almost all of the timeknown world had dominated. the romans had of usejust not done,
the germanic tribesto integrate into their empire. and defendersto make the roman world. they were the destroyersworld and its achievements. 410 plundered the tribe of thevisigoths even the eternal city. what a disgrace for the romans. their empire was setting now. and the germans were to blame. since the 1st century had theromans their rule established in britain.
then, in the 5th century, sailed theangles and saxons conditions england. and thought is: so 'ne nice private islandis not the worst. and because they alsohardened fighters, had the ancestral populationno chance. so germans also influencedthe anglo-saxon world, to the day after allnorth america also belongs. iron masks place todaywitness of the germanic conquerorsin the british isles.
but that's not all. the tribe of the vandalsmoved after spain. and then even to africa. not always so peaceful,what it looks like here. the image of the vandals one knows. they made their namecertainly honor when they finallyeven devastated rome. but from africa could alsoso wonderful italy bully. but there were also correctcouch potatoes
among the german tribes. can not be bothered to walk! there are all these tribes today. the bavaria, swabia, thuringia,hesse and friezes. and for the rest of axes that are nothad moved to britain, were now lower saxony. these running rotten trunks were the ones whothe german history and culture have most influenced. if you like driving through germany,then it actually starts
this country to the diversityto envy, here in the course of the millenniawas created. the bavarians, today's bavaria, established in their beautiful countrya thriving little kingdom. so they were happy. from other tribesdid not know much it. this has not changed to this daynot changed much. and celebratingthey have also not forgotten. the oktoberfest is the biggestand most famous of the world party.
in the frisians flourished thankstheir coastal location of the trade. they were the forerunnersthe later hanseatic league. among the germansthey were highly respected. and no one would have daredto make bad jokes about them. in thuringia story came alltogether what the germans accounts. only agricultural land, then in the empirecenter of the industrial revolution. and luther, goethe and schillerhere lived, loved and sealed. the chat, today's hesse,compared tacitus like with the romans.
like today's bankersin frankfurt am main they would havea calculating mind. knew to organize themselves perfectlyand to entrench. oh, and the franks. their empire grew and grew. a success story, also because,even though they were conquerors, the assumptions, what they found. they were very willing to learn. and with the frankish empiregrew and christianity.
when the frankish king clovisbe baptized in reims, he thus creates the basisfor a christian kingdom. the further expand and alsothe center of europe will shape. clovis wasa good example. but 250 years later there wasmany nations, for the germans. the thought did not mind,to be baptized. "burn what you have worshiped." for the germans trees wereas symbols about as important and as holy as for christiansthe cross.
but not any treesthey worshiped them. oaks it had to be. mighty oaks like this one. perhaps that is because they are so tightand were steadfast, how the germans saw themselves themselves. the most significant oak treein a forest near geismar in hesse. and was the god of thunder thunderconsecrated, who was also called thor. on an altar to this god werebrought animal sacrifices.
it was particularly important,predict the future. and the will of the godsto fathom. this was zugfã¤llige signimportant. as the location and natureof the heart in an animal sacrifice. this magical thinkingwas deeply rooted in the germanic tribes. but then came one that would laterapostle of the germans called it. and was canonized. the missionary boniface, of the then mostpagan germanic
to the christian faithwanted to convert. no more shenanigans,he said. when i put this oakhand falls, is your god of thunderprotect his tree. and thunder and lightning send. if he does not, he iseither a powerless beings, or it does not exist. then you can safelychristians are. boniface calls the thunder oak,it under the escort
frankish soldiers handwants to make a graven image. and who worshiped the contraryaccording to christian doctrine against the ten commandments. boniface is a kind ofchief missionary. the last pagan activities the barbaric germanicshould end. no thunder god answers,is as the oak to the ground. boniface was not the only one. 50 years on was king of the frankskarl tear down the irminsul,
a sacred tree. the franc ruler himself wants the superiority ofprove the christian god. again, no signal from theheath sky over germania. i make my way to karl,was from the soon charlemagne. he was constantly on tourthrough his vast empire. but in aachen, he was particularly fond of,because there were hot springs, the rheumatism his good deeds. on the ruins of roman baths
he also had an impressive palatinatebuild it and a chapel. which belongs to methe most impressive, what in germanyindicates sites of memory. the palatine chapel charles was the firstdomed building north of the alps according to the ancient world. of course, he was also, andprimarily a center of power. only this frankish gentleman here brought the power of the franksat its peak. and rang for the germansa new era.
for charlemagne decidedto become emperor. and that was literallythe coronation an incredible careeras ruler. charles aim was from the beginning, allto bring germans in his kingdom. he has all the peoples alreadysubject made. there were onlythe rebellious saxons, tried to defend by all means. finally karl reachedbut his goal. the saxons were in adecades of guerrilla war
defeated and had toaccept the christian faith. for the first time in historywere all germanic tribes, which the german peoplegrew together, united in one kingdom. but part of a great rulermore than just about winning wars. and other rulers to subdue. charles found himself not only as a fatherthe people in the frankish empire, but also as a patronall christians. and in aachen palatine chapelis still the throne,
on the charlemagne and after himmany emperors took place. basically he copied andall later german emperor the roman empire. however, with a decisivedifference. they wanted rulerbe the grace of god. and therefore could be the popehimself crowned. at christmas, in the year 800, charlemagne wascrowned emperor by the pope. may almighty god be with you,karl. karl has the greatthe father of europe called.
after all, was created under hisrule for the first time in this part of europea real state structures. a multi-ethnic empirewith many languages. united by legislationand christian religion. the frankish empire was the beginninga new era in the history of the germans. and as the travel emperori also prefer continue through historya fascinating country. and its inhabitants.
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