Drang

Drang is a German noun meaning a strong impulse or urge, a drive, or a compulsion to act. It denotes a force or motivation that compels someone to do something, and is used in everyday language as well as in psychological or literary contexts. The term can describe both a fleeting desire and a persistent motive.

Etymology traces Drang to Middle High German drang, from Old High German drangan “to push, press,” related to the verb drängen “to push, crowd.” In usage, it often contrasts with lighter wishes, signaling a powerful inner motivation or inevitability rather than a mere preference.

One well-known historical use is the phrase Drang nach Osten, or “drive to the East.” This label characterizes a set of expansionist ideas in German history, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where economic, political, or ideological motives were framed as an eastern outward push. In historiography, Drang nach Osten is discussed as a rhetoric and structural driver of policy rather than a formal doctrine, and debates surrounding it emphasize its complexity, including economic rivalries, nationalism, and the pursuit of Lebensraum. Care is needed to distinguish descriptive usage from normative or propagandistic claims.

In contemporary German, Drang remains common in everyday speech and literature. It appears in phrases like innerer Drang or der Drang zu etwas, describing an intense personal urge. In psychology or philosophy, the term is often used descriptively to convey motivation, but it is generally less technical than terms such as Trieb or Impuls.