Title: Germans | Iowa PBS
Headings: Germans
Germans
Problems in Germany
Farm and City Dwellers
Speak No German

Content: Problems in Germany
Germans began arriving in Iowa during the 1840s. Like many other immigrant groups, Germans came for a variety of reasons. Before 1871 what we today know as Germany was really a collection of small kingdoms and duchies (territory belonging to a duke or dutchess). Around 1848 people in some of the German states began revolutions against their rulers. When these revolutions failed, the people who had supported them, known as “forty-eighters” immigrated to the United States. In the 1860s Otto von Bismarck became the chancellor of Prussia, the largest German state. Under Bismarck’s leadership, Prussia forced the other German states to unite into a single country under the Prussia king, Kaiser Wilhelm I. In order to achieve his goal of a unified Germany, Bismarck began a program of conscripting, or drafting, young men into the army. Many young men did not want to serve in the military and they, and often their families, left Germany for the United States. Farm and City Dwellers
The Germans who settled in Iowa were both farmers and city dwellers. The city of Davenport was particularly well known for its large German population.