CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS (A.D. 500-1000)
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (1000-1500)
Map: German History & Art Timeline
RELIGIOUS STRUGGLES AND THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR (1500-1700)
Map: Germany in the Early 1800s
WORLD WAR I AND HITLER’S RISE (1914-1939)
TWO GERMANYS…AND REUNIFICATION (1945-2000)
A united Germany has only existed since 1871, but the cultural heritage of the German-speaking people stretches back 2,000 years.
German history begins in A.D. 9, when Roman troops were ambushed and driven back by the German chief Arminius. For the next 250 years, the Rhine and Danube rivers marked the border between civilized Roman Europe (to the southwest) and “barbarian” German lands (to the northeast). While the rest of Western Europe’s future would be Roman, Christian, and Latin, most of Germany followed a separate, pagan path.
In A.D. 476, Rome fell to the Germanic chief Theodoric the Great (a.k.a. Dietrich of Bern). After that, Germanic Franks controlled northern Europe, ruling a mixed population of Romanized Christians and tree-worshipping pagans. Rome’s imprint on Germany remains in place names like Cologne (“Colonia” was an important Roman city) and great monuments like Trier’s Porta Nigra.
For Christmas in A.D. 800, the pope gave Charlemagne the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, was the first of many German kings to be called Kaiser (“emperor,” from “Caesar”) over the next thousand years. Allied with the pope, Charlemagne ruled an empire that included Germany, Austria, France, the Low Countries, and northern Italy.
Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse, or Charles the Great, r. 768-814) stood a head taller than his subjects, and his foot became a standard unit of measurement. The stuff of legend, Charlemagne had five wives and four concubines, producing descendants with names like Charles the Bald, Louis the Pious, and Henry the Quarrelsome. His eldest son, Pippin the Hunchback, led a failed coup against Charlemagne and was exiled to a monastery. When Charlemagne died of pneumonia (814), he lacked a clear heir. His united empire was divided into (what would become) Germany, France, and the lands in between (Treaty of Verdun, 843).
Chaotic medieval Germany was made up of more than 300 small, quarreling dukedoms ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. The title was pretty bogus, implying that the German king ruled the same huge European empire as the ancient Romans. In fact, he was “Holy” because he was blessed by the pope, “Roman” to recall ancient grandeur, and the figurehead “Emperor” of what was an empire in name only.
Holy Roman Emperors had less hands-on power than other kings around Europe. Because of the custom of electing emperors by nobles and archbishops, rather than by bestowing the title through inheritance, they couldn’t pass the crown from father to son. In addition, there were no empire-wide taxes and no national capital. This system gave nobles great power: Peasants had to huddle close to their local noble’s castle for protection from attack by the noble next door.
When Emperor Henry IV (r. 1056-1106) tried to assert his power by appointing bishops, he was slapped down by the nobles, and forced to repent to the pope by standing barefoot in the alpine snow for three days at Canossa (in northern Italy, 1077).
Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190), blue-eyed and red-bearded (hence barba rossa), gained an international reputation as a valiant knight, gentleman, bon vivant, and lover of poetry and women. Still, his great victories were away in Italy and Asia (on the Third Crusade, where he drowned in a river), while back home nobles wielded the real power.
This was the era of Germany’s troubadours (Meistersinger), who traveled from castle to castle singing love songs (Minnesang) and telling the epic tales of chivalrous knights (Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal, and the Nibelungen) that would later inspire German nationalism and Wagnerian operas.
While France, England, and Spain were centralizing power around a single ruling family to create nation-states, Germany remained a decentralized, backward, feudal battleground.
Nevertheless, Germany was strategically located at the center of Europe, and trading towns prospered. Berlin was born when inhabitants of the region of Brandenburg settled on a marshy island in the Spree River. Several northern towns (especially Hamburg and Lübeck) banded together into the Hanseatic League, promoting open trade around the Baltic Sea. To curry favor at election time, emperors granted powers and privileges to certain towns, which were designated “free imperial cities.” Some towns, such as Cologne, Mainz, Dresden, and Trier, held higher status than many nobles, as hosts of one of the seven “electors” of the emperor. To this day, every German town keeps careful track of whether it was “free” during the Middle Ages—or answered to a duke, king, archbishop, or elector in another place.
Textiles, mining, and the colonization of lands to the east made Germany an economic powerhouse with a thriving middle class. In towns, middle-class folks (burghers), not aristocrats, began running things. In about 1450, Johann Gutenberg of Mainz figured out how to use moveable type for printing, an innovation that would allow the export of a new commodity: ideas. Around this time, Berlin came under the rule of the powerful Hohenzollern family, who began a palace complex on what is now that city’s “Museum Island.” The Hohenzollern’s influence soon spread throughout northern Germany (Prussia).
Martin Luther—German monk, fiery orator, and religious whistle-blower—sparked a century of European wars by speaking out against the Catholic Church. Luther’s protests (“Protestantism”) threw Germany into a century of turmoil, as each local prince took sides between Catholics and Protestants. In the 1525 Peasant Revolt, peasants attacked their feudal masters with hoes and pitchforks, fighting for more food, political say-so, and respect. The revolt was brutally put down.
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (r. 1519-1556), sided with the pope. Charles was the most powerful man in Europe, having inherited an empire that included Germany and Austria, plus the Low Countries, much of Italy, Spain, and Spain’s New World possessions. But many local German nobles took the opportunity to go Protestant—some for religious reasons, but also as an excuse to seize Church assets and powers.
The 1555 Peace of Augsburg allowed each local noble to decide the religion of his realm. In general, the northern and eastern lands became Protestant, while the south (today’s Bavaria, along with Austria) and west remained Catholic.
Unresolved religious and political differences eventually expanded into the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). This Europe-wide war, fought mainly on German soil, involved Denmark, Sweden, France, and Bohemia (in today’s Czech Republic), among others. It was one of history’s bloodiest wars, fueled by religious extremism and political opportunism, and fought by armies of brutal mercenaries who worked on commission and were paid in loot and pillage.
By the war’s end (Treaty of Westphalia, 1648), a third of all Germans had died, France was the rising European power, and the Holy Roman Empire was a medieval mess of scattered feudal states. In 1689, France’s Louis XIV swept down the Rhine, gutting and leveling its once-great castles, and Germany ceased to be a major player in European politics until the modern era.
The German-speaking lands now consisted of three “Germanys”: Austria in the south, Prussia in the north, and the rest in between.
Prussia—originally a largely Slavic region colonized by celibate ex-Crusaders called Teutonic Knights was forged into a unified state by two strong kings. Frederick I (the “King Sergeant,” r. 1701-1713) built a modern state around a highly disciplined army, a centralized government (with Berlin as its capital), and national pride.
His grandson, Frederick II “The Great” (r. 1740-1786), added French culture and worldliness, preparing militaristic Prussia to enter the world stage. A well-read, flute-playing lover of the arts and liberal ideals, Frederick also ruled with an iron fist—the very model of the “enlightened despot.” Meanwhile, Austria thrived under the laid-back rule of the Habsburg family. The Habsburgs gained power in Europe by marrying it. They acquired the Netherlands, Spain, and Bohemia that way (a strategy that didn’t work so well for Marie-Antoinette, who wed the doomed king of France).
In the 1700s, the Germanic lands became a cultural powerhouse, producing musicians (Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), writers (Goethe, Schiller), and thinkers (Kant, Leibniz). Sophisticated Berlin became the epicenter of Prussian culture. But politically, feudal Germany was no match for the modern powers.
After the French Revolution (1789), Napoleon swept through Germany with his armies, deposing feudal lords, emancipating Jews, confiscating church lands, and forcing the Holy Roman Emperor to hand over his crown (1806). After a thousand years, the Holy Roman Empire was dead.
Napoleon’s invasion helped unify the German-speaking peoples by rallying them against a common foreign enemy. After Napoleon’s defeat, the Congress of Vienna (1815), presided over by the Austrian Prince Metternich, realigned Europe’s borders. The idea of unifying the three Germanic nations—Prussia, Austria, and the German Confederation, a loose collection of small states in between—began to grow. By mid-century, most German-speaking people favored forming a modern nation-state; the only question was whether the confederation would be under Prussian or Austrian dominance.
Economically, Germany was becoming increasingly efficient and modern, with a unified trade organization (1834), railroads (1835), mechanical-engineering prowess, and booming factories benefiting from a surplus of labor. Berlin was changing into a world-class city graced by Neoclassical buildings designed by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (including many of today’s museums). By 1850, with its Unter den Linden boulevard and the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin rivaled Paris as Europe’s most elegant promenade.
History comes to life when you visit a centuries-old church. Even if you wouldn’t know your apse from a hole in the ground, learning a few simple terms will enrich your experience. Note that not every church has every feature, and a “cathedral” isn’t a type of church architecture, but rather a designation for a church that’s a governing center for a local bishop.
Aisles: The long, generally low-ceilinged arcades that flank the nave.
Altar: The raised area with a ceremonial table (often adorned with candles or a crucifix), where the priest prepares and serves the bread and wine for Communion.
Apse: The space beyond the altar, often bordered with small chapels.
Barrel Vault: A continuous round-arched ceiling that resembles an extended upside-down U.
Choir: A cozy area, often screened off, located within the church nave and near the high altar where services are sung in a more intimate setting.
Cloister: Covered hallways bordering a square or rectangular open-air courtyard, traditionally where monks and nuns got fresh air.
Facade: The front exterior surface of the church’s main (west) entrance, viewable from outside and generally highly decorated.
Groin Vault: An arched ceiling formed where two equal barrel vaults meet at right angles. Less common usage: term for a medieval jock strap.
Narthex: The area (portico or foyer) between the main entry and the nave.
Nave: The long, central section of the church (running west to east, from the entrance to the altar) where the congregation sits or stands through the service.
Transept: In a traditional cross-shaped floor plan, the transept is one of the two parts forming the “arms” of the cross. The transepts run north-south, perpendicularly crossing the east-west nave.
West Portal: The main entry to the church (on the west end, opposite the main altar).
Castles were fortified residences for medieval nobles. Castles come in all shapes and sizes, but knowing a few general terms will help you understand them.
Barbican: A fortified gatehouse, sometimes a standalone building located outside the main walls.
Crenellation: A gap-toothed pattern of stones atop the parapet.
Drawbridge: A bridge that could be raised or lowered using counterweights or a chain-and-winch.
Great Hall: The largest room in the castle, serving as throne room, conference center, and dining hall.
Hoardings (or Gallery or Brattice): Wooden huts built onto the upper parts of the stone walls. They served as watch towers, living quarters, and fighting platforms.
Keep (or Donjon): A high, strong stone tower in the center of the complex; the lord’s home and refuge of last resort.
Loopholes (or Embrasures): Narrow wall slits through which soldiers could shoot arrows.
Machicolation: A stone ledge jutting out from the wall, with holes through which soldiers could drop rocks or boiling water onto wall-scaling enemies below.
Moat: A ditch encircling the wall, sometimes filled with water.
Parapet: Outer railing of the wall walk.
Portcullis: An iron grille that could be lowered across the entrance.
Postern Gate: A small, unfortified side or rear entrance. In wartime, it became a “sally-port” used to launch surprise attacks, or as an escape route.
Towers: Square or round structures with crenellated tops or conical roofs serving as lookouts, chapels, living quarters, or the dungeon.
Turret: A small lookout tower rising from the top of the wall.
Wall Walk (or Allure): A pathway atop the wall where guards could patrol and where soldiers stood to fire at the enemy.
Yard (or Bailey): An open courtyard inside the castle walls.
Energetic Prussia took the lead in unifying the country. Otto von Bismarck (served 1862-1890), the strong minister of Prussia’s weak king, used cunning politics to engineer a unified Germany under Prussian dominance. First, he started a war with Austria, ensuring that any united Germany would be under Prussian control. (Austria remains a separate country to this day.) Next, Bismarck provoked a war with France (the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871), which united Prussia and the German Confederation against their common enemy, France.
Fueled by hysterical patriotism, German armies swept through France and, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, crowned Prussia’s Wilhelm I as Emperor (Kaiser) of a new German Empire, uniting Prussia and the German Confederation (but excluding Austria). Berlin was the obvious choice as the new imperial capital. This Second Reich (1871-1918) featured elements of democracy (an elected Reichstag—parliament), offset by a strong military and an emperor with veto powers.
A united and resurgent Germany was suddenly flexing its muscles in European politics. Berlin’s population boomed, prompting the construction of Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, and other outlying districts. With strong industry, war spoils, overseas colonies, and a large and disciplined military, Germany sought its rightful place in the sun. Fueled by nationalistic fervor, patriotic Volk art flourished (Wagner’s operas, Nietzsche’s essays), reviving medieval German myths and Nordic gods. The rest of Europe saw Germany’s rapid rise—and began arming themselves to the teeth. In Berlin, the imposing Berlin Cathedral was built, announcing the über-nationalism of Kaiser Wilhelm II that would lead Europe into World War I.
When Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in 1914, all of Europe took sides as the political squabble quickly escalated into World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary attacked British and French troops in France, but were stalled at the Battle of the Marne. Both sides dug defensive trenches, then settled in for four brutal years of bloodshed, boredom, mud, machine-gun fire, disease, and mustard gas.
Finally, at 11:00 in the morning of November 11, 1918, the fighting ceased. Germany surrendered, signing the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The war cost the defeated German nation 1.7 million men, precious territory, colonies, military rights, reparations money, and national pride.
A new democratic government called the Weimar Republic (1919) dutifully abided by the Treaty of Versailles, and tried to maintain order among Germany’s many divided political parties. But after the humiliating defeat, the country was in ruins, its economy a shambles, and the war’s victors demanded heavy reparations. Berlin attracted the disillusioned as the center of decadent cabaret nightlife—especially near today’s Ku’damm and along Friedrichstrasse. Elsewhere, communists rioted in the streets, fascists plotted coups, and inflation drove the price of a loaf of bread to a billion marks. War vets grumbled in their beer about how their leaders had sold them out. All Germans, regardless of their political affiliations, were fervently united in their apathy toward the new democracy. When the worldwide depression of 1929 hit Germany with brutal force, the nation was desperate for a strong leader with answers.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a disgruntled vet who had spent the post-World War I years homeless, wandering the streets of Vienna with sketchpad in hand, hoping to become an artist. In Munich, he joined other disaffected Germans to form the National Socialist German Workers’ Party—the Nazis. In stirring speeches, Hitler promised to restore Germany to its rightful glory, blaming the country’s current problems on communists, foreigners, and Jews. After an unsuccessful coup attempt (the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, 1923), Hitler was sent to jail, where he wrote an influential book of his political ideas, titled Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
By 1930, the Nazis—now wearing power suits and working within the system—had become a formidable political party in Germany’s democracy. They won 38 percent of the seats in the Reichstag in 1932, and Hitler was appointed chancellor (1933). Two months later, the Reichstag building was mysteriously set on fire—an apparent act of terrorism with a September 11-sized impact—and a terrified Germany gave Chancellor Hitler sweeping powers to preserve national security.
Hitler wasted no time in using this Enabling Act to jail opponents, terrorize the citizenry, and organize every aspect of German life under the watchful eye of the Nazi Party. Plumbers’ unions, choral societies, schoolteachers, church pastors, filmmakers, and artists all had to account to a Nazi Party official about how their work furthered the Third Reich.
For the next decade, an all-powerful Hitler revived Germany’s economy, building the autobahns and rebuilding the military. Defying the Treaty of Versailles and world opinion, Hitler proceeded with his Four-Year Plan to re-arm Germany: He occupied the Saar region (1935) and the Rhineland (1936), annexed Austria and the Sudetenland (1938), and invaded Czechoslovakia (March 1939). The rest of Europe finally reached its appeasement limit—and World War II began—when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 (see timeline on here). When the war was over (1945), countless millions were dead and most German cities had been bombed beyond recognition. The Third Reich was over.
After World War II, the Allies divided occupied Germany into two halves, split down the middle by an 855-mile border that Winston Churchill called an “Iron Curtain.” By 1949, Germany was officially two separate countries. West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany) was democratic and capitalist, allied with the powerful United States. East Germany (the German Democratic Republic, or DDR) was a communist state under Soviet control. The former capital, Berlin, sitting in East German territory, was itself split into two parts, allowing a tiny pocket of Western life in the Soviet-controlled East. In 1961, the East German government erected a 12-foot-high concrete wall through the heart of Berlin—physically dividing the city in two, isolating West Berlin, and preventing East German citizens from fleeing to the West. Over the next decades, more than a hundred East Germans would die or be arrested trying to cross that Wall. The Berlin Wall came to symbolize a divided Germany.
In West Germany, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (who had suffered imprisonment under the Nazis) tried to restore Germany’s good name, paying war reparations and joining international organizations of nations. Thanks to US aid from the Marshall Plan, West Germany was rebuilt, democracy was established, and its “economic miracle” quickly exceeded pre-WWII levels. Adenauer was eventually succeeded in 1969 by the US-friendly Willy Brandt.
Meanwhile, East Germany was ruled with an iron fist by Walter Ulbricht (who had been exiled by the Nazis). In 1953, demonstrations and anti-government protests were brutally put down by Soviet—not German—troops. Erich Honecker (a kinder, gentler tyrant who had endured a decade of Nazi imprisonment) succeeded Ulbricht as ruler of the East in 1971.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, both the US and the Soviet Union used divided Germany as a military base. West Germans debated whether US missiles aimed at the Soviets should be placed in their country. Economically, West Germany just got stronger while East Germany stagnated.
As the Soviet Union collapsed, so did its client nation, East Germany. On November 9, 1989, East Germany unexpectedly opened the Berlin Wall. Astonished Germans from both sides climbed the Wall, hugged each other, shared bottles of beer, sang songs, and chiseled off souvenirs. At first, most Germans—West and East—simply looked forward to free travel and better relations between two distinct nations. But before the month was out, negotiations and elections to reunite the two Germanys had begun. October 3, 1990 was proclaimed German Unity Day, and Berlin re-assumed its status as the German capital in 1991.
In the decade that followed, in reunified Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, formerly part of the Berlin Wall’s “death strip,” was redeveloped into a forest of skyscrapers. The glittering new dome atop the Reichstag—which had been damaged in World War II and sat unused for decades—formally opened, giving the German people a birds-eye view of their government at work. Formerly dilapidated neighborhoods (first Prenzlauer Berg, then Kreuzberg, now Friedrichshain) rapidly gentrified, and the city erected several monuments to the victims of both the Nazis and the Cold War divide. Germany was ready to set its painful past behind.
Today Germany is a major economic and political force in Europe. It’s a powerful member of the European Union—an organization whose original chief aim was to avoid future wars by embracing Germany in the economic web of Europe. Recently, however, Germany has outgrown its role as a mere member state to become, thanks to its economic might, the EU’s de facto leader. (While many other European countries were hard hit by the economic crisis of the last decade, Germany—with the largest economy in the EU—emerged relatively unscathed.)
German elections in 2005 resulted in no clear victory, and both major parties formed a “Grand Coalition,” sharing power equally under Germany’s first female chancellor, Angela Merkel, who the media like to call “Mutti” (Mommy). While representing the center-right Christian Democratic Union, Merkel’s cautious, centrist, pro-business policies earned her broad support and re-election in 2009, 2013, and 2017. Though she governs with coalition partners, she is considered one of the world’s most powerful people. Re-elected to her fourth term in September 2017, Merkel is Europe’s longest-serving elected female leader—breaking Margaret Thatcher’s 11-year record.
Painfully aware of tensions that still linger even decades after World War II, many Germans have been reluctant to embrace their country’s dominant role in Europe. But this hesitancy is slipping away. The 2006 World Cup is often cited as a turning point—not because Germany successfully hosted the huge event, but because that’s when a new generation of Germans embraced their country’s flag en masse. For the first time since World War II, Germans exhibited a national pride that they no longer feared would be confused with Nazi sentiment.
In 2014, the country’s spirit got a huge boost when its soccer team won the World Cup, its first as a united nation. And while Chancellor Merkel’s EU austerity measures have proved widely unpopular in many corners of Europe, her firm stance has been largely applauded by a German population that’s increasingly comfortable calling the shots.
Merkel’s popularity weakened somewhat in 2015 after she welcomed Syrian refugees fleeing that nation’s civil war. About 1.1 million people claimed asylum, and the flood of refugees taxed Germany’s social services. Her decision was praised by some (she was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year) but sparked a backlash among others, concerned about Germany’s ability to absorb so many newcomers.
1939: Soldiers singing “Muss ich denn, Muss ich denn zum Städtele hinaus” (“I must leave, I must leave my happy home”) march off to war. On September 1, Germany invades Poland to seize the free city of Danzig (Gdańsk), sparking World War II. Germany, Italy, and Japan (the Axis) would eventually square off against the Allies—which included Britain, France, the United States, and the USSR.
1940: The Nazi Blitzkrieg (lightning war) quickly sweeps through Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France; later it also conquers Yugoslavia and Greece. With fellow fascists ruling Italy (Mussolini), Spain (Franco), and Portugal (Salazar), the Continent is now dominated by fascists, creating a “fortress Europe.”
1941: Hitler invades his former ally, the USSR. Bombastic victory parades in Berlin celebrate the triumph of the Aryan race over the lesser peoples of the world.
1942: Allied bombs begin falling on German cities. That autumn and winter, German families receive death notices from the horrific Battle of Stalingrad. The German army suffers around 850,000 casualties (by comparison, the US had roughly 214,000 casualties for the entire Vietnam War). Back home, Nazi officials begin their plan for the “final solution to the Jewish problem”—systematic execution of Europe’s Jews in specially built death camps.
1943: Germany fights a two-front war: against tenacious Soviets on the bitter Eastern Front, and against Brits and Yanks advancing north through Italy on the Western Front. Germany’s industrial output tries desperately to keep up with that of the Allies. The average German suffers through shortages, rationing, and frequent trips to the bomb shelter.
1944: Hitler’s no-surrender policy is increasingly unpopular, and he narrowly survives an assassination attempt by members of his own military. After the Allies reach France on D-Day, Germany counterattacks with a last-gasp offensive (the Battle of the Bulge) that slows but doesn’t stop the Allies.
1945: Soviet soldiers approach Berlin from the east, and Americans and Brits advance from the west. Adolf Hitler commits suicide, and families lock up their daughters to protect them from rapacious Soviet soldiers. When Germany finally surrenders on May 8, the country is in ruins, occupied by several foreign powers, divided into occupation zones, and viewed by the world as an immoral monster.
War’s Aftermath: German citizens are faced with the scope of the mass killings and atrocities committed by their leaders and accomplices. Over 11 million people have been systemically murdered—6 million Jews, as well as people with disabilities, homosexuals, prisoners of war, political dissidents, and ethnic minorities.
Like the US and other European nations, Germany has been the target of isolated terrorist incidents. During New Year’s Eve celebrations in 2015, an orchestrated series of sexual assaults and thefts rippled through German cities (especially Cologne); many of the perpetrators were determined to have been North African migrants. And in 2016, a 24-year-old Tunisian man plowed a tractor-trailer into Berlin’s Christmas market, killing 12. These events increased pressure on Germany’s leaders to take a tougher stance on immigration, though the country’s population remains generally welcoming.
The long-term viability of the EU is another challenge facing Germany. As the biggest and staunchest EU booster, Germany must grapple with the implications of Brexit (Britain’s decision to withdraw from the EU) and the rise of other European anti-EU movements.
For more on German history, consider Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler, written by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw (available at www.ricksteves.com).