Support:
104-670: Support: The Bohemian Revolt ( German : Böhmischer Aufstand ; Czech : České stavovské povstání ; 1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War . It was caused by both religious and power disputes. The estates were almost entirely Protestant , mostly Utraquist Hussite but there was also a substantial German population that endorsed Lutheranism . The dispute culminated after several battles in
208-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
312-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
416-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
520-467: A conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The religious conflict eventually spread across the whole continent of Europe, involving France, Sweden, and a number of other countries. Had the Bohemian rebellion remained a local conflict, the war could have been over in fewer than thirty months. However, the death of Emperor Matthias emboldened the rebellious Protestant leaders, who had been on the verge of
624-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
728-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
832-737: A new phase of Switzerland's sectarian civil wars . In order to make the Spanish troops as inconspicuous as possible, the Confederacy therefore imposed a number of conditions on their transit across Switzerland – for example the treaty agreed in 1604 stipulated that when on Swiss soil Spanish soldiers would be required to march unarmed and in groups of no more than two hundred men at a time. The stringency of these restrictions made it difficult for Spain to move forces through Switzerland efficiently, and they only sent six major expeditions along this route before giving up on it permanently. The alternative
936-626: A poor harvest in 1565, leading to famine in 1566 (known as the 'Year of Hunger' or 'Year of Wonders'). In that same year social, political and religious unrest climaxed with the Compromise of Nobles and the Beeldenstorm , apparently endangering the government of Philip's Regent in Brussels , Margaret of Parma . Spanish troops under the Duke of Alba were dispatched to restore order and punish
1040-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1144-473: A result, Ferdinand had no difficulty in securing election as Holy Roman Emperor at the 1619 imperial election , which greatly strengthened his hand. Even James I of England refused to support Frederick, despite his wife being James' daughter. Overall, England was criticized for its inaction in the Thirty Years' War. In spite of these issues surrounding their support, the rebellion initially favoured
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#17327661365581248-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1352-579: A resurgent empire on their own borders, a circumstance that kingdoms like Denmark found untenable. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It
1456-591: A second French expedition into the Valtellina, hampering Spanish troop movements through the valley, while other French forces invaded Upper Alsace , which they conquered and permanently annexed to France after defeating the Austrians at the Battle of Breisach . The Spanish Road was thereby cut at two points, in the south between Milan and Tyrol and in the north between Further Austria and Lorraine . With
1560-465: A settlement. The weaknesses of both Ferdinand (now officially on the Bohemian throne after the death of Emperor Matthias) and of the Bohemians themselves led to the spread of the war to western Germany. Ferdinand was compelled to call on his cousin, King Philip III of Spain , for assistance. The Spanish Crown had interests in maintaining the Habsburg monarchy as a stable ally; a critical supply route,
1664-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1768-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1872-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1976-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2080-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2184-475: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17327661365582288-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2392-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2496-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2600-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2704-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2808-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2912-646: Is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
3016-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3120-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3224-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
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3328-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3432-634: The Army of Flanders , and this strategic catastrophe was instrumental in finally bringing about an end to the Eighty Years' War with the Peace of Münster . There was no organised system of accommodation for the troops marching along the Spanish Road. Officers would sometimes be able to stay in towns along the route, but their men had to sleep under bushes or construct makeshift huts for themselves at
3536-574: The Count of Bucquoy pacified Lower Austria. The two armies united and moved north into Bohemia. Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the Battle of White Mountain , near Prague , on 8 November 1620. In addition to becoming almost entirely Catholic, Bohemia would remain in Habsburg hands for nearly three hundred years. This defeat led to the dissolution of the Protestant Union and
3640-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
3744-594: The Duchy of Milan through the Duchy of Savoy , a Spanish ally, to the Spanish Franche-Comté , and from there due north through the Duchy of Lorraine , another Spanish ally, to Luxembourg in the Spanish Netherlands . This was the path along which Alba's forces marched in 1567, and Spanish forces continued to use it without significant interruption for the next thirty years. At the turn of
3848-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
3952-593: The Eighty Years' War , between 1567 and 1633, some 123,000 men were transported to the Spanish Netherlands by this overland route, compared to only 17,600 transported by sea. The road was eventually cut off for Spanish military use, after the Kingdom of France joined in the Thirty Years' War on the Dutch side and occupied Spanish territories along the route. The conflict between Philip II of Spain and
4056-672: The English Channel could have to run a deadly gauntlet of attacks by the French , English and Dutch , all of whom were hostile to Spain for much of this period. It was therefore much safer for Spain to transport its armies across the relatively secure waters of the Western Mediterranean to Italy and then march them overland along the 1,000 km (620 mi) length of the Spanish Road from Milan to Luxembourg , all of which were then Spanish territories. During
4160-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
4264-766: The Franche-Comté and the Spanish Netherlands , all of which were at the time territories of the Spanish Empire under the Habsburgs . It was also known as the Road of the Spaniards ( Camino de los Españoles ), Road of the Spanish Tercios ( Camino de los Tercios Españoles ), or Sardinian Corridor ( Corredor Sardo ) in Spanish. The Spanish Road was created under Philip II as a vital artery for
Bohemian Revolt - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4472-695: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4576-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
4680-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
4784-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
4888-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
4992-596: The Valtellina in a bid to annex the territory outright and thereby reopen the Spanish Road via Tyrol . This alarmed France, which sent an expeditionary force to the Valtellina under the command of the famed mountain warfare specialist Lesdiguières . The resulting Valtellina War ended in stalemate, and under the Treaty of Monzón (1626) Spain was forced to return the Valtellina to the Three Leagues, but crucially
5096-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
5200-486: The " Spanish Road ", extended from the Mediterranean to Brussels. To this end they invested an enormous sum of treasure in the hiring of free companies and mercenaries. The Bohemians, desperate for allies against King Ferdinand, applied to be admitted into the Protestant Union , which was led by their original candidate for the Bohemian throne, the Calvinist Frederick V, Elector Palatine . The Bohemians hinted Frederick would become King of Bohemia if he allowed them to join
5304-582: The Bohemians. They were joined in the revolt by much of Upper Austria , whose nobility was then chiefly Lutheran and Calvinist. Lower Austria revolted soon after, and in 1619, Count Jindřich Matyáš Thurn led an army to the walls of Vienna itself. The Spanish sent an army from Brussels under Ambrogio Spinola to support King Ferdinand. In addition, the Spanish ambassador to Vienna, Don Íñigo Vélez de Oñate , persuaded Protestant Saxony to intervene against Bohemia in exchange for control over Lusatia , in addition they would invest nearly two million ducats in
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#17327661365585408-533: The Catholics, and in 1617, Ferdinand was duly elected by the Bohemian Estates to become the crown prince, and automatically upon the death of Matthias, the next King of Bohemia . The king-elect then sent two Catholic councillors ( Vilem Slavata of Chlum and Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice ) as his representatives to Prague Castle in May 1618. Ferdinand had wanted them to administer the government in his absence. On 23 May, an assembly of Protestants seized them and threw them (and also secretary Filip Fabricius ) out of
5512-412: The Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands , culminating in the Eighty Years' War , was part of a broader European power struggle of the 16th century between Catholics and Protestants . By 1550, wars against both German Protestants and (Catholic) France had stretched Spain's finances thin, requiring the imposition of new taxes on the Spanish Netherlands. The resentment this caused was compounded by
5616-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
5720-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
5824-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
5928-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
6032-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
6136-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
6240-415: The Low Countries again. It therefore became imperative to find a way of reopening the Spanish Road as soon as possible. The Duke of Feria , Fuentes's successor as Governor of Milan, therefore instigated a Catholic insurrection in the Three Leagues , sparking a religious civil war, the Bündner Wirren (Graubünden Disturbances) , within the federation. While the Leagues fought among themselves he then invaded
6344-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
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#17327661365586448-464: The Milanese-Valtellinese border in a bid to intimidate the Three Leagues into repudiating the Venetian treaty, but to little effect. Thus by 1610 all three variants of the Spanish Road had become largely impassable to Spanish troops, owing to the French annexation of Bugey and Bresse, the heavy restrictions imposed on transit through the Swiss Confederacy, and the Venetian treaty with the Three Leagues. However, this disruption did not matter overly much in
6552-404: The Netherlands, and Denmark. This was a serious blow to Protestant ambitions in the region. As the rebellion collapsed, the widespread confiscation of property and suppression of the Bohemian nobility ensured the country would return to the Catholic side after more than two centuries of Hussite and other religious dissent. The elective monarchy was abolished in favour of hereditary succession and
6656-426: The Road were thus blocked. With the old route through Bugey and Bresse closed off by the French, the Spanish sponsored an attempt by Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy to conquer the Republic of Geneva . The rationale behind this was that the Republic bordered both Savoy and Franche-Comté, and its annexation to Savoy would enable Spanish troops to bypass the French and again reach Franche-Comté directly from Savoy. In
6760-416: The Spanish Netherlands, as described above. Indeed, the Spanish Governor of Milan, the Count of Fuentes , had already negotiated a deal with the Three Leagues to use this route as early as 1592. However, the Three Leagues was like the Swiss Confederacy a biconfessional federation, comprising a patchwork of Catholic and Protestant districts, and the latter resented the Spanish presence within their borders for
6864-492: The Spanish Road closed off, the Spanish were therefore forced to start transporting their armies to the Low Countries by sea instead. In 1639 one of these convoys was attacked off the English coast by the Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp , leading to the Battle of the Downs in which Tromp annihilated the Spanish fleet that had been escorting the troop ships. This catastrophic defeat crippled Spanish naval power , making it all but impossible for Spain to get reinforcements and supplies to
6968-434: The Spanish armies to use the Road during this period was that of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand , which won a series of important victories in Germany including the First Battle of Nördlingen . The Habsburg victories in Germany alarmed the French chief minister Cardinal Richelieu , who in 1635 brought France into the Thirty Years' War against Austria and also declared war on Spain . In the late 1630s Henri de Rohan mounted
7072-449: The Spanish could then march directly through neighbouring Upper Alsace , another Austrian Habsburg possession, to Lorraine and on to the Spanish Netherlands . The Swiss Confederacy was willing in principle to allow Spanish forces onto its territory, but the presence on Swiss soil of Catholic troops en route to fight against the Protestant Dutch Republic caused considerable disquiet in the Protestant cantons and threatened to trigger
7176-430: The Spanish war effort during the Eighty Years' War against the Dutch Republic . For Spain, it would have been much quicker to ship troops and supplies directly from Spain to the Low Countries – a sailing ship of the time could usually cover about 200 kilometres (120 mi) a day, whereas the average pace of soldiers marching on the Spanish Road was only 23 km (14 mi) a day. However, Spanish vessels sailing up
7280-400: The Union and come under its protection. However, similar offers were made by other members of the Bohemian Estates to the Duke of Savoy , the Elector of Saxony , and the Prince of Transylvania . The Austrians, who seemed to have intercepted every letter leaving Prague, made these duplicities public. This unraveled much of the support for the Bohemians, particularly in the court of Saxony . As
7384-460: The century, however, Savoy was defeated by France in the Franco-Savoyard War (1600–1601) . Under the resulting Treaty of Lyon (1601) , Savoy was obliged to cede its two northernmost provinces, Bugey and Bresse , to France, which meant that a significant stretch of the Spanish Road now lay on French soil. France was generally hostile to Spain in this period (the two kingdoms had been at war as recently as 1598), and Spanish troop movements along
7488-535: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
7592-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
7696-649: The east. The most straightforward option was to march the troops due north from Milan over the St Gotthard Pass and then down through Central Switzerland to the High Rhine . Crossing the Rhine would bring the Spanish armies into Further Austria , which was friendly territory as the Austrian Habsburgs were cousins and close allies of Spain's own Habsburg royal family . From Further Austria
7800-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
7904-403: The end of a day's march. Local people were generally fearful of the soldiers that passed through because of the reputation that all armies of this period had for plunder and thievery even when in friendly territory. In 1580, the officers of a Spanish tercio occupied a house in Franche-Comté only to find there was no furniture inside, as the occupants of the house had removed it all to preclude
8008-480: The event, however Charles-Emmanuel's attempt to take Geneva by escalade miscarried; the failure of the Savoyard assault, made on the night of 12 December 1602, is still celebrated by Genevans in the l'Escalade festival. The defeat of the Savoyard attack on Geneva dashed the last hopes of restoring the old route of the Spanish Road through Savoy, and so the Spanish subsequently started looking for an alternative to
8112-590: The expected size and schedule of each individual expedition. Although the Spanish Road initially had a purely military function, it also became an important trade route linking the Mediterranean to Northern Europe , similar to the mediaeval Via Imperii . The Road also prompted the Spanish to strengthen their diplomatic contacts in the Alpine region, leading to the establishment of permanent embassies in Savoy and
8216-743: The final Battle of White Mountain , where the estates suffered a decisive defeat. This started re-Catholisation of the Czech lands , but also expanded the scope of the Thirty Years' War by drawing Denmark and Sweden into it. The conflict spread to the rest of Europe and devastated vast areas of Central Europe , including the Czech lands, which were particularly stricken by its violent atrocities. Without heirs, Emperor Matthias sought to assure an orderly transition during his lifetime by having his dynastic heir (the fiercely Catholic Archduke Ferdinand of Styria , later Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor ) elected to
8320-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
8424-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
8528-401: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Spanish Road The Spanish Road ( Spanish : Camino Español , German : Spanische Straße ) was a military road and trade route in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, linking the Duchy of Milan ,
8632-713: The loss of Frederick V's holdings. Frederick was placed under the Imperial ban and outlawed from the Holy Roman Empire. His territories, the Rhenish Palatinate, were given to Catholic nobles. His title of elector of the Palatinate was given to his distant cousin, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. Frederick, now landless, made himself a prominent exile abroad and tried to curry support for his cause in Sweden,
8736-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
8840-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
8944-660: The palace window, which was some 17 metres (56 ft) off the ground. Remarkably, although injured, they survived. This event, known as the Third Defenestration of Prague , started the Bohemian Revolt. Soon afterward, the Bohemian conflict spread through all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown , including Bohemia , Silesia , Upper and Lower Lusatia , and Moravia . Moravia was already embroiled in
9048-588: The perceived insurrectionists, triggering the Dutch Revolt and the broader Eighty Years' War. As these troops could not be transported by sea, Philip was therefore forced to find a way to move troops from his garrisons in Lombardy overland to the Spanish Netherlands. The Spanish Road was surveyed and mapped out in 1566, and Alba used it in July 1567. The initial route of the Spanish Road ran northwest from
9152-502: The possibility of its being vandalised, burned or stolen. Armies only marched along the Spanish Road once or twice a year at most, and because of this no conventional military magazines were established along the route. There was however a system of etapés for provisioning troops at particular points, using commissioners sent by the Governors of the Spanish Netherlands or Milan to work out pricing details. The first type of etapé
9256-579: The privileges granted by the Letter of Majesty were revoked. However while Bohemia was effectively annexed by the crown, other regions would continue their revolt for several years. This would have the effect of bringing in elements of the Protestant Union which had suffered a severe blow to their credibility via their refusal to support the Bohemian revolutionaries. In addition, the changes in territory meant that previously unaligned powers would find
9360-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
9464-546: The road through Valtellina to the Stelvio Pass was reopened, enabling troop movements along the Spanish Road to resume. Multiple Spanish armies travelled along the reopened Spanish Road during the late 1620s and early 1630s, some to the traditional battlefield in the Low Countries but others to Germany , where the Thirty Years' War was now raging, in order to support the beleaguered Austrian Habsburgs . One of
9568-522: The same reasons as their Swiss coreligionists; furthermore their hostility to Spain was stoked for geopolitical reasons by Spain's Catholic enemies France and Venice . In 1603 the Venetians persuaded the Leagues to grant them exclusive access to the Valtellina, thereby nullifying the agreement the Leagues had signed with Fuentes eleven years previously. The governor responded by erecting Fort Fuentes on
9672-539: The separate royal thrones of Bohemia and Hungary . Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared they would be losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II in his Letter of Majesty (1609). They preferred the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine (successor of Frederick IV , the creator of the Protestant Union ). However, other Protestants supported the stance taken by
9776-461: The short term as in 1609 the Twelve Years' Truce came into effect, suspending fighting in the Eighty Years' War and temporarily removing the need for Spain to keep up a steady stream of reinforcements to the Army of Flanders . The Twelve Years' Truce broke down in 1619 (two years ahead of its projected expiry date), and Spain therefore found itself obliged to start sending large armies to
9880-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
9984-584: The supply and payment of both the army and its free company contingents. The Saxons invaded, and the Spanish army in the west prevented the Protestant Union's forces from assisting. Oñate conspired to transfer the electoral title from the Palatinate to the duke of Bavaria in exchange for his support and that of the Catholic League. The Catholic League's army under Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly (which included René Descartes in its ranks as an observer) pacified Upper Austria, while Imperial forces under
10088-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
10192-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
10296-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
10400-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
10504-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
10608-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
10712-618: Was for the Spanish to go even further east and march their armies northeast from Milan through the Valtellina , the southernmost territory of the Three Leagues . At the eastern end of the Valtellina was the Stelvio Pass , and on the far side of that was the County of Tyrol , yet another Austrian Habsburg territory from which Spanish forces could proceed northwest via Further Austria to Upper Alsace and then north across Lorraine to
10816-506: Was found only in Savoy , and took the form of a permanent waystation where soldiers and merchant travellers along the Road had access to food and shelter when they passed through. The second type, found in Franche-Comté , Lorraine and the Spanish Netherlands , was organised on an ad hoc basis through private contractors, who would calculate the payments and quantities of food required based on
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