Germany History

The Romans, who called the area north of the Danube and east of Rhine Germania. This was a geographic expression, as the area included both Germanic tribes and Celts. In 962, Henry's son Otto I became the first emperor of what historians refer to as the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state.

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In 1618-48, Protestants and Catholics clashed in the Thirty Years' War, leaving vast areas depopulated. The peace of Westphalia, which ended the war, is considered the effective end of the Holy Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern nation-state system.

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After the Napoleonic Wars, Germany was reorganised, and the number of states reduced to thirty-nine. These states were loosely allied in an Austrian-led German Confederation, formed in 1815. A German Empire was created in 1871 under the leadership of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. After the First World War, Germany faced territorial losses and war reparations. The kaiser abdicated and democracy was introduced under the Weimar Republic.
Germany entered recorded history in June 56 BC, when Roman commander Julius Caesar crossed the Rhine.
By AD 100, the time of Tacitus' Germania, Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany. The third century saw the emergence of several large West Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.

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The Merovingian kings of the Germanic Franks conquered northern Gaul in 486 CE. In the fifth and sixth century the Merovingian kings conquered several other Germanic tribes and kingdoms and placed them under the control of autonomous dukes of mixed Frankish and native blood.

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After the fall of the Western Roman empire the Franks created an empire under the Merovingian kings and subjugated the other Germanic tribes. Swabia became a duchy under the Frankish Empire in 496, following the Battle of Tolbiac.
From 772 to 814 king 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 Charlemagne's authority in Western Europe was confirmed by his coronation as emperor in Rome. The Frankish empire was divided into counties, and its frontiers were protected by border Marches. Imperial strongholds (Kaiserpfalzen) became economic and cultural centres.

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Between 843 and 880, after fighting between Charlemagne's grandchildren, the Carolingian empire was partitioned into several parts in the Treaty of Verdun, the Treaty of Meerssen and the Treaty of Ribemont. The German empire developed out of the East Frankish kingdom, East Francia.
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.

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Between 1152 and 1190, during the reign of Frederick I (Barbarossa), of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, an accommodation was reached with the rival Guelph party by the grant of the duchy of Bavaria to Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony.
From 1184 to 1186 the Hohenstaufen empire under Barbarossa reached its peak in the Reichsfest.

 

Around 1350 Germany and almost the whole of Europe was ravaged by the Black Death. Jews were persecuted on religious and economic grounds; many fled to Poland.

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In 1524 the Peasants' War broke out in Swabia, Franconia and Thuringia against ruling princes and lords, following the preachings of Reformist priests. But the revolts, which were assisted by war-experienced noblemen like Götz von Berlichingen and Florian Geyer (in Franconia), and by the theologian Thomas Münzer (in Thuringia), were soon repressed by the territorial princes. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 German peasants were massacred during the revolt.

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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). 

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After the Peace of Hubertsburg in 1763, Prussia became a European great power. The rivalry between Prussia and Austria for the leadership of Germany began.

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During 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.

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In 1834 the Zollverein was established, a customs union between Prussia and most other German states, but excluding Austria.

In 1866 the German Confederation was dissolved. In its place in the North German Federation (German Norddeutscher Bund) was established, under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded and would remain outside German affairs for most of the remaining 19th and the 20th centuries.

Imperialist power politics and the determined pursuit of national interests ultimately led to the outbreak in 1914 of the First World War. The entry of the United States into the war in 1917 following Germany's declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare marked a decisive turning-point against Germany.

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On November 9, 1918, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a Republic. On November 11, an armistice ending the war was signed at Compiègne.

n 28 June 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Germany was to cede Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen-Malmédy, North Schleswig, and the Memel area. All German colonies were to be handed over to the British and French.

On January 30, 1933, pressured by former Chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservatives, President Hindenburg finally appointed Hitler Chancellor.
After annexing the Sudetenland border country of Czechoslovakia (October 1938), and taking over the rest of the Czech lands as a protectorate (March 1939), the German Reich and the Soviet Union invaded Poland on first September 1939 predominantly as part of the Wehrmacht operation codenamed Fall Weiss. The invasion of Poland began World War II.

In May 1945, Nazi Germany collapsed when Berlin was taken by Soviet and Polish forces. Hitler committed suicide when it seemed inevitable that the Allies would win.

The three western occupation zones (U.S., UK, and French zone) would later form the Federal Republic of Germany (commonly known as West Germany), while the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (commonly known as East

Germany), both founded in 1949. West Germany was established as a federal democratic republic while East Germany became a Communist State under the influence of the Soviet Union. 

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During the summer of 1989, rapid changes known as peaceful revolution or Die Wende took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to German reunification. Growing numbers of East Germans emigrated to West Germany, many via Hungary after Hungary's reformist government opened its borders. Thousands of East Germans also tried to reach the West by staging sit-ins at West German diplomatic facilities in other East European capitals, most notably in Prague. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that ended with the German reunification that came into force on 3 October 1990. 

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