Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century Monuments and Histories | 219
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Graeco-Roman Antiquity and the Idea of Nationalism in the 19th Century || Case Studies Edited by Thorsten Fögen and Richard Warren ISBN 978-3-11-047178-6 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-047349-0 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-047303-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: statue of Boudicca (by Thomas Thornycroft), London © Richard Warren, photograph: courtesy of Peter Warren Data conversion: jürgen ullrich typosatz, 86720 Nördlingen Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Table of Contents | V Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents Copyright References | VII Thorsten Fögen & Richard Warren Graeco-Roman Antiquity and the Idea of Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century: Introduction | 1 Anthony D. Smith Classical Ideals and the Formation of Modern Nations in Europe | 19 Athena S. Leoussi Making Nations in the Image of Greece: Classical Greek Conceptions of the Body in the Construction of National Identity in Nineteenth-Century England, France and Germany | 45 Tim Rood ‘Je viens comme Thémistocle’: Napoleon and National Identity after Waterloo | 71 Edmund Richardson The Emperor’s Caesar: Napoleon III, Karl Marx and the History of Julius Caesar | 113 Rosemary Barrow Faithful unto Death: Militarism, Masculinity and National Identity in Victorian Britain | 131 Richard Hingley Constructing the Nation and Empire: Victorian and Edwardian Images of the Building of Roman Fortifications | 153 Richard Warren Henry Courteney Selous’ Boadicea and the Westminster Cartoon Competition | 175 Christopher B. Krebs A Nation Finds its People: Friedrich Kohlrausch, New Readers and Readings of Tacitus’ Germania and the Rise of a Popular German Nationalism | 199 VI | Table of Contents Michael Sommer Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century Monuments and Histories | 219 Richard Warren Arminius in Bohemia: Two Uses of Tacitus in Czech Art | 235 Laurie O’Higgins Classical Translations and Strands of Irish Nationalism | 269 Contributors | 289 Index rerum | 293 Index nominum (personarum) | 299 Index locorum | 305 neue rechte Seite Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century Monuments and Histories | 219 ___Michael Sommer ___ ___Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century ___Monuments and Histories ___Michael Sommer ___Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century Monuments and Histories ___Abstract: In A.D. 9, Arminius, a Roman auxiliary officer and member of the nobility of the ___Cherusci, revolted and defeated a Roman army in the Teutoburg Forest. The Roman mutineer ___was rediscovered in the Renaissance and remodelled, by German humanists and reformers, as “Hermann”: a figurehead of German(ic) unity and freedom from Rome which, in the sixteenth ___ century, meant the Roman Church. By the early nineteenth century, Rome had become Napo- ___leonic France from whose domination German intellectuals strove to break free. In the heat of ___the Wars of Liberation, Arminius-Hermann once again became a symbol for a better future in ___freedom and unity. ___ This paper revisits two monuments built to commemorate the liberator Germaniae in the nineteenth century: the Hermannsdenkmal at Detmold, where Ernst von Bandel, an artist and ___ architect, promoted and, more or less single-handedly, was the impetus behind the project of a ___ national monument; and the Hermann Heights Monument at New Ulm, Minnesota, where ___German immigrants to the United States clustered around the mythical figure, who stood for ___German and American freedom alike. The paper investigates the mutability of an “intentional ___history” that, once canonised, served as a blueprint for the monumentalisation of an imagined ___past – a past which, though far from real, contributed to shaping the collective identities of those involved. ___ ___ ___ ___1 Introduction ___ ___„In all likelihood, the Hermannsdenkmal near Detmold will remain forever in- ___complete. Only the giant platform has been finished. The erection of the statue, ___which lay scattered and in pieces around it, has failed due to lack of money.” ___Thus wrote, in 1853, the weekly magazine Die Gartenlaube (vol. 11, p. 120). “The ___German spends money on banquets, opera and other things that titillate the ___senses”, the anonymous author goes on, “but as soon as it comes to issues of ___national importance, the cash box is rarely open.” ___ The project, first contemplated around 1800, designed by Karl Friedrich ___Schinkel after the victory over Napoleon at Leipzig and finally initiated by Ernst ___von Bandel in 1838, was, by the middle of the century, obviously in dire straits. ___The revolution of 1848 had failed to create the political unification of Germany; ___on the contrary: through the kingdoms, duchies and petty principalities that ___formed Germany blew the icy wind of reactionism. Constitutions were revoked, ___parliaments dissolved, attempts at rebellion crushed. The notion that political ___unity could be achieved by idealism alone gave way to more stalwart ap- 220 | Michael Sommer ___ proaches: if at all, Germany had to be united top-down, by means of Realpolitik. ___ Suddenly, the political myths underpinning the national project had gone out of ___ fashion – and so had the idea of building a national monument to the greatest ___ of such myths: Hermann. ___ ___ ___ 2 From Arminius to Hermann: a champion of ___ ___ freedom ___ ___ Modern nations are prototypical imagined communities (see Anderson 71996). ___ As such, they need symbols and narratives around which they can cluster, in- ___ spiring the notion in its members that they know, and belong to, each other. ___ Such narratives have been labelled, by Hans-Joachim Gehrke, “intentional his- ___ tory”.1 While not true in an ‘objective’ sense, it is believed to be true. Intentional ___ history, though an artificial construction, has a powerful impact on the real ___ world. It often determines the political agenda of states, the political behaviour ___ of individuals and the political orientations of large collectivities. Intentional ___ history is written by people, but it is not necessarily the machination of sinister ___ obscurantists. In most cases it evolves gradually, through, often contingent, ___ additions by countless individuals. Intentional history is fluid, swiftly adapting ___ to changing requirements and new challenges. As such, it could be described as ___ the narrative dimension of a political myth, which usually precedes other mani- ___ festations: visual and practical.2 ___ In the case of Arminius-Hermann, the creation of a political myth goes back ___ to no other than Tacitus. In the famous disputation between the brothers Flavus ___ and Arminius3 the Roman historiographer contrasts Roman civilisation with ___ ___ ___ _____ ___ 1 ‘Intentional history’, as opposed to ‘real history’, is “(s)ocial knowledge of the past, in other ___ words that which a society knows and holds for true about its past” (Gehrke 2001: 286). See ___ also Gehrke (1994, 2003, 2004, 2005). ___ 2 See Münkler (2009: 14–15). According to Münkler (2004: 221–222), it is only because of poli- ___ tical myths creating meaning that individuals can act jointly and hence politically: “(Politische ___ Mythen verbürgen) durch sinnhaft strukturierte Erzählungen Sinn (..., stiften) dadurch Ver- trauen in die eigene Handlungsmächtigkeit (und ermöglichen somit erst) politisches Handeln ___ im Sinne eines Zusammenhandelns von Menschen.” ___ 3 Tacitus, Ann. 2.9–10, with Arminius invoking fas patriae, libertatem avitam, penetrales Ger- ___ maniae deos, matrem precum sociam and Flavus citing the somewhat feeble rewards he re- ___ ceived from Rome: aucta stipendia, torquem et coronam aliaque militaria dona. Flavus is also Hermann the German: Nineteenth-Century Monuments and Histories | 221 ___Germanic tradition, freedom and sense of honour. As in the Germania, the Ger- ___manic barbaricum is used here as an antipode, epitomised by Arminius and ex- ___posing flaws and contradictions within Roman society. The Germania was piv- ___otal for the rise of the narrative that turned the Germanic peoples into the ___ancestors of modern Germans. Rediscovered by Enoch of Ascoli in the mid- ___fifteenth century, Tacitus’ opusculum rapidly spread throughout northern ___Europe and was eagerly read by humanists and religious reformers alike: men ___like Ulrich von Hutten, Heinrich Bebel and of course Martin Luther, who found ___plentiful ammunition in this text in his struggle against the Roman papacy.4 ___ But it was not before 1508 – when Tacitus’ Annals were discovered – that ___Arminius-Hermann became the champion of German assertiveness against Ro- ___man deceitfulness.5 In 1520, von Hutten wrote his Arminius Dialogus in the style ___of Lucian of Samosata, and thus established the cult of Arminius in Germany. A ___few years later, Arminius became Erman in Johannes Turmair’s Bayrische Ge- ___schichte (“History of Bavaria”). In his Colloquia, oder Christliche nützliche Tisch- ___reden Doctoris Martini Lutheri, published posthumously in 1566, Luther calls ___Arminius-Erman by his German name Hermann, asserting: “Ich hab in von ___hertzen lib” (‘I love him with all my