Overview of 500 Years of German History The German people, a language and ethnic group who have lived in Central Europe for at least 2,000 years, underwent several political changes in the last 500 years. They have been known as the Holy Roman Empire, the Confederation of the Rhine, the North German Confederation, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, East and West Germany, and today, the Federal Republic of Germany. Germany began to have the greatest impact on European affairs after its unification in 1871. Today it has the largest population of any country in the European Union and plays a key leadership role in the European community.
Holy Roman Empire
A loose confederation of over 300 German states, headed by an emperor who had varying degrees of authority
Golden Bull (1356) established a seven member electoral college that functioned as an administrative body and elected the emperor
In 1400s constant feuding between member states led to the creation of the Reichstag, a national assembly
Cities and territories were feudal and fractionalized
Reformation
Unlike France and England, late medieval Germany (HRE) lacked the political unity to limit influence and taxation by the Catholic church resentment by German princes and nobles
Luther’s attack on indulgences led to 95 Theses (1517)
Before Luther could be tried HRE emperor died (need for election)
Charles of Spain chosen by electors (1519 over Francis or France and Henry VIII of England had to grant concessions to electors weakening his authority and preventing action against Luther
Charles V was also distracted by wars with France and Ottoman Turks
Lutheran movement became increasingly political and spread throughout 1520s and 1530s
Peasant Revolt inspired by Protestant Reformation was condemned by Luther resulted in 70,000-100,000 peasant killed by German princes (1524-1525)
Peace of Augsburg (1555) – Cuius region, eius religio – ruler of the land determines religion of the land (Catholic or Lutheran – Calvinists left out)
Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
Last and most destructive of the religious wars
Germany divided religiously (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist) and politically
Separate tolls, tariffs, money, and trade regulations made travel and trade difficult
Germany’s central location meant their European neighbors pressed in on Germany for trade and land
Strife not only between Catholics and Lutherans, but also Lutherans and Calvinists (not recognized by Peace of Augsburg)
Catholic HRE emperor tried to assert control over Calvinist Bohemia (today Czech Republic)
The resulting war saw Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and France all send armies into Germany (war of politiques)
1/3 of German population killed, destruction of German countryside and cities (worst European catastrophe since Black Death)
Treaty of Westphalia
Reasserted the treaty of Augsburg, but included Calvinists
German princes given authority over their states
Perpetuated German Division and political weakness
Brandenburg-Prussia most powerful of the northern German states
France became Europe’s dominant power (Alsace-Lorraine went to France)
Prussia and the Hohenzollerns
Hohenzollern family ruled Brandenburg since 1417
Gradually the family added to their lands through marriage and inheritance so that by late 17th c. (1600s) they ruled the 2nd largest territory in HRE (Habsburgs the largest)
Prussia’s leader (Frederick William, the Great Elector) gave Junkers (nobles) power over their serfs in exchange for their obedience to Hohenzollerns
Eventually leader of Prussia given the title “King in Prussia”
Prussia’s army the 3rd or 4th largest in Europe (Prussia’s population only 13th) – dominated Prussian society
Frederick II (the Great), 1740-1786, Enlightened Absolutism
Protected religious freedom of Catholics and Jews in Protestant Prussia
Prussia divided Poland with Russia and Austria (1772-1795)
Napoleon and the End of the HRE
Napoleon conquered western Germany (1806) and organized it into the Confederation of the Rhine (dissolved the HRE)
Prussia responded by attacking France and was defeated
Prussia reduced to half it size
Beginning of German nationalism in resistance to Napoleon
German nationalists rallied to Prussia
Serfdom abolished, military reforms
Prussia joined with Austria, Russia, and Britain (Quadruple Alliance) in defeating Napoleon’s France (1815)
Romantic Movement and Liberal Nationalism
Romantic movement began in late 18th c., rejected many ideas of the Enlightenment (associated with France), reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature; often looked back to Medieval period
Often linked with Romanticism, nationalist movement developed in 19th c. Germany; opposed by Austria’s Metternich
Many German novelists focused on Medieval romances
Goeth greatest German writer, romantic who condemned Romanticism; wrote Faust
Herder rejected French Enlightenment influence, revived German folk culture
Brothers Grimm collected German fairy tales
Kant Prussian philosopher (not Romantic)
considered one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and the late Enlightenment
“Dare to think”
Believed people should act as if their decisions and choices would become the universal law for everyone (Categorical Imperative)
Hegel German historian
ideas develop in an evolutionary fashion (thesisantithesis = synthesis)
all period of history and all cultures important
Beethoven link between classical and romantic eras
Student nationalist movements (favored German unity; often anti-Semitic) suppressed by Carlsbad Decrees
1848 Revolutions
Began in France, liberal revolutions spread throughout Europe
Prussian revolution led to some reforms that were quickly lost
Frankfurt Parliament representatives from German states offered crown of united Germany to king of Prussia, who rejected it
Revolutions failed (many liberal Germans left for America)
Karl Marx, wrote Communist Manifesto, proletariat vs. bourgeoisie in inevitably violent revolutionary class struggle utopian state
Bismarck and a United Germany
Liberalism failed to unite Germany, some Germans turned to Conservatism
Combined German folklore, love of fatherland, often anti-Semitic
Extreme nationalism
Otto von Bismarck Prime minister of Kaiser William I of Prussia; Conservative, Junker, nationalist
Unified Germany by engineering wars w/Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870-71)
After war with Austria he created the North German Confederation
Franco-Prussia war (Bismarck manipulated France by altering telegrams) resulted in southern German states joining w/Prussia (North German Confederation)
France defeated; German Empire declared at Palace of Versailles (Germany annexed Alsace-Lorraine)
Bismarck’s Alliance System
After German unification goal was to avoid war, isolate France, keep Germany from being surrounded
At home Bismarck suppressed Social Democrats (socialists), undertook his own social welfare program (health insurance, accident insurance, old age/disability pensions)
Kaiser William II forced Bismarck to resign (1890)
Germany and Two World Wars
After Bismarck the alliance system fell apart
Kaiser William II more belligerent
Navel (Dreadnought) race with Britain
France and Russia signed alliance (Germany surrounded – two front war)
Crisis in Morocco pushed France and Britain together
German alliance with Austria
Assassination of Austrian Archduke, war in Balkans, and German “blank check” led to World War I (1914-1918)
War in the West a stalemate (trench warfare)
War in East victories over Russia
War ends before German army defeated and with population near revolt (there were several Communist revolutions in parts of Germany)
Munich Agreement Sudetenland, then Czechoslovakia taken over (1938)
Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939)
Invasion of Poland, start of World War II (1939-1945)
Use of blitzkrieg to conquer Poland, Netherlands, France (1940) (German takes back Alsace-Lorraine)
Holocaust
Battle of Britain Luftwaffe
Attack on Russia (1941)
Battle of Stalingrad the turning point of the war
Russian capture Berlin (1945)
Germany Divided and Reunited
After war Germany divided into communist East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and democratic West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) (France takes back Alsace-Lorraine)
Berlin also divided, Russian attempt to blockade (1948)
German economic miracle (Marshall Plan)
Berlin Wall (1961) “Ich bin ein Berliner”
West Germany part of NATO; East Germany part of Warsaw pact
Germany joins European Coal and Steel Community (1951)
Berlin Wall falls (1989); Germany reunited (1990)
Germany signs the Maastricht Treaty creating European Union with common currency (1993)
