Who inspired Germans?

Answer 1

German Nationalism has a long and complicated history. Probably the first real assertions of unique German cultural identity came during the Protestant Reformation where a number of German principalities became Lutheran as a method seeking legitimate independence from Rome. However, the modern Nationalist movements started in Prussia and Austria in the early-to-mid 1800s. Otto von Bismarck was a key Prussian politican who inspired many to embrace a large-scale German nationalism, uniting Prussia with the principalities of northern Germany and the larger states of southern Germany. German nationalism in this period was generally inclusive, seeking to unite those with German culture and traditions. The only German group that was actively excluded was the Austrians, since Bismarck did not want to compromise Prussia's political power in the new German union.

German nationalism became exclusivist and racially-motivated under Hitler and the Nazi Party. It changed from a simple embrace of common culture and language to a victimization of those who were not believed to be the "proper inheritors" of that culture and language. Since Hitler's defeat, German nationalism has become a very difficult topic for Germans to discuss because they are afraid that discussions of "Bismarckian German Nationalism" could lead to the permissibility of "Hitlerian German Nationalism".