Germans (German: Deutsche) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II, defines a German as a German citizen. During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history. The German language remains dominant in Germany, and is still widely perceived as a necessary criterion for German "national belonging". The total number of Germans in the world range is about 100 million, most of whom live in Germany.
The history of Germans as an ethnic group began with the separation of a distinct Kingdom of Germany from the eastern part of the Frankish Empire under the Ottonian dynasty in the 10th century, forming the core of the Holy Roman Empire. In subsequent centuries the political power and population of this empire grew considerably. It expanded eastwards, and eventually a substantial number of Germans migrated further eastwards into Eastern Europe. The empire itself was generally decentralized and politically divided between many small princedoms, cities and bishoprics, while the idea of unified German state came later. Following the Reformation in the 16th century, many of these states found themselves in bitter conflict concerning the rise of Protestantism.
In the 19th century, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, and German nationalism began to grow. At the same time however, the concept of German nationality became more complex. The multiethnic Kingdom of Prussia incorporated most Germans into its German Empire in 1871, and a substantial additional number of German speakers were in the multiethnic kingdom of Austria-Hungary. During this time, a large number of Germans also emigrated to the New World, particularly to the United States. Large numbers also emigrated to Canada and Brazil, and they established sizable communities in New Zealand and Australia. The Russian Empire also included a substantial German population.
Following the end of World War I, Austria-Hungary and the German Empire were partitioned, resulting in many Germans becoming ethnic minorities in newly established countries. In the chaotic years that followed, Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Nazi Germany and embarked on a genocidal campaign to unify all Germans under his leadership. His Nazi movement defined Germans in a very specific way which included Austrians, Luxembourgers, eastern Belgians, and so-called Volksdeutsche, who were ethnic Germans elsewhere in Europe and globally. However, this Nazi conception expressly excluded German citizens of Jewish or Roma background. Nazi policies of military aggression and its persecution of those deemed non-Germans led to World War II and the Holocaust in which the Nazi regime was defeated by allied powers, including the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of Germany's defeat in the war, the country was occupied and once again partitioned. Millions of Germans were expelled from Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990, West Germany and East Germany were reunified. In modern times, remembrance of the Holocaust, known as Erinnerungskultur ("culture of remembrance"), has become an integral part of German identity.
Owing to their long history of political fragmentation, Germans are culturally diverse and often have strong regional identities. Sixteen Länder (states) make up modern Germany. Arts and sciences are an integral part of German culture, and the Germans have been represented by many prominent personalities in a significant number of disciplines, including Nobel prize laureates where Germany is ranked third among countries of the world in the number of total recipients.
The English term Germans is derived from the Latin geographical term Germania. These terms were ultimately derived from the ethnonym Germani, which became an umbrella term that was occasionally used to categorize some of the peoples living in and near Germania during the Roman era.
In some contexts, people of German descent are also called Germans. In historical discussions the term Germans is also occasionally used to refer to the Germanic peoples during the time of the Roman Empire.
The German endonym Deutsche is derived from the Old High German term diutisc, which means 'ethnic' or 'relating to the people'. This term was used for speakers of West-Germanic languages in Central Europe since at least the 8th century, after which time a distinct German ethnic identity began to emerge among at least some of them living within the Holy Roman Empire. However, variants of the same term were also used in the Low Countries, for the related dialects of what is still called Dutch in English, which is now a national language of the Netherlands and Belgium.
What it means to be a German has changed over time. As in other modern nationalities, German identity is now strongly connected to a single modern country, Germany. However, various different conceptions of German identity existed before the country took its modern form, so many historical Germans did not live in a country called Germany. This has led to some particularly notable historical dilemmas about who should be considered a German.
The modern English terms "German" and "Germany" derive from the classical geographical concept of Germania. In the first and second century, Roman geographers defined as the area between the Rhine, Danube and Vistula. The Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar, who gave an account of his conquest of Gaul in the 1st century BC, was the first author known to have used the geographical term Germania, and to define its western boundary as the Rhine. He emphasized that the Germani (Germanic peoples) east of the river were different to Gauls, and dangerous to Rome. In contrast, archaeological evidence shows that at the time of Caesar's invasion, both Gaul and Germanic regions had long been strongly influenced by the same celtic La Tène culture.
The modern German terms for Germany (Deutschland) and the Germans (die Deutsche) derive from a medieval word for the German language, and early Germanic languages started entering the Rhine area from the east in the time of Caesar. The resulting demographic situation reported by him was that migrating Celts and Germanic peoples were moving into areas which threatened the Alpine regions and the Romans. The modern German language is a descendant of the Germanic languages which spread during the Iron Age and Roman era. Scholars generally agree that it is possible to speak of Germanic languages existing as early as 500 BCE. These Germanic languages are believed to have dispersed towards the Rhine from the direction of the Jastorf culture, which was itself a Celtic influenced culture that existed in the Pre-Roman Iron Age, in the region near the Elbe river. It is likely that first Germanic consonant shift, which defines the Germanic language family, occurred during this period. The earlier Nordic Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia also shows definite population and material continuities with the Jastorf Culture, but it is unclear whether these indicate ethnic continuity.
Under Caesar's successors, after conquering Gaul the Romans began to conquer and control the entire region between the Rhine and the Elbe which centuries later constituted the largest part of medieval Germany. These efforts were significantly hampered by the victory of a local alliance led by Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, which is traditionally considered to be a defining moment in German history. While the Romans were nevertheless victorious, rather than installing a Roman administration they controlled the region indirectly for centuries, recruiting soldiers there, and playing the tribes off against each other. The early Germanic peoples were later famously described in more detail in Germania by the 1st century Roman historian Tacitus. He described them as a diverse group, dominating a much larger area than Germany, stretching to the Vistula in the east, and Scandinavia in the north.