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The history of Germany depends much on how one defines "Germany". As a
nation-state, Germany did not
exist until 1871. Before the 19th
century, Germany can only be looked at as a cultural region where many territories, with greatly varying independence, each
had their own historical events and it was not entirely clear what area was part of Germany in the first place.
One of the main complications comes with the question of Austria. This state was
dominant within the Holy Roman Empire, considered to be
synonymous with "Germany" at the time and subsequently regarded by some as the First Reich, but Austria was completely excluded from the Prussian
dominated German states founded from 1871 onwards and only incorporated into "Germany" for
a brief period of 1938-1945. (For the specific
history see History of Austria.)
This article briefly outlines each period of German history only; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in
the box and below).
The Germans and the Romans
See also: Germanic tribes, Confederations of Germanic Tribes,
Germania, Germania
Inferior, Germania Superior
Between 800 and 70 BC the Germanic peoples thrust into Celtic territory from Schleswig-Holstein, advancing to the Oder and the Rhine and into southern Germany.
Around 58 BC, in a succession of military campaigns the Romans made the Rhine the
north-eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, giving way to the Romanisation
of the left bank of the Rhine. Roman forts were built at Cologne, Trier, Koblenz, Mainz and elsewhere to secure the Rhine frontier. In 9 AD a Roman army led by Publius Quinctilius Varus was defeated by the Cheruscan
leader Arminius (Hermann) in the Teutoburg Forest. Germany as far as the Rhine and the Danube was freed.
From 90 AD onwards, the Romans built the Limes, a 550 km
(340 miles) long defensive line from the Rhine to the Danube designed to check German advances over the frontier, as well as
numerous forts at Wiesbaden, Augsburg, Regensburg, Passau, etc. The 3rd century AD saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes - Alemanni, Franks,
Chatti, Bajuwari, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians, Langobardi. Around 260 AD, the Germans finally broke through the Limes and the
Danube frontier.
In the fourth century AD, the advance of the Huns into Europe gave the start to the
period of the Great Migrations, which changed the whole map of
Europe. The Eastern Germanic peoples destroyed the western Roman Empire, but the states they founded did not last. The western
Germans moved into the territory of the Roman Empire without losing contact with their own ancestral land. The mingling between
Germanic traditions and the Christian church gave rise to the pattern of life of the medieval West.
By unifying the Franks and conquering Gaul the Merovingian king Chlodwig became the founder of the Frankish kingdom. In 496 AD the Franks defeated the Alemanni, accepted the Catholic faith and
so gained the support of the Church.
From 600 AD, the Christianisation of the Germans began, first the work of Irish-Scots monks; monasteries were founded at
Würzburg, Regensburg, Reichenau, etc. The missionary activity in the Merovingian kingdom was continued by the
Anglo-Saxon monk Boniface; more monasteries were founded at Fritzlar, Fulda, etc.; bishoprics under Papal
authority were established.
In 751 AD Pippin III, mayor (controller) of the palace under the Merovingian
king, himself assumed the title of king and was anointed by the Church. The Frankish kings now set up as protectors of the
Pope, and began to take an interest in Italian affairs.
Holy Roman Empire
Main article: Holy Roman Empire.
Middle Ages
From 772 to 814 AD Charlemagne extended the Carolingian empire into
northern Italy and the territories of all west Germanic peoples, including the Saxons and the Bajuwari (Bavarians). In 800 AD
Charlemagne's authority in Western Europe was confirmed by his coronation as emperor in Rome. The Holy Roman Empire was established. The
Frankish empire was divided into counties, and its frontiers were protected by border Marches. Imperial strongholds
(Kaiserpfalzen) at Aachen, Ingelheim, Worms, Nijemegen, etc., became economic and cultural
centres.
Between 843 and 880 the Carolingian empire was successively partitioned; the German empire developed out of the East Frankish
kingdom. From 919 to 936 the Germanic peoples (Franks, Saxons, Swabians and Bavarians) were united under Duke Henry of Saxony, who took the title of king. For the first time, the
term Kingdom (Empire) of the Germans ("Regnum Teutonicorum") was applied to the Frankish kingdom.
In 936 Otto I the Great was crowned at
Aachen. He strengthened the royal authority by appointing bishops and abbots as princes
of the Empire (Reichsfürsten); a national church (Reichskirche) was established. In 951 Otto the Great married the
widowed queen Adelheid, thereby winning the Langobardic (Lombard)
crown. In 955 the Hungarians were decisively defeated in the Lechfeld, near Augsburg; the Slavs between the Elbe and the Oder were submitted. In 962 Otto I was crowned emperor in Rome, giving way to strong German
influence on the Papacy.
In 1033 the kingdom of Burgundy was incorporated in the German empire.
During the reign of Henry III
Germany supported the Cluniac reform of the Church - the Peace of God, the prohibition of simony (the purchase of
clerical offices) and the marriage of priests. Imperial authority over the Pope reached its peak. An imperial stronghold
(Pfalz) was built at Goslar.
In the investiture dispute which now began between
Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII over appointments to ecclesiastical offices, the emperor
was compelled to submit to the Pope at Canossa (1077). In 1122 a temporary
reconciliation was reached between Henry V
and the Pope was reached with the Concordat of Worms. The
consequences of the investiture dispute were a weakening of the Ottonian Reichskirche and a strengthening of the German secular princes.
The time between 1096 and 1291 was the age of the crusades. Knightly religious
orders were established, including the Templars, the Knights of St John and the Teutonic Order. A European nobility emerged, with common aims and ideals, expressed particularly in the
ideas of chivalry. Cultural and commercial exchanges with the East were built up.
From 1100, new towns were founded around imperial strongholds, castles, bishops' palaces and monasteries. The towns began to
establish municipal rights and liberties, while the rural population remained in a state of serfdom. The towns were ruled by
patrichians (merchants carrying on long-distance trade); the craftsmen formed guilds, governed by strict rules, which sought to
obtain control of the towns. Trade with the east and north intensified; the trading towns came together in the Hanse, under the leadership of Lübeck.
The colonisation of the east began: German settlers, including peasants, towns-people and the Teutonic Order, moved into the
thinly populated Slav territories east of the Oder (Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, Poland), establishing towns and villages
governed by German law.
Between 1152 and 1190, during the reign of Frederick I (Barbarossa), of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, an accomodation was reached with the rival Guelph party by the grant of the duchy of Bavaria
to Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. Austria became a separate duchy by virtue of the Privilegium Minus in 1156.
Barbarossa returned to the Italian policies of the Ottonian emperors and their successors the Salians. The German colonisation in
the east was resumed. In 1177 a final reconciliation was reached between the emperor and the Pope in Venice.
In 1180 Henry the Lion was outlawed; Bavaria was given to Otto von Wittelsbach (founder of the Wittelsbach dynasty which was to rule Bavaria until 1918) and Saxony was divided.
From 1184 to 1186 the Hohenstaufen empire under Barbarossa reached its peak in the Reichsfest (imperial celebrations)
held at Mainz and the marriage of his son Henry in Milan to the Norman princess Constance of Sicily. The power of the feudal lords was undermined by
the appointment of "ministerials" (unfree servants of the Emperor) as officials. Chivalry - the practices of knighthood, courtly
love, the court life in castles - flowered.
Between 1212 and 1250 Frederick
II established a modern, professionally administered state in Sicily. Extensive
sovereign powers were granted to ecclesiastical and secular princes, leading to the rise of independent territorial states. The
struggle with the Papacy sapped the Empire's strength. After the death of Frederick II the Hohenstaufen dynasty fell, followed by
an interregnum during which there was no Emperor.
In 1226 Prussia was conquered and Christianized by the Teutonic Order. But from
1300, the Empire started to lose territory on all its frontiers.
Between 1346 and 1378 Emperor Charles
IV (of Luxembourg) sought to restore the imperial authority by establishing
a strong dynastic power. The policy of expansion in the east was continued.
Around 1350 Germany and Europe were ravaged by the Black Death. Jews were persecuted, on religious and economic grounds.
The Golden Bull of 1356 stipulated that in future the emperor was to be
chosen by seven electors - the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the
Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg.
From 1400, the modern world gradually came into being as a result of intellectual, economic and political changes. The
knightly classes were impoverished by the introduction of mercenary armies and foot soldiers; predatory activity by "robber
knights" became common. From 1438 the Habsburgs, who controlled most of the southeast of the Empire (more or less modern-day Austria and Slovenia, and, from 1526 onwards, Bohemia and Moravia), maintained a constant grip on the position of the Holy Roman Emperor until 1806 (with the exception of the years between 1742 and 1745). However, their preponderant power gave cause to increasing particularism of the territorial princes. The
establishment of a money economy provoked social discontent among the knights and peasants. Gradually, a capitalistic system
evolved. The Fugger family gained prominence through commercial and financial
activities; they became financiers to both ecclesiastical and secular rulers.
During his reign from 1493 to 1519, Maximilian I tried to reform the Empire: an Imperial Supreme Court
(Reichskammergericht) was established, imperial taxes were levied, the power of the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) was
increased. The reforms were, however, frustrated by the territorial fragmentation of the Empire.
Reformation and Thirty Years War
Around the beginning of the 16th century there was much criticism in Germany of abuses in the Church and a desire for reform.
Popular piety mingled with superstition.
In 1517 the Reformation began: Luther nailed his 95 "theses" against the abuse of
indulgences to the church door in Wittenberg.
In 1521 Luther was outlawed at the Diet of Worms. But the Reformation
spread rapidly, helped by the Emperor
Charles V's wars with France and the Turks. Luther's translation of the Bible established the basis of modern German. The following year saw
Luther in conflict with the Anabaptists and the Iconoclasts. An uprising of discontented imperial knights (Reichsritter) led by Franz von Sickingen proved unsuccessful.
In 1524 the Peasants' War broke out in Swabia, Franconia and Thuringia against ruling princes and lords. But the revolts, which were assisted by war-experienced noblemen like
Götz von
Berlichingen and Florian
Geyer (in Franconia), and by the theologian Thomas Muentzer (in
Thuringia), were soon repressed by the territorial princes.
From 1545 the Counter-Reformation in Germany began, the main motive force being provided by the Jesuit order, founded by the Spaniard Ignatius of Loyola. Central and north-eastern Germany were now almost wholly Protestant, whereas
western and southern Germany remained predominantly Catholic. In the War of the Schmalkaldic League in 1546/1547, the Emperor Charles V defeated the Protestant rulers.
The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 brought recognition of the
Lutheran faith. But the treaty also stipulated that the religion of a state was to be that of its ruler (Cuius regio, eius religio).
In 1556 Charles V abdicated; the Habsburg Empire was divided.
In 1608/1609 the Protestant Union and the Catholic League were formed.
In 1618 the Thirty Years War began, which was going to last
until 1648. The causes were the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, the efforts by the various states within the Empire
to increase their power and the Habsburg emperor's attempt to achieve the religious and political unity of the Empire. The
immediate occasion for the war was the rising of the Protestant nobility of Bohemia against the emperor (Defenestration of Prague), but the conflict was widened
into a European War by the intervention of King Christian
IV of Denmark, the Spaniards, Gustav II Adolph of Sweden and France under Cardinal Richelieu. Germany became the main theatre of war and the scene of the final conflict between
France and the Habsburgs for predominance in Europe. The war resulted in large areas of Germany being laid waste, in a loss of
something like a third of its population, and in a general impoverishment.
The war ended 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, signed in
Münster and Osnabrück: German
territory was lost to France and Sweden; the Netherlands and Switzerland left the Holy Roman Empire; the imperial power declined.
End of the Holy Roman Empire
From 1640, Brandenburg-Prussia had started to rise under
the Great Elector, Frederick William. The Peace of Westphalia strengthened it further, through the
acquisition of East Pomerania. A system of rule based on absolutism was established.
In 1701 Elector Frederick of Brandenburg was crowned
"king of Prussia". From 1713 to 1740, King Frederick William I, also known as the "Soldier King", established a highly
centralised state.
Meanwhile Louis XIV of France had conquered parts of
Alsace and Lorraine (1678-1681), and had
waged an unsuccessful war in the Palatinate (1688-1697), bringing great
devastation to the Heidelberg Castle, Speyer and Worms.
In 1683 the Turks were defeated outside Vienna by a German-Polish army commanded by King Jan Sobieski of Poland. Hungary was reconquered; German settlers came to live in the Banat. Austria under the Habsburgs developed into a great power.
In the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) Maria Theresa fought successfully for recognition of her succession to the throne. But in the
Silesian Wars and in the Seven Years' War she had to cede Silesia to Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia.
After the Peace of
Hubertsburg in 1763 between Austria,
Prussia and Saxony, Prussia became a
European great power. This gave the start to the rivalry between Prussia and Austria for the leadership of Germany.
From 1763, against resistance from the nobility and citizenry, an "enlightened absolutism" was established in Prussia and
Austria, according to which the ruler was to be "the first servant of the state". The economy developed; legal reforms were
undertaken, including the abolition of torture and the improvement in the status of Jews; the
emancipation of the peasants began; education was promoted.
Following the Peace of
Basle between France and Prussia in 1795, the
left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France.
In 1803, under the "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss" (a resolution of a committee of the Imperial Diet meeting
in Regensburg), Napoleon I of France abolished almost all the ecclesiastical and the smaller secular states and most
of the free imperial cities. New medium-sized states were established in south-western Germany. In turn, Prussia gained territory
in nort-western Germany.
The Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved on August 6, 1806 when the last Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II (from 1804, Emperor
Francis I of Austria) resigned. Francis II's family continued to be
called Austrian emperors until 1918. In 1806 the Confederation of the Rhine was established under Napoleon's protection.
After the Prussian army was defeated by the French revolutionary forces at Jena and
Auerstedt, the Peace of Tilsit was signed in 1807: Prussia
ceded all its possessions west of the Elbe to France; the kingdom of Westphalia was established under Napoleon's brother Jérome.
From 1808 to 1812 Prussia was reconstructed, and a series of reforms were enacted by Freiherr vom Stein and Freiherr von
Hardenberg, including the regulation of municipal government, the liberation of the peasants and the emancipation of the Jews. A
reform of the army was undertaken by the Prussian generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August von Gneisenau.
In 1813 the Wars of Liberation began, following the destruction of Napoleon's army in Russia (1812). After the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, Germany was liberated. The
Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved.
In 1815 Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo by the
United Kingdom's Duke of Wellington and by
Prussia's Gebhard Leberecht von
Blücher.
German Confederation
Main articles: German Confederation, North German Confederation
After the fall of Napoleon, European monarchs and statesmen convened in Vienna in
1814 for the reorganization of European affairs, under the leadership of the Austrian Prince Metternich. The political principles agreed upon on the Congress of Vienna included the restoration, legitimacy and solidarity
of rulers for the repression of revolutionary and nationalist ideas.
On the territory of the former "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", which was dissolved in 1806, the German Confederation (Bund) was founded, a loose union of 39
states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under the Austrian leadership, with the Federal Diet (Bundestag) meeting in
Frankfurt am Main.
In 1848 and 1849 a series of revolutions spread
across Germany. In 1848, riots broke out in Berlin, and King Frederick William IV of Prussia was forced to promise the protesters a constitutional monarchy. A National Assembly (the Frankfurt Parliament) was elected from all German states: it
convened in Frankfurt and decided on a new constitution. By the time this was
done, however, King Frederick William IV refused to take the crown of the new state. After this, Germany would only be united
because of the pressure of a military leadership from Prussia.
The North German Confederation existed
between the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1867 and the founding of the German
Empire; Prussia controlled Northern Germany and (via the Zollverein) southern Germany.
German Empire
For details, see the main German Empire article.
Prussia had many military successes, such as the Battle
of Königgrätz against Austria and in the Franco-Prussian
War. This led to the formation of Germany as a nation-state under its dominant lead. The German Empire was proclaimed in 18
January 1871 in Versailles.
Although it had a parliament, the Chancellor of Germany was appointed by the emperor.
The time of the Empire was one of great economic growth through industrialization, but also rising nationalism and militarism. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended
World War I held Germany responsible for its outbreak, and transferred
significant area of its territory in the east and west to its neighbours. Germany's colonial possessions were also taken from
her.
Weimar Republic
For details, see the main Weimar Republic article.
The postwar Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was an attempt to
establish a peaceful, liberal democratic regime in Germany. However, government was severely handicapped and eventually doomed by
economic problems and the inherent organizational weakness of the Weimar constitution.
In the early years, successive revolts from both left and right (1919–1923) and hyperinflation in 1923 had to be defeated. Over the following years conditions improved with the relaxation
of reparation payments and improved relations with Germany's former enemies. A succession of coalition governments restored a
substantial degree of order and prosperity until the onset of the Great
Depression in 1930.
The new economic decline combined with memories of the 1923 hyperinflation and nationalist opposition stemming from the
Draconian conditions of the Treaty of Versailles undermined
the Weimar government from inside and out. Adolf Hitler and his "National
Socialist German Workers' Party" (NSDAP, or Nazis) capitalized on this and on the growing unemployment. Stressing nationalist and racial themes and promising to
put the unemployed back to work, the Nazis blamed many of Germany's ills on alleged Jewish conspiracies, even claiming that the
first World War was lost because of treason from within (the so-called Dolchstoßlegende).
Third Reich
For details, see the main Nazi Germany article.
After the NSDAP had gained the relative majority of the popular vote in two 1932 general elections, Adolf Hitler was
appointed Reichskanzler (Chancellor) by President Paul von
Hindenburg on January 30, 1933, with
the help of monarchists, industrial magnates and conservatives like the Nationalist Party (DNVP). After Hindenburg's death (August 1934), Hitler combined the Presidency
and Chancellorship as Führer (leader) of Germany. Once in power, Hitler and
his party first undermined then abolished democratic institutions and opposition parties as they established their "Third Reich"; see Gleichschaltung for details.
In six years, the Nazi regime prepared the country for World War II and
enforced discriminatory laws against Jews and others of alleged non-German origin. The Nazi
leadership attempted to remove or subjugate the Jewish population in Nazi Germany and later in the occupied countries through
forced deportation and, ultimately, genocide known as the Holocaust. A similar policy applied to the Roma and
Sinti.
After annexing first Austria (March 1938) and then the Sudeten border country of Czechoslovakia
(October 1938), and taking over the rest of the Czech lands as a protectorate (March
1939), Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939
invaded Poland.
By 1945, Germany and its Axis
partners (Italy and Japan) were defeated –
chiefly by the united forces of USA, Britain and the Soviet Union. Much of Europe lay in ruins, tens of millions of people had been killed, most of them civilians, as the
six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and many millions of people in the conquered territories. World War II resulted in the
destruction of Germany's political and economic infrastructures, led to its division, considerable loss of territory in the East
and left a humiliating legacy.
Germany since 1945
For details, see the main History of
Germany since 1945 article.
Germans frequently refer to 1945 as the Stunde Null (zero hour) to describe the
near-total collapse of their country. At the Potsdam
Conference, Germany was divided into four military occupation zones by the Allies;
the three western zones would form the Federal Republic of Germany (commonly known as West Germany), while part of the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (commonly known as
East Germany), both founded in 1949.
Also in Potsdam, the allies agreed that the provinces east of the Oder and Neisse rivers (the Oder-Neisse line) were transfered to Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad). The agreement also set forth the abolition of Prussia
and the repatriation of Germans living in those territories, and formalized the German exodus from Eastern Europe.
Willy Brandt became chancellor of West Germany in 1969. He made an important contribution towards reconciliation between West and East Germany. The Red Army Faction carried out a succession of terrorist attacks in West
Germany during the 1970s.
After the collapse of the Soviet bloc Europe, Germany was
reunited on 3 October 1990; together
with France and other EU states, the new Germany is playing the leading role in the European Union. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary
union to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus. The German
chancellor expressed an interest in a permanent seat for Germany in the UN Security Council, identifying France, Russia and Japan as countries that explicitly backed Germany's
bid.
Post-war education had helped put Germany among countries in Europe with the least number of people subscribing to Nazi
ideas.
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