Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1916-03-14
HISTORY OF THE GERMAN
pBtpnFpN ~

AANf'A YIN 4 OE ANtEl OFltNEAA
PEOPLE.
CBased on Transitions from
Original Sources, and published by
| tho international Historical Society,
Inc, New York")
Among the latest merltcrious
works that have reached our desk
are the first two volumes of the
"Hietory Of the German People"
Edited by Edward S. Ellis, a. M, and
Augustus r. Keller, with an intro
duction by William r. Shepherd, PHI
d., Professor Of History, Columbia
University
Complete, this history win com
prise l6 or z volumes depending
upon the duration or the Great War
in Europe.
Unlike most historical works, the
Edition is in small compact form
CENT inches), and while the volumes
contain more than 400 pages each.
they are neither cumbersome nor un-
wieldy being little more than
threc~fourths of an inch in thick
ness
Appropriate Illustrations are pro-
fusely scattered throughout the
edition and are worthy OF more than
passing note many Of them having
never bciorc been produced in this
country.
The History starts with tho CAR
liost authentic annals OF the German
People ana comes down through the
centuries to tho present time. The
last volume win be devoted to the
Great War The writings OF the most
eminent and trustworthy of Ger
many's Historians have been trans
lated and q complete readable and
interesting story, rather than pro-
lix history is the result
While the History is distinctly
pro-German il conciseiy and thruth-
fully sets forth the growth, progress
and ambitions of people THAT to-day
fills tha public eyc.
How they have developed and the
different stages through which they
passed in thc course OF their advance
mont can be readily cleaned from The
fascinating pages OF these volumes
The Introduction by Professor Shep-
herd Is an unquestonable master
piece
TO this eminent Historian the Gel-
mans appear as a nation Strong in
body simple in custom and strong in
morals Into the EGropcar nations
Of later age They infused oDwcr
Of mind and heart which brought
with IL the dominion Of tho world"
The History opens with q dcscrip-
tion Of the country Two thousand
years ago the early Germans looked
upon themselves as the aborigines in
the land they called their own, but IL
has been established that they were
among the tribes who migrated, an
told centuries ago. from Che moun-
tains and table lands Of Central
Asia.
AT the time when the Germans
first entered tho worlds history, that
is, during the century before Che
| Christian era, there lived in the vast
| forests which stretched from the
Alps TO the North Sea and from tho
Carpathians 10 The Baltic, several
tribes roaming even as far East ass
the plains Of present day southern
Russia.
Among the numerous Gemanic
tribes the following were the most
| prominent: the East Goths who occu-
pied the vast plains along theDnieper.
| tho Nisigoths who resided in present
| day KumRnia and eastern Hungary,
| tho Vandais who We're Northwestern
! neighbors, the Suabians who occu-
pied Bohemia and Bavaria, the Bur-
gundians along the Ncckar and
! Main, tho Alomanni on tho Upper
| Rhine, the Franks along Middle and
Lower Rhine. the Saxons between
the Rhine and Elbe, the EIermanduri
I'D Central Germany the Longobards
along the Lower Elbe. and the
| Frisians on the shores Of the North
Sea.
All these tricbos formed, ethno-
! graphically, one people, held together
by common bond Of religion,
language and customs. although they
had no name designating their entire
people The word German" was
| coined by their western noighbors; II
is a Celtic not German word II ia
! supposed 10 signify imam carrying
the ger" that Is, the typical German
short spear, though nobody knows
OF certainty what ii means. Certain,
however, IL is that the Colts spoke OF
Germans not only in reference to the
Inhabitants of the countries cast ol
tho Rhine, but likewise with regard
to the Anglo-Saxons Of Britain. When
Caesar was Roman Droconsul iu
Gaul, the name of German was
commonly used to designate all tho
Germanic tribes.
II 10 from the Romans, particular
w Caesars ~Gallic WAR and Tacitus
4 "Gcrmania." that we derive most 81
our knowledge ofthe old Germans.
OF their religion which Richard Wag-
ner in his "Nibelungenring has
brought nearer to us, OF their mora.