'The History of Germany' begins with the birth of the nation from
Ancient Roman times to the 8th century, and then continues into the
Holy Roman Empire dating from the 9th century until 1806 . At its largest extent, the territory of this empire included what today is
Germany,
Austria,
Slovenia, the
Czech Republic, western
Poland, the
Low Countries, eastern
France,
Switzerland and most of northern
Italy. After the mid 16th century, when it had lost many former territories, it was known as the "
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation".
This was followed by the
German Confederation of
1815–
1866, the
German Empire of
1871–
1918, and the
Weimar Republic of
1919–
1933. Then came
Adolf Hitler's
Nazi Germany (or
Third Reich, his proclaimed successor of the large medieval Empire or ''Reich'') of
1933–
1945 and the devastations of
World War II. The article concludes with the history of the
post-war Federal Republic of Germany (
West Germany) and the history of the
German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to
1990.
Germanic tribes (100 BC to AD 300)
Main articles: Germanic peoples,
Germania
The
ethnogenesis of the
Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the
Nordic Bronze Age, or at the latest, during the
Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern
Scandinavia and northern Germany, the tribes began expanding south, east and west in the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the
Celtic tribes of
Gaul as well as
Iranian,
Baltic, and
Slavic tribes in
Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their recorded interactions with the
Roman Empire, etymological research and archaeological finds.
[1]
Germanic tribes in 50 AD (not including most of Scandinavia)
Under
Augustus, the Roman General
Publius Quinctilius Varus began to invade Germania (a term used by the Romans running roughly from the
Rhine to the
Urals), and it was in this period that the Germanic tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their tribal identity. In AD 9, three
Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the
Cheruscan leader
Arminius in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Modern Germany, as far as the
Rhine and the
Danube, thus remained outside the Roman Empire. 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 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of 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.
[2]
The Franks
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. Frankish Colonists were encouraged to move to the newly conquered territories. While the local Germanic tribes were allowed to preserve their laws, they were pressured into changing their religion.
Christianization
Main articles: Germanic Christianity
The Roman provinces north of the Alps had been Christianised since the 4th century and dioceses such as that of
Augsburg were maintained after the end of the Roman Empire. However, from around 600 there was a renewed
Christian mission of the
pagan Germanic tribes.
Irish-Scottish monks founded monasteries at
Würzburg,
Regensburg,
Reichenau, and other places. The missionary activity in the Merovingian kingdom was continued by the Anglo-Saxon monk
Boniface, who established the first monastery east of the Rhine at
Fritzlar. Bishoprics under Papal authority were established to spread the Christian faith in the Germanic lands.
Frankish Empire
Main articles: Frankish Empire
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. Already king
Chlothar I ruled the greater part of what is now Germany and made expeditions into
Saxony while the Southeast of modern Germany was still under influence of the
Ostrogoths. In
531 Saxons and Franks destroyed the Kingdom of
Thuringia. Saxons inhabit the area down to the
Unstrut river.
During the partition of the Frankish empire their German territories were a part of
Austrasia. In
718 the Franconian
Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel marked war against Saxony, because of its help for the
Neustrians. The Franconian
Carloman started in
743 a new war against Saxony, because the Saxons gave aid to Duke
Odilo of Bavaria.
In 751
Pippin III,
mayor 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,
Charlemagne launched a decades-long military campaign against their
heathen rivals, the
Saxons and the
Avars. The Saxons (by the
Saxon Wars (
772-
804)) and Avars were eventually overwhelmed and forcibly converted, and their lands were annexed by the
Carolingian Empire.
Middle Ages
Main articles: Holy Roman Empire
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 (
Aachen being the most famous).
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. 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 a Frankish kingdom, eventhough Teutonicorum at its founding originally meant something closer to "''Realm of the Germanic peoples''" or "''Germanic Realm''" then realm of the Germans.
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''), thereby establishing a national church (''
Reichskirche''). In 951 Otto the Great married the widowed Queen
Adelheid, thereby winning the
Lombard crown. Outside threats to the kingdom were contained with the decisive defeat of the
Magyars of
Hungary near
Augsburg at the
Battle of Lechfeld in 955 and the subjugation of
Slavs between the
Elbe and the
Oder rivers. In 962 Otto I was crowned emperor in Rome, taking the succession of Charlemagne and establishing a strong Frankish influence over the Papacy.
In 1033 the Kingdom of
Burgundy was incorporated into the
Holy Roman Empire during the reign of
Conrad II, the first emperor of the
Salian dynasty.
During the reign of his son
Henry III the Holy Roman Empire supported the
Cluniac reform of the Church - the
Peace of God, the prohibition of
simony (the purchase of clerical offices) and the celibacy of priests. Imperial authority over the Pope reached its peak. An imperial stronghold (''
Pfalz'') was built at
Goslar, as the Empire continued its expansion to the East.
In the
Investiture Dispute which began between
Henry IV and
Pope Gregory VII over appointments to ecclesiastical offices, the emperor was compelled to submit to the Pope at
Canossa in 1077, after having been excommunicated. In 1122 a temporary reconciliation was reached between
Henry V and the Pope with the
Concordat of Worms. The consequences of the investiture dispute were a weakening of the
Ottonian National Church ''Reichskirche'', and a strengthening of the Imperial 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.
From 1100, new towns were founded around imperial strongholds, castles, bishops' palaces and monasteries. The towns began to establish municipal rights and liberties (see
German town law), while the rural population remained in a state of
serfdom. In particular, several cities became
Imperial Free Cities, which did not depend on princes or bishops, but were immediately subject to the Emperor. The towns were ruled by patricians (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, as the major trading towns came together in the
Hanseatic League, under the leadership of
Lübeck.
The Germanic
east colonization and the chartering of new towns and villages began into largely Slav-inhabited territories east of the
Oder, such as
Bohemia,
Silesia,
Pomerania,
Poland, and
Livonia (see also
Drang nach Osten).
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.
Austria became a separate duchy by virtue of the
Privilegium Minus in 1156. Barbarossa tried to reassert his control over Italy. In 1177 a final reconciliation was reached between the emperor and the Pope in
Venice.
In 1180 Henry the Lion was outlawed and Bavaria was given to
Otto of Wittelsbach (founder of the
Wittelsbach dynasty which was to rule Bavaria until 1918), while 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 and the court life flowered, leading to a development of German culture and literature (see
Wolfram von Eschenbach).
Between 1212 and 1250
Frederick II established a modern, professionally administered state in
Sicily. He resumed the conquest of Italy, leading to further conflict with the Papacy. In the Empire, extensive sovereign powers were granted to ecclesiastical and secular princes, leading to the rise of independent territorial states. The struggle with the Pope sapped the Empire's strength, as Frederick II was excommunicated three times. After his death, the Hohenstaufen dynasty fell, followed by an interregnum during which there was no Emperor.
Beginning in 1226 under the auspices of Emperor Frederick II, the
Teutonic Knights began their conquest of
Prussia after being invited to
Chełmno Land by the Polish Duke
Konrad I of
Masovia. The native
Baltic Prussians were conquered and Christianized by the Knights with much warfare, and numerous German towns were established along the eastern shore of the
Baltic Sea. From 1300, however, the Empire started to lose territory on all its frontiers.
The failure of negotiations between Emperor
Louis IV with the papacy led in 1338 to the
declaration at Rhense by six
electors to the effect that election by all or the majority of the electors automatically conferred the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation.
Between 1346 and 1378
Emperor Charles IV of
Luxembourg, king of
Bohemia, sought to restore the imperial authority.
Around the middle of the 14th century, the
Black Death ravaged Germany and Europe. From the Dance of Death by
Hans Holbein (1491)
Around 1350 Germany and almost the whole of Europe were ravaged by the
Black Death.
Jews were persecuted on religious and economic grounds; many fled to
Poland.
The
Golden Bull of 1356 stipulated that in future the emperor was to be chosen by four secular electors (the King of
Bohemia, the
Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of
Saxony, and the Margrave of
Brandenburg) and three spiritual electors (the Archbishops of
Mainz,
Trier, and
Cologne).
After the disasters of the 14th century, early-modern European society gradually came into being as a result of economic, religious and political changes. A money economy arose which provoked social discontent among knights and peasants. Gradually, a proto-capitalistic system evolved out of feudalism. The
Fugger family gained prominence through commercial and financial activities and became financiers to both ecclesiastical and secular rulers.
The knightly classes found their monopoly on arms and military skill undermined 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
Bohemia and
Moravia after the death of King
Louis II in 1526), maintained a constant grip on the position of the Holy Roman Emperor until 1806 (with the exception of the years between 1742 and 1745). This situation, however, gave rise to increased disunity among the Holy Roman Empires territorial rulers and prevented sections of the country from coming together and forming nations in the manner of
France and
England.
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 continued territorial fragmentation of the Empire.
Early modern Germany
Reformation and Thirty Years War
 "The Holy Roman Empire, 1512. |
|
Around the beginning of the 16th century there was much discontent in the Holy Roman Empire with abuses in the Catholic Church and a desire for reform.
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. Hiding in the
Wartburg Castle, Luther translated the Bible, establishing the basis of modern German.
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.
From 1545 the
Counter-Reformation began in Germany. The main force was provided by the
Jesuit order, founded by the Spaniard
Ignatius of Loyola. Central and north-eastern Germany were by this time almost wholly Protestant, whereas western and southern Germany remained predominantly Catholic. In 1546, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V defeated the
Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of 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, as Spain was separated from the Imperial possessions.
In 1608/1609 the
Protestant Union and the
Catholic League were formed.
From 1618 to 1648 the
Thirty Years' War ravaged in the Holy Roman Empire. The causes were the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, the efforts by the various states within the Empire to increase their power and the Emperor's attempt to achieve the religious and political unity of the Empire. The immediate occasion for the war was the uprising 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 (1625-29),
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1630-48) and France under
Cardinal Richelieu, the regent of the young
Louis XIV (1635-48). 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, a loss of approximately a third of its population, and in a general impoverishment.
The war ended in 1648 with the
Peace of Westphalia, signed in
Münster and
Osnabrück: Imperial territory was lost to France and Sweden and the
Netherlands left the Holy Roman Empire after being
de facto seceded for 80 years already. The imperial power declined further as the states' rights were increased.
End of the Holy Roman Empire
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
From 1640,
Brandenburg-Prussia had started to rise under the Great Elector,
Frederick William. The
Peace of Westphalia in 1648 strengthened it even 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 ''in'' Prussia". From 1713 to 1740,
King Frederick William I, also known as the "Soldier King", established a highly centralized state.
Meanwhile
Louis XIV of France had conquered parts of
Alsace and
Lorraine (1678-1681), and had invaded and devastated the
Palatinate (1688-1697). Louis XIV benefited from the Empire's problems with the Turks, which were menacing Austria. He ultimately had to relinquish the Palatinate, though.
In 1683 the Turks were defeated outside
Vienna by a Polish relief army led by
King Jan Sobieski of Poland while the city itself was defended by Imperial and Austrian troops under the command of
Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine.
Hungary was reconquered, and later became a new destination for German settlers. 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 and 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.
In 1772-1795 Prussia took part in the
partitions of Poland, occupying western territories of
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which led to centuries of Polish resistance against German rule and persecution.
The
French Revolution sparked a new war between France and several of its Eastern neighbors, including Prussia and Austria. Following the
Peace of Basel in 1795 with Prussia, the left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France.
Napoleon I of France relaunched the war against the Empire. In 1803, under the ''"
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss"'' (a resolution of a committee of the Imperial Diet meeting in
Regensburg), he abolished almost all the ecclesiastical and the smaller secular states and most of the imperial free cities. New medium-sized states were established in south-western Germany. In turn, Prussia gained territory in north-western Germany.
The
Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved on
6 August 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 and the kingdom of
Westphalia was established under Napoleon's brother Jérome. Some of the territories Prussia conquered from
Poland were regained by
Duchy of Warsaw.
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 from French rule. The Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved.
In 1815 Napoleon was finally defeated at
Waterloo by the
Britain's
Duke of Wellington and by Prussia's
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
German Confederation
Restoration and Revolution
Main articles: German Confederation,
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
After the fall of Napoleon, European monarchs and statesmen convened in the
Vienna in 1814 for the reorganization of European affairs, under the leadership of the
Austrian Prince Metternich. The political principles agreed upon at this
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", the
German Confederation (''Deutscher Bund'') was founded, a loose union of 39 states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under Austrian leadership, with a Federal Diet (''Bundestag'') meeting in
Frankfurt am Main.
In 1817, inspired by liberal and patriotic ideas of a united Germany, student organisations gathered for the "Wartburg festival" at
Wartburg Castle, at
Eisenach in
Thuringia, on the occasion of which reactionary books were burnt.
In 1819 the student
Karl Ludwig Sand murdered the writer
August von Kotzebue, who had scoffed at liberal student organizations. Prince Metternich used the killing as an occasion to call a conference in Karlsbad, which Prussia, Austria and eight other states attended, and which issued the
Karlsbad Decrees: censorship was introduced, and universities were put under supervision. The decrees also gave the start to the so-called "persecution of the demagogues", which was directed against individuals who were accused of spreading revolutionary and nationalist ideas. Among the persecuted were the poet
Ernst Moritz Arndt, the publisher Johann Joseph Görres and the "Father of Gymnastics" Ludwig Jahn.
In 1834 the
Zollverein was established, a customs union between Prussia and most other German states, but excluding Austria.
Growing discontent with the political and social order imposed by the Congress of Vienna led to the outbreak, in 1848, of the
March Revolution in the German states. In May the German National Assembly (the
Frankfurt Parliament) met in
St. Paul's Church in
Frankfurt am Main to draw up a national German constitution.
But the 1848 revolution turned out to be unsuccessful:
King Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the imperial crown, the Frankfurt parliament was dissolved, the ruling princes repressed the risings by military force and the German Confederation was re-established by 1850.
In 1862
Prince Bismarck was nominated chief minister of Prussia - against the opposition of liberals, who saw him as a reactionary.
In 1863-64, disputes between Prussia and
Denmark grew over
Schleswig, which - unlike
Holstein - was not part of the German Confederation, and which Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate into the Danish kingdom. The dispute led to the
Second War of Schleswig, in the course of which Prussia, joined by Austria, defeated Denmark. Denmark was forced to cede both the duchy of Schleswig and the duchy of Holstein to Austria and Prussia. In the aftermath, the management of the two duchies caused growing tensions between Austria and Prussia, which ultimately led to the
Austro-Prussian War (1866). The Prussians were victorious in this war, carrying a decisive victory at the
Battle of Königgratz under the command of
Helmuth von Moltke.
North German Federation
At the
Battle of Königgrätz, the Austro-Prussian rivalry for the leadership of Germany was ultimately decided in favour of Prussia
In 1866 the German Confederation was dissolved. In its place 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.
The North German Federation was a transitory group that existed from 1867 to 1871, between the dissolution of the German Confederation and the founding of the German Empire, led by
Otto Von Bismarck who was declared chancellor. With it, Prussia established control over the 22 states of northern Germany and, via the ''Zollverein'', southern Germany.
German Empire
Main articles: German Empire
Age of Bismarck
On
18 January 1871, the German Empire is proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. Bismarck appears in white.
The German Empire of 1871. By excluding Austria, Bismarck chose a "little German" solution.
Differences between France and Prussia over the possible accession to the
Spanish throne of a German candidate — whom France opposed — was the French pretext to declare the
Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). Due to their defensive treaties, joint southern-German and Prussian troops, under the command of Moltke, repelled French troops which had occupied
Saarbrücken and proceeded to invade France in August 1870. After a few weeks, the French army was finally forced to capitulate in the
fortress of Sedan.
French Emperor Napoleon III was taken prisoner and the Second French Empire collapsed, yet the new republic decided to prolong the war for several months. Months after the
Siege of Paris was lifted, the Peace
Treaty of Frankfurt was signed: France was obliged to cede what became known as
Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. The ceded area consisted of
Alsace and parts of
Lorraine. The fact that many small, French-speaking areas were included was used by France to denounce the new border as hypocrisy, since Germany had justified it by the native Germanic dialects and culture of the areas inhabitants.
During the
Siege of Paris, the German princes assembled in the Hall of Mirrors of the
Palace of Versailles and proclaimed the Prussian King
Wilhelm I as the "German Emperor" on
18 January 1871. The
German Empire was thus founded, with 25 states, three of which were Hanseatic free cities, and Bismarck, again, served as Chancellor. It was dubbed the "Little German" solution, since Austria was not included.
Bismarck's domestic policies as Chancellor of Germany were characterized by his fight against perceived enemies of the Protestant Prussian state. In the so-called
Kulturkampf (1872–1878), he tried to limit the influence of the
Roman Catholic Church and of its political arm, the
Catholic Centre Party, through various measures — like the introduction of civil marriage — but without much success. Milions of non-Germans subjects in the German Empire, like the
Polish,
Danish and
French minorities, were discriminated against
[1][2] and a policy of
Germanization was implemented.
The other perceived threat was the rise of the Socialist Workers' Party (later known as the
Social Democratic Party of Germany), whose declared aim was the establishment of a new socialist order through the transformation of existing political and social conditions. From 1878, Bismarck tried to repress the social democratic movement by
outlawing the party's organization, its assemblies and most of its newspapers. Through the introduction of a social insurance system, on the other hand, he hoped to win the support of the working classes for the Empire.
Bismarck's priority was to protect Germany's expanding power through a system of alliances and an attempt to contain crises until Germany was fully prepared to initiate them. Of particular importance, in this context, was the containment and isolation of France, because Bismarck feared that France would form an alliance with Russia and take revenge for its loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
The Three Emperor's League was signed in 1872 by Russia, Austria and Germany. It stated that republicanism and socialism were common enemies and that the three powers would discuss any matters concerning foreign policy. Bismarck needed good relations with Russia in order to keep France isolated.
In 1879, Bismarck formed a Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, with the aim of mutual military assistance in the case of an attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement reached at the Congress of Berlin.
The establishment of the Dual Alliance led Russia to take a more conciliatory stance, and in 1887, the so-called
Reinsurance Treaty was signed between Germany and Russia: in it, the two powers agreed on mutual military support in the case that France attacked Germany, or in case of an Austrian attack on Russia.
In 1882,
Italy joined the Dual Alliance to form a
Triple Alliance. Italy wanted to defend its interests in
North Africa against France's colonial policy. In return for German and Austrian support, Italy committed itself to assisting Germany in the case of a French military attack.
For a long time, Bismarck had refused to give in to Crown Prince Wilhelm II's aspirations of making Germany a world power through the acquisition of German colonies ("a place in the sun", originally a statement of Wilhelm II). Bismarck wanted to avoid tensions between the European great powers that would threaten the security of Germany at all cost. But when, between 1880 and 1885, the foreign situation proved auspicious, Bismarck gave way, and a number of colonies were established overseas: in
Africa, these were
Togo, the
Cameroons,
German South-West Africa and
German East Africa; in
Oceania, they were
German New Guinea, the
Bismarck Archipelago and the
Marshall Islands.
In 1888 Kaiser Wilhelm I died at age 91, and his terminally ill son
Friedrich III ruled for only 99 days before his death. The 29 year old and ambitious
Wilhelm II, Friedrich's son, acceded to the throne. Political and personal differences between Bismarck and the new monarch, who wanted to be "his own chancellor", eventually caused Bismarck to resign in 1890.
Wilhelminian Era
A postage stamp from the
Carolines, dating back to the time when the islands were ruled by the German Empire. The new ''Weltpolitik'' of Kaiser Wilhelm II led to frictions with other imperialist powers.
When Bismarck resigned, Wilhelm II had declared that he would continue the foreign policy of the old chancellor. But soon, a new course was taken, with the aim of increasing Germany's influence in the world (''Weltpolitik''). The Reinsurance Treaty with Russia was not renewed. Instead, France formed an alliance with Russia, against the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The Triple Alliance itself was undermined by differences between Austria and Italy.
From 1898, German colonial expansion in
East Asia (
Jiaozhou Bay, the
Marianas, the
Caroline Islands,
Samoa) led to frictions with the United Kingdom, Russia,
Japan and the
United States. The construction of the Baghdad Railway, financed by German banks and heavy industry, and aimed at connecting the
North Sea with the
Persian Gulf via the
Bosporus, also collided with British and Russian geopolitical and economic interests.
To protect Germany's overseas trade and colonies,
Admiral von Tirpitz started a programme of warship construction in 1898. This posed a direct threat to British hegemony on the seas, with the result that negotiations for an alliance between Germany and Britain broke down. Germany was increasingly isolated.
:''Main article:
History of Germany during World War I.''
Imperialist power politics and the determined pursuit of national interests ultimately led to the outbreak in 1914 of the
First World War, sparked by the assassination, on
June 28,
1914, of the Austrian heir-apparent
Franz Ferdinand and his wife at
Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia-Herzegovina by a
Serbian nationalist. The theorized underlying causes have included the opposing policies of the European states, the armaments race, German-British rivalry, the difficulties of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state, Russia's Balkan policy and overhasty mobilisations and ultimatums (the underlying belief being that the war would be short). Germany fought on the side of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire against Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and several other smaller states. Fighting also spread to the Near East and the German colonies.
In the west, Germany fought a war of attrition with bloody battles. After a quick march through
Belgium, German troops were halted on the
Marne, north of
Paris. The frontlines in France changed little until the end of the war. In the east, despite there being initially no decisive victories against the Russian army, the trapping and defeat of large parts of the Russian contingent at the Battle of Tannenberg, followed by smaller Austrian and German successes led to a breakdown of Russian forces and an imposed peace. The British naval blockade in the
North Sea had crippling effects on Germany's supplies of raw materials and foodstuffs. 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.
At the end of October, units of the German Navy in
Kiel, in northern Germany, refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost. On
November 3, the
uprising spread to other cities. So-called workers' and soldiers' councils were established.
Kaiser Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. On
November 9, the Social Democrat
Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a Republic. On
November 11,
an armistice ending the war was signed at
Compiègne.
Weimar Republic
Main articles: Weimar Republic
States of Germany at the time of the Weimar Republic, with
Prussia in blue
On
28 June 1919 the
Treaty of Versailles was signed. Germany was to cede
Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen-Malmédy,
North Schleswig, and the
Memel area.
Poland was restored and most of the provinces of
Posen and
West Prussia, and some areas of
Upper Silesia were reincorporated into the reformed country after plebiscites and independence uprisings. All German colonies were to be handed over to the Allies. The left and right banks of the
Rhine were to be permanently demilitarised. The industrially important
Saarland was to be governed by the
League of Nations for 15 years and its coalfields administered by France. At the end of that time a plebiscite was to determine the Saar's future status. To ensure execution of the treaty's terms, Allied troops would occupy the left (German) bank of the Rhine for a period of 5–15 years. The German army was to be limited to 100,000 officers and men; the general staff was to be dissolved; vast quantities of war material were to be handed over and the manufacture of munitions rigidly curtailed. The navy was to be similarly reduced, and no military aircraft were allowed. Germany and its allies were to accept the sole responsibility of the war, and were to pay financial reparations for all loss and damage suffered by the Allies.
The humiliating peace terms provoked bitter indignation throughout Germany, and seriously weakened the new democratic regime.
On
11 August 1919 the
Weimar constitution came into effect, with
Friedrich Ebert as first President.
The two biggest enemies of the new democratic order, however, had already been constituted. In December 1918, the
German Communist Party (KPD) was founded, followed in January 1919 by the establishment of the German Workers' Party, later known as the
National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Both parties would make reckless use of the freedoms guaranteed by the new constitution in their fight against the Weimar Republic.
In the first months of 1920, the
Reichswehr was to be reduced to 100,000 men, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. This included the dissolution of many
Freikorps - units made up of volunteers. Some of them made difficulties. The discontent was exploited by the extreme right-wing politician
Wolfgang Kapp. He let the rebelling Freikorps march on Berlin and proclaimed himself ''Reich'' Chancellor (
Kapp Putsch). After only four days the coup d'état collapsed, due to lack of support by the civil servants and the officers. Other cities were shaken by strikes and rebellions, which were bloodily suppressed.
Faced with animosity from Britain and France and the retreat of American power from Europe, in 1922 Germany was the first state to establish diplomatic relations with the new
Soviet Union. Under the
Treaty of Rapallo, Germany accorded the Soviet Union
de jure recognition, and the two signatories mutually cancelled all pre-war debts and renounced war claims.
When Germany defaulted on its reparation payments, French and Belgian troops occupied the heavily industrialised Ruhr district (January 1923). The German government encouraged the population of the Ruhr to
passive resistance: shops would not sell goods to the foreign soldiers, coal-mines would not dig for the foreign troops, trams in which members of the occupation army had taken seat would be left abandoned in the middle of the street. The passive resistance proved effective, insofar as the occupation became a loss-making deal for the French government. But the Ruhr fight also led to
hyperinflation, and many who lost all their fortune would become bitter enemies of the Weimar Republic, and voters of the anti-democratic right.
The
Rentenmark, introduced by
Chancellor Stresemann's government in November 1923 to stop hyperinflation, ushered in a period of relative economic prosperity (until 1929)
In September 1923, the deteriorating economic conditions led Chancellor
Gustav Stresemann to call an end to the passive resistance in the Ruhr. In November, his government introduced a new currency, the
Rentenmark (later:
Reichsmark), together with other measures to stop the hyperinflation. In the following six years the economic situation improved. In 1928, Germany's industrial production even regained the pre-war levels of 1913.
On the evening of
November 8, six hundred armed
SA men surrounded a beer hall in
Munich, where the heads of the Bavarian state and the local ''Reichswehr'' had gathered for a rally. The storm troopers were led by
Adolf Hitler. Born in 1889 in
Austria, a former volunteer in the German army during WWI, now a member of a new party called
NSDAP, he was largely unknown until then. Hitler tried to force those present to join him and to march on to Berlin to seize power (
Beer Hall Putsch). Hitler was later arrested and condemned to five years in prison, but was released at the end of 1924 after less than one year of detention.
The national elections of 1924 led to a swing to the right (''Ruck nach rechts'').
Field Marshal Hindenburg, a supporter of the monarchy,
was elected President in 1925.
In October 1925 the
Treaty of Locarno was signed between Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy, which recognized Germany's borders with France and Belgium. Moreover, Britain, Italy and Belgium undertook to assist France in the case that German troops marched into the demilitarised Rheinland. The Treaty of Locarno paved the way for Germany's admission to the
League of Nations in 1926.
The
stock market crash of 1929 on
Wall Street marked the beginning of the
Great Depression. The effects of the ensuing world economic crisis were also felt in Germany, where the economic situation rapidly deteriorated. In July 1931, the ''Darmstätter und Nationalbank'' - one of the biggest German banks - failed, and, in early 1932, the number of unemployed rose to more than 6,000,000.
In addition to the flagging economy came political problems, due to the inability by the political parties represented in the
Reichstag to build a governing majority. In March 1930, President Hindenburg appointed
Heinrich Brüning Chancellor. To push through his package of austerity measures against a majority of Social Democrats, Communists and the NSDAP, Brüning made use of emergency decrees, and even dissolved Parliament. In March and April of 1932, Hindenburg was re-elected in the
German presidential election of 1932.
The NSDAP was the big winner in the national elections of July 1932. It gained 38% of the vote, making it the biggest party in the Reichstag. The Communist KPD came third, with 15%. Together, the anti-democratic parties of right and left were now able to hold the majority of seats in Parliament. The NSDAP was particularly successful among young voters, who were unable to find a place in vocational training, with little hope for a future job; among the ''petite bourgeoisie'' (lower middle class) which had lost its assets in the hyperinflation of 1923; among the rural population; and among the army of unemployed. In new elections in November 1932, the NSDAP's share of the vote declined slightly, but it remained the biggest party in the Parliament.
On
January 30 1933, pressured by former Chancellor
Franz von Papen and other conservatives, President Hindenburg finally appointed Hitler Chancellor.
Third Reich
Main articles: Nazi Germany,
The Holocaust,
Military history of Germany during World War II
Nazi revolution or 'Seizure of Power'
In order to secure a majority for his NSDAP in the Reichstag,
Hitler called for new elections. On the evening of
27 February 1933, a
fire was set in the Reichstag building. Hitler was swift to paint an alleged Communist uprising on the wall, and convinced President Hindenburg to sign the
Reichstag Fire Decree. This decree, which would remain in force until 1945, repealed important political and human rights of the Weimar constitution. Communist agitation was banned, but at this time not the Communist Party itself.
Eleven thousand Communists and Socialists were arrested and brought into
concentration camps, where they were at the mercy of the
Gestapo, the newly established secret police force (9,000 were found guilty and very many executed). Communist Reichstag deputies were taken into ''protective custody'' (despite their constitutional privileges).
Despite the terror and unprecedented propaganda, the last free General Elections of
March 5 failed to bring the majority for the NSDAP that Hitler had hoped for. Together with the
German National People's Party (DNVP), however, he was able to form a slim majority government. With accommodations to the Catholic
Centre Party Germany, Hitler succeeded in convincing a required two-thirds of a rigged Parliament to pass the
Enabling act of 1933 which gave his government full legislative power. Only the Social Democrats voted against the Act. The Enabling Act formed the basis for the
Dictatorship, dissolution of the
Länder; the trade unions and all political parties other than the
National Socialist (Nazi) Party were suppressed. A centralised totalitarian state was established, no longer based on the liberal
Weimar constitution. Germany left the
League of Nations. The coalition
Parliament was rigged on this fateful
23 March 1933 by defining the absence of arrested and murdered deputies as voluntary and therefore cause for their exclusion as wilful absentees. Subsequently in July the Centre Party was voluntarily dissolved in a ''quid pro quo'' with the
Holy See under the ''anti-communist''
Pope Pius XI for the
Reichskonkordat; and by these maneuvers Hitler achieved movement of these Catholic voters into the Nazi party, and a long-awaited international diplomatic acceptance of his regime. The Communist Party was proscribed in April 1933 .
But many leaders of the Nazi
SA were disappointed. The chief of staff of the SA,
Ernst Röhm, was pressing for the SA to be incorporated into the
Wehrmacht under his supreme command. Hitler felt threatened by these plans. On the weekend of
June 30 1934, he gave order to the
SS to seize Röhm and his lieutenants, and to execute them without trial (known as the
Night of the Long Knives).
The SS became an independent organisation under the command of the ''Reichsführer SS''
Heinrich Himmler. He would become the supervisor of the ''Gestapo'' and of the concentration camps, soon also of the ordinary police. Hitler also established the
Waffen-SS as a separate troop.
The regime showed particular hostility towards the
Jews. In September 1935, the Reichstag passed the so-called
Nuremberg race laws directed against Jewish citizens. Jews lost their German citizenship, and were banned from marrying Germans. About 500,000 individuals were affected by the new rules.
Hitler re-established the German air force and reintroduced universal military service. The open rearmament was in flagrant breach of the Treaty of Versailles, but neither the United Kingdom, France or Italy went beyond issuing notes of protest.
In 1936 German troops
marched into the demilitarised Rhineland. In this case, the
Treaty of Locarno would have obliged the United Kingdom to intervene in favour of France. But despite protests by the French government, Britain chose to do nothing about it. The coup strengthened Hitler's standing in Germany. His reputation was going to increase further with the
1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in the same year in Berlin and in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and which proved another great propaganda success for the regime.
Expansion and defeat
After establishing the "Rome-Berlin axis" with
Mussolini, and signing the
Anti-Comintern Pact with
Japan - which was joined by
Italy a year later in 1937 - Hitler felt able to take the offensive in foreign policy. On
12 March 1938, German troops marched into
Austria, where an attempted Nazi coup had been unsuccessful in 1934. When Hitler entered
Vienna, he was greeted by loud cheers. Four weeks later, 99% of Austrians voted in favour of the annexation (
Anschluss) of their country to Germany. Hitler thereby fulfilled the old idea of a German ''Reich'' with the inclusion of Austria - the "greater German" solution that Bismarck had shunned when, in 1871, he united the German lands under Prussian leadership. Although the annexation denounced the
Treaty of Saint-Germain, which expressedly forbade the unification of Austria with Germany, the western powers once again merely protested.
After Austria, Hitler turned to
Czechoslovakia, where the 3.5 million-strong
Sudeten German minority was demanding equal rights and self-government. At the
Munich Conference of September 1938, Hitler, the Italian leader Benito Mussolini, British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister
Édouard Daladier agreed upon the cession of Sudeten territory to Germany by the Czechoslovaks. Hitler thereupon declared that all of Germany's territorial claims had been fulfilled. But hardly six months after the Munich Agreement, in March 1939, Hitler used the smoldering quarrel between Slovaks and Czechs as a pretext for taking over the rest of Czechoslovakia as the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the same month, he secured the return of Memel from Lithuania to Germany. British Prime Minister Chamberlain was forced to acknowledge that his
policy of appeasement towards Hitler had failed.
In six years, the Nazi regime prepared the country for
World War II. 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 now known as
the Holocaust. A similar policy applied to the various ethnic and national groups considered
subhuman such as
Roma,
Poles or
Russians. These groups were seen as threats to the purity of Germany's Aryan race. There were also many groups, such as the mentally handicapped and those who were physically challenged upon birth, which were singled out as being detrimental to Aryan purity.
After annexing 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.
Territorial losses of modern Germany 1919-1945.
Territorial losses of modern Germany 1919-1945 (Animation).
By 1945, Germany and its
Axis partners (
Italy and
Japan) had been defeated, chiefly by the forces of the
Soviet Union, the
USA,
Britain, and
Canada. Much of
Europe lay in ruins, over sixty million people had been killed (most of them civilians), including approximately six million Jews and five million non-Jews in what became known as the
Holocaust. World War II resulted in the destruction of Germany's political and economic infrastructure and led directly to its partition, considerable loss of territory (especially in the east), and historical legacy of guilt and shame.
Soviet Soldiers storming the Berlin metro 1945.
Germany since 1945
Main articles: History of Germany since 1945
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, see
Partitions of Germany; 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.
West Germany was established as a liberal democratic republic while
East Germany became a
Communist State under the influence of the
Soviet Union. Also in Potsdam, the allies agreed that the provinces east of the Oder and Neisse rivers (the
Oder-Neisse line) were transferred 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. In the process of the
expulsion millions of these German expellees from the lost
pre-1945 German east provinces died, and many suffered from exhaustion and dehydration.
Prisoners of war in the streets of Berlin.
In the immediate post-war years the German population lived on near starvation levels,
[3] and the Allied economic policy was one of de-industrialisation
[4] (
Morgenthau Plan) in order to preclude any future German war-making capability. U.S. policy began to change at the end of 1946
[5] (
Restatement of Policy on Germany), and by mid 1947, after lobbying by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Generals
Clay and
Marshall, the Truman administration finally
realized that economic recovery in Europe could not go forward without the reconstruction of the German industrial base on which it had previously had been dependent.
[6] In July, Truman rescinded on "national security grounds"
[6] the punitive
JCS 1067, which had directed the U.S. forces of occupation in Germany to "take no steps looking toward the economic rehabilitation of Germany." It was replaced by JCS 1779, which instead stressed that "[a]n orderly, prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany."
[8]
West Germany eventually came to enjoy prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s (''
Wirtschaftswunder''). The recovery occurred largely because of the previously forbidden currency reform of June 1948 and to a minor degree by U.S. assistance through
Marshall Plan loans.
[9][10] West Germany joined
NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the
European Economic Community in 1958 . Across the border, East Germany soon became the richest, most advanced country in the
Warsaw Pact, but many of its citizens looked to the West for political freedoms and economic prosperity.
Reunification
Relations between the two post-war German states remained icy until the West German Chancellor
Willy Brandt launched a highly controversial rapprochement with the East European communist states (''
Ostpolitik'') in the 1970s, culminating in the
Warschauer Kniefall on
7 December 1970. Although anxious to relieve serious hardships for divided families and to reduce friction, West Germany under Brandt's ''Ostpolitik'' was intent on holding to its concept of "two German states in one German nation." Relations improved, however, and in September 1973, East Germany and West Germany were admitted to the United Nations.
In the postwar years,
Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German economic recovery.
During the summer of 1989 , rapid changes took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to
German reunification. Growing numbers of East Germans emigrated to West Germany 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. The exodus generated demands within East Germany for political change, and mass demonstrations in several cities continued to grow.
Faced with civil unrest, East German leader
Erich Honecker was forced to resign in October, and on
9 November, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity; new crossing points were opened in the Berlin Wall and along the border with West Germany. 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.
Role in the European Union
Together with
France and other EU states, the new Germany has played the leading role in the
European Union. Germany (especially under Chancellor
Helmut Kohl) was one of the main supporters of the wish of many East European countries to join the EU. 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.
Opposition to invasion of Iraq
Germany joined France and other nations in opposing the invasion of Iraq by a coalition led by the United States and Britain.
See also
★
Medieval East Colonisation by German noblemen and farmers
★
German exodus from Eastern Europe
★
Germany
★
1920s Berlin
★
History of Europe
★
History of German settlement of Eastern Europe
★
History of present-day nations and states
★
Territorial changes of Germany
References
1. Jill N. Claster: ''Medieval Experience: 300–1400''. NYU Press 1982, p. 35. ISBN 0814713815.
2. The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 12, p. 442. ISBN 0521301998.
3. Steven Bela Vardy and T. Hunt Tooley, eds. ''Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe'' ISBN 0-8803-3995-0. subsection by Richard Dominic Wiggers,''The United States and the Refusal to Feed German Civilians after World War I''
4. Frederick H. Gareau Morgenthau's Plan for Industrial Disarmament in Germany The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 1961), pp. 517-534
5. Curtis F. Morgan, Southern Partnership: James F. Byrnes, Lucius D. Clay and Germany, 1945 1947
6. Ray Salvatore Jennings “The Road Ahead: Lessons in Nation Building from Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan for Postwar Iraq May 2003, Peaceworks No. 49 pg.15
7. Ray Salvatore Jennings “The Road Ahead: Lessons in Nation Building from Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan for Postwar Iraq May 2003, Peaceworks No. 49 pg.15
8. Pas de Pagaille! Time Magazine July 28, 1947.
9. Henderson, David. German Economic "Miracle" Retrieved 2006, 12-07
10. "''Marshall Plan 1947-1997 A German View"'' by Susan Stern
External links
★
Historical maps of Germany
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Propaganda and Nazi Era Stamps
★
The full text of the "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss" of 25th February 1803
★
Constitution of the German Empire ("Constitution of Paulskirche") of 28th March 1849, in full text
★
Constitutional charter for the Prussian State (Imposed Constitution of 5th December 1848, in full text)
★
Kingdom of Prussia: Constitutional charter for the Prussian State (Revised Constitution of 31st January 1850, in full text)
★
History of Germany: Primary Documents
★
Pessimistic Germans Losing Faith in Democracy, Study Shows
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