history of Germany

The Germani, German, or Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to the time of Julius Caesar, a Roman general and statesman who first referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine river as "Germania" and the tribes who lived at there as "Germani". In 9, the victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest prevented annexation of Germania by the Roman Empire. Following the fall of Rome made by the Germanic tribes in 476 with their invasions in the context of the Migration Period and the founding of their own kingdoms; the Franks, a West Germanic tribe, later conquered the other West Germanic tribes and established the Frankish Empire (Francia). When the Frankish Empire was divided among Charles the Great's heirs in 843, the eastern part became East Francia; which marked the final end of Germanic period and the foundation of the Kingdom of Germany as well, especially when the Ottonian dynasty having origin from the Duchy of Saxony of the Germanic Saxons started to rule the kingdom in 919. In 962, King Otto I of East Francia became the first Holy Roman Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The period of the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages with the Frankish Empire, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire as a great power in Europe saw the christianization of the German people; developments of the German-speaking region; the ethnic Germans i.e. the Germanic (speaking) peoples beginning to move to settle in the East, including present-day Eastern Germany; and expansion of German territory with the various free states. The first was the establishment of the trading conglomerate known as the Hanseatic League, which was dominated by a number of German port cities along the Baltic and North Sea coasts. The second was the growth of a crusading element within German Christendom. This led to the establishment of the State of the Teutonic Order, established along the Baltic coast of what is today Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This crusader state led to the Christianization of these regions, as well as an extension of Germanic culture and language eastward. Also during this period, German Emperors became embroiled in conflicts with the Catholic Church over various political issues, resulting in the Investiture Controversy. In future, the State of the Teutonic Order would become the Duchy of Prussia then the Kingdom of Prussia. In the Late Middle Ages, the regional dukes, princes, and bishops gained power at the expense of the emperors. Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation within the Catholic Church after 1517, as the northern and eastern states became Protestant, while most of the southern and western states remained Catholic. The two parts of the Holy Roman Empire clashed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which was ruinous to the twenty million civilians living in both parts. The Thirty Years' War brought tremendous destruction to Germany; more than 1/4 of the population in the German states were killed by the catastrophic war. The estates of the Holy Roman Empire attained a high extent of autonomy in the Peace of Westphalia, some of them being capable of their own foreign policies or controlling land outside of the Empire, the most important being Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony. With the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815, feudalism fell away by reforms and the dissolution of the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon instead established the Confederation of the Rhine as his German puppet state. After the French defeat, the German Confederation was established under Austrian presidency and included all German states and German-speaking lands. Thereafter liberalism and nationalism clashed with reaction. The German revolutions of 1848–49 failed. The Industrial Revolution modernized the German economy, led to the rapid growth of cities and the emergence of the socialist movement in Germany. Prussia, rival of Austria, with its capital Berlin, grew in power. German universities became world-class centers for science and humanities, while music and art flourished. Prussia beat Austria and dissolved German Confederation to establish the North German Confederation led by Prussia in 1866. The unification of Germany (excluding Austria) was achieved under the leadership of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck with the formation of the German Empire led by Prussia when most of German states in the South joined the North German Confederation after German victory over France in 1871. This resulted in the Kleindeutsche Lösung supported by Prussia, ("small Germany solution", Germany without Austria), rather than the Großdeutsche Lösung supported by Austria, ("greater Germany solution", Germany with Austria); which means new Germany did not include Austria and its non-German speaking lands. In 1879, Germany and Austria (Austria-Hungary) became military allies, alliance of the two countries was later called the "Central Powers"; Italy, Ottoman, and Bulgaria later joined it but then Italy withdrew because of the territorial disputing with Austria. The new Reichstag, an elected parliament, had only a limited role in the imperial government. Germany joined the other powers in colonial expansion in Africa and the Pacific. Under Emperor Wilhelm II after Bismarck retired in 1890, Germany's foreign relations with Britain-France-Russia deteriorated due to Germany's ambition increasing to challenge other 3 powers. Right before German engagement in World War I on 1 August 1914; Germany was one of the greatest powers in the world with the strongest armed forces, strong economy and first modern welfare system and big influence in all fields, as well as the dominant power on the European continent, its GDP as well as rapidly expanding industry had surpassed Britain's while provoking it in one naval arms race. Result of fact that Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia was World War I; Germany as a member of the Central Powers joined this worldwide conflict (1914–1918) against the Allied Powers. The Central Powers beat Russia in east, initially advanced then held out in west; Germany lost on 11 November 1918 as fighting in two fronts then keeping considerable amount of army in east while the allies of Germany were disproportionately effective and facing consequence of United States accession. After the war (Armistice of 11 November 1918); Germany was humiliated, partly occupied for a time, forced to pay big war reparations, and stripped of its colonies as well as significant territory along its borders by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in the Paris "Peace" Conference. The German Revolution of 1918–19 put an end to the German Empire with the abdication of Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918 and established the Weimar Republic, an ultimately unstable parliamentary democracy. On 23 March 1933, Adolf Hitler-led Nazi Party, used the weak democracy and the economic hardships of the worldwide Great Depression from United States after German Golden Twenties along with popular resentment over the terms imposed on Germany after World War I to establish his totalitarian regime which was also called Nazi Germany. This regime made the extreme racism, especially antisemitism, a central tenet of its policies, and became increasingly aggressive with its territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Germany also quickly remilitarized to build its strong armed forces and did a socio-economic growth, then annexed Austria and the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia both in 1938. 1 September 1939, after taking rest of Czechoslovakia, the country launched invasion of Poland, which quickly grew into World War II with Germany being a member of Axis which included the Empire of Japan. Nazi de jure final goal was Soviet east land to end Soviet state and create its totalitarian-racist "Greater Germanic Reich" in most Europe, for Germanic speaking peoples; with Nazi satellite polities near it and Britain a Germanic speaking country being the exception as its plan was being a Britain's ally, as well as with new world order under main Axis powers and Nazi Germany rising the leader although Nazi Germany's de facto final goal could be the establishment a state of its for the whole world after. During the war, the Nazi regime established a systematic genocide program known as the Holocaust which killed 17 million people, including 6 million Jews (representing 2/3rd of the European Jewish population of 1933). Although Germany had military successes in North Africa and most Europe against British Empire and its allies, beside Japanese successes; Germany lost due to fighting in two fronts and successive defeats to the Soviet Union in east from Battle of Stalingrad as well as consequence of fact that the United States entered the war while the allies of Germany were also disproportionately effective. Following the Allied invasion of Normandy in France in June 1944, the German armed forces was pushed back on all fronts by the Allies until final collapse on 8 May 1945. Europe was devastated, Anglo-France were declined, and United States-Soviet Union became only the two superpowers in the world. World War II weakened the ruling colonies, most ruled by the Allies. From 5 June 1945, under occupation by the four Allies after the end of World War II in Europe leading to fall of the Nazi regime; Nazi territorial annexations were completely annulled, denazification efforts took place, Germany lost its eastern territories and Germans in Eastern Europe fled and were expelled, German territories were split up by the victorious powers. With the rise of the geo-political conflict of the Allies after the war, including the fact that the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council (ACC) ruling entire Germany on 23 March 1948; their plan about founding a new single German st From Wikipedia