German-American relations
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German-American relations are the transatlantic relations between Germany and the United States and between the German and American people in particular.
The strong links between the two countries are characterized by common values which grew out of both countries' past. Throughout history, the two countries developed cultural ties, trade and security, and both were influenced by ideas such as the pursuit of peace, yet also racism.
Today, the United States is regarded as one of Germany’s closest allies and partners outside the European Union. [1]
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[edit] German Immigration to the United States
see main article German American
During over three centuries of immigration history to the United States, immigration from Germany accounts for the largest share of the American people. More than 23 % of all Americans today are of German descent and they consequently hold the strongest impact on the American people today. Other than the Italians, Greeks or Irish, German-Americans are a mostly assimilated group which influences political life in the US on a whole.
[edit] 1683 - 1848
First records of German immigration dates back to the 17th century and the foundation of German town near Philadelphia in 1683 (German-American Day). Immigration from Germany to the US reached its first peak between 1749 and 1754 when approximately 37,000 Germans came to North America.
[edit] 1848 - 1914
Owing to the democratic system in the United States it was not surprising that the United States of America appreciated the initiative for democracy in Germany and therefore was the only foreign power to recognize the 1848 Frankfurt government by sending an official representative.
The failed German Revolutions of 1848 caused an immense wave of emigration from Germany, mainly to the US. Called the (Forty-Eighters), during the following years over one million Germans left for the United States.
By the end of the 19th century, Germans accounted for the biggest ethnic group in the US. German language and customs became a strong element in American society and complemented the existing British heritage.
Political participation of German-Americans was more focused on involvement in the labour movement than in government. Germans in America had a strong influence on the labour movement in the United States. Newly founded labour unions enabled German immigrants to improve their working conditions and, on a whole, to integrate into American society .
[edit] post 1914
During World War I and World War II, most German-Americans cut off their former ties and assimilated into mainstream American culture. During the time of the Third Reich, Germany had another major emigration wave of mainly German Jews and other political refugees.
Today, German-American form the largest group of ancestry in the United States U.S. Census Bureau (2000) with California and Pennsylvania having the highest number of German Americans.
[edit] Common values in the two countries
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Germany and the United States are civil societies.
Germany's philosophical heritage and America's spirit for "freedom" interlock to a central aspect of Western culture and Western civilization. Even though developed under different geographical settings, the Age of Enlightenment is fundamental for the self-esteem and understanding of both nations.
It can also be observed that both countries have experienced the ideology of white supremacy. When the Congress of the Nazi Party met in 1935 to pass their Nuremberg Laws. These were in many ways modelled on the Jim Crow laws which were in place in the USA from 1877 to 1954.[1]
Both countries value each other's "sleeves up" attitude to work and respect each others sense for right and order. An ineloquent image of an Ugly American corresponds to the "Ugly German".[2]
While among transatlantic relations Anglo-American relations are holding a common historical experience, mostly German-American relations are actually in the making of carrying transatlantic relations further.
[edit] Political relations
[edit] pre 1871
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In 1785 the United States concluded a trade agreement with Prussia.
[edit] German Empire and two World wars
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During the First World War German diplomats actively supported various movements such as the Ghadar Party to overthrow the British Raj. This involved using the American ship SS Maverick to smuggle arms and inflammatory publications to India. Although British intelligence was able to thwart the plans, the United States judiciary organised the Hindu German Conspiracy Trial following American involvement in the war against Germany.[3]
[edit] Post war
Following the defeat of the Third Reich American forces were one of the occupation powers in postwar partition of Germany. In parallel to denazification and industial dismantling (see JCS 1067), American Forces and Americans for the first time fraternized with Germans which was setting the foundation for a very close friendship; the Berlin Airlift from 1948 - 1949 and the Marshall Plan (after German independence) further deepened German-American relations.
[edit] Cold War
The emergence of the Cold War made the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) the frontier of a democratic Western Europe and American military presence became an integral part in West German society.
During the following decades West Germany developed as Europe's biggest economy and West German-U.S. relations further grew together in a new transatlantic partnership. Germany and the U.S. shared a large portion of their culture, established intensive global trade environment and continued to co-operate on new high technologies. However, German-American co-operation wasn't always free of tensions between differing approaches on both sides of the Atlantic.
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification of Germany marked a new era in German-American relations.
[edit] Post 1990
During the early 1990s the reunified Germany was called for a "partnership in leadership" at a high of German-American relations, with the U.S. emerging as the world's sole superpower.
Germany's effort to incorporate any major military actions into the slowly progressing European Security and Defence Policy did not meet the expectations of the U.S. during Gulf War. After the September 11 attacks, the German-American political relations were strengthened in an effort to combat terrorism, and Germany sent troops to Afghanistan as part of the NATO force. Yet, discord continued over the Iraq War, when Germany refused to join the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq.
[edit] Military relations
German-American military relations date to the time of the American War of Independence when German troops fought on both sides. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former Lieutenant General in the Prussian Army, was appointed Inspector General of the Continental Army and helped form the rag-tag militia into a proper military force during the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge. To this day he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the United States Army.
Another German that served during the American Revolution was Major General Johann de Kalb, who served under Horatio Gates at the Battle of Camden and died as a result of several wounds he sustained during the fighting.
About 30,000 German mercenaries fought for the British, with 17,000 coming from Hesse, amounting to about one in four of the adult male population of the principality. Generally referred to as Hessians, these German auxiliaries swore allegiance to the British Crown, but without renouncing their allegiance to their own rulers. Leopold Philipp von Heister, Wilhelm von Knyphausen, and Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg were the principal generals who commanded these troops with Frederick Christian Arnold, freiherr von Jungkenn as the senior German officer.[4]
German Americans have been very influential in the United States military. Some notable figures include Brigadier General August Kautz, Major General Franz Sigel, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, and General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
Germany and the United States are joint NATO members. The U.S. currently has approximately 150,000 American troops stationed within southern Germany. During the Cold War the number of U.S. troops based in West Germany was significantly higher. Both nations have closely cooperated in the War on Terror, with Germany providing more troops than any other nation. However, the two nations have opposing public policy positions in the War in Iraq. While Germany may have blocked US efforts to secure UN Resolutions in the buildup to war, they continued to quietly militarily support U.S. interests in southwest Asia. German soldiers operated military Biological and Chemical cleanup equipment at Camp Doha in Kuwait; German Navy ships secured sea lanes to deter attacks by Al Qaeda on US Forces and equipment in the Persian Gulf; and soldiers from Germany's Bundeswehr deployed all across southern Germany to US Military Bases to conduct Force Protection duties in place of Germany based US Soldiers who were deploying to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The latter mission lasted from 2002 until 2006. Today, nearly all the Bundeswehr have been de-mobilized.[5]
[edit] Economic relations
The two economies are mutually important to each other both as places of investment and trade: 50% of German foreign direct investment goes to the United States. German investment in the United States amounts to over 100 billion euros. The United States is the largest investor in the European Union with almost 50% of all investments and in Germany with total investments amounting to 100 billion dollars, of which about 10% are in the new Federal Länder (former East Germany), making the U.S. the largest foreign investor there.
German companies employ over 800,000 people in subsidies in the United States and US companies have the same number of employees in Germany. This makes Germans the third largest group of foreign employers (after Canada and the United Kingdom) and the US the largest inter-continental foreign employer in Germany.
[edit] Cultural Relations
Karl May was a prolific German writer who specialised in writing Westerns. Although he only visited America once towards the end of his life, May provided Germany with a series of frontier novels, which provided Germans with an imaginary view of America.
Famous German-American architects, artist, musicians and writers:
German takes third place after Spanish and French among the foreign languages taught at secondary schools, colleges and universities.
[edit] Research and academic exchange
The contributions of German and American scientists to various fields of science are countless, as are the co-operations between academics from both countries. Moreover,
In particular in the fields of chemistry and physics German-American scientific relations have a long history personified by genius personalities such as Albert Einstein or Wernher von Braun.
Research at German and American universities run various exchange programs and projects, and focus among others on space exploration and the ISS, environmental technology and medical science. Import cooperations are also in the fields of biochemistry, engineering, information and communication technologies and life sciences (networks through: Bacatec, DAAD).
[edit] American Cultural Institutions in Germany
In the post-war era, a number of institutions, devoted to bring the characteristic aspects of American culture and society into the awareness of Germans, were established and are in existence today, especially in the south of Germany, the area of the former U.S. Occupied Zone. Today, they offer English courses as well as cultural programs. These institutions include the so-called d.a.i.'s (Deutsch-Amerikanische Institute, German-American Institutes) in Tübingen[2], Heidelberg, Nuremberg and Saarbrücken and the James F. Byrnes Institute in Stuttgart[3] (for the history of the establishment of these institutions see d.a.i.).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- American Academy in Berlin
- American Chamber of Commerce in Germany
- AICGS American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington, DC
- American Council on Germany
- Aspen Institute Berlin
- Atlantik Brücke Berlin
- DAAD New York
- German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, DC
- Germany-USA Career Center for German American Trade
- Munich Conference on Security Policy
- German-American Institute Tübingen
- German-American Center (James F. Byrnes Institute) Stuttgart (German)
- Embassies
[edit] References
- ^ The Nuremburg Laws by Ben S. Austin
- ^ "'The Ugly German' and 'The Ugly American': National Stereotypes of the Modern Conformist,", by Todd Hanlin, paper delivered to the American Association of Teachers of German and Modern Language Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity, West Chester, 1979.
- ^ *The Hindu-German Conspiracy by Karla K. Gower
- ^ [http://www.clements.umich.edu/Webguides/HK/Jungkenn.html Freiherr von Jungkenn Papers
- ^ Gordon, Michael and Trainor, Bernard "Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq" New York: 2006 ISBN 0-375-42262-5
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