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Lastly, the restless and turbulent years around 1800 brought the emergence of the final part of the German image. Above all, the battles with Napoleonic France brought the German nation to self-consciousness. Poet and scholar alike turned freely to the old Germani-Gallic and Germani-Roman clashes. Heinrich von Kleist, doubtless one of the most influential of the German literati, wrote a vitriolic play called “Hermannsschlacht” (Herman’s Battle – referring to the Battle at Teutoburg Forest), which called for German and Prussian opposition to the French.

After the play presented the victory over the Roman legions led by Varus, the poet had his Herman close with an emotional appeal:

   “Come you brave Teutonic sons,
    And in the grove of the silent oaks, give thanks
    To mighty Odin for the rush of victory!
    To us remains the Rhine hurrying still uncanny,
    For the present thereby to let not one Roman
    Foot on Germania’s hallowed ground,
    But to come it’s on bravely to Rome itself!”

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