Pan-Germanism was an idea of unification of all German peoples, which was at its peak during the last years of the 20th century and the first half of the 20th century. This has its origins in the birth of a new political doctrine, centered on nationalism, as a direct reaction to all the years that the German nation, in addition to other neighboring ones, had been under the domination of old monarchies and empires. This led to the formation of the well-known German Empire, which sought to have a large population, combining various ethnic groups and contributing to stable political and economic development, focused on support among citizens.
An antecedent to this union may be the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in which Hungary was recognized as a sovereign state within the Austrian Empire. With this, an attempt was made to form a nation that mixed various ethnic groups. As time passed, however, some Austrians claimed to have felt uncomfortable in their own country, agreeing to identify themselves as descendants of the Bavarians; Added to this, they also supported the idea of the definitive separation of the Austrian Empire, to join the German Empire.
At the end of the First World War, the Astro-Hungarian Empire was reduced, becoming divided into small states, according to the ethnic groups that inhabited it. Eventually Austria decided to join Germany, becoming a country called German Austria. With the arrival of the Nazis, this idea of unification was again pursued, to attract Germans who lived outside the Empire. Years later, with the defeat of Germany in World War II and the expulsion of millions of Germans to nearby territories, Pan-Germanism was in decline as a political ideology, similar to what happened to Pan-Slavism in World War I.
