Are Germanic people responsible for England's accomplishments??

Question

Consider the Angles and Saxons not to mention the heavily Germanic royal family.

Answer 1

That's an interesting question. I knew a bit about it, but not enough to venture an opinion. So I tried to augment the little bit I knew (from studies of European and British history, to the graduate level) so as to be a little bit helpful.

Let me take your second example. The record of the Hanoverian royal family, that succeeded to the British throne at the death of Queen Anne in the early 1700s, is mixed at best. The first two Georges were most significant because of their interest in their Germanic properties and their absence from or incomprehension of British affairs. Royal rule turned inward (to the court) and outward (to German affairs) and in the partial gap thus created, the Prime Minister (Walpole) and cabinet system emerged as the nucleus of modern representative government. George III considered himself to be a Patriot King, emphasized his Englishness, but got into heaps of trouble (cf. the American Revolution). His successors, George IV (a playboy) and William IV (a doltish "Sailor BillY", more involved with the navy than anything else) were duds. Victoria was great, and did rekindle the German spirit of the monarchy (her consort, Prince Albert, was a serious, well-inttentioned minor German prince), as well as building up the Scots tradition (Balmoral, taking the train for highland vacations, etc.) but went through a major period of unpopularity among the English, fanning the flames of republicasnism until she relapsed into a venerated old age. The modern monarchy, with its penchant for publicity, begins with her scallawag son, Edward VII, who turned out to be both popular and somewhat modern in his far-sighted perspective. But, partly in reaction to the Germanic aspects of his upbringing, and to the late-Victorian emphasis on the allegedly Germanic roots of Britain's outlook, he turned his affections (personal and political) to the French. Since then there have been only occasional lapses into philo-Germanism: Edward VII was pro-German and pro-Hitler (Ladislaw Farago suggests, in one of his histories of espionage, that he supplied his golfing friend, the German ambassador, with information that the British were bluffing when they tried to create a belief on the part of German military intelligence that they would interfere in the Rhineland crisis of 1936).

As to the Anglo-Saxon theory of Britain's greatness (a late Victorian shibboleth which was reflected, for example, in Cecil Rhodes's concept of the Rhodes Scholarships, which he saw as a way of encouraging unity among young elites of the British Empire, the U.S., and the German Empire in order to promote a trilateral superpower dominance of the world), even in the Victorian period there were some who questioned its assumptions. In my sources, I refer to an essay on British Ethnology which T. H. Huxley published in 1871.

PS: As usual, I wrote my answer before looking at other responses. Sometimes, I look at the others afterwards. I agree with the answer about the mixed nature of British ethnicity, but have a reservation about the comment that though the Anglo-Saxons are overlaid as part of the general mix, they are probably the majority strain. Within the last few weeks, the New York Times had an article about a DNA study of the population of the British Isles, including Ireland. The finiding was quite intriguing. There was almost no difference in the DNA of this varied population, including the distinction between the Irish and the others. What is suggested is that social-cultural enviornment and historical traditions have much more to do with differences than any other factor.,

Answer 2

The English people are really a combination of the Brits (a Celtic people); the Romans; the Angles, Saxons, & Jutes (Germanic peoples); the Danes; and the Normans (French). By now the Anglo-Saxon or Germanic strain is probably the most dominate though. The English people and language was formed in England. They are incredibly inventive. They are responsible to nobody else for their accomplishments. For instance in every time period since the Middle Ages England has produced works of fiction and non-fiction, as well as inventions and discoveries. And consider English gardens and architecture. Romanesque and Gothic architecture came from France but the English made it their own. Georgian architectutre was inspired by ancient Greece & Rome. English gardens are made up of twisting paths unlike the classical gardens of the continent. And so on.

Answer 3

the saxons after the roamns left bought civilization to england

Answer 4

Extending the "logic" of of your question, perhaps the real credit should go to African people? The earliest humans, after all, originated there!

Answer 5

english people are germanic people.