AH Challenge: Earliest Possible Germany

Oh it has something to do where you come from, simply because I suggest that someone who actually is from Germany will most likely have a deeper insight in his or her country's history than a foreigner. That is true for Germany at it is for France or the US.

Golo Mann is a respected historian, not a politician. I quoted from "Deutsche Geschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts" which is generally accepted as the most outstanding work concerning this era. Frederick the Great - in this specific case - is mentioned not to single out one person (who indeed lacked interest in Germany), but is as a general example of his era. An era where there was no German fatherland.

But I understood your argument, don't you worry about that. But it lacks evidence.
 

Susano

Banned
Oh it has something to do where you come from, simply because I suggest that someone who actually is from Germany will most likley have a deeper insight in his or her country's history than a foreigner. That is true for Germany at it is for France or the US.

Golo Mann is a respected historian, not a politician. I quoted from "Deutsche Geschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts" which is generally accepted as the most outstanding work concerning this era. Frederick the Great is not meant to single out one person (who indeed lacked interes of anything German), but is used as an example of his era. An era, where there was no German fatherland.
Thats not what I meant. What I meant is that this is a political commentary - that somebody "has no fatherland" is still something one can hear nowadays as a criticism for lacking patriotism. Well, at least theoretically, here nowadays such a comment would result in a public outcry, but you know what I mean. Hence, the comment has to be understood like that - since, as said, Frederick II really didnt give a damn about Germany or the Empire or even German literature and music!
 
As I said, Frederick the Great is just an example here, since he wasn't mentioned in the text before that quote. You could as well say "In the middle ages, they did not know anything about a German fatherland..." and it would not change the text's sense.
 
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