Germanic History

Germanic Tribes

Germany has been occupied since, according to archaeological evidence, at least 500 BC, by Germanic tribes who presumably originated from a mixture of peoples along the Baltic Sea coast. Celts are known to have settled between the Elbe and Oder Rivers from 1,000 BC. By 2^nd century BC, German tribes began to expand at the expense of the Celts, but they were confined by Roman conquests east of the Rhine and north of the Danube (1^st century BC to 1^st century A.D). Between 12 BC and 9 AD the Romans penetrated east as far as the Elbe River.

Battle of Teutoburg Forest

One of the most significant battles of the Roman period was the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest 9 AD, in which Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and wiped out three Roman Legions (20,000 soldiers). The Roman army led by General Publis Q, were attempting to subject the Teutons to Roman rule and taxes. Indeed this battle has been credited to the Saxons as having executed one of the fifteen most decisive battles of world history. After that, the Romans never again seriously tried to expand their empire east of the Rhine.

Germanic Kingdoms

Between the 4^th and 5^th century, the Germanic tribes overran most of the Roman Empire, while Slavic tribes occupied Germany east of the Elbe. Following a century and a half of growing pressure on the Roman frontier, the tribes (Vandals, Burgundians, Alans and Suevi) along the Rhine crossed the river in 407, subsequently establishing various short-lived Germanic kingdoms in parts of modern-day France and Spain. During this time the common Germanic language was Gothic, which was followed by Old High German in the 8^th century.

Frank Kingdom

By the 6^th century, the Anglo-Saxons had established themselves in Britain, and the Franks had taken over nearly all of present-day France, including west and south Germany including Thuringia. The kingdom of the Franks would endure, in varying shape and form, over several centuries under the dynasties of the Merovingians and Carolingians. Clovis I, who first united the Franks late in the 5^th century, accepted Christianity, and St. Boniface spread the gospel in the 8^th century across areas acquired by Clovis's successors. However along the Elbe and Oder Rivers, pagan tribes continued in some parts until the 13^th century.

In 751, Pepin the Short deposed the dynasty of the Merovingians and established his own, that of the Carolingians. His son Charlemagne subjugated Bavaria in 788 and Lower Saxony in 804 extending the Frankish domain in Germany to the Elbe. By this time the Franks were no longer considered a German-speaking people. He was crowned emperor at Rome in 800. The kingdom would span over most of what is today France and Germany.

After the death of Frankish king Louis the Pious, the Frankish lands were divided in the Treaty of Verdun (843) into a western part, the basis of later France, an eastern part, the future Holy Roman Empire (Charlemagne's empire, the kingdom of the Eastern Franks), and a central region (northern Italy, the Low Countries and Burgundy), which was to form the focus of subsequent Franco-German rivalry. In 870, the Treaty of Mersen enlarged it by the addition of part of Lotharingia, but after the death of Louis in 876, it was divided among his sons Carloman, Louis the Younger, and Charles III. Emperor Arnulf reunited the kingdom, but during his reign (887–99) and that of his son Louis the Child (900–911), last of the Carolingian kings of Germany, the Norsemen, Slavs, and Magyars began to make devastating inroads. These contributed to economic breakdown and localisation, manifest in the manorial system.

Saxon Dynasty

Political localisation was evident in the emergence of powerful duchies and in the growth of feudalism. The dukes of Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Upper and Lower Lorraine emerged as the most powerful magnates of Germany. In 911, upon the death of Louis the Child (the last eastern ruler of Charlemagne's line), they elected the Franconian duke Conrad I as king. Conrad's reign was spent in struggles against the Magyars and against the rebellious dukes, one of whom (Henry the Fowler of Saxony) succeeded him in 918. Henry I, begun a century of Saxon rule and is recognised the founder of the Saxon dynasty. Henry restored some of the royal authority, took territory from the Slavs, and secured the election in 936 of his son, Otto I the Great, as his successor.

Holy Roman Empire

Otto I the Great reclaimed the title of Emperor in 962. This empire, later called the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” (Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation) was later referred to as the First Reich. It survived under its Kaiser (emperor, the German form of “Caesar”) until its dissolution in 1806 after the 1789 French Revolution and the military successes of Napoléon I of France. Meanwhile by the conclusion of the Middle Ages nomadic life had been replaced by communities living in fixed settlements where virtually all land had owners. The growth in capitalism removed property controlled by local churches and established free market during first half of 19^th century.

Prussia

After the collapse of the Empire in 1806 and Napoléon's final defeat at Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 redrew the map of Europe. A united German state was not formed; instead, the sovereign German states only formed a loose confederation, the German Confederation, with which the two dominant players, Austria and Prussia, competed. In the following decades, the monarchies in the various states focused on holding back liberal powers at the fear of the French Revolution spilling over to Germany. During that time, liberalism (that is, call for political reform towards democracy) was closely tied with nationalism (the call for a unified Germany). After a long struggle, in 1848, riots broke out in Berlin, and King Frederick William IV of Prussia was forced to promise the protesters a constitutional monarchy. A National Assembly was elected from all German states, which convened in Frankfurt to conclude on a new constitution. By the time this was done, however, the movement had swung back, and King Frederick William refused to take the crown of such a new state. The revolution had failed.

After this, Germany would only be united under the pressure of military leadership through Prussia, in a comparably authoritarian state. Prussia's military successes, especially in the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866 against Austria and in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), led to the formation of Germany as a nation-state under its dominant lead, with Austria left before the door. Earlier in 1864, the German-Danish war began, when the Austrian and Prussian armies invaded Denmark following a dispute regarding who would succeed King Frederick VII. Denmark suffered many casualties, yet did not concede to the threat of German expansion. The war was the first in which the Red Cross participated following the 1863 Geneva conference.

Unification of Germany

The German Empire was proclaimed on January 18 in Versailles. Proclamation of the German Empire or foundation of modern Germany - Reichsgründung - in the Galerie des Glaces, Versailles, January 18, 1871. Although, with the Reichstag, it had a parliament that was elected nation-wide, the Chancellor was appointed by the emperor. Of these, the Empire saw three; Wilhelm I (formerly king of Prussia and crowned emperor in Versailles in 1871), Friedrich III (1888, the Year of Three Emperors), followed by Wilhelm II, who abdicated after the loss of World War One in 1918. The period of the German Empire is referred to as the Second Reich.

World War One

From 1871, the equality of all citizens was constituted in the German Reich, whereas prior distinctions were made between full and half citizens, and protected subjects. The time of the Empire was one of great economic growth through industrialization, which was somewhat late in Germany, but also rising nationalism and militarism, that is shown in the idea of Drang nach Osten. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended World War One held Germany responsible for its outbreak, and transferred significant area of its territory in the east and west to its neighbours. Germany's Colonial possessions were also taken from her. The outbreak of revolution laid the basis for a parliamentary democracy. Following defeat in World War One, Germany was reorganised as the Weimar Republic.

World War Two

The Weimar Republic was replaced by the Third Reich when Adolf Hitler ruled until defeated in 1945 during World War Two.

As a result Germany was divided into four occupation zones, each controlled by an Allied power. Out of the U.S. , French, and British zones West Germany was established in 1949, while the Soviet zone became East Germany. The two Germanys were reunified in 1990 after the fall of the East German Communist government.

Modern Germany

In 2020, the population was estimated at 83,190,556 with GDP of $4.7 trillion.

Today, Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, made up of 16 states, with the capital being Berlin.

Germany is a member of the European Union, United Nations, NATO, G8 and G4 countries. The euro is the national currency.