Plan
Introduction
1 Antiquity
1.1 Prehistory
1.2 Germans in antiquity
1.3 Great Migration

2 Middle Ages
2.1 Frankish state
2.2 Beginnings of German statehood
2.3 Holy Roman Empire
2.3.1 Early period of the Holy Roman Empire
2.3.2 Germany during the Renaissance
2.3.3 Germany - the birthplace of the Reformation
2.3.4 Rise of Prussia

3 Creation of a unified state
3.1 Germany during the era of the Napoleonic Wars
3.2 German Confederation
3.3 North German Confederation and German unification

4 United Germany (1871-1945)
4.1 German Empire (1871-1918)
4.1.1 World War I

4.2 Weimar Republic
4.3 Third Reich
4.3.1 World War II

5 Germany after World War II
5.1 Occupation of Germany
5.2 Federal Republic of Germany
5.3 West Berlin
5.4 German Democratic Republic
5.4.1 Berlin Wall

6 Modern history of Germany
Bibliography
History of Germany

Introduction

Germany is a state in Central Europe. In the course of history, it experienced periods of strong fragmentation and repeatedly changed its borders. Therefore, the history of Germany is inseparable from the history of its closest neighbors Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy and France.

1. Antiquity

1.1. prehistoric period

Back in the era of the Upper and Middle Paleolithic, Germany was a place of migrations of the most ancient hominids (Heidelberg man, Neanderthal man).

In the era of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in Germany, there were several developed Paleolithic cultures (Hamburg, Ahrensburg, Federmesser).

In the Neolithic era, the territory of Germany was occupied mainly by representatives of the western branch of the linear-band ceramics culture (the Rössen culture and its descendant, the Michelsberg culture). During this period, dolmens were actively built in Germany. The Michelsberg culture is gradually being replaced by the culture of funnel-shaped goblets.

The Bronze Age is associated with the speakers of the most ancient Indo-European languages, although initially they were, apparently, the ancestors of not the Germanic, but the Celtic-Italic peoples (the culture of globular amphoras, the Baden culture, the culture of the fields of funerary urns, etc.). The ancestors of the Germans occupied mainly the northern part of Germany, however, starting from the Iron Age, they gradually displace the Celts from Germany, partially assimilating them, especially in the south of Germany.

1.2. Germans in antiquity

The Germanic tribes lived on the territory of Central Europe as early as the first millennium BC, a rather detailed description of their structure and way of life is given by Tacitus at the end of the 1st century. Linguistic studies suggest that the separation of the Germanic peoples from the Balto-Slavs occurred around the 8th-6th centuries BC.

The Germans were divided into several groups - between the Rhine, Main and Weser lived Batavs, Brukters, Hamavs, Hatts and Ubii; on the coast of the North Sea - Hawks, Angles, Varins, Frisians; from the middle and upper Elbe to the Oder - Marcomanni, Quadi, Lombards and Semnons; between the Oder and the Vistula - the Vandals, Burgundians and Goths; in Scandinavia - sviony, gaut.

From the 2nd century A.D. e. The Germans are increasingly invading the boundaries of the Roman Empire. To the Romans, however, they were simply barbarians. Gradually they formed tribal unions (Alemanni, Goths, Saxons, Franks).

1.3. Great Migration

At the end of the 4th century, the invasion of Asiatic nomadic peoples to Europe prompted the resettlement of the Germans. They populated the border lands of the Roman Empire, and soon began armed incursions into it. In the 5th century, the German tribes of the Goths, Vandals and others created their kingdoms on the territory of the crumbling Western Roman Empire. At the same time, the primitive communal system was largely preserved on the territory of present-day Germany. In 476, the last Roman emperor was deposed by a German commander.

2. Middle Ages

2.1. Frankish state

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish tribes played the most significant role among the Germanic tribes. In 481, Clovis I became the first king of the Salic Franks. Under him and his descendants, Gaul was conquered, and from the Germans, the Alemanni and most of the tribes of the Franks entered the state. Later, Aquitaine, Provence, northern Italy, a small part of Spain were conquered, the Thuringians, Bavarians, Saxons and other tribes were subordinated. By 800, all of Germany was part of the vast Frankish state.

In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was declared Roman emperor. Until 800, Byzantium was the successor of the Roman Empire (since the Western Roman Empire had already ceased to exist and only the Eastern Byzantium remained). The empire restored by Charles was a continuation of the ancient Roman Empire, and Charles was considered the 68th emperor, the successor of the eastern line immediately after the deposed Constantine VI in 797, and not the successor of Romulus Augustulus. In 843, the Frankish Empire collapsed, although various kings (more often the kings of Italy) formally held the title of emperor intermittently until 924.

2.2. The beginning of German statehood

The origins of the German state are connected with the Treaty of Verdun, which in 843 was concluded between the grandchildren of Charlemagne. This agreement divided the Frankish empire into three parts - the French (West-Frankish kingdom), inherited by Charles the Bald, the Italian-Lorraine (Middle Kingdom), whose king was the eldest son of Charlemagne Lothar, and the German, where the power went to Louis the German.

Traditionally, the first German state is considered to be the East Frankish state. During the 10th century, the unofficial name "Reich of the Germans (Regnum Teutonicorum)" appeared, which after several centuries became generally recognized (in the form "Reich der Deutschen").

In 870, most of the Lorraine kingdom was captured by the East Frankish king Louis the German. Thus, the East Frankish kingdom united almost all the lands inhabited by the Germans. During the IX-X centuries there were wars with the Slavs, which led to the annexation of a number of Slavic lands.

The next East Frankish king in 936 was the Duke of Saxony Otto I (in the Russian historical tradition he is called Otto).

2.3. Holy Roman Empire

Early period of the Holy Roman Empire

On February 2, 962, Otto I was crowned in Rome as Holy Roman Emperor. It was believed that he revived the power of Charlemagne. But now the empire consisted mainly of Germany and parts of Italy.

Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (lat. Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Teutonicae) - a political institution that retained for ten centuries (until 1806) the same form, the same claims. The external history of the empire is, in essence, the history of Germany from the ninth to the nineteenth century. and Italy in the Middle Ages. In its origin, the S. Roman Empire was ecclesiastical and Germanic; it was given form by the unfading tradition of the universal dominion of eternal Rome; Germanic and Roman elements, merging, determined the all-encompassing and abstract character of the empire as the center and head of Western Christendom.

Despite the attempts of the emperors to unite the "Holy Roman Empire", it turned out to be fragmented into numerous almost independent states and cities. Some North German cities merged into the Hansa, a military trade union that monopolized trade in the Baltic Sea.

Germany in the Renaissance

Humanism originated in Germany in the 1430s, a century later than in Italy.

A special role belonged to printing - the great discovery of the middle of the 15th century, brewing in a number of countries, but made in Germany by John Gutenberg.

Germany - the birthplace of the reformation

The beginning of the Reformation was marked by a speech in Germany in 1517 with his positions, or as they were also called "theses for discussion", by the Augustinian monk Martin Luther. The ideologists of the Reformation put forward theses that actually denied the need for the Catholic Church with its hierarchy and the clergy in general. The Catholic Holy Tradition was rejected, the church's rights to land riches were denied, etc.

The Reformation gave impetus to the Peasants' War of 1524-1527, which engulfed many German principalities at once. In 1532, the all-German criminal-judicial code "Carolina" was published.

The Reformation marked the beginning of several religious wars in Germany, which ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. As a result, the fragmentation of Germany was consolidated.

Rise of Prussia

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 led to a significant expansion of the possessions of the Electorate of Brandenburg, which even earlier (in 1618) annexed the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, the Brandenburg-Prussian state was given the name "Kingdom of Prussia". It was distinguished by a rigid bureaucratic system and militarism. In Prussia and other East German states, a second edition of serfdom was observed. On the other hand, it was in Prussia that Kant and Fichte laid the foundation for classical German philosophy.

The most famous was Frederick II (King of Prussia). He was considered a supporter of an enlightened monarchy, abolished torture, reorganized the army on the basis of drill. Under him, Prussia participated in the War of the Austrian Succession, in the Seven Years' War, in the division of the Commonwealth. Although the Austrian Habsburgs remained emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, their influence weakened, and Prussia took Silesia from Austria. East Prussia was not even considered an integral part of the empire. In a fragmented and weakened form, the Holy Roman Empire existed until 1806.

3. Creation of a single state

3.1. Germany during the Napoleonic Wars

By 1804, when Napoleon I became French emperor, Germany remained a politically backward country. Feudal fragmentation was preserved in it, serfdom existed, medieval legislation was in force everywhere. A number of German states had previously fought revolutionary France with varying degrees of success.

History of Germany

© "Knowledge is power"

History of Germany in the period 58 BC - 16th century.

And now we will continue the story of the history of Germany. Let us dwell, of course, only on the main events that determined the fate of Germany. A detailed presentation of German history cannot be part of our task, because even the electronic memory of a powerful computer may not be enough for material of such a volume.

The Germanic tribes were neighbors of the slave-owning Roman Empire and were in constant economic relations with it. This contributed to the decomposition of the tribal layer and the gradual social differentiation of the ancient Germans.

In 58 BC Caesar conquered Gaul, which was owned by the Suevian tribal union of the Germans. Later, under Emperor Augustus, the Romans conquered the lands between the Rhine and the Weser. But in 9 A.D. The German tribe of the Cherusci, under the leadership of their leader Arminus, defeated the Roman troops in the Teutoburg Forest, and the Romans went over to the defense of the northern and western borders of the empire. The "Roman Wall" was built - a chain of fortifications between the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danube. A period of peaceful relations began between the Germans and Rome. There was a lively trade with the border tribes. Leaders with squads, and sometimes entire Germanic tribes settled in Roman territory as warriors. Many Germans penetrated into the Roman army and partly into the state apparatus. There were many Germans among the slaves in the Roman Empire.

Although nothing is known about Arminus other than his name and the fact of fighting in the Teutoburg Forest, he is considered the first German national hero. Arminus in the period in 1838 - 1875. a monument was erected near the city of Detmold (North Rhine-Westphalia). As the productive forces of the Germans grew, their onslaught on the Roman Empire intensified. The invasion of the Quads, Marcomanni and other Germanic tribes (the Marcomannic War of 165-180), and then the invasion in the 3rd century of a number of Germanic tribes (Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni) became one of the reasons for the so-called migration of peoples in 4-6 centuries. The subsequent campaigns of the Germans, Slavs and other tribes and the simultaneous uprisings of slaves and columns contributed to the fact that in the 5th century the slave system of the Roman Empire collapsed. German kingdoms appeared on the territory of Western Europe, in which a new, more progressive social mode of production, feudalism, gradually took shape.

Beginning of German history

9 AD conventionally considered the beginning of German history. The formation of the German people began, which lasted for many centuries. The word "deutsch" ("Deutsch") appeared, apparently, only in the eighth century. At first, this word denoted the language spoken in the eastern part of the Frankish Empire, which in the 6th century included the duchies of the Germanic tribes of the Alemanni, Thuringians, Bavarians and some others conquered by the Franks. Later than other tribes, by the beginning of the 9th century, the Saxons were subjugated and included in the Frankish Empire. Soon, however, after the death of the founder of the Frankish Empire, Charlemagne (814), this empire began to disintegrate and ceased to exist by the end of the 9th century. From the eastern part of the collapsed Frankish Empire arose the kingdom of Germany, which later became an empire. The formal date of the emergence of the German kingdom is usually considered the year 911, when, after the death of the last representative of the Carolingians, Louis the Child, Duke of the Franks Conrad I was elected king. He is considered the first German king.

Gradually, the Germanic tribes developed a sense of identity, and then the word "deutsch" began to mean not only the language, but also those who spoke it, and then the territory of their residence - Germany. The Germanic western frontier was fixed early, around the middle of the 10th century, and remained quite stable. The eastern frontier changed as German territory expanded to the east. The eastern border was fixed in the middle of the 14th century and remained until the outbreak of World War II.

Officially, the title of the King of Germany was first called "Frankish King", later - "Roman King". The empire was called the "Roman Empire" from the 11th century, the "Holy Roman Empire" from the 13th century, and the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in the 15th century. The king was elected by the highest nobility, along with this, the "right of consanguinity" ("Geblütsrecht"), i.e. the king had to be related to his predecessor. There was no capital in the medieval empire. The king ruled the country by constantly visiting different areas. There were no state taxes in the empire. Treasury revenues came from public property, which the king managed through proxies. It was not easy for the king to earn the authority and respect from the powerful dukes of the tribes: military strength and skillful politics were required. Only the successor of Conrad I, the Saxon duke Henry I (919 - 936), succeeded in this. And to an even greater extent to the son of the latter, Otto I (936 - 973) - in German Otto I, who became the real ruler of the empire. In 962, Otto I was crowned in Rome and became Kaiser (emperor). According to the plan, the imperial power was universal and gave the right to its bearer to dominate all of Western Europe. It is known, however, that such a plan could never be realized.

By the beginning of the 10th century, the kingdom of Germany included the duchies of Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony and Thuringia. In the first half of the 10th century, Otto I added Lorraine to them, and in 962 Otto I added Northern Italy. In this way, an empire was created, which later became known as the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". Conrad II (the first king of the Frankish dynasty) annexed the kingdom of Burgundy to the empire in 1032.

The created empire fought for a long time and to no avail with the power of the Pope. Under Henry V, a compromise agreement was concluded - the Concordat of Worms in 1122.

11th - 12th century

In the 70s of the 11th century in Germany, a powerful movement of Saxon peasants was noted against the increase in corvee in the Crown Lands (i.e., on the lands of the king). The onslaught of large landowners in Germany was vigorously resisted by the peasant community - the mark. This was the main reason why the feudal system in Germany developed slowly. It was only in the twelfth century that the formation of feudal relations in Germany was basically completed. This was the period of formation of the so-called princely territories. Let's explain what these areas are. There is a rapid growth of cities, but the weak imperial power is not able to use for its own purposes the new source of funds that has opened up - income from urban crafts and trade - and create support for itself in the growing social stratum of the townspeople, as was the case in England, France and other countries . The owners of independent principalities (or duchies), having subjugated the cities of their regions and seizing the income from crafts and trade, sought to obtain the rights of sovereign sovereigns over the territories subject to them. This was the process of formation of princely territories.

In the twelfth century, the hierarchy of the class of feudal lords was formed, representing by the end of this century three groups: princes, counts and knights. The dominating position was gradually occupied by the princes. The exploitation of the peasants intensified as commodity-money relations developed. In 1138, the century of the Staufen dynasty began, one of whose representatives was Frederick I Barbarossa (1152 - 1190). This king fought against the Pope, as well as against his main rival in Germany - the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion. In search of material resources, Frederick I turned his eyes to the flourishing cities of Northern Italy. Formally subject to the German emperor, these cities were in fact completely independent of him. Relying on knighthood and on the former servants of the king and on major lords who had political influence and created a mercenary army, Frederick I decided to turn fictitious imperial rights (collection of taxes and duties, judicial law) into real ones. Barbarossa moved to northern Italy. Having met the resistance of individual cities, he took them by storm. It is known that his troops in 1162 during the assault almost completely destroyed Milan. To repel the German invasion, the northern Italian cities in 1167 united in the Lombard League. Pope Alexander III entered into an alliance with the Lombard League. At the Battle of Legnano in 1176, Barbarossa's troops were completely defeated. Barbarossa capitulated to the papacy, and then, according to the peace concluded in Constance in 1183, he was forced to renounce the rights to the Lombard cities.

13th - 15th century

Neither Frederick I Barbarossa nor his heirs from the Staufen dynasty, which ended in 1268, were able to achieve the establishment of an effective centralized imperial power. By the 13th century, Germany had not yet become a single nation-state, but consisted of a number of separate principalities, economically and politically separate. Moreover, the political and economic fragmentation of Germany intensified, and by the end of the 13th century, the territorial princes acquired the rights of supreme jurisdiction over the principalities subject to them, close to the rights of royal power: the right to tax, mint coins, control the troops of the principality, etc. And under the emperor Charles IV, the princes in 1356 achieved the publication of the so-called Golden Bull, which recognized the right of the princes to elect the emperor. For this, a board of seven princes-electors was approved. These princes were called Electors. All princes received confirmation of all the rights they acquired as a sovereign sovereign, with the exception of the right to independently wage war with foreign states and conclude peace. At the same time, a central authority was established - the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), which was a congress of imperial princes and some imperial cities. But the Reichstag did not have an apparatus of executive power and therefore was not and could not be to any extent an organ for the unification of Germany. In some principalities, the estate-representative bodies were landtags (land diets). By the beginning of the 16th century, Germany was a collection of many virtually independent states.

In connection with the later, in comparison with England, France and other states, the unification of Germany into one centralized national state, the term "belated nation" pertaining to the Germans. This term seems to us not entirely successful if we take into account the contribution of the German nation to world science and culture, as well as the results achieved in the socio-economic development of modern Germany.

Speaking about the events of the German history of the 13th century, it is impossible not to mention Battle on the Ice. So in history they call the battle that took place in April 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipsi between the knights of the Teutonic Order and the army of the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky and ended in the complete defeat of the German knights. The Teutonic Order was forced to withdraw its troops from the borders of the Russian lands. The further fate of this order was deplorable for him. In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the combined Polish-Lithuanian-Russian troops defeated the Teutonic Order, after which he recognized his vassal dependence on Poland.

Late 15th - 16th century

The end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th centuries entered the history of Germany as period of the Reformation and the Peasants' War. The Reformation was a broad social movement against the Catholic Church. It all started with a speech by Professor Luther of Wittenberg University on October 31, 1517 with theses against the trade in indulgences. Luther denounced the abuses of the Catholic clergy and spoke out against the all-powerful papal authority. He put forward a whole program of church reform. Each opposition class interpreted this program in accordance with its aspirations and interests. The burghers wanted the church to become "cheap", the princes and knights wanted to seize church lands, and the oppressed masses understood the reformation as a call to fight against feudal oppression. The leader of the plebeian-peasant masses was Thomas Müntzer. He openly called for the overthrow of the feudal system and its replacement by a system based on social equality and community of property. Luther, as a representative of the burghers, could not share such radical views and opposed the revolutionary understanding of his teaching. Although the ideas of the Reformation to some extent pushed the Peasants' War of 1525, Luther's movement nevertheless took on a one-sided character in Germany: purely religious struggle, questions of religion overshadowed the broader tasks of transforming social life and culture for many years. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the Reformation reveals ever greater narrowness and, no less than the Catholic Counter-Reformation, intolerance for free thought, for reason, which Luther declared "the harlot of the devil." In the words of Erasmus of Rotterdam, the sciences died wherever Lutheranism was established.

Luther's reform eventually became an instrument of princely absolutism, which manifested itself, in particular, in the alienation of church lands in favor of secular princes, carried out in some principalities.

© Vladimir Kalanov,
"Knowledge is power"

Dear visitors!

Heraldry

Coat of arms of Germany

The State Emblem of the Federal Republic of Germany, officially the Federal Emblem (German Bundeswappen), is a black single-headed eagle looking heraldically to the right, with a red beak, tongue and paws in a golden field.
The modern standard of the Federal Coat of Arms was approved on July 4, 1952 and generally follows the outlines of the Imperial Coat of Arms, approved on November 11, 1919.
The eagle can also be depicted outside the colored field (without a coat of arms), then it is called the Federal Eagle (German: Bundesadler) and has slightly different outlines.

German flag

The history of the national black-red-gold colors of Germany began in the 19th century.
During the fight against Napoleon, German student volunteers formed the so-called. "Freedom Corps" (1813) under the command of von Lutzow (Lutzow). The uniform of the corps was student black frock coats with sewn red shoulder straps and brass buttons. Then the student associations of Germany adopted the same colors. In 1815, the Burschenschaft union was founded by students, which aims at the unification of Germany. In 1816, the women of the city of Jena presented the union with a banner: a red flag with a horizontal black stripe in the middle and an image of a golden oak branch. By 1816, the All-German Student Association was already using a black-red-gold flag.
The festival in May 1832 (Hambach festival) used a three-striped national flag with the inscription: "Deutschlands Wiedergeburt" ("German Renaissance"; German) on the middle red stripe.
The black-red-gold flag was a symbol of the revolution of 1848-1849, during the opening hours of the National Assembly (Bundestag) in Frankfurt am Main on July 31, 1848, the flag was raised for the first time as a symbol of a united Germany. It soon became the naval (from 31 June) and commercial flag of the German Union (1848-1852).
The German Union was not a full-fledged state, and did not last long. The unification of Germany took place under the black-white-red colors of Otto von Bismarck. But the black-red-gold flag has already begun to be associated with the concept of German nationality. For example, in 1863 this flag was used during the Conference of the German Princes in Frankfurt.
The black-red-gold (precisely "gold" and not "yellow"; this is how the Germans call this color on the flag) the flag was canceled first by the supporters of the empire, and then by the Nazis; but resurrected again. The last time the German flag was officially revived was after World War II. And even in the socialist GDR, they did not consider it possible to deviate from the historical colors, but only added a coat of arms to the center. The flag of Germany did not have any images. After the unification of the FRG and the GDR, it was the three-panel cloth without emblems that became the state flag of the united Germany.

Germany

Germany is a country with a very large tourism potential. The Germans are very careful about historical monuments. In Germany, almost everything interesting is made into tourist sites, whether it be a palace or an abandoned quarry. Almost all cities in Germany are one big attraction. Ancient buildings stand next to modern houses. The cities have well-groomed and beautiful streets and old quarters. When traveling by car, it would be nice if you had a map of Germany with the designations of the exits from the autobahns. This can save a lot of time and fuel in your car. And it is worth considering their attitude to the law. The police are practically invisible, but they appear at any, even seemingly insignificant violation.

The Federal Republic of Germany is located in the very center of Europe. After the unification of the two German states in 1990, this most populous country in Europe borders on nine states: France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg.

Its territory is 357.022 sq km. The length from north to south is 876 km, from west to east - 640 km. It is washed by the North and Baltic seas. it borders with Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland in the south, with Belgium, Denmark, France and Holland in the west and northwest, with the Czech Republic in the southeast and with Poland in the east.

Germany is one of the EU countries.

The capital is Berlin (3 million 500 thousand). The largest cities in Germany are Hamburg (1 million 700 thousand), Munich (1 million 250 thousand), Cologne (966 thousand), Frankfurt am Main (655 thousand)

The official language is German.

Administrative division: Germany consists of 16 states with their own constitutions, parliaments and governments.

State structure: The official name is the Federal Republic of Germany. In early October 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, created in 1949 by decision of the 4 victorious countries in World War II, united. The head of state is the federal president, who is elected by a specially convened federal assembly (Bundesversammlung) for a term of 5 years and can be re-elected only once. The head of government is the Federal Chancellor. Legislative power is exercised by the parliament, which consists of two chambers: the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

Currency: Euro equal to 100 cents. There are banknotes in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros, as well as coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents.

Transport: Urban transport in most cities in Germany is represented by buses, trams, metro or light rail (U-Bahn) and suburban trains (S-Bahn). Tariffs are the same for all types of transport, the ticket is valid with transfers. There are many travel and tourist tickets that allow you to save money.

The cost of a single trip in Berlin transport is 2 euros (for a short distance 1.2 euros), a ticket for the whole day costs 5.6 euros (with the surrounding area - 6 euros). A week pass costs 24.3 euros (with surroundings - 30 euros). The metro starts running at 4 am and ends between midnight and 1 am. The interval of train traffic is longer than in Moscow, approximately 5 - 8 minutes.

Population- 82.5 million people. National composition: Germans (91.5%), Turks (2.4%), Italians (0.7%) and others (mostly people from the former Yugoslavia).

About 60 thousand Lusatian Serbs (Brandenburg and Saxony), 50 thousand Danes (northern regions of Schleswig-Holstein), 12 thousand Frisians (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) and 70 thousand Gypsies live in Germany. These groups are officially recognized by the state as national minorities. In addition, more than 7 million foreigners live permanently in Germany, most of whom are foreign workers.

The northern part of the country is characterized by a high proportion of the population of representatives of the Nordic anthropological types, which are characterized by high growth, blond hair. In southern Germany, less tall, dark-haired people predominate. During the expansion of the Germanic tribes in the 4th-9th centuries. AD from the more northern regions to the former Celtic south of the country, as well as the German colonization of the Slavic lands east of the Elbe and the Hall, there was a mixture of peoples and assimilation.

Traditional religions Germany is Christianity and Judaism. Most of the German population officially belongs to the Christian denomination: Evangelical Lutheran 32% (mainly northern, eastern and central Germany), Roman Catholic Church 31.7% (western and southern Germany), Orthodox Church 1.14% and a small proportion of believers from Christian sects.

Germany was Christianized in the era of the Franks, the "holy policy" was carried out by the founder of the empire - Charlemagne.

The Reformation was carried out from the beginning of the 16th century in Germany and Switzerland, its initiators were Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwinglis and Johannes Calvin. It has shaped the religious landscape throughout the German-speaking space.

The law of Germany enshrined freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Climate Germany - moderate, in the north of the country - maritime, in the rest of the territory - transitional from maritime to continental. Most of the year, westerly winds prevail, and the circulation type is cyclonic. In summer and early autumn, the weather is often determined by the spur of the Azores anticyclone. The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is from -3°С to +2°С. The average July temperature is from +16°С to +20°С. Precipitation falls in the south up to 2000 mm per year, in the north - up to 710 mm per year, mainly in the autumn-winter period.

For a business person, Germany opens up a lot of prospects.

Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, Berlin and Munich - in the world modern business these cities mean as much as New York, London or Amsterdam.

Cycling is very popular view recreation; many German cities and suburbs have excellent bike paths. The secondary roads of East Germany are also great for cycling; they are more interesting and less crowded with tourists than the main roads; and here you can spend weeks traveling from city to city. For hikers, there are excellent hiking trails in the Black Forest, the Harz Mountains, the Bavarian Alps and more. The Alps are the most popular area, but there are a lot of tourists here, especially during the holidays. In winter, skiing is popular throughout the country.

Sailing and windsurfing are widely practiced, but the best place for these sports is Lake Sonstans in the south.

And magnificent cruises on the Rhine, during which you can see medieval Germany and beautiful landscapes!

The most popular souvenir in Germany is the Nutcracker. However, they can only be purchased in workshops, the number of which in German cities decreases annually.

Short story

Germany is a country with an interesting centuries-old history.

History of Germany - Middle Ages

It is believed that the transition from the East Frankish to the German Empire took place when King Conrad I came to the throne (911). However, due to his origin, he initially bore the title of "King of the Franks", and later "King of the Romans". The empire itself, starting from the 11th century, was called the "Roman Empire", from the 13th century - the "Holy Roman Empire", and in the 15th century the "German nation" was added to this name. In this empire, the king was elected by the highest nobility. With few exceptions, he was related to his predecessor. The medieval empire did not have a capital. The king ruled by raids. There were no imperial taxes. The king received his maintenance, first of all, from the "imperial possessions", which he ruled as a guardian. He was perceived as a ruler who had to adhere to the then existing traditional folk rules and enjoy the favor of the higher nobility. The king had the right to make laws, establish taxes, deal with legal proceedings, command troops and was the head of the church. At the same time, he was the highest authority in maintaining peace. In 962 King Otto I was crowned emperor in Rome.

According to the then ideas, which were shared by the successors of Otto I, the title of emperor gave the right to rule over the entire West. However, these ideas were very different from reality. Since kings had to go to Rome to the Pope in order to be crowned emperor, they began to actively seek their dominance in Italy as well. Henry IV was unable to maintain the clear superiority of the emperor over the papacy. The dispute with Pope Gregory VII over the right to appoint bishops (dispute over investiture) ended in 1077 with repentance at Canossa. Since then, the pope and the emperor have confronted each other as equal rulers. Despite the outwardly enormous power of the emperors during the reign of the Staufen dynasty, territorial fragmentation began. Spiritual and secular princes became semi-sovereign "land owners". While nation-states began to emerge in other parts of Western Europe, centrifugal tendencies dominated in Germany. This was the precondition for the Germans - centuries later - to become a "belated nation".

German History - Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Thanks to the Golden Bull, Charles IV developed in 1356 a kind of Basic Law of the Empire. According to him, seven elected princes, electors, received, in particular, the right to elect a king. While the importance of petty counts, sovereign princes and knights gradually fell, the economic power of cities grew. The association of German cities into unions further strengthened their position. In the 14th century, the Hansa became the leading force in the Baltic region. As part of the imperial reform, Maximilian I, who was the first to assume the title of emperor without being crowned by the pope, formally created a new state structure with the Reichstag, the imperial districts and the Supreme Imperial Court. However, it was not possible to fill it with life. Instead, a dualism of "emperor and empire" developed, the head of the empire was opposed by the imperial estates: electors, princes and cities. The power of the emperors was increasingly emasculated by the "capitulations" that they entered into with electors during elections. On the other hand, the influence of the big princes grew.

Yet the imperial alliance did not disintegrate. Within its framework, cities became important economic centers. In the textile industry and mining, forms of management appeared that went beyond the guild organization of the work of artisans and, along with the expansion of the geography of trade, bore the features of early capitalism. The awakening of a critical worldview, marked by the stamp of the Renaissance and humanism, was directed primarily against the dominance of the church. Dissatisfaction with the church resulted - after the speech of Martin Luther - in the Reformation movement. It began after the publication by Luther on October 31, 1517, of 95 theses criticizing the old Catholic Church. The purpose of their publication is the return of church teaching to the mainstream of religious truths preached in the Gospel. This had consequences that went far beyond religious requirements. All public structures were set in motion. The Imperial Knights have started an uprising.

Political and social aspirations resulted in the Peasant War in 1525. These were the first major revolutionary movements in German history. They were brutally suppressed.

History of Germany - The era of religious schism

In political terms, the Reformation led to a further strengthening of the positions of the ruling princes. After a struggle, which was fought with varying success, according to the Augsburg Religious Peace of 1555, they received the right to determine the religion of their subjects (cuius regio eius religio). The Protestant religion acquired equal rights with the Catholic. Germany became four-fifths Protestant. Shortly thereafter, the reign of Charles V ended. He was too involved in world politics and did not pay enough attention to the position of the emperor in Germany. The world empire collapsed. On the one hand, there were German territorial states, still within the framework of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", on the other, Western European nation-states. This is what the new system of European states looked like in the second half of the 16th century. However, the religious struggle continued. During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church managed to conquer many areas. The irreconcilability of beliefs escalated, this led to the creation of religious parties (the Protestant Union and the Catholic League), which eventually resulted in the Thirty Years' War. In 1618-1648. this pan-European conflict left a bloody trail in many regions of Germany, which were devastated and depopulated.

History of Germany - The era of absolutism

French absolutism had a strong influence on court life in the isolated German states. Along with the provision of almost unlimited power to the local ruler, a rigid system of administrative management, an orderly financial economy and a regular army were created. The princes competed with each other in turning their residences into centers of culture and, within the framework of enlightened absolutism, encouraged the development of science and - to a certain extent - critical thinking. Austria repelled the invasion of the Turks, conquered Hungary and parts of the Balkans and became a great power as a result. Under Frederick William I and Frederick the Great, Prussia also built a militarily strong state, resulting in the emergence of two powerful powers in Germany in the 18th century with territories outside the empire and growing, rival interests in Europe.

History of Germany - The Great French Revolution

Prussia and Austria worked together when they intervened militarily in neighboring revolutionary France to save the crumbling feudal system there. However, the pursuit of freedom and equality, human rights and the separation of powers has taken on a dynamic of its own. Instead of simply repulsing attempts of aggression from the East, the French revolutionary army, convinced of the rightness of its cause, launched a counteroffensive. The empire finally collapsed. The left bank of the Rhine remained occupied by the French, the rest of the territories were redrawn in a new way, which led to the strengthening of middle states. Under the French protectorate, the "Confederation of the Rhine" arose, and after the abdication of Emperor Franz II in 1806, the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation officially ceased to exist.

However, the revolutionary spark did not spread to Germany. Rather, they realized the need to reform the state. Feudal restrictions were relaxed but not eliminated. And other goals of the reforms - freedom of crafts, city self-government, equality of all citizens before the law, universal military duty- were implemented differently in various German principalities. Some were half done. And some even acquired a constitutional character.

History of Germany - German Confederation and Revolution of 1848

The joint rebuff to the French invasion and the victory over Napoleon spurred the desire of many Germans to create their own national state. But as a result of the redistribution of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, only the German Confederation appeared as a free association of individual sovereign states. Its joint body was the Bundestag in Frankfurt am Main, which was not an elected parliament, but only a congress of ambassadors. The union was viable only in the case of unanimity of the two great powers: Prussia and Austria. The main task of the German Confederation remained the suppression of all aspirations for unity and freedom.

While the press was censored, universities were controlled, and most political aspirations were suppressed, the modern economy began to develop. The appearance of a mass of factory workers with the simultaneous absence of any measures social protection increased the desire for social change. However, the uprising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 was brutally suppressed. The revolution of 1848 in France, in contrast to the revolution of 1789, found a lively response in Germany. In March, popular uprisings began everywhere against the princes. The latter were forced to make concessions. The first real parliaments appeared.

Of greatest importance was the freely elected National Assembly, which met in Frankfurt's Paulskirche. It united the free-democratic and national aspirations of the overwhelming majority of Germans. An exemplary constitution emerged on paper. However, the imperial ministry established by the National Assembly did not acquire real authority. After disputes around the "Little German" (without Austria) and "Great German" (with Austria) options for creating the German Empire, the transfer of executive power to Vienna failed due to Austria's demand to include all the nationalities that lived on its territory in the new empire. state territory and not just the German ones. However, as a result of the refusal of the Prussian king Frederick William IV to become emperor in the framework of the "Little German" option, the activities of the National Assembly and constitutional liberal principles largely collapsed. Prussia was forced into a constitution providing for suffrage for three classes. In 1850 the old order was restored in many respects.

History of Germany - Bismarck Empire

Stages on the way to German unity:

The Danish War of 1864 was won jointly by Prussia and Austria.

Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, as a result of which Austria was deprived of the opportunity to participate in the further development of events in Germany. Establishment of the North German Confederation in 1867, with Bismarck as Chancellor at the head.

History of Germany - Franco-Prussian War 1870/71

As Reich Chancellor, Bismarck continued to seek German unity within the framework of the Lesser German option. He broke French resistance in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, which broke out over a diplomatic conflict over the succession to the throne in Spain. Joint hostilities intensified patriotic impulses in the South German states, which immediately united with the North German Confederation, forming the German Empire. On January 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor in Versailles.

So, the German Empire arose not as a result of a popular movement "from below", but on the basis of an agreement between princes "from above". The new Reichstag was elected on the basis of universal and equal suffrage. At the same time, class suffrage, dependent on the level of income, was preserved in Prussia and other allied lands. Successful economic development made the bourgeoisie more and more influential, but in politics the nobility and the officer corps, which also consisted mainly of nobles, continued to set the tone. For all his foreign policy foresight, Bismarck, who had been in power for 19 years, did not understand the democratic tendencies within the country. He waged a bitter struggle against the left wing of the liberal bourgeoisie, political Catholicism, and especially against the labor movement, which was banned from 1878 to 1890 by the "exclusive law against the socialists". alienated from the state.

History of Germany - World War I

Under the young, inexperienced Emperor Wilhelm II, the country of Germany found itself in a difficult situation in the international arena. Wilhelm II sought to catch up with the big powers that had long since taken the path of imperialism, but he found himself increasingly isolated. In the country itself, the Social Democrats, who had largest number supporters among the electorate, continued to be largely marginalized from public policy making. They got their chance only after the collapse of the old regime during the First World War.

As a matter of fact, none of the participating powers sought this war, even though the tension in the early summer of 1914 increased so much that the forcible achievement of the various foreign policy goals of the European powers was consciously perceived as a more or less desirable option. German strategic plan failed at the very beginning. He envisioned a quick defeat for France. However, after the Battle of the Marne, both sides got bogged down in a brutal positional war, which, without bringing any military benefit, required gigantic human casualties and meant a senseless war of technology. The US entry into the war in 1917 predetermined the long-planned outcome, which could no longer be influenced by either the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia or the conclusion of peace in the East. Following the military collapse, political changes followed: as a result of the November Revolution of 1918 in Germany, the emperor and princes left their thrones. Under the influence of a foreign policy catastrophe, the obsolete monarchy gave way to its alternative - the republic, against which it had been fighting for decades in the domestic political arena.

History of Germany - Weimar Republic

In the early years of the Weimar Republic, named after the constitutional National Assembly that met in Weimar, its political life was determined by a parliamentary majority consisting of the Social Democrats, the German Democratic Party and the Center Party. Democracy worked. The SPD has already departed from its former revolutionary ideas. Attempts to radically overthrow the state system in order to establish socialist domination were suppressed. Private property in industry and agriculture remained untouchable, and most of the anti-republican officials and judges retained their posts.

However, already in the twenties it became clear how fragile the republican base among citizens was. The economic crisis, inflation, the occupation of the Ruhr and the attempted communist takeover in the face of general disarray made it clear in 1923 that the democrats were in the minority in the Weimar Republic. Then, after some economic recovery, a political lull was established. By concluding the Locarno Accords in 1925 and joining the League of Nations in 1926, the defeated country Germany regained its political equality in the international arena. For some time, some part of the population perceived even the state of affairs in the field of science, art and culture as the "golden twenties". The heyday was intense, but short. Already during the new economic crisis of 1929, the fall of the republic began to emerge.

History of Germany - Dictatorship of the National Socialists

In the late 1920s, left and right radicals found fertile breeding ground in conditions of severe unemployment and massive economic need. In the Reichstag, it was no longer possible to create a majority capable of forming a government. Government offices depended on extra-parliamentary emergency decrees of the Reichs-President, which allowed them to govern the country without the consent of the Reichstag. Already in 1925, the candidate of the right, the former Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, became the successor of the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert as Reich President. He strictly observed the constitution, but internally he was not really connected with the republic. In early 1933, when the hardest times of crisis were already behind, the members of the right camp considered that by transferring the powers of the chancellor to the ardent opponent of democracy, Adolf Hitler, they could use it to achieve their goals. As a result of the economic crisis, the National Socialist movement led by him became the largest force in Germany, but it was not able to win over the majority of the population and the majority in parliament. Despite his strong doubts, Hindenburg nevertheless appointed Hitler head of government and also granted his demand for the dissolution of the Reichstag. The power grab has begun.

With the help of mass violence and persecution, Hitler intimidated his opponents during the election campaign. Under strong pressure, despite the resistance of the Social Democrats, he forced parliamentarians who had not yet been arrested or went into hiding to pass a law granting emergency powers to the government, giving it almost unlimited powers in the field of legislation. In a few weeks, the National Socialists defeated all democratic structures and replaced them with others, allegedly legal. Hitler practically eliminated fundamental rights, banned trade unions and parties (except his own), abolished freedom of the press and subjected to reckless terror those who were objectionable to him. Thousands of people ended up in concentration camps without any trial.

The German public reacted to these processes in two ways. On the one hand, she saw unbridled violence, on the other, tangible successes. The economic recovery that began before Hitler came to power and would have benefited any government, the dictator accelerated - in the eyes of the unemployed - through widely publicized employment programs and an unparalleled program of armaments, which should sooner or later lead the state to bankruptcy, if the treasury would not receive money (for example, as a result of the exploitation of the occupied territories). Foreign policy successes - for example, Germany's return of the Saar - further strengthened Hitler's position. The following stages: in 1936, German troops entered the Rhine zone, demilitarized since 1919, in 1938 Austria was absorbed, and in the same year, the Western powers allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland.

History of Germany - World War II:

But it was not enough for Hitler to increase the territory of the German Reich. He wanted more. In March 1939, he ordered German troops to enter Prague, and on September 1, 1939, he unleashed the Second World War by attacking Poland. In five and a half years, it claimed 55 million lives, devastated a significant part of Europe. For many countries, the Germans became brutal occupiers. The occupied territory stretched from the Atlantic coast of France to the gates of Moscow, from northern Norway to North Africa. With the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a merciless, destructive military campaign began in the East.

After the US entered the war in 1941 and the defeat at Stalingrad in 1943, a radical change occurred. During the liberation of the occupied territories, the allied troops discovered more or less organized resistance groups. But in Germany, too, there have been desperate attempts at resistance over the years, undertaken by individuals or various groups. They came from all walks of life. The attempt on Hitler, undertaken by Count Stauffenberg and other resistance fighters on July 20, 1944, failed: Hitler survived and executed over 4 thousand people. The war continued, both sides suffered huge losses until the entire territory of the Reich was occupied by the Allied forces. April 30, 1945 Hitler committed suicide, a week later the darkest chapter in German history ended with the unconditional surrender of the Reich

Germany is a state in Central Europe, which got its name from the Romans after the people who lived in it. In the VIII century, it became part of the empire of Charlemagne, in 843 it separated from it into a separate kingdom. In the middle of the 9th century, the kings of Germany became emperors Holy Roman Empire , and this designation of Germany lasted until the start XIX century. FROM XIII century, the fragmentation of Germany into separate principalities began, which was especially intensified due to the Thirty Years' War XVII century. AT XVIII century Germany consisted of 350 principalities and free cities. In the second half of the 19th century, it was united by Bismarck, since 1871 - an empire.

Essay on the history of the XVI - XVII centuries

Germany (German: Deutschland) is a state in the Center. Europe. Beginning 16th century was marked in G. by the strengthening of the reformers. movements in the church. life: Martin Luther published (1517) his 95 theses, and in 1519 entered into an open struggle with Rome. In 1519, the grandson of the emperor was elected to the throne. Maximilian I Charles V of Spain (1519-1556), on whom G. had high hopes. However, he found himself at the center of events completely alien to Germany. In 1531, hoping for support in the fight against France, Charles decided to rely on Roman Catholicism. Church and at the Diet of Worms laid disgrace on Luther. Immediately after this, the war with France began. During it, Charles lost German-Austrian. the possessions of G. to his brother Ferdinand, and the management of G. handed over to the imp. pr-va, which did not prevent the spread of the new doctrine. However, the attempts of the petty chivalry and the peasantry to take advantage of Luther's reform activities for their own purposes did not justify their hopes of changing their plight. At the Diet in Speyer (1529), the Catholics succeeded in canceling a large number of concessions to the reformers. Supporters of church reforms protested against this decision, after which they began to be called Protestants. Charles, in alliance with Rome, decided to deal with the Protestants, but at the Diet in Augsburg (1530) it turned out that the emperor did not have the necessary forces for this. In addition, relations with France and the Turks did not contribute to Karl's undertaking, and he resigned himself. Moreover, when the Protestants formed the Schmalkaldic League and protested together with Bavaria against the election of Ferdinand to Rome. kings, after which they began to draw closer to France, Hungary and Denmark, Karl was forced (1532) to go to religion in Nuremberg. a peace that guaranteed freedom of religion for Protestants until the next council. Busy French. and tour. campaigns, Charles no longer had the opportunity to influence the course of events in Georgia, where Protestantism was rapidly gaining strength and even helped the emperor conclude a profitable peace with France after the victory at Crepi. After that, however, Charles made an agreement with Rome to eradicate Protestantism in Georgia, which again turned the whole of Greece against him. His own project for the transformation of the church forced not only Rome, but also allies inside the country to turn away from him. Meanwhile, France took away 3 Lorraine from him. duchies, which prompted Charles to transfer control of the country to his brother, who in 1555 concluded the so-called. Augsburg Relig. world. During the reign of Ferdinand I (1555-1564), the Turks captured most of Hungary, France continued to hold the Germans. territories; trade was dealt a severe blow in connection with the discovery and the beginning of the development of America; German the Hanseatic cities lost the championship to Scand. cities; The Netherlands were first captured by Spain, and then completely independent; Balt. provinces fell under the glory. influence. His son, Maximilian II (1564-1576), who succeeded him, tried to maintain peace between the warring parties, which only contributed to the strengthening of the internal. strife and the spread of Protestantism in Bohemia and Austria. Entered the imp. the throne, the son of Maximilian Rudolph II (1576-1612), who was under the influence of the Jesuits, decided to put an end to the Reformation with one blow and created an alliance of Catholics. princes in order to fight the Protestants. Those, in turn, united in a union and successfully resisted the efforts of the emperor, and only death saved him from the loss of all his crowns. His brother and successor, Matthew (1612-1619), who was still in opposition to the emperor, proved unable to curb the mutual bitterness of the parties or gain influence even on one of them. The violation of the “letter of majesty” caused a revolution in Bohemia (in the spring of 1618), which served as an external. cause for the 30 Years' War. Shortly thereafter, Matthew died, leaving as his successor in the hereditary lands a friend of the Jesuits - Ferdinand of Styria. Ferdinand II (1619-1637), whom the Czechs recognized as deposed from the throne, managed, however, in the most difficult circumstances, not only to establish himself in Austria, but also to become German. emperor. Supported Catholic. league, he pacified the uprising of the Czechs, defeated the cor. Frederick (Elector of the Palatinate) and achieved the disintegration of the Protestants. union. Following this, both in Bohemia and Austria, as well as in many other parts of Germany, the merciless eradication of the Reformation began, which gave the foreign. goswam - first of Denmark (1625- 1629), and then of Sweden and France - an occasion for intervention in it. affairs. Ferdinand II, meanwhile, was able to throw off his dependence on the league and, with the help of Wallenstein, create independent empires. military force. However, he had the imprudence to dismiss Wallenstein at the very moment when, on the one hand, he quarreled with the leaders of the league, and on the other hand, he issued an extremely untimely restoration edict (1629), which aroused the deep hatred of the Protestants. It helped the Swede. box Gustav II Adolf to support the perishing Protestantism and at the same time to approve the Swede. dominance in Germany coast of the Baltic Sea. With great difficulty, Gustav-Adolf made his way to Saxony, defeated the supporters of the league at Breitenfeld (1631), victoriously marched to the Rhine, Swabia and Bavaria, and defeated imp. troops under the command of the newly appointed Wallenstein. Death of a Swede The king was saved by the Habsburgs. After the victory at Nordlingen (1634), the emperor succeeded, according to the Prague Peace Treaty (1635), to win over at least part of the Protestants; but, until the foundations of the "restorative edict" were finally eliminated, foreign. it was easy for the powers to continue the war. Indeed, the war continued to rage after the death of Ferdinand, under his son Ferdinand III (1637-1667). Means. part of Germany was completely ruined; the most flourishing areas on the Rhine, Main and Neckar turned into deserts. Finally, the peace congress that opened in Münster and Osnabrück ended after years of negotiations with the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Protestants were given a religion. equality, the exiled princes were restored in their rights. However, this peace was achieved at the cost of full political. atrophy of the empire. The mediating powers, Sweden and France, received a generous reward from him. lands, and germ. sovereign princes acquired the rights of independence. sovereigns. With the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, the authority of the imp. power existed only nominally; the empire turned into a union of states, barely connected with each other. At the permanent Diet in Regensburg, which opened in 1663, German. the sovereigns participated no longer personally, but through their representatives. Meetings were conducted with such pedantic painstakingness that the Diet was completely useless for the urgent needs of the nation. The emperor lived almost without a break in his hereditary lands and became more and more a foreign element in the empire; in parallel with this, the influence of foreign powers. The very education and spiritual development of the people became dependent on foreigners, primarily the French. The empire, constrained on all sides by the Turks, French and Swedes, played a completely passive role in the events that soon followed. Many Zap.-German. sovereigns directly took the side of France, so that after the death of Ferdinand III it was worth great work to elect his son Leopold I (1658-1705) as emperor. Even the aggressive policy of the French. box Louis XIV could not inspire him. people to a united resistance. At first, only the leader stood up for the interests of G.. the elector of Brandenburg and under Ferbelin (1675) inflicted a sensitive defeat on the allies of France, the Swedes. When, finally, the emperor and the empire decided to take part in the war, then the rivalry of individual him. state-in at every turn interfered with the success of military operations. Needing troops against the Hungarians. rebels and Turks, the emperor accepted the Peace of Nimvegen (1678) and forced Friedrich Wilhelm to return the Balts conquered from them to the Swedes. provinces. Taking advantage of the complete lack of unity, Louis XIV, with the help of his "attaching chambers" (Chambres de Reunion), weakened the empire in the West and annexed Strasbourg to France (1681). Finally, his claims to the Palatinate inheritance forced him to. state-wa to stick to a new coalition against France. According to the Peace of Ryswick (1697), however, Georgia did not get back the provinces taken from her. Louis returned only Freiburg and Breisach. War for Spain inheritance again took place mainly on the territory. G., sev. and east. the border lands of the swarm at the same time were devastated as a result of the Northern War, which Russia waged with Sweden.

Vladimir Boguslavsky

Material from the book: "Slavic Encyclopedia. XVII century". M., OLMA-PRESS. 2004.

Not immediately Germany was built

In 843, as a result of the division of the vast Frankish Empire between the three grandsons of Charlemagne, the territory of modern Germany - the East Frankish kingdom - went to Louis the German. This is how the Germanic, or, as it was later officially called, the Roman kingdom arose. Initially, it consisted of only four duchies: Saxony, Franconia, Swabia and Bavaria. Later, the Duchy of Lorraine was added to them. In 939, King Otto I liquidated the Duchy of Franconia and annexed its lands to the royal domain. Later, as a result of a centuries-old offensive to the east, several more large German possessions were formed on the lands inhabited by Slavs, Lithuanians and Prussians.

In 961, King Otto I of Germany crossed the Alps and defeated the Italian king Berengari II. In 962 he entered Rome and was crowned imperial there by the Pope. The empire, in addition to Germany, included Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic (Bohemia), and from 1032 the Burgundian kingdom of Arelat.

Until 1125, the king of Germany, if the throne remained vacant, was elected at a congress of spiritual and secular nobility. But then the election procedure was changed - from that time on, the electors received the right to choose the king (the elector is a prince, spiritual or secular, who has the right to vote in the election of the king). The right to vote was granted not to a certain prince or dynasty, but to the territory - the subject of the empire. Initially, there were seven Electors: the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, Cologne, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Palatine Count of the Rhine (Palatinate), the King of Bohemia. In 1692, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg received the electoral dignity of Hanover. In 1723, instead of the King of Bohemia, the Duke of Bavaria became elector. In 1803, the Imperial Diet redrawn the map of Germany. The spiritual electors were deprived of the right to choose a king, and instead of them, the rulers of Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Kassel, Salzburg (in 1805, instead of Salzburg - Würzburg) and Regensburg, the ruler of which became the Archchancellor of the Empire, Archbishop of Mainz Karl Theodor von Dahlberg, presiding over the Diet, became electors. Elected to the throne received the title of King of Germany (officially - King of Rome). However, in order to receive the imperial crown, he had to be crowned in Rome by the Pope. And this was not always possible to do, since the relationship of many kings of Germany with the Popes was often not the best. Therefore, the list of kings of Germany (Roman) does not quite coincide with the list of emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

Germanic (Roman) Kingdom

Suppression of the Carolingian dynasty in Germany. At the congress of princes, the majority was ready to elect the Duke of Saxony Otto as king, but he, citing old age, renounced the throne and advised to elect the Duke of Franconian Conrad, which was done.

Conrad I of Franconia 911-918

Conrad III 1138-1152

Frederick I Barbarossa 1152-1190

Ludwig IV Wittelsbach 1314-1347

Dynasty Luxembourgish, 1347-1437

Luxembourg since 1310 were the kings of the Czech Republic. About the Luxembourg dynasty - in the chapter "Benelux".

Charles IV 1347-1378

Wenceslas 1378-1400

Ruprecht of the Palatinate 1400-1410

Sigismund 1410-1437

After the death of Sigismund, there were no male heirs. His son-in-law Albrecht of Habsburg was elected king, who, during the life of his father-in-law, was recognized as the king of Hungary and the governor of the Czech Republic.

Dynasty Habsburg, 1438-1806

More about the Habsburg dynasty - in the section "Austria".

Albrecht II 1438-1439

Friedrich III 1440-1486

Maximilian I 1486-1519

Charles V 1519-1531

Ferdinand I 1531-1562

Maximilian II 1562-1575

Rudolf II 1575-1612

Matthias 1612-1619

Ferdinand II 1619-1636

Ferdinand III 1636-1653

Ferdinand IV 1653-1654

Ferdinand III (secondary) 1654-1657

Leopold I 1658-1690

Joseph I 1690-1711

Charles VI 1711-1740

Charles VII of Bavaria 1742-1745

Franz I 1745-1764

Joseph II 1764-1790

Leopold II 1790-1792

Franz II 1792-1806

Napoleon I Bonaparte 1811-1814

Used materials of the book: Sychev N.V. Book of dynasties. M., 2008. p. 192-231.

German states and their rulers:

Holy Roman Empire(this state formation included Germany, and the German kings became its emperors).

Austria, in the 10th century, the Bavarian Eastern Mark arose, which later became a duchy and received the name Austria. Since 976, the Babenberg dynasty has established itself there, lateral branch Bavarian Wittelsbachs.

Prussia and Brandenburg, the German state in 1525-1947.

Saxony. The ancient Saxon duchy occupied large areas in the northern part of Germany. This is mainly the modern state of Lower Saxony, but Magdeburg was also included there.

Meissen(margraviate). In 928/29 Emperor Henry I established the Margraviate of Meissen.

Hanover- a historical region in the north-west of Germany.

Bavaria(Duchy of Bavaria) - a medieval kingdom, later a duchy in southwestern Germany, which took its name from the Germanic people of the Bavarians.

Rhenish Palatinate. County Palatinate of the Rhine, since 1356 - Electorate of the Palatinate.

Swabia, duchy 920-1268

Württemberg, before 1495 - county, 1495-1803 - Duchy, 1803-1806 - Electorate, 1806-1918 - kingdom.

Baden, margraviate, from 1803 - electorate, from 1806 - grand duchy.

Hesse, from 1265 Hessian landgraviate, and from 1292 an imperial principality.

Lorraine. As a result of the division of the Frankish Empire between the grandchildren of Charlemagne, Lothar I, in addition to the imperial title, got: Italy, Provence, the Burgundian lands, the border region between France and Germany, later known as Lorraine, the lands of the Frisians. Later, Lothair I divided his possessions between his sons, giving each of them a royal title. He proclaimed Charles the king of Provence, Louis II - the king of Italy, Lothair II - the king of Lorraine.

At the beginning of the 14th century, in Western Europe, it was the Holy Roman Empire that gradually became the largest formation of political significance, which was completely devoid of unity within the state. The core of the empire at that time was mainly the old German lands, as well as many lands that lay beyond the Elbe and on the territory of the Danube. This empire could only include states that were actually autonomous, and extended into the territories of Tuscany, Italy, and the kingdom of the Czech Republic.

In 1291, the beginning of a completely new formation of a political system was laid on the lands of the empire. This led to the creation of the Swiss Union. The communities of Unterwald, Schwyz and Uri were simply forced to join forces to fight a common enemy - the Habsburgs. It was he who many times tried to subjugate significant segments of the trade routes that for many years connected the lands of Italy and Germany. In 1215, the infantry of the Swiss troops, which was assembled from ordinary peasants, inflicted a crushing defeat on the knightly cavalry of the Habsburgs near Mount Morgarten. This union began to include five more different districts. After the members of the union were able to defeat the enemy troops during the Swabian War, which took place in 1499, autonomy from the entire empire was recognized. But Switzerland was able to obtain its recognition of being independent from the people only towards the end of 1648. Closer to the middle of the 15th century, five more states decided to join the Swiss Union. Now it was a whole conference of thirteen small states. The representatives of the supreme power were the assembly of cantons.

In the period from the 14th to the 15th century, Germany was marked a sharp increase the development of new cities, as well as the rapid development of artisans and trade. By the middle of the 14th century, Germany had more than 3,500 small towns. About a fifth of the population lived in them, which numbered about 14 million people. The production, which was distributed in German cities, was aimed exclusively at the demand of local markets. The main advantage of German exports was cloth-making. Toward the end of the 14th century, German artisans were already engaged in production in almost 50 different industries. In many industries, more than 20 new vacancies of various professions have appeared. Gradually, the prerequisite began to take shape in order to develop manufacturing production in Germany.

In the 15th century, the entire church system began to gradually decompose. Merchants began to buy raw materials for the production of cloth from village artisans from far away for almost a penny, then they brought everything to the city and, with the help of an experienced artisan, refined the cloth, and then the finished material was sent over long distances for sale.

The main industry in Germany was still mining. Here, experienced miners mined various rocks and processed them due to the widely developed metallurgy. The extraction of gold and silver has increased significantly. In the process of mining, an early capitalist attitude gradually began to emerge in some elements.

Due to the fact that in the middle of the 15th century book printing was born, German manufactory production began to gradually emerge. At the end of the 15th century, Germany already had more than 50 different centers where books were printed.