Why the Third Reich?

[Peter Clare]

WHY THE THIRD REICH? A question I've often thought about, this goes some way to an answer.


This was the official name for the Nazi period of government from January 1933 to May 1945.
The First Reich (or 'Empire') was the Holy Roman Empire period of the German Nation begun in A.D. 962 when Otto the Great was crowned in Rome. This Empire, regarded as the union of Germanic States which dominated Europe after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. The First Reich did indeed last - more or less intact - for around a thousand years.
The Second Reich was founded by Otto von Bismarck in 1871 after the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War. When the Hohenzollern dynasty collapsed in 1918 with the abdication of Emperor William II, the Second Reich came to its end.
The days of glory under Bismarck led to the establishment of the ill-fated Weimar Republic. Unwanted and unloved it was proclaimed by the Social Democrats or Labour Party at the end of 1918 and which lasted until 1933.
In turn, it was followed by Hitler's Third Reich which he regarded as an empire that would also last for a thousand years. On January 30, 1933, President von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. (Hitler had adopted the term 'Third Reich' in the early 1920s after the German writer Arthur Moeller von der Bruck used it as a title for one of his books.) Hitler's 'Thousand Year Reich' actually ended up lasting only 12 years, 4 months, and 8 days. (2,191 days)

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Yeah The Nazis were at pains to link their state with anything to do with German Heritage. The idea was to weave themselves within the very fabric of German society and to portray themselves as a link with the "great" German eras (as they saw it).

[Gage]

Funny, never thought about it but should have. Thanks guys.

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by Gotthard Heinrici

German Heritage.

I think that was always part of the problem for such a relatively 'new' state.
In the historical absence of what could really be described as a country called 'Germany' there was only a concept of 'Germanic' heritage rather than 'German'. The door's then that little bit wider to nationalism and agressive expansion when core states join together and questions arise of where such essentially 'race' based borders lie.

[Owen]

I remember my German teacher asking us this in about 1981.
I only looked it up last year.
Shame on me , eh?

[deadb_tch]

Not only Reich. Remember Franko's Spain in 1930's-1940's. He tried to build his own Spain's state keeping in mind strong state of 16th century when Spain was powerful and respected around the world .

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally Posted by von Poop

I think that was always part of the problem for such a relatively 'new' state.
In the historical absence of what could really be described as a country called 'Germany' there was only a concept of 'Germanic' heritage rather than 'German'. The door's then that little bit wider to nationalism and agressive expansion when core states join together and questions arise of where such essentially 'race' based borders lie.

And this is an indication of the whole "Herrenvolk" principle and the attempts to bring, by whatever means possible, all german-speaking peoples into the Reich.

[jacobtowne]

Good one. I'd never heard of van den Bruck. Here's a link to a book about him and his times:

Amazon.de: The Man Who Invented the Third Reich: The Life and Times of Arthur Moeller Van Den Bruck: Stan Lauryssens, Stan Laurssyn: English Books

JT

[jacobtowne]

Here's another with a brief description of the author and his work Das Dritte Reich.

JT
Das Dritte Reich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia