Die Wacht am Rhein

In the two centuries from the Thirty Years' War to the final defeat of Napoleon I, the German inhabitants of lands by the Rhine suffered from repeated French invasions.

The Swabian merchant Max Schneckenburger, inspired by the German praise and French opposition this received, then wrote the poem "Die Wacht am Rhein".

Unlike the older "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" which praised a monarch, "Die Wacht am Rhein" and other songs written in this period, such as the "Deutschlandlied" (the third verse of which is Germany's current national anthem) and "Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?"

Schneckenburger worked in Restoration Switzerland, and his poem was first set to music in Bern by Swiss organist J. Mendel, and performed by tenor Adolph Methfessel [de] for the Prussian ambassador, von Bunsen.

Through a hundred thousand it quickly flickers, And everybody's eyes brightly flash; The German, honest, pious, and strong,[N 2] Protects the sacred border of the land.

Through countless thousands thrills that cry, And lightning fills each patriot eye, And German youth devoutly brave, Protect the sacred frontier wave.

They stand, a hundred thousand strong, Quick to avenge their country's wrong, With filial love their bosoms swell They shall guard the sacred landmark well.

Er blickt hinauf in Himmelsau'n, wo Heldenväter niederschau'n, und schwört mit stolzer Kampfeslust: Du Rhein bleibst deutsch wie meine Brust!

He casts his eyes to heaven's blue, From where past heroes hold the view, And swears pugnaciously the oath, You Rhine and I, stay German, both.

Und ob mein Herz im Tode bricht, wirst du doch drum ein Welscher nicht.

When in the aftermath of the subsequent French defeat, the Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck achieved the Unification of Germany and the German Empire including Alsace–Lorraine was established, "Die Wacht am Rhein"—beside "Heil dir im Siegerkranz"—was the unofficial second national anthem.

From World War I through to 1945, the "Watch on the Rhine" was one of the most popular songs in Germany, again rivaling the "Deutschlandlied" as the de facto national anthem.

In World War II, the daily Wehrmachtbericht radio report began with the tune,[3] until it was replaced by the fanfare from Liszt's Les préludes in 1941.

However, the scenario envisioned in the song – i.e., an enemy approaching the Rhine and seeking to cross it, and patriotic German youths mobilizing en masse to defend the river with their lives – never came about in reality.

Due to the German Army's preferred offensive strategy, the fighting in 1870–71, 1914–1918 and 1940 all took place on French soil, far to the west of the Rhine.

In 1945 Operation Plunder did result in a successful allied crossing of the Rhine, but by then Germany was on the verge of collapse, no longer capable of this kind of mobilization.

In Lewis Milestone's 1930 film All Quiet on the Western Front, the song is played at the end of the first scene as schoolboys, whipped into a patriotic frenzy by their instructor, abandon their studies and head off to enlist in the army.

In the first and second part of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1980 epic film adaptation of Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), Franz Biberkopf starts singing the song (as in the novel).

In the parodic science fiction film Iron Sky (2012), the Nazis living on the far side of the Moon use the song's tune (with different lyrics) as their national anthem.

The tune for the alma mater of Yale University, "Bright College Years",[4] was taken from Karl Wilhelm's "Die Wacht am Rhein".

[7] Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli also wrote new, patriotic lyrics to the song's tune, titled "La vedetta delle Alpi".