The word 'Deutschland' really only acquired its present meaning after the founding of the German Empire except when antcipated by scholars and poets. However, Emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg and Martin Luther prepared the way for imbuing the word with a patriotic or nationalistic resonance.

1. Let us look at the word 'Deutschland' from a linguistic or analytical point of view. It consists of
two elements 'deutsch-' and '-land.' The first element is derived from an adjective that
designates a language and the attributes of those who speak it. The second refers to a
geographic area. History has shown that it has been very difficult indeed to correlate the
elements implied by the word 'Deutschland.' Before the unification of the German states and
provinces in 1871 what we mean by 'Deutschland' today, the unified state situated in Europe,
was, from a pro-Prussian point of view at least, 'Kleindeutschland,' 'Lesser Germany,' a segment
of a larger German speaking area, the German Confederation (der Deutsche Bund), that
included the German-speaking area of Austria, but not Hungary, which was never a part of the
Holy Roman Empire (HRE).
In the patriotic mood engendered by the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, a Romantic poet named
Ernst Moritz von Arndt composed a famous or perhaps infamous poem in which he repeatedly
asked whether this or that component of 'the German Fatherland' set a limit on the confines of
the greater whole. The answer was always the same: ‘No, no, no, Germany is greater still.' This
greater whole even included' parts of Switzerland and the Netherlands. The poem
unfortunately included xenophobic and francophobic elements, to boot.
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, composed 'das Lied der Deutschen' now the
German national anthem (without the opening strophe beginning 'Deutschland, Deutschland
ueber alles'). Despite being misconstrued as an expression of jingoistic sentiments it is
definitely less strident than von Arndt's evocation of the German fatherland with all its
virulence. In fact it echoes strains traceable in a poem by the medieval poet Walter von der
Vogelweide written in praise of German virtues that are deemed to be superior to those of
foreign peoples. In this the word ‘tiusch’ (from which 'deutsch' is derived) emphatically recurs
and expresses a new quality by a word that had simply meant 'pertaining to common people.'
Hoffmann von Fallersleben composed 'das Lied der Deutschen' in 1841, a year that marked
great changes in the German-speaking world. Only a year before a French army was poised to
invade the Rhineland after France had suffered a major diplomatic reverse over the issue of Ali
Pasha's dispute with the Turks. 'The word 'Deutschland,' previously of interest mainly to
scholars such as Hoffmann von Fallersleben, gained a new resonance among the general public.
Furthermore, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, a man inspired by a Romantic infatuation with the medieval
past and gothic architecture, ascended the Prussian throne and aroused hopes that he would
inaugurate a period of greater toleration and civil liberty throughout the nation and
furthermore prepare the ground for the unification of Germany. One token of this hope lay in a
concerted effort to complete the building of Cologne Cathedral, construction work on which
had halted since the sixteenth. Such an accomplishment would serve as a fitting symbol of
German unity and harmony between Prussians and Rhinelanders. Heinrich Heine for one was
none too smitten by the project, which he mockingly belittled in his satiric verse epic
‘Deutschland, ein Wintermaerchen’ (Germany, a Winter’s Fairy Tale).

2. The king eventually disappointed the high hopes he aroused at the beginning of his reign. The
social and political upheaval that affected Europe in 1848 forced the king to make concessions
to the massive public demand for the institution of a democratic constitution in accord with the
resolution of the Frankfurt Parliament. A constitution was established in 1852 but despite
displaying the outward appendages of democratic form it was firmly under the control of the
aristocratic order. The 'Romantic' king was also under the spell of traditions rooted in the
Middle Ages that had been promoted by the HRE and which the founders of the German
Confederation hoped to uphold, not least by defending the interests of all those who could
claim to be Germans on the basis of their native language and culture.
Arguably Emperor Maximilian had anticipated this development by extending the title of the
Holy Roman Empire by adding the suffix 'deutscher Nation' and Martin Luther pointedly
appealed to the 'Christian nobility of the German Nation' in his tract entitled 'An den
christlichen Adel deutscher Nation.' Luther wished to combine his bid to reform the Church
with his effort to standardize a normative German language based on a translation of the Bible
into the language of the common people in line with the original meaning of the word
'deutsch.' Luther's appeal to the 'Christian nobility' took little account of the fact that the
common people included peasants who longed for social as well as spiritual liberation. Luther's
call for the ruthless suppression of those who took the path of militant action in the Peasants’
War struck a jarring note amid hopes aroused by the notion of the priesthood of all believers.
Ultimately it was left to a Protestant to pave the way German unity to the exclusion of Austria
from the 'Deutschland' that emerged after much suffering from the ravages of war, but at least
one thing is sure; both Protestants and Catholics gained much satisfaction from the sight of
Cologne Cathedral when completed in 1880.