1871: Wilhelm I. becomes emperor of Germany.

It is not so long ago: Napoleon has been defeated by an alliance of Prussia, Russia and Austria at Leipzig. "The Battle of Leipzig" 1813.

Prussia gained strength and Wilhelm I. became emperor of Germany. But four evils follow us in our history:

1.) The militarism. The English hymn begins with "God save our gracious Queen, God save our noble Queen ... ".

 In German the same melody: "Hail to thee in victor's crown, savior of the fatherland ...".

2.) The Enlightenment. Our Government does not understand the signs of the times, and so the aristocracy has to resign in 1918.

 3.) The persecution of Israel.  The people of God has no land of its own since 1800 years.

( The devastation of Jerusalem was in 71.)

 Only tolerated by other peoples Israel held on to its God in expectation of the coming Messiah. Many of them feel the German culture rather homelike, the "land of poets and thinkers", and so they adopt the German way of life.

4.) The Occultism. The "enlighted" people know: We are surrounded by spiritual beings.

"There is more between heaven and earth than our wisdom may dream of."

People begin to arrange themselves with those beings. Theodor Fontane describes this in his novel "Effi Briest". Seances become socially acceptable.

1871 France has been defeated by a German alliance. But also very much humiliated. By the German "Heroes".

And so - in the beginning of the 20th century, 1913 - people inaugurated the "Völkerschlachtdenkmal" in the south of Leipzig.   ( Monument to the Battle of the Nations.)

A remembrance of the victory over Napoleon in 1813?   Maybe.    But mainly it is a demonstration of the German heroism.  And it has not been built in order of a sovereign but in order of the people themselves.

Richard Wagner could have been the architect.   To Wilhelm II. the memorial appeared rather strange.