"God Save the King" first gained widespread popularity as a pro-Hanoverian anthem in the autumn of 1745. It was performed nightly in London theaters to rally support for King George II against the invading army of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The infamous first line of Germany's anthem originally urged the fragmented German states to prioritize a unified nation over petty regional loyalties. Written in 1841, it was a liberal, nationalist call for internal unity, not a program for external domination.

Lacking an official anthem after WWII, West Germany sometimes played a popular Cologne carnival song at public events. This caused international embarrassment, notably when Belgian soldiers saluted the tune, prompting Chancellor Adenauer to push for the return of the traditional anthem.

Instead of replacing the Weimar Republic's anthem, the Nazis reinterpreted its first verse for their ideology and elevated their own party song, the "Horst-Wessel-Lied," to co-anthem status. This created a dual-anthem system blending traditional nationalism with specific Nazi party veneration.

As an alternative to the traditional anthem, playwright Bertolt Brecht wrote the "Children's Anthem" in the 1950s. Its lyrics are deeply self-critical, expressing hope that other countries will no longer "recoil from us in horror," reflecting a post-war desire for national atonement.

The concept of a national anthem as an "audible national symbol" was pioneered by Britain. After the Napoleonic Wars, the tune of "God Save the King" was so influential that around 20 other countries, from Prussia to Hawaii, adopted its melody for their own anthems.

"God Save the King," now a symbol of the British establishment, began as a Jacobite anthem supporting the Stuart dynasty. It was co-opted by the ruling Hanoverians during the 1745 uprising, effectively making the anthem a "turncoat."

During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain responded to France's secular "Marseillaise" by terming "God Save the King" a national "anthem." This deliberately Christianized the song, positioning it as an ideological counterpoint to what they saw as France's militant atheism.

The lyrics of East Germany's anthem, "Auferstanden aus Ruinen," deliberately avoided communist jargon like 'socialism' or 'class struggle.' Instead, it called for a "united fatherland," positioning the GDR as the true successor state for all Germans, not just a communist one.