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A history of

Germany

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Starters

1215, 1348, 1485, 1492, 1517,1555, 1588, 1805, 1815 - why arethese years important in Europeanhistory?

Write down some facts that youknow about the history of Germanyoutside the years 1900-1945

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Learning Objective

To understand a brief outline of thehistory of Germany and its relationswith Europe

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Key Terms

Nation: a group of people united by a shared language,

culture, history and ethnicity (often termed an ethnie)Nation-state: a political entity built around one nation (oftennot entirely homogenous) and a distinct historical term fromnation

Confederation: a group of entities (usually political) tiedtogether by loose bonds of association

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A pictorial history ofEurope in the last 1000

years

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Beginnings

Germany was known to the Romans as Germania. Itwas a land of various tribes known collectively asthe Goths. They were one of various powerfulEuropean tribes, the others being the Franks, theSaxons, the Lombards and the Huns. Each of thesetribes would eventually dominate large parts ofEurope. The key figure in this early medieval part ofEuropean history was Charlemagne king of theFranks.

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Charlemagne

Leader of the Franks

Conquered an empire coveringmuch of western and centraleurope

Crowned Emperor of theRomans in 800 by the Pope

Referred to as the Father ofEurope

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DevelopmentCharlemagnes empire was split between his sons and the easternpart eventually fell to the Saxons. In 962 Otto I (The Great) wascrowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope and the Empire was themost important power in Central Europe

However, it was not an Empire per se, it was more a looseconfederation of independent and semi-independent kingdoms,duchies, counties and smaller entities owing allegiance to theEmperor.

It grew to cover most of modern Germany, Switzerland, Austria,Poland, Hungary, The Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

The Emperor was (titularly at least) an elected leader chosen by theseven electors: The Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier, theelector of Saxony, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the King of

Bohemia and the Margrave of Brandenburg.

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Situation in 1519

The Holy Roman Empire reached the zenith of its power inthis period

Charles V was elected and would be the last emperor to becrowned by the Pope (1530)

Under this emperor, Germany became the powerhouse ofthe leading power in Europe

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Charles VBorn 1500 to Philip the Handsome andJoanna the Mad

Duke of Burgundy 1506 after his fathersdeath

King of Spain in 1516 after the death ofhis grandfather Ferdinand II

Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in

1519

Contemporary of Francis I of France andHenry VIII of England

Immensely rich and powerful, he was

undone by one event

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1517What happened?

This is the pivotal year in European History in the second Millennium

The Reformation split Europe (particularly the HRE) with a largelyProtestant North and West and a largely Catholic south

The Wars of Religion (particularly Frances campaigns against theHuguenots and the 30 Years war) would dominate Europe for the

next 150 yearsThe emperors swung between Catholic and Protestant with themajority being from the Hapsburg family of Austria (Catholic)

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Martin LutherUsually credited with starting the Reformation (hedid)

However, the time was right for reform and he wasbuilding on the work of John Wycliffe in England, JanHus in Bohemia and Desiderus Erasmus in theNetherlands

He was a German monk who had grave concernswith official church doctrines, particularly the ideasaround indulgences. He was a firm believer in thedoctrine of sola fide and the Priesthood of AllBelievers

His work led to a major split and a more radicalapproach to religion which would dominate Europefor the next 150 years (No Luther, no Calvin, noCalvin no wars of religion in France. No LutherHenrician Reformation in England, no HenricianReformation, no Protestant England etc)

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Situation in 1715By 1715, the two largest powers in Germany were

The house of Hapsburg in Austria and

The house of Hohenzollern in Prussia (Technically Brandenburg-Prussia)

Frederick William I of Prussia was leader of a poor and desperatelysick kingdom (1/3 of the population died in 1708) but he built up thecountry which he left to his son, Frederick II, The Great following

massive military and educational reformsPrussia was able to begin a series of defeats of Austria in the 1740sand by the end of the Eighteenth Century was the preeminent powerin Germany

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Situation in 1815

In 1806, the Austrians had abdicated the crown of the HRE

and it ceased to exist following defeats by Napoleon

Prussia suffered defeats by Napoleon too but as part of thefinal coalition, their troops were the decisive factor in theBattle of Waterloo, leaving France defeated and thePrussians as the dominant military force in continentalEurope

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Germany?Following the defeat of Napoleon, there was a conflict in Germanybetween Liberals and Conservatives. Prussia at this time was in theNorth German Confederation

Liberals wanted a united federal Germany with a democraticconstitution, the Conservatives wanted a looser confederation toremain with the different crowns

1848 saw a series of revolutions in Europe and the introduction of aPrussian constitution.

Three wars in the 1860s and 1870s brought about a unifiedGermany under Prussian leadership. The Second Schleswig War of1864 saw the removal of Denmark as a real obstacle (Prussia foughtwith Austria), the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 saw Austrian powerand influence diminished and the Franco-Prussian war of 1870prompted Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria to join the German

Empire, in 1871 Germany came into being

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