The Early Years of Germany

The Early Years of Germany

From a traveler's perspective, history of the territory that today represents Germany needs a closer look with the times of the Romans to pursue a campaign of expansion into Germanic territory.Germanic Tribes and Romans were involved in numerous battles which prompted Romans to build the Limes, a fortification 300 kilometers long, in the first century A.D. Cities like Cologne, Mainz or Trier do have their origins in ancient Roman settlements, in Trier impressive buildings dating back to these times can still be visited.
From the times of Roman influence up until the partition of the Frankish Kingdom by Charlemagne, history cannot be labeled as German history. But these are the times when European basics were shaped from a cultural, religious, ethnical and territorial perspective. Only during the Saxon Dynasty about 1000 A.D. something like the conscience of a German kingdom occurred, and started to replace the ancient Frankish kingdom. The city of Aachen still today shows the power of the Frankish kings.

Years of Changes in Germany

Medieval Germany was dominated mainly by struggles within the German Empire as well as the catholic church. The notion of “Holy Roman Empire of German Nation” implies the growing political distance between Rome and Germany.The geographic spread of Germany changed continuously over the centuries. Although all of Germany was under the control of the Emperor, his power was so weak or uncertain, that many local authorities had to maintain order. Nevertheless being located in the center of Europe, Germany was active in international trade as well as manufacturing and therefore prospered during the fourteenth and fifteenth century.In 1517, with the posting of Martin Luther's theses, an era of religious tensions began, which seemed to have an end through the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. But in 1618, the Thirty Years' War began, and by its end in 1648 (Peace of Westphalia) large parts of Germany were devastated. Politically, Germany was even less united than before and a long period of economic decline began.
To withstand the growing revolutionary french power, at the end of the 18th century, Austria and Prussia built an alliance, which didn't help to stop Napoleon and his military victories. The effect of the French occupation amongst others was the reduction of geographical entities within Germany from about 300 to merely 40.In 1862 King Wilhelm I. of Prussia chose Otto von Bismarck as his minister president. After the wars against Austria, France and Denmark it was Wilhelm I. who was crowned as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles.

Germany - Two states for 40 years

The entire German territory was occupied by foreign armies, forming four occupation zones. In 1946 the United States and Britain formed the Bizone, which was later on joined by France to build the Trizone in 1949.The growing conflicts between the Western Allies and Russia led to the approval by the Western military governors of the new Basic Law on May 23, 1949, and on that date a new state, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or BRD) came into existence. Only a couple of months later, in the soviet occupation zone the new People's Council was convened for the first time on October 7, 1949, and on the same day the constitution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR) went into effect.During the following four decades, both German countries chose to follow completely different paths, both from a political as well as economical perspective.
After a short but powerful period of peaceful manifestations in Eastern Germany, on November 9, 1989 the GDR border police unexpectedly opened the Berlin Wall.On October 3, 1990 the Eastern German Volkskammer agreed to the German unification, and on midnight that same day, the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany.Many differences between both German States have disappeared but at many places, traces of Eastern Germany can still be found, which is one of many reasons to travel through Germany.