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Germany - A Timeline 800-968
800 — Charlemagne crowned emperor in Rome 814 — Charlemagne died in Aachen 843 — Under the Treaty of Verdun, Charlemagne's grandchildren divided up the empire: Lothar received the central, Charles the Bold the western, and Ludwig the German the eastern territories 870 — Formation of the duchies of Franconia, Saxony, Bavaria, Swabia and, in approximately 900, Lorraine 911 — Upon extinction of the Carolingians, Conrad of Franconia became King of Germany 919 — The Saxon Duke, Henry I, elected king. The Saxon dynasty ruled Germany until 1024 955 — Otto I defeated the Hungarians at Lechfeld near Augsburg 962 — Otto I was crowned Emperor in Rome and was recognized by Byzantium 968 — Creation of the archbishopric of Magdeburg as the center of the colonizing movement to the east 1024-1190 1024-1255 — The Salian dynasty 1075 — Beginning of the "investiture" dispute between the Emperor and the Pope (i.e. as to who had the right to appoint bishops).Settled by the concordat of Worms in 1122 1096 — Beginning of the first Crusade 1138 -1254 — The Hohenstaufen dynasty 1180 — Frederick I (Barbarossa) outlawed the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion 1190 — The Teutonic Order was founded in Akko. In the 13th and 14th centuries it dominated vast territories along the Baltic coast 1235-1495
1235 — Emperor Frederick II proclaimed the Peace of Mainz, the first imperial law in the German language 1256-1273 — The Great Interregnum 1273 — Rudolf of Hapsburg became king of Germany. He increased power by his victory over King Ottocar II of Bohemia 1293 — Lübeck became the leading city of the Hanseatic League 1348 — The founding of the first German university in Prague, which Charles IV made the permanent capital of the empire 1348-1352 — The Plague ("black death") 1356 — The Golden Bull laid down the rules for the election of the king, who was to be elected in Frankfurt and crowned in Aachen 1370 — Victory of the Hanseatic League over the Danes 1400 — King Wenceslas was removed from the throne by the electors on account of his incapacity 1417 — The Hohenzollern Frederick I, burgrave of Nuremberg, became elector of Brandenburg 1452 — Last coronation of a German emperor in Rome (Frederick III) 1493 — Peasants' uprising on the upper Rhine 1495 — Proclamation of the "Eternal Peace" at the Diet of Worms 1499 — Switzerland broke away from the empire 1517-1697 1517 — Luther proclaimed his 95 theses; beginning of the Reformation 1522-1523 — Uprising of the knights 1524-1525 — Peasants' War 1529 — The Turks laid siege to Vienna 1546-1547 — Emperor Charles V defeated the Protestant princes and towns allied against him 1555 — The Peace of Augsburg (the princes henceforth determine the religion of their territories) 1618 — A protest by Bohemian Protestants in Prague marked the beginning of the Thirty Years War 1648 — The Peace of Westphalia, concluded at Muenster and Osnabrueck, ended the Thirty Years War 1663-1806 — The "permanent imperial diet" at Regensburg (congress of representatives of the princes and towns of the empire) 1683 — Repulsion of the second Turkish attack on Vienna 1697 — Prince August the Strong of Saxony became King of Poland 1701-1890 1701 — The elector Frederick III of Brandenburg crowned himself King Frederick I of Prussia in Koenigsberg 1717 — Introduction of general compulsory education in Prussia 1740-1742 — First Silesian War between Prussia and Austria 1744-1745 — Second Silesian War 1756-1763 — The Seven-Year War (Prussia against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and most of the imperial electors). The peace of Hubertusburg (1763) established the Dualism of Prussia and Austria 1792 — Beginning of the war against revolutionary France 1803 — Redistribution of Germany 1806 — Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 1807 — Peace of Tilsit between France and Prussia
Beginning of the Stein-Hardenberg reforms in Prussia 1813-1815 — Liberation wars against Napoleonic France 1815 — Founding of the German Confederation
Holy Alliance between Russia, Austria and Prussia to suppress liberal movements 1834 — Founding of the German Customs Union 1835 — First German railway between Nuremberg and Furth 1848 — Revolution in Germany;
Frankfurt National Assembly
Dissolution of the Prussian National Assembly
granting of a constitution 1849 — Campaign for a constitution for the Reich
Uprisings in Saxony, Breslau and Baden are violently repressed
Three Kings' Alliance between Prussia, Saxony and Hanover;
Passing of the 'Erfurt Reich Constitution' based on the Prussian policy of union 1850 — Implementation of the Prussian Constitution
Introduction of the three-class electoral system in Prussia 1861 — Founding of the German Progress Party
Death of Frederick William IV
accession to the throne of William I 1862 — Bismarck became Prime Minister of Prussia 1863 — Founding of the General German Workers Association (predecessor of Social Democracy) in Leipzig under the leadership of Ferdinand Lasalle 1864 — Prussian-Austrian victory over Denmark 1866 — War between Prussia and Austria; dissolution of the German Confederation 1870-1871 — Franco-German War 1871 — Founding of the German Empire with Bismarck as Reich Chancellor
Coronation of Emperor William I in Versailles 1872-1880 — Bismarck's "Kulturkampf" (cultural struggle) against the Catholic Church 1878-1890 — Persecution of the Social Democrats (Anti-Socialist Act) 1882 — Tripartite alliance with Austria and Italy 1883-1889 — Enactment of progressive social security legislation 1888 — Deaths of Kaiser William I and Frederick III
Accession to the throne of William II 1890 — Dismissal of Bismarck 1900-1948 1900 — The Civil Code 1914 — Outbreak of World War I 1918 — November revolution; armistice; declaration of a republic by the Social Democrat Scheidemann 1919 — Election of a National Assembly in Weimar
Friedrich Ebert elected Reich President
Peace Treaty of Versailles 1923 — Raging inflation; attempted coups by right-wing and left-wing radical groups 1925 — Hindenburg elected Reich President 1926 — Germany admitted to the League of Nations 1933 — Hitler became Reich Chancellor 1935 — Anti-Jewish "Nuremberg Laws" 1938 — Annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland 1939 — German-Soviet non-agression pact
Germany's attack on Poland, beginning of World War II 1942 — Wannsee Conference (Nazi leadership decides to systematically eradicate European Jewry) 1945 — Hitler's suicide; unconditional surrender and occupation of Germany
Potsdam Conference on Germany 1946-1948 — Constitutions adopted by the German Länder (states) 1948 — End of Allied administration; separate currency reforms in East and West Germany 1948-1949 — Blockade of West Berlin by the Soviet Union, Berlin Airlift 1949-1989 1949 — Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic
Proclamation of the Basic Law (Constitution) of the Federal Republic of Germany
Election of the first Bundestag
Theodor Heuss Federal President (1949-1959)
Konrad Adenauer Federal Chancellor (1949-1963) 1950-1971 Walter Ulbricht leader of the SED (Communist Party of East Germany) 1951 — Federal Republic of Germany becomes member of the Council of Europe and of the European Coal and Steel Community 1953 — Uprising in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) 1955 — Accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to NATO and of the GDR to the Warsaw Pact 1957 — The Saarland becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany 1959-1969 — Heinrich Lubke Federal President 1961 — The government of East Germany builds the Berlin Wall 1963-1966 — Ludwig Erhard Federal Chancellor 1966-1969 — Kurt Georg Kiesinger Federal Chancellor (Grand Coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD) 1968 — Student unrest and "extra-parliamentary opposition" in the Federal Republic of Germany 1969-1974 — Willy Brandt Federal Chancellor
Gustav Heinemann Federal President (1969-1974) 1970 — The Federal Republic of Germany concludes treaties with the Soviet Union and Poland and begins negotiations with the GDR 1971 — Four Power (Quadripartite - US, Great Britain, France, and USSR) Agreement on Berlin
Chancellor Willy Brandt receives Nobel Peace Prize
Removal of Walter Ulbricht
Erich Honecker becomes leader of the SED and, in 1976, Head of State of the GDR 1972 — Basic Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR 1973 — East and West Germany become members of the United Nations 1974-1979 — Walter Scheel Federal President
Helmut Schmidt Federal Chancellor (1974-1982)
GDR deletes all references to the German nation from its constitution 1977 — Escalation of extreme left terrorism by the Red Army Faction in the Federal Republic of Germany 1979-1984 — Karl Carstens Federal President 1982 — Vote of no-confidence against Chancellor Schmidt
Helmut Kohl Federal Chancellor (1982-1998)
CDU/CSU and FDP form government coalition 1984 — Richard von Weizsaecker Federal President 1987 — Official visit by Erich Honecker, Chairman of the Council of State of the GDR, to the Federal Republic of Germany 1989 — Richard von Weizsaecker re-elected Federal President
Pressure by East Germans for greater freedom and reform in the GDR
Exodus of East Germans and mass demonstrations in GDR
Opening of the Berlin Wall
Meeting between Chancellor Kohl and GDR Prime Minister Modrow in Dresden 1990-1999 1990
February — The foreign ministers of the Four Powers and of the two German states begin formal talks ("Two-Plus-Four") on German unity
March — First free elections in the GDR
May — Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, establishing a Monetary, Economic and Social Union, signed in Bonn
July — Treaty enters into force
Visit by Chancellor Kohl to the Soviet Union to reach an agreement with President Gorbachev that united Germany shall have full sovereignty
August — Unification Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR signed in Berlin
September — Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany ("Two-Plus-Four Treaty") signed by the US, British, French, Soviet and two German foreign ministers in Moscow
October — Document suspending Four Powers rights signed in New York
GDR accedes to the Federal Republic of Germany
Berlin becomes the capital of unified Germany
December — First all-German elections to the Bundestag 1991
January — Bundestag elects Helmut Kohl Federal Chancellor of unified Germany
March — "Two-Plus-Four Treaty" formally making Germany a sovereign state, enters into force
June — Bundestag decision to move seat of government and parliament to Berlin 1992 — Signing of the Treaty on the European Union in Maastricht 1994
May — Roman Herzog Federal President (1994-1999)
July — Germany's Constitutional Court rules that German troops may participate in multinational military operations within the framework of the United Nations, given parliamentary approval 1998 — Social Democrats win Bundestag elections
Helmut Kohl steps down after 16 years as head of government
Gerhard Schroeder becomes chancellor, forms a coalition government with Green Party 1999 — Introduction of the euro for non-cash transactions in 11 participating European countries
Reichstag in Berlin becomes the official location of the Bundestag
Johannes Rau Federal President 2000 - Present 2000 — European Court of Justice ruling opens German armed forces to women participating in combat roles
Federal President Johannes Rau the first German politician to address Israeli Knesset in German
Expo 2000 in Hanover is first world fair held on German territory 2001 — Women join Germany's military combat forces for the first time
Germany's parliament condemns the terrorist attacks of September 11 in the US and endorses Germany's solidarity with the US
Chancellor Schröder prevails in crucial vote tying vote of confidence to the parliamentary approval of German military participation in the international war against terrorism
A total of 3,900 German troops are made available for Operation Enduring Freedom
The Bundestag approves participation of German armed forces in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan 2002 — Euro banknotes and coins replace national currencies in 12 participating member states of the European Union including Germany
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