Description

While German-speaking peoples have a long history, Germany as a nation-state dates only from 1871.
Earlier periods are subject to definition debates. The Franks, for instance, were a union of Germanic tribes, nevetheless some of the Franks later identified themselves as Dutch, Flemish, French and again others as Germans. The capital of medieval ruler Charlemagne's empire was the city of Aachen, now part of Germany, yet he was a Frank. France was named after the Franks and the Dutch and Flemish people
are the only ones to speak a language that decends from Old Frankish, the language of the Franks. Hence nearly all continental Western European historians can claim his victories as their heritage. The Holy Roman Empire he founded was largely but far from entirely German speaking. Prussia, which unified Germany in the nineteenth century, had significant territory in what is now Poland. In the early nineteenth century the philosopher Schlegel referred to Germany as a Kulturnation, a nation of shared
culture and political disunity, analogous to ancient Greece.

During the ancient and early medieval periods the Germanic tribes had no written language. What we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in Latin and from archaeology. This leaves important gaps. Germanic wars against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective. Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events.