 |
| Berisha, German Citizents who was arive from Syria |
Unfinished journey (92a)
(Section ninety-two, Depok, West Java, Indonesia, 17
September 2014, 3:45 pm)
Germany is not alone now 40 countries participating in
the coalition to combat Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria / ISIS),
which led the United States, but also preoccupied with its citizens returning
from Syria after helping fight Islamic state.
Daulah Islamiyah Germany offered leniency
Berisha accused of receiving training and weapons of war
Daulah Islam (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/ISIS) last year.
A man who is on trial in Germany on charges of war to
militia Daulah Islamiyah in Syria offered a shorter prison sentence if
providing the information.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt signaled agreement granting full
information of Kreshnik Berisha, 20 years old, about the internal operation of
DI, formerly known as ISIS.
They have accused Berisha received training and weapons
from the war from DI last year.
He was arrested at Frankfurt airport last December on the
way home.
Court-the first in Germany on suspicion of membership of
an increase DI- done while the possible threat of jihadists who returned to
Europe.
"You are still a very young man, with no criminal
record which means," said Judge Thomas Sagebiel quoted as saying when the
trial began on Monday (September 15).
Berisha, who was born near Frankfurt from families who
came from Kosovo, punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years if it proves to be
a member of a foreign terrorist organization.
But it appears cue sentence can be reduced to between
three years and three months and four years and four months.
Lawyer Berisha, Gunal Mutlu, said his client would
provide answers to the offer on Friday, AFP news agency reported.
History of Germany
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of a series on the
History of Germany
Coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Germany since
1950
Early history[show]
Medieval Germany[show]
Early Modern period[show]
Unification[show]
German Reich[show]
Cold War era[show]
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v t e
The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central
Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the
unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from
Gaul (France), which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in
the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD) prevented annexation by the Roman
Empire. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other
West Germanic tribes. When the Frankish Empire was divided among Charlemagne's
heirs in 843, the eastern part became East Francia. In 962, Otto I became the
first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state.
In the High Middle Ages, the dukes and princes of the
empire gained power at the expense of the emperors. Martin Luther led the
Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church after 1517, as the northern
states became Protestant, while the southern states remained Catholic. The two
parts of the Holy Roman Empire clashed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648),
which was ruinous to the twenty million civilians. 1648 marked the effective
end of the Holy Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern nation-state
system, with Germany divided into numerous independent states, such as Prussia,
Bavaria and Saxony.
After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
(1803–1815), feudalism fell away and liberalism and nationalism clashed with
reaction. The 1848 March Revolution failed. The Industrial Revolution
modernized the German economy, led to the rapid growth of cities and to the
emergence of the Socialist movement in Germany. Prussia, with its capital
Berlin, grew in power. German universities became world-class centers for
science and the humanities, while music and the arts flourished. Unification
was achieved with the formation of the German Empire in 1871 under the
leadership of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The new Reichstag, an
elected parliament, had only a limited role in the imperial government.
By 1900, Germany's economy matched Britain's, allowing
colonial expansion and a naval race. Germany led the Central Powers in the
First World War (1914–1918) against France, Great Britain, Russia and (by 1917)
the United States. Defeated and partly occupied, Germany was forced to pay war
reparations by the Treaty of Versailles and was stripped of its colonies as
well as Polish areas and Alsace-Lorraine. The German Revolution of 1918–19
deposed the emperor and the kings, leading to the establishment of the Weimar
Republic, an unstable parliamentary democracy.
 |
| Angela Merkel, German President |
In the early 1930s, the worldwide Great Depression hit
Germany hard, as unemployment soared and people lost confidence in the
government. In 1933, the Nazis under Adolf Hitler came to power and established
a totalitarian regime. Political opponents were killed or imprisoned. Nazi
Germany's aggressive foreign policy took control of Austria and parts of
Czechoslovakia, and its invasion of Poland initiated the Second World War.
After forming a pact with the Soviet Union in 1939, Hitler and Stalin divided
Eastern Europe. After a "phoney war" in spring 1940 the German
blitzkrieg swept Scandinavia, the Low Countries and France, giving Germany
control of nearly all of Western Europe. Only Britain stood opposed. Hitler
invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. In Germany, but predominantly in the
German-occupied areas, the systematic genocide program known as The Holocaust
killed six million Jews, as well as five million Poles, Romanies, Russians,
Soviets (Russian and non-Russian), and others. In 1942, the German invasion of
the Soviet Union faltered, and after the United States had entered the war,
Britain became the base for massive Anglo-American bombings of German cities.
Germany fought the war on multiple fronts through 1942–1944, however following
the Allied invasion of Normandy (June 1944), the German army was pushed back on
all fronts until the final collapse in May 1945.
Under occupation by the Allies, German territories were
split off, denazification took place, and the Cold War resulted in the division
of the country into democratic West Germany and communist East Germany.
Millions of ethnic Germans fled from Communist areas into West Germany, which
experienced rapid economic expansion, and became the dominant economy in
Western Europe. West Germany was rearmed in the 1950s under the auspices of
NATO, but without access to nuclear weapons. The Franco-German friendship
became the basis for the political integration of Western Europe in the
European Union. In 1989, the Berlin Wall was destroyed, the Soviet Union
collapsed and East Germany was reunited with West Germany in 1990. In
1998–1999, Germany was one of the founding countries of the Eurozone. Germany
remains one of the economic powerhouses of Europe, contributing about one
quarter of the Eurozone's annual gross domestic product. In the early 2010s,
Germany played a critical role in trying to resolve the escalating Euro crisis,
especially regarding Greece and other Southern European nations.
For more events, see Timeline of German history
The Steinheim Skull is at least 250,000 years old
The discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible in 1907 shows that
ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago.[1] The
oldest complete hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world were
discovered in a coal mine in Schoningen, Germany in 1995 where three 380,000
year old wooden javelins 6-7.5 feet long were unearthed.[2] The Neander valley
in Germany was the location where the first ever non-modern human fossil was
discovered and recognised in 1856, the new species of human was named
Neanderthal man. The Neanderthal 1 fossils are now known to be 40,000 years
old. At a similar age evidence of modern humans has been found in caves in the
Swabian Jura near Ulm. The finds include 42,000 year old bird bone and mammoth
ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found,[3] the 40,000
year old Ice Age Lion Man which is the oldest uncontested figurative art ever
discovered,[4] and the 35,000 year old Venus of Hohle Fels which is the oldest
uncontested human figurative art ever discovered.[5]
Germanic tribes, 750 BC – 768 AD[edit]
Migration and conquest[edit]
Main articles: Germanic peoples and Germania
Expansion of the Germanic tribes 750 BC – 1 AD
The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to
have occurred during the Nordic Bronze Age, or at the latest during the
Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, the tribes
began expanding south, east and west in the 1st century BC, coming into contact
with the Celtic tribes of Gaul, as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes
in Central Europe.
Little is known about early Germanic history, except
through their recorded interactions with the Roman Empire, etymological
research and archaeological finds.[6]
Painting of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the great
Germanic victory in 9 AD
In the first years of the 1st century, Roman legions
conducted a long campaign in Germania, the area north of the Upper Danube and
east of the Rhine, in an attempt to expand the Empire's frontiers and shorten
its frontier line. They subdued several Germanic tribes, such as the Cherusci.
The tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining
their tribal identity. In 9 AD, a Cherusci chieftain named Arminius defeated a
Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a victory credited with
stopping the Roman advance into Germanic territories[7] and forming the birth
of German history.[8] Modern Germany, east of the Rhine, remained outside the
Roman Empire. By AD 100, the time of Tacitus's Germania, Germanic tribes
settled along the Roman frontier at the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes
Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany; however, Austria,
southern Bavaria, and the western Rhineland were Roman provinces.
The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large
West Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Franks, Bavarii, Chatti, Saxons, Frisii,
Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the
Limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.[9]
Seven large German-speaking tribes – the Visigoths,
Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians, Lombards, Saxons and Franks – moved west and
took part in the Decline of the Roman Empire and transformation of the old Western
Roman Empire.[10]
The unoccupied part of present Germany was invaded by the
Huns at the end of the 4th century and led to the beginning of the Migration
Period. Hunnic hegemony of Germany lasted until 469.
The Stem Duchies and Marches[edit]
Main article: Stem duchy
Stem Duchies (tribal duchies) in Germany were mainly the
areas of the old German tribes of the region, especially in the east.
In the 5th century, the Völkerwanderung (or Germanic
migrations) brought a number of Barbarian tribes into the failing Roman Empire.
Tribes that became stem duchies were originally the Alamanni, the Thuringii,
the Saxons, the Franks, the Burgundians, and the Rugii.[11] In contrast to
later duchies, these entities were not defined by strict administrative boundaries
but by the area of settlement of major Germanic tribes. Over the next few
centuries, some tribes warred, migrated, and merged. All these tribes in
Germania were eventually subjugated by the Franks.[12] However, remnants of
several stem duchies survive today as states or regions in modern Western
Europe countries: German states such as Bavaria and Saxony, German regions like
Swabia, and French régions such as of Burgundy, and Lorraine.[13]
Germans in the east also founded a series of border
counties or Marches. To the north, these included Lusatia, the North March that
would become Brandenburg and the heart of Prussia, and the Billung March. In
the south, the marches included Carniola, Styria, and the March of Austria that
would become Austria.[13]
Frankish Empire[edit]
Main article: Frankish Empire
Expansion of the Frankish Empire:
Blue = realm of Pippin III in 758,
Red = expansion under Charlemagne until 814,
Yellow = marches and dependencies
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks
created an empire under the Merovingian kings and subjugated the other Germanic
tribes. The Merovingian kings of the Germanic Franks conquered northern Gaul in
486 AD. Swabia became a duchy under the Frankish Empire in 496, following the
Battle of Tolbiac; in 530 Saxons and Franks destroyed the Kingdom of Thuringia.
In the 5th and 6th centuries the Merovingian kings conquered several other
Germanic tribes and kingdoms. King Chlothar I (558–561) ruled the greater part
of what is now Germany and made expeditions into Saxony, while the Southeast of
modern Germany was still under influence of the Ostrogoths. Saxons inhabited
the area down to the Unstrut River.[14]
Regions of the Frankish Empire were placed under the
control of autonomous dukes of mixed Frankish and native blood. Frankish
Colonists were encouraged to move to the newly conquered territories. While the
local Germanic tribes were allowed to preserve their laws, they were pressured
into becoming Christians.
The German territories became part of Austrasia (meaning
"eastern land"), the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the
Merovingian Franks. As a whole, Austrasia comprised parts of present day
France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. After the death of
the Frankish king Clovis I in 511, his four sons partitioned his kingdom
including Austrasia. Authority over Austrasia passed back and forth from
autonomy to kingly subjugation, as Frankish lands were alternately united and
subdivided by the Merovingian kings.
In 718, Charles Martel, the Franconian Mayor of the
Palace, made war against Saxony because of its help for the Neustrians. His son
Carloman started a new war against Saxony in 743, because the Saxons gave aid
to Duke Odilo of Bavaria.[15]
In 751, Pippin III, Mayor of the Palace under the
Merovingian king, himself assumed the title of king and was anointed by the
Church. Now the Frankish kings were set up as protectors of the pope, and
Charles the Great launched a decades-long military campaign against their
heathen rivals, the Saxons and the Avars. The campaigns and insurrections of
the Saxon Wars lasted from 772 to 804. The Saxons and Avars were eventually
overwhelmed, the people were forcibly converted to Christianity, and the lands
were annexed by the Carolingian Empire.[16]
Middle Ages[edit]
Further information: East Francia, Holy Roman Empire and
Kingdom of Germany
Charlemagne[edit]
The Holy Roman Empire at its greatest territorial extent
during Crusades.
The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. (left to
right: Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop of Mainz, Archbishop of Trier, Count
Palatine, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg and King of Bohemia)
Holy Roman Empire, 10th century
Marienburg (Malbork) castle of the Teutonic Knights
After the death of Frankish king Pepin the Short in 768
AD, his son Charles consolidated his control over his kingdom and became known
as "Charles the Great" or "Charlemagne." From 771 until his
death in 814, Charlemagne extended the Carolingian empire into northern Italy
and the territories of all west Germanic peoples, including the Saxons and the
Baiuvarii (Bavarians). In 800, Charlemagne's authority was confirmed by his
coronation as Holy Roman Emperor by the pope on Christmas Day in Rome. Imperial
strongholds (Kaiserpfalzen) became economic and cultural centres, of which
Aachen was the most famous.[17]
Fighting among Charlemagne's grandchildren caused the
Carolingian empire to be partitioned into several parts by the Treaty of Verdun
(843), the Treaty of Meerssen (870), and the Treaty of Ribemont. The German
region developed out of the East Frankish kingdom, East Francia. From 919 to
936, the Germanic peoples – Franks, Saxons, Swabians, and Bavarians – were
united under Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, who took the title of king.[18] For
the first time, the term "Kingdom (Empire) of the Germans" (Regnum
Teutonicorum) was applied to a Frankish kingdom, although Teutonicorum at its
founding originally meant something closer to "Realm of the Germanic
peoples" or "Germanic Realm" than "realm of the
Germans".[19]
Otto the Great[edit]
In 936, Otto I the Great was crowned as king at Aachen;
his coronation as emperor by the Pope at Rome in 962 inaugurated what became
later known as the Holy Roman Empire, which became to be identified with Germany.[18]
Otto strengthened the royal authority by re-asserting the old Carolingian
rights over ecclesiastical appointments.[20] Otto wrested from the nobles the
powers of appointment of the bishops and abbots, who controlled large land
holdings. Additionally, Otto revived the old Carolingian program of appointing
missionaries in the border lands. Otto continued to support celibacy for the
higher clergy, so ecclesiastical appointments never became hereditary. By
granting land to the abbotts and bishops he appointed, Otto actually made these
bishops into "princes of the Empire" (Reichsfürsten);[21] in this
way, Otto was able to establish a national church. Outside threats to the
kingdom were contained with the decisive defeat of the Hungarian Magyars at the
Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The Slavs between the Elbe and the Oder rivers were
also subjugated. Otto marched on Rome and drove John XII from the papal throne
and for years controlled the election of the pope, setting a firm precedent for
imperial control of the papacy for years to come.
During the reign of Conrad II's son, Henry III (1039 to
1056), the empire supported the Cluniac reforms of the Church – the Peace of
God, prohibition of simony (the purchase of clerical offices), and required
celibacy of priests. Imperial authority over the Pope reached its peak. In the
Investiture Controversy which began between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII over
appointments to ecclesiastical offices, the emperor was compelled to submit to
the Pope at Canossa in 1077, after having been excommunicated. In 1122 a
temporary reconciliation was reached between Henry V and the Pope with the
Concordat of Worms. The consequences of the investiture dispute were a
weakening of the Ottonian church (Reichskirche), and a strengthening of the
Imperial secular princes.[22]
The time between 1096 and 1291 was the age of the
crusades. Knightly religious orders were established, including the Knights
Templar, the Knights of St John (Knights Hospitaller), and the Teutonic
Order.[23]
The term sacrum imperium (Holy Empire) was first used
under Friedrich I, documented first in 1157.
Lübeck, 15th century
Hanseatic League[edit]
Main trading routes of the Hanseatic League
Long-distance trade in the Baltic intensified, as the
major trading towns became drawn together in the Hanseatic League, under the
leadership of Lübeck. The Hanseatic League was a business alliance of trading
cities and their guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern
Europe. Each of the Hanseatic cities had its own legal system and a degree of
political autonomy.[24] The chief cities were Cologne on the Rhine River,
Hamburg and Bremen on the North Sea, and Lübeck on the Baltic.[25] The League
flourished from 1200 to 1500, and continued with lesser importance after that.
Eastward expansion[edit]
Main article: Ostsiedlung
The German colonisation and the chartering of new towns
and villages began into largely Slav-inhabited territories east of the Elbe,
such as Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Livonia.[26] Beginning in 1226, the
Teutonic Knights began their conquest of Prussia. The native Baltic Prussians
were conquered and Christianized by the Knights with much warfare, and numerous
German towns were established along the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.[27]
Church and state[edit]
Friedrich Barbarossa was Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 to
1190.
Henry V (1086–1125), great-grandson of Conrad II, became
Holy Roman Emperor in 1106 in the midst of a civil war. Hoping to gain complete
control over the church inside the Empire, Henry V appointed Adalbert of
Saarbrücken as the powerful archbishop of Mainz in 1111. Adalbert began to
assert the powers of the Church against secular authorities, that is, the
Emperor. This precipitated the "Crisis of 1111", part of the long-term
Investiture Controversy.[28] In 1137 the magnates turned back to the
Hohenstaufen family for a candidate, Conrad III. Conrad III tried to divest
Henry the Proud of his two duchies – Bavaria and Saxony – leading to war in
southern Germany as the Empire divided into two factions. The first faction
called themselves the "Welfs" or "Guelphs" after Henry the
Proud's family, which was the ruling dynasty in Bavaria; the other faction was
known as the "Waiblings." In this early period, the Welfs generally
represented ecclesiastical independence under the papacy plus
"particularism" (a strengthening of the local duchies against the
central imperial authority). The Waiblings, on the other hand, stood for
control of the Church by a strong central Imperial government.[29]
Between 1152 and 1190, during the reign of Frederick I
(Barbarossa), of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, an accommodation was reached with
the rival Guelph party by the grant of the duchy of Bavaria to Henry the Lion,
duke of Saxony. Austria became a separate duchy by virtue of the Privilegium
Minus in 1156.[30] Barbarossa tried to reassert his control over Italy. In 1177
a final reconciliation was reached between the emperor and the Pope in Venice.
In 1180, Henry the Lion was outlawed; Saxony was divided,
and Bavaria was given to Otto of Wittelsbach. (Otto founded the Wittelsbach
dynasty, which was to rule Bavaria until 1918.)
From 1184 to 1186, the Hohenstaufen empire under
Frederick I Barbarossa reached its peak in the Reichsfest (imperial
celebrations) held at Mainz and the marriage of his son Henry in Milan to the
Norman princess Constance of Sicily. The power of the feudal lords was
undermined by the appointment of "ministerials" (unfree servants of
the Emperor) as officials. Chivalry and the court life flowered, leading to a
development of German culture and literature (see Wolfram von Eschenbach).
Between 1212 and 1250, Frederick II established a modern,
professionally administered state from his base in Sicily. He resumed the
conquest of Italy, leading to further conflict with the Papacy. In the Empire,
extensive sovereign powers were granted to ecclesiastical and secular princes,
leading to the rise of independent territorial states. The struggle with the
Pope sapped the Empire's strength, as Frederick II was excommunicated three
times. After his death, the Hohenstaufen dynasty fell, followed by an
interregnum during which there was no Emperor.[31]
The failure of negotiations between Emperor Louis IV and
the papacy led in 1338 to the declaration at Rhense by six electors to the
effect that election by all or the majority of the electors automatically
conferred the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation.
As result, the monarch was no longer subject to papal approbation and became
increasingly dependent on the favour of the electors. Between 1346 and 1378
Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia, sought to restore the
imperial authority. The Golden Bull of 1356 stipulated that in future the
emperor was to be chosen by four secular electors and three spiritual electors.
The secular electors were the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine,
the Duke of Saxony, and the Margrave of Brandenburg; the three spiritual
electors were the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne.
Around the middle of the 14th century, the Black Death
ravaged Germany and Europe (from the Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut).
Around 1350 Germany and almost the whole of Europe were
ravaged by the Black Death. Jews were persecuted on religious and economic
grounds; many fled to Poland. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60
percent of Europe's population[32][3] in the 14th century.
Change and reform[edit]
After the disasters of the 14th century – war, plague,
and schism – early-modern European society gradually came into being as a
result of economic, religious, and political changes. A money economy arose
which provoked social discontent among knights and peasants. Gradually, a
proto-capitalistic system evolved out of feudalism. The Fugger family gained
prominence through commercial and financial activities and became financiers to
both ecclesiastical and secular rulers. The knightly classes found their
monopoly on arms and military skill undermined by the introduction of mercenary
armies and foot soldiers. Predatory activity by "robber knights"
became common.
From 1438 the Habsburgs, who controlled most of the
southeast of the Empire (more or less modern-day Austria and Slovenia, and
Bohemia and Moravia after the death of King Louis II in 1526), maintained a
constant grip on the position of the Holy Roman Emperor until 1806 (with the
exception of the years between 1742 and 1745). This situation, however, gave
rise to increased disunity among the Holy Roman Empire's territorial rulers and
prevented sections of the country from coming together to form nations in the
manner of France and England.
During his reign from 1493 to 1519, Maximilian I tried to
reform the Empire. An Imperial supreme court (Reichskammergericht) was
established, imperial taxes were levied, and the power of the Imperial Diet
(Reichstag) was increased. The reforms, however, were frustrated by the
continued territorial fragmentation of the Empire.
Towns and cities[edit]
The German lands had a population of about 5 or 6 million.
The great majority were farmers, typically in a state of serfdom under the
control of nobles and monasteries.[29] A few towns were starting to emerge.
From 1100, new towns were founded around imperial strongholds, castles,
bishops' palaces, and monasteries. The towns began to establish municipal
rights and liberties (see German town law). Several cities such as Cologne
became Imperial Free Cities, which did not depend on princes or bishops, but
were immediately subject to the Emperor.[33] The towns were ruled by
patricians: merchants carrying on long-distance trade. Craftsmen formed guilds,
governed by strict rules, which sought to obtain control of the towns; a few
were open to women. Society was divided into sharply demarcated classes: the
clergy, physicians, merchants, various guilds of artisans, and peasants; full
citizenship was not available to paupers. Political tensions arose from issues
of taxation, public spending, regulation of business, and market supervision,
as well as the limits of corporate autonomy.[34]
Cologne around 1411
Cologne's central location on the Rhine river placed it
at the intersection of the major trade routes between east and west and was the
basis of Cologne's growth.[35] The economic structures of medieval and early
modern Cologne were characterized by the city's status as a major harbor and
transport hub upon the Rhine. It was the seat of the archbishops, who ruled the
surrounding area and (from 1248 to 1880) built the great Cologne Cathedral,
with sacred relics that made it a destination for many worshippers. By 1288 the
city had secured its independence from the archbishop (who relocated to Bonn),
and was ruled by its burghers.[36]
Science and culture[edit]
In the 12th century, German Benedictine abbess Hildegard
von Bingen (1098–1179) wrote several influential theological, botanical, and
medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the
oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature
Illuminations. About 100 years later, Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 - c.
1230) became the most celebrated of the Middle High German lyric poets.
Around 1439, Johannes Gutenberg, a citizen of Mainz, was
the first European to use movable type printing and became the global inventor
of the printing press, thereby starting the Printing Revolution. Gutenberg's
inventions and works (such as the Gutenberg Bible) would play key roles for the
development of the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution.
Around the transition from the 15th to the 16th century,
Albrecht Dürer from Nuremberg established his reputation across Europe as
painter, printmaker, mathematician, engraver, and theorist when he was still in
his twenties and secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of
the Northern Renaissance.
The addition Nationis Germanicæ (of German Nation) to the
emperor's title appeared first in the 15th century: in a 1486 law decreed by
Frederick III and in 1512 in reference to the Imperial Diet in Cologne by
Maximilian I. By then, the emperors had lost their influence in Italy and
Burgundy. In 1525, the Heilbronn reform plan – the most advanced document of
the German Peasants' War (Deutscher Bauernkrieg) – referred to the Reich as von
Teutscher Nation (of German nation).
Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)
Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–1230)
Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1398–1468)
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Early modern Germany[edit]
Flag of the Holy Roman Empire, 15th to 19th centuries
Main articles: Early Modern history of Germany and 18th
century history of Germany
The Holy Roman Empire, 1512
See List of states in the Holy Roman Empire for
subdivisions and the political structure
Reformation[edit]
Martin Luther (1483–1546)
In the early 16th century there was much discontent
occasioned by abuses such as indulgences in the Catholic Church, and a general
desire for reform.
In 1517 the Reformation began with the publication of
Martin Luther's 95 Theses; he posted them in the town square and gave copies of
them to German nobles, but it is debated whether he nailed them to the church
door in Wittenberg as is commonly said. The list detailed 95 assertions Luther
believed to show corruption and misguidance within the Catholic Church. One
often cited example, though perhaps not Luther's chief concern, is a
condemnation of the selling of indulgences; another prominent point within the
95 Theses is Luther's disagreement both with the way in which the higher
clergy, especially the pope, used and abused power, and with the very idea of the
pope.
 |
| German Map |
In 1521 Luther was outlawed at the Diet of Worms. But the
Reformation spread rapidly, helped by the Emperor Charles V's wars with France
and the Turks. Hiding in the Wartburg Castle, Luther translated the Bible from
Latin to German, establishing the basis of the German language. A curious fact
is that Luther spoke a dialect which had minor importance in the German
language of that time. After the publication of his Bible, his dialect
suppressed the others and evolved into what is now the modern German.
In 1524 the German Peasants' War broke out in Swabia,
Franconia and Thuringia against ruling princes and lords, following the
preachings of Reformist priests. But the revolts, which were assisted by
war-experienced noblemen like Götz von Berlichingen and Florian Geyer (in
Franconia), and by the theologian Thomas Münzer (in Thuringia), were soon
repressed by the territorial princes. It is estimated that as many as 100,000
German peasants were massacred during the revolt,[37] usually after the battles
had ended.[38] With the protestation of the Lutheran princes at the Imperial
Diet of Speyer (1529) and rejection of the Lutheran "Augsburg
Confession" at Augsburg (1530), a separate Lutheran church emerged.
From 1545 the Counter-Reformation began in Germany. The
main force was provided by the Jesuit order, founded by the Spaniard Ignatius
of Loyola. Central and northeastern Germany were by this time almost wholly
Protestant, whereas western and southern Germany remained predominantly
Catholic. In 1547, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V defeated the Schmalkaldic
League, an alliance of Protestant rulers.
The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 brought recognition of the
Lutheran faith. But the treaty also stipulated that the religion of a state was
to be that of its ruler (Cuius regio, eius religio).
In 1556 Charles V abdicated. The Habsburg Empire was
divided, as Spain was separated from the Imperial possessions.
In 1608/1609 the Protestant Union and the Catholic League
were formed.
Thirty Years War[edit]
Reduction of the population of the Holy Roman Empire as a
consequence of the Thirty Years War
From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty Years' War ravaged in the
Holy Roman Empire. The causes were the conflicts between Catholics and
Protestants, the efforts by the various states within the Empire to increase
their power and the Catholic Emperor's attempt to achieve the religious and
political unity of the Empire. The immediate occasion for the war was the
uprising of the Protestant nobility of Bohemia against the emperor, but the conflict
was widened into a European War by the intervention of King Christian IV of
Denmark (1625–29), Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1630–48) and France under
Cardinal Richelieu. Germany became the main theatre of war and the scene of the
final conflict between France and the Habsburgs for predominance in Europe.[39]
The fighting often was out of control, with marauding
bands of hundreds or thousands of starving soldiers spreading plague, plunder,
and murder. The armies that were under control moved back and forth across the
countryside year after year, levying heavy taxes on cities, and seizing the
animals and food stocks of the peasants without payment. The enormous social
disruption over three decades caused a dramatic decline in population because
of killings, disease, crop failures, declining birth rates and random
destruction, and the out-migration of terrified people. One estimate shows a
38% drop from 16 million people in 1618 to 10 million by 1650, while another
shows "only" a 20% drop from 20 million to 16 million. The Altmark
and Württemberg regions were especially hard hit. It took generations for
Germany to fully recover.[40]
The war ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia.
Alsace was permanently lost to France, Pomerania was temporarily lost to
Sweden, and the Netherlands officially left the Empire. Imperial power declined
further as the states' rights were increased.
Culture and literacy[edit]
The German population reached about twenty million
people, the great majority of whom were peasant farmers.[41]
Bible translated into Modern High German by Luther, 1534
The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new
printing press. Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive
moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and
distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward religious
pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. By 1530 over 10,000 publications
are known, with a total of ten million copies. The Reformation was thus a media
revolution. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a
"good" against "bad" church. From there, it became clear
that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular
agendas. Reform writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes
and changed items as needed for their own purposes.[42] Especially effective
were Luther's Small Catechism, for use of parents teaching their children, and
Larger Catechism, for pastors.[43] Using the German vernacular they expressed
the Apostles' Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language.
Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized
Luther's ideas. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), the great painter
patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and
illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's
views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining
mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of
visual imagery.[44]
Luther's German translation of the Bible was also
decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German
to Modern Standard. His bible promoted the development of non-local forms of
language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own
area.
Science[edit]
Decisive scientific developments took place during the
16th and 17th centuries, especially in the fields of astronomy, mathematics and
physics. In 1543, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus from Toruń (Thorn) published
his work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and became the first person to
formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from
the center of the universe. Almost 70 years after Copernicus's death and building
on his theories, astronomer Johannes Kepler from Stuttgart was a leader in the
17th-century scientific revolution. He is best known for his laws of planetary
motion. His works Astronomia nova and Harmonices Mundi were further codified by
later astronomers. These works also influenced contemporary Italian scientist
Galileo Galilei and provided one of the foundations for Englishman Isaac
Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)
1648–1815[edit]
After 1763, Prussia became a European great power. The
rivalry between Prussia and Austria for the leadership of Germany began
From 1640, Brandenburg-Prussia had started to rise under
the Great Elector, Frederick William. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648
strengthened it even further, through the acquisition of East Pomerania. From
1713 to 1740, King Frederick William I, also known as the "Soldier
King", established a highly centralized, militarized state with a heavily
rural population of about three million (compared to the nine million in
Austria).
In terms of the boundaries of 1914, Germany in 1700 had a
population of 16 million, increasing slightly to 17 million by 1750, and
growing more rapidly to 24 million by 1800. Wars continued, but they were no
longer so devastating to the civilian population; famines and major epidemics
did not occur, but increased agricultural productivity led to a higher birth
rate, and a lower death rate.[45]
Wars[edit]
Louis XIV of France conquered parts of Alsace and
Lorraine (1678–1681), and had invaded and devastated the Electorate of the
Palatinate (1688–1697) in the War of Palatinian Succession. Louis XIV benefited
from the Empire's problems with the Turks, which were menacing Austria. Louis
XIV ultimately had to relinquish the Electorate of the Palatinate.
Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia reigned 1740-1786)
Afterwards Hungary was reconquered from the Turks;
Austria, under the Habsburgs, developed into a great power.
Frederick II "the Great" is best known for his
military genius, his reorganization of Prussian armies, his battlefield
successes, his enlightened rule, and especially his making Prussia one of the
great powers, as well as escaping from almost certain national disaster at the
last minute. He was especially a role model for an aggressive expanding Germany
down to 1945, and even today retains his heroic image in Germany.[46][47]
In the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) Maria
Theresa fought successfully for recognition of her succession to the throne.
But in the Silesian Wars and in the Seven Years' War she had to cede 95 percent
of Silesia to Frederick the Great. After the Peace of Hubertsburg in 1763
between Austria, Prussia and Saxony, Prussia won recognition as a great power,
thus launching a century-long rivalry with Austria for the leadership of the
German peoples.
From 1763, against resistance from the nobility and
citizenry, an "enlightened absolutism" was established in Prussia and
Austria, according to which the ruler governed according to the best precepts
of the philosophers. The economies developed and legal reforms were undertaken,
including the abolition of torture and the improvement in the status of Jews.
Emancipation of the peasants slowly began. Compulsory education was instituted.
In 1772–1795 Prussia took the lead in the partitions of
Poland, with Austria and Russia splitting the rest. Prussia occupied the
western territories of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that
surrounded existing Prussian holdings. This occupation led over a century of
Polish resistance until Poland again became independent in 1918.[48]
Smaller states[edit]
Completely overshadowed by Prussia and Austria, the
smaller German states were generally characterized by political lethargy and
administrative inefficiency, often compounded by rulers who were more concerned
with their mistresses and their hunting dogs than with the affairs of state.
Bavaria was especially unfortunate in this regard; it was a rural land with
very heavy debts and few growth centers. Saxony was in economically good shape,
although its government was seriously mismanaged, and numerous wars had taken
their toll. During the time when Prussia rose rapidly within Germany, Saxony
was distracted by foreign affairs. The house of Wettin concentrated on
acquiring and then holding on to the Polish throne which was ultimately
unsuccessful. In Württemberg the duke lavished funds on palaces, mistresses,
great celebration, and hunting expeditions. Many of the city-states of Germany
were run by bishops, who in reality were from powerful noble families and
showed scant interest in religion. None developed a significant reputation for
good government.[49]
Ludwigsburg Palace in Württemberg
In Hesse-Kassel, the Landgrave Frederick II, ruled
1760–1785 as an enlightened despot, and raised money by renting soldiers
(called "Hessians") to Great Britain to help fight the American
Revolutionary War. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values,
cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic
approach toward diplomacy.[50]
Hanover did not have to support a lavish court—its rulers
were also kings of England and resided in London. George III, elector (ruler)
from 1760 to 1820, never once visited Hanover. The local nobility who ran the
country opened the University of Göttingen in 1737; it soon became a
world-class intellectual center.
Karl Friedrich ruled Baden 1738–1811
Baden sported perhaps the best government of the smaller
states. Karl Friedrich ruled well for 73 years (1738–1811) and was an
enthusiast for The Enlightenment; he abolished serfdom in 1783.
The smaller states failed to form coalitions with each
other, and were eventually overwhelmed by Prussia.[49] Between 1807 and 1871,
Prussia swallowed up many of the smaller states, with minimal protest, then
went on to found the German Empire. In the process, Prussia became too
heterogeneous, lost its identity, and by the 1930s had become an administrative
shell of little importance.
Nobility[edit]
In a heavily agrarian society, land ownership played a
central role. Germany's nobles, especially those in the East – called Junkers –
dominated not only the localities, but also the Prussian court, and especially
the Prussian army. Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government
based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control
over the peasantry had been almost absolute. To help the nobility avoid
indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in
1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849. When the German Empire
was established in 1871, the Junker nobility controlled the army and the Navy,
the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental
policies.[51]
Peasants and rural life[edit]
"Peasants in a Tavern" by Adriaen van Ostade
(c. 1635), at the Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Peasants continued to center their lives in the village,
where they were members of a corporate body and help manage the community
resources and monitor the community life. In the East, they were serfs who were
bound permanently to parcels of land. In most of Germany, farming was handled
by tenant farmers who paid rents and obligatory services to the landlord, who
was typically a nobleman. Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and
grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village
court which handled minor offenses. Inside the family the patriarch made all
the decisions, and tried to arrange advantageous marriages for his children. Much
of the villages' communal life centered around church services and holy days.
In Prussia, the peasants drew lots to choose conscripts required by the army.
The noblemen handled external relationships and politics for the villages under
their control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or
decisions.[52][53]
The emancipation of the serfs came in 1770–1830,
beginning with Schleswig in 1780. The peasants were now ex-serfs and could own
their land, buy and sell it, and move about freely. The nobles approved for now
they could buy land owned by the peasants. The chief reformer was Baron vom
Stein (1757–1831), who was influenced by The Enlightenment, especially the free
market ideas of Adam Smith.[54] The end of serfdom raised the personal legal
status of the peasantry. A bank was set up so that landowners could borrow
government money to buy land from peasants (the peasants were not allowed to
use it to borrow money to buy land until 1850). The result was that the large
landowners obtained larger estates, and many peasants became landless tenants,
or moved to the cities or to America. The other German states imitated Prussia
after 1815. In sharp contrast to the violence that characterized land reform in
the French Revolution, Germany handled it peacefully. In Schleswig the
peasants, who had been influenced by the Enlightenment, played an active role;
elsewhere they were largely passive. Indeed, for most peasants, customs and
traditions continued largely unchanged, including the old habits of deference
to the nobles whose legal authority remains quite strong over the villagers.
Although the peasants were no longer tied to the same land like serfs had been,
the old paternalistic relationship in East Prussia lasted into the 20th
century.[52]
The agrarian reforms in northwestern Germany in the era
1770–1870 were driven by progressive governments and local elites. They
abolished feudal obligations and divided collectively owned common land into
private parcels and thus created a more efficient market-oriented rural
economy. It produced increased productivity and population growth. It
strengthened the traditional social order because wealthy peasants obtained
most of the former common land, while the rural proletariat was left without
land; many left for the cities or America. Meanwhile the division of the common
land served as a buffer preserving social peace between nobles and
peasants.[55] In the east the serfs were emancipated but the Junker class
maintained its large estates and monopolized political power.[56]
Around 1800 the Catholic monasteries, which had large
land holdings, were nationalized and sold off by the government. In Bavaria
they had controlled 56% of the land.[57]
Enlightenment[edit]
Weimar’s Courtyard of the Muses, a tribute to The
Enlightenment and the Weimar Classicism depicting German poets Schiller,
Wieland, Herder and Goethe.
Before 1750 the German upper classes looked to France for
intellectual, cultural and architectural leadership; French was the language of
high society. By the mid-18th century the "Aufklärung" (The
Enlightenment) had transformed German high culture in music, philosophy,
science and literature. Christian Wolff (1679–1754) was the pioneer as a writer
who expounded the Enlightenment to German readers; he legitimized German as a
philosophic language.[58]
Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803) broke new ground
in philosophy and poetry, as a leader of the Sturm und Drang movement of
proto-Romanticism. Weimar Classicism ("Weimarer Klassik") was a
cultural and literary movement based in Weimar that sought to establish a new
humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical, and Enlightenment ideas. The
movement, from 1772 until 1805, involved Herder as well as polymath Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), a poet and
historian. Herder argued that every folk had its own particular identity, which
was expressed in its language and culture. This legitimized the promotion of
German language and culture and helped shape the development of German
nationalism. Schiller's plays expressed the restless spirit of his generation,
depicting the hero's struggle against social pressures and the force of
destiny.[59]
German music, sponsored by the upper classes, came of age
under composers Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Joseph Haydn (1732–1809),
and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791).[60]
In remote Königsberg philosopher Immanuel Kant
(1724–1804) tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual
freedom, and political authority. Kant's work contained basic tensions that
would continue to shape German thought – and indeed all of European philosophy
– well into the 20th century.[61]
The German Enlightenment won the support of princes,
aristocrats, and the middle classes, and it permanently reshaped the
culture.[62]
French Revolution 1789–1815[edit]
The Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation of client
states of the First French Empire, existed from 1806 to 1813.
German reaction to the French Revolution was mixed at
first. German intellectuals celebrated the outbreak, hoping to see the triumph
of Reason and The Enlightenment. The royal courts in Vienna and Berlin
denounced the overthrow of the king and the threatened spread of notions of
liberty, equality, and fraternity. By 1793, the execution of the French king
and the onset of the Terror disillusioned the Bildungsbürgertum (educated
middle classes). Reformers said the solution was to have faith in the ability
of Germans to reform their laws and institutions in peaceful fashion.[63]
Europe was racked by two decades of war revolving around
France's efforts to spread its revolutionary ideals, and the opposition of
reactionary royalty. War broke out in 1792 as Austria and Prussia invaded
France, but were defeated at the Battle of Valmy (1792). The German lands saw
armies marching back and forth, bringing devastation (albeit on a far lower
scale than the Thirty Years' War, almost two centuries before), but also
bringing new ideas of liberty and civil rights for the people. Prussia and
Austria ended their failed wars with France but (with Russia) partitioned
Poland among themselves in 1793 and 1795. The French took control of the
Rhineland, imposed French-style reforms, abolished feudalism, established
constitutions, promoted freedom of religion, emancipated Jews, opened the
bureaucracy to ordinary citizens of talent, and forced the nobility to share
power with the rising middle class. Napoleon created the Kingdom of Westphalia
(1807–1813) as a model state.[64] These reforms proved largely permanent and
modernized the western parts of Germany. When the French tried to impose the
French language, German opposition grew in intensity. A Second Coalition of
Britain, Russia, and Austria then attacked France but failed. Napoleon
established direct or indirect control over most of western Europe, including
the German states apart from Prussia and Austria. The old Holy Roman Empire was
little more than a farce; Napoleon simply abolished it in 1806 while forming
new countries under his control. In Germany Napoleon set up the
"Confederation of the Rhine," comprising most of the German states
except Prussia and Austria.[65]
Prussia tried to remain neutral while imposing tight
controls on dissent, but with German nationalism sharply on the rise, the small
nation blundered by going to war with Napoleon in 1806. Its economy was weak,
its leadership poor, and the once mighty Prussian army was a hollow shell.
Napoleon easily crushed it at the Battle of Jena (1806). Napoleon occupied
Berlin, and Prussia paid dearly. Prussia lost its recently acquired territories
in western Germany, its army was reduced to 42,000 men, no trade with Britain
was allowed, and Berlin had to pay Paris heavy reparations and fund the French
army of occupation. Saxony changed sides to support Napoleon and join his
Confederation of the Rhine; its elector was rewarded with the title of king and
given a slice of Poland taken from Prussia.
After Napoleon's fiasco in Russia in 1812, including the
deaths of many Germans in his invasion army, Prussia joined with Russia. Major
battles followed in quick order, and when Austria switched sides to oppose
Napoleon his situation grew tenuous. He was defeated in a great Battle of
Leipzig in late 1813, and Napoleon's empire started to collapse. One after
another the German states switched to oppose Napoleon, but he rejected peace
terms. Allied armies invaded France in early 1814, Paris fell, and in April
Napoleon surrendered. He returned for 100 days in 1815, but was finally
defeated by the British and German armies at Waterloo. Prussia was the big
winner at the Vienna peace conference, gaining extensive territory.[45]
German Confederation[edit]
Main article: German Confederation
See also: Unification of Germany
The German Confederation 1815–1866. Prussia (in blue)
considerably expanded its territory.
The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund) was the
loose association of 39 states created in 1815 to coordinate the economies of
separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful
states of Austria and Prussia. Britain approved of it because London felt that
there was need for a stable, peaceful power in central Europe that could
discourage aggressive moves by France or Russia. According to Lee (1985), most
historians have judged the Confederation to be weak and ineffective, as well as
an obstacle to German nationalist aspirations. It collapsed because of the
rivalry between Prussia and Austria (known as German dualism), warfare, the
1848 revolution, and the inability of the multiple members to compromise.[66]
It was replaced by the North German Confederation in 1866.
Society and economy[edit]
Population[edit]
The population of the German Confederation (excluding
Austria) grew 60% from 1815 to 1865, from 21,000,000 to 34,000,000.[57] The era
saw the Demographic Transition take place in Germany. It was a transition from
high birth rates and high death rates to low birth and death rates as the
country developed from a pre-industrial to a modernized agriculture and
supported a fast-growing industrialized urban economic system. In previous
centuries, the shortage of land meant that not everyone could marry, and
marriages took place after age 25. After 1815, increased agricultural
productivity meant a larger food supply, and a decline in famines, epidemics,
and malnutrition. This allowed couples to marry earlier, and have more
children. Arranged marriages became uncommon as young people were now allowed
to choose their own marriage partners, subject to a veto by the parents. The high
birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality and emigration,
especially after about 1840, mostly to the German settlements in the United
States, plus periodic epidemics and harvest failures. The upper and middle
classes began to practice birth control, and a little later so too did the
peasants.[57]
Industrialization[edit]
Before 1850 Germany lagged far behind the leaders in
industrial development – Britain, France, and Belgium. In 1800, Germany's
social structure was poorly suited to entrepreneurship or economic development.
Domination by France during the era of the French Revolution (1790s to 1815),
however, produced important institutional reforms. Reforms included the
abolition of feudal restrictions on the sale of large landed estates, the
reduction of the power of the guilds in the cities, and the introduction of a
new, more efficient commercial law. Nevertheless, traditionalism remained
strong in most of Germany. Until mid-century, the guilds, the landed
aristocracy, the churches, and the government bureaucracies had so many rules
and restrictions that entrepreneurship was held in low esteem, and given little
opportunity to develop. From the 1830s and 1840s, Prussia, Saxony, and other
states reorganized agriculture. The introduction of sugar beets, turnips, and
potatoes yielded a higher level of food production, which enabled a surplus
rural population to move to industrial areas. The beginnings of the industrial
revolution in Germany came in the textile industry, and was facilitated by
eliminating tariff barriers through the Zollverein, starting in 1834.[67]
By mid-century, the German states were catching up. By
1900 Germany was a world leader in industrialization, along with Britain and
the United States.
Urbanization[edit]
Industrialization brought rural Germans to the factories,
mines and railways. The population in 1800 was heavily rural, with only 10% of
the people living in communities of 5000 or more people, and only 2% living in
cities of more than 100,000. After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due
primarily to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from
172,000 in 1800, to 826,000 in 1870; Hamburg grew from 130,000 to 290,000;
Munich from 40,000 to 269,000; and Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000. Offsetting
this growth, there was extensive emigration, especially to the United States.
Emigration totaled 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and 780,000 in
the 1860s.[57]
Railways[edit]
Main article: History of rail transport in Germany
Friedrich List's concept for a German railway net from
1833
The takeoff stage of economic development came with the
railroad revolution in the 1840s, which opened up new markets for local
products, created a pool of middle managers, increased the demand for engineers,
architects and skilled machinists and stimulated investments in coal and iron.
Political disunity of three dozen states and a pervasive conservatism made it
difficult to build railways in the 1830s. However, by the 1840s, trunk lines
did link the major cities; each German state was responsible for the lines
within its own borders. Economist Friedrich List summed up the advantages to be
derived from the development of the railway system in 1841:
As a means of national defence, it facilitates the concentration,
distribution and direction of the army.
It is a means to the improvement of the culture of the
nation. It brings talent, knowledge and skill of every kind readily to market.
It secures the community against dearth and famine, and
against excessive fluctuation in the prices of the necessaries of life.
It promotes the spirit of the nation, as it has a
tendency to destroy the Philistine spirit arising from isolation and provincial
prejudice and vanity. It binds nations by ligaments, and promotes an
interchange of food and of commodities, thus making it feel to be a unit. The
iron rails become a nerve system, which, on the one hand, strengthens public
opinion, and, on the other hand, strengthens the power of the state for police
and governmental purposes.[68]
Lacking a technological base at first, the Germans
imported their engineering and hardware from Britain, but quickly learned the
skills needed to operate and expand the railways. In many cities, the new
railway shops were the centres of technological awareness and training, so that
by 1850, Germany was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad
construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new
steel industry. Observers found that even as late as 1890, their engineering
was inferior to Britain’s. However, German unification in 1870 stimulated
consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid
growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of
industrialisation, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other
industrial districts, and provided good connections to the major ports of
Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000
passengers and 30,000 tons of freight a day, and forged ahead of France.[69]
 |
| Berlian City |
Science and culture[edit]
German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by
the French Revolution and by the great German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe (1749–1832), turned to Romanticism after a period of Enlightenment.
Philosophical thought was decisively shaped by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804).
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was the leading composer of Romantic music.
His use of tonal architecture in such a way as to allow significant expansion
of musical forms and structures was immediately recognized as bringing a new
dimension to music. His later piano music and string quartets, especially,
showed the way to a completely unexplored musical universe, and influenced
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) and Robert Schumann (1810–1856). In opera, a new
Romantic atmosphere combining supernatural terror and melodramatic plot in a
folkloric context was first successfully achieved by Carl Maria von Weber
(1786–1826) and perfected by Richard Wagner (1813–1883) in his Ring Cycle. The
Brothers Grimm (1785–1863 & 1786–1859) not only collected folk stories into
the popular Grimm's Fairy Tales, but were also linguists, now counted among the
founding fathers of German studies. They were commissioned to write the
Deutsches Wörterbuch (English: The German Dictionary), which is still regarded
as the most comprehensive work on the German language in existence;
unfortunately, the brothers were unable to finish the project within their
lifetimes. Jacob Grimm died while working on the entry for Frucht (fruit).
At the universities high-powered professors developed
international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and
philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political
history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) in philosophy, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)
in theology and Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) in history, the University of
Berlin, founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for
example, professionalized history and set the world standard for
historiography. By the 1830s mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had
emerged with world class science, led by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) in
natural science and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) in mathematics. Young
intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed
Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.[45]
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855)
Brothers Grimm (1785–1863 & 1786–1859)
Politics of restoration and revolution[edit]
Main article: German Confederation
German Confederation and the early 1800s[edit]
At the Hambach Festival in 1832, intellectuals with
various political backgrounds were among the first to use the future Flag of
Germany and called for a unified German nation.
After the fall of Napoleon, Europe's statesmen convened
in Vienna in 1815 for the reorganisation of European affairs, under the
leadership of the Austrian Prince Metternich. The political principles agreed
upon at this Congress of Vienna included the restoration, legitimacy and
solidarity of rulers for the repression of revolutionary and nationalist ideas.
The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund) was
founded, a loose union of 39 states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under
Austrian leadership, with a Federal Diet (German: Bundestag) meeting in
Frankfurt am Main. It was a loose coalition that failed to satisfy most
nationalists. The member states largely went their own way, and Austria had its
own interests.
In 1819 a student radical assassinated the reactionary
playwright August von Kotzebue, who had scoffed at liberal student
organisations. In one of the few major actions of the German Confederation,
Prince Metternich called a conference that issued the repressive Carlsbad
Decrees, designed to suppress liberal agitation against the conservative
governments of the German states.[70] The Decrees terminated the fast-fading
nationalist fraternities (German: Burschenschaften), removed liberal university
professors, and expanded the censorship of the press. The decrees began the
"persecution of the demagogues", which was directed against
individuals who were accused of spreading revolutionary and nationalist ideas.
Among the persecuted were the poet Ernst Moritz Arndt, the publisher Johann
Joseph Görres and the "Father of Gymnastics" Ludwig Jahn.[71]
Frankfurt 1848
In 1834 the Zollverein was established, a customs union
between Prussia and most other German states, but excluding Austria. As
industrialisation developed, the need for a unified German state with a uniform
currency, legal system, and government became more and more obvious.
1848[edit]
Liberal and nationalist pressure led to the unsuccessful
Revolution of 1848 in the German states
Main article: Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
Growing discontent with the political and social order
imposed by the Congress of Vienna led to the outbreak, in 1848, of the March
Revolution in the German states. In May the German National Assembly (the
Frankfurt Parliament) met in Frankfurt to draw up a national German
constitution.
But the 1848 revolution turned out to be unsuccessful:
King Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the imperial crown, the Frankfurt
parliament was dissolved, the ruling princes repressed the risings by military
force, and the German Confederation was re-established by 1850. Many leaders
went into exile, including a number who went to the United States and became a
political force there.[citation needed]
1850s[edit]
The 1850s were a period of extreme political reaction.
Dissent was vigorously suppressed, and many Germans emigrated to America following
the collapse of the 1848 uprisings. Frederick William IV became extremely
depressed and melancholy during this period, and was surrounded by men who
advocated clericalism and absolute divine monarchy. The Prussian people once
again lost interest in politics. Prussia not only expanded its territory but
began to industrialize rapidly, while maintaining a strong agricultural base.
Bismarck takes charge, 1862–66[edit]
Otto von Bismarck, Albrecht Graf von Roon, Helmut von
Moltke, the three leaders of Prussia in the 1860s
In 1857, the king had a stroke and his brother William
became regent, then became King William I in 1861. Although conservative,
William I was far more pragmatic. His most significant accomplishment was
naming Otto von Bismarck as chancellor in 1862. The combination of Bismarck,
Defense Minister Albrecht von Roon, and Field Marshal Helmut von Moltke set the
stage for victories over Denmark, Austria, and France, and led to the
unification of Germany. The obstacle to German unification was Austria, and
Bismarck solved the problem with a series of wars that united the German states
north of Austria.
In 1863–64, disputes between Prussia and Denmark grew
over Schleswig, which was not part of the German Confederation, and which
Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate into the Danish kingdom. The dispute
led to the short Second War of Schleswig in 1864. Prussia, joined by Austria,
easily defeated Denmark and occupied Jutland. The Danes were forced to cede
both the duchy of Schleswig and the duchy of Holstein to Austria and Prussia.
In the aftermath, the management of the two duchies caused escalating tensions
between Austria and Prussia. The former wanted the duchies to become an
independent entity within the German Confederation, while the latter wanted to
annex them. The Seven Weeks War between Austria and Prussia broke out in June
1866. In July, the two armies clashed at Sadowa-Königgrätz (Bohemia) in an
enormous battle involving half a million men. The Prussian breech-loading
needle guns carried the day over the slow muzzle-loading rifles of the
Austrians, who lost a quarter of their army in the battle. Austria ceded Venice
to Italy, but Bismarck was deliberately lenient with the loser to keep alive a
long-term alliance with Austria in a subordinate role. Now the French faced an
increasingly strong Prussia.
North German Federation[edit]
Main article: North German Confederation
Flag of the North German Confederation (1866–71) and the
German Empire (1871–1918). Also used by Weimar Republic foreign services
(1922–33)
In 1866, the German Confederation was dissolved. In its
place the North German Federation (German Norddeutscher Bund) was established,
under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded, and the Austrian
influence in Germany that had begun in the 15th century finally came to an end.
The North German Federation was a transitional
organisation that existed from 1867 to 1871, between the dissolution of the
German Confederation and the founding of the German Empire.
German Empire[edit]
Imperial Germany 1871–1918
Main article: German Empire
Overview[edit]
After Germany was united by Otto von Bismarck into the
"Second German Reich", he determined German politics until 1890.
Bismarck tried to foster alliances in Europe, on one hand to contain France,
and on the other hand to consolidate Germany's influence in Europe. On the
domestic front Bismarck tried to stem the rise of socialism by anti-socialist
laws, combined with an introduction of health care and social security. At the
same time Bismarck tried to reduce the political influence of the emancipated
Catholic minority in the Kulturkampf, literally "culture struggle".
The Catholics only grew stronger, forming the Center (Zentrum) Party. Germany
grew rapidly in industrial and economic power, matching Britain by 1900. Its
highly professional army was the best in the world, but the navy could never
catch up with Britain's Royal Navy.
In 1888, the young and ambitious Kaiser Wilhelm II became
emperor. He could not abide advice, least of all from the most experienced
politician and diplomat in Europe, so he fired Bismarck. The Kaiser opposed
Bismarck's careful foreign policy and wanted Germany to pursue colonialist
policies, as Britain and France had been doing for decades, as well as build a
navy that could match the British. The Kaiser promoted active colonization of
Africa and Asia for those areas that were not already colonies of other
European powers; his record was notoriously brutal and set the stage for
genocide. The Kaiser took a mostly unilateral approach in Europe with as main
ally the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and an arms race with Britain, which
eventually led to the situation in which the assassination of the
Austrian-Hungarian crown prince could spark off World War I.
Age of Bismarck[edit]
On 18 January 1871, the German Empire is proclaimed in
the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. Bismarck appears in white.
The new empire[edit]
Disputes between France and Prussia increased. In 1868,
the Spanish queen Isabella II was expelled by a revolution, leaving that
country's throne vacant. When Prussia tried to put a Hohenzollern candidate,
Prince Leopold, on the Spanish throne, the French angrily protested. In July
1870, France declared war on Prussia (the Franco-Prussian War). The debacle was
swift. A succession of German victories in northeastern France followed, and
one French army was besieged at Metz. After a few weeks, the main army was
finally forced to capitulate in the fortress of Sedan. French Emperor Napoleon
III was taken prisoner and a republic hastily proclaimed in Paris. The new
government, realising that a victorious Germany would demand territorial
acquisitions, resolved to fight on. They began to muster new armies, and the
Germans settled down to a grim siege of Paris. The starving city surrendered in
January 1871, and the Prussian army staged a victory parade in it. France was
forced to pay indemnities of 5 billion francs and cede Alsace-Lorraine. It was
a bitter peace that would leave the French thirsting for revenge.
During the Siege of Paris, the German princes assembled
in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles and proclaimed the Prussian
King Wilhelm I as the "German Emperor" on 18 January 1871. The German
Empire was thus founded, with the German states unified into a single economic,
political, and administrative unit. The empire comprised 25 states, three of
which were Hanseatic free cities. It was dubbed the "Little German"
solution, since it excluded the Austrian territories and the Habsburgs. Bismarck,
again, was appointed to serve as Chancellor.
The new empire was characterised by a great enthusiasm
and vigor. There was a rash of heroic artwork in imitation of Greek and Roman
styles, and the nation possessed a vigorous, growing industrial economy, while
it had always been rather poor in the past. The change from the slower, more
tranquil order of the old Germany was very sudden, and many, especially the
nobility, resented being displaced by the new rich. And yet, the nobles clung
stubbornly to power, and they, not the bourgeois, continued to be the model
that everyone wanted to imitate. In imperial Germany, possessing a collection
of medals or wearing a uniform was valued more than the size of one's bank
account, and Berlin never became a great cultural center as London, Paris, or
Vienna were. The empire was distinctly authoritarian in tone, as the 1871
constitution gave the emperor exclusive power to appoint or dismiss the
chancellor. He also was supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces and
final arbiter of foreign policy. But freedom of speech, association, and
religion were nonetheless guaranteed by the constitution.
Bismarck's domestic policies as Chancellor of Germany
were characterised by his fight against perceived enemies of the Protestant
Prussian state. In the so-called Kulturkampf (1872–1878), he tried to limit the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church and of its political arm, the Catholic
Centre Party, through various measures—like the introduction of civil
marriage—but without much success. The Kulturkampf antagonised many Protestants
as well as Catholics, and was eventually abandoned. Millions of non-Germans
subjects in the German Empire, like the Polish, Danish and French minorities,
were discriminated against,[72][73] and a policy of Germanisation was
implemented.
Classes[edit]
See also: Feminism in Germany § Wilhelmine Germany
Germany's middle class, based in the cities, grew
exponentially, although it never gained the political power it had in France,
Britain or the United States. The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (Association of
German Women's Organizations or BDF) was established in 1894 to encompass the
proliferating women's organizations that had sprung up since the 1860s. From
the beginning the BDF was a bourgeois organization, its members working toward
equality with men in such areas as education, financial opportunities, and
political life. Working-class women were not welcome; they were organized by
the Socialists.[74]
The rise of the Socialist Workers' Party (later known as
the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD), declared its aim to establish
peacefully a new socialist order through the transformation of existing
political and social conditions. From 1878, Bismarck tried to repress the
social democratic movement by outlawing the party's organisation, its
assemblies and most of its newspapers. When it finally was allowed to run
candidates, the Social Democrats were stronger than ever.[75]
Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in
Prussia and Saxony that began as early as the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced
old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care, and unemployment insurance
that formed the basis of the modern European welfare state. His paternalistic
programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the
support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of
immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not
exist.[76][77] Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers
by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American
competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free
trade.[78][79]
Kulturkampf[edit]
Between Berlin and Rome, Bismarck (left) confronts the
Pope, 1875
In 1871–1878, Bismarck launched the
"Kulturkampf" in Prussia to reduce the power of the Catholic Church
in public affairs, and keep the Poles under control. Thousands of priests and
bishops were harassed or imprisoned, with large fines and closures of Catholic
churches and schools. While the pope did control the selection of bishops, the
Catholics supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies, and were angry
at his systematic attacks.[80]
Bismarck sought to appeal to liberals and Protestants but
he failed because the Catholics were unanimous in their resistance and
organized themselves to fight back politically, using their strength in other
states besides Prussia. (The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German
states such as heavily Catholic Bavaria.) German nationalists feared the
Polonization of the Prussian East. Bismarck saw the Kulturkampf as a means of
stopping this trend, which was led by the Catholic clergy in West Prussia,
Poznania and Silesia. The Poles were Catholics and subjected to harassment in
the fields of education, occupations, business and public administration.
German was declared to be the only official language, but in practice the Poles
only adhered more closely to their traditions.[81]
There was little or no violence, but the new Roman
Catholic Center Party won a quarter of the seats in the Reichstag (Imperial
Parliament), and its middle position on most issues allowed it to play a
decisive role in the formation of majorities.[82] The culture war gave
secularists and socialists an opportunity to attack all religions, an outcome
that distressed the Protestants, including Bismarck, who was a devout pietistic
Protestant. The Catholic anti-liberalism was led by Pope Pius IX; his death in
1878 allowed Bismarck to open negotiations with Pope Leo XIII, and led to the
abandonment of the Kulturkampf in stages in the early 1880s.[83]
Foreign policy[edit]
The Triple Alliance (1913-configuration, shown in red)
was constructed to isolate France.
Bismarck's post-1871 foreign policy was conservative and
basically aimed at security and preventing the dreaded scenario of a
Franco-Russian alliance, which would trap Germany between the two in a war.
German colonies and protectorates at the start of World
War I.
The League of Three Emperors (Dreikaisersbund) was signed
in 1872 by Russia, Austria, and Germany. It stated that republicanism and
socialism were common enemies and that the three powers would discuss any
matters concerning foreign policy. Bismarck needed good relations with Russia
in order to keep France isolated. In 1877–1878, Russia fought a victorious war
with the Ottoman Empire and attempted to impose the Treaty of San Stefano on
it. This upset the British in particular, as they were long concerned with
preserving the Ottoman Empire and preventing a Russian takeover of the
Bosphorus Strait. Germany hosted the Congress of Berlin (1878), whereby a more
moderate peace settlement was agreed to. Germany had no direct interest in the
Balkans, however, which was largely an Austrian and Russian sphere of
influence, although King Carol of Romania was a German prince.
In 1879, Bismarck formed a Dual Alliance of Germany and
Austria-Hungary, with the aim of mutual military assistance in the case of an
attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement reached at the
Congress of Berlin. The establishment of the Dual Alliance led Russia to take a
more conciliatory stance, and in 1887, the so-called Reinsurance Treaty was
signed between Germany and Russia: in it, the two powers agreed on mutual
military support in the case that France attacked Germany, or in case of an
Austrian attack on Russia. Russia turned its attention eastward to Asia and
remained largely inactive in European politics for the next 25 years. In 1882,
Italy joined the Dual Alliance to form a Triple Alliance. Italy wanted to
defend its interests in North Africa against France's colonial policy. In
return for German and Austrian support, Italy committed itself to assisting
Germany in the case of a French military attack.[84]
For a long time, Bismarck had refused to give in
widespread public demands to give Germany "a place in the sun"
through the acquisition of overseas colonies. In 1880 Bismarck gave way, and a
number of colonies were established overseas. In Africa, these were Togo, the
Cameroons, German South-West Africa, and German East Africa; in Oceania, they
were German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Marshall Islands. In
fact, it was Bismarck himself who helped initiate the Berlin Conference of
1885. He did it to "establish international guidelines for the acquisition
of African territory" (see Colonisation of Africa). This conference was an
impetus for the "Scramble for Africa" and "New
Imperialism".[85]
Bismarck dismissed by new Kaiser[edit]
"Dropping the Pilot" – British caricature
depicting Bismarck's dismissal by Wilhelm II in 1890
In 1888, the old emperor William I died at the age of 90.
His son Frederick III, the hope of German liberals, succeeded him, but was
already stricken with throat cancer and died three months later. Frederick's
son Wilhelm II then became emperor at the age of 29. He was the antithesis of
old, conservative Germans like Bismarck, addicted to the new imperialism that
was taking place in Asia and Africa. Having a left arm withered by childhood
polio, he was painfully insecure and desired above all to be loved by the
people. He sought to make Germany a great world power with a navy to rival
Britain's. Bismarck hoped to marginalise him just as he had marginalised his
grandfather, but William II desired to be his own master. Bismarck's schemes to
dominate the emperor and hold onto his own power failed, and he was forced to
resign in March 1890.
Wilhelminian Era[edit]
Alliances and diplomacy[edit]
Main article: Triple Alliance (1882)
The young Kaiser Wilhelm sought aggressively to increase
Germany's influence in the world (Weltpolitik). After the removal of Bismarck,
foreign policy was in the hands of the erratic Kaiser, who played an
increasingly reckless hand,[86] and the powerful foreign office under the
leadership of Friedrich von Holstein.[87] The foreign office argued that:
first, a long-term coalition between France and Russia had to fall apart;
secondly, Russia and Britain would never get together; and, finally, Britain
would eventually seek an alliance with Germany. Germany refused to renew its
treaties with Russia. But Russia did form a closer relationship with France in
the Dual Alliance of 1894, since both were worried about the possibilities of
German aggression. Furthermore, Anglo–German relations cooled as Germany
aggressively tried to build a new empire and engaged in a naval race with
Britain; London refused to agree to the formal alliance that Germany sought.
Berlin's analysis proved mistaken on every point, leading to Germany's
increasing isolation and its dependence on the Triple Alliance, which brought
together Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Alliance was
undermined by differences between Austria and Italy, and in 1915 Italy switched
sides.[65]
Meanwhile the German Navy under Admiral Alfred von
Tirpitz had ambitions to rival the great British Navy, and dramatically
expanded its fleet in the early 20th century to protect the colonies and exert
power worldwide.[88] Tirpitz started a programme of warship construction in
1898. In 1890, Germany had gained the island of Heligoland in the North Sea
from Britain in exchange for the eastern African island of Zanzibar, and
proceeded to construct a great naval base there. This posed a direct threat to
British hegemony on the seas, with the result that negotiations for an alliance
between Germany and Britain broke down. The British, however, kept well ahead
in the naval race by the introduction of the highly advanced new Dreadnought
battleship in 1907.[89]
In the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905, Germany nearly came
to blows with Britain and France when the latter attempted to establish a
protectorate over Morocco. The Germans were upset at having not been informed
about French intentions, and declared their support for Moroccan independence.
William II made a highly provocative speech regarding this. The following year,
a conference was held in which all of the European powers except
Austria-Hungary (by now little more than a German satellite) sided with France.
A compromise was brokered by the United States where the French relinquished
some, but not all, control over Morocco.[90]
The Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911 saw another dispute
over Morocco erupt when France tried to suppress a revolt there. Germany, still
smarting from the previous quarrel, agreed to a settlement whereby the French
ceded some territory in central Africa in exchange for Germany's renouncing any
right to intervene in Moroccan affairs. This confirmed French control over
Morocco, which became a full protectorate of that country in 1912.
Economy[edit]
The BASF-chemical factories in Ludwigshafen, 1881
The economy continued to industrialize and urbanize, with
heavy industry – especially coal and steel – becoming important in the Ruhr,
and manufacturing growing in the cities, the Ruhr, and Silesia. Perkins (1981)
argues that more important than Bismarck's new tariff on imported grain was the
introduction of the sugar beet as a main crop. Farmers quickly abandoned
traditional, inefficient practices in favor of modern methods, including use of
new fertilizers and new tools. The knowledge and tools gained from the
intensive farming of sugar and other root crops made Germany the most efficient
agricultural producer in Europe by 1914. Even so, farms were small in size, and
women did much of the field work. An unintended consequence was the increased
dependence on migratory, especially foreign, labor.[91]
Berlin in 1912
Based on its leadership in chemical research in the
universities and industrial laboratories, Germany became dominant in the
world's chemical industry in the late 19th century. At first, the production of
dyes was critical.[92]
Germany became Europe's leading steel-producing nation in
the 1890s, thanks in large part to the protection from American and British
competition afforded by tariffs and cartels.[93] The leading firm was
"Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp," run by the Krupp family.[94] The
merger of several major firms into the Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steel
Works) in 1926 was modeled on the U.S. Steel corporation in the United States.
The new company emphasized rationalization of management structures and
modernization of the technology; it employed a multi-divisional structure and
used return on investment as its measure of success. By 1913, American and
German exports dominated the world steel market, as Britain slipped to third
place.[95]
In machinery, iron and steel, and other industries,
German firms avoided cut-throat competition and instead relied on trade associations.
Germany was a world leader because of its prevailing "corporatist
mentality", its strong bureaucratic tradition, and the encouragement of
the government. These associations regulate competition and allowed small firms
to function in the shadow of much larger companies.[96]
Colonies[edit]
Main article: German colonial empire
A colonial lord in the German colony Togoland (c. 1885)
In the course of ongoing imperialistic aspirations in all
European great powers, a general tendency towards colonial imperialism also
existed in the German states since c. 1848. As part of the
"Weltpolitik" (global policy), the German Empire demanded its
"Platz an der Sonne" (Place in the sun).[97] Bismarck began the
process, and by 1884 had acquired German New Guinea.[98] By the 1890s, German
colonial expansion in Asia and the Pacific (Kiauchau in China, the Marianas,
the Caroline Islands, Samoa) led to frictions with Britain, Russia, Japan and
the United States. The construction of the Baghdad Railway, financed by German
banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Turkish Empire and
the Persian Gulf, but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical
interests. The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa,[99] where the harsh
treatment of the Nama and Herero in what is now Namibia in 1906–07 led to
charges of genocide against the Germans, known as the Herero and Namaqua
Genocide, which is regarded as a blueprint for the later Holocaust.[100]
World War I[edit]
Main articles: World War I, History of Germany during
World War I and German Revolution of 1918–19
Men waving from the door and window of a rail goods van
German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914. Awaiting
a short war, a message on the car spells out "Trip to Paris".
Causes[edit]
Ethnic demands for nation states upset the balance
between the empires that dominated Europe, leading to World War I, which
started in August 1914. Germany stood behind its ally Austria in a
confrontation with Serbia, but Serbia was under the protection of Russia, which
was allied to France. Germany was the leader of the Central Powers, which
included Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and later Bulgaria; arrayed
against them were the Allies, consisting chiefly of Russia, France, Britain,
and in 1915 Italy.
In explaining why neutral Britain went to war with
Germany, Kennedy (1980) recognized it was critical for war that Germany become
economically more powerful than Britain, but he downplays the disputes over
economic trade imperialism, the Baghdad Railway, confrontations in Central and
Eastern Europe, high-charged political rhetoric and domestic pressure-groups.
Germany's reliance time and again on sheer power, while Britain increasingly
appealed to moral sensibilities, played a role, especially in seeing the invasion
of Belgium as a necessary military tactic or a profound moral crime. The German
invasion of Belgium was not important because the British decision had already
been made and the British were more concerned with the fate of France (pp.
457–62). Kennedy argues that by far the main reason was London's fear that a
repeat of 1870 — when Prussia and the German states smashed France — would mean
that Germany, with a powerful army and navy, would control the English Channel
and northwest France. British policy makers insisted that would be a
catastrophe for British security.[101]
Western Front[edit]
In the west, Germany sought a quick victory by encircling
Paris using the Schlieffen Plan. But it failed due to Belgian resistance,
Berlin's diversion of troops, and very stiff French resistance on the Marne,
north of Paris.
The Western Front became an extremely bloody battleground
of trench warfare. The stalemate lasted from 1914 until early 1918, with
ferocious battles that moved forces a few hundred yards at best along a line
that stretched from the North Sea to the Swiss border. The British imposed a
tight naval blockade in the North Sea which lasted until 1919, sharply reducing
Germany's overseas access to raw materials and foodstuffs. Food scarcity became
a serious problem by 1917.[102]
The United States joined with the Allies in April 1917.
The entry of the United States into the war – following Germany's declaration
of unrestricted submarine warfare – marked a decisive turning-point against
Germany.[103]
Eastern Front[edit]
More wide open was the fighting on the Eastern Front. In
the east, there were decisive victories against the Russian army, the trapping
and defeat of large parts of the Russian contingent at the Battle of
Tannenberg, followed by huge Austrian and German successes. The breakdown of
Russian forces – exacerbated by internal turmoil caused by the 1917 Russian
Revolution – led to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Bolsheviks were forced to
sign on 3 March 1918 as Russia withdrew from the war. It gave Germany control
of Eastern Europe. Spencer Tucker says, "The German General Staff had
formulated extraordinarily harsh terms that shocked even the German
negotiator."[104] When Germany later complained that the Treaty of
Versailles of 1919 was too harsh on them, the Allies responded that it was more
benign than Brest-Litovsk.[105]
1918[edit]
Painting depicting the Armistice with Germany in
Compiègne, 1918
By defeating Russia in 1917 Germany was able to bring
hundreds of thousands of combat troops from the east to the Western Front,
giving it a numerical advantage over the Allies. By retraining the soldiers in
new storm-trooper tactics, the Germans expected to unfreeze the Battlefield and
win a decisive victory before the American army arrived in strength.[106]
However, the spring offensives all failed, as the Allies fell back and
regrouped, and the Germans lacked the reserves necessary to consolidate their
gains. In the summer, with the Americans arriving at 10,000 a day, and the
German reserves exhausted, it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied
offenses destroyed the German army.[107]
Philipp Scheidemann proclaims a German Republic on 9
November 1918.
Homefront[edit]
Unexpectedly Germany plunged into World War I
(1914–1918). It rapidly mobilized its civilian economy for the war effort, the
economy was handicapped by the British blockade the cut off food supplies.[108]
Meanwhile, conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food
shortages reported in all urban areas. Causes involved the transfer of many
farmers and food workers into the military, an overburdened railroad system,
shortages of coal, and the British blockade that cut off imports from abroad.
The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter," because that
vegetable, usually fed to livestock, was used by people as a substitute for
potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens
were opened to feed the hungry people, who grumbled that the farmers were
keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the rations for
soldiers.[109] Morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink.
1918 was also the year of the deadly 1918 Spanish Flu
pandemic which struck hard at a population weakened by years of malnutrition.
Revolution 1918[edit]
Main articles: German Revolution of 1918-19 and Treaty of
Versailles
The end of October 1918, in Wilhelmshaven, in northern
Germany, saw the beginning of the German Revolution of 1918–19. Units of the
German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war
which they saw as good as lost, initiating the uprising. On 3 November, the
revolt spread to other cities and states of the country, in many of which
workers' and soldiers' councils were established. Meanwhile, Hindenburg and the
senior commanders had lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government. The
Kaiser and all German ruling princes abdicated. On 9 November 1918, the Social
Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a Republic.
On 11 November, the Compiègne armistice was signed,
ending the war. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919. Germany
was to cede Alsace-Lorraine to France. Eupen-Malmédy would temporarily be ceded
to Belgium, with a plebiscite to be held to allow the people the choice of the territory
either remaining with Belgium or being returned to German control. Following a
plebiscite, the territory was allotted to Belgium on 20 September 1920. The
future of North Schleswig was to be decided by plebiscite. In the Schleswig
Plebiscites, the Danish-speaking population in the north voted for Denmark and
the southern, German speaking populace, part voted for Germany. Schleswig was
thus partitioned. Holstein remained German without a referendum. Memel was
ceded to the Allied and Associated powers, to decide the future of the area. On
9 January 1923, Lithuanian forces invaded the territory. Following
negotiations, on 8 May 1924, the League of Nations ratified the annexation on
the grounds that Lithuania accepted the Memel Statute, a power-sharing
arrangement to protect non-Lithuanians in the territory and its autonomous
status. Until 1929, German-Lithuanian co-operation increased and this power
sharing arrangement worked. Poland was restored and most of the provinces of
Posen and West Prussia, and some areas of Upper Silesia were reincorporated
into the reformed country after plebiscites and independence uprisings. All
German colonies were to be handed over to League of Nations, who then assigned
them as Mandates to Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, and the
United Kingdom. The new owners were required to act as a disinterested trustee
over the region, promoting the welfare of its inhabitants in a variety of ways
until they were able to govern themselves. The left and right banks of the
Rhine were to be permanently demilitarised. The industrially important Saarland
was to be governed by the League of Nations for 15 years and its coalfields
administered by France. At the end of that time a plebiscite was to determine
the Saar's future status. To ensure execution of the treaty's terms, Allied
troops would occupy the left (German) bank of the Rhine for a period of 5–15
years. The German army was to be limited to 100,000 officers and men; the
general staff was to be dissolved; vast quantities of war material were to be
handed over and the manufacture of munitions rigidly curtailed. The navy was to
be similarly reduced, and no military aircraft were allowed. Germany was also
required to pay reparations for all civilian damage caused during the war.
Weimar Republic[edit]
Main article: Weimar Republic
Flag of the Weimar Republic, 1919–1933
Germany 1919–1938
Overview[edit]
The humiliating peace terms in the Treaty of Versailles
provoked bitter indignation throughout Germany, and seriously weakened the new
democratic regime. The greatest enemies of democracy had already been
constituted. In December 1918, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was
founded, and in 1919 it tried and failed to overthrow the new republic. Adolf
Hitler in 1919 took control of the new National Socialist German Workers' Party
(NSDAP), which failed in a coup in Munich in 1923. Both parties, as well as
parties supporting the republic, built militant auxiliaries that engaged in
increasingly violent street battles. Electoral support for both parties
increased after 1929 as the Great Depression hit the economy hard, producing
many unemployed men who became available for the paramilitary units. The Nazis,
with a mostly rural and lower middle class base, overthrew the Weimar regime
and ruled Germany in 1933–1945; the KPD, with a mostly urban and working class
base, came to power (in the East) in 1945–1989.[110][citation needed]
The early years[edit]
On 11 August 1919 the Weimar constitution came into
effect, with Friedrich Ebert as first President.
On 30 December 1918, the Communist Party of Germany was
founded by the Spartacus League, who had split from the Social Democratic Party
during the war. It was headed by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and
rejected the parliamentary system. In 1920, about 300,000 members from the
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany joined the party, transforming
it into a mass organization. The Communist Party had a following of about 10%
of the electorate.[111]
In the first months of 1920, the Reichswehr was to be
reduced to 100,000 men, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. This
included the dissolution of many Freikorps – units made up of volunteers. In an
attempt at a coup d'état in March 1920, the Kapp Putsch, extreme right-wing
politician Wolfgang Kapp let Freikorps soldiers march on Berlin and proclaimed
himself Chancellor of the Reich. After four days the coup d'état collapsed, due
to popular opposition and lack of support by the civil servants and the
officers. Other cities were shaken by strikes and rebellions, which were
bloodily suppressed.
Faced with animosity from Britain and France and the
retreat of American power from Europe, in 1922 Germany was the first state to
establish diplomatic relations with the new Soviet Union. Under the Treaty of
Rapallo, Germany accorded the Soviet Union de jure recognition, and the two
signatories mutually cancelled all pre-war debts and renounced war claims.
When Germany defaulted on its reparation payments, French
and Belgian troops occupied the heavily industrialised Ruhr district (January
1923). The German government encouraged the population of the Ruhr to passive
resistance: shops would not sell goods to the foreign soldiers, coal-mines
would not dig for the foreign troops, trams in which members of the occupation
army had taken seat would be left abandoned in the middle of the street. The
passive resistance proved effective, insofar as the occupation became a
loss-making deal for the French government. But the Ruhr fight also led to hyperinflation,
and many who lost all their fortune would become bitter enemies of the Weimar
Republic, and voters of the anti-democratic right. See 1920s German inflation.
Paul von Hindenburg, German President in 1925–1934
Gustav Stresemann, German Chancellor in 1923 and Nobel
Peace Prize laureate in 1926
In September 1923, the deteriorating economic conditions
led Chancellor Gustav Stresemann to call an end to the passive resistance in
the Ruhr. In November, his government introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark
(later: Reichsmark), together with other measures to stop the hyperinflation.
In the following six years the economic situation improved. In 1928, Germany's
industrial production even regained the pre-war levels of 1913.
The national elections of 1924 led to a swing to the
right. Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was elected President in 1925.
In October 1925 the Treaty of Locarno was signed by
Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Italy; it recognised Germany's borders
with France and Belgium. Moreover, Britain, Italy and Belgium undertook to
assist France in the case that German troops marched into the demilitarised
Rheinland. Locarno paved the way for Germany's admission to the League of
Nations in 1926.
Reparations[edit]
The actual amount of reparations that Germany was obliged
to pay out was not the 132 billion marks decided in the London Schedule of 1921
but rather the 50 million marks stipulated in the A and B Bonds. Historian
Sally Marks says the 112 billion marks in "C bonds" were entirely
chimerical—a device to fool the public into thinking Germany would pay much
more. The actual total payout from 1920 to 1931 (when payments were suspended
indefinitely) was 20 billion German gold marks, worth about $5 billion US
dollars or £1 billion British pounds. 12.5 billion was cash that came mostly
from loans from New York bankers. The rest was goods like coal and chemicals,
or from assets like railway equipment. The reparations bill was fixed in 1921
on the basis of a German capacity to pay, not on the basis of Allied claims.
The highly publicized rhetoric of 1919 about paying for all the damages and all
the veterans' benefits was irrelevant for the total, but it did determine how
the recipients spent their share. Germany owed reparations chiefly to France,
Britain, Italy and Belgium; the US received $100 million.[112]
Economic collapse and political problems, 1929–1933[edit]
The stock market crash of 1929 on Wall Street marked the
beginning of the worldwide Great Depression, which hit Germany as hard as any
nation. In July 1931, the Darmstätter und Nationalbank – one of the biggest
German banks – failed. In early 1932, the number of unemployed had soared to
more than 6,000,000.
On top of the collapsing economy came a political crisis:
the political parties represented in the Reichstag were unable to build a
governing majority in the face of escalating extremism from the far right (the
Nazis, NSDAP) and the far left (the Communists, KPD). In March 1930, President
Hindenburg appointed Heinrich Brüning Chancellor. To push through his package
of austerity measures against a majority of Social Democrats, Communists and
the NSDAP (Nazis), Brüning made use of emergency decrees and dissolved
Parliament. In March and April 1932, Hindenburg was re-elected in the German
presidential election of 1932.[113]
The Nazi Party was the largest party in the national
elections of 1932. On 31 July 1932 it received 37.3% of the votes, and in the
election on 6 November 1932 it received less, but still the largest share, 33.1%,
making it the biggest party in the Reichstag. The Communist KPD came third,
with 15%.[114] Together, the anti-democratic parties of far right and far left
were now able to hold the majority of seats in Parliament, but they were at
sword's point with each other, fighting it out in the streets. The Nazis were
particularly successful among Protestants, among unemployed young voters, among
the lower middle class in the cities and among the rural population. It was
weakest in Catholic areas and in large cities. On 30 January 1933, pressured by
former Chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservatives, President Hindenburg
appointed Hitler as Chancellor.[115]
Science and culture[edit]
Main article: Science and technology in Germany
The Weimar years saw a flowering of German science and
high culture, before the Nazi regime resulted in a decline in the scientific
and cultural life in Germany and forced many renowned scientists and writers to
flee. German recipients dominated the Nobel prizes in science.[116] Germany
dominated the world of physics before 1933, led by Hermann von Helmholtz,
Joseph von Fraunhofer, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen,
Albert Einstein, Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg. Chemistry likewise was
dominated by German professors and researchers at the great chemical companies
such as BASF and Bayer and persons like Fritz Haber. Theoretical mathematicians
included Carl Friedrich Gauss in the 19th century and David Hilbert in the 20th
century. Carl Benz, the inventor of the automobile, was one of the pivotal
figures of engineering.
Among the most important German writers were Thomas Mann
(1875–1955), Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) and Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956). The
pessimistic historian Oswald Spengler wrote The Decline of the West (198–23) on
the inevitable decay of Western Civilization, and influenced intellectuals in
Germany such as Martin Heidegger, Max Scheler, and the Frankfurt School, as
well as intellectuals around the world.[117]
After 1933, Nazi proponents of "Aryan physics,"
led by the Nobel Prize-winners Johannes Stark and Philipp Lenard, attacked
Einstein's theory of relativity as a degenerate example of Jewish materialism
in the realm of science. Many scientists and humanists emigrated; Einstein
moved permanently to the U.S. but some of the others returned after
1945.[118][119]
Carl Benz (1844–1929)
Max Planck (1858–1947)
Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Nazi Germany[edit]
Main articles: Nazi Germany and The Holocaust
National flag of Germany, 1935–45
European territory occupied by Nazi Germany and its
allies at its greatest extent in 1942.
The Nazi regime restored economic prosperity and ended
mass unemployment using heavy spending on the military, while suppressing labor
unions and strikes. The return of prosperity gave the Nazi Party enormous
popularity, with only minor, isolated and subsequently unsuccessful cases of
resistance among the German population over the 12 years of rule. The Gestapo
(secret police) under Heinrich Himmler destroyed the political opposition and
persecuted the Jews, trying to force them into exile, while taking their
property. The Party took control of the courts, local government, and all civic
organizations except the Protestant and Catholic churches. All expressions of
public opinion were controlled by Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph
Goebbels, who made effective use of film, mass rallies, and Hitler's hypnotic
speaking. The Nazi state idolized Hitler as its Führer (leader), putting all
powers in his hands. Nazi propaganda centered on Hitler and was quite effective
in creating what historians called the "Hitler Myth"—that Hitler was
all-wise and that any mistakes or failures by others would be corrected when
brought to his attention.[120] In fact Hitler had a narrow range of interests
and decision making was diffused among overlapping, feuding power centers; on
some issues he was passive, simply assenting to pressures from whomever had his
ear. All top officials reported to Hitler and followed his basic policies, but
they had considerable autonomy on a daily basis.[121]
Establishment of the Nazi regime[edit]
In order to secure a majority for his Nazi Party in the
Reichstag, Hitler called for new elections. On the evening of 27 February 1933,
a fire was set in the Reichstag building. Hitler swiftly blamed an alleged
Communist uprising, and convinced President Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag
Fire Decree. This decree, which would remain in force until 1945, repealed
important political and human rights of the Weimar constitution. Communist
agitation was banned, but at this time not the Communist Party itself.
Eleven thousand Communists and Socialists were arrested
and brought into hastily prepared concentration camps such as Kemna concentration
camp, where they were at the mercy of the Gestapo, the newly established secret
police force (9,000 were found guilty and most executed). Communist Reichstag
deputies were taken into protective custody (despite their constitutional
privileges).
Despite the terror and unprecedented propaganda, the last
free General Elections of 5 March 1933, while resulting in 43.9% failed to
bring the majority for the NSDAP that Hitler had hoped for. Together with the
German National People's Party (DNVP), however, he was able to form a slim
majority government. With accommodations to the Catholic Centre Party, Hitler
succeeded in convincing a required two-thirds of a rigged Parliament to pass
the Enabling act of 1933 which gave his government full legislative power. Only
the Social Democrats voted against the Act. The Enabling Act formed the basis
for the dictatorship, dissolution of the Länder; the trade unions and all
political parties other than the Nazi Party were suppressed. A centralised
totalitarian state was established, no longer based on the liberal Weimar
constitution. Germany left the League of Nations. The coalition parliament was
rigged on this fateful 23 March 1933 by defining the absence of arrested and
murdered deputies as voluntary and therefore cause for their exclusion as
wilful absentees. Subsequently in July the Centre Party was voluntarily
dissolved in a quid pro quo with the Pope under the anti-communist Pope Pius XI
for the Reichskonkordat; and by these manoeuvres Hitler achieved movement of
these Catholic voters into the Nazi party, and a long-awaited international
diplomatic acceptance of his regime. It is interesting to note, however, that
according to Professor Dick Geary the Nazis gained a larger share of their vote
in Protestant areas than in Catholic areas, in the elections held between 1928
and November 1932.[122] The Communist Party was proscribed in April 1933. On
the weekend of 30 June 1934, he gave order to the SS to seize Röhm and his
lieutenants, and to execute them without trial (known as the Night of the Long
Knives). Upon Hindenburg's death on 2 August 1934, Hitler's cabinet passed a
law proclaiming the presidency to be vacant and transferred the role and powers
of the head of state to Hitler as Führer (Leader) and Chancellor.
Some of the leaders of the Nazi regime (left to right):
Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels and Rudolf Hess
However, many leaders of the Nazi SA were disappointed.
The Chief of Staff of the SA, Ernst Röhm, was pressing for the SA to be incorporated
into the army. Hitler had long been at odds with Röhm and felt increasingly
threatened by these plans and in the "Night of the Long Knives" in
1934 killed Röhm and the top SA leaders using their notorious homosexuality as
an excuse.[123]
The SS became an independent organisation under the
command of the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. He would become the supervisor
of the Gestapo and of the concentration camps, soon also of the ordinary
police. Hitler also established the Waffen-SS as a separate troop.
Antisemitism and the Holocaust[edit]
Main articles: History of the Jews in Germany § Jews
under the Nazis (1933–45) and The Holocaust
A mass grave of Nazi prisoners inside Bergen-Belsen
concentration camp
The Nazi regime was particularly hostile towards Jews,
who became the target of unending antisemitic propaganda attacks. The Nazis
attempted to convince the German people to view and treat Jews as
"subhumans"[124] and immediately after winning almost 44% of
parliamentary seats in the 1933 federal elections the Nazis imposed a
nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses. On March 20, 1933 the first
concentration camp was established at Dachau in Bavaria and from 1933 to 1935
the Nazi regime consolidated their power and imposed the Nuremberg Laws of 1935
which banned all Jews from civil service and academics positions. Jews lost
their German citizenship, and a ban on sexual relations between people
classified as "Aryans" and "non-Aryans" was created. Jews
continued to suffer persecution under the Nazi regime, exemplified by the
Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, and about half of Germany's 500,000 Jews fled the
country before 1939, after which escape became almost impossible.[125]
In 1941, the Nazi leadership decided to implement a plan
that they called the "Final Solution" which came to be known as the
Holocaust. Under the plan, Jews and other "lesser races" along with
political opponents from Germany as well as occupied countries were
systematically murdered at murder sites, concentration camps, and starting in
1942, at extermination camps.[126] Between 1941 and 1945 Jews, Gypsies, Slavs,
communists, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled and members of
other groups were targeted and methodically murdered in the largest genocide of
the 20th century. In total approximately 11 million people were killed during
the Holocaust including 1.1 million children.[127]
Military[edit]
The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin – a great propaganda
success for the Nazi regime
Hitler re-established the Luftwaffe (air force) and
reintroduced universal military service. This was in breach of the Treaty of
Versailles; Britain, France or Italy issued notes of protest. Hitler had the
officers swear their personal allegiance to him.[128] In 1936 German troops
marched into the demilitarised Rhineland. Britain and France did not intervene.
The move strengthened Hitler's standing in Germany. His reputation swelled
further with the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in the same year in
Berlin, and which proved another great propaganda success for the regime as
orchestrated by master propagandist Joseph Goebbels.[129]
Women[edit]
Historians have paid special attention to the efforts by
Nazi Germany to reverse the gains women made before 1933, especially in the
relatively liberal Weimar Republic.[130] It appears the role of women in Nazi
Germany changed according to circumstances. Theoretically the Nazis believed
that women must be subservient to men, avoid careers, devote themselves to
childbearing and child-rearing, and be a helpmate of the traditional dominant
father in the traditional family.[131] However, before 1933, women played
important roles in the Nazi organization and were allowed some autonomy to
mobilize other women. After Hitler came to power in 1933, the activist women
were replaced by bureaucratic women who emphasized feminine virtues, marriage,
and childbirth. As Germany prepared for war, large numbers were incorporated
into the public sector and with the need for full mobilization of factories by
1943, all women were required to register with the employment office. Women's
wages remained unequal and women were denied positions of leadership or
control.[132]
In 1944-45 more than 500,000 women were volunteer
uniformed auxiliaries in the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). About the same
number served in civil aerial defense, 400,000 volunteered as nurses, and many
more replaced drafted men in the wartime economy.[133] In the Luftwaffe they
served in combat roles helping to operate the anti—aircraft systems that shot
down Allied bombers.[134]
Foreign policy[edit]
Japanese poster promoting the Axis cooperation in 1938
Hitler's diplomatic strategy in the 1930s was to make
seemingly reasonable demands, threatening war if they were not met. When
opponents tried to appease him, he accepted the gains that were offered, then
went to the next target. That aggressive strategy worked as Germany pulled out
of the League of Nations (1933), rejected the Versailles Treaty and began to
re-arm (1935), won back the Saar (1935), remilitarized the Rhineland (1936),
formed an alliance ("axis") with Mussolini's Italy (1936), sent
massive military aid to Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), seized
Austria (1938), took over Czechoslovakia after the British and French
appeasement of the Munich Agreement of 1938, formed a peace pact with Joseph
Stalin's Soviet Union in August 1939, and finally invaded Poland in September
1939. Britain and France declared war and World War II began – somewhat sooner
than the Nazis expected or were ready for.
After establishing the "Rome-Berlin axis" with
Benito Mussolini, and signing the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan – which was
joined by Italy a year later in 1937 – Hitler felt able to take the offensive
in foreign policy. On 12 March 1938, German troops marched into Austria, where
an attempted Nazi coup had been unsuccessful in 1934. When Austrian-born Hitler
entered Vienna, he was greeted by loud cheers. Four weeks later, 99% of
Austrians voted in favour of the annexation (Anschluss) of their country Austria
to the German Reich. After Austria, Hitler turned to Czechoslovakia, where the
3.5 million-strong Sudeten German minority was demanding equal rights and
self-government. At the Munich Conference of September 1938, Hitler, the
Italian leader Benito Mussolini, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and
French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier agreed upon the cession of Sudeten
territory to the German Reich by Czechoslovakia. Hitler thereupon declared that
all of German Reich's territorial claims had been fulfilled. However, hardly
six months after the Munich Agreement, in March 1939, Hitler used the
smoldering quarrel between Slovaks and Czechs as a pretext for taking over the
rest of Czechoslovakia as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the same
month, he secured the return of Memel from Lithuania to Germany. Chamberlain
was forced to acknowledge that his policy of appeasement towards Hitler had
failed.
World War II[edit]
Further information: Nazi Germany
A German soldier during the decisive Battle of Stalingrad
At first Germany's military moves were brilliantly
successful, as in the "blitzkrieg" invasions of Poland (1939), Norway
(1940), the Low Countries (1940), and above all the stunningly successful
invasion and quick conquest of France in 1940. Hitler probably wanted peace
with Britain in late 1940, but Prime Minister Winston Churchill, standing
alone, was dogged in his defiance. Churchill had major financial, military, and
diplomatic help from President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the U.S., another
implacable foe of Hitler. Hitler's emphasis on maintaining high living
standards postponed the full mobilization of the national economy until 1942,
years after the great rivals Britain, Russia, and the U.S. had fully mobilized.
Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 – weeks behind schedule – but
swept forward until it reached the gates of Moscow.
File:SFP 186 - Flug ueber Berlin.ogv
US Air Force photographs the destruction in central
Berlin in July 1945
The tide turned in December 1941, when the invasion of
Russia stalled in cold weather and the United States joined the war. After
surrender in North Africa and losing the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942–43, the
Germans were on the defensive. By late 1944, the United States, Canada, France,
and Great Britain were closing in on Germany in the West, while the Soviets
were closing from the East. Overy estimated in 2014 that in all about 353,000
civilians were killed by British and American strategic bombing of German
cities, and nine million left homeless.[135]
Nazi Germany collapsed as Berlin was taken by the Red
Army in a fight to the death on the city streets. Hitler committed suicide on
30 April 1945. Final German surrender was signed on 8 May 1945.
By September 1945, the Third Reich (which lasted only 12
years) and its Axis partners (Italy and Japan) had been defeated, chiefly by
the forces of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain. Much of
Europe lay in ruins, over 60 million people had been killed (most of them
civilians), including approximately 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews in
what became known as the Holocaust. World War II resulted in the destruction of
Germany's political and economic infrastructure and led directly to its
partition, considerable loss of territory (especially in the east), and
historical legacy of guilt and shame.
Germany during the Cold War[edit]
Main article: History of Germany since 1945
Territorial losses of modern Germany 1919–1945
As a consequence of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945
and the onset of the Cold War in 1947, the country was split between the two
global blocs in the East and West, a period known as the division of Germany.
Millions of refugees from Central and Eastern Europe moved west, most of them
to West Germany. Two states emerged: West Germany was a parliamentary
democracy, a NATO member, a founding member of what since became the European
Union and one of the world's largest economies, while East Germany was a
totalitarian Communist dictatorship that was a satellite of Moscow. With the
collapse of Communism in 1989, reunion on West Germany's terms followed.
No one doubted Germany's economic and engineering
prowess; the question was how long bitter memories of the war would cause
Europeans to distrust Germany, and whether Germany could demonstrate it had
rejected totalitarianism and militarism and embraced democracy and human
rights.
Post-war chaos[edit]
See also: Partitions of Germany
Devastation in Berlin after the Second World War, 1945
The total of German war dead was 8% to 10% out of a
prewar population of 69,000,000, or between 5.5 million and 7 million people.
This included 4.5 million in the military, and between 1 and 2 million
civilians. There was chaos as 11 million foreign workers and POWs left, while
14 million displaced refugees from the east and soldiers returned home.[136]
During the Cold War, the West German government estimated a death toll of 2.2
million civilians due to the flight and expulsion of Germans and through forced
labour in the Soviet Union.[137] This figure remained unchallenged until the
1990s, when some historians put the death toll at 500,000–600,000 confirmed
deaths.[138][139][140] In 2006 the German government reaffirmed its position
that 2.0–2.5 million deaths occurred.
Occupation zone borders after 1945. Berlin, although
within the Soviet zone, was also divided among the four powers. The areas in
white to the east were given to Poland and the Soviet Union (now Russia)
At the Potsdam Conference, Germany was divided into four
military occupation zones by the Allies and did not regain independence until
1949. The provinces east of the Oder and Neisse rivers (the Oder-Neisse line)
were transferred to Poland, Lithuania,[141] and Russia (Kaliningrad oblast);
the 6.7 million Germans living in Poland and the 2.5 million in Czechoslovakia
were forced to move west, although most had already left when the war
ended.[142]
Denazification removed, imprisoned, or executed most top
officials of the old regime, but most middle and lower ranks of civilian officialdom
were not seriously affected. In accordance with the Allied agreement made at
the Yalta conference millions of POWs were used as forced labor by the Soviet
Union and other European countries.[143]
In the East, the Soviets crushed dissent and imposed another
police state, often employing ex-Nazis in the dreaded Stasi. The Soviets
extracted about 23% of the East German GNP for reparations, while in the West
reparations were a minor factor.[144]
In 1945–46 housing and food conditions were bad, as the
disruption of transport, markets, and finances slowed a return to normal. In
the West, bombing had destroyed the fourth of the housing stock,[145] and over
10 million refugees from the east had crowded in, most living in camps.[146]
Food production in 1946–48 was only two-thirds of the prewar level, while grain
and meat shipments – which usually supplied 25% of the food – no longer arrived
from the East. Furthermore, the end of the war brought the end of large
shipments of food seized from occupied nations that had sustained Germany
during the war. Coal production was down 60%, which had cascading negative
effects on railroads, heavy industry, and heating.[147] Industrial production
fell more than half and reached prewar levels only at the end of 1949.[148]
Allied economic policy originally was one of industrial
disarmament plus building the agricultural sector. In the western sectors, most
of the industrial plants had minimal bomb damage and the Allies dismantled 5%
of the industrial plants for reparations.[149]
However, deindustrialization became impractical and the
U.S. instead called for a strong industrial base in Germany so it could
stimulate European economic recovery.[150] The U.S. shipped food in 1945–47 and
made a $600 million loan in 1947 to rebuild German industry. By May 1946 the
removal of machinery had ended, thanks to lobbying by the U.S. Army. The Truman
administration finally realised that economic recovery in Europe could not go
forward without the reconstruction of the German industrial base on which it
had previously been dependent. Washington decided that an "orderly,
prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and
productive Germany."[151][152] (Continoe to 90 b)
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