Response to Germany: A New History Chapters 1 & 2 (Blog post #2)

History has never been my strong suit when it came to learning about past events during school. The only aspect of history that ever really peaked my interest was the Holocaust, for a reason I can’t really explain. Maybe the emotion that comes with learning about the event or maybe the fact that families and children, who are much more helpless than adults, were involved, making it feel much closer to the heart and relatable to almost everyone. I mean, who wouldn’t do anything they could to protect their family?  Now, although I say that I really enjoyed learning about the Holocaust, that in no way means I am an expert. I am really dense when it comes to history, but that doesn’t mean that I lack the ability to form an opinion.

Soldiers Plundering a Farmhouse

(Sebastian Vrancx, ca. 1600)

War from the perspective of the civilian population,
as in the case of the Dutch peasants depicted here under
attack from a band of pillaging soldiers. The artist includes
details that represent a powerful impression of the suffering
inflicted by war throughout the seventeenth century.

When I first look at the painting, Soldiers Plundering a Farmhouse, I immediately question what they are doing or trying to portray. Are they trying to portray violence or aggression towards the reformation occurring throughout the country? Are they trying to portray hunger and desperation for food because of what their country is going through? Are they trying to portray their refusal to cooperate with the new leaderships being put into place in the aspects of religion? The idea of war can be viewed or portrayed in multiple ways and this painting portrays a variety of emotions.

I find the painting very intriguing and interesting because it is not your typical war scene. It almost makes me wonder if the animals are supposed to represent the people at war, where they have little control over the situation and they just hope they come out alive, and the people represent the power religion has on a community, region, etc. Having little control over a situation at hand can make someone feel helpless and weak and I think that is what the animals in the painting are supposed to represent. Animals lack the ability to use a voice and stand up for themselves, which is how some people may have felt during the time of the Reformation. I think so many people built up so much anger because of the control they were put under and not able to express their religion freely and because of this anger, a war broke out, causing a massive amount of causalities resulting in a decrease in population.

Result of the Thirty Years' War, with the goal to create
Catholic unity throughout the country. 

I feel what the painting reveals about Germans and Germany, as a whole, is that they crack under pressure. If something isn’t going their way, they will knock everyone out of the way until they get what they want, which is Catholic unity. I feel this painting depicts the personality of Germans as the Americans view them. Germans are very straightforward and they don’t hide their beliefs or opinions, which is shown in the painting. Emotions aren’t hidden within the painting and the brutality shown in the painting represents the straightforward personality of a German. The biggest thing that interests me about this painting is the unexpected connection it has between American and German ideas and personalities. It makes you think and question what is actually going on in the painting and I think that is one of the biggest parts of history, analyze and question past events.

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