germany

Germany 

Period 1

Western Europe

  • From 1200 to 1871 germany fragmented states

  • Prussia's largest and most dominant 

  • From 1871 to 1945 Germany unified country

  • 1945-1985 split two countries, east, and West

  • 1989 to the present - Germany

Period 2

Protestant reformation

1519 German monk martin luther nails the 95 theses to the doors of Wittenberg cathedral

95 theses goal is to stop the corruption of the catholic church

Simony, indulgences 

stating various reforms that should be done

Spread throughout Germany and eventually Europe bc of the printing press

Many German princes end and eventually German princes and European monarchs support Luther and the Reformation because they want more empowerment than wealth in the church

Germany will fight various civil wars over religion

The last reformation war is the 30 years of wars

1618-1648

Which ends with the Treaty of Westphalia which shows that the protestant religion is here to stay in Europe

Period 3

Enlightenment

Napoleon invades and spreads enlightenment ideas as well as nationalism throughout the region

The revolution of 1848 takes away the king's dictatorship forever 

German unification

Prime Minister of Prussia Otto von Bismarck wants all German states to be unified and led by Prussia so that they can become stronger military and economically

This through (blood and iron) Prussia will fight three wars…

  • Denmark

  • Austria

  • France - Franco-Prussian War)

Eventually after winning these wars and eventually unifying german in 1871 

Industrial revolution

Late because of unification

Eventually uses industry to create the world's largest army

Imperialism very late

Held the Berlin conference in 1844 which gave them small overseas territories in Africa

Period 4

World War One of the major causes and join the central powers (Germany Austria hungry and the ottoman empire)

Tries the Schlieffen plan 

Conquering and including France leads to a two-front war and defense

Loses because not enough men or supplies in a two-front war

Treaty of Versailles:

Have to give all territory gained from 1871 to 1918

France allowed to go into Germany and take their coal

Germany has to decline size of military

Lose all Imperialism properties

Germany has to take the blame for the entire war

Interwar years

1918-1933

Has to deal with economic difficulties, the Treaty of Versailles great depression

Attempt to solve economic issues by printing more money which makes it worse by creating hyperinflation which leads to more economic and political instability

Stability was restored in 1933 with the voting of nazi leader adolf hitler as chancellor

Hitler stabilizes the country by going against all provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and rebuilding the German meant with the goal of lebensraum

Hitler wants to Obtain more physical territory and populate areas with more Germans while decreasing the population of “lesser” races

Antisemitic

Nuremberg laws - 1935 Hitler segregates Germans and Jewish people while also stripping the Jews of their German citizenship and making marriage between Germans and Jews illegal 

Kristallnacht - the night of broken glass, 1938 Hitler shuts down all Jewish businesses and homes and begins to remove Jews into concentration camps

Causes of WWII

  • 1938 begins lebensraum with the Anschluss unification of Germany and Austria 

  • 1938 obtains Czechoslovakia at the Munich conference through appeasement 

  • 1939 makes a non-aggression pact with Stalin and the soviet union 

WWII

Hitler begins the war by invading Poland simultaneously with the soviet union

By mid-1940 takes over most of Europe including France by utilizing the milt strategy of blitzkrieg (German lightning warfare)

Three waves of attack

  1. Planes

  2. Tanks

  3. People

The last remaining enemy in 1940 is England in which Hitler utilized the battle of Britain (operation sea lion) to send planes that will bomb major English cities and industrial factories that make weapons

By mid-1941 with England destroyed but not surrendering Hitler sneak attacked the soviet union in operation barbarossa which is the begging of the end for Germany

While losing ground in Russia Germany will be forced to fight a two-front war after the Allied invasion of northern France (D-day) in June 1944

By May 1945 with the soviet union capturing and destroying Berlin Hitler will commit suicide leading to the end of nazi germany called VE - day cold war

Holocaust 

Mass genocide of Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany

Originally European Jews are taken into concentration camps to do hard labor when Germany conquered their land 

The final solution is the killing all the Jews begins in 1942 when Hitler sees he might lose the war 

Estimate 5-7 million killed 

Nuremberg trials - nazi officials are found guilty of crimes dealing with the holocaust, initiative set that people are responsible for their actions and can not use the defense that they were just following orders

Cold war

1945 upon losing world war two Germany is split into two separate countries

East Germany - controlled by the soviet union and is a satellite nation in the warsaw pact

West Germany - fully independent allied with NATO and prosperous 

Berlin is also divided into two cities issue is that west berlin is geographically located in East Germany

First, cold war tension begins when stalin attempts to seize west berlin by attempting the berlin blockade which is defeated by USA berlin airlift

In 1960 many people from east berlin fled to west berlin which has stopped by the soviet union by building the berlin wall 

1989 berlin wall is taken down which symbolizes the end of the cold war