Timeline of German history
| History of Germany |
|---|
| Timeline |
| Franks |
| Holy Roman Empire |
| German Confederation |
| German Empire |
| Weimar Republic |
| Nazi Germany |
| World War II |
| Since 1945 |
This is a timeline of German history. To read about the background to these events, see History of Germany. See also List of German Kings and Emperors, Lists of office-holders and List of years in Germany.
This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.
| Contents |
1000 BC–1 BC
- 1000 BC - 500 BC (approximately) Irminones tribe inhabits area between Elbe and Oder rivers. Ingvaeones move into Jutland, Holstein, Frisia and the Danish islands
- 600 - 300 BC (approximately) East Germanic tribes move from Scandinavia into the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers
- 113 BC - 439 AD Germanic Wars between Germanic tribes and the Romans
- 109 BC Confederation of the Cimbri, Teutoni and Helvetii formed
- 57 BC Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars; Caesar invades region which becomes Germania Inferior
- 53 BC Eburones, Nervii, Menapii and Morinii tribes revolt but are put down by Caesar.
- 50 BC (approximately) Ingvaeones become Frisians, Saxons, Jutes and Angles by about now
- 8 BC Marcomanni and Quadi drive the Boii out of Bohemia
- 10 BC (approximately) differentiation of localized Teutonic tribes (Alamanni, Hermunduri, Marcomanni, Quadi, Suebi) in area formerly occupied by Irminones
- 8 - 6 BC Confederation of Marcomanni, Lugier, Semnones, Lombards and others
1 AD–800 AD
- 9 AD Battle of the Teutoburg Forest establishes the boundary between Romans and Germans.
- Upper Germanic Limes begun
- 16 AD Battle of the Weser River (Battle of Minden) between Romans (Germanicus) and Arminius, chief of the Cherusci
- 68 Year of the four emperors
- 69 Rebellion of the Batavii led by Civilis against the Roman Empire
- 90 Germania Superior and Germania Inferior established as Imperial Roman provinces (Germania)
- 268 Battle of Lake Benacus between the Alamanni and Claudius II
- Battle of Naissus between the Goths and Gallienus
- 300 - 900 (approximately) Völkerwanderung
- 496 Battle of Tolbiac between the Franks and the Alamanni
- 530 Pope Boniface II consecrated
- 5th - 9th century High German consonant shift separates High German from Low German
- 715 Saint Boniface begins his work as a missionary
800–1000
- 800 Charlemagne crowned Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of the Romans); Holy Roman Empire formed
- 804 Saxons finally conquered by Charlemagne
- 843 Treaty of Verdun
- 870 Treaty of Mersen divides the Carolingian Empire
- 955 Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats Hungarians at Battle of Lechfeld
- 996 Pope Gregory V consecrated
1000–1500
- 11th - 13th centuries Crusades
- 1046 Pope Clement II consecrated
- 1048 Pope Damasus II consecrated
- 1049 Pope Leo IX consecrated
- 1055 Pope Victor II consecrated
- 1057 Pope Stephen X consecrated
- 1075 start of Investiture Controversy
- 1096 German Crusade, 1096
- 1098 Hildegard of Bingen born
- 12th - 14th centuries Minnesänger singers
- 1122 Concordat of Worms
- 1147 - sixteenth century Northern Crusades (Baltic Crusades) against people of North Eastern Europe around the Baltic Sea
- 1190 Teutonic Knights formed after Third Crusade
- 1190 or 1200 Nibelungenlied written
- 1214 Battle of Bouvines
- 14th to 16th centuries Meistersinger lyric poets
- 1356 Golden Bull of 1356
- Hanseatic League officially founded
- 1370 Treaty of Stralsund ends war between Hanseatic League and the Danes
- 1392 Victual Brothers hired by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark
- 1410 Battle of Grunwald
- 1455 Gutenberg Bible first printed by Johann Gutenberg
- 1471 Albrecht Dürer born
- 1495 Imperial Reform; Reichskammergericht formed
- 1517 Martin Luther's 95 Theses
- 1521 Diet of Worms addresses Martin Luther and the effects on the Protestant Reformation
- 1522 Pope Adrian VI consecrated
- 1524 - 1526 Peasants' War
- 1555 Peace of Augsburg
1600–1800
- 1618 - 1648 Thirty Years War
- 1629 Edict of Restitution
- 1646 Gottfried Leibniz born
- 1648 Peace of Westphalia - European countries recognised Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire
- 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach born
- 1686 Grand Alliance formed
- 1697 August of Saxony becomes king of Poland
- 1724 Immanuel Kant born
- 1740 - 1742; 1744 - 1745; 1756 - 1763 Silesian Wars
- War of the Austrian Succession
- Seven Years' War pits Great Britain, Prussia and Hanover against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony
- 1749 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe born
- 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born
- 1759 Friedrich Schiller born
- 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven born
- 1777 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) born
- 1788 Abitur examination introduced in Prussia
- 1789 - 1799 French revolution
- 1791 Declaration of Pillnitz
- 1792 Brunswick Proclamation; France declares war on Austria
- 1792 - 1802 French Revolutionary Wars
1800s
- 1803 Napoleon imposes the Convention of Artlenburg
- All of the Imperial Free Cities but six eliminated
- All eccelesiatic land holdings in Germany abolished
- 1804 - 1815 Napoleonic Wars
- Austria joins the Third Coalition
- 1806 Collapse of Holy Roman Empire
- Confederation of the Rhine formed
- Prussia joins the Fourth Coalition
- 1807 Peace of Tilsit
- 1812 Brothers Grimm publish first collection of fairy tales
- 1812 - 1814 Sixth Coalition includes German states
- 1813 Wilhelm Richard Wagner born
- 1815 Congress of Vienna
- German Confederation formed
- 1816 Battle of the Nations at Leipzig: Napoleon defeated
- 1818 Karl Marx born
- 1832 Wilhelm Busch born
- 1834 Zollverein formed
- 1840 First ever kindergarten opened by Fröbel
- 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche born
- 1848 - 1849 The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
- 1848 Frankfurt Parliament convenes
- 1850 Dreiklassenwahlrecht introduced in Prussia
- 1856 Neanderthal remains found at the Neander valley
- 1858 Max Planck born
- 1863 Social Democratic Party of Germany formed
- 1866 Austro-Prussian War; Battle of Königgrätz
- 1867 North German Confederation formed after collapse of German Confederation
- 1870 Franco-Prussian War
- 1871 German Empire proclaimed from North German Confederation.
- 1875 Thomas Mann born
- 1879 Albert Einstein born
- 1886 automobiles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines produced independently by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler
- 1888 Year of Three Emperors
- 1892 Rudolf Diesel invents Diesel engine
1900s
- 1900 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch comes into effect
- 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- 1914 - 1918 World War I
- 1918 End of Dreiklassenwahlrecht; universal suffrage introduced (women get the vote for the first time)
- 1919 Treaty of Versailles
- 1919–1933 Weimar Republic
- 1923 Ruhr Crisis
- 1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany; Gleichschaltung
- 1933 - 1945 Nazi Germany (Third Reich)
- 1939 - 1945 World War II (see also Timeline of World War II)
- 1941 Konrad Zuse builds the first computer, Z3
- 1945 Potsdam Conference
- 1946 Party of Democratic Socialism formed
- 1948 Deutsche Mark introduced
- Free Democratic Party formed
- 1948 - 1949 Berlin Blockade
- 1949 German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany formed (see History of East Germany, Constitution of the German Democratic Republic and Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany)
- Christian Democratic Union of Germany founded
- Konrad Adenauer becomes first post-war Chancellor of Germany
- 1950s Wirtschaftswunder
- 1953 Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
- 1954 West Germany wins Football World Cup - The Miracle of Bern
- 1955 Federal Republic joins NATO; GDR joins Warsaw Pact
- 1961 Berlin Wall and rest of GDR border system built
- 1964 National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) formed
- 1967 - 1968 German student movement
- 1970 Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
- 1970s - 1998 Red Army Faction operates
- 1972 West Germany hosts the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Palestinian terrorists cause Munich Massacre
- 1973 East and West Germany join United Nations
- 1974 West Germany hosts and wins Football World Cup
- 1987 First ever official visit by Erich Honecker to the Federal Republic of Germany
- 1989 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig
- Berlin Wall falls
- 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, Germany wins Football World Cup
- 1991 Berlin named new capital
- 1993 Alliance '90/The Greens merge
- Germany signs Maastricht Treaty leading to the creation of the European Union
- 1994 Federal Constitutional Court says Bundeswehr can take part in UN peacekeeping outside NATO territory
- 1999 The NATO war on Yugoslavia is the first non-defensive war the Bundeswehr actively takes part in
Since 2000
- 2000 Hanover hosts Expo 2000
- 2001 Women join Bundeswehr for the first time
- 2002 Euro notes and coins introduced and replace Deutsche Mark as everyday currency
- 2005 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated
See also
- List of German presidents since 1919 for a list of presidents of the German Reich, heads of state of the German Democratic Republic and presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949-present)
- Chancellor of Germany for a list of chancellors since 1871.