(N.B. This contains only selected information that is part of the German 352 course. This is not intended to represent a complete historical sketch.)

• A.D. 9 - Hermann (Arminius) of the tribe Cherusci defeats the Roman governor Varus and 3 Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest. Significance?

A.D. 98 - Tacitus, Germania

[Merovingian Dynasty - 5th to 8th century]

[Carolingian Dynasty - 5th to 9th century]

• A.D. 800 - Charlemagne (crowned on Christmas Day)

His capital city: Aachen

Died in 814

Charlemagne's empire: significance for today? Maastricht Treaty

 

A.D. 911 - The Franconian duke Conrad I - first German king ("Frankish King," later "Roman King")

[Saxon Dynasty: 919 - 1024]

A.D. 919-936 - Conrad's successor, the Saxon duke Henry I

A.D. 936-973 - Henry's son, Otto (I)

• A.D. 962 - Otto I -- first emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" crowned in Rome (German king = emperor)

[Salian dynasty: 1039-1125]

A.D. 1039-1056 - Henry III - height of power, supremacy over Papacy

• A.D. 1056-1106 - Henry IV

- squabble with Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) over "lay investiture"

• A.D. 1076 - Henry forces a synod of bishops to depose the Pope; Henry is excommunicated
• A.D. 1077 - "walk to Canossa" Significance?

• Hohenstaufen (STAUFER) Dynasty - 1138-1268
•  A.D. 1152-1190 - Frederick I (Barbarossa)
• - main rival: Saxon duke Henry the Lion (1129-1195)
• - foundation of Munich

A.D. 1190-1197 - Henry VI

A.D. 1212-1250 - Frederick II

• Habsburg dynasty - 1273-1291 - Rudolf I of Hapsburg

A.D. 1438-1806 - Habsburg dynasty

A.D. 1493-1519 - Maximilian I

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 Electoral Monarchy

 Prince Electors: (up to 1257)

• Archbishop of Mainz
• Archbishop of Cologne (Köln)
• Archbishop of Trier
• Count Palatinate
• Duke of Saxony
• Margrave of Brandenburg

 in 1257 King of Bohemia added

• 7 Kurfürsten established (codified) by the Golden Bull of 1356 (Charles IV)

stable situation until 1623 when ruler of Bavaria took the place of the Count Palatinate

1648 (after 30 years' War) Count Palatinate added back as #8

1692 - Hannover (Braunschweig-Lüneburg) added as #9

after 1803 - added were Baden, Hesse-Kassel, Württemberg, and Salzburg, but the Holy Roman Empire really did not exist after 1806 anyway

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Rise of the cities: market place, wall

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October 31, 1517 - Martin Luther: 95 Theses on castle church door in Wittenberg

April 16, 1521 - Luther before the Diet of Worms

• Tetzel - letter of indulgence
• selling of indulgences
• justification by faith alone
• Bible translation/ effect of printing press (Johannes Gutenberg)
• language of the Saxon chancelleries
• created a unified High German language

1522/23 Reich knights rose

1525 - Peasants' Revolt

 

• 1555 - Peace of Augsburg: cujus regio, ejus religio

 John Calvin

Ulrich Zwingli

____________

Counter-Reformation

Protestant Union -1608

Catholic League - 1609

__________

• 30 Years' War - 1618-48, triggered by a local conflict in Bohemia
• 1648 - Peace of Westphalia

- cession of territories to France and Sweden

- confirmed the withdrawal of Switzerland and the Netherlands from the Reich.

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• Hohenzollern Dynasty

Frederick II the Great (1740-1786), King of Prussia

Castle Sanssouci in Potsdam

[1789 - French Revolution]

1806 - Confederation of the Rhine under French protection (Napoleon); Emperor Franz II alys down the crown

1814-1815 - Congress of Vienna: German Confederation

dominance of Prussia and Austria

1834 - German Customs Union

1844 - uprising of the Silesian weavers

• 1848-49 - National Assembly,St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main: imperial crown offered to Frederick William IV of Prussia, who turned it down

1864 - war: Prussia and Austria vs. Denmark

1866 - war: Prussia vs. Austria

• 1870-71 - war: Prussia vs. France (Franco-Prussian War)
• 1871 at Versailles: King William (Wilhelm) I of Prussia proclaimed German Emperor -- Second Reich (Empire) formed with Otto von Bismarck as chancellor

1890 - young William (Wilhelm) II dismisses Bismarck

1914 - heir to the Austrian throne assassinated in Sarajevo. Beginning of World War I

• November 9, 1918: Following the flight of Emperor Wilhelm II from Germany, a republic was proclaimed (later known as the Weimar Republic)
• November 11, 1918: armistice ending World War I
• 1919 - Treaty of Versailles. Significance?

1923 - height of inflation; Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch

• 1925-27 - Hitler's Mein Kampf (My Struggle) published

January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler appointed chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg

• 1933-1945 - The Third Reich
• March 7, 1936 - reoccupation of the Rhineland
• 1936 - Summer Olympic Games in Berlin
• March 1938 - annexation of Austria
• September 1938 - Sudetenland (largely German-speaking) portion of Czechoslovakia occupied
• March 1939 - the rest of Czechoslovakia invaded and subjugated
• September 1, 1939 - invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II in Europe (two days later)

Updated 10/10/01. pjc.