ANCIENT PERIOD | |
---|---|
ca. 500 B.C.-A.D. 100 | Germanic tribes settle in Germania. Roman army defeated by Suevian tribe at Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in A.D. 9 and pushed west of Rhine River. Romans subsequently reconquer some territory up to Rhine and Danube rivers and construct fordfied fronders. |
ca. A.D. 100-600 | Migration of Germanic peoples. Collapse of western Roman Empire. Last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, deposed in 476 by German armies led by Odovacar. Frankish tribes settle Gaul (France); Lombards settle northern Italy, Anglo-Saxons settle Britain. |
MEDIEVAL GERMANY (500-1517) | |
Merovingian Dynasty (ca. 500-751' | Merovingian kings rule Frankish tribes. Clovis, Frankish king (486-511), rules over Gaul's mixed Germanic-Roman people. Pepin the Younger, Frankish king (741-68), founds CarolingianDynasty in 752. Christianization of Germany under leadership of Saint Boniface (ca. 675-754). |
Carolingian Dynasty (752-911) | Frankish rule reaches from Spanish marches into central Germany. Charlemagne, Frankish king (768-814) , conquers Lombardy in 774. Carolingian Empire established 800; Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by pope. Louis I (Louis the Pious) Holy Roman Emperor 814-40. Treaty of Verdun (843) divides Carolingian Empire among three of Charlemagne's grandsons. Germany, France, and Middle Kingdom delineated, and imperial dde linked with Middle Kingdom. Louis II (Louis the German) rules east Frankish tribes (843-76). Charles EI (Charles the Fat), German king (876-87) and Holy Roman Emperor 881. Arnulf of Carinthia, German king (887-99) and Holy Roman Emperor 896. Barbarian invasions weaken Carolingian rule; German duchies of Franconia, Saxony, Lorraine, Swabia, and Bavaria rise to power. Louis rV, German king (900-91 1) . Conrad I (Conrad of Franconia) elected German king (911-18) following extinction of Carolingian Empire in the east. |
Saxon Dynasty (919-1024) | Frankish and Saxon nobles elect Henry I German king (919-36). Subordination of duchies. Otto I (Otto the Great) , German king (936-73), gains control of Middle Kingdom, and Holy Roman Empire of the German Nadon begins with his coronation as emperor in 962. German empire extends to Elbe River and southeast to Vienna. Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (973-83) . Otto HI, Holy Roman Emperor (996-1002). Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (1014-24). |
Salian Dynasty (1024-1125) | Conrad II, Duke of Franconia, founds Salian Dynasty, elected Holy Roman Emperor (1027- 39). Henry ffl, Holy Roman Emperor (1046-56). Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1084-1106), challenges Pope Gregory VII. Investiture Contest and civil war, 1075-1122; German empire weakens, and German princes begin rise to power. Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1111-25). Compromise Concordat of Worms (1122) settles papal-imperial struggle. Lothar HI, Saxon noble, elected Holy Roman Emperor (1133-37). |
Hohenstaufen Dynasty (1138-1254) | Hohenstaufen kings struggle to restore imperial authority. Conrad III elected German king (1138-52). Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor (1155-90), seeks long and unsuccessfully to establish order and stability in the empire. Beginning of Age of Chivalry, marked by high achievements in literature. Italian expeditions to regain imperial control of Middle Kingdom. Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1191-97). Civil war (1198-1214). Frederick H, Holy Roman Emperor (1220-50), restores imperial administration in Italy and Sicily, but German princes gain concessions. Imperial statute of 1232 establishes secular and ecclesiastical princes as virtually independent rulers within their own territories (principalities). Great Interregnum, 1256-73; anarchy and civil war. German princes gain power and vie for imperial title. |
Early Habsburg Dynasty (1273- 1519) | Rudolf of Habsburg elected German king (1273- 91) ; acquires Austria and Styria in 1282 and makes Habsburgs strongest German dynasty. Adolf of Nassau elected German king (1292-98). Albert I (Habsburg) elected German king (1298- 1308). Henry VTI of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor (1312-13), founds dynasty that seriously rivals Habsburgs from its power base in Bohemia. Louis TV (Louis the Bavarian) of House of Wittelsbach, Holy Roman Emperor (1328-47). Charles TV of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor (1355-78), issues Golden Bull of 1356, which grants German princes power to elect emperor and provides basic constitution of Holy Roman Empire. Wenceslas of Bohemia, German king (1378-1400). Rupert of Palatinate, German king (1400-10); Sigismund of Luxembourg, German king (1410-37) , Holy Roman Emperor (1433-37), last non-Habsburg emperor until 1742; with this one exception, Habsburgs of Austria provide all emperors from mid-fifteenth century until dissolution of Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Frederick HI, Holy Roman Emperor (1452- 93). Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1508- 1519). |
PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND RELIGIOUS WARS (1517-1648) | Martin Luther posts his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg in 1517 and challenges papal authority. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56). Publication in 1520 of Luther's three revolutionary pamphlets. Luther banned by church and empire in 1521. Charles V's wars against France in 1521- 26, 1526-29, 1536-38, and 1542^4. Vienna threatened by Turks in 1529. Diet of Augsburg, 1530; Protestant "Augsburg Confession" presented, and Protestant League of Schmalkalden formed by German princes. War of Schmalkalden (1546-47) between Charles V and Protestant princes. Peace of Augsburg, 1555; Catholicism and Lutheranism formally recognized in Germany, and each prince given right to decide religion to be practiced in his territory. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1558-64). Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (1564-76). Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (1619-37). Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1576-1612). Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (1612-19). Bohemian Revolt, 1618; imperial armies defeat Bohemians at Batde of White Mountain near Prague in 1620. Thirty Years' War (1618-48) ; Treaty of Prague signed in 1635; continuation of war by France; Treaty of Westphalia, 1648. End of Holy Roman Empire as a major European power. |
AGE OF ENLIGHTENED ABSOLUTISM AND FRENCH INVASION (1648-1815) | Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg- Prussia (1640-88), of Hohenzollern Dynasty, establishes absolute rule. Frederick I, elector of Brandenburg-Prussia (1688-1713), assumes tide of king in 1701. Frederick William I, Prussian king (1713-40), creates Prussian civil and military bureaucracy. Frederick II (Frederick the Great), Prussian king (1740-86), reforms his country as enlightened despot. War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) and Seven Years' War ( 1756-63) against Austria under Maria Theresa (1740-80) expand Prussian territory. Frederick William II, Prussian king (1786-97). Frederick William IE, Prussian king (1797-1840). French invade Rhineland in 1792 and eventually control Germany. Prussia, Austria, and Russia defeat Napoleon at Battle of Leipzig in 1813. |
REACTION, REVOLUTION, AND GERMAN UNIFICATION (1815- 71) | Congress of Vienna (1814—15) after Napoleon's defeat in War of Liberation (1813-15) establishes German Confederation of thirty-seven states. Prince Clemens von Metternich, Austrian chancellor and foreign minister (1809-48) , heads confederation. Reversion to old order of social distinctions under Age of Metternich. Struggle between absolutism and liberalism. Student unions agitate for democratic reform. Carlsbad Decrees (1819) outlaw radical student organizations. Weimar, Bavaria, Baden, and Wurttemberg enact constitutions, 1818-19. "July Revolution" in France, 1830, sparks revolutionary movements in Germany, Hesse and Saxony enact constitutions. Brunswick, Hanover, and Oldenburg enact constitutions in 1833. Zollverein (Customs Union) created in 1834. March 1848 revolution in Germany. National Assembly at Frankfurt ( 1848-49) plans constitutional German nation-state. Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Prussian king (1840-58), refuses German crown in 1849; National Assembly dissolved. German Confederation restored in 1851. Prussia agrees to relinquish plans for a Ger- man union under its leadership in Treaty of Olmutz. Wilhelm I, Prussian king (1858-88); Otto von Bismarck, chancellor (1862-90), unites Germany. Constitutional struggle, 1862-66; Prussian king vies with German liberals in parliament on issue of budget for military expansion; Prussia defeats Austria in Seven Weeks' War (1866); German Confederation dissolved, and Austria excluded from German politics. Austria-Hungary (also known as Austro-Hungarian Empire) created in 1867. North German Confederation formed, headed by Prussia. Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71. Germany united as nation-state—German Empire. |
IMPERIAL GERMANY (187 1-1 918) | Wilhelm I, German emperor (1871-88). Bismarck, chancellor (1871-90). Kulturkampf against Roman Catholic Church begins in 1873. Antisocialist legislation enacted 1878. Dual Alliance (1879) between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Domestic alliance between aristocrats and industrialists in Tariff Agreement of 1879. Comprehensive social legislation program begins in 1881. Triple Alliance (1882) among Germany, Austria- Hungary, and Italy. German colonies established 1884-85 in South-West Africa, Togo, the Cameroons, East Africa, and some Pacific islands. Frederick HI, German emperor (March 9-June 15, 1888). Wilhelm II, German emperor (1888- 1918). Bismarck's fall, 1890. Leo von Caprivi, chancellor (1890-94). Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe, chancellor 1894-1900. Naval Bill (1898) begins naval race against Britain. Bernhard von Bulow, chancellor ( 1900-09) . Moroccan crisis, 1905, in which Germany intervenes in French and British sphere of influence. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, chancellor (1909-17). Moroccan crisis, 1911, in which Germany sends gunboat to port of Agadir. New Naval Bill, 1912. Balkan Wars, 1912-13, a nationalist rebellion against Ottoman rule. Assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 28, 1914) in Sarajevo starts events that culminate in World War I (1914-18); Germany defeated. |
WEIMAR REPUBLIC (1918-33) | November Revolution, 1918; Wilhelm IPs abdication. Social Democrats proclaim republic. Suppression of left-wing revolt by army in January 1919. Treaty of Versailles, 1919. Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert elected president (1919-25). Right-wing Kapp Putsch attempted, 1920. Communist revolts in central Germany, Hamburg, and Ruhr district, 1921. Astronomical inflation, 1922- 23. Occupation of Ruhr by French and Belgian troops, 1923. Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch attempted in Munich, 1923. Gustav Stresemann, chancellor (August-November 1923) and foreign minister (1923-29), formulates policy of rapprochement with West. Dawes Plan on reparations, 1924. French and Belgian troops withdrawn from Ruhr, 1925. Paul von Hindenburg, World War I army commander, elected president (1925-34). Locarno treaties, 1925, and Treaty of Berlin with Soviet Union, 1926. Germany joins League of Nations, 1926. Young Plan on reparations, 1929; Allied troops withdrawn from Rhineland, 1930. Economic depression and cabinet crises, 1929- 33. Heinrich Bruning, chancellor 1930-32; government by decree (Article 48 of Weimar Constitution). Franz von Papen, chancellor (May- December 1932); Hitler's National Socialists win Reichstag elections and emerge as Germany's strongest political party, July 1932. Kurt von Schleicher, chancellor (December 1932-January 1933). President Hindenburg appoints Hitler to chancellorship, January 30, 1933. |
THIRD REICH (1933-45) | Reichstag fire; Hitler demands presidential emergency decree, February 1933. Enabling Act accords Hitler's cabinet dictatorial powers, March 1933. Germany declared one-party National Socialist state, July 1933. Death of Hindenburg, August 1934; Hider combines offices of president and chancellor. German rearmament, 1935. Rhineland remilitarizes and Berlin-Rome Axis formed, 1936. At secret conference, Hitler announces intention to begin eastward expansion, November 1937. Austrian Anschluss (annexation), March 1938. Czechoslovak Sudetenland annexed, October 1938. Germany occupies Czech-populated provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, March 1939. Poland invaded, September 1939. World War II (1939-45). Germany defeated. |
POSTWAR DIVISION (1945-90) | Yalta Conference (February 1945) determines division of Germany into occupation zones. Three zones under United States, British, and French control become Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1949. Soviet zone becomes German Democratic Republic (East Germany) same year. Konrad Adenauer of Christian Democratic Union elected first chancellor of West Germany (1949-63); Walter Ulbricht of Socialist Unity Party of Germany appointed head of East Germany (1949-71). West German economic boom in 1950s; Stalinization of East Germany in same period. Both states remilitarized in mid- 1950s; West Germany becomes member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), East Germany joins Warsaw Pact. Treaty of Rome creating European Economic Community (EEC) signed, 1957, with West Germany as member. Berlin Wall built by East Germany (1961). Social Democrat Willy Brandt elected West German chancellor (1969-74); Ulbricht dismissed, and Erich Honecker named East German head (1971-89). Brandt's Ostpolitik results in treaties with Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Four Power Agreement on Berlin. Basic Treaty between East Germany and West Germany recognizes two Ger- man states, 1972. Admission of both Germanys to United Nations, 1973. Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt replaces Brandt as West German chancellor (1974-82). Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl becomes West German chancellor (1982- ). Helsinki Final Act signed, July 1975. NATO's Dual-Track Decision announced, December 1979. Single European Act signed, December 1985. Growing economic difficulties and internal opposition, coupled with Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to reform Soviet Union and its empire and his decision not to intervene militarily in East German affairs, lead to collapse of East German regime, late 1989-early 1990. |
UNITED GERMANY (1990- ) | Rapid path to unification of the two German states according to provisions of Article 23 of Basic Law chosen by popular pressure. First free elections in East Germany end with Christian Democratic victory, March 1990. Economic and currency union established between West Germany and East Germany, July 1, 1990. At meeting with Kohl in Soviet Union, Gorbachev agrees that united Germany may remain in NATO and Soviet troops will leave East Germany in four years, July 1990. Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (the Two-Plus-Four Treaty) establishing Germany's full sovereignty signed, September 1990. Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Partnership, and Cooperation between West Germany and Soviet Union signed, September 1990. Germany united, October 3, 1990. First all-German Bundestag election held; Christian Democratic victory, December 1990. Maastricht Treaty signed, December 1991. Article 16 of Basic Law amended, restricting right to asylum in Germany, July 1993. European Union established, November 1993. Federal Constitutional Court decides that Bundeswehr may participate in international military operations outside of NATO territory, provided that Bundestag approves, July 1994. Last Russian troops leave Germany, August 1994. Second all- German Bundestag election held; Christian Democratic victory, October 1994. |
References:
A Country Study. US Library of Congress Country Studies