[groby_b]

As a fellow German, at the very least you'll need to account for the Treaty of Verdun. (No, not that one. The other one :)

From there, Louis the German received East Francia, which in many ways formed the core of what would later be Germany. From there, we certainly took a long and winding road. (The reformation settlement is probably another point worth touching upon, though)

1871 is merely the point where there was an actual administratively unified nation state called Germany. It's the first time we did that, so in that sense, sure.

(Sorry. I nerd out on history. Really, it's a distraction to your main point - the whole legend of Arminius thing is a German nationalist myth. Tied to 1871 - each nation state needs a founding myth)