ancient
First mention find some Celtic and Germanic tribes, the Greeks and Romans (by A. Caesar and Tacitus) in pre-Christian times. Around 500 BC, the area of \u200b\u200btoday's Celtic and southern Germany who settled north of present-day Germany German manner. The Germanic tribes migrated southward over the centuries, it was that for Christ's birth, the Danube, the approximate boundary settlement between Celts and Teutons. This came Celtic place-names as well as water and Celtic loan words in the Germanic vocabulary.
From 58 BC until about 455 AD, the areas were west of the Rhine and Danube to the south of the Roman Empire, from about 80 to 260 AD, a part of Hesse (Wetterau) and the bulk of today's Baden-Württemberg, south of the Limes. The Roman sites in Germany today distributed to the provinces of Germania Superior, Germania Inferior and Raetia. Go back to the Roman cities such as Trier, Cologne, Bonn, Worms and Augsburg, which are among the oldest cities in Germany. The Romans introduced a new in house building and handicrafts, some of which continue to have today. To secure the borders, the Romans settled Germanic tribes friendly to the provinces. Also Settlers from all parts of the Roman Empire, especially from Italy emigrated, and were west of the Rhine and south of the Danube sedentary. A first general history of Germania delivered in 98 the Roman writer Tacitus.
medieval
early middle age about 395-919
After many Germanic tribes as early as 1 Century after the South urged, is spoken since the invasion of the Huns 375 of the Migration, in the 5th Century, its height, in the 6th Century took its final point and 476 led to the downfall of Western Rome. Many Germanic tribes migrated to the West at that time, Eastern and Southern Europe bis hin nach Nordafrika. In die nunmehr fast menschenleeren Gebiete des heutigen Ostdeutschland wanderten im 7. Jahrhundert bis zur Elbe-Saale-Linie slawische Stämme ein. Fast im gesamten Raum östlich der Elbe wurde daher bis ins hohe Mittelalter slawisch gesprochen (Germania Slavica), in der Lausitz leben bis heute die slawischen Sorben. Sprachforscher schätzen, dass etwa ein Drittel der heutigen deutschen Familiennamen slawischen Ursprungs sind. Der Hauptteil West- und Mitteleuropas wurde ab dem 6. Jahrhundert vom Frankenreich eingenommen, das heutige nordwestliche Deutschland von den Sachsen beherrscht.
Das Frankenreich Karls des Großen, für das vor allem die Merowinger die Grundlage gelegt hatten, einte das Gebiet des kontinentalen Europe between the Atlantic, Baltic and southern Alps. After Karl's death it was divided into three parts 843 in the Treaty of Verdun among his grandchildren. The West Frankish kingdom should form the basis, notably for the development of the Kingdom of France. The East Frankish Kingdom is linked to the history of the later Holy Roman Empire linked.
With the division of the Frankish Empire 843 began its disintegration. The son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, was able to maintain its unity yet. As the successor he appointed his eldest son Lothair I. This was the middle kingdom and the imperial dignity, Charles the Bald and Louis the western part of the East German. After the death of the sons of Lothair I., the former Middle Kingdom divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German. After Ludwig's death in 876 then the Eastern Frankish kingdom is divided among his three sons Carloman, Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat as well. 880 The boundary to the west Frankish kingdom will be established that would separate the entire Middle Ages, almost unchanged, the German Empire of France. The East Frankish king Charles the Fat was after the death of his brothers and of the West Frankish king, the Frankish kingdom once again unite briefly, but was powerless to reign in the East by his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia, a son of Carloman, displaced 887th With Arnulf's son Louis the Child, the last East Frankish Carolingian 911 died. In order not to jeopardize their own power, chose the Dukes the supposedly weak franc Duke Conrad I (911-919) as their king. I.
High Middle Ages
Ottos 919-1024
Konrad (911-919), who unsuccessfully sought to preserve for his choice the Carolingian tradition, followed the Saxon Duke Henry I to the family of the Liudolfinger or Ottos. Henry I defended the empire against invasions of Hungary and the Slavs. In addition to the Frankish heritage was now more and more common out its own identity. Certain to succeed Henry I's son Otto I. He first tried the newly formed tribal duchies to assume his power was based, however, to secure his power more and more to the church (imperial church system). 955 Otto defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of the Lech - this victory is stylized after the birth of the Germans. 950 was from Bohemia and Poland 963 times lehnsabhängig from the Holy Roman emperors. Otto extended his domain to parts of Italy. After her marriage to Adelaide of Burgundy, he called himself a short time King of the Lombards. 962 Otto finally reached his recognition as King of Italy and then the imperial coronation by the Pope. In southern Italy, he came into conflict with the Byzantine emperor. His son Otto II eventually married the niece of Emperor Theophanu, southern Italy remained with Byzantium. 982 Otto II against the Arabs suffered a crushing defeat. The areas east of the Elbe (Bill Unger Mark and the North Mark) went on a large Slavic uprising largely lost for about 200 years back. . Otto's son, Otto III, died before he could realize his plan to shift the power base in Rome, in the Congress of Gniezno in 1000, he recognized the Polish ruler Boleslaw I the Brave as co-regent of the kingdom. The last Ottonenkönig Henry II had been in several wars against Poland (King Boleslaw I the Brave) and Hungary (King Stephen I) to say. Under him, but the imperial church system was further expanded. appears the Ottonian vermehrt die Bezeichnung regnum teutonicum.
Salier 1024 bis 1125
1024 wählten die deutschen Fürsten den Salier Konrad II. zum König. Er erwarb 1032 das Königreich Burgund. Sein Nachfolger Heinrich III. setzte auf der Synode von Sutri drei rivalisierende Päpste ab, ernannte den Reformer Clemens II. zum Papst und ließ sich von ihm 1046 zum Kaiser krönen. Kurz darauf erließ er ein Verbot der Simonie. Während der Regierungszeit Heinrichs IV. eskalierte der so genannte Investiturstreit, in dem die Kirchenreformer dem Kaiser Simonie vorwarfen. Heinrich erklärte Papst Gregor VII. für abgesetzt. Nun bannte der Papst den König. Um den Kirchenbann zu lösen, unternahm Heinrich IV. the journey to Canossa. Pope Gregory in 1084 he set off again and settled in Rome by the antipope Clement III. crowned emperor. His son, Henry V finally allied himself with the princes against him and deposed him. A long war has been prevented by the death of the father's 1106th Under Henry V. It was in 1122 in the Concordat of Worms to compensate with the church. After Henry's death, the prince chose Lothar III. Supplinburg of the king. Through the support of the powerful against the Hohenstaufen Welf for Lothar Friedrich was a 12th round Century-long struggle between Guelphs and Hohenstaufen founded.
Staufer 1138-1254
After Lothar's death in 1138 Conrad III of Hohenstaufen. King. He recognized from Lothar's son, the Guelph Henry the Proud, the duchies. Conrad's successor, Frederick I tried to compensate by the Guelph Henry the Lion in 1156 with the duchies of his father, Saxony and Bavaria as a fief. Henry the Lion submitted as a new feudal lord from 1147 to 1164, the Slavs in Mecklenburg and Pomerania.
Hildegard of Bingen knew sent constellations of power for the establishment of monasteries use and corresponded with the then known world. The Treaty of Constance in 1153 reached Frederick I (Barbarossa), the coronation. He defeated the striving for more independence lombardischen Städte. Als Alexander III. Papst wurde, begann der Kampf zwischen Kaiser und Papst erneut. Nach der Niederlage bei Legnano musste Friedrich Alexander als Papst anerkennen. 1180 entzog Friedrich Heinrich dem Löwen, der seine Italienpolitik nicht mehr unterstützte, dessen Herzogtümer. 1181 erhob Friedrich die pommerschen Greifen in den Rang deutscher Reichsfürsten. Ab 1187 übernahm Friedrich I. die Führung der Kreuzfahrer. 1190 starb er in Syrien. Friedrichs Sohn, Heinrich VI., wurde dank der Heirat mit der normannischen Prinzessin Konstanze 1194 König von Sizilien. Als Heinrich VI. 1197 starb, kam es zu einer Doppelwahl des Staufers Philipp von Schwaben, des Bruders Heinrichs VI und des Welfen Otto IV., einem Sohn Heinrich the lion. After the murder of Philip IV became king in 1208 Otto. The Pope supported but because of the Italian expedition of Otto the Hohenstaufen Frederick II, son of Henry VI. 1214 brought the Battle of Bouvines the decision for Frederick. He ruled his empire from his native Sicily. The government in Germany, he left his son Henry. In 1235 he set a IV instead of Henry's brother Konrad. 1220 Frederick was crowned emperor. It came to a power struggle with Pope Gregory IX., The emperor banished the 1227th Nevertheless, Friedrich reached the Holy Land, the surrender of Jerusalem. The conflict continued in, took as Gregory's successor Innocent IV. Innocent declared deposed the Emperor in 1245 for all. Friedrich II died in December 1250th After his death, the battle raged on the Pope against the Hohenstaufen. 1268, the last Hohenstaufen, the sixteen-year-old son of Conrad IV was, Konradin executed in the fight for his Sicilian heritage against Charles of Anjou in Naples public.
late Middle Ages in the 14th
Century led overpopulation, crop failures and famine to natural disasters. 1349/50 a third of the population died of the plague and the majority of Jews fled to Poland because of pogroms.
interregnum and incipient Hausmachtkönigtum 1254 to 1313th
fell after the end of Hohenstaufen power in the king's power Late middle age more and more. The king leaned try only to a small imperial and had to expand his power base. As a new power factor proved to become the imperial cities. The princes (later Elector) selected in a constitutionally remarkable double election, both Richard of Cornwall in England as well as King Alfonso of Castile. This gave the voters, that regional forces, the possibility of their own power to the detriment of the central government expanded. Both were elected but too weak to prevail in the kingdom, intended rather for the imperial crown. Richard was very rare in the kingdom, Alfons it has never entered. Contemporaries spoke Even then the "interregnum," the king free time.
The Interregnum ended in 1273 with the election of Rudolf of Habsburg. Rudolf paved the way to the house of Habsburg, the most powerful dynasties in the Empire, but he failed to gain the imperial crown. Both of his successor, Adolf of Nassau and Albert I, were in conflict with the electors. 1308 of Luxembourg Henry VII was elected king. This could expand his power base to Bohemia in 1310 and received the 1312 coronation as emperor. The Treaty of 1348 recognized Namslau Casimir the Great of Poland, the membership of Silesia to Bohemia - and thus the Holy Roman Empire - at, later tried However, the Pope, to challenge this.
Louis IV the Bavarian and Charles IV in 1314 to 1378th
After the death of Henry sat down for a double election in 1314 by the Wittelsbach Ludwig of Bavaria against the Habsburgs. 1327 Ludwig moved to Italy the following year and is crowned emperor in Rome. In the battle of the Emperor against the Pope, the last of the Middle Ages, the electors certified by the Tourist Board Rhenser 1338, that an elected king of them must be confirmed by the Pope. Guided by the Luxembourg opposition to Louis House power politics was formed 1346th The Luxembourg Charles IV is related to by his followers, with the support of the Pope's anti-king selected. The death of Louis in 1347 prevented a long war. Charles IV's reign focus shifted to Bohemia. His awards include the Mark Brandenburg added to his power base complex.
was founded in 1348 in Prague, the first German-language university.
1355 Karl was crowned emperor. The Golden Bull of 1356 set by the end of the Holy Roman Empire, a sort of constitution dar. Their main objective was to prevent fighting against kings and throne. Karl thought he had cemented so that the power of the House of Luxembourg.
Incipient rise Habsburgs 1378-1493
Under the successors of Charles fell into the king's power for good. Der ältere Sohn Karls IV, Wenzel wird 1400 von den Kurfürsten wegen Untätigkeit abgesetzt. Nach dem Tod des Nachfolgers Ruprecht I. von der Pfalz aus dem Hause Wittelsbach 1410 wird mit Wenzels Bruder Sigismund wieder ein Luxemburger gewählt. Er erreichte zwar 1433 die Kaiserkrönung, war jedoch nicht in der Lage, das Königtum zu stabilisieren. Eine Reichsreform scheiterte an Eigeninteressen der Landesherrscher. Durch die Einberufung des Konzils von Konstanz konnte er allerdings das Abendländische Schisma beenden.
Mit dem Tod Sigismunds erlosch das Haus Luxemburg in männlicher Linie. Die Habsburger traten 1438 mit Albrecht die Nachfolge an. Von 1438 bis 1740 und von 1745 bis zum Ende des Reiches 1806 sollte das Haus Habsburg nun King of the Romans set.
Under the long reign of Frederick III. (1440-1493) laid the foundation for the later Habsburg world power politics has been laid.
Early Modern
Maximilian I. 1486-1519
Maximilian I acquired by marriage the duchy of Burgundy to the Netherlands were among the rich, for his house and claimed it in the war against France. His grandson, Philip the Fair was married to the heiress of the English empire. Maximilian was dependent because of the Turkish wars to the support of the states. 1495 adopted at the Diet of Worms, an imperial reform. Maximilian was in 1508 without papal coronation of the Emperor title. He thus ending for all time the German kings pilgrimages to Rome for coronation. This has been the various conflicts smoldering with France and Venice, whose troops had blocked many mountain passes. came through his marriage policy in addition to the English crown of Bohemia and Hungary from the Jagiellonian ruled by the Habsburgs.
Reformation and Counter Reformation 1517-1618
With the publication of his 95 theses against indulgences by Martin Luther began the Reformation in 1517.
1519, the Habsburg Charles V was king. Beneath him rose to the Habsburg world power. In foreign policy he was in constant War to repel the Ottomans or involved against France and the Pope. This was his position in the kingdom itself weak and he could not prevent the spread of the Reformation.
In the years 1522-1526 introduced in many countries and cities of the empire, the doctrine of Luther. The Reformation was thus carried out by the sovereign, who also became the Bishop. The brother of Emperor Ferdinand wanted to cancel the toleration of Lutherans. Protested the Protestant princes. Therefore, the term derives from the Protestants for trailers of the Protestant faith from ..
Poor conditions of the farmers had in the 15th Century regional riots the farmers out during the Reformation period 1524-1526 there was a peasant war. 1525 a peasant army led by Thomas Munzer at Frankenhausen was destroyed.
came in the Schmalkalden War of 1546/1547 for the first time to fight the Catholics, led by the Emperor against the Protestants. The Emperor won the war, but could not enforce the Augsburg Interim. collected
When the prince of the religious boundaries against him, waived Charles V in 1556 in favor of his son Philip II of Spain and made his brother Ferdinand to succeed him in the kingdom. The new king had already negotiated the 1555 Peace of Augsburg.
Under the influence Reformation of the Catholic Church began an internal reform. In addition, the Counter-Reformation. This was the one in the pursuit of doubters of the official papal teaching by the Inquisition, on the other were new orders, of which the Jesuits obtained a leading role in the Catholic Renewal.
nevertheless was the religious policies of Ferdinand's son and successor, Maximilian II, relatively tolerant, while in France the same time religious wars raged. Maximilian's son Rudolf II moved his capital in Prague on the other hand more and more from reality, so that the religious conflicts continue to swell. It came to Cologne War, when the local archbishop to Protestantism transgressed, and in the Netherlands belonging to the kingdom intensified opposition to the strict Catholic rule of the English Habsburgs.
The Protestant princes joined together in 1608 under the leadership of Frederick of the Palatinate to the Union. Accordingly, the Catholic princes joined in 1609, led by the Duke of Bavaria Maximilian I, together for the league.
Thirty Years War 1618-1648
After Emperor Rudolf II, the business of government to his brother Matthias had been assigned, this restricted the rights granted to the Protestants again. 1618 it was therefore the Defenestration of Prague, where two Imperial Councils Bohemian professional representatives in the Prague castle to the windows were kicked out.
After the death of the Emperor of the leaders of the Union, Friedrich von der Pfalz, 1619 declared the King of Bohemia. The new emperor, Ferdinand II moved with the army of the Catholic League to Bohemia. In the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 the Bohemian army was defeated. After the escape of Frederick Tilly occupied the Palatinate and the Upper Palatinate. The Bavarian Duke Maximilian I, Elector Palatine was given the dignity.
The Danish King Christian IV in 1625 moved with his army into northern Germany. But he was defeated by the imperial army under Tilly and Wallenstein, the Bohemian nobles. Pomerania, Jutland and Mecklenburg were occupied by the Catholic army.
issued after the end of the Danish war of 1629 the Imperial Edict of Restitution. Concerned about its considerably higher abundance of power to the states-reached the Regensburg Electors 1630, the dismissal of his general Wallenstein.
now reached the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf into a war. Rain fell at 1632 Tilly. The Emperor was then Wallenstein again. At the Battle of Lutzen in 1632 was the Swedish king.
Wallenstein in 1634 sold again and soon killed them. In order to drive the Swedes from German soil, joined the Emperor with the Protestant Elector of Saxony a Sonderfrieden, den Frieden von Prag, 1635.
Das katholische Frankreich griff 1635 auf schwedischer Seite ein, jedoch konnte keine der beiden Seiten den Krieg für sich entscheiden. Große Teile des Reiches wurden verwüstet. Der Vorkriegsstand der Bevölkerung wurde erst wieder um 1750 erreicht. Der neue Kaiser Ferdinand III. bemühte sich bereits seit 1637 verstärkt um Friedensverhandlungen, aber Deutschland war längst zum Spielball fremder Mächte geworden, wodurch sich das Leid der Bevölkerung weiter verlängerte. Die seit 1642 laufenden Verhandlungen führten am 24. Oktober 1648 zum Westfälischen Frieden.
Der Friedensschluss beinhaltete eine Abtretung von Teilen Lothringens und des Elsass' to France. The Netherlands and Switzerland officially eliminated from the Reich. The position of the states and territories has been strengthened and confirmed the Augsburg religious peace. For a change of confession of the sovereign was not more of the population requires the same. The power of the emperor was further reduced, its power to make in the future based only on the position of his dynasty.
The Holy Roman Empire was divided in 382 sovereign and semi-sovereign territories. This empire was the formation of contemporary constitutional law, Samuel Pufendorf referred to as "monster" or "by divine providence preserved preposterous". Pufendorf used but also as one of the first, the term "Germany".
absolutism 1648-1789
The destruction and population losses of the Thirty Years' War, promoted the development of state-directed economic and social policy. was associated with the mercantilist economic system, the emergence of the absolutist form of government modeled after the French King Louis XIV
under Elector Friedrich Wilhelm started since 1640 the rise of Prussia. The following Elector Friedrich III. in 1701 was crowned King Frederick I of Prussia. The survey was only able, because as Duke of Prussia, a Territory outside the borders of the Holy Roman Empire possessed which was fully sovereign of the kingdom. Against a payment of two million dollars and the deployment of a military contingent for the Imperial Army, agreed to the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I. Finally. The rise of Brandenburg-Prussia, later referred to simply as the Kingdom of Prussia, led to dualism with Austria, which was to determine Germany's domestic politics until 1866.
under the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, the empire of the dual threat from the Ottomans and the expansionism of France under Louis XIV was exposed. 1683 was the emperor with the support of some German princes and the Polish King Jan III Sobieski, who won the battle of the Kahlenberg in Vienna against Kara Mustafa, the Turks beat the gates of Vienna and drive them out of Hungary.
This was but a war against France to prevent it should be called in to the already. France had - the opportunity, foreign policy - incorporated the exclusion of the unconstitutional conditions the free city of Strasbourg and Alsatian other areas in its territory, although these areas were the estates.
The choice of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August I King of Poland in 1697 and 1763 there was a personal union of Saxony and Poland, the Great by the Nordic Krieg und den Polnischen Thronfolgekrieg unterbrochen wurde. Ebenso gab es von 1714 bis 1837 eine Personalunion von Hannover und England.
Das Aussterben der spanischen Habsburger löste 1701 den Spanischen Erbfolgekrieg aus, der mit dem Tod von Joseph I. eine für Habsburg ungünstige Wende nahm, allerdings auch die Kräfte Frankreichs erschütterte. Das österreichische Haus Habsburg war unter Leopold I. und Joseph I. dennoch zur europäischen Großmacht geworden.
Das Aussterben der österreichischen Habsburger im Mannesstamm mit Kaiser Karl VI. führte 1740 zum Österreichischen Erbfolgekrieg. Der Wittelsbacher Karl VII. wurde zum neuen Kaiser gewählt, Friedrich II. fiel im habsburgischen Kronland Schlesien ein.
Karls VI. Tochter Maria Theresia konnte die Kaiserkrone für ihren Gemahl Franz I. zwar mit britischer Hilfe schließlich gegen preußische Hegemonialansprüche verteidigen, sie verlor aber im Siebenjährigen Krieg 1763 Schlesien endgültig an Preußen.
Schweden verlor durch seine Niederlage im Großen Nordischen Krieg (1700-1721) gegen Russland, Dänemark, Sachsen-Polen und Preußen fast alle Besitzungen im Reich. Durch die drei Teilungen Polens 1772, 1793 und 1795 konnten Österreich und Preußen erhebliche Gebietsgewinne verzeichnen.
Die Aufklärung hielt Einzug in Preußen unter Friedrich dem Großen (der Alte Fritz), der nach den Prinzipien des aufgeklärten Absolutism prevailed. In Austria held the Enlightenment under Emperor Joseph II collection. They did not lead to reforms that shook the feudal power structure. Joseph's brother and successor, Leopold II had some of the reforms in the Austrian hereditary lands to resile.
The "long 19th Century 1789-1918
French Revolution and "liberation wars" 1789-1814
was a result of the French Revolution, 1791 Alliance of Prussia and Austria against France. After initial successes of the half-hearted campaign came out after the coalition the defeat at Valmy in September 1792 on the defensive. It was followed until 1809, four other coalition war against France.
1799, Napoleon I in France for power. Austria had to cede the Austrian Netherlands. The left bank of the Rhine in Germany fell after the Peace of Luneville in 1801 also in France. As compensation for their losses, the left bank of the Rhine average German princes were given in 1803 in Imperial Diet-circuit right bank areas formerly rich and the immediate levels of church property. Also received Hessen-Kassel, Baden Württemberg and the course Timme, which led a Protestant majority in the Tourist Board.
He because of the new majority, the electors could not be sure to secure the German imperial dignity to continue for the House of Habsburg, rose the Habsburg Emperor Franz II in 1804, he was also the Archduke of Austria, as Napoleon himself emperor of Austria. This process is a constitutional violation, as Austria as part of State of the Holy Roman Empire and thus as an imperial state was not fully sovereign. The German head of state was so obviously his own state not more serious.
1805 defeated Austria in the Battle of Three Emperors at Austerlitz. It had its northern Italian regions to the Kingdom of Italy and the Tyrol and Vorarlberg ceded to Bavaria. Zu Beginn des Jahres 1806 erhob Napoleon Bayern und Württemberg zu Königreichen, einige Monate später auch Sachsen. Als sich 16 deutsche Fürstenhäuser 1806 zum Rheinbund zusammenschlossen, legte Kaiser Franz II., auch unter dem Druck Napoleons, die deutsche Kaiserkrone nieder, nachdem er schon 1804 das Kaiserreich Österreich gegründet hatte, um mit Napoleons Kaiserkrönung gleichzuziehen.
Dies bedeutete das Ende des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation, das 842 Jahre Bestand gehabt hatte. Diese Übergangszeit wurde auch die Franzosenzeit genannt, in der sich das Bewusstsein an die geänderten Umstände anpassen musste.
Am 16. Oktober 1806 kam es infolge des vierten Koalitionskrieges gegen Frankreich zur Niederlage Preußens in der Schlacht bei Jena und Auerstedt. Napoleons Truppen rückten daraufhin in Berlin ein. Im Frieden von Tilsit 1807 verlor Preußen die Hälfte seines Staatsgebietes, darunter unter anderen die nach der zweiten und dritten Teilung Polens erlangten Gebiete (Großpolen, Masowien und Danzig) an das Großfürstentum Warschau. Preußen blieb nur auf russische Intervention hin als gedachter „Pufferstaat“ erhalten. Ebenso musste Österreich die nach der dritten Teilung Polens besetzten Gebiete an das Großfürstentum Warschau abtreten. Der Aufstand in Tirol unter dem Freiheitskämpfer Andreas Hofer wurde von Napoléons Truppen niedergeschlagen.
In Preußen It was because of the devastating defeat of 1807-1813 to a reform movement (Prussian reforms) under Stein and Hardenberg. The Prussian army was fundamentally reformed by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as is the education of Wilhelm von Humboldt and other areas.
After the defeat of Napoleon in the Russian campaign in Prussia in 1812 it came to rebellion. As agreed by the Prussian General Yorck von Wartenberg in December 1812 without authorization by the Convention of Tauroggen a truce with Russia, the Prussian king allied to pressure from the population with the Tsar against France.
After the accession of Great Britain, Sweden and Austria the Alliance, France was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Confederation of the Rhine then moved to the side of the Allies. The Wars of Liberation against Napoleon in Germany led to a new national consciousness. In the spring of 1814
covered the Allied troops entered Paris. Napoleon was forced to abdicate. As in France in 1815 again seized power in him, a German-British army defeated at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 final. came
restoration and pre-March period from 1814 to 1848
At the Congress of Vienna, under the direction of Metternich on the restructuring of Europe. The objective of the Congress of Vienna was the permanent Securing peace by creating a new balance between the great powers, but also the recovery (restoration) of the old political system. In the Holy Alliance agreed Austria, Prussia and Russia, to combat all revolutionary movements and nation-state.
Prussia regained his territory from the second partition of Poland, including Gdansk, the Rhineland, Westphalia and the northern part of Saxony, Austria kept the field from the first partition of Poland (Galicia), gave up the Austrian Netherlands, and got Veneto, Lombardy and territories in the Balkans. France could retain the Alsace. Next was the German Federal Government launched the 39 sovereign princes, including the kings of Great Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands, were members.
decision-making body of the German Confederation was the Bundestag, held under the Austrian Presidency in Frankfurt am Main. The wishes of the population were to create a unified German nation-state not considered by the prince.
1817, many students gathered at the Wartburg Festival. There, under the motto "It all turned out differently than we expect (from the perspective of the nationalists and liberals was far worse than it had been hoped for after the French Revolution) national slogans, singing, speeches and held everything "non-German" combat, such as Jewish books burned. After the assassination of the writer August von Kotzebue by Karl Sand the students two years later Metternich 1819 in the Carlsbad Decrees, the fraternities and all other political associations and introduced a comprehensive ban censorship. Ultimately, he could not prevent the further strengthening of the German national movement in the time of the so-called pre-March period. Encouraged by the July Revolution in France, the movement in the Hambach Festival took place from 27 30 May 1832 with 30,000 participants a new high.
was economically by Germany on 1 German Customs Union in January 1834 established a united front. The onset of industrialization and the construction of the first railway lines brought an economic boom with it.
Revolution 1848/1849
The February Revolution of 1848 led in France in the German states to the March revolution. In Austria, there was street fighting. On 13 March Metternich resigned and fled to Britain.
Emperor Ferdinand issued in April 1848 and granted a constitution to the people, an armed militia. In came the principalities ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs upper and central Italy, Hungary and the Slavic areas es zu Aufständen, die aber von den Truppen des Kaisers niedergeschlagen wurden.
Der preußische König Friedrich Wilhelm IV. gestattete auf Druck der Bevölkerung die Ausarbeitung einer Verfassung und gestand den Bürgern Versammlungs- und Pressefreiheit zu. Kleinere Staaten wie Baden versuchten Unruhen durch die Berufung liberaler und nationaler Regierungsmitglieder vorzubeugen. Dennoch wurden im weiteren Verlauf der Revolution gerade Sachsen und Baden zu Zentren radikaldemokratischer Aufstände.
Anfang Mai fanden in allen Staaten Wahlen zu einer Deutschen Nationalversammlung statt. Diese wurden jedoch nur in sechs Staaten direkt gewählt. In allen anderen Staaten wurde ein indirektes Verfahren über Wahlmänner angewandt.
were in parliament both conservative monarchists and liberals and Republicans represented. While academics and the educated middle class dominated, workers and peasants had no representatives in Parliament.
On 18 May there was the formation of a provisional central government, headed by a regent. The government was recognized by the German princes, was due to lack of its own army, police and officials but largely powerless.
The National Assembly had now set the borders of a future German national state. Favorited first was the so-called "greater German solution. Since Austria is ready but only including their entire territory to was decided to use the small German solution. This provided for the formation of a German state to the exclusion of Austria.
On 28 March 1849 adopted the so-called Paul's Constitution, which provided for a federal state with a central government headed by a hereditary empire and a diet as a legislature. The Constitution was the basis for the Weimar Constitution and the Basic Law. Further, a general election has been agreed.
After the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV on 3 April 1849 rejected the imperial crown, covered most of the German states withdrew their representatives from Frankfurt. Uprisings in Dresden, the Palatinate and Baden to enforce the Constitution were depressed.
A minority of MPs opposed to a dismissal and held on in Stuttgart. The last revolutionaries were found on 23 July in Rastatt. The Constitution was thus never come into force. Many in the wake of political persecution emigrated mainly to America.
Reaktionsära and North German Confederation 1849-1871
were subsequently reversed during the revolution made concessions. In Austria, Schwarzenberg built a neo-absolutist regime. In other states, as in Prussia were some achievements such as the constitutions and freedom of trade preserved.
in 1850, the German Federal Government re-established. Together, the countries facing particular coordinated police action during the Reaktionsära against the opposition. After the approval of political groups emerged in Germany in 1860 new political parties and trade unions. 1863, Ferdinand Lassalle, the General German Workers Association, which eventually went up in the still existing German Social Democratic Party (SPD).
began 1859 the Prussian constitutional conflict that led to the 1862 appointment of Otto von Bismarck as Prussian Prime Minister and to the strengthening of the king to Parliament.
came in 1864 there is a war of Prussia and Austria against Denmark. Trigger the annexation of Schleswig was through Denmark. With the approval of the European powers conquered both German states, the duchies of Holstein, which had belonged since the early Middle Ages the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation after 1815 and also the German Federal Government and has only been ruled by the King of Denmark and Schleswig.
1866 following the German war against the Empire of Austria was given the German Confederation, the Kingdom of Prussia by his victory at Hradec Kralove decide for themselves. It annexed the Kingdom of Hanover, the Duchy of Nassau, Electoral Hesse, Hesse-Homburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Frankfurt. The German Confederation was dissolved. In addition, the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership was established. The independence of Bavaria, Baden Württemberg and was recognized at the insistence of France. After it came
to tensions between France and Prussia. The reason for the Franco-German war of 1870/1871 was the candidacy of Leopold of Hohenzollern to the English throne. Napoleon III. provoked the war in which he requested region on the Rhine and Bismarck responded by Ems Dispatch. After the declaration of war by France could pull out all the German states of Prussia and the other European powers on his side. The France Napoléons III. wurde durch den Sieg bei Sedan zur Kapitulation gezwungen. In Paris bildete sich daraufhin eine republikanische Regierung, die die Forderungen Preußens ablehnte.
Dieses hatte eine Fortsetzung des Krieges zur Folge, der erst 1871 mit der Kapitulation Frankreichs endete. Im Frieden von Frankfurt am Main wurde Frankreich zur Abtretung Elsass-Lothringens und zur Zahlung einer Kriegsentschädigung verpflichtet.
Kaiserreich 1871 bis 1918
Durch das Zugeständnis der Reservatrechte konnte Bismarck die süddeutschen Staaten zum Beitritt zum Norddeutschen Bund bewegen. Die Gründung des dadurch entstandenen Deutschen Reiches wurde am 18. Januar 1871 im Spiegelsaal von Schloss Versailles completed. The Prussian King was awarded the title of German Emperor.
said the constitution of 1871, the monarchical element. But this the future of Germany was crucial for the fate of his emperor-dependent. Prussia had two-thirds of the land area and population and thus have a veto over constitutional changes in the Bundesrat.
Bismarck pursued a policy of changing alliance partners (see also tend Policy). As part of the culture wars from 1871 to 1886 against the Catholic Church Bismarck allied with the Liberals. Although some measures have been taken back by the end of the culture wars again, as did the introduction civil marriage and the state supervision over the school system receive.
were another opponent of Bismarck, the Socialists dar. The mood of the public after an assassination attempt on Kaiser Wilhelm I, Bismarck took advantage of the Socialists in 1878 to enforce laws. They could not prevent the spread of socialist ideas but.
parallel, Bismarck tried by a social legislation to counter the radicalization of the workers. Sun 1883, health insurance, accident insurance introduced in 1884, and in 1889 a pension scheme. Further requirements of the Social Democrats rejected Bismarck but.
was economically due to the damage caused by the Empire uniform Economic Space promoted and initiated by the French war indemnity payments of a fast-paced economic growth. This culminated in 1873 but the economic crisis ("Founder noise").
foreign policy, Bismarck pursued a policy of balance of powers. By the rise of the strongest superpower on the continent aroused the fears of Germany's neighbors. To prevent alliances of the other great powers against Germany, Bismarck built on an alliance with diplomatic skill system that ran on the isolation of France. In order to dampen
the fears of other great powers, abandoned Bismarck, the war-in-sight crisis in 1875 on territorial expansion, presented as a concession to the zeitgeist, but in 1884 the colonial acquisitions of German merchants under the protection of the empire. The economic importance of these colonies, however, remained low.
The Three Emperors, 1888, died Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II succeeded his father Frederick III., Who had ruled terminally ill only 99 days. Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 as chancellor, a course reversal followed in German foreign policy. Unlike his conservative predecessor, the new emperor's foreign policy took into their own hand (personal rule). This led to a growing isolation of Germany.
Domestic politics was strong by structural change and the social question marked. Chancellor Caprivi (1890-1894) pursued a course of social reforms. Further political reforms were launched.
The chancellorship of Prince Clovis Hohenlohe-Schilling Prince (1894-1900) did indeed domestic policy, the adoption of the Civil Code, 1896 as well as a further aggravation of the conflict with the Social Democrats (prison template), foreign policy, the beginning of the imperialist German world policy for attempting to rapprochement with Russia and a deterioration of relations with Great Britain (Kruger telegram, Samoa conflict, naval arms race). The autocracy of the emperor could der alte Kanzler kaum etwas entgegensetzen. Unter dem Nachfolger Bernhard von Bülow (1900-1909), der die kaiserlichen Ambitionen offen unterstützte, nahm allerdings durch die „Daily-Telegraph-Affäre“ auch das Ansehen Wilhelms II. Schaden. Die Beziehungen zu England und Russland verschlechterten sich weiter. Der nächste Reichskanzler Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1909-1917) versuchte einen Ausgleich mit England, konnte jedoch das Bündnissystem nicht durchbrechen. England hatte sich in Kolonialfragen mit Frankreich ausgeglichen, die Balkanfrage brachte Russland an die Seite der beiden Westmächte. Mit dem Deutschen Reich verbündet blieben Österreich-Ungarn und das Osmanische Reich.
Erster Weltkrieg
The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 Finally dissolved in June 1914 in Sarajevo in the First World War. Not only the influence of politics, the power of the Emperor waned rapidly, effectively ruled the Supreme Command under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. victory on the Eastern Front, deteriorated during the trench warfare on the Western Front, the supply situation rapidly. As was to expire in October 1918 once the fleet against the Royal Navy, the sailors mutinied.
The sailors revolt spread within days across Germany and was the November Revolution. On 9 November the Chancellor announced the resignation of Max von Baden the emperor. Wilhelm II leaned that decision and went into exile. Max von Baden gave the government power to Friedrich Ebert. In the afternoon, said the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann, the Republic.
Weimar Republic 1919-1933
On 10 November 1918 was formed with the Council of People's Representatives for a provisional government. On 11 November, adjusted by a cease the fighting. On 16 December 1918 was held in Berlin called the Imperial Council Congress.
Many reforms came into force, women's suffrage and the eight-hour day were introduced. The Spartacus uprising in January 1919 was crushed by the Freikorps. The communist leader Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered there. By mid 1919, all other attempts to establish socialist soviet republics in Germany, put down by Freikorps and Reichswehr force associations. Last this happened on 2 May 1919 with the Munich Soviet Republic.
On 19 January was selected the National Assembly. She performed in the troubled Berlin, but together in Weimar. The National Assembly elected Friedrich Ebert as president and Philipp Scheidemann as chancellor. Under the Weimar Constitution was the German Reich a parliamentary democracy. She saw, however, before a strong President's (so-called "replacement Emperor ') and was able to eine qualifizierte Mehrheit vollständig geändert werden.
Am 28. Juni musste Deutschland im Versailler Vertrag zahlreiche Gebiete abtreten sowie seine Kolonien dem Völkerbund unterstellen. Die Vereinigung Deutschlands mit Österreich wurde untersagt. Deutschland und seinen Verbündeten wurde die alleinige Kriegsschuld gegeben und es wurden Reparationsforderungen gestellt. Das Saarland war dem Völkerbund unterstellt und das Rheinland entmilitarisierte Zone. Außerdem gab es massive Beschränkungen für die deutsche Armee. Der damals als „Schanddiktat“ empfundene Versailler Vertrag und die Dolchstoßlegende waren ein schweres Erbe für die entstandene deutsche Republik, die als „Republik ohne Republikaner“ bezeichnet wurde. Demokratische Reformen in Militär, Justiz und Verwaltung wurden versäumt.
1920 kam es zum Kapp-Putsch und zu mehreren politischen Morden. Bei den Reichstagswahlen gab es große Stimmengewinne für extreme Parteien. Gemäß dem Versailler Vertrag fanden in einigen Grenzgebieten Volksabstimmungen über die zukünftige Gebietszugehörigkeit statt. Im nördlichen und mittleren Teil des ehemaligen Herzogtums Schleswig gab es jeweils eine Volksabstimmung: der Norden kam daraufhin zum Königreich Dänemark und wird seitdem Nordschleswig genannt, das mittlere und südliche Schleswig blieb bei Deutschland. Nach einer Volksabstimmung vom 11. Juli blieben die Bezirke Allenstein und Marienwerder überwiegend the Free State of Prussia. On 20 September came Eupen and Malmedy (near Aachen) to Belgium after registration had resulted in public lists of residents in an appropriate majority.
in 1921 created the Army. Upper Silesia was divided after a sometimes violent confrontations characterized referendum between Germany and Poland (1920-22). Began in 1922 Germany and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations in the Treaty of Rapallo.
In January 1923, French troops occupied the Ruhr to collect reparations pending. The national government supported the outbreak of the Ruhr struggle. In the following months there was a galloping inflation, which was completed in November by a currency reform.
Bayern became the melting pot right wing. In this climate, took the Hitler coup. Adolf Hitler was indeed arrested and convicted, but after a few months, then released.
began in 1924, a phase of relative stability. Despite all the conflicts, democracy seemed to be victorious. The reorganization of the currency and in the wake of the Dawes Plan loans granted ushered in the Roaring '20s.
In February 1925, died in the first Reich President Friedrich Ebert (SPD), as a successor was elected Paul von Hindenburg (field marshal during World War).
German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann and Aristide Briand tried together an approach to France and a revision of the Versailles Treaty, which was reflected in Locarno in 1925 and the admission of Germany into the League 1926th
The outbreak of the Great Depression of 1929 started the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic. 1932 exceeded the number of unemployed six million.
From 1930 Germany was ruled by presidential cabinets without support in parliament.
There was a radicalization of the political situation and street battles between the NSDAP and the KPD. 1931, joined right-wing forces together in the Harzburg Front, the Nazi Party was the 31st in the Reichstag elections Strongest in July 1932 Force. On 28 January 1933, said the Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher to resign.
National Socialism and World War II 1933-1945
On 30 January 1933 appointed Reich President Paul von Hindenburg Adolf Hitler as Chancellor: This marked the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the dictatorship of the Nazis, who had a variant of fascism. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag and called new elections. After the Reichstag fire on 28 February 1933 imposed restrictions on an emergency decree from President Hindenburg the fundamental rights. The Communist Party was banned and arrested many of its members. The so-called Enabling Act gave the government to full legislative powers. Then within a short time, the remaining Democratic parties were banned when they broke up up for it. The first concentration camp to the detention of political opponents of National Socialism, especially Communists and Social Democrats emerged.
In the months immediately switched the previous country, as the press and the unions. In April, began the boycott of Jewish businesses and the removal of Jewish officials from the civil service. In June / July, the Protestant churches were merged in an imperial church headed by a Reich Bishop. The "German Christians" encouraged "Jews" and gospel were "devoted to the leader." As a counter-movement was formed in September within the Protestant Church of the Pastors from which emerged in June 1934, the Confessing Church. In their evangelical Christians gathered, the efforts of the state of the Protestant Church and some to the Nazis rejected as such (including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller, Gustav Heinemann). With the Vatican, Germany signed a concordat, which secured the position of the Catholic bishops in Germany and in fact also a reluctance of the Catholic Church with criticism assured on National Socialism (with a number of exceptions, for example, Cardinal von Galen).
1934 was brought into line the judiciary. Due to political assassinations by the angeblichen Röhm-Putsch – so wird der Vorgänger im Amt als Reichskanzler Kurt von Schleicher mit seiner Frau ermordet – erstickte Hitler auch jede mögliche Opposition auch innerhalb der NSDAP und entmachtete die SA zugunsten der Wehrmacht. Er ließ sich außerdem nach Hindenburgs Tod am 2. August zum „Führer“, Reichskanzler und obersten Befehlshaber ernennen. Die Reichswehr wurde nun auf ihn persönlich vereidigt. Auch die Berufsbeamten mussten einen „Führereid“ ablegen, so dass regimekritische Akademiker ihre Ämter verloren.
In der folgenden Zeit wurde das gesamte gesellschaftliche Leben von NS-Organisationen wie Hitler-Jugend, Deutsche Arbeitsfront und KdF durchdrungen. Maßnahmen wie der Autobahnausbau, die teilweise schon von Vorgängerregierungen vorbereitet oder begonnen worden waren, beseitigten die Arbeitslosigkeit. Die Kriegsvorbereitung, für die der Autobahnbau keine Rolle spielte, sicherte danach den wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung; zu einer wesentlichen Steigerung des Lebensstandards kam es aber wegen der Priorität der Aufrüstung nicht.
1935 wurde das Saarland nach einer Volksabstimmung wieder ins Deutsche Reich integriert. Auf dem Reichsparteitag wurden die Nürnberger Rassengesetze beschlossen, die die Ausgrenzung und Isolierung der Juden begründeten.
1936 marschierte die Reichswehr in das entmilitarisierte Rheinland ein und brach damit den Versailler Vertrag. Im August fanden in Berlin host the Olympic Games, which Hitler used as a propaganda platform for the world public. A four-year plan of 1936, Germany should make ready for war at the latest 1940th The regime supported in 1936 with Mussolini's fascist Italy and militarily General Franco in English Civil War against the Republic there. For Hitler, the English Civil War offered the opportunity to test the operational capability of its military in the event of war.
procured in 1938, Hitler's annexation of Austria and the Munich Agreement, the connection of the Sudetenland to the German Reich. Subsequently closed Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. On 9 November staged the Nazis, the Night of Broken Glass, and put in many synagogues fire. Disguised as civilians SA and SS members abused and murdered many Jews under the noses of police, who mostly kept quiet.
In March 1939, Hitler's troops marched into the so-called rest of Czechoslovakia and Memel. Their attack on Poland on 1 September 1939 triggered then the Second World War. On 3 September initially declared Britain and France declared war on Germany. After the victory of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army across Poland's western part of the German General said, while the Soviet Union occupied the eastern part of the country. Thus Hitler and Stalin divided Poland as a result of its pact on each other.
Only months after the start of the war, on 8 November 1939 committed the lone Georg Elser, a bomb attempt on Hitler during a Nazi propaganda event in Munich Bürgerbräukeller, but it fell through because Hitler left a few minutes before the explosion, immediately after his speech the hall. Elser was taken a little later, interned, and just before the end of the war in April 1945, murdered in the Dachau concentration camp.
the "Blitzkrieg" was followed by rapid German occupation of Denmark, Norway, the Benelux countries and France 1940th Hitler's popularity in the German population majority was at its peak. The planned invasion of Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion) failed, however, because the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain despite intensive bombing of strategic targets (airfields, radar stations, air defense industry) could not achieve the complete air superiority over the UK and earn these essential as a prerequisite for successful invasion of the British Islands was considered.
1940/41 conquered the Wehrmacht with the armed forces of Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece together. Both countries have been divided among the allied dictatorships. Their conquest was followed from 1943 but a grueling guerrilla war. With the support of Italy sent Germany In January 1941 the Afrika Korps in the then Italian colony of Libya.
On 22 June, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The planned as a Blitzkrieg "Operation Barbarossa" broke the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS before and at Moscow and Leningrad. In the winter of 1941-42, the Commission came to a halt before Moscow.
On 11 December 1941, Germany declared the United States, the United Kingdom and, since July 1941, the USSR supplied with goods of war.
In the course of a new offensive in the East in the summer of 1942 broke the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS until the Don and the Caucasus. The Battle of Stalingrad in the winter 1942/1943 was one of the turning points of the war. By the end of 1943, the Soviet Union had conquered large areas. On 13 May 1943 had the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) to surrender in North Africa.
was now the Holocaust, the planned long in unprecedented genocide of the Jews in process. Since September 1941 had to wear the Jewish Star of David. After their disenfranchisement, dispossession, ghettos and mass executions of Jewish civilians in the occupied eastern territories of the leading National Socialists decided in January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference, the "Final Solution of the Jewish question". In extra built extermination camps ("Operation Reinhard") in occupied Eastern Europe such as Auschwitz, Treblinka or Majdanek, the murder of the Jews has now been operated industrially. Until Kriegsende wurden etwa 6 Millionen europäische Juden ermordet, von denen die Juden in Polen mit über 3 Millionen Opfern den größten Anteil stellten.
Sinti und Roma waren weitere Opfergruppen des gezielten Völkermords. Massenmorde wurden auch an anderen, in der nationalsozialistischen Ideologie als „Untermenschen“ eingestuften Völkern, insbesondere den Polen und Russen begangen.
Schon vor dem Völkermord an den Juden in seiner industrialisierten Form nach der Wannseekonferenz hatten die Nationalsozialisten bei der sogenannten Aktion T4 im Rahmen ihres „Euthanasieprogramms“, der „Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens“ die Methode der „Vergasung“ von größeren Groups of people in the years tested between 1939 and 1941. This "program" were about 100,000 mentally, psychologically and physically disabled people in several German institutions fell victim to disability. The courageous public use of the Catholic Bishop of Münster, Clemens August Graf von Galen against the killing of the disabled had finally led to the setting of the Nazi euthanasia program.
From 1939 (attack on Krefeld) of the Allied bombing of German cities began, by the approximately 760 000 civilians were killed. From late 1944, many fled from the German eastern territories of the German Reich from the advancing Red Army. 1944, these large parts of South East Europe . Conquer On 6 June began the invasion of the Western Allies in Normandy, after earlier after landing in Sicily from the south, conquered Italy and against Germany on the rise were. On 20 July failed an assassination and a coup attempt by military members and members of the resistance group of the Kreisau circle against Hitler.
in other sections of the population was stirring the resistance. Whereas in the years 1933/1934, nor activists of the banned KPD and SPD, which put leaflets characters, now young people and students opposed to the Nazi leadership and against the war. Many young people were weary of the uniformity and raised by stressed English dress, casual demeanor or Soviet resistance songs from the "adapted" and "conformist" from people. Thus arose such as "shuffling" the "proletarian mob", the "Pirates Kittelbach Gladbeck" and the famous group of "Edelweiss Pirates", which were opposed to the usual rigorous measures. In several cities there were youth concentration camp.
late 1944 and early 1945, the allies decided the division of Germany after the war. After the start of their winter offensive on 12 January 1945 the Red Army conquered East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia and brought many of the fleeing civilians one. In April the Soviet forces reached the capital and did the Battle of Berlin. Hitler killed himself on 30 April in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery, after he had determined in his will Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Next to Hitler killed himself in the episode, other leading officials, said Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler. On 7 Finally signed in May 1945 General Jodl - by Dönitz authorized to do so - the unconditional total surrender of the German Wehrmacht, which, ratified by signing a further capitulation, entered into force the following day.
The Second World War by Germany had unleashed in Europe, took in Southeast Asia, where the war in 1937 allied with Germany in the Anti-Comintern Pact Japan had been triggered, until 12 August 1945. He claimed a total of about 60 million deaths.
In the last months of the war and following the occupation of most of the remaining Germans driven mainly in the western expansion of Poland from Eastern and Central Europe, a total of more than 12 million people. As a result of the expulsions were about 2.1 million German driven to death and thousands murdered.
occupation 1945-1949
the historical consciousness of Europe and the world is the victory over Nazi Germany bis heute am 8./9. Mai als Tag der Befreiung gefeiert. In der deutschen Bevölkerung jener Zeit wurde diese Befreiung je nach politischem Standort allerdings differenzierter aufgefasst. Für die KZ-Häftlinge, Emigranten und politisch Verfolgten war es nach zwölf Jahren Tyrannei eine Befreiung im buchstäblichen Sinn des Wortes. Für die Alliierten, zumal in Deutschland, war die Befreiung Deutschlands zunächst eher ein Nebeneffekt. In der Direktive JCS 1067 vom April 1945 stellten sie fest: „Deutschland wird nicht besetzt zum Zwecke der Befreiung, sondern als besiegte Feindnation.”
Nach dem Einmarsch der Roten Armee kam es zu einer großen Zahl von Vergewaltigungen deutscher Frauen. Der angebliche Aufruf der sowjetischen Propaganda to rape German women, is already refuted a long time and is proven to be wrong (rumor of the Propaganda Ministry, November 1944). In the GDR, was the subject of mass rape by the Red Army, "a taboo.
The three powers, the U.S., UK and USSR met in July / August 1945 to the Potsdam Conference. There, they agreed on the principles of democratization, denazification, demilitarization, decentralization. The country was divided into four occupation zones. The German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line and the city of Szczecin were under Polish administration, made the northern East Prussia, under the administrative control of the Soviet Union; about them should only in the course of a peace treaty with Germany be finally settled. Alsace-Lorraine was restored to France. Austria was again cut off from Germany, that is, restore the international legal status before the annexation, and also for divided into four occupation zones.
For Germany, a joint management body, the Allied Control Council was formed, the four sectors of Berlin was a joint Government of all four forces, the Allied military command. The reconstruction and the formation of federal states and democratic parties began. In October 1945, the Nuremberg war crimes trials were initiated.
The occupation forces went their own ways in their zones, the western powers Britain, France and the United States worked together in the wake of the emerging East-West conflict, tends increasingly to the USSR.
1947 were some attempts to agreement on the future of all Germany, which failed, however, in front of the rigid East German Prime Minister, who demanded joint election first - but probably within the meaning of the SED. Henceforth, the Western powers have sought to build its own West German government in their zones.
In the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) of the then central Germany very soon the way for socialism made. SPD and KPD were forcibly united with the Socialist Unity Party and key posts filled with Communists. With the German Economic Commission in 1947 pre-state institution was created, which soon received powers to control the economy.
The British and U.S. zone in early 1947, joined the bizonal (the formal extension of this with the French to Trizone should then take place until April 1949). In 1947 the Marshall Plan to rebuild, the East had to refuse this aid to Soviet pressure, however. With the Economic Council of the United Economic Area is also a pre-state institution was created.
On 20 June 1948 was place in the Western zones at the instigation of the Western Allies a currency reform. It formed the basis for the subsequent economic miracle. In the Soviet zone in exchange for a separate currency was introduced. On 24 June introduced the Western powers in the West Mark West Berlin, the Soviets responded with the Berlin blockade. The western part of the city was almost a year by the United States and Britain supplied about the Berlin Airlift with the most necessary goods. The Soviets lifted the blockade in May 1949 again. Berlin remained the focus of the policy of the victorious powers.
On 20 March 1948 left the Soviet Union in protest against the six-power London Conference the Allies Kontrollrat. Am 1. Juli 1948 übergaben die Westmächte den Ministerpräsidenten der Westzonen die Frankfurter Dokumente, eine Aufforderung zur Bildung einer verfassunggebenden Versammlung. Auf der so genannten Rittersturz-Konferenz im Juli 1948 wurde die Gründung einer Bundesrepublik Deutschland beschlossen.
Auf dem Verfassungskonvent auf Herrenchiemsee beriet ein Sachverständigenausschuss für Verfassungsfragen die Grundlage für die Arbeit des Parlamentarischen Rates. Dieser trat am 1. September in Bonn zusammen und erarbeitete dort das Grundgesetz. Nachdem dieses von allen Ländern außer Bayern angenommen und von den Westmächten genehmigt wurde, wurde es am 23. Mai 1949 verkündet. Damit war die Bundesrepublik Deutschland founded.
end of May 1949, held in the Soviet zone, the third German People's Congress. The members elected the Second German People's Council as a permanent institution. The People's Congress adopted the constitution for a German Democratic Republic unanimously. On 7 October, the German Democratic Republic was founded. The German division that was a fact of history.
Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1990
On 14 August 1949 there were elections to the first German Bundestag, the CDU / CSU was the strongest party. Konrad Adenauer as chancellor in mid-September, Theodor Heuss elected president. In November, the Bonn Agreement was signed. On 16 January 1950 was food rationing abolished.
Other legacies from the era of National Socialism proved to be significantly lengthy (see past management).
The government forced the Adenauer's Western integration, the re-arming and creating favors, through the Marshall Plan of the United States, the policy framework for the economic miracle of the Federal Republic. She got the sole representative for Germany, and broke off relations with countries that recognized the GDR (see Hallstein doctrine). Nevertheless, in 1955, it signed a treaty with the Soviet Union to return home the last German prisoners of war could. Also in 1955, the Treaty entered into force in Germany, the the occupation statute ended - the Allies reserved the right but a conditional, which covered Germany as a whole and the status of Berlin and only with the "Two Plus Four Treaty" was repealed 1990th The
West Germany joined the NATO and the Bundeswehr was against the resistance of a burgeoning peace movement, "Without Me" movement was founded.
The Federal Republic in 1952 was co-founder of the Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the EC. In 1951, the rightwing SRP and 1956, the KPD, which had been a small group still represented in parliament until 1953, issued by the Federal Constitutional Court of party bans.
1957, the Saarland back part of the Federal Republic. In March, established the Treaty of Rome the EEC. In November 1959, the SPD turned to the Godesberg program from final of Marxism. In 1959, Heinrich Luebke successor as President, Theodor Heuss.
came Until the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 hundreds of thousands of refugees from East Germany to West Germany. During the construction and full employment during the so-called economic miracle more were guest workers, recruited mainly from southern Europe.
In October 1962, had to resign as part of the Spiegel affair, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss. In January 1963, the Elysee Treaty between Germany and France was signed, mit dem eine grundlegende Aussöhnungspolitik mit dem ehemals als historischen „Erzfeind“ Deutschlands bezeichneten Staat wurde. Am 15. Oktober trat Adenauer als Bundeskanzler zurück.
Nachfolger wurde der so genannte Vater des Wirtschaftswunders Ludwig Erhard. Er trat bereits Ende 1966 zurück. Nun bildete Kurt Georg Kiesinger eine Große Koalition aus CDU/CSU und SPD Willy Brandt als Bundesminister des Auswärtigen und Vizekanzler. Diese wurde nur als Übergangslösung verstanden, jedoch erzielten sie Erfolge in der Wirtschafts- und Innenpolitik.
1968 wurden die Notstandsgesetze beschlossen. Die unzureichende Verarbeitung der NS-Vergangenheit, der Bildungsnotstand, der Protest gegen den Vietnamkrieg, the hippie movement and perceived as outdated social order had brought the resistance of the young students with him. Through their influence on popular culture and changed political life in Western Germany significantly.
In March 1969, Gustav Heinemann was President. In September, after the election to a transfer of power. SPD and FDP were the social-liberal coalition under Chancellor Willy Brandt. This government ran a new Ostpolitik of rapprochement with the Soviet bloc during the prostration of Warsaw on 7 December 1970, an internationally acclaimed found symbolic expression. The Erfurt summit in March 1970 marked the beginning of rapprochement with the GDR. Brandt's Ostpolitik was primarily domestically initially criticized, so that the CDU tried 1972 been a constructive vote of no confidence after Members of SPD and FDP to the CDU / CSU changed and the coalition lost the majority in the Bundestag.
1970 joined the Federal Republic and Poland the Warsaw Treaty: In the areas east of the GDR, she rose now officially no more claims, saying they in fact to Poland, although this was only through the formal legal agreement of the Allies 1990th The GDR had already with the Görlitz Agreement 1950, the Oder-Neisse line recognized as a so-called "peace line".
The internal politics influenced the liberalization of the legal system, the expansion of social Net and reform of education. In the fall of 1973, the Federal Republic of Germany was hit by the oil crisis, the economic miracle was over. On 6 Brandt was back in May 1974 as part of the Guillaume affair. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was
, Walter Scheel, President. The eastern policy was continued, and finally came in 1975 by the CSCE to a progression of détente. Domestically
had to deal with the problem of the state of left-wing terrorism of the RAF. This reached the German Autumn of 1977 with the kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer, president employer at its height. But the growing environmental and peace movements were the key points of this period (see also New social movements). 1979 Karl Carstens President.
was due to growing tensions there in September 1982 for breach of the SPD-FDP coalition. On 1 Helmut Kohl was in October 1982 by a vote of no confidence chancellor. The new CDU / CSU-FDP government was confirmed by the Bundestag elections 1983rd The Greens moved in this election as a representative of the "new social movements" for the first time in the German Bundestag and obtained parliamentary weight after their trailers as an extra-parliamentary opposition for many years in different contexts had been active (see Women's Movement, New Left, anti-nuclear activists, K-groups Peace movement, etc.).
1984, Federal President Richard von Weizsacker. Launched in early 1984, commercial television in Germany, also in 1984 came to the Flick affair and the question of whether the Republic was bought. 1986 shattered the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Europe. In the same year the Single European Act was signed, which brought the first major reform of the EC, and an important step towards the European Union was. In September 1987, attended by Erich Honecker, the first time an East German state and party chief of the Federal Republic.
came after the peaceful revolution in East Germany and the approval of the victorious powers and the two German parliaments on the 3rd October 1990 reunion Germany.
German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990
In the newly created People's Parliament elected Wilhelm Pieck as president and Otto Grotewohl as prime minister. Until 1971, practiced general secretary of the SED, Walter Ulbricht made the decisive power in the German Democratic Republic. The capital was East Berlin.
In February 1950 the Ministry for State Security was (Stasi, "Stasi") was founded. In July, the Oder-Neisse line as Poland's western border was agreed upon. On 15 October saw the first People's Chamber elections. It was chosen over a single list, which according to official figures, 99.3 Percent of the votes. The choice of unit practice list was until 1989.
On 1 January 1951 began the first five-year plan. In the spring of 1952 was debated in Germany on the Stalin-Note, it was finally rejected by the West. Late April, formed the first state-owned enterprises (VEB) and the beginning of June, the first LPG.
decided in May 1953, the SED, an increase of labor standards. It was stirring resistance. The Politburo of the SED practiced self-criticism and announced a new course. On 17 June 1953 was a popular uprising that was crushed with the help of Soviet troops.
In the years 1949 to 1961 had left some three million people to East Germany. To prevent further bleeding, the GDR bolted on 13 August 1961, the border to Berlin (West) through the erection of the Berlin Wall from.
came in the early 1970s it to a rapprochement between East and West Germany, largely initiated by Chancellor Willy Brandt. The Erfurt in 1970 that began with the summit talks between the two countries led to the Basic Treaty in 1972. In May 1971 Walter Ulbricht was ousted, his successor as First Secretary of the SED, Erich Honecker.
The GDR and the Federal Republic, 1973 Member of the UN. In May 1974 the Permanent Representatives were built of the two German states in Bonn and East Berlin. As a result, the CSCE was established on 1 August 1975 from both countries signed the Helsinki Final Act.
in 1983, through the mediation of the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss, the GDR, a billion-dollar loan from the Federal Republic, which should ensure their stability. In September 1987 came the first state visit of Erich Honecker in the Federal Republic.
In summer and autumn of 1989, increasing numbers of people fled East Germany through Hungary, on 2 May his opened border with Austria. From 11 September GDR citizens were able to leave West German embassies in Eastern Europe.
The deteriorating economic situation and the dashed hopes of liberal changes führten im Rahmen der Friedensgebete der Evangelischen Kirche zu Protestdemonstrationen, die sich, vor allem in Leipzig, sehr schnell zu friedlichen Großdemonstrationen ausweiteten.
Am 18. Oktober trat Honecker zurück. Wenige Tage später folgte ihm die gesamte DDR-Regierung. Am 9. November wurde die Berliner Mauer geöffnet. Die friedlichen Proteste in Form der Montagsdemonstrationen durch die DDR-Bevölkerung führten schließlich zum Sturz des SED-Regimes.
Am 3. Oktober 1990 wurde, gemäß Einigungsvertrag, der Beitritt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik zum Geltungsbereich des Grundgesetzes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland nach Artikel 23 vollzogen.
Vereintes Deutschland seit 1990
took place after the reunification in December 1990 the first all-German Bundestag elections. Chancellor Helmut Kohl was re-elected and was re-1994th The convergence of the two parts of the country, converting the overdue reforms in many areas and the integration of European states are major themes in today's Germany.
The troops left the four-power largely the land, the remaining military units of the Western allies have no more jurisdiction and subject to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. Since the enactment of the Two-Plus-Four Treaty on 15 March 1991 Germany in international law in its "ancient rights and obligations" existing sovereign state. Nevertheless, these days not all the remains of the consequences of the war eliminated, although now obsolete: Articles 53 and 107 of the UN Charter (the so-called "UN-enemy states clause ') [3] without allowing resolutions of the Security Council sanctions against states that during the Second World War one of the signatories to the Charter were at war again and threaten the peace.
As part of the reunification of Germany is committed to disarmament in the future more than 370 000 soldiers. Territorial recognized the Federal Republic in November 1990 finally the Oder-Neisse line as internationally binding border with Poland (see Oder-Neisse line). Later (January 1997) was followed by declarations of reconciliation with the Czech Republic.
with a slim majority (338 to 320 votes), the Bundestag decided on 20 June 1991, Bonn as the seat of government to give up and move to the government and parliament to Berlin. In addition to the capital Berlin, the Federal City with the majority of Ministry staff and numerous federal institutions and constitutional bodies of four seats Service second political center of power in Germany. However, there are in other cities federal agencies. The new seat of the German Bundestag is an inherently renovated Reichstag building in Berlin, the first time in the 19 April 1999 a meeting took place. Earlier (until the 1970s, met) where the House and certain committees, including the federal president was elected there. Since September 1999, the federal government has settled permanently in Berlin.
In eastern Germany's infrastructure improved greatly and some regions have developed well. Nevertheless, the 1990s were characterized by a short boom of the reunification of economic stagnation, mass unemployment and of reforms. Several reforms of the federal government failed due to the red-green majority in the Bundesrat (the so-called "blockade"). Especially in the east, the economy has not developed as hoped, and foretold, and unemployment is significantly higher than in West. This also means that attract many young people in the West. There are increasingly right-wing tendencies. In the "Party of Democratic Socialism," and now renamed SED The Left is, in fact as strong with the SPD and CDU.
With the signing of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the European Community (EC) in the European Union (EU) has been transferred, the much greater powers. The contract also saw the introduction of a common currency (Euro) before and resulted in a change of the Basic Law, and also the goal of a united Europe was committed. Chancellor Kohl was also one of the EU's eastward enlargement. to disintegrate
When Yugoslavia began in 1991, Germany was one of the countries which the recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia strongly supported by the Western States. Direct participation in the Second Gulf War to liberate Kuwait rejected the Federal Government with a view of the historical load. Instead, Germany provided financial support to naval units and replaced the NATO partners in the Mediterranean. After the fighting an association of the Federal Navy helped with the clearing of mines in the Persian Gulf.
1994, Roman Herzog, the successor to Richard von Weizsäcker as President. It was founded in 1999 by Johannes Rau, and this succeeded in 2004 by Horst Köhler.
In recent years, repeated calls for a permanent German seat on the UN Security Council, according to what looks first critical abroad, and in the course of the deterioration of diplomatic relations with the United States was increasingly unrealistic. After unification, the Bundeswehr participated for the first time in out-of-area "missions.
was in the general elections 1998, the CDU / CSU-FDP coalition under carbon replaced by the Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder. Was also the cause of reforms. This was the first real voting out of a German Federal Government, previous change of power have always been a change of coalition partners. The new
Federal government of SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens went to reforms, but these were mostly mitigated to the extent that their effect is very controversial. After 2000 with the auction of UMTS licenses much money has been flushed into the state treasury, the debt increased in the following years, again due to an economic crisis.
The government also first approaches for landmark changes in welfare, pensions and health policy (see Agenda 2010) by. Means the revenue from the controversial eco-tax was able to reduce wage costs (pension contributions). In general, the subject of ecology more important, for example, with the beginning of the nuclear phase or legislative initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases. Within the limits already taken in the 1990 opening of the world market, the so-called globalization, especially larger companies shifted production capacity in lower cost countries, so there was the phenomenon of mass unemployment there. Other reforms the SPD-Green government were about the Civil Partnership Act, the new citizenship law or and Violence Protection Act. While Schröder was able to move for some Federal voting CDU-governed countries, through concessions to those of the Federal Government to a vote, failed other reform projects of red-green, like the Consumer Information Act, from the CDU / CSU majority in the Bundesrat.
On 1 January 2002, the euro became legal tender in Germany. By the Bundestag election in 2002, the coalition has been confirmed, if only the narrowest of margins. In August 2002, caused the flood of the century on the Elbe and Danube significant damage. In autumn 2004, the contract was signed establishing a Constitution for Europe and it was against the cross-party adopted the Hartz concept 1 January was implemented in 2005, large protests. The associated restructuring of unemployment and welfare benefits and the inclusion of welfare recipients in the unemployment statistics rose earlier this year, the number of officially unemployed to over five million.
Since the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on 11 September 2001 sees the Federal Republic of Germany to new domestic and foreign policy challenges. After the fight the U.S. and its allies against radical Islamists in Afghanistan in 2002 the Bundeswehr soldiers in Afghanistan are stationed.
Foreign Policy caused a sensation in Germany in 2003 during the Iraq war in which Germany did not participate in war operations. This led to conflicts, especially with the U.S., but to great sympathy of the German public to Schroeder, who was characterized as a peace chancellor.
Immediately after the Social Democrats lost state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia 2005 - which also led to a change of government in the Düsseldorf parliament and a shift of power in the Bundesrat in favor of the conservative-liberal opposition - was announced by former SPD chairman Franz Muentefering and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder surprisingly fresh elections in autumn 2005. Schroeder introduced, on 1 July. 2005 parliamentary vote of confidence with the goal to lose on purpose. Federal President Horst Köhler dissolved on the 21 July. 2005 the Bundestag, and so were new elections, which were not by the decision of the Constitutional Court on the question of confidence in 2005 found to be unconstitutional. [5] [6] [7] In the following Bundestagswahl erreichte die Regierungskoalition aus SPD und Bündnis 90/Die Grünen keine eigene parlamentarische Mehrheit mehr, es kam nach wochenlangen Koalitionsverhandlungen zur Bildung der zweiten Großen Koalition in der bundesdeutschen Geschichte aus CDU/CSU und SPD unter der Führung von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel.
Die Regierungskoalition sah sich angesichts schleppenden Wirtschaftswachstums und hoher Arbeitslosigkeit einem enormen politischen Erwartungsdruck ausgesetzt. Das Kalkül der Koalitionäre lag in der Hoffnung, eine breite parlamentarische Regierungsmehrheit im Deutschen Bundestag und Bundesrat könne bedeutende Reformvorhaben wie die Gesundheitsreform und die Föderalismusreform, die am 17. Dezember 2004 an Meinungsverschiedenheiten failure of educational skills, was implemented more easily.
Germany found since the EU enlargement in 2004, again in a greater united Europe. The attempt to give in to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, a European constitution, must be initially regarded as having failed. Subsequently controls the Treaty of Lisbon 2007, amending the Treaty on European Union experienced substantial changes in international law bases between the 27 current Member States again.
From 9 June to 9 July, the Federal Republic of hosting the soccer World Cup in 2006. Representatives from sport, politics and economy formulated in advance of the Great expectations of tournament competition and even criticized stressed the demand for a change of mentality in the way the Germans and a profile as a friendly host.
In 2008, Germany also came in the wake of a global economic crisis, which was mainly due to a too-friendly lending especially in real estate banking operations triggered. By the associated loss of confidence in the banking sector, bank lending to businesses has collapsed in many areas. The federal government is working to counter the crisis with a wide range of different measures. These measures range from nationalization the highly indebted Hypo Real Estate, called scrapping, granted a wide-guarantee program for banks and other companies to a very modest reduction in health insurance contributions to the community.
The efforts of the government by experts and given the federal election judged 2009 very different: One is general information about the additional government borrowing and a supposedly - still possible or not - there is room for tax cuts and broader civil relief between the parties vigorously argued. On the other hand, such as the environmental bonus, the effectiveness of measures discussed in detail. Other topics, such as in energy policy development is currently very controversial (keywords: solar energy program in the Saharan countries, life extensions of old nuclear power plants, technical progress in the storability of wind energy).
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