Martin Luther

   
     Martin Luther was truly one of the most important men of his time. His thoughts and words brought about a cultural, political, and religious revolution the likes of which had never been seen before. He was an example of how people should act when faced with corruption within a social structure. Instead of standing by and accepting the problem as a part of life, he openly opposed the corruption within the church and stood his ground no matter the outcome. Even being faced with interrogation and excommunication, Martin Luther stuck to his morals and never renounced his beliefs. He set an example to Germans by showing that if you truly believe in something you shouldn't have to change your mind because someone or something more powerful doesn't like what you are doing. This helped him to achieve his goal of changing the church, even though it was not quite in the manner he intended.

Martin Luther displaying his 95 theses

     Even though Luther's main goal was a revision of the church, he still managed to affect the political structure of Germany.  His treatise capitalized on the growing resentment of the secular world towards the church. He was able to use the psyche of the population to his advantage, appealing to the rulers of the German lands to rise up together and remove the corruption from the church. By focusing on the amount of money that the church was taking from the people and the principalities, it allowed the leaders to say that they were ready for church reform because a more altruistic set of ideals, not simply that they were greedy men and that they wanted more money for themselves. Combined with the fact that the secular rulers were not very fond of the clergy, this helped to keep him alive and not being arrested for heresy. Because of his ideas that the connection between a person and God does not need to involve the church, he also made it easier for the secular rulers to distance themselves even further from the pope and the rules of the church. This widening between the secular and the divine created a power gap that put kings and princes ahead of the church for the first time.
  

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms

      Luther's teachings gave power to the ordinary man. In a time were most of the power was with the nobles and the hierarchy within the church, this was outstanding. By giving the common man the power to interact with God on his own time, Luther empowered the lower classes to new levels. By using pictures in his writings, he was able to spread his knowledge to a wider swathe of people. By using the printing press he was able to disseminate his information quickly and with clarity. By being the first propagandist, he was able to bolster the strength of his argument with a diverse amount of people. From his time forward, all advertising of ideas moved toward propaganda, with a special emphasis on war. Had he not used the printing press to move his ideas, who knows if it would have been used in a similar manner by anyone else. This mass dissemination of information allowed the majority of the population, not just the powerful, to be aware of current happenings. This gave the large working class an advantage they were not used  to having before. Not only did they have access to new information, but Luther also gave them the ability to deal with God on a personal level.
   

Martin Luther used the printing press to disseminate his ideas to the masses

     Martin Luther revolutionized the way Christians interacted with God. Before him, the church and the clergy acted as middle men between the general populace and God. With Luther's teaching however the middle men were removed, and the population could talk to God themselves. This left the clergy almost obsolete. Combined with their material extravagance, they were easy targets for serfs who had little to no material wealth and therefore did not have much to lose in conflict. Even though Luther did not intend for his theses to cause such a revolution, I think that just makes him more respectable. Here is a man who just wanted people to open their eyes to the corruption within the church, not rebel against it and democratize it. Yet his ideas and words were so powerful that it helped to change the way in which people fundamentally interacted with their deity.


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Tacticus' Germania and the German Image

     Reading about Tacticus' Germania I was struck with how important this book was to the creation of a German nation. The German lands were considered farther behind technologically and culturally compared to their European counterparts, with many European's considering the German people lesser. With the rediscovery of the book, the German people could be described as loyal, brave, and plain-living. This must have done wonders for the self esteem of the people living there. I could only imagine how exciting it would be to live in Germany at this time; going from a loose collective of related states to having a sense of nationality, all within the time of a single generation. Germania did wonders for the creation of a German image, one that anyone within the German lands could be proud of and work towards spreading. It gave them something to work for, whether or not the
actual book itself was very accurate.

The Germania, the book that led to the recognition of a German Nationality

     I think that the rediscovery of Germania can say something about modern Germans as well. In movies and T.V. shows, Germans are always proud of their heritage, excluding of course the Holocaust. Living in America, we have all born witness to similar displays of pride in our national heritage (i.e. the Fourth of July), but with Germans my observation is that many take pride in their heritage more deeply. In America, heritage is about beating an opponent and gaining freedom, as well as the conquest of other nations and "freeing" them from oppression. I believe that German pride stems more from the accomplishments of the people as opposed to military successes. German people take pride in the things that they made, the adversity they overcame, and the lasting contributions that they made to the rest of the world. Modern America, in my opinion, could not be more different. Instead of investing in jobs for American citizens, big corporations move jobs overseas and outsource. Everything is made in China, not in the U.S. Instead of taking pride in overcoming adversity, American's complain about their current situation and how it was much better "back in the day". It is hard for American's to make a lasting impression on the world when obesity rates are increasing and heart disease kills people before they can do anything worthwhile.

Can America remain a global leader if our national image is under scrutiny?

I think that Americans can learn a thing or two from the German people when it comes to heritage. In days where different people are living together in a fast paced world, it is still important to recognize that we all live within one country, and establishing a national image we can be proud of is very important. During World War II, our country was able to band together to manufacture war goods, lead a successful war campaign, and bring peace to the world. This led to a strong national image. While there may not be any World Wars again, we can still create a strong national image by coming together to solve our growing health issues, solving problems and working together on Capitol Hill, and stabilizing our economy. If we could create a strong national image like the Germans, maybe people would once again have a legitimate reason to be proud of their American heritage and its image.

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