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A rapid rundown of the first 1000 years of “German” history starting with Julius Caesar naming the people living east of the Rhine “Germans”. The battle in the Teutoburg forest may look like a major German victory that kept Rome out, but the reality is a lot more prosaic. Germanic tribesmen became the mainstay of the legions, fighting off their cousins from across the wall, but were never really admitted into Roman society – something about their sense of humour I suppose. After the Western Empire had fallen the Merovingians under Clovis ruled most of Europe when they were not engaged in fratricide/matricide or enforcing haircuts. The Carolingians finally forged a mighty empire out of the Merovingian pieces, bringing about a cultural renaissance. The podcast that does what it says on the tin: a narrative history of the German people that starts in the year 919 AD and hopes to get all the way to 1991. Episodes are 25-35 min long and drop on Thursday mornings. As Gregory of Tours (539-594) said: “A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad” .
The show is now entering its 8th season. So far we have covered:
The Ottonian Emperors (Ep. 1- 21)
– Henry the Fowler (Ep. 1)
– Otto I (Ep. 2-8)
– Otto II (Ep.9-11)
– Otto II (Ep. 11-14)
– Henry II (ep. 15-17)
– Germany in the Year 1000 (ep. 18-21)
The Salian Emperors and the Investiture Controversy (Ep. 22-42)
– Konrad II (Ep. 22- 25)
– Henry III (Ep. 26-29)
– Henry IV & Canossa (Ep. 30-39)
– Henry V and the Concordat of Worms (Ep. 40-42)
Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen (Ep. 43-69)
– Lothar III (Ep. 43-46)
– Konrad III (Ep. 47-49)
– Frederick Barbarossa (Ep. 50-69)
Frederick II and the later Hohenstaufen (Ep. 70-94)
-Henry VI (Ep. 70-72)
– Philipp of Swabia (Ep. 73-74)
– Otto IV (Ep. 74-75)
– Frederick II (Ep. 75-90)
– Epilogue (ep. 91-94)
Eastern Expansion (Ep. 95-108)
The Hanseatic League (Ep. 109-127)
The Teutonic Knights (Ep. 128-137)
The Interregnum and the early Habsburgs (Ep. 138 ff
Germany was invented by Julius Caesar who also believed Moose had no knees. Herman the German was an officer in the legions, ritual car washing dates back to the 1 century BC and Constantine relied on Frankish soldiers to gain control of the Roman empire. These and other stories about the first 500 years of German(ic) history are part of the Prologue in which I attempt to run through the first 1000 years of German history before 919 AD when the main narrative of the History of the Germans Podcast really starts.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
As always:
Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
This is a rapid rundown of the first 1000 years of “German” history starting with Julius Caesar naming the people living east of the Rhine “Germans”. The battle in the Teutoburg forest may look like a major German victory that kept Rome out, but the reality is a lot more prosaic. Germanic tribesmen became the mainstay of the legions, fighting off their cousins from across the wall, but were never really admitted into Roman society – something about their sense of humour I suppose. After the Western Empire had fallen the Merovingians under Clovis ruled most of Europe when they were not engaged in fratricide/matricide or enforcing haircuts. The Carolingians finally forged a mighty empire out of the Merovingian pieces, bringing about a cultural renaissance.