ABSTRACT
The so-called ‘German question’ is deeply rooted in both German and European history. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the advent of the modern nation-state in Europe as the predominant entity for the execution of political and economic power. Germany, however, deeply fragmented into a multitude of smaller states since the Holy Roman Empire (Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation), and, especially in the east, with uncertain boundaries, no clearly defined territory, and an ethnically mixed population, found it difficult to organise and establish itself as a nation-state.
