East Germany Table of Contents
Date Events ANCIENT PERIOD ca. 500 B.C.-A.D. 100 Germania. Roman army defeated by Suevian tribe at Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in A.D. 9 and routed from central Germania. Romans subsequently reconquered Germania west of the Rhine and Danube rivers and constructed fortified frontiers. ca. A.D. 100-600 Collapse of western Roman Empire: last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, deposed in 476 by German armies led by Odovacar. Frankish tribes settled Gaul (France); Lombards settled northern Italy; Anglo-Saxons settled Britain. MEDIEVAL GERMANY (500-1517) Merovingian Dynasty (ca. 500-751) Merovingian kings ruled the Frankishtribes. Clovis, Frankish king 486-511, ruled over Gaul's mixed Germanic- Roman people. Pepin the Younger, Frankish king 741-68, founded Carolingian Empire in 752. Carolingian Empire (752-911) Frankish rule reached from the Spanish marches into central Germany. The ""Donation of Pepin"" (754-56) established the Papal States. Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Frankish king 768-814, conquered Lombardy in 774. Carolingian Empire, known as First Reich, established 800; Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor (HRE) by pope. Louis I (Louis the Pious) HRE 814-40. Treaty of Verdun (843) divided Carolingian Empire among Charlemagne's three grandsons.Germany, France, and Middle Kingdom delineated and imperial title linked with Middle Kingdom. Louis II (Louis the German) ruled east Frankish tribes 843-76. Charles III (Charles the Fat), German king 876-87 and HRE (881). Arnulf of Carinthia, German king 887-99 and HRE (896). Barbarian invasions weakened Carolingian rule; German duchies of Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, Swabia, and Bavaria rose to power. Louis IV, German King 900-911. Conrad I (Conrad of Franconia) elected German king (911-18) following extinction of Carolingian Empire in the east. Saxon Dynasty (919-1024) Frankish and Saxon nobles elected Henry I(Henry the Fowler) German king (919-36). Subordination of duchies. Otto I (Otto the Great), German king 936-73, gained control of the Middle Kingdom, and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation began. German empire extended to the Elbe, and in the south to Vienna. Otto II, HRE 973-83. Otto III, HRE 983-1002. Henry II (Henry the Saint), HRE 1002-24. Salian Dynasty (1024-1125) Conrad II, Duke of Franconia, founded Salian Dynasty; elected HRE (1024-39). Henry III, HRE 1039-56. Henry IV, HRE 1056-1106, challenged Pope Gregory VII. Investiture Controversy and civil war, 1075-1122; German empire weakened and German princes began rise to power. Henry V, HRE 1106-25. The compromise Concordat of Worms (1122) settled papal-imperial struggle. Lothar III, Saxon noble, elected HRE (1125-37). Hohenstaufen Dynasty (1138-1254) Hohenstaufen kings struggled to restore imperial authority. Conrad III elected German king (1138-52). Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa), HRE 1152-90, proclaimed a general peace to restore order and stability. Beginning of Age of Chivalry. Italian expeditions to regain imperial control of Middle Kingdom. Henry VI, HRE 1190-97. Civil war, 1198-1214. Frederick II, HRE 1212-50, restored imperial administration in Italy and Sicily, but German princes gained concessions. Imperial statute of 1232 established the secular and ecclesiastical princes as virtually independent rulers within their own territories (principalities). Great Interregnum, 1256-73; anarchy and civil war. German princes gained power and vied for imperial title; Habsburgs of Austria provided all German kings and emperors from mid-fifteenth century until dissolution of Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Early Habsburg Dynasty (1273-1519) Rudolf of Habsburg elected German (1273-91); acquired Austria and Styria in 1282 and made Habsburgs the strongest German dynasty. Adolf of Nassau elected German king (1292-98). Albert I (Habsburg) elected German king (1298-1308). Henry VII of Luxemburg, HRE 1308-13, founded dynasty that seriously rivaled Habsburgs from its power base in ohemia. Louis IV (Louis the Bavarian) of House of Wittelsbach, HRE 1314-47. Charles IV of Luxemburg, HRE 1355-78, issued Golden Bull of 1356, which granted German princes power to elect emperor and provided basic constitution of Holy Roman Empire. Wenceslas of Bohemia, German king 1378-1400. Rupert of Palatinate, German king (1400-10; Sigismund of Luxemburg, HRE 1400-37, last non- Habsburg emperor until 1742. Habsburgs: Albert II, German king 1438-39; Frederick III, HRE 1440-93; Maximilian I, HRE 1493-1519. PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND RELIGIOUS WARS (1517-1648) Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg in 1517 and challenged papal authority. Charles V HRE 1519-56. Publication in 1520 of Luther's three revolutionary pamphlets. Luther banned by church and empire in 1521. Charles V's wars against France in 1521- 26, 1526-29, 1536-38, and 1542-44. Vienna threatened by Turks in 1529. Diet of Augsburg, 1530; Protestant ""Augsburg Confession"" presented and Protestant League of Schmalkalden formed by German princes. War of Schmalkalden (1546-47) between Charles V and Protestant princes. Peace of Augsburg, 1555; Catholicism and Lutheranism formally recognized in Germany and each prince given right to decide religion to be practiced in his territory. Ferdinand I, HRE 1556-64. Maximilian II, HRE 1564-76. Rudolf II, HRE 1576-1612. Matthias, HRE 1612-19. Bohemian Revolt, 1618; imperial armies defeated Bohemians at Battle of the White Mountain near Prague in 1620. Thirty Years' War (1618-48); Peace of Prague signed in 1635; continuation of war by France; Peace of Westphalia, 1648. End of Holy Roman Empire as a European power . RISE OF PRUSSIA (1648-1815) Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg- Prussia (1640-88), of Hohenzollern Dynasty, established absolute rule. Frederick III, elector of Brandenburg- Prussia (1688-1713), assumed title of king in 1701. Frederick William I, Prussian king 1713-40, created Prussian civil and military bureaucracy. Frederick II (Frederick the Great), Prussian king 1740-86; Seven Years' War (1756-63) against Austria demonstrated discipline of Prussian armies. Frederick William II, Prussian king 1786- 97. Frederick William III, Prussian king 1797-1840. Privileges of nobility within officer corps cast aside during War of Liberation against France. REACTION, REVOLUTION, AND GERMAN UNIFICATION (1815-71) Congress of Vienna (1814-15) after Napoleon's defeat in the War of Liberation (1813-15) established German Confederation of thirty-nine monarchical states. Prince Klemens von Metternich, Austrian chancellor and foreign minister (1809-48) headed confederation. Reversion to old order of social distinctions under Age of Metternich. Struggle between absolutism and liberalism during Vormärz (1815-48). Student unions agitated for democratic reform. Carlsbad Decrees (1819) outlawed radical student organizations. Weimar, Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg enacted constitutions, 1818-19. ""July Revolution"" in France, 1830, sparked revolutionary movements in Germany; Hesse and Saxony enacted constitutions. Brunswick, Hanover, and Oldenburg enacted constitutions in 1833. Zollverein (Customs Union) created in 1834. March 1848 revolution in Germany. Frankfurt Assembly (May 1848) planned constitutional German nation-state. Frederick William IV, Prussian king 1840-61, refused German crown in 1849; Frankfurt Assembly dissolved. German Confederation restored in 1851. Prussia agreed to relinquish plans for a German union under its leadership in Treaty of Olmütz. Wilhelm I, Prussian king 1861-88; Otto von Bismarck, chancellor 1862-90, united Germany. Constitutional struggle, 1862-66; Prussian king vied with German liberals in parliament on issue of budget for military expansion; Schleswig-Holstein War, 1864. Seven Weeks' War (1866) between Austria and Prussia; German Confederation dissolved and Austria excluded from German politics. Austro-Hungarian Empire created in 1867. North German Confederation (1867) headed by Prussia. Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71. Second Reich--Germany united as nation- state. IMPERIAL GERMANY (1871-1918) Wilhelm I, German emperor 1871-88. Bismarck, chancellor 1871-90. Antisocialist law enacted 1878. Dual Alliance (1879): Germany, Austria-Hungary. Domestic alliance between aristocrats and industrialists. Comprehensive social legislation program, 1881. Triple Alliance (1882): Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. German colonies established 1884-85 in South-West Africa, Togo, the Cameroons, East Africa, and some Pacific islands. Frederick III, German emperor March 9-June 15, 1888. Wilhelm II, German emperor 1888-1918. Bismarck's fall, 1890. Leo von Caprivi, chancellor 1890-94. Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe, chancellor 1894-1900. Naval Bill (1898) began naval race against Britain. Bernhard von Bülow, chancellor 1900-1909. Moroccan crisis, 1905, in which Germany intervened in French and British sphere of influence. Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, chancellor 1909- 17. Moroccan crisis, 1911, in which Germany sent gunboat to port of Agadir. New Naval Bill, 1912. Balkan Wars, 1912-13, a nationalist rebellion against Ottoman rule. Assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 28, 1914) in Sarajevo, Bosnia; Austria's declaration of war on Serbia. World War I (1914-18); Germans defeated. WEIMAR REPUBLIC (1918-33) November Revolution, 1918; Wilhelm II's abdication. Social Democrats proclaimed republic. German armistice (November 11). Suppression of revolt by Spartacus League in January 1919. Treaty of Versailles, 1919. Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert elected president (1919-25). Right-wing Kapp Putsch attempted, 1920. Communist revolts in central Germany, Hamburg, and Ruhr district, 1921. Occupation of Ruhr by French and Belgian troops, 1923. Hitler's beer hall putsch attempted in Munich. Gustav Stresemann, chancellor August-November 1923 and foreign minister 1923- 29, formulated policy of rapprochement with West. Dawes Plan on reparations, 1924. French-Belgian troops withdrawn from Ruhr, 1925. Paul von Hindenburg, World War I army commander, elected president (1925-34). Locarno treaties, 1925, and Treaty of Berlin with Soviet Union, 1926. Germany joined League of Nations, 1926. Young Plan on reparations, 1929; Allied troops withdrawn from Rhineland, 1930. Depression Years (1929-33) andcabinet crises. Heinrich Brüning, chancellor 1930-32; government by presidential decree (Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution). Franz von Papen, chancellor May-December 1932; Hitler's National Socialists won 230 Reichstag seats in July 1932 elections and emerged as Germany's strongest political party. Kurt von Schleicher, chancellor December 1932-January 1933. President Hindenburg appointed Hitler to chancellorship on January 30, 1933. THIRD REICH (1933-45) Reichstag fire, February 1933; Hitler demanded presidential emergency decree. Enabling Act (March 1933) accorded Hitler's cabinet dictatorial powers. Germany declared one-party National Socialist state, July 1933. Death of Hindenburg, August 1934; Hitler combined offices of president and chancellor. German rearmament, 1935. Rhineland remilitarized in 1936 and Berlin-Rome Axis formed. At secret conference (November 1937) Hitler announced intention to begin eastward expansion. Austrian Anschluss (annexation) in March 1938. Czechoslovak Sudetenland annexed, October 1938. Germany occupied Czech- populated provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, March 1939. Poland invaded in September 1939. World War II (1939-45). GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (1949-) Yalta Conference (February 1945) determined division of Germany into occupation zones. Soviet occupation zone came under political and economic domination of Soviet Union; Communist Party of Germany and Social Democrats merged to form Socialist Unity Party of Germany on April 1946. German Democratic Republic (East Germany) proclaimed October 7, 1949; German Communist, Walter Ulbricht, first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1949- 71). Stalinization, 1949-55. East Germany joined Comecon (see Glossary) in 1950. Workers' uprising, June 1953. East Germany granted formal sovereignty by Soviet Union, 1954. Joined Warsaw Pact in 1956. Berlin Wall built August 1961. New Economic System--economic reform program, 1963-67. Ulbricht dismissed May 1971; Honecker named new party leader, and détente negotiations begun. Ideological Abgrenzung (demarcation) between East Germany and West Germany. Four Power Agreement on Berlin, 1971. Basic Treaty between East Germany and West Germany (1972) recognized two German states. Admission to United Nations, 1973. Tenth Party Congress (1981) confirmed East Germany's commitment to Soviet Union.
Data as of July 1987