Das Deutschlandlied[p] ("The Song of Germany", also known as "Das Lied der Deutschen" or "The Song of the Germans") has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people of Germany Germany (pronounced /ˈdʒɜrməni/ ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south since 1922. The music was written by Joseph Haydn Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was an Austrian composer. He was one of the most important, prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these genres. He was also instrumental in 1797 as an anthem for the birthday of the Austrian Austria /ˈɔstria/ (help·info) (German: Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Emperor Francis II Francis II (12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. In 1804 he had founded the Austrian Empire and became Francis I of Austria (Franz I.), the first Emperor of of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (April 2, 1798 - January 19, 1874), who used Hoffmann von Fallersleben (help·info) as his pen name, was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", which is now the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" to Haydn's melody, lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.
The song is as well-known by the opening words and refrain of the first stanza, "Deutschland über alles" (Germany above all), but this has never been its title. The line "Germany, Germany above all" meant that the most important goal of the Vormärz revolutionaries should be a unified Germany overcoming the perceived anti-liberal Kleinstaaterei. Alongside the Flag of Germany The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red and gold it was one of the symbols of the March Revolution of 1848 "Germany" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 had been a collection of 39 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation. As nationalist sentiment crystallized into resistance to the traditional political structure, repeated calls for freedom, democracy and national unity came to threaten the status quo. The Hambacher Fest. During the Third Reich Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich (Drittes Reich, "Third Reich") refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German Empire, German political propaganda altered the meaning of the first verse to stir up feelings of racial superiority.
In order to endorse its republican and revolutionary tradition, the song was chosen for national anthem of Germany in 1922, during the Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic ( Weimarer Republik , IPA: [ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk]) is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government, named after Weimar, the place where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was still Deutsches Reich (German Empire),. Out of similar reasons in 1952, West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland), from the new constitution was adopted in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and its territory was reunified with West Germany, ending the more than 40-year division of adopted the Deutschlandlied as its official national anthem, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. Upon reunification in 1991, the third stanza only was confirmed as the national anthem.
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