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{{History of Germany}}
The concept of [[Germany]] as a distinct region in [[Central Europe]] can be traced to [[Julius Caesar]], who referred to the unconquered area east of the [[Rhine]] as ''[[Germania]]'', thus distinguishing it from [[Gaul]]. The victory of the [[Cherusci|Germanic tribes]] in the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]] ([[AD]] 9) prevented annexation by the [[Roman Empire]], although the [[Roman provinces]] of [[Germania Superior]] and [[Germania Inferior]] were established along the [[Rhine]]. Following the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]], the [[Franks]] conquered the other [[West Germanic languages|West]] [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]]. When the [[Francia|Frankish Empire]] was divided among [[Charles the Great]]'s heirs in 843, the eastern part became [[East Francia]], and later [[Kingdom of Germany]]. In 962, [[Otto I]] became the first [[Holy Roman Emperor]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the medieval German state.

During the [[High Middle Ages]], the [[Hanseatic League]], dominated by German port cities, established itself along the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] and [[North Sea]]s. The development of a crusading element within German [[Christendom]] led to the [[Northern Crusades]] and the establishment of the [[State of the Teutonic Order]] along the Southern Baltic coast in what would later become [[Prussia]]. In the [[Investiture Controversy]], the German Emperors resisted Catholic Church authority. 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 [[Thirty Years' War]], a civil war from 1618 to 1648 brought tremendous destruction to the Holy Roman Empire. The estates of the empire attained great autonomy in the [[Peace of Westphalia]], the most important being [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]] and [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]]. With the [[Napoleonic Wars]], [[feudalism]] fell away and the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806. [[Napoleon]] established the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] as a German puppet state, but after the French defeat, the [[German Confederation]] was established under Austrian presidency. The [[German revolutions of 1848–1849]] failed but the [[Industrial Revolution]] modernized the German economy, leading to rapid urban growth and the emergence of the [[History of socialism|socialist movement]]. Prussia, with its capital [[Berlin]], grew in power. German universities became world-class centers for science and humanities, while music and art flourished. The [[unification of Germany]] was achieved under the leadership of the Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] with the formation of the [[German Empire]] in 1871. The new ''[[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]]'', an elected parliament, had only a limited role in the imperial government. Germany joined the other powers in [[German colonial empire|colonial expansion in Africa and the Pacific]].

By 1900, Germany was the dominant power on the European continent and its rapidly expanding industry had surpassed Britain's while provoking it in [[Anglo-German naval arms race|a naval arms race]]. Germany led the [[Central Powers]] in [[World War I]], but was defeated, partly occupied, forced to pay [[war reparations]], and stripped of its colonies and significant territory along its borders. The [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]] ended the German Empire with the abdication of [[Wilhelm II]] in 1918 and established the [[Weimar Republic]], an ultimately unstable parliamentary democracy. In January 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]], leader of the [[Nazi Party]], used the economic hardships of the [[Great Depression]] along with popular resentment over the terms imposed on Germany at the end of World War I to establish a [[totalitarian]] regime. This [[Nazi Germany]] made 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 quickly remilitarized, annexed its German-speaking neighbors and [[invasion of Poland|invaded Poland]], triggering [[World War II]]. During the war, the Nazis established a systematic [[genocide]] program known as [[the Holocaust]] which killed 11 million people, including 6 million Jews (representing 2/3rds of the European Jewish population). By 1944, the German Army was pushed back on all fronts until finally collapsing in May 1945. Under [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupation by the Allies]], [[denazification]] efforts took place, large populations under former German-occupied territories were displaced, German territories were split up by the victorious powers and in the east annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. Germany spent the entirety of the [[Cold War]] era divided into the [[NATO]]-aligned [[West Germany]] and [[Warsaw Pact]]-aligned [[East Germany]]. Germans also fled from Communist areas into West Germany, which experienced rapid [[Wirtschaftswunder|economic expansion]], and became the dominant economy in Western Europe.

In 1989, the [[Berlin Wall]] was [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|opened]], the [[Eastern Bloc]] collapsed, and [[Reunification of Germany|East and West Germany were reunited]] in 1990. The [[France–Germany relations|Franco-German friendship]] became the basis for the political integration of Western Europe in the [[European Union]]. In 1998–1999, Germany was one of the founding countries of the [[eurozone]]. Germany remains one of the economic powerhouses of Europe, contributing about 1/4 of the eurozone's annual [[gross domestic product]]. In the early 2010s, Germany played a critical role in trying to resolve the escalating euro crisis, especially concerning Greece and other [[Southern European]] nations. In 2015, Germany faced the [[European migrant crisis]] as the main receiver of asylum seekers from [[Syria]] and other troubled regions. Germany opposed [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine]] and decided to strengthen [[Bundeswehr|its armed forces]].

==Prehistory==
{{See also|Prehistoric Europe|Archaeology of Northern Europe}}

===Paleolithic and Neolithic ages===
{{further|Paleolithic Europe|Neolithic Europe}}
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 | caption2          = The [[Lion-man|Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel]], [[Aurignacian|Aurignacian culture]], {{circa}} 41.000 BP
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 | caption3          = [[Paleolithic flute|Bone flute]] from [[Geissenklösterle|Geißenklösterle]]. [[Aurignacian|Aurignacian culture]], 43,000–35,000 BC
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Pre-human apes such as [[Danuvius guggenmosi]], who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest apes to walk on two legs prior to other species and genera such as [[Australopithecus]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McRae |first1=Mike |title=We Just Found an 11-Million-Year-Old Ancestor That Hints How Humans Began to Walk |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/discovery-of-a-new-11-million-year-old-ancestor-reveals-how-humans-began-to-walk |work=ScienceAlert |date=6 November 2019}}</ref> The discovery of the [[Mauer 1|Homo heidelbergensis]] mandible in 1907 affirms archaic human presence in Germany by at least 600,000 years ago,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Günther A. |date=2010 |title=Radiometric dating of the type-site for Homo heidelbergensis at Mauer, Germany |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=107 |issue=46 |pages=19726–19730 |bibcode=2010PNAS..10719726W |doi=10.1073/pnas.1012722107 |pmc=2993404 |pmid=21041630 |doi-access=free}}</ref> so stone tools were dated as far back as 1.33 million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.3390/h8030129 | doi-access=free | title=Several Lower Palaeolithic Sites along the Rhine Rift Valley, Dated from 1.3 to 0.6 Million Years | date=2019 | last1=Fiedler | first1=Lutz | last2=Humburg | first2=Christian | last3=Klingelhöfer | first3=Horst | last4=Stoll | first4=Sebastian | last5=Stoll | first5=Manfred | journal=Humanities | volume=8 | issue=3 | page=129 }}</ref> The oldest complete set of hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world was excavated from a coal mine in [[Schöningen]], [[Lower Saxony]]. Between 1994 and 1998, [[Schöningen spears|eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins]] between {{Convert|1.82|and|2.25|m|ft|2|abbr=on}} in length were eventually unearthed.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Gerhard |last=Trnka |url=https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-10766 |title=Rezension zu: H. Thieme (Hrsg.): Die Schöninger Speere, ...es sind acht Speere...(There are eight javelins) |date=2007 |publisher=H-Soz-Kult |isbn=978-3-8062-2164-0 |access-date=1 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Guido |last=Kleinhubbert |date=20 April 2020 |title=Vogelkiller aus der Steinzeit |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/homo-heidelbergensis-neue-wurfwaffe-aus-der-steinzeit-entdeckt-a-8c0454ed-2c82-448c-b0fa-c38e60eea69c |access-date=23 April 2020 |publisher=SPIEGEL Akademie}}</ref>
One of the oldest buildings in the world and one of the oldest pieces of art was found in [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stanzon.husemann.net/download.php?id=201533&type=T|title=Nr.33/2015 - Homo erectus lädt in seine Welt ein|publisher=Thüringer Staatsanzeiger|date=17 August 2015|issn=0939-9135|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250214140050/http://stanzon.husemann.net/download.php?id=201533&type=T|archive-date=14 February 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1856, the fossilized bones of an extinct human species were salvaged from a limestone grotto in the [[Neander]] valley near [[Düsseldorf]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]. The archaic nature of the fossils, now known to be around 40,000 years old, was recognized and the characteristics published in the first-ever [[paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologic]] [[species description]] in 1858 by [[Hermann Schaaffhausen]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tattersall |first1=Ian |author-link=Ian Tattersall |last2=Schwartz |first2=Jeffrey H. |author-link2=Jeffrey H. Schwartz |date=22 June 1999 |title=Hominids and hybrids: The place of Neanderthals in human evolution |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |volume=96 |issue=13 |pages=7117–7119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.13.7117 |pmc=33580 |pmid=10377375 |bibcode=1999PNAS...96.7117T |doi-access=free}}</ref> The species was named ''Homo neanderthalensis'', [[Neanderthal]] man in 1864.

The oldest traces of [[homo sapiens]] in Germany were found in the cave {{ill|Ilsenhöhle|de}} in [[Ranis]], where up to 47,500-year-old remains were discovered, among the oldest in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Geoff M. |last2=Ruebens |first2=Karen |last3=Zavala |first3=Elena Irene |last4=Sinet-Mathiot |first4=Virginie |last5=Fewlass |first5=Helen |last6=Pederzani |first6=Sarah |last7=Jaouen |first7=Klervia |last8=Mylopotamitaki |first8=Dorothea |last9=Britton |first9=Kate |last10=Rougier |first10=Hélène |last11=Stahlschmidt |first11=Mareike |last12=Meyer |first12=Matthias |last13=Meller |first13=Harald |last14=Dietl |first14=Holger |last15=Orschiedt |first15=Jörg |last16=Krause |first16=Johannes |last17=Schüler |first17=Tim |last18=McPherron |first18=Shannon P. |last19=Weiss |first19=Marcel |last20=Hublin |first20=Jean-Jacques |last21=Welker |first21=Frido |title=The ecology, subsistence and diet of ~45,000-year-old Homo sapiens at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |date=31 January 2024 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=564–577 |doi=10.1038/s41559-023-02303-6 |pmid=38297138 |doi-access=free |pmc=10927544 |bibcode=2024NatEE...8..564S }}</ref> The remains of [[Paleolithic]] [[Homo sapiens|early modern human]] occupation uncovered and documented in several caves in the [[Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura|Swabian Jura]] include various mammoth ivory sculptures that rank among the oldest uncontested works of art and several flutes, made of bird bone and mammoth ivory that are confirmed to be the oldest musical instruments ever found. The 41,000-year-old [[Löwenmensch figurine]] represents the oldest uncontested figurative work of art and the 40,000-year-old [[Venus of Hohle Fels]] has been asserted as the oldest uncontested object of human figurative art ever discovered.<ref name="Conard">{{Cite journal |last=Conard |first=Nicholas J. |date=2009 |title=A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=459 |issue=7244 |pages=248–252 |bibcode=2009Natur.459..248C |doi=10.1038/nature07995 |pmid=19444215 |s2cid=205216692}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ice Age Lion Man is the world's earliest figurative sculpture – The Art Newspaper |url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 |website=The Art Newspaper |access-date=24 November 2013 |archive-date=10 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810061713/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 }}{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Venus of Hohle Fels |url=http://donsmaps.com/hohlefelsvenus.html |website=donsmaps.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 May 2012 |title=Earliest music instruments found |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18196349}}</ref> These artefacts are attributed to the [[Aurignacian]] culture.

Between 12,900 and 11,700 years ago, north-central Germany was part of the [[Ahrensburg culture]] (named for [[Ahrensburg]]).

[[File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|thumb|[[Stroke-ornamented ware culture]] settlement with [[Neolithic long house|long houses]] and
[[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|circular enclosures]] in [[Dresden]], c. 4700 BC|211x211px]]

The first groups of early farmers different from the indigenous hunter-gatherers to migrate into Europe came from a population in western [[Anatolia]] at the beginning of the [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] period between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Eva |last=Fernández |date=5 June 2014 |title=Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=10 |issue=6 |article-number=e1004401 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004401 |pmc=4046922 |pmid=24901650 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Central Germany was one of the primary areas of the [[Linear Pottery culture]] ({{Circa|5500 BC|4500 BC}}), which was partially contemporary with the [[Ertebølle culture]] ({{Circa|5300 BC|3950 BC}}) of Denmark and northern Germany. The construction of the Central European [[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|Neolithic circular enclosure]]s falls in this time period with the best known and oldest being the [[Goseck circle]], constructed {{Circa|4900 BC}}. Afterwards, Germany was part of the [[Rössen culture]], [[Michelsberg culture]] and [[Funnelbeaker culture]] ({{Circa|4600 BC|2800 BC}}). The oldest traces for the use of wheel and wagon ever found are located at a northern German Funnelbeaker culture site and date to around 3400 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=3400 BC: The oldest evidence for the use of the wheel and wagon originates from Northern Germany |url=https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/051-wheel-tracks |publisher=Kiel University}}</ref>

===Bronze Age===
{{See also|Bronze Age Europe|Unetice culture|Nordic Bronze Age|Tumulus culture|Urnfield culture}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Nebra disc 1.jpg | width1 = 165 | caption1 = The [[Nebra sky disc]], [[Unetice culture]], {{Circa|1800–1600 BC}}<ref name="Halle">{{Cite web |title=Nebra Sky Disc |url=https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/nebra-sky-disc.html |website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory}}</ref> | image2 = Speyer-2009-historisches-museum-026.jpg| width2 = 140 | caption2  = [[Golden Hat of Schifferstadt]], [[Urnfield culture]], c. 1400 BC}}

The settlers of the [[Corded Ware culture]] ({{Circa|2900 BC|2350 BC}}), that had spread all over the fertile plains of Central Europe during the Late Neolithic were of [[Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] ancestry. The Indo-Europeans had, via mass-migration, arrived into the heartland of Europe around 4,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |last12=Mittnik |first12=Alissa |last13=Bánffy |first13=Eszter |last14=Economou |first14=Christos |last15=Francken |first15=Michael |last16=Friederich |first16=Susanne |last17=Pena |first17=Rafael Garrido |last18=Hallgren |first18=Fredrik |last19=Khartanovich |first19=Valery |last20=Khokhlov |first20=Aleksandr |last21=Kunst |first21=Michael |last22=Kuznetsov |first22=Pavel |last23=Meller |first23=Harald |last24=Mochalov |first24=Oleg |last25=Moiseyev |first25=Vayacheslav |last26=Nicklisch |first26=Nicole |last27=Pichler |first27=Sandra L. |last28=Risch |first28=Roberto |last29=Rojo Guerra |first29=Manuel A. |last30=Roth |first30=Christina |last31=Szécsényi-Nagy |first31=Anna |last32=Wahl |first32=Joachim |last33=Meyer |first33=Matthias |last34=Krause |first34=Johannes |last35=Brown |first35=Dorcas |last36=Anthony |first36=David |last37=Cooper |first37=Alan |last38=Alt |first38=Kurt Werner |last39=Reich |first39=David |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=Nature |date=11 June 2015 |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |pmid=25731166 |pmc=5048219 |arxiv=1502.02783 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H }}</ref>

By the late [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]], the [[Urnfield culture]] ({{Circa|1300 BC|750 BC}}) had replaced the [[Bell Beaker culture|Bell Beaker]], [[Unetice culture|Unetice]] and [[Tumulus culture]]s in central Europe,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iñigo Olalde |date=8 March 2018 |title=The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe |journal=Nature |publisher=National Center for Biotechnology |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=190–196 |bibcode=2018Natur.555..190O |doi=10.1038/nature25738 |pmc=5973796 |pmid=29466337}}</ref> whilst the [[Nordic Bronze Age]] had developed in Scandinavia and northern Germany. The name 'Urnfield' comes from the custom of [[cremation|cremating]] the dead and placing their ashes in [[urn]]s, which were then buried in fields. The first usage of the name occurred in publications over grave sites in southern Germany in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite thesis |author=Louwen, A.J |date=2021 |type=PhD |publisher=Leiden University |title=Breaking and making the ancestors. Piecing together the urnfield mortuary process in the Lower-Rhine-Basin, c. 1300–400 BC |url=https://www.academia.edu/85067342}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Probst |first1=Ernst |title=Deutschland in der Bronzezeit: Bauern, Bronzegiesser und Burgherren zwischen Nordsee und Alpen |date=1996 |publisher=C. Bertelsmann |location=München |isbn=978-3-570-02237-5 |page=258}}</ref> Over much of Europe, the Urnfield culture followed the [[Tumulus culture]] and was succeeded by the [[Hallstatt culture]].<ref name=chadcorc>{{cite book|last=Chadwick and Corcoran|first=Nora and J.X.W.P.|title=The Celts|year=1970|publisher=Penguin Books|pages=28–29}}</ref> The [[Italic peoples]], including the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]], from which the [[Roman people|Romans]] emerged, come from the Urnfield culture of central Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saupe |first1=Tina |last2=Montinaro |first2=Francesco |last3=Scaggion |first3=Cinzia |last4=Carrara |first4=Nicola |last5=Kivisild |first5=Toomas |last6=D'Atanasio |first6=Eugenia |last7=Hui |first7=Ruoyun |last8=Solnik |first8=Anu |last9=Lebrasseur |first9=Ophélie |last10=Larson |first10=Greger |last11=Alessandri |first11=Luca |last12=Arienzo |first12=Ilenia |last13=De Angelis |first13=Flavio |last14=Rolfo |first14=Mario Federico |last15=Skeates |first15=Robin |last16=Silvestri |first16=Letizia |last17=Beckett |first17=Jessica |last18=Talamo |first18=Sahra |last19=Dolfini |first19=Andrea |last20=Miari |first20=Monica |last21=Metspalu |first21=Mait |last22=Benazzi |first22=Stefano |last23=Capelli |first23=Cristian |last24=Pagani |first24=Luca |last25=Scheib |first25=Christiana L. |title=Ancient genomes reveal structural shifts after the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the Italian Peninsula |journal=Current Biology |date=June 2021 |volume=31 |issue=12 |pages=2576–2591.e12 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.022 |pmid=33974848 |s2cid=234471370 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021CBio...31E2576S |hdl=11585/827581 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aneli |first1=Serena |last2=Caldon |first2=Matteo |last3=Saupe |first3=Tina |last4=Montinaro |first4=Francesco |last5=Pagani |first5=Luca |title=Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study |journal=Human Genetics |date=October 2021 |volume=140 |issue=10 |pages=1417–1431 |doi=10.1007/s00439-021-02328-6 |pmc=8460580 |pmid=34410492 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Saupe|Montinaro|Scaggion|Carrara|2021}} "The results suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry component could have first arrived through Late N/Bell Beaker groups from [[Central Europe]]."</ref>
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===Iron Age===
{{See also|Iron Age Europe|Archaeology of Northern Europe|Celts}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Heuneburg 600 B.C..jpg| width1 = 178 | caption1  = The [[Hallstatt culture|Celtic]] city of [[Heuneburg]] by the Danube, {{Circa|600 BC}}, the oldest city north of the Alps<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city|title=Celtic City: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg|website=heuneburg-pyrene.de|access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref>| image2 = Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave reconstruction.jpg | width2 = 155 | caption2 = The [[Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave]], [[Hallstatt culture]], 530 BC}}

The [[Hallstatt culture]], which had developed from the Urnfield culture, was the predominant Western and Central European culture from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and during the early [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] (8th to 6th centuries BC). It was followed by the [[La Tène culture]] (5th to 1st centuries BC).

The people who had adopted these cultural characteristics in central and southern Germany are regarded as [[Celts]]. How and if the Celts are related to the Urnfield culture remains disputed. However, Celtic cultural centres developed in central Europe during the late Bronze Age ({{circa|1200 BC}} until 700 BC). Some, like the [[Heuneburg]], the oldest city north of the Alps,<ref name="auto1"/> grew to become important cultural centres of the Iron Age in Central Europe, that maintained trade routes to the [[Mediterranean]]. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] mentioned a Celtic city at the Danube – ''Pyrene'', that historians attribute to the Heuneburg. Beginning around 700 BC (or later), [[Germanic peoples]] (Germanic tribes) from [[Archaeology of Northern Europe|southern Scandinavia and northern Germany]] expanded south and gradually replaced the Celtic peoples in Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heuneburg (Herbertingen-Hundersingen) |url=http://www.landeskunde-online.de/rhein/geschichte/antike/kelten/heuneburg/genese.htm |access-date=17 April 2020 |publisher=Landeskunde Online}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1857">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9rfAAAAMAAJ |title=Herodoti Musae |date=1857 |publisher=in bibliopolio Hahniano}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1829">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q45PxRGLB5sC&pg=PA110 |title=Herodoti historiarum libri IX |date=1829 |publisher=G. Fr. Meyer |page=110}}</ref><ref name="Gimbutas2011">{{Cite book |first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvtRdigDtFoC&pg=PA312 |title=Bronze Age cultures in Central and Eastern Europe |date=25 August 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-1116-6814-7 |page=100}}</ref><ref name="Milisauskas2002">{{Cite book |first=Sarunas |last=Milisauskas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31LFIITb3LUC&pg=PA363 |title=European Prehistory: A Survey |date=30 June 2002 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-3064-7257-2 |page=363}}</ref><ref name="RankinRankin1996">{{Cite book |first1=David |last1=Rankin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdqk4vXqntgC |title=Celts and the Classical World |last2=H. D. Rankin |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4151-5090-3}}</ref>
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==Early history: Germanic tribes, Roman conquests, and the Migration Period==

===Early migrations, the Suebi and the Roman Republic===
{{Germanic tribes (750 BC – 1 AD)}}
{{Main|Germanic peoples|Germania}}
{{Further|List of Roman governors of Germania Inferior}}The [[ethnogenesis]] of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]] remains debated. However, for author [[Averil Cameron]] "it is obvious that a steady process" occurred during the [[Nordic Bronze Age]], or at the latest during the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]]<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004289529_007 |chapter=The Debate about the Ethnogenesis of the Germanic Tribes |title=East and West in Late Antiquity |date=2015 |last1=Liebeschuetz |first1=Wolf |pages=85–100 |isbn=978-90-04-28952-9 }}</ref> (Jastorf culture). From their homes in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany the tribes began expanding south, east and west during the 1st century BC,{{Sfn|Kristinsson|2010|p=147|ps=: "In the 1st century BC it was the Suebic tribes who were expanding most conspicuously. [...] Originating from central Germania, they moved to the south and southwest. [...] As Rome was conquering the Gauls, Germans were expanding to meet them, and this was the threat from which Caesar claimed to be saving the Gauls. [...] For the next half-century the expansion concentrated on southern Germany and Bohemia, assimilating or driving out the previous Gallic or Celtic inhabitants. The oppida in this area fell and were abandoned one after another as simple, egalitarian Germanic societies replaced the complex, stratified Celtic ones."}} and came into contact with the [[Celt]]ic tribes of [[Gaul]], as well as with [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]],{{Sfn|Green|2003|p=29|ps=: "Greek may have followed the Persians in devising its terms for their military formations, but the Goths were dependent [...] on Iranians of the Pontic region for terms which followed the Iranian model more closely in using the cognate Gothic term for the second element of its compounds. (Gothic dependence on Iranian may have gone even further, affecting the numeral itself, if we recall that the two Iranian loanwords in Crimean Gothic are words for 'hundred' and 'thousand')."}} [[Balts|Baltic]],{{Sfn|Fortson|2011|p=433|ps=: "Baltic territory began to shrink shortly before the dawn of the Christian era due to the Gothic migrations into their southwestern territories [...]."}} and [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] cultures in [[Central Europe|Central]]/[[Eastern Europe]].{{Sfn|Green|2000|pp=172–173|ps=: "Jordanes [...] mentions the Slavs (''Getica'' 119) and associates them more closely than the Balts with the center of Gothic power. [...] This location of the early Slavs partly at least in the region covered by the Cernjahov culture, together with their contacts (warlike or not) with the Goths under Ermanric and almost certainly before, explains their openness to Gothic loanword influence. That this may have begun early, before the expansion of the Slavs from their primeval habitat, is implied by the presence of individual loan-words in a wide range of Slavonic languages."}}

Factual and detailed knowledge about the early history of the Germanic tribes is rare. Researchers have to be content with the recordings of the tribes' affairs with the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], linguistic conclusions, archaeological discoveries and the rather new yet auspicious results of [[Archaeogenetics|archaeogenetic]] study.{{Sfn|Claster|1982|p=35}} In the mid-1st century BC, [[Roman Republic|Republican Roman]] statesman [[Julius Caesar]] erected the [[Caesar's Rhine bridges|first known bridges across the Rhine]] during his [[Gallic Wars|campaign in Gaul]] and led a military contingent across and into the territories of the local Germanic tribes. After several days and having made no contact with Germanic troops (who had retreated inland) Caesar returned to the west of the river.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Robert D. |date=2013 |title=Caesar's Description of Bridging the Rhine (Bellum Gallicum 4.16–19): A Literary Analysis |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_classical-philology_2013-01_108_1/page/41 |journal=Classical Philology |volume=108 |pages=41–53 |doi=10.1086/669789 |s2cid=162278924}}</ref> By 60 BC, the [[Suebi]] tribe under chieftain [[Ariovistus]], had conquered lands of the Gallic [[Aedui]] tribe to the west of the Rhine. Consequent plans to populate the region with Germanic settlers from the east were vehemently opposed by Caesar, who had already launched his [[Gallic Wars|ambitious campaign]] to subjugate all Gaul. Julius Caesar defeated the Suebi forces in 58 BC in the [[Battle of Vosges (58 BC)|Battle of Vosges]] and forced Ariovistus to retreat across the Rhine.<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'' [[s:The Gallic War (Caesar)/Book 1#31|1.31–53]]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=C. Julius Caesar |title=C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0001%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D5 |access-date=20 March 2019 |publisher=Perseus Project}}</ref>

===Roman settlement of the Rhine===
{{Further|Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16)|Crossing of the Rhine}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Germanic limes.jpg | width1 = 150 | caption1 = The ''[[Limes Germanicus]]'' border of the [[Roman Empire]] and modern boundaries| image2 = Germania inferior roads towns.png| width2 = 150 | caption2  = Map of [[Germania Inferior]] – settlements and forts accessible via the navigable rivers, as the hinterland escapes Roman control}}
[[File:Trier Porta Nigra BW 2.JPG|thumb|The [[Porta Nigra]] in [[Trier]], capital of the [[Roman province]] of [[Gallia Belgica]], constructed in 170 AD]]
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Roman Trier model 1.jpg
| width1            = 171
| caption1          = Modern miniature model of [[Augusta Treverorum]] ([[Trier]]) in the 4th century CE
| image2            = Wall painting with Dionysian scenes from a luxurious Roman villa excavated to the south of the cathedral, Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne (8119154487).jpg
| width2            = 150
| caption2          = Fresco with [[Dionysian mysteries|Dionysian scenes]] from [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium|Colonia]] ([[Cologne]]), 3rd century CE
}}

[[Augustus]], first [[Roman emperor]], considered conquest beyond the [[Rhine]] and the [[Danube]] not only regular foreign policy but also necessary to counter Germanic incursions into a still rebellious Gaul. Forts and commercial centers were established along the rivers. Some tribes, such as the [[Ubii]] consequently allied with Rome and readily adopted advanced Roman culture. During the 1st century CE Roman legions conducted extended campaigns into [[Germania|Germania magna]], the area north of the Upper Danube and east of the Rhine, attempting to subdue the various tribes. Roman ideas of administration, the imposition of taxes and a legal framework were frustrated by the total absence of an infrastructure. [[Germanicus]]'s [[Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16)|campaigns]], for example, were almost exclusively characterized by frequent massacres of villagers and indiscriminate pillaging. The tribes, however maintained their elusive identities. A coalition of tribes under the [[Cherusci]] chieftain [[Arminius]], who was familiar with Roman tactical doctrines, defeated a large Roman force in the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]]. Consequently, Rome resolved to permanently establish the Rhine/Danube border and refrain from further territorial advance into Germania.{{Sfn|Bordewich|2005}}{{Sfn|Ozment|2004|pp=2–21}} By AD 100 the frontier along the Rhine and the Danube and the [[Limes Germanicus]] was firmly established. Several Germanic tribes lived under Roman rule south and west of the border, as described in [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]''. Austria formed the regular provinces of [[Noricum]] and [[Raetia]].{{Sfn|Fichtner|2009|p=xlviii}}<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1917 |title=The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hg7AQAAMAAJ |journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay |volume=10 |page=647}}</ref>{{Sfn|Ramirez-Faria|2007|p=267}} The provinces [[Germania Inferior]] (with the capital situated at [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium]], modern [[Cologne]]) and [[Germania Superior]] (with its capital at [[Roman Mogontiacum|Mogontiacum]], modern [[Mainz]]), were formally established in 85 AD, after long campaigns as lasting military control was confined to the lands surrounding the rivers.{{Sfn|Rüger|2004|pp=527–528}} [[Christianity in Germany|Christianity was introduced]] to Roman controlled western Germania before the Middle Ages, with Christian religious structures such as the [[Aula Palatina]] of [[Trier]] built during the reign of [[Constantine I]] ({{R.|306|337}}).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://oyc.yale.edu/history-art/hsar-252/lecture-23 |title=Lecture 23 – Rome of Constantine and a New Rome: Overview |series=[[Open Yale Courses]] |publisher=Yale University |access-date=22 November 2021}}</ref>

=== Migration Period and decline of the Western Roman Empire ===
{{Main|Migration Period|Decline of the Western Roman Empire}}

Rome's [[Third Century Crisis]] coincided with the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes: the [[Alamanni]], [[Franks]], [[Bavarii]], [[Chatti]], [[Saxons]], [[Frisii]], [[Sicambri]], and [[Thuringii]]. By the 3rd century the Germanic speaking peoples began to migrate beyond the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'' and the Danube frontier.{{Sfn|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|p=442}} Several large tribes – the [[Visigoths]], [[Ostrogoths]], [[Vandals]], [[Burgundians]], [[Lombards]], [[Saxons]] and [[Franks]] – migrated and played their part in the [[decline of the Roman Empire]] and the transformation of the old [[Western Roman Empire]].{{Sfn|Heather|2010}} By the end of the 4th century the [[Huns]] invaded eastern and central Europe, establishing the [[Hunnic Empire]]. The event triggered the [[Migration Period]].<ref name="Halsall2007">{{Cite book |last=Halsall |first=Guy |title=Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 |date=20 December 2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-3491-1 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=S7ULzYGIj8oC&pg=PP1 1ff.] |author-link=Guy Halsall}}</ref> Hunnic hegemony over a vast territory in central and eastern Europe lasted until the death of [[Attila]]'s son [[Dengizich]] in 469.{{Sfn|Heather|2006|p=349|ps=: "By 469, just sixteen years after [Attila's] death, the last of the Huns were seeking asylum inside the eastern Roman Empire."}} Another pivotal moment in the Migration Period was the [[Crossing of the Rhine]] in December of 406 by a large group of tribes including [[Vandals]], [[Alans]] and [[Suebi]] who settled permanently within the crumbling Western Roman Empire.<ref name="Empired Besieged">{{Cite book |title=Empires Besieged |date=1988 |publisher=Time-Life Books |isbn=0-7054-0974-0 |location=Amsterdam |page=38 |chapter=The Roman Decline |ol=11194180M |quote=For on the bitterly cold night of 31 December 406, there was apparently no Roman army on guard when a host of Vandal, Alan, Suevi and Burgundian warriors, with their families and possessions, crossed the frozen Rhine and headed southwest through Gaul. This time, Rome's frontiers had been breached by barbarians who meant to stay.}}</ref>

=== Stem duchies and marches ===
[[File:Stem Duchies and Principalities of the early Holy Roman Empire, map 1.jpg|thumb|right|Depiction of the German stem duchies and principal states in East Francia and the early Holy Roman Empire]]
{{Main|Stem duchy}}
[[Stem duchy|Stem duchies]] ({{Langx|de|Stammesherzogtümer}}) in Germany refer to the traditional territory of the various Germanic tribes. The concept of such duchies survived especially in the areas which by the 9th century would constitute [[East Francia]],{{Sfn|Bradbury|2004|p=154|ps=: "East Francia consisted of four main principalities, the stem duchies – Saxony, Bavaria, Swabia and Franconia."}} which included the [[Duchy of Bavaria]], the [[Duchy of Swabia]], the [[Duchy of Saxony]], the [[Duchy of Franconia]] and the [[Duchy of Thuringia]],{{Sfn|Rodes|1964|p=3|ps=: "It was plagued by the existence of immensely strong tribal duchies, such as Bavaria, Swabia, Thuringia, and Saxony – often referred to as stem duchies, from the German word Stamm, meaning tribe [...]."}} unlike further west the [[County of Burgundy]] or [[Lorraine (duchy)|Lorraine]] in [[Middle Francia]].{{Sfn|Historicus|1935|p=50|ps=: "Franz von Lothringen muß sein Stammherzogtum an Stanislaus Leszinski, den französischen Kandidaten für Polen, ueberlassen [...]. [Francis of Lorraine had to bequeath his stem-duchy to Stanislaus Leszinski, the French candidate for the Polish crown [...].]"}}
<ref>Compare:
{{Cite encyclopedia |title=ANCIENT HISTORY |encyclopedia=An encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval and modern, chronologically arranged |publisher=Harrap |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_KlmAAAAMAAJ |date=1968 |editor-last=Langer |editor-first=William Leonard |editor-link=William Leonard Langer |edition=4 |page=174 |quote=These stem duchies were: Franconia [...]; Lorraine (not strictly a stem duchy but with a tradition of unity); Swabia [...] .}}</ref>

The [[Salian dynasty|Salian emperors]] (reigned 1027–1125) retained the stem duchies as the major divisions of Germany, but they became increasingly obsolete during the early high-medieval period under the [[House of Hohenstaufen|Hohenstaufen]], and [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]] finally abolished them in 1180 in favour of more numerous territorial duchies.

Successive kings of Germany founded a series of border counties or [[March (territory)#Germany and Austria|marches]] in the east and the north. These included [[Lusatia]], the [[North March]] (which would become [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] and the heart of the future [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]), and the [[Billung March]]. In the south, the marches included [[Carniola]], [[Styria]], and the [[March of Austria]] that would become [[Austria]].

==Middle Ages==
{{Further|East Francia|Holy Roman Empire|Kingdom of Germany|Brunhilda of Austrasia}}

===Frankish Empire===
{{Main|Francia}}
{{Multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header_align = left/right/center
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| image1 = Aula Palatina (Basilica of Constantine), Augusta Treverorum, Trier (8749080929).jpg
| width1 = 160
| caption1 = The [[Aula Palatina]] of [[Trier]], a [[basilica]] constructed during the reign of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Constantine I]] (r. 306–337 AD)| image2 = Aix dom int vue cote.jpg| width2 = 156
| caption2 = The [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen]], built during the reign of the [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]] emperor [[Charlemagne]] (r. 800–814 AD)}}

The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 with the [[deposition of Romulus Augustus]] by the Germanic ''[[foederati]]'' leader [[Odoacer]], who became the first [[King of Italy]].<ref>Clover, Frank M. (1999), "A Game of Bluff: The Fate of Sicily after A.D. 476", ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', 48 (1): 235–244, JSTOR 4436542, p. 237.</ref> Afterwards, the Franks, like other post-Roman Western Europeans, emerged as a tribal confederacy in the Middle Rhine-Weser region, among the territory soon to be called [[Austrasia]] (the "eastern land"), the northeastern portion of the future Kingdom of the [[Merovingian]] [[Franks]]. As a whole, Austrasia comprised parts of present-day [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]] and the [[Netherlands]]. Unlike the [[Alamanni]] to their south in [[Swabia]], they absorbed large swaths of former Roman territory as they spread west into [[Gaul]], beginning in 250. [[Clovis I]] of the [[Merovingian dynasty]] conquered northern Gaul in 486 and in the [[Battle of Tolbiac]] in 496 the [[Alemanni]] tribe in [[Swabia]], which eventually became the [[Duchy of Swabia]].

By 500, Clovis had united all the Frankish tribes, ruled all of Gaul{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=24}} and was proclaimed ''King of the Franks'' between 509 and 511.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gregory of Tours (539–594): The Conversion of Clovis, 42. When they were dead Clovis received all their kingdom and treasures |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gregory-clovisconv.asp |access-date=2 March 2019 |publisher=Sourcebooks}}</ref> Clovis, unlike most Germanic rulers of the time, was baptized directly into [[Roman Catholicism]] instead of [[Arianism]]. His successors would cooperate closely with [[Pope|papal]] missionaries, among them [[Saint Boniface]]. After the death of Clovis in 511, his four sons partitioned his kingdom including [[Austrasia]]. Authority over Austrasia passed back and forth from autonomy to royal subjugation, as successive [[Merovingian]] kings alternately united and subdivided the Frankish lands.{{Sfn|Kibler|1995|p=1159|ps=: "From time to time, Austrasia received a son of the Merovingian king as an autonomous ruler."}}

During the 5th and 6th centuries the Merovingian kings conquered the [[Thuringii]] (531 to 532), the [[Kingdom of the Burgundians]] and the principality of Metz and defeated the Danes, the Saxons and the Visigoths.<ref name="Bachrach1972">{{Cite book |first=Bernard S. |last=Bachrach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbz9IyOvfPoC&pg=PR9 |title=Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751 |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |date=1972 |isbn=978-0-8166-5700-1 |page=9}}</ref> King [[Chlothar I]] (558 to 561) ruled the greater part of what is now Germany and undertook military expeditions into [[Old Saxony|Saxony]], while the South-east of what is modern Germany remained under the influence of the [[Ostrogoths]]. Saxons controlled the area from the northern sea board to the [[Harz|Harz Mountains]] and the [[Eichsfeld]] in the south.<ref name="Thompson1928">{{Cite book |first=James Westfall |last=Thompson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4QfAAAAMAAJ |title=Feudal Germany |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1928 |pages=167ff |chapter=Old Saxony |access-date=4 March 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Empire carolingien 768-811.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Expansion of the [[Frankish Empire]]:<br/>Blue = realm of [[Pepin the Short]] in 758;<br/>Orange = expansion under [[Charlemagne]] until 814;<br/>Yellow = [[March (territory)#Frankish Empire and successor states|Marches]] and dependencies;<br/>Red = [[Papal States]];<br/>Purple = [[Byzantine Italy|Byzantine territories]].]]

The Merovingians placed the various regions of their Frankish Empire under the control of semi-autonomous dukes – either Franks or local rulers,{{Sfn|Van Dam|1995|p=222|ps=: "Surrounding the core of Frankish kingdoms were other regions more or less subservient to the Merovingian kings. In some regions the Merovingians appointed, or perhaps simply acknowledged, various dukes, such as the duke of the Alamans, the duke of the Vascones in the western Pyrenees, and the duke of the Bavarians. [...] Since these dukes, unlike those who served at the court of the Merovingians or administered particular regions in the Merovingian kingdoms, ruled over distinct ethnic groups, they had much local support and tended to act independently of the Merovingians, and even to make war on them occasionally."}} and followed [[Roman Empire|imperial Roman]] strategic traditions of social and political integration of the newly conquered territories.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=John |last1=Moreland |first2=Robert |last2=Van de Noort |date=1992 |title=Integration and Social Reproduction in the Carolingian Empire |journal=World Archaeology |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=320–334 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1992.9980183 |jstor=124766}}</ref>{{Sfn|Damminger|2003|p=74|ps=: "The area of Merovingian settlement in southwest Germany was pretty much confined to the so called 'Altsiedelland', those fertile regions which had been under the plough since neolithic times [...]."}} While allowed to preserve their own legal systems,{{Sfn|Drew|2011|pp=8–9|ps=: "Some of the success of the Merovingian Frankish rulers may be their acceptance of the personality of law policy. Not only did Roman law remain in use among Gallo-Romans and churchmen, Burgundian law among the Burgundians, and Visigothic law among the Visigoths, but the more purely Germanic peoples of the eastern frontier were allowed to retain their own 'national' law."}} the conquered Germanic tribes were pressured to abandon the [[Arianism|Arian]] Christian faith.{{Sfn|Hen|1995|p=17|ps=: "Missionaries, mainly from the British Isles, continued to operate in the Merovingian kingdoms throughout the sixth to the eighth centuries. Yet, their efforts were directed at the fringes of the Merovingian territory, that is, at Frisia, north-east Austrasia and Thuringia. These areas were hardly Romanised, if at all, and therefore lacked any social, cultural or physical basis for the expansion of Christianity. These areas stayed pagan long after Merovingian society completed its conversion, and thus attracted the missionaries' attention. [...] Moreover, there is evidence of missionary and evangelising activity from Merovingian Gual, out of places like Metz, Strasbourg or Worms, into the 'pagan regions' [...]."}}

In 718 [[Charles Martel]] waged war against the Saxons in support of the [[Neustria]]ns. In 743 his son [[Carloman (mayor of the palace)|Carloman]] in his role as [[Mayor of the Palace]] renewed the war against the Saxons, who had allied with and aided the duke [[Odilo of Bavaria]].<ref name="Frassetto2003">{{Cite book |first=Michael |last=Frassetto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yW-GfElbafQC&pg=PA90 |title=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2003 |isbn=978-1-5760-7263-9 |page=90}}</ref> The Catholic Franks, who by 750 controlled a [[Francia|vast territory]] in Gaul, north-western Germany, Swabia, [[Burgundy]] and western [[Switzerland]], that included the [[Alps|alpine]] passes allied with the Curia in [[Rome]] against the [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Lombards]], who posed a permanent threat to the Holy See.{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=24}} Pressed by [[Liutprand, King of the Lombards]], a Papal envoy for help had already been sent to the de facto ruler [[Charles Martel]] after his victory in 732 over the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate at the [[Battle of Tours]], however a lasting and mutually beneficial alliance would only materialize after Charles' death under his successor Duke of the Franks, Pepin the Short.{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=25}}

In 751 [[Pippin III]], [[Mayor of the Palace]] under the Merovingian king, himself assumed the title of king and was anointed by the Church. [[Pope Stephen II]] bestowed him the hereditary title of ''Patricius Romanorum'' as protector of Rome and St. Peter<ref name="ArnasonRaaflaub2010">{{Cite book |first1=Johann P. |last1=Arnason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulrX1QUgVLgC&pg=PT212 |title=The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |last2=Kurt A. Raaflaub |date=23 December 2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-9020-9 |page=212}}</ref> in response to the [[Donation of Pepin]], that guaranteed the sovereignty of the [[Papal States]]. [[Charles the Great]] (who ruled the Franks from 774 to 814) launched a decades-long military campaign against the Franks' heathen rivals, the [[Saxons]] and the [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]]. The campaigns and insurrections of the [[Saxon Wars]] lasted from 772 to 804. The Franks eventually overwhelmed the Saxons and Avars, forcibly converted the people to [[Christianity]], and annexed their lands to the [[Carolingian Empire]].

===Foundation of the Holy Roman Empire===
{{See also|Charlemagne}}
[[File:Construction d Aix-la-Chapelle.jpg|thumb|right|Charlemagne surveying the works of the [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen]], by [[Jean Fouquet]], 1450s]]
After the death of Frankish king [[Pepin the Short]] in 768, his oldest son "[[Charlemagne]]" ("Charles the Great") consolidated his power over and expanded the [[Kingdom of the Franks|Kingdom]]. Charlemagne ended 200 years of Royal Lombard rule with the [[Siege of Pavia (773–774)|Siege of Pavia]], and in 774 he installed himself as [[King of the Lombards]]. Loyal Frankish nobles replaced the old Lombard aristocracy following a rebellion in 776.{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=26}} The next 30 years of his reign were spent ruthlessly strengthening his power in Francia and on the conquest of the Slavs and [[Pannonian Avars]] in the east and all [[Germanic peoples|tribes]], such as the [[Saxons]] and the [[Baiuvarii|Bavarians]].{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|pp=26–27}}<ref name="Nelson1998">{{Citation |last=Nelson |first=Janet L. |title=Charlemagne's church at Aachen |url=http://www.historytoday.com/janet-l-nelson/charlemagnes-church-aachen |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=62–64 |date=1998 |publisher=History Today}}</ref> On [[Christmas Day]], 800 AD, Charlemagne was crowned ''Imperator Romanorum'' (Emperor of the Romans) in Rome by [[Pope Leo III]].<ref name=Nelson1998/>

Fighting among Charlemagne's three grandsons over the continuation of the custom of [[partible inheritance]] or the introduction of [[primogeniture]] caused the Carolingian empire to be partitioned into three parts by the [[Treaty of Verdun]] of 843.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781118885154.dipl0494 |chapter=Treaty of Verdun (843) |title=The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy |date=2018 |last1=Benham |first1=Jenny |pages=1–5 |isbn=978-1-118-88791-2 }}</ref> [[Louis the German]] received the Eastern portion of the kingdom, [[East Francia]], all lands east of the Rhine river and to the north of Italy. This encompassed the territories of the German [[stem duchies]] – Franks, Saxons, [[Swabians]], and Bavarians – that were united in a federation under the first non-Frankish king [[Henry the Fowler]], who ruled from 919 to 936.{{Sfn|Schulman|2002|pp=325–327}} The royal court permanently moved in between a series of strongholds, called ''Kaiserpfalzen'', that developed into economic and cultural centers. [[Palace of Aachen|Aachen Palace]] played a central role, as the local [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen|Palatine Chapel]] served as the official site for all royal coronation ceremonies during the entire medieval period until 1531.<ref name=Nelson1998/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Aachen Cathedral |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/3 |access-date=18 March 2019 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Outstanding Universal Value}}</ref>
{{Gallery
|title= The Holy Roman Empire, maps
|align=center
|width=150
|height=120
|File:843-870 Europe.jpg|The division of the [[Carolingian Empire]] by the [[Treaty of Verdun]] in 843
|File:HRR.gif|Territorial evolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] from 962 to 1806
|File:HRE-at-its-peak-cropped.png|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] at its greatest territorial extent under [[Hohenstaufen dynasty|Hohenstaufen]] emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], 13th century
|File:HRR 10Jh.jpg|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] under [[Ottonian dynasty|Ottonian]] and [[Salian dynasty|Salian]] rule, 10th and 11th centuries
|File:Holy Roman Empire c. 1700.png|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] around the year 1700
}}

=== Ottonian dynasty ===
{{Main|Ottonian dynasty}}
{{See also|Otto the Great}}
[[File:Otto the Great.jpg|thumb|upright|Equestrian monument, probably Otto the Great, [[Magdeburg]], around 1240]]
In 936, [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]] was crowned German king at [[Aachen]], in 961 ''King of Italy'' in [[Pavia]] and crowned emperor by [[Pope John XII]] in [[Rome]] in 962. The tradition of the German King as protector of the Kingdom of Italy and the Latin Church resulted in the term [[Holy Roman Empire]] in the 12th century. The name that was to be identified with Germany continued in official usage, with the extension ''Nationis Germanicæ (of the German nation)'' added after the last imperial coronation in Rome in 1452, until its dissolution in 1806.{{Sfn|Schulman|2002|pp=325–327}} Otto strengthened the royal authority by re-asserting the old [[Carolingian]] rights over ecclesiastical appointments.{{Sfn|Barraclough|1984|p=59}} Otto wrested from the nobles the powers of appointment of the bishops and abbots, who controlled large land holdings. Additionally, Otto revived the old Carolingian program of appointing missionaries in the border lands. Otto continued to support [[celibacy]] for the higher clergy, so ecclesiastical appointments never became hereditary. By granting lands to the abbots and bishops he appointed, Otto actually turned these bishops into "princes of the Empire" (''[[Reichsfürsten]]'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reuter |first=Timothy |date=25 March 2011 |title=The "Imperial Church System" of the Ottonian and Salian Rulers: a Reconsideration |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |publisher=Cambridge Press |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=347–374 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900026245 |s2cid=159994750}}</ref> In this way, Otto was able to establish a national church. Outside threats to the kingdom were contained with the decisive defeat of the Hungarian [[Magyars]] at the [[Battle of Lechfeld]] in 955. The [[Slavs]] between the [[Elbe]] and the [[Oder]] rivers were also subjugated. Otto marched on Rome and drove [[Pope John XII|John XII]] from the papal throne and for years controlled the election of the pope, setting a firm precedent for imperial control of the papacy for years to come.<ref name="HooperHooper1996">{{Cite book |last1=Hooper |first1=Nicholas |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00nich |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: The Middle Ages, 768–1487 |last2=Bennett |first2=Matthew |date=26 January 1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-4049-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00nich/page/30 30]– |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="RingWatson2013">{{Cite book |last1=Ring |first1=Trudy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfPYAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |title=Northern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places |last2=Watson |first2=Noelle |last3=Schellinger |first3=Paul |date=28 October 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1366-3944-9 |page=124}}</ref>
[[File:2015 04 23 114 Speyerer Dom Südseite.jpg|thumb|[[Speyer Cathedral]], consecrated in 1061]]
[[File:Quedlinburg asv2018-10 img04 pano from Muenzenberg.jpg|thumb|[[Quedlinburg]], a center of influence under the [[Ottonian dynasty]] in the 10th and 11th centuries<ref name = "unesco">{{cite web |url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/535 |title = Collegiate Church, Castle and Old Town of Quedlinburg |publisher = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |access-date = 25 June 2022}}</ref>]]
Otto I was followed on the throne by his son [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]] (955–983), emperor 973–983, Otto II's wife [[Theophanu]] (955–991), regent 983–991, his own wife [[Adelaide of Italy]] (931–999), regent 991–995, and his grandson [[Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto III]] (980–1002), emperor 996–1002. Otto III died childless and was succeeded by his second cousin [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]], who likewise died childless as the last emperor of the Ottonian dynasty.

=== Salian dynasty ===
Henry II was succeeded by [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]], a great-great-grandson of Otto I and the first emperor of the [[Salian dynasty]]. During the reign of Conrad II's son, [[Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry III]] (1039 to 1056), the empire supported the [[Cluniac reforms]] of the Church, the [[Peace and Truce of God|Peace of God]], prohibition of [[simony]] (the purchase of clerical offices), and required [[celibacy]] of priests. Imperial authority over the Pope reached its peak. However, Rome reacted with the creation of the [[College of Cardinals]] and [[Pope Gregory VII]]'s [[Gregorian Reform|series of clerical reforms]]. Pope Gregory insisted in his ''[[Dictatus Papae]]'' on absolute papal authority over appointments to ecclesiastical offices. The subsequent conflict in which emperor [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] was compelled to submit to the Pope at [[Canossa]] in 1077, after having been excommunicated came to be known as the [[Investiture Controversy]]. In 1122, a temporary reconciliation was reached between [[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry V]] and the Pope with the [[Concordat of Worms]]. With the conclusion of the dispute the Roman church and the papacy regained supreme control over all religious affairs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Simon |date=23 May 2005 |title=The clerical reform movement and the investiture controversy |url=https://www.phil.uni-passau.de/fileadmin/dokumente/lehrstuehle/frenz/online-tutorien/stadtgeschichte/english/investiturstreit.html |access-date=6 March 2019 |publisher=University Passau |archive-date=7 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307054312/https://www.phil.uni-passau.de/fileadmin/dokumente/lehrstuehle/frenz/online-tutorien/stadtgeschichte/english/investiturstreit.html }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Uta-Renate Blumenthal |title=The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |date=1988 |isbn=978-0-8122-1386-7 |jstor=j.ctt3fht77}}</ref> Consequently, the imperial Ottonian church system (''Reichskirche'') declined. It also ended the royal/imperial tradition of appointing selected powerful clerical leaders to counter the Imperial secular princes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is the significance of the "Investiture Controversy?" |url=https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-significance-investiture-controversy-why-this-336636 |access-date=2 March 2019 |publisher=E Notes}}</ref>

Between 1095 and 1291 the various campaigns of the [[crusade]]s to the Holy Land took place. Knightly religious orders were established, including the [[Knights Templar]], the Knights of St John ([[Knights Hospitaller]]), and the [[Teutonic Knights|Teutonic Order]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?id=History.CrusOne |title=A History of the Crusades |publisher=University of Wisconsin |date=1969 |editor-last=Baldwin |editor-first=Marshall W. |volume=I: The first hundred years |location=Madison |access-date=2 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Crawford |first=Paul |title=The Military OrdersL Intrioduction |url=http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/milintro.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006035349/http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/milintro.html |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=2 March 2019 |publisher=ORB Encyclopedia}}</ref>

The term ''sacrum imperium'' (Holy Empire) was first used officially by [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Friedrich I]] in 1157,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Official Name of the Holy Roman Empire |url=http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/official-name-of-the-holy-roman-empire.html |access-date=2 March 2019 |publisher=Holy Roman Empire Association}}</ref> but the words ''Sacrum Romanum Imperium'', Holy Roman Empire, were only combined in July 1180 and would never consistently appear on official documents from 1254 onwards.{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=19}}

===Hanseatic League===
{{Main|Hanseatic League}}
[[File:Lübeck - panoramio.jpg|200px|thumb|left|[[Lübeck]]]]
[[File:Haupthandelsroute Hanse.png|thumb|right|Main trading routes of the Hanseatic League]]

The [[Hanseatic League]] was a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant [[guild]]s of towns and cities in northern and central Europe that dominated marine trade in the [[Baltic Sea]], the [[North Sea]] and along the connected navigable rivers during part of the High and the Late Middle Ages (12th to 15th centuries). Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the [[Free imperial city|Free imperial cities]], had only a limited degree of political autonomy.{{Sfn|Day|1914|p=252}} Beginning with an agreement of the cities of [[Lübeck]] and [[History of Hamburg|Hamburg]], guilds cooperated in order to strengthen and combine their economic assets, like securing trading routes and tax privileges, to control prices and better protect and market their local commodities. Important centers of commerce within the empire, such as [[History of Cologne|Cologne]] on the [[Rhine]] river and [[Bremen]] on the [[North Sea]] joined the union, which resulted in greater diplomatic esteem.{{Sfn|Thompson|1931|pp=146–179}} Recognized by the various regional princes for the great economic potential, favorable charters for, often exclusive, commercial operations were granted.<ref>Translation of the grant of privileges to merchants in 1229: {{Cite web |first=Paul |last=Halsall |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Privileges Granted to German Merchants at Novgorod, 1229 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1229novgorod-germans.html |access-date=6 March 2019 |publisher=Fordham.edu}}</ref> During its zenith the alliance maintained trading posts and ''kontors'' in virtually all cities between [[London]] and [[Edinburgh]] in the west to [[Novgorod]] in the east and [[Bergen]] in Norway. By the late 14th century the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in [[Second Danish-Hanseatic War|a war]] with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370. Principal city of the Hanseatic League remained Lübeck, where in 1356 the first general diet was held and its official structure was announced. The league declined after 1450 due to a number of factors, such as the [[Crisis of the Late Middle Ages|15th-century crisis]], the territorial lords' shifting policies towards greater commercial control, the [[Great Bullion Famine|silver crisis]] and marginalization in the wider Eurasian trade network, among others.<ref>Istvan Szepesi, "Reflecting the Nation: The Historiography of Hanseatic Institutions". ''Waterloo Historical Review'' 7 (2015). [http://whr.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/whr/article/download/33/29 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905145451/http://whr.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/whr/article/download/33/29 |date=5 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Murray N. |last=Rothbard |date=23 November 2009 |title=The Great Depression of the 14th Century |url=https://mises.org/library/great-depression-14th-century |access-date=14 March 2019 |publisher=Mises Institute}}</ref>

===Eastward expansion===
{{Main|Ostsiedlung}}
[[File:Osadnictwo niemieckie na wschodzie.PNG|thumb|Stages of the [[Ostsiedlung|German eastern expansion]], 700–1400]]
[[File:Marienburg19001.jpg|thumb|[[Malbork Castle|Marienburg Castle]] of the [[Teutonic Knights]]]]
The ''Ostsiedlung'' (lit. Eastern settlement) is the term for a process of largely uncoordinated immigration and chartering of settlement structures by ethnic Germans into territories, already inhabited by [[Slavs]] and [[Balts]] east of the [[Saale]] and [[Elbe]] rivers, such as modern Poland and [[Silesia]] and to the south into [[Bohemia]], modern Hungary and Romania during the [[High Middle Ages]] from the 11th to the 14th century.<ref name="Murray2017">{{Cite book |first=Alan V. |last=Murray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KgokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |title=The North-Eastern Frontiers of Medieval Europe: The Expansion of Latin Christendom in the Baltic Lands |date=15 May 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-3518-8483-9 |page=23}}</ref><ref name="Berend2017">{{Cite book |first=Nora |last=Berend |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT194 |title=The Expansion of Central Europe in the Middle Ages |date=15 May 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-3518-9008-3 |page=194}}</ref> The primary purpose of the early imperial military campaigns into the lands to the east during the 10th and 11th century, was to punish and subjugate the local [[Paganism|heathen]] tribes. Conquered territories were mostly lost after the troops had retreated, but eventually were incorporated into the empire as [[March (territory)|marches]], fortified borderlands with garrisoned troops in strongholds and castles, who were to ensure military control and enforce the exaction of tributes. Contemporary sources do not support the idea of policies or plans for the organized settlement of civilians.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.grin.com/document/106527 |title=Ostsiedlung – ein gesamteuropäisches Phänomen |publisher=GRIN Verlag |date=2002 |isbn=978-3-6400-4806-9 |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>

[[Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Lothair II]] re-established feudal sovereignty over Poland, Denmark and Bohemia from 1135 and appointed [[margrave]]s to turn the borderlands into hereditary [[fief]]s and install a civilian administration. There is no discernible chronology of the immigration process as it took place in many individual efforts and stages, often even encouraged by the Slavic regional lords. However, the new communities were subjected to German law and customs. Total numbers of settlers were generally rather low and, depending on who held a numerical majority, populations usually assimilated into each other. In many regions only enclaves would persist, like [[Sibiu|Hermannstadt]], founded by the [[Transylvanian Saxons]] in the medieval Hungarian Kingdom (today in Romania) who were called on by [[Géza II of Hungary|Geza II]] to repopulate the area as part of the ''Ostsiedlung'', having arrived there and founding the city in 1147 [Saxons called these parts of Transylvania "Altland" to distinguish them from later immigrant Saxon settlements established in about 1220 by the Teutonic Order].<ref name=":0">A SZÁSZOK BETELEPÜLÉSE ÉS A DÉLI HATÁRVÉDELEM ÁTSZERVEZÉSE[Establishment of Saxons and reorganisation of border defence in Transylvania] In: Erdély története három kötetben[History of Transylvania in three volume]. Editor: Köpeczi, Béla. Budapest, 1986, Akadémiai Kiadó. {{ISBN|9-6305-4203-X}}

http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02109/html/59.html#67</ref><ref name="Bünz2008">{{Cite book |first=Enno |last=Bünz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9g1H7prV00C&pg=PA17 |title=Ostsiedlung und Landesausbau in Sachsen: die Kührener Urkunde von 1154 und ihr historisches Umfeld |publisher=Leipziger Universitätsverlag |date=2008 |isbn=978-3-8658-3165-1 |page=17}}</ref>

{{Main|State of the Teutonic Order}}
In 1230, the Catholic [[Christian monasticism|monastic]] order of the [[Teutonic Knights]] launched the [[Prussian Crusade]]. The campaign, that was supported by the forces of Polish duke [[Konrad I of Masovia]], initially intended to Christianize the Baltic [[Old Prussians]], succeeded primarily in the conquest of large territories. The order, emboldened by [[Golden Bull of Rimini|imperial approval]], quickly resolved to establish an independent [[State of the Teutonic Order|state]], without the consent of duke Konrad. Recognizing only papal authority and based on a solid economy, the order steadily expanded the Teutonic state during the following 150 years, engaging in several land disputes with its neighbors. Permanent conflicts with the [[Kingdom of Poland (1138–1320)|Kingdom of Poland]], the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], and the [[Novgorod Republic]], eventually led to [[Battle of Grunwald|military defeat]] and containment by the mid-15th century. The last [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Order|Grand Master]] [[Albert I, Duke of Prussia|Albert of Brandenburg]] converted to [[Lutheranism]] in 1525 and turned the remaining lands of the order into the secular [[Duchy of Prussia]].{{Sfn|Carsten|1958|pp=52–68}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Staat des Deutschen Ordens |url=http://www.ordensstaat.de/orden/sr.htm |access-date=7 March 2019 |publisher=Ordensstaat de}}</ref>

===Church and state===
[[File:Balduineum Wahl Heinrich VII.jpg|thumb|The [[Holy Roman Empire|imperial]] [[prince-elector]]s<br/> left to right: [[Archbishop of Cologne]], [[Archbishop of Mainz]], [[Archbishop of Trier]], [[List of Counts Palatine of the Rhine|Count Palatine]], [[Duke of Saxony]], [[Margrave of Brandenburg]] and [[King of Bohemia]] (''[[Codex Balduini Trevirorum]]'', {{Circa|1340}})]]
[[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry V]], great-grandson of Conrad II, who had overthrown his father [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] became [[Holy Roman Emperor]] in 1111. Hoping to gain greater control over the church inside the Empire, Henry V appointed [[Adalbert I of Mainz|Adalbert of Saarbrücken]] as the powerful [[archbishop of Mainz]] in the same year. Adalbert began to assert the powers of the Church against secular authorities, that is, the Emperor. This precipitated the "Crisis of 1111" as yet another chapter of the long-term [[Investiture Controversy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Uta-Renate |title=The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century |date=1991 |pages=159–173}}</ref> In 1137, the prince-electors turned back to the [[Hohenstaufen]] family for a candidate, [[Conrad III of Germany|Conrad III]]. Conrad tried to divest his rival [[Henry the Proud]] of his two duchies—[[Duke of Bavaria|Bavaria]] and [[Rulers of Saxony|Saxony]]—that led to war in southern Germany as the empire was divided into two powerful factions. The faction of the ''Welfs'' or ''[[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelphs]]'' (in Italian) supported the [[House of Welf]] of Henry the Proud, which was the ruling dynasty in the Duchy of Bavaria. The rival faction of the ''Waiblings'' or ''[[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Ghibellines]]'' (in Italian) pledged allegiance to the [[Swabia]]n House of Hohenstaufen. During this early period, the Welfs generally maintained ecclesiastical independence under the papacy and [[political particularism]] (the focus on ducal interests against the central imperial authority). The Waiblings, on the other hand, championed strict control of the church and a strong central imperial government.{{Sfn|Fuhrmann|1986}}

During the reign of the [[House of Hohenstaufen|Hohenstaufen]] emperor [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I]] (Barbarossa), an accommodation was reached in 1156 between the two factions. The Duchy of Bavaria was returned to Henry the Proud's son [[Henry the Lion]], duke of [[Lower Saxony|Saxony]], who represented the [[House of Welf|Guelph]] party. However, the [[Margraviate of Austria]] was separated from Bavaria and turned into the independent [[Duchy of Austria]] by virtue of the [[Privilegium Minus]] in 1156.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kahn |first=Robert A. |title=A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526–1918 |date=1974 |page=5}}</ref>

Having become wealthy through trade, the confident cities of Northern Italy, supported by the Pope, increasingly opposed Barbarossa's claim of feudal rule ''(Honor Imperii)'' over Italy. The cities united in the [[Lombard League]] and finally defeated Barbarossa in the [[Battle of Legnano]] in 1176. The following year a reconciliation was reached between the emperor and [[Pope Alexander III]] in the [[Treaty of Venice]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Peace of Venice; 1177 |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/venice.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825040541/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/venice.htm |archive-date=25 August 2006 |access-date=14 March 2019 |publisher=Yale Law School}}</ref> The 1183 [[Peace of Constance]] eventually settled that the Italian cities remained loyal to the empire but were granted local jurisdiction and full [[Droit de régale|regal rights]] in their territories.<ref name="Law2016">{{Cite book |first=John E. |last=Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NEeoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162 |title=Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy |date=5 December 2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-3519-5035-0 |page=162}}</ref>

In 1180, Henry the Lion was outlawed, Saxony was divided, and Bavaria was given to [[Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria|Otto of Wittelsbach]], who founded the [[Wittelsbach|Wittelsbach dynasty]], which was to rule Bavaria until 1918.

From 1184 to 1186, the empire under [[Frederick I Barbarossa]] reached its cultural peak with the ''[[Diet of Pentecost]]'' held at [[Mainz]] and the marriage of his son [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry]] in Milan to the [[Normans|Norman]] princess [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]].<ref name="Bumke1991">{{Cite book |first=Joachim |last=Bumke |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Bmpw8LIwMUgC |title=Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages |date=1 January 1991 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-6634-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Bmpw8LIwMUgC/page/n213 206]–}}</ref> The power of the feudal lords was undermined by the appointment of [[Ministerialis|ministerials]] (unfree servants of the Emperor) as officials. Chivalry and the court life flowered, as expressed in the scholastic philosophy of [[Albertus Magnus]] and the literature of [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]].<ref name="Scaglione1991">{{Cite book |first=Aldo D. |last=Scaglione |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xWaFsiCYeNAC&pg=PA17 |title=Knights at Court: Courtliness, Chivalry & Courtesy from Ottonian Germany to the Italian Renaissance |date=1 January 1991 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-7270-1 |page=17}}</ref>

Between 1212 and 1250, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] established a modern, professionally administered state from his base in [[Sicily]]. He resumed the conquest of Italy, leading to further conflict with the [[Papacy]]. In the Empire, extensive sovereign powers were granted to ecclesiastical and secular princes, leading to the rise of independent territorial states. The struggle with the Pope sapped the Empire's strength, as Frederick II was excommunicated three times. After his death, the Hohenstaufen dynasty fell, followed by an [https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Great-Interregnum interregnum] during which there was no Emperor (1250–1273). This interregnum came to an end with the election of a small Swabian count, Rudolf of Habsburg, as emperor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kantorowicz |first=Ernst |title=Frederick the Second, 1194–1250 |date=1957}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first=Walther |last=Köhler |date=1903 |title=Emperor Frederick II., The Hohenstaufe |journal=The American Journal of Theology |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=225–248 |doi=10.1086/478355 |jstor=3153729 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The failure of negotiations between Emperor [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]] and the papacy led to the 1338 [[Declaration at Rhense]] by six princes of the [[Imperial Estate]] to the effect that election by all or the majority of the electors automatically conferred the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation. As result, the monarch was no longer subject to papal approbation and became increasingly dependent on the favour of the electors. Between 1346 and 1378 [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles IV]] of [[Luxembourg]], king of Bohemia, sought to restore imperial authority. The 1356 decree of the [[Golden Bull of 1356|Golden Bull]] stipulated that all future emperors were to be chosen by a college of only [[prince-elector|seven]] – four secular and three clerical – electors. The secular electors were the King of Bohemia, the [[Count Palatine]] of the Rhine, the Duke of [[Saxony]], and the Margrave of [[Brandenburg]], the clerical electors were the Archbishops of [[Mainz]], [[Trier]], and [[Cologne]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Golden Bull of the Emperor Charles IV 1356 A.D. |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/golden.asp |access-date=18 March 2019 |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library}}</ref>

Between 1347 and 1351 Germany and almost the entire European continent were consumed by the most severe outbreak of the [[Black Death]] [[pandemic]]. Estimated to have caused the abrupt death of 30 to 60% of Europe's population, it led to widespread social and economic disruption and deep religious disaffection and fanaticism. Minority groups, and Jews in particular were blamed, singled out and [[Black Death Jewish persecutions|attacked]]. As a consequence, many Jews fled and resettled in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Austin Alchon |first=Suzanne |title=A pest in the land: new world epidemics in a global perspectiveress |publisher=University of New Mexico P |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-8263-2871-7 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA21 21] |ol=8167121M}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Alfred |last=Haverkamp |title=Jews in the Medieval German Kingdom |url=https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/opus45-ubtr/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/671/file/Jews_German_Kingdom.pdf |access-date=19 March 2019 |publisher=University of Trier}}</ref>

===Towns and cities===
{{Multiple image
|header= Towns and cities of the Medieval and Early Modern Holy Roman Empire
|align=right
|total_width=400
|perrow=2
|image1=Cologn1411.jpg|caption1=[[Cologne]], around 1411
|image2=Nuremberg chronicles - MONACUM.png|caption2=[[Munich]] 1493 ([[Nuremberg Chronicle]])
|image3=Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Nuremberga.png|caption3=[[Nuremberg]], in 1493
|image4=Nuremberg chronicles - BAMBERGA.png|caption4=[[Bamberg]] 1493 ([[Nuremberg Chronicle]])
|image5=Braun Regensburg UBHD.jpg|caption5=[[Regensburg]], in 1572
|image6=Nuremberg chronicles - ERFORDIA.png|caption6=[[Erfurt]], in 1493
}}

Total population estimates of the German territories range around 5 to 6 million by the end of Henry III's reign in 1056 and about 7 to 8 million after Friedrich Barbarossa's rule in 1190.{{Sfn|Fuhrmann|1986|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hlapxde55rAC&pg=PA11 11ff]}}<ref>{{Cite web |first=Robert C. |last=Allen |title=Economic structure and agricultural productivity in Europe, 1300-1800, page 9 |url=http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Allen122.pdf |access-date=19 March 2019 |publisher=University of British Columbia}}</ref> The vast majority were farmers, typically in a state of [[serfdom]] under feudal lords and monasteries.{{Sfn|Fuhrmann|1986}} Towns gradually emerged and in the 12th century many new cities were founded along the trading routes and near imperial strongholds and castles. The towns were subjected to the [[German town law|municipal legal system]]. Cities such as [[Cologne]], that had acquired the status of [[Imperial Free City|Imperial Free Cities]], were no longer answerable to the local landlords or bishops, but immediate subjects of the Emperor and enjoyed greater commercial and legal liberties.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Alfred |last=Haverkamp |title=Medieval Germany, 1056–1273 |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1988}}</ref> The towns were ruled by a council of the – usually [[merchant|mercantile]] – elite, the [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patricians]]. [[Artisan|Craftsmen]] formed [[guild]]s, governed by strict rules, which sought to obtain control of the towns; a few were open to women. Society had diversified, but was divided into sharply demarcated classes of the [[clergy]], [[physician]]s, [[merchant]]s, various guilds of artisans, unskilled day labourers and [[peasant]]s. Full citizenship was not available to [[paupers]]. Political tensions arose from issues of taxation, public spending, regulation of business, and market supervision, as well as the limits of corporate autonomy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nicholas |first=David |title=The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century |publisher=Longman |date=1997 |pages=69–72, 133–142, 202–220, 244–245, 300–307}}</ref>

[[History of Cologne|Cologne's]] central location on the [[Rhine]] river placed it at the intersection of the major trade routes between east and west and was the basis of Cologne's growth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strait |first=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/cologneintwelfth0000stra |title=Cologne in the Twelfth Century |publisher=Gainesville, University Presses of Florida |date=1974 |isbn=978-0-8130-0448-8}}</ref> The economic structures of medieval and early modern Cologne were characterized by the city's status as a major harbor and transport hub upon the Rhine. It was the seat of an archbishop, under whose patronage the vast [[Cologne Cathedral]] was built since 1240. The cathedral houses sacred Christian relics and it has since become a well known [[pilgrimage|pilgrimage destination]]. By 1288 the city had secured its independence from the archbishop (who relocated to Bonn), and was ruled by its [[Bourgeoisie|burghers]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Huffman |first=Joseph P. |title=Family, Commerce, and Religion in London and Cologne |date=1998}} – covers from 1000 to 1300.</ref>

===Learning and culture===

[[Benedictine]] abbess [[Hildegard von Bingen]] wrote several influential theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving [[morality play]], ''[[Ordo Virtutum]]'', while supervising brilliant miniature [[Illumination (manuscript)|Illuminations]]. About 100 years later, [[Walther von der Vogelweide]] became the most celebrated of the [[Minnesinger|Minnesänger]], who were [[Middle High German]] lyric poets.

Around 1439, [[Johannes Gutenberg]] of [[Mainz]], used [[movable type]] printing and issued the [[Gutenberg Bible]]. He was the global inventor of the [[printing press]], thereby starting the [[Printing Revolution]]. Cheap printed books and pamphlets played central roles for the spread of the [[Reformation]] and the [[Scientific Revolution]].

Around the transition from the 15th to the 16th century, [[Albrecht Dürer]] from [[Nuremberg]] established his reputation across Europe as [[painting|painter]], [[printmaker]], [[mathematician]], [[engraver]], and [[theorist]] when he was still in his twenties and secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the [[Northern Renaissance]].

{{Gallery
|title= Influential German speaking authors, artists and scholars of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance
|align=center
|width=110
|File:Hildegard von Bingen.jpg|[[Hildegard von Bingen]], Benedictine abbess, philosopher, author, artist and visionary naturalist
|File:Codex Manesse Walther von der Vogelweide.jpg|[[Walther von der Vogelweide]], most celebrated [[Middle High German]] language [[Minnesinger|Minnesänger]]
|File:Abenberg 0008.jpg|[[Wolfram von Eschenbach]] was regarded as one of the greatest [[epic poetry|epic poets]] of [[Middle High German literature|medieval German literature]]
|File:AlbertusMagnus.jpg|[[Albertus Magnus]], bishop, philosopher, theologian, [[Doctor of the Church]]
|File:Anonymous portrait of Johannes Gutenberg dated 1440, Gutenberg Museum.JPG|[[Johannes Gutenberg]], pioneering user of the [[printing press]] with [[movable type]]s
|File:Memling30.jpg|[[Hans Memling]]'s religious works often incorporated [[donor portrait]]s of the clergymen, aristocrats, and [[burgher (title)|burgher]]s (bankers, merchants, and politicians) who were his patrons<ref name="Vos">{{cite book | last=Vos | first=Dirk de | title=Oxford Art Online | chapter=Memling [Memlinc], Hans | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2003 | isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 | doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t056734}}</ref>
|File:Albrecht Dürer, Selbstbildnis mit 26 Jahren (Prado, Madrid).jpg|[[Albrecht Dürer]], one of the most influential artists of the [[Northern Renaissance]]
|File:Tilman riemenschneider.jpg|[[Tilman Riemenschneider]], most accomplished sculptor, woodcarver and master in stone from the late [[Gothic art|Gothic]] to the [[Renaissance]]
|File:Grunewald Self Portrait.jpg|[[Matthias Grünewald]] was a [[German Renaissance]] painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance [[classicism]] to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century.
|File:Ries.PNG|[[Adam Ries]] is known as the "father of modern calculating" because of his decisive contribution to the recognition that [[Roman numerals]] are unpractical and to their replacement by the considerably more practical [[Arabic numerals]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scientificlib.com/en/Mathematics/Biographies/AdamRies.html#:~:text=Adam%20Ries%20is%20generally%20considered%20to%20be%20the,more%20structured%20Arabic%20numerals%20to%20a%20large%20extent.|title=Adam Ries - 'Generally considered to be the "father of modern calculating"'|website=www.scientificlib.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208180846/https://www.scientificlib.com/en/Mathematics/Biographies/AdamRies.html#:~:text=Adam%20Ries%20is%20generally%20considered%20to%20be%20the,more%20structured%20Arabic%20numerals%20to%20a%20large%20extent|archive-date=8 December 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>
|File:Georgius Agricola.jpg|[[Georgius Agricola]] was the first to drop the Arabic definite article ''al-'', exclusively writing ''chymia'' and ''chymista'' describing [[chemistry]].<ref name="Hexagon2005">{{cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=James L. |last2=Marshall |first2=Virginia R. |title=Rediscovery of the Elements: Agricola |journal=The Hexagon |date=Autumn 2005 |volume=96 |issue=3 |page=59 |url=https://chemistry.unt.edu/sites/default/files/users/owj0001/agricola.pdf |access-date=7 January 2024 |publisher=Alpha Chi Sigma |issn=0164-6109 |oclc=4478114 |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425134735/https://chemistry.unt.edu/sites/default/files/users/owj0001/agricola.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Rafferty 2012 p. 10">Rafferty, John P. (2012). ''Geological Sciences; Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks''. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, p. 10. {{ISBN|9781615305445}}</ref> He is generally referred to as the father of [[mineralogy]] and the founder of [[geology]] as a scientific discipline.<ref name=berk>{{cite web|url=https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/agricola.html |title= Georgius Agricola   | publisher = University of California – Museum of Paleontology |access-date= April 4, 2019  }}</ref><ref name="Rafferty 2012 p. 10"/>
|File:Hans Holbein the Younger, self-portrait.jpg|[[Hans Holbein the Younger]] is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century.<ref>Zwingenberger, 9.</ref>
}}

==Early modern Germany==
{{Main|Early Modern history of Germany|18th century history of Germany}}
{{for|subdivisions and political structure|List of states in the Holy Roman Empire}}

===Social changes===
[[File:Durer-Triumphal Arch-military.jpg|thumb|Detail of [[Albrecht Dürer]]'s [[Triumphal Arch (woodcut)|''Arch of Honour'']], 1515, printed 1517–1518 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The scene shows "a new coordinated professional military, which features large-scale infantry, complemented by traditional cavalry, but now supplemented with a newer military weapon resource, portable artillery".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silver |first=Larry |title=Albrecht Dürer, The Triumphal Arch or Arch of Honor – Smarthistory |url=https://smarthistory.org/albrecht-durer-the-triumphal-arch |access-date=3 March 2022 |website=smarthistory.org}}</ref>]]

The early-modern European society gradually developed after the disasters of the 14th century as religious obedience and political loyalties declined in the wake of the [[Black Death|Great Plague]], the [[Western Schism|schism]] of the Church and prolonged dynastic wars. The rise of the [[Free imperial city|cities]] and the emergence of the new [[Burgher (title)|burgher]] class eroded the societal, legal and economic order of feudalism.<ref name="Rothstein1995">{{Cite book |first=Stanley |last=William Rothstein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g0W8-Xsg_ssC&pg=PA9 |title=Class, Culture, and Race in American Schools: A Handbook |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-3132-9102-9 |page=9}}</ref>

The commercial enterprises of the mercantile elites in the quickly developing cities in South Germany (such as [[Augsburg]] and [[Nuremberg]]), with the most prominent families being the [[Georg Gossembrot|Gossembrots]], [[Fugger]]s (the wealthiest family in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Belt |first1=Forest H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQzsAAAAMAAJ |title=The ABC-CLIO World History Companion to Capitalism |last2=Allen |first2=Larry |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-8743-6944-1 |page=134 |language=en |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>), [[Welser family|Welsers]], [[Hochstetter family|Hochstetters]], Imholts, generated unprecedented financial means. As financiers to both the leading ecclesiastical and secular rulers, these families fundamentally influenced the political affairs in the empire during the fifteenth and sixteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meinrad |first=Kohler, Alfred; Arnold-Öttl, Herta; Ammann, Gert; Caramelle, Franz; Gürtler, Eleonore; Pizzinini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQJCDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT143 |title=Tiroler Ausstellungsstrassen: Maximilian I |date=2016 |publisher=Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF (Museum Ohne Grenzen) |isbn=978-3-9029-6603-2 |page=143 |language=de |access-date=18 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nolan |first=Cathal J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1h9zzSH-NmwC&pg=PA332 |title=The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-3133-3733-8 |page=332 |language=en |access-date=3 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clough |first=S. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQNaAAAAYAAJ |title=European History in a World Perspective: Early modern times |date=1975 |publisher=Heath |isbn=978-0-6698-5555-5 |page=479 |language=en |access-date=3 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Daniel |last=Eckert |date=6 June 2016 |title=So wurde Fugger zum reichsten Menschen der Geschichte |work=Die Welt |publisher=Welt |url=https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article155974825/So-wurde-Fugger-zum-reichsten-Menschen-der-Geschichte.html |access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> The increasingly money based economy also provoked social discontent among knights and peasants and predatory "robber knights" became common.<ref>{{Cite web |first=David |last=Schwope |title=The Death of the Knight: Changes in Military Weaponry during the Tudor Period |url=https://www.hsu.edu/academicforum/2003-2004/2003-4AFTheDeathof%20the%20Knight.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128214545/http://www.hsu.edu/academicforum/2003-2004/2003-4AFTheDeathof%20the%20Knight.pdf |archive-date=28 November 2015 |access-date=18 March 2019 |publisher=Academic Forum}}</ref>

From 1438 the [[Habsburg]] dynasty, who had acquired control in the south-eastern empire over the Duchy of Austria, [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]] and [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] after the death of King [[Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia|Louis II]] in 1526, managed to permanently occupy the position of the Holy Roman Emperor until 1806 (with the exception of the years between 1742 and 1745).

Some Europe-wide revolutions were born in the Empire: the combination of the [[Kaiserliche Reichspost|first modern postal system]] established by [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]] (with the management under the [[House of Thurn und Taxis|Taxis family]]) with the printing system invented by Gutenberg produced a communication revolution{{Sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|pp=46, 47}}{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=ii}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Metzig |first=Gregor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiyXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=Kommunikation und Konfrontation: Diplomatie und Gesandtschaftswesen Kaiser Maximilians I. (1486–1519) |date=21 November 2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-1104-5673-8 |pages=98, 99 |language=de |access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref> – the Empire's decentralized nature made censorship difficult and this combined with the new communication system to facilitate free expression, thus elevating cultural life. The system also helped the authorities to disseminate orders and policies, boosted the Empire's coherence in general, and helped reformers like Luther to broadcast their views and communicate with each other effectively, thus contributing to the religious Reformation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monro |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Y6mCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA239 |title=The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention |date=22 March 2016 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-3079-6230-0 |page=239 |language=en |access-date=2 March 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|pp=ii, 260, 266, 277, 419}}{{Sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|pp=46–53}}

Maximilian's [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor#Military innovation, chivalry, and equipment|military reforms]], especially his development of the [[Landsknecht]]e, caused a military revolution that broke the back of the knight class<ref>{{Cite book |last=Axelrod |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lX9ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT124 |title=Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies |date=2013 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-4833-6467-4 |page=124 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926204224/https://books.google.com/books?id=lX9ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT124 |archive-date=26 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode |title=Die letzten ihrer Art |series=Die Welt der Ritter |last=Kersken |first=Uwe |network=Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen(zdf) |date=2014}}</ref> and spread all over Europe shortly after his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kleinschmidt |first=Harald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWEiAQAAIAAJ |title=Ruling the Waves: Emperor Maximilian I, the Search for Islands and the Transformation of the European World Picture c. 1500 |date=2008 |publisher=Antiquariaat Forum |isbn=978-9-0619-4020-3 |page=162 |access-date=3 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brunner |first=Jean-Claude |date=2012 |title=Historical Introduction |journal=Medieval Warfare |volume=2 |issue=3, "The revival of infantry tactics in the Late Middle Ages" |pages=6–9 |jstor=48578016}}</ref>

===Imperial reform===
{{Main|Imperial Reform}}
[[File:Germania by Jorg Kolderer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Personification of the Reich as [[Germania (personification)|Germania]], a figure reinvented by Maximilian and his humanists,{{Sfn|Wilson|2016|p=2}} by [[:de:Jörg Kölderer|Jörg Kölderer]], 1512. The "German woman", wearing her hair loose and a crown, sitting on the Imperial throne, corresponds both to the self-image of Maximilian I as King of Germany and the formula ''Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation'' (omitting other nations). While usually depicted during the Middle Age as subordinate to both imperial power and Italia or Gallia, she now takes central stage in Maximilian's [[Triumphal Procession]], being carried in front of [[c:File:Roma in Maximilian'sTriumphal Procession.jpg|Roma]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Strieder |first1=Peter |title=Zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Dürers Ehrenpforte für Kaiser Maximilian |journal=Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums |date=8 May 2017 |pages=128–142 Seiten |doi=10.11588/azgnm.1954.0.38143 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hirschi |first=Caspar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_v4iySQgnsC&pg=PA45 |title=The Origins of Nationalism: An Alternative History from Ancient Rome to Early Modern Germany |date=8 December 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1395-0230-6 |page=45 |language=en |access-date=7 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brandt |first=Bettina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJLM607h6jsC&pg=PA37 |title=Germania und ihre Söhne: Repräsentationen von Nation, Geschlecht und Politik in der Moderne |date=2010 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |isbn=978-3-5253-6710-0 |page=37 |language=de |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref>]]

During his reign from 1493 to 1519, [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], in a combined effort with the Estates (who sometimes acted as opponents and sometimes as cooperators to him), his officials and his humanists, [[Imperial Reform|reformed]] the empire. A dual system of Supreme Courts (the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'' and the [[Aulic Council|''Reichshofrat'']]) was established (with the ''Reichshofrat'' playing a more efficient role during the Early Modern period),{{Sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|p=52}} together with the formalized Reception of Roman Law;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jfcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |title=Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought |date=19 February 2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1910-6244-5 |page=243 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Thornhill |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JuU_MfVTbAC&pg=PA12 |title=German Political Philosophy: The Metaphysics of Law |date=24 January 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1343-8280-4 |page=12 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Haivry |first=Ofir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNvFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |title=John Selden and the Western Political Tradition |date=29 June 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1070-1134-2 |page=118 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mousourakis |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6tBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT435 |title=The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law |date=2 March 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3518-8840-0 |page=435 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] (''Reichstag'') became the all-important political forum and the supreme legal and constitutional institution, which would act as a guarantee for the preservation of the Empire in the long run;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neuhaus |first=Helmut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9PnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |title=Das Reich in der Frühen Neuzeit |date=1 October 2010 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-4867-0179-1 |page=48 |language=de |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brendle |first=Franz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBxoAAAAMAAJ |title=Dynastie, Reich und Reformation: die württembergischen Herzöge Ulrich und Christoph, die Habsburger und Frankreich |date=1998 |publisher=W. Kohlhammer |isbn=978-3-1701-5563-3 |page=54 |language=de |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref> a Permanent Land Piece (''Ewiger Landfriede'') was declared in 1495 with regional leagues and unions providing the supporting structure, together with the creation of the ''Reichskreise'' (''Imperial Circles'', which would serve the purpose of organize imperial armies, collect taxes and enforce orders of the imperial institutions);<ref>{{Cite book |last=Treichel |first=Eckhardt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9iRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1549 |title=Organisation und innere Ausgestaltung des Deutschen Bundes 1815–1819 |date=14 December 2015 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-1104-2400-3 |page=1549 |language=en |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Putten |first=Jasper Cornelis van |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA256 |title=Networked Nation: Mapping German Cities in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia" |date=6 November 2017 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0043-5396-1 |page=256 |language=en |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|pp=76, 77}} the Imperial and Court Chanceries were combined to become the decisive government institution;{{Sfn|Müller|2003|p=298}}{{Sfn|Brady|2009|p=111}} the [[Landsknecht]]e that Maximilian created became a form of imperial army;{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|p=74}} a national political culture began to emerge;{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|p=115}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |title=Whaley on Silver, "Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor" H-German H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/45722/whaley-silver-marketing-maximilian-visual-ideology-holy-roman-emperor |access-date=3 March 2022 |website=networks.h-net.org}}</ref> and the German language began to attain an unified form.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tennant |first1=Elaine C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdIDcGyUcN4C&pg=PA3 |title=The Habsburg Chancery Language in Perspective, Volume 114 |last2=Johnson |first2=Carroll B. |date=1985 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-9694-3 |pages=1, 3, 9 |access-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927161255/https://books.google.com/books?id=JdIDcGyUcN4C&pg=PA3 |archive-date=27 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wiesinger |first1=Peter |title=Zwei Varietäten der deutschen Schriftsprache durch Konfessionalisierung im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert |journal=Jahrbuch für Germanistische Sprachgeschichte |date=16 August 2018 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=213–234 |doi=10.1515/jbgsg-2018-0014 |s2cid=186566355 }}</ref> The political structure remained incomplete and piecemeal though, mainly due to the failure of the Common Penny (an imperial tax) that the Estates resisted.{{Sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|p=52}}{{Efn|"By no means all the Imperial Estates, for example, participated in the ''Reichstag''. Not every vassal of the emperor, even in the German lands, participated in the emerging political system from the start. In the period around 1500 what might be described as the political nation was largely confined to the south, to the old Hohenstaufen core territories south of the Main and the Saale, to the areas between Alsace in the west and the Austrian duchies in the east, where the Habsburgs had extended their territories and around them, their clientele.", pg. 39.{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|pp=12, 39, 40, 50, 72, 80}}}} Through many compromises between emperor and estates though, a flexible, future-oriented problem-solving mechanism for the Empire was formed, together with a monarchy through which the emperor shared power with the Estates.{{Sfn|Stollberg-Rilinger|2021|p=47}}{{Efn|"[...] it is a tribute to his success that what emerged by the end of his reign was not an oligarchy of princes but a strengthened monarchy", pg. 75; "The Reich emerged from the reforms of 1495 and 1500 as a polity in which the emperor and the Estates coexisted, but also competed, in uneasy equilibrium", pg. 95.{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|p=27, 75}}}} Whether the Reform also equated to a (successful or unsuccessful) nation building process remains a debate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedeburg |first=Robert von |url=https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-17379 |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1987-3101-6 |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref>

The addition ''Nationis Germanicæ'' (of German Nation) to the emperor's title appeared first in the 15th century: in a 1486 law decreed by Frederick III and in 1512 in reference to the Imperial Diet in Cologne by Maximilian I. In 1525, the Heilbronn reform plan – the most advanced document of the [[German Peasants' War]] (''Deutscher Bauernkrieg'') – referred to the ''Reich'' as ''von Teutscher Nation'' (of German nation). During the fifteen century, the term "German nation" had witness a rise in use due to the growth of a "community of interests". The Estates also increasingly distinguished between their German Reich and the wider, "universal" Reich.{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|p=17, 73}}

===Protestant Reformation===
[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1512)-en.png|thumb|left|The empire c. 1512 divided into [[Imperial circle]]s]]

In order to manage their ever growing expenses, the [[Renaissance Papacy|Renaissance Popes]] of the 15th and early 16th century promoted the excessive sale of [[indulgence]]s and offices and titles of the Roman Curia.

In 1517, the monk [[Martin Luther]] published a pamphlet with [[95 Theses]] that he posted in the town square of [[Wittenberg]] and handed copies of to feudal lords. Whether he nailed them to a church door at Wittenberg remains unclear. The list detailed 95 assertions, he argued, represented corrupt practice of the Christian faith and misconduct within the Catholic Church. Although perhaps not Luther's chief concern, he received popular support for his condemnation of the sale of [[indulgences]] and clerical offices, the pope's and higher clergy's abuse of power and his doubts of the very idea of the institution of the Church and the papacy.<ref name="ski">{{Cite web |first1=Jeremiah |last1=Dittmar |first2=Skipper |last2=Seabold |title=Media, Markets and Institutional Change: Evidence from the Protestant Reformation |url=http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1367.pdf |access-date=19 March 2019 |publisher=CEP}}</ref>

[[File:Luther at the Diet of Worms.jpg|thumb|[[Martin Luther]] confronting [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|emperor Charles V]] at the [[Diet of Worms]], painting by [[Anton von Werner]]]]
The Protestant [[Reformation]] was the first successful challenge to the Catholic Church and began in 1521 as Luther was outlawed at the [[Diet of Worms]] after his refusal to repent. The ideas of the reformation spread rapidly, as the new technology of the modern printing press ensured cheap mass copies and distribution of the theses and helped by the [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]]'s wars with France and the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]].<ref name=ski/> Hiding in the [[Wartburg Castle]], Luther translated the Bible into German, thereby greatly contributing to the establishment of the modern German language. This is highlighted by the fact that Luther spoke only a local dialect of minor importance during that time. After the publication of his Bible, his dialect suppressed others and constitutes to a great extent what is now modern German. With the [[Protestation at Speyer|protestation]] of the Lutheran princes at the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] of [[Second Diet of Speyer|Speyer]] in 1529 and the acceptance and adoption of the Lutheran [[Augsburg Confession]] by the Lutheran princes beginning in 1530, the separate Lutheran church was established.<ref>John Lotherington, ''The German Reformation'' (2014)</ref>

The [[German Peasants' War]], which began in the southwest in [[Alsace]] and [[Swabia]] and spread further east into [[Franconia]], [[Thuringia]] and Austria, was a series of economic and religious revolts of the rural lower classes, encouraged by the rhetoric of various radical religious reformers and Anabaptists against the ruling feudal lords. Although occasionally assisted by war-experienced noblemen like [[Götz von Berlichingen]] and [[Florian Geyer]] (in Franconia) and the theologian [[Thomas Müntzer]] (in Thuringia), the peasant forces lacked military structure, skill, logistics and equipment and as many as 100,000 insurgents were eventually defeated and massacred by the territorial princes.<ref>Michael G. Baylor, ''The German Reformation and the Peasants' War: A Brief History with Documents'' (2012)</ref>

The Catholic [[Counter-Reformation]], initiated in 1545 at the [[Council of Trent]] was spearheaded by the scholarly religious [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit order]], that was founded just five years prior by several clerics around [[Ignatius of Loyola]]. Its intent was to challenge and contain the Protestant Reformation via apologetic and polemical writings and decrees, ecclesiastical reconfiguration, wars and imperial political maneuverings. In 1547, emperor Charles V defeated the [[Schmalkaldic League]], a military alliance of Protestant rulers.<ref>John Lotherington, ''The Counter-Reformation'' (2015)</ref> The 1555 [[Peace of Augsburg]] decreed the recognition of the Lutheran Faith and religious division of the empire. It also stipulated the ruler's right to determine the official confession in his principality (''[[Cuius regio, eius religio]]''). The Counter-Reformation eventually failed to reintegrate the central and northern German Lutheran states. In 1608/1609 the [[Protestant Union]] and the [[Catholic League (German)|Catholic League]] were formed.

=== Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648 ===
{{Main|Thirty Years' War}}
[[File:Bevölkerkungsrückgang im HRRDN nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg.PNG|thumb|left|Population decline in the empire as a consequence of the [[Thirty Years' War]]]]

The 1618 to 1648 [[Thirty Years' War]], that took place almost exclusively in the Holy Roman Empire has its origins, which remain widely debated, in the unsolved and recurring conflicts of the Catholic and Protestant factions. The Catholic emperor [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]] attempted to achieve the religious and political unity of the empire, while the opposing Protestant Union forces were determined to defend their religious rights. The religious motive served as the universal justification for the various territorial and foreign princes, who over the course of several stages joined either of the two warring parties in order to gain land and power.{{Sfn|Adams|1997|pp=138–191}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |date=June 2008 |title=The Causes of the Thirty Years War 1618–1648 |journal=The English Historical Review |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=CXXIII |issue=502 |pages=554–586 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cen160}}</ref>

The conflict was sparked by the [[Bohemian Revolt|revolt of the Protestant nobility of Bohemia]] against emperor [[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor|Matthias]]' succession policies. After imperial triumph at the [[Battle of White Mountain]] and a short-lived peace, the war grew to become a political European conflict by the intervention of [[Christian IV of Denmark|King Christian IV of Denmark]] from 1625 to 1630, [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden]] from 1630 to 1648 and France under [[Cardinal Richelieu]] from 1635 to 1648. The conflict increasingly evolved into a struggle between the French House of Bourbon and the House of Habsburg for predominance in Europe, for which the central German territories of the empire served as the battleground.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy |date=2009}}</ref>

The war ranks among the most catastrophic in history as three decades of constant warfare and destruction had left the land devastated. Marauding armies incessantly pillaged the countryside, seized and levied heavy taxes on cities and indiscriminately plundered the food stocks of the peasantry. There were also the countless bands of murderous outlaws, sick, homeless, disrupted people and invalid soldiery. Overall social and economic disruption caused a dramatic decline in population as a result of pandemic murder and random rape and killings, endemic infectious diseases, crop failures, famine, declining birth rates, wanton burglary, witch-hunts and the emigration of terrified people. Estimates vary between a 38% drop from 16 million people in 1618 to 10 million by 1650 and a mere 20% drop from 20 million to 16 million. The [[Altmark]] and [[History of Württemberg|Württemberg]] regions were especially hard hit, where it took generations to fully recover.{{Sfn|Adams|1997|pp=138–191}}<ref>Geoffrey Parker, ''The Thirty Years' War'' (1997) p. 178 has 15–20% decline; Tryntje Helfferich, ''The Thirty Years' War: A Documentary History'' (2009) p. xix, estimates a 25% decline. Wilson (2009) pp. 780–795 reviews the estimates.</ref>

The war was the last major religious struggle in mainland Europe and ended in 1648 with the [[Peace of Westphalia]]. It resulted in increased autonomy for the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire, limiting the power of the emperor. Most of [[Alsace]] was ceded to France, [[Western Pomerania]] and [[Bremen-Verden]] were given to Sweden as Imperial fiefs, and the Netherlands officially left the Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Joachim |last=Whaley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiFWYsG-t7UC |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-1987-3101-6 |pages=623–631}}</ref>

===Culture and literacy===
[[Image:Lutherbibel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Modern High German]] translation of the [[Christian Bible]] by the Protestant reformer [[Martin Luther]] (1534).<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.382 |chapter=Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2017 |last1=Lobenstein-Reichmann |first1=Anja |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }}</ref> The widespread popularity of the [[Luther Bible|Bible translated into High German by Luther]] helped establish modern Standard High German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/>]]

The population of Germany reached about twenty million people by the mid-16th century, the great majority of whom were peasant farmers.{{Sfn|Holborn|1959|p=37}}

The Protestant [[Reformation]] was a triumph for [[literacy]] and the new [[printing press]].<ref name="Cameron">{{Cite book |first=Euan |last=Cameron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6a3kgsbkBIC |title=The European Reformation |date=1 March 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-1995-4785-2}}{{Page needed|date=March 2015}}</ref>{{Efn|In the end, while the Reformation emphasis on Protestants reading the Scriptures was one factor in the development of literacy, the impact of printing itself, the wider availability of printed works at a cheaper price, and the increasing focus on education and learning as key factors in obtaining a lucrative post, were also significant contributory factors.<ref name="Pettegree543">Pettegree ''Reformation World'' p.&nbsp;543</ref>}}<ref name="Rubin270">Rubin, "Printing and Protestants" Review of Economics and Statistics pp. 270–286</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Media, Markets and Institutional Change: Evidence from the Protestant Reformation |url=http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1367.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1367.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09}}</ref> [[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] (the [[New Testament]] was published in 1522; the [[Old Testament]] was published in parts and completed in 1534) was a decisive impulse for the increase of literacy in [[Germany in the early modern period|early modern Germany]],<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> and stimulated printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. The Reformation instigated a media revolution as by 1530 over 10,000 individual works are published with a total of ten million copies. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad" church. It soon became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular agendas. Reform writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Mark U. Jr. |title=Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther |date=1994}}</ref> Especially effective were Luther's ''Small Catechism'', for use of parents teaching their children, and ''Larger Catechism,'' for pastors.<ref>See texts at [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html#sw-hymn Project Wittenberg: "Selected Hymns of Martin Luther"]</ref> Using the German vernacular they expressed the Apostles' Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language. Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], the painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weimer |first=Christoph |date=2004 |title=Luther and Cranach on Justification in Word and Image |journal=[[Lutheran Quarterly]] |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=387–405}}</ref>

[[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] was also decisive for the [[German language]] and its evolution from [[Early New High German]] to Modern Standard German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in [[Germany in the early modern period|early modern Germany]],<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> and promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Birgit |last1=Stolt |title=Luther's Translation of the Bible |journal=Lutheran Quarterly |volume=28 |issue=4 |date=2014 |pages=373–400 }}</ref>

===Science===
[[File:Albrecht Dürer - The Northern Hemisphere of the Celestial Globe - WGA7195.jpg|thumb|upright|The Northern Hemisphere of the Celestial Globe created by Albrecht Dürer]]
Notable late fifteenth to early eighteenth-century [[polymath]]s include: [[Johannes Trithemius]], one of the founders of modern cryptography, [[steganography]], as well as [[bibliography]] and literary studies as branches of knowledge;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holden |first=Joshua |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3SYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |title=The Mathematics of Secrets: Cryptography from Caesar Ciphers to Digital Encryption |date=2 October 2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6911-8331-2 |language=en |access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rodriquez |first1=Mercedes Garcia-Arenal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYSQWmuaLLgC&pg=PA383 |title=The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada, and the Rise of Orientalism |last2=Mediano |first2=Fernando Rodríguez |date=15 April 2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0042-5029-1 |page=383 |language=en |access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zambelli |first=Paola |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tp6PhNsz43EC&pg=PA251 |title=White Magic, Black Magic in the European Renaissance |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0041-6098-9 |page=251 |language=en |access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref> [[Conrad Celtes]], the first and foremost German cartographic writer and "the greatest lyric genius and certainly the greatest organizer and popularizer of German Humanism";<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eire |first=Carlos M. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3g8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |title=Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450–1650 |date=28 June 2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3002-2068-1 |page=223 |language=en |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kallendorf |first=Craig W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HqrdIi7DZRcC&pg=PA174 |title=A Companion to the Classical Tradition |date=15 April 2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-7202-8 |page=174 |language=en |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="GermanicReview">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIzjO6GiGeIC |title=The Germanic Review |date=1951 |publisher=Heldref Publications |page=148 |language=en |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Piechocki |first=Katharina N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6A5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |title=Cartographic Humanism: The Making of Early Modern Europe |date=13 September 2021 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-2268-1681-4 |page=26 |language=en |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> [[Athanasius Kircher]], described by Fletcher as "a founder figure of various disciplines—of geology (certainly vulcanology), musicology (as a surveyor of musical forms), museum curatorship, Coptology, to name a few—and might be claimed today as the first theorist of gravity and a long-term originator of the moving pictures (with his magic lantern shows). Through his many enthusiasms, moreover, he was the conduit of others' pursuits in the rapidly widening horizon of knowledge that marks the later Renaissance.";<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fletcher |first=John Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeR5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR21 |title=A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus Incredibilis': With a Selection of his Unpublished Correspondence and an Annotated Translation of his Autobiography |date=26 August 2011 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0042-1632-7 |page=21 |language=en |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref> and [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]], one of the greatest, if not the greatest "Universal genius", of all time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Claes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTjpb329P-4C&pg=PA68 |title=Many Minds Relativity |date=2011 |publisher=Claes Johnson |page=68 |language=en |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blumenau |first=Ralph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yq-7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 |title=Philosophy and Living |date=30 April 2014 |publisher=Andrews UK Limited |isbn=978-1-8454-0649-3 |page=236 |language=en |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>

Cartography developed strongly, with the center being Nuremberg, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. [[Martin Waldseemüller]] and [[Matthias Ringmann]]'s ''[[Waldseemüller map|Universalis Cosmographia]]'' and the 1513 edition of ''Geography'' marked the climax of a cartography revolution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kleinschmidt |first=Harald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlwDcFHzds0C&pg=PA260 |title=Understanding the Middle Ages: The Transformation of Ideas and Attitudes in the Medieval World |date=2000 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-8511-5770-2 |language=en |access-date=29 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029084854/https://books.google.com/books?id=JlwDcFHzds0C&pg=PA260 |archive-date=29 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cortesão |first=Armando |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gg8-AQAAIAAJ |title=History of Portuguese Cartography |date=1969 |publisher=Junta de Investigações do Ultramar |page=124 |language=en |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> The emperor himself dabbled in cartography.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buisseret |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYSSDdDRr-cC&pg=PA54 |title=The Mapmakers' Quest: Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe |date=22 May 2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-1915-0090-9 |page=54 |language=en |access-date=8 November 2021}}</ref>

In 1515, [[Johannes Stabius]] (court astronomer under Maximilian I), [[Albrecht Dürer]] and the astronomer [[:de:Konrad Heinfogel|Konrad Heinfogel]] produced the first planispheres of both the southern and northern hemispheres, also the first printed celestial maps. These maps prompted the revival of interest in the field of uranometry throughout Europe.{{Sfn|Noflatscher|2011|p=245}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lachièze-Rey |first1=Marc |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZFXiNn62ZEC&pg=PA86 |title=Celestial Treasury: From the Music of the Spheres to the Conquest of Space |last2=Luminet |first2=Jean-Pierre |last3=France |first3=Bibliothèque nationale de |date=16 July 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-0040-2 |page=86 |language=en |access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nothaft |first=C. Philipp E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dz5MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 |title=Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe |date=9 February 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1925-2018-0 |page=278 |language=en |access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref>{{Sfn|Hayton|2015|p=92}}

Astronomer [[Johannes Kepler]] from [[Weil der Stadt]] was one of the pioneering minds of empirical and rational research. Through rigorous application of the principles of the [[Scientific method]] he construed his [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|laws of planetary motion]]. His ideas influenced contemporary Italian scientist [[Galileo Galilei]] and provided fundamental mechanical principles for [[Isaac Newton]]'s theory of [[Newton's law of universal gravitation|universal gravitation]].<ref>Stillman Drake, "Copernicanism in Bruno, Kepler, and Galileo." ''Vistas in Astronomy'' 17 (1975): 177–192 [http://eccoprogram.it/wp-content/uploads/DRAKE-1975-Copernicanism-in-Bruno-Kepler-and-Galileo.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015170120/http://eccoprogram.it/wp-content/uploads/DRAKE-1975-Copernicanism-in-Bruno-Kepler-and-Galileo.pdf |date=15 October 2021 }}.</ref>

{{Gallery
|title= Scientists, scholars and artists of the Early modern period in Germany
|align=center
|width=130
|File:JKepler.jpg|[[Johannes Kepler]], one of the founders and fathers of modern [[astronomy]], the [[scientific method]], [[Natural science|natural]] and [[modern science]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/milestones/greatinventors/johanneskepler/index.html | title=DPMA &#124; Johannes Kepler }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Gould |first1=Alan |url=https://www.nasa.gov/kepler/education/johannes |title=Johannes Kepler: His Life, His Laws and Times &#124; NASA |work=NASA |date=24 September 2016 |access-date=1 September 2023 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624003856/https://www.nasa.gov/kepler/education/johannes/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/kepler.html | title=Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You – Timeline – Johannes Kepler }}</ref>
|File:Anselmus-van-Hulle-Hommes-illustres MG 0539.tif|[[Otto von Guericke]], scientist, inventor and politician, famous for demonstrating the power of atmospheric pressure with the [[Magdeburg hemispheres]]
|File:1636 Elisabeth of Bohemia.jpg|[[Elisabeth of the Palatinate]], philosopher, critic of [[René Descartes]]' dualistic metaphysics
|File:Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen.jpeg|[[Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen]], author of the novel ''[[Simplicius Simplicissimus]]''
|File:Athanasius Kircher (cropped).jpg|[[Athanasius Kircher]], polymath
|File:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bernhard Christoph Francke.jpg|[[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]], philosopher and mathematician
|File:Tschirnhaus.jpg|[[Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus]], mathematician, physicist, physician, philosopher, co-inventor of European porcelain
}}

===Colonies===
German Colonies in the Americas existed because the [[Free Imperial Cities]] of [[Augsburg]] and [[Free Imperial City of Nuremberg|Nuremberg]] got colonial rights in the [[Venezuela Province|Province of Venezuela]] or North of South America in return for debts owed by the [[Holy Roman Empire]] [[Emperor Charles V|Charles V]], who was also King of Spain. In 1528, Charles V issued a charter by which the [[Welser family]] possessed the rights to explore, rule and colonize the area, also with the motivation of searching for the legendary golden city of [[El Dorado]]. Their principal colony was [[Klein-Venedig]]. A never realized colonial project was [[Hanauish-Indies]] intended by [[Friedrich Casimir, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg]] as a fief of the [[Dutch West India Company]]. The project failed due to a lack of funds and the outbreak of the [[Franco-Dutch War]] in 1672.

==1648–1815==
===Rise of Prussia===
[[File:Acprussiamap2.gif|thumb|Prussia became a European great power after 1763 and Austria's [[Austro-Prussian rivalry|greatest rival]] in Germany.]]
When [[Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia]] died in 1618 without male heirs, John Sigismund was granted the right of succession to the [[Duchy of Prussia]], then still a Polish fief since the time of the [[Partitioning of Prussia]] in 1466. From then onwards the Duchy of Prussia was in personal union with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]], ruler of [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] since 1640 and later called the Great [[Prince-elector|Elector]], acquired [[Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)|East Pomerania]] via the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648. He reorganized his loose and scattered territories and managed to throw off the vassalage of Prussia under the Kingdom of Poland during the [[Second Northern War]].<ref>Philip G. Dwyer, ed. ''The rise of Prussia: Rethinking Prussian history, 1700–1830'' pp. 1–26.</ref> In order to address the demographic problem of Prussia's largely rural population of about three million, he attracted the immigration and settlement of French [[Huguenots]] in urban areas. Many became craftsmen and entrepreneurs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hornung |first1=Erik |title=Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia |journal=American Economic Review |date=2014 |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=84–122 |doi=10.1257/aer.104.1.84 |hdl=10419/37227 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Frederick William I of Prussia|King Frederick William I]], known as the ''Soldier King'', who reigned from 1713 to 1740, established the structures for the highly centralized Prussian state and raised a professional army, that was to play a central role.{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=78–94}} He also successfully operated a command economy that some historians consider mercantilist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gawthrop |first=Richard L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VodSxz7Haq4C&pg=PA266 |title=Pietism and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Prussia |date=2 November 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5210-3012-0 |page=266 |language=en |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kahler |first=Erich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_iiNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT279 |title=Man The Measure: A New Approach To History |date=5 March 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4297-0934-0 |page=279 |language=en |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref>

The total population of Germany (in its [[German Empire|1914 territorial extent]]) grew from 16 million in 1700 to 17 million in 1750 and reached 24 million in 1800. The 18th-century economy noticeably profited from widespread practical application of the [[scientific method]] as greater yields, a more reliable agricultural production, and the introduction of hygienic standards positively affected the birth rate – death rate balance.{{Sfn|Sheehan|1989|pp=75, 207–291, 291–323, 324–371, 802–820}}

===Wars===
{{Main|Nine Years' War|Great Turkish War|Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718}}
[[File:Eugene of SavoyVS.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Prince Eugene of Savoy]], [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian]] commander during the Austro-Turkish wars]]
[[Louis XIV]] of France waged a series of successful wars in order to extend the French territory. He occupied [[Lorraine]] (1670) and annexed the remainder of Alsace (1678–1681) that included the free imperial city of [[Strasbourg|Straßburg]]. At the start of the [[Nine Years' War]], he also invaded the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]] (1688–1697).{{Sfn|Sagarra|1977|page=22}} Louis established a number of [[Chambers of Reunion|courts]] whose sole function was to reinterpret historic decrees and treaties, the [[Treaties of Nijmegen]] (1678) and the [[Peace of Westphalia]] (1648) in particular in favor of his policies of conquest. He considered the conclusions of these courts, the ''Chambres de réunion'' as sufficient justification for his annexations. Louis' forces operated inside the Holy Roman Empire largely unopposed, because all available imperial contingents fought in Austria in the [[Great Turkish War]]. The [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|Grand Alliance]] of 1689 took up arms against France and countered any further military advances of Louis. The conflict ended in 1697 as both parties agreed to peace talks after either side had realized that a total victory was financially unattainable. The [[Treaty of Ryswick]] provided for the return of the Lorraine and Luxembourg to the empire and the abandoning of French claims to the Palatinate.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=treaty of Ryswick |encyclopedia=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100435143 }}</ref>

After the last-minute [[Battle of Vienna|relief of Vienna]] from a siege and the imminent seizure by a [[Ottoman Army (15th-19th centuries)|Turkish force]] in 1683, the combined troops of the [[Holy League (1684)|Holy League]], that had been founded the following year, embarked on the military containment of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and reconquered [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)|Hungary]] in 1687.<ref name="Jankowski2014">{{Cite book |first=Tomek E. |last=Jankowski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p5wAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT274 |title=Eastern Europe!: Everything You Need to Know About the History (and More) of a Region that Shaped Our World and Still Does |date=20 May 2014 |publisher=Steerforth Press |isbn=978-0-9850-6233-0 |page=274}}</ref> The [[Papal States]], the Holy Roman Empire, the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the [[Republic of Venice]] and since 1686 [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]], had joined the league under the leadership of [[Pope Innocent XI]]. [[Prince Eugene of Savoy]], who served under emperor Leopold I, took supreme command in 1697 and decisively defeated the Ottomans in a series of spectacular battles and
manoeuvres. The 1699 [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] marked the end of the Great Turkish War and Prince Eugene continued his service for the [[Habsburg monarchy]] as president of the [[Hofkriegsrat|War Council]]. He effectively ended Turkish rule over most of the territorial states in the [[Balkans]] during the [[Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718]]. The [[Treaty of Passarowitz]] left Austria to freely establish royal domains in Serbia and the Banat and maintain hegemony in [[Southeast Europe]], on which the future [[Austrian Empire]] was based.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eugen Prinz von Savoyen |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz52925.html |access-date=21 March 2019 |publisher=Deutsche Biographie}}</ref><ref name="Hochedlinger2015">{{Cite book |first=Michael |last=Hochedlinger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbpACwAAQBAJ |title=Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683–1797 |date=22 December 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3178-8793-5}}</ref>

===Enlightened absolutism===
[[File:Friedrich der Große (1781 or 1786) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia]] reigned from 1740 to 1786.]]

[[Frederick the Great|Frederick II "the Great"]] is best known for his military genius and unique utilisation of the highly organized army to make Prussia one of the great powers in Europe as well as [[Miracle of the House of Brandenburg|escaping from almost certain national disaster]] at the last minute. He was also an artist, author and philosopher, who conceived and promoted the concept of [[enlightened absolutism]].<ref>Dennis Showalter, ''Frederick the Great: A Military History'' (2012)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ritter |first=Gerhard |url=https://archive.org/details/stayawayjoenovel00cush |title=Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile |publisher=University of California Press |date=1974 |isbn=978-0-5200-2775-6 |editor-last=Peter Peret |location=Berkeley |author-link=Gerhard Ritter |url-access=registration |orig-date=1936}}; called by [[Russell Weigley]] "The best introduction to Frederick the Great and indeed to European warfare in his time." {{Cite book|author=Russell Frank Weigley|title=The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=abPUKDlNmRsC&pg=PA550|date=2004|publisher=Indiana U.P.|page=550|isbn=978-0-2532-1707-3}}</ref>

Austrian empress [[Maria Theresa of Austria|Maria Theresa]] succeeded in bringing about a favorable conclusion for her in [[War of the Austrian Succession|the 1740 to 1748 war]] for recognition of her succession to the throne. {{Clarify|reason=Poor English|date=October 2025}} However, [[Silesia]] was permanently lost to Prussia as a consequence of the [[Silesian Wars]] and the [[Seven Years' War]]. The 1763 [[Treaty of Hubertusburg]] ruled that Austria and Saxony had to relinquish all claims to Silesia. Prussia, that had nearly doubled its territory was eventually recognized as a great European power with the consequence that the politics of the following century were fundamentally influenced by [[Austria–Prussia rivalry|German dualism]], the rivalry of Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jörg Ulbert |title=A History of Franco-German Relations in Europe |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland AG |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-3493-7221-8 |pages=39–48 |chapter=France and German Dualism, 1756–1871 |doi=10.1057/9780230616639_4}}</ref>

The concept of enlightened absolutism, although rejected by the nobility and citizenry, was advocated in [[Prussia]] and [[Austria]] and implemented since 1763. Prussian king [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick II]] defended the idea in an essay and argued that the [[Benevolent dictatorship|benevolent monarch]] simply is the ''first servant of the state'', who effects his absolute political power for the benefit of the population as a whole. A number of legal reforms (e.g. the abolition of torture and the emancipation of the rural population and the Jews), the reorganization of the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences]], the introduction of compulsory education for boys and girls and promotion of religious tolerance, among others, caused rapid social and economic development.<ref name="Schui2013">{{Cite book |first=Florian |last=Schui |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v6xahmxWS3YC&pg=PA92 |title=Rebellious Prussians: Urban Political Culture Under Frederick the Great and His Successors |date=14 March 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-1995-9396-5 |page=92}}</ref>

During 1772 to 1795 Prussia instigated the [[partitions of Poland]] by occupying the western territories of the former [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. Austria and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] resolved to acquire the remaining lands with the effect that Poland ceased to exist as a sovereign state until 1918.<ref>Lucjan R. Lewitter, "The Partitions of Poland" in A. Goodwyn, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History: vol 8 1763–93'' (1965) pp. 333–359</ref>

===Smaller states===
[[Image:Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Ludwigsburg Palace]] in Württemberg]]
[[File:Karl Friedrich von Baden by Johann Ludwig Kisling (1803).jpg|thumb|upright|Karl Friedrich ruled Baden from 1738 to 1811.]]
The smaller German states were overshadowed by Prussia and Austria. [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]] had a [[rural economics|rural economy]]. [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] was in economically good shape, although numerous wars had taken their toll. During the time when Prussia rose rapidly within Germany, Saxony was distracted by foreign affairs. The House of Wettin concentrated on acquiring and then holding on to the Polish throne which was ultimately unsuccessful.{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=291–299}}{{Clarify|date=March 2022}}<!-- Please provide some quotes. Which duke? Granted, I'm looking at the 1982 edition but if the writer deleted that much from his book, these parts probably should not be here. Other than Bavaria having a rural economy, I do not see lethargy, dogs, mistresses, Wettin, government being mismanaged et al. mentioned anywhere; also, that rulers of smaller German states were largely irresponsible and lavish people during almost a century is quite a broad generalization -->

Many of the smaller states of Germany were run by bishops, who in reality were from powerful noble families and showed scant interest in religion. While none of the later ecclesial rulers reached the outstanding reputation of Mainz' [[Johann Philipp von Schönborn]] or Münster's [[Christoph Bernhard von Galen]], some of them promoted [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] like the benevolent and progressive [[Franz Ludwig von Erthal]] in [[Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg|Würzburg]] and [[Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg|Bamberg]].{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=299–302}}

In [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]], the Landgrave [[Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel|Frederick II]], ruled from 1760 to 1785 as an enlightened despot, and raised money by renting soldiers ([[Hessian (soldier)|called "Hessians"]]) to [[Great Britain]] to help fight the [[American Revolutionary War]]. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, [[Cameralism|cameralist]] plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward diplomacy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ingrao |first=Charles W. |title=The Hessian Mercenary State: Ideas, Institutions, and Reform under Frederick II, 1760–1785 |date=2003}}</ref>

[[History of Hanover (region)|Hanover]] did not have to support a lavish court—its rulers were also kings of England and resided in London. [[George III]], elector (ruler) from 1760 to 1820, never once visited Hanover. The local nobility who ran the country opened the [[University of Göttingen]] in 1737; it soon became a world-class intellectual center. [[History of Baden-Württemberg|Baden]] sported perhaps the best government of the smaller states. [[Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden|Karl Friedrich]] ruled for 73 years and was an enthusiast for the Enlightenment; he abolished serfdom in 1783.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Liebel |first=Helen P. |date=1965 |title=Enlightened bureaucracy versus enlightened despotism in Baden, 1750–1792 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=1–132 |doi=10.2307/1005911 |jstor=1005911}}</ref>

The smaller states failed to form coalitions with each other, and were eventually overwhelmed by Prussia who swallowed up many of them between 1807 and 1871.{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderng01holb/page/291 291]–302}}

===Social changes===
{{Main|Social changes in 18th to 19th-century Prussia}}
[[Prussia]] underwent major [[social change]] between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries as the [[nobility]] declined as the traditional [[aristocracy]] struggled to compete with the rising [[merchant class]],<ref>Marion W. Gray, ''Productive men, reproductive women: the agrarian household and the emergence of separate spheres during the German Enlightenment'' (2000).</ref> which developed into a new [[Bourgeoisie]] middle class,{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|loc=ch 2}}<ref>Marion W. Gray and June K. Burton, "Bourgeois Values in the Rural Household, 1810–1840: The New Domesticity in Germany", ''The Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 1750–1850'' 23 (1994): 449–456.</ref><ref>Eda Sagarra, ''An introduction to Nineteenth century Germany'' (1980) pp. 231–233.</ref> while the [[emancipation of the serfs]] granted the rural [[peasantry]] land purchasing rights and freedom of movement,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=Guy Stanton |url=https://archive.org/details/steinanderarefo01fordgoog |title=Stein and the era of reform in Prussia, 1807–1815 |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1922 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/steinanderarefo01fordgoog/page/n205 199]–220}}</ref> and a series of [[agrarian reforms]] in northwestern Germany abolished [[feudal obligations]] and divided up feudal land, giving rise to wealthier peasants and paved the way for a more efficient [[rural economy]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Brakensiek |first=Stefan |title=Agrarian Individualism in North-Western Germany, 1770–1870 |date=April 1994 |work=German History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=137–179}}</ref>

===Enlightenment===
{{Main|German Enlightenment}}
{{See also|Hymnody of continental Europe#Rationalism}}
[[Image:Oer-Weimarer Musenhof.jpg|thumb|Painting of the ''[[Weimar courtyard of the muses]]'', depicting an elite fellowship of nobles and commoners, courtiers, civil servants, writers, artists and scientists among [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]], [[Christoph Martin Wieland|Wieland]], [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] – in [[Classical Weimar]], by [[Theobald von Oer]], 1860]]

During the mid-18th century, the recognition and application of Enlightenment cultural, intellectual and spiritual ideals and standards, led to a flourishing of art, music, philosophy, science and literature. The philosopher [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]] was a pioneering author in a vast number of fields of Enlightenment rationality, and established German as the prevailing language of philosophical reasoning, scholarly instruction and research.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gagliardo |first=John G. |title=Germany under the Old Regime, 1600–1790 |date=1991 |pages=217–234, 375–395}}</ref>

In 1685, Margrave [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]] of Prussia issued the [[Edict of Potsdam]] within a week after French king [[Louis XIV]]'s [[Edict of Fontainebleau]], that decreed the abolishment of the 1598 [[Edict of Nantes|concession]] to free religious practice for [[Huguenots|Protestants]]. Frederick William offered his ''co-religionists, who are oppressed and assailed for the sake of the Holy Gospel and its pure doctrine...a secure and free refuge in all Our Lands''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edict of Potsdam, October 29, 1685 |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/print_document.cfm?document_id=3636 |access-date=26 March 2019 |publisher=Deutsche Geschichte in Quellen und Darstellung}}</ref> Around 20,000 Huguenot refugees arrived in an immediate wave and settled in the cities, 40% in Berlin, the ducal residence alone. The French Lyceum in Berlin was established in 1689 and the French language had by the end of the 17th century replaced Latin to be spoken universally in international diplomacy. The nobility and the educated middle-class of Prussia and the various German states increasingly used the French language in public conversation in combination with universal cultivated manners. Like no other German state, Prussia had access to and the skill set for the application of pan-European Enlightenment ideas to develop more rational political and administrative institutions.<ref>Charles W. Ingrao, "A Pre-Revolutionary Sonderweg". ''German History'' 20#3 (2002), pp. 279–286.</ref> The princes of Saxony carried out a comprehensive series of fundamental fiscal, administrative, judicial, educational, cultural and general economic reforms. The reforms were aided by the country's strong urban structure and influential commercial groups, who modernized pre-1789 Saxony along the lines of classic Enlightenment principles.<ref>Katrin Keller, "Saxony: Rétablissement and Enlightened Absolutism". ''German History'' 20.3 (2002): 309–331.</ref>

[[Johann Gottfried von Herder]] broke new ground in philosophy and poetry, as a leader of the [[Sturm und Drang]] movement of proto-Romanticism. [[Weimar Classicism]] ("Weimarer Klassik") was a cultural and literary movement based in Weimar that sought to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical, and Enlightenment ideas. The movement, from 1772 until 1805, involved Herder as well as polymath [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Friedrich Schiller]], a poet and historian. Herder argued that every folk had its own particular identity, which was expressed in its language and culture. This legitimized the promotion of German language and culture and helped shape the development of German nationalism. Schiller's plays expressed the restless spirit of his generation, depicting the hero's struggle against social pressures and the force of destiny.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Literature of Weimar Classicism |date=2005 |editor-last=Richter |editor-first=Simon J.}}</ref>

German music, sponsored by the upper classes, came of age under composers [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], [[Joseph Haydn]], and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Music at German Courts, 1715–1760: Changing Artistic Priorities |date=2011 |editor-last=Owens |editor-first=Samantha |editor-last2=Reul |editor-first2=Barbara M. |editor-last3=Stockigt |editor-first3=Janice B.}}</ref>

[[Königsberg]] philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]] tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom, and political authority. Kant's work contained basic tensions that would continue to shape German thought – and indeed all of European philosophy – well into the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuehn |first=Manfred |title=Kant: A Biography |date=2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Immanuel Kant "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" |url=http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/KantOnElightenment.htm |access-date=26 March 2019 |publisher=Internet Modern History Sourcebook |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217062357/http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/KantOnElightenment.htm }}</ref> The ideas of the Enlightenment and their implementation received general approval and recognition as principal cause for widespread cultural progress.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Society of the Enlightenment: The Rise of the Middle Class and Enlightenment Culture in Germany |date=1992 |editor-last=Van Dulmen |editor-first=Richard |editor-last2=Williams |editor-first2=Anthony}}</ref>

===French Revolution, 1789–1815===
[[File:Rheinbund 1812, political map.png|thumb|The [[Confederation of the Rhine]], a union of client states of the [[First French Empire]] (1806 to 1813)]]
[[File:Vienna Congress.jpg|thumb|The delegates of the [[Congress of Vienna]]]]

German reaction to the [[French Revolution]] was mixed at first. German intellectuals celebrated the outbreak, hoping to see the triumph of Reason and The Enlightenment. The royal courts in Vienna and Berlin denounced the overthrow of the king and the threatened spread of notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity. By 1793, the [[Execution of Louis XVI|execution of the French king]] and the onset of [[Reign of Terror|the Terror]] disillusioned the Bildungsbürgertum (educated middle classes). Reformers said the solution was to have faith in the ability of Germans to reform their laws and institutions in peaceful fashion.<ref>James J. Sheehan, ''German History, 1770–1866'' (1993) pp. 207–288</ref>

Europe was racked by two decades of war revolving around France's efforts to spread its revolutionary ideals, and the opposition of reactionary royalty. War broke out in 1792 as Austria and Prussia invaded France, but were defeated at the [[Battle of Valmy]] (1792). The German lands saw armies marching back and forth, bringing devastation (albeit on a far lower scale than the [[Thirty Years' War]], almost two centuries before), but also bringing new ideas of liberty and civil rights for the people. Prussia and Austria ended their failed wars with France but (with Russia) partitioned Poland among themselves in 1793 and 1795.

====French consulate suzerainty====
[[French Consulate|France]] took control of the [[Rhineland]], imposed French-style reforms, abolished feudalism, established constitutions, promoted freedom of religion, emancipated Jews, opened the bureaucracy to ordinary citizens of talent, and forced the nobility to share power with the rising middle class. Napoleon created the [[Kingdom of Westphalia]] as a model state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Connelly |first=Owen |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonssatelli0000conn |title=Napoleon's satellite kingdoms |publisher=New York, Free Press |date=1966 |chapter=6}}</ref> These reforms proved largely permanent and modernized the western parts of Germany. When the French tried to impose the French language, German opposition grew in intensity. A [[Second Coalition]] of Britain, Russia, and Austria then attacked France but failed. Napoleon established direct or indirect control over most of western Europe, including the German states apart from Prussia and Austria. The old Holy Roman Empire was little more than a farce; Napoleon simply abolished it in 1806 while forming new countries under his control. In Germany Napoleon set up the "[[Confederation of the Rhine]]", comprising most of the German states except Prussia and Austria.<ref name=raff/>

====Imperial French suzerainty====
Under [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Frederick William II]]'s weak rule (1786–1797) Prussia had undergone a serious economic, political and military decline. His successor king [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]] tried to remain neutral during the [[War of the Third Coalition]] and [[First French Empire|French emperor]] [[Napoleon]]'s dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and reorganisation of the German principalities. Induced by the queen and a pro-war party Frederick William joined the [[War of the Fourth Coalition|Fourth Coalition]] in October 1806. Napoleon easily defeated the Prussian army at the [[Battle of Jena]] and occupied Berlin. Prussia lost its recently acquired territories in western Germany, its army was reduced to 42,000 men, no trade with Britain was allowed and Berlin had to pay Paris high reparations and fund the French army of occupation. [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] changed sides to support Napoleon and joined the [[Confederation of the Rhine]]. Ruler [[Frederick Augustus I of Saxony|Frederick Augustus I]] was rewarded with the title of king and given a part of Poland taken from Prussia, which became known as the [[Duchy of Warsaw]].<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Neil M. |last=Heyman |date=1966 |title=France Against Prussia: The Jena Campaign of 1806 |journal=Military Affairs |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=186–198 |doi=10.2307/1985399 |jstor=1985399}}</ref>

After [[French invasion of Russia|Napoleon's military fiasco in Russia in 1812]], Prussia allied with Russia in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|Sixth Coalition]]. A series of battles followed and Austria joined the alliance. Napoleon was decisively defeated in the [[Battle of Leipzig]] in late 1813. The German states of the Confederation of the Rhine defected to the Coalition against Napoleon, who rejected any peace terms. Coalition forces invaded France in early 1814, [[Battle of Paris (1814)|Paris fell]] and in April Napoleon surrendered. Prussia as one of the winners at the [[Congress of Vienna]], gained extensive territory.{{Sfn|Sheehan|1989|pp=75, 207–291, 291–323, 324–371, 802–820}}

==1815–1871==

===Overview===
[[File:Deutscher Bund.svg|thumb|The [[German Confederation]] 1815–1866. Prussia (in blue) considerably expanded its territory.]]
[[File:NB 1866-1871.99.svg|thumb|The [[North German Confederation]], 1866–1871]]

In 1815, continental Europe was in a state of overall turbulence and exhaustion, as a consequence of the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]]. The liberal spirit of the [[The Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and Revolutionary era diverged toward [[Romanticism]].<ref>Nicholas Saul, ed. ''The Cambridge companion to German romanticism'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009) ch 1.</ref> The victorious members of the Coalition had negotiated a new peaceful balance of powers in Vienna and agreed to maintain a stable German heartland that keeps French imperialism at bay. However, the idea of reforming the defunct [[Holy Roman Empire]] was discarded. Napoleon's [[German mediatization|reorganization of the German states]] was continued and the remaining princes were allowed to keep their titles. In 1813, in return for guarantees from the Allies that the sovereignty and integrity of the Southern German states ([[Grand Duchy of Baden|Baden]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg|Württemberg]], and [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]) would be preserved, they broke with France.{{Sfn|Carr|1991|pp=1–2}}

===German Confederation===
{{Main|German Confederation|North German Confederation}}

During the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]] the 39 former states of the ''Confederation of the Rhine'' joined the [[German Confederation]], a loose agreement for mutual defense. Attempts at economic integration and customs coordination were frustrated by repressive anti-national policies. Great Britain approved of the union, convinced that a stable, peaceful entity in central Europe could discourage aggressive moves by France or Russia. Most historians, however, concluded, that the Confederation was weak and ineffective and an obstacle to German nationalism. The union was undermined by the creation of the [[Zollverein]] in 1834, the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|1848 revolutions]], the rivalry between Prussia and Austria and was finally dissolved in the wake of the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866,{{Sfn|Lee|1985|pp=332–346}} to be replaced by the [[North German Confederation]] during the same year.{{Sfn|Lee|1985|pp=332–346}}

===Society and economy===
Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control over the peasantry had been almost absolute. To help the nobility avoid indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in 1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849. When the German Empire was established in 1871, the Junker nobility controlled the army and the navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies.{{Sfn|Sagarra|1977|pages=37–55, 183–202}}

====Population====
[[File:Population of German territories 1800 - 2000.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Population of German territories 1800 – 2000]]
Between 1815 and 1865 the population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew around 60% from 21 million to 34 million.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=86}} Simultaneously the [[Demographic Transition]] took place as the high birth rates and high death rates of the pre-industrial country shifted to low birth and death rates of the fast-growing industrialized urban economic and agricultural system. Increased agricultural productivity secured a steady food supply, as famines and epidemics declined. This allowed people to marry earlier, and have more children. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality and after 1840, large-scale emigration to the United States. Emigration totaled at 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and at 780,000 in the 1860s. The upper and middle classes first practiced birth control, soon to be universally adopted.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|pp=87–92, 99}}

====Industrialization====
{{Main|Industrialization in Germany}}
[[File:Krupp-Werke in Essen 1864.jpeg|thumb|The [[Krupp|Krupp-Works]] in [[Essen]], 1864]]
[[File:Kemna Lokomotiven.jpg|thumb|Many companies, such as steam-machine producer [[Kemna Bau|J. Kemna]], modeled themselves on English industry.]]
In 1800, Germany's social structure was poorly suited to entrepreneurship or economic development. Domination by France during the French Revolution (1790s to 1815), however, produced important institutional reforms, that included the abolition of feudal restrictions on the sale of large landed estates, the reduction of the power of the guilds in the cities, and the introduction of a new, more efficient commercial law. The idea that these reforms were beneficial for Industrialization is a subject of debate among historians.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Michael |last1=Kopsidis |first2=Daniel W. |last2=Bromley |title=The French Revolution and German industrialization: The new institutional economics rewrites history |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/97701/1/787963348.pdf |access-date=13 April 2019 |publisher=Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies}}</ref>

In the early 19th century the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in Britain, France, and Belgium. The various small federal states in Germany developed only slowly and autonomously as competition was strong. Early investments for the railway network during the 1830s came almost exclusively from private hands. Without a central regulatory agency, construction projects were quickly realized. Actual industrialization only took off after 1850 in the wake of the railroad construction.<ref name="Mitchell2006"/> The textile industry grew rapidly, profiting from the elimination of tariff barriers by the Zollverein.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tilly |first=Richard |title=Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization: A Study in Comparative Economic History |pages=151–182 |date=1967 |editor-last=Cameron |editor-first=Rondo |chapter=Germany: 1815–1870 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=178|ps="On the whole, industrialisation in Germany must be considered to have been positive in its effects. Not only did it change society and the countryside, and finally the world...it created the modern world we live in. It solved the problems of population growth, under-employment and pauperism in a stagnating economy, and abolished dependency on the natural conditions of agriculture, and finally hunger. It created huge improvements in production and both short- and long-term improvements in living standards. However, in terms of social inequality, it can be assumed that it did not change the relative levels of income. Between 1815 and 1873 the statistical distribution of wealth was on the order of 77% to 23% for entrepreneurs and workers respectively. On the other hand, new problems arose, in the form of interrupted growth and new crises, such as urbanisation, "alienation", new underclasses, proletariat and proletarian misery, new injustices and new masters and, eventually, class warfare."}} During the second half of the 19th century German industry grew exponentially and by 1900, Germany was an industrial world leader along with Britain and the United States.{{Sfn|Stolper|2017|loc=ch 1}}

====Urbanization====
In 1800, the population was predominantly rural, as only 10% lived in communities of 5,000 or more people, and only 2% lived in cities of more than 100,000 people. After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 in 1800, to 826,000 inhabitants in 1870, Hamburg from 130,000 to 290,000, Munich from 40,000 to 269,000 and Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|pp=96–97}}

====Railways====
{{Main|History of rail transport in Germany}}
[[File:Friedrich List und die erste grosse Eisenbahn 2.jpg|thumb|[[Friedrich List]]'s concept for a German railway net from 1833]]
The initial stage of economic development came with the railroad revolution in the 1840s, which opened up new markets for local products, created a pool of middle managers, increased the demand for engineers, architects and skilled machinists and stimulated investments in coal and iron. Political disunity among three dozen states and a pervasive conservatism made it difficult to build railways in the 1830s. However, by the 1840s, trunk lines did link the major cities; each German state was responsible for the lines within its own borders. Economist [[Friedrich List]] summed up the advantages to be derived from the development of the railway system in 1841:
* 1. As a means of national defence, it facilitates the concentration, distribution and direction of the army.
* 2. It is a means for the improvement of the culture of the nation. It brings talent, knowledge and skill of every kind readily to market.
* 3. It secures the community against dearth and famine, and against excessive fluctuation in the prices of the necessities of life.
* 4. It promotes the spirit of the nation, as it has a tendency to destroy the Philistine spirit arising from isolation and provincial prejudice and vanity. It binds nations by ligaments, and promotes an interchange of food and of commodities, thus making it feel to be a unit. The iron rails become a nerve system, which, on the one hand, strengthen public opinion, and, on the other hand, strengthen the power of the state for police and governmental purposes.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=165}}

Lacking a technological base at first, engineering and hardware was imported from Britain. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centres of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. Observers found that even as late as 1890, their engineering was inferior to Britain. However, German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was the support of industrialisation. Eventually numerous lines criss-crossed the Ruhr area and other industrial centers and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, 9,400 locomotives pulled 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight a day.<ref name="Mitchell2006">{{Cite book |first=Allan |last=Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ6pkm-WgWMC |title=The Great Train Race: Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815–1914 |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-8454-5136-3}}</ref>

====Newspapers and magazines====
{{Main|History of German journalism|History of newspapers and magazines#Germany}}
While there existed no national newspaper the many states issued a great variety of printed media, although they rarely exceeded regional significance. In a typical town existed one or two outlets, urban centers, such as Berlin and Leipzig had dozens. The audience was limited to a few per cent of male adults, chiefly from the aristocratic and upper middle class. Liberal publishers outnumbered conservative ones by a wide margin. Foreign governments bribed editors to guarantee a favorable image.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamerow |first=Theodore S. |title=The Social Foundations of German Unification, 1858–1871: Ideas and Institutions |date=1969 |pages=284–291}}</ref> Censorship was strict, and the imperial government issued the political news that was supposed to be published. After 1871, strict press laws were enforced by Bismarck to contain the Socialists and hostile editors. Editors focused on political commentary, culture, the arts, high culture and the popular serialized novels. Magazines were politically more influential and attracted intellectual authors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Kenneth E. |title=The history makers: The press of Europe from its beginnings through 1965 |date=1966 |publisher=LSU Press |pages=99–134}}</ref>

====Science and culture during the 18th and 19th century====
19th-century artists and intellectuals were greatly inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution and the great poets and writers [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] and [[Friedrich Schiller]]. The [[Sturm und Drang]] [[Romanticism|romantic]] movement was embraced and emotion was given free expression in reaction to the perceived rationalism of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. Philosophical principles and methods were revolutionized by [[Immanuel Kant]]'s paradigm shift. [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] was the most influential composer of the period from [[Classical period (music)|classical]] to [[Romantic music]]. His use of tonal architecture in such a way as to allow significant expansion of musical forms and structures was immediately recognized as bringing a new dimension to music. His later piano music and string quartets, especially, showed the way to a completely unexplored musical universe, and influenced [[Franz Schubert]] and [[Robert Schumann]]. In opera, a new Romantic atmosphere combining supernatural terror and melodramatic plot in a folkloric context was first successfully achieved by [[Carl Maria von Weber]] and perfected by [[Richard Wagner]] in his [[Ring Cycle]]. The [[Brothers Grimm]] collected folk stories into the popular [[Grimm's Fairy Tales]] and are ranked among the founding fathers of [[German studies]] inasmuch as they initiated the work on the [[Deutsches Wörterbuch]] ("The German Dictionary"), the most comprehensive work on the German language.<ref>Elmer H. Antonsen, James W. Marchand, and Ladislav Zgusta, eds. ''The Grimm brothers and the Germanic past'' (John Benjamins Publishing, 1990).</ref>

University professors developed international reputations, especially in subjects from the humanities such as history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[Max Weber]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] in philosophy, [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] in theology and [[Leopold von Ranke]] in history, German scholars became famous. The [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]], founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by [[Alexander von Humboldt]] in natural science and [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.{{Sfn|Sheehan|1989|pp=75, 207–291, 291–323, 324–371, 802–820}}

{{Gallery
|title= 18th- and 19th-century German artists, scientists and philosophers
|align=center
|width=120
|File:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|[[Immanuel Kant]]
|File:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.PNG|[[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]
|File:Goethe (Stieler 1828).jpg|[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]
|File:Friedrich Schiller by Ludovike Simanowiz.jpg|[[Friedrich Schiller]]
|File:AvHumboldt.jpg|[[Alexander von Humboldt]]
|File:Joseph Karl Stieler's Beethoven mit dem Manuskript der Missa solemnis.jpg|[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]
|File:Hegel portrait by Schlesinger 1831.jpg|[[Friedrich Hegel]]
|File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg|[[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]
|File:Grimm.jpg|[[Brothers Grimm]]
|File:Joseph v Fraunhofer.jpg|[[Joseph von Fraunhofer]], physicist and optical lens manufacturer
|File:Ernst_Werner_von_Siemens.jpg|[[Werner von Siemens]]
|File:Karl Marx_001.jpg|[[Karl Marx]]
}}

====Religion====
{{Main|Prussian Union of churches}}
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm III., König von Preußen (unbekannter Maler).jpg|upright|right|thumb|King Frederick William III ruled Prussia 1797 to 1840.]]
Two main developments reshaped religion in Germany. Across the land, there was a movement to unite the larger Lutheran and the smaller Reformed Protestant churches. The churches themselves brought this about in Baden, Nassau, and Bavaria. However, in Prussia King [[Frederick William III]] was determined to handle unification entirely on his own terms, without consultation. His goal was to unify the Protestant churches, and to impose a single standardized liturgy, organization, and even architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches. In a series of proclamations over several decades the [[Prussian Union of churches|''Church of the Prussian Union'']] was formed, bringing together the more numerous Lutherans, and the less numerous Reformed Protestants. The government of Prussia now had full control over church affairs, with the king himself recognized as the leading bishop. Opposition to unification came from the "Old Lutherans" in Silesia who clung tightly to the theological and liturgical forms they had followed since the days of Luther. The government attempted to crack down on them, so they went underground. Tens of thousands migrated, [[German Australian|to South Australia]], and especially to the United States, where they formed the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod|Missouri Synod]], which is still in operation as a conservative denomination. Finally in 1845 a new king [[Frederick William IV]] offered a general amnesty and allowed the Old Lutherans to form a separate church association with only nominal government control.{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=412–419}}<ref>Christopher Clark, "Confessional policy and the limits of state action: Frederick William III and the Prussian Church Union 1817–40". ''Historical Journal'' 39.04 (1996) pp. 985–1004. {{JSTOR|2639865}}</ref>{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=485–491}}

From the religious point of view of the typical Catholic or Protestant, major changes were underway in terms of a much more personalized religiosity that focused on the individual more than the church or the ceremony. The rationalism of the late 19th century faded away, and there was a new emphasis on the psychology and feeling of the individual, especially in terms of contemplating sinfulness, redemption, and the mysteries and the revelations of Christianity. [[Pietism|Pietistic revivals]] were common among Protestants. Among, Catholics there was a sharp increase in popular pilgrimages. In 1844 alone, half a million pilgrims made a pilgrimage to the city of Trier in the Rhineland to view the [[Seamless robe of Jesus]], said to be the robe that Jesus wore on the way to his crucifixion. Catholic bishops in Germany had historically been largely independent of Rome, but now the Vatican exerted increasing control, a new "[[ultramontanism]]" of Catholics highly loyal to Rome.{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=419–421}} A heated controversy erupted in 1837–1838 in the largely Catholic Rhineland over the religious education of children of mixed marriages, where the mother was Catholic and the father Protestant. The government passed laws to require that these children always be raised as Protestants, contrary to Napoleonic law that had previously prevailed and allowed the parents to make the decision. The government put the Catholic Archbishop under house arrest. In 1840, the new King Frederick William IV sought reconciliation and defused the controversy by agreeing to most of the Catholic demands. However Catholic memories remained deep and led to a sense that Catholics always needed to stick together in the face of a hostile government.{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=498–509}}

===Politics of restoration and revolution===
{{Main|German Confederation}}

====After Napoleon====
[[File:Hambacher Fest 1832.jpg|thumb|At the [[Hambach Festival]] at [[Hambach Castle]] in 1832, intellectuals with various political backgrounds were among the first to use the future [[Flag of Germany]] and called for a [[German question|unified German nation]].]]
[[File:Nationalversammlung in der Paulskirche.jpg|thumb|[[Frankfurt Parliament]], [[Paulskirche]], [[Frankfurt]] 1848]]
[[File:Maerz1848 berlin.jpg|thumb|Cheering the Revolutions of 1848 in [[Berlin]], [[Berlin Palace]] in the background. Liberal and nationalist pressure led to the unsuccessful [[The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|Revolution of 1848 in the German states]].]]
[[File:BismarckRoonMoltke.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Bismarck]], [[Albrecht Graf von Roon]] and [[Helmut von Moltke]], the senior political and military strategists of Prussia during the 1860s]]

After the fall of Napoleon, Europe's statesmen convened in Vienna in 1815 for the reorganisation of European affairs, under the leadership of the [[Klemens Wenzel von Metternich|Austrian Prince Metternich]]. The political principles agreed upon at this [[Congress of Vienna]] included the restoration, legitimacy and solidarity of rulers for the repression of revolutionary and nationalist ideas.

The [[German Confederation]] ({{Langx|de|Deutscher Bund}}) was founded, a loose union of 39 states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under Austrian leadership, with a Federal Diet ({{Langx|de|[[Bundesversammlung (German Confederation)|Bundestag]]}}) meeting in [[Frankfurt am Main]]. It was a loose coalition that failed to satisfy most nationalists. The member states largely went their own way, and Austria had its own interests.

In 1819, a student radical assassinated the reactionary playwright [[August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue|August von Kotzebue]], who had scoffed at liberal student organisations. In one of the few major actions of the German Confederation, Prince Metternich called a conference that issued the repressive [[Carlsbad Decrees]], designed to suppress liberal agitation against the conservative governments of the German states.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=A.J.P. |url=https://archive.org/details/coursegermanhist1815tayl |title=The Course of German History |date=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/coursegermanhist1815tayl/page/n74 52] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The Decrees terminated the fast-fading nationalist fraternities ({{Langx|de|[[Burschenschaft]]en}}), removed liberal university professors, and expanded the censorship of the press. The decrees began the "persecution of the demagogues", which was directed against individuals who were accused of spreading revolutionary and nationalist ideas. Among the persecuted were the poet [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]], the publisher Johann Joseph Görres and the "Father of Gymnastics" Ludwig Jahn.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamson |first=George S. |date=Dec 2000 |title=What Killed August von Kotzebue? The Temptations of Virtue and the Political Theology of German Nationalism, 1789–1819 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-modern-history_2000-12_72_4/page/890 |journal=Journal of Modern History |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=890–943 |doi=10.1086/318549 |jstor=10.1086/318549 |s2cid=144652797}}</ref>

In 1834, the [[Zollverein]] was established, a customs union between Prussia and most other German states, but excluding Austria. As industrialisation developed, the need for a unified German state with a uniform currency, legal system, and government became more and more obvious.

====1848====
{{Main|Revolutions of 1848 in the German states}}
Growing discontent with the political and social order imposed by the Congress of Vienna led to the outbreak, in 1848, of the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|March Revolution]] in the German states. In May the German National Assembly (the [[Frankfurt Parliament]]) met in Frankfurt to draw up a national German constitution.

But the 1848 revolution turned out to be unsuccessful: [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|King Frederick William IV of Prussia]] refused the imperial crown, the Frankfurt parliament was dissolved, the ruling princes repressed the risings by military force, and the German Confederation was re-established by 1850. Many leaders went into exile, including a number who went to the United States and became a political force there.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wittke |first=C. F. |url=https://archive.org/details/refugeesofrevolu0000unse |title=Refugees of Revolution: The German Forty-Eighters in America |date=1952 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

====1850s====
The 1850s were a period of extreme political reaction. Dissent was vigorously suppressed, and many Germans emigrated to America following the collapse of the 1848 uprisings. Frederick William IV became extremely depressed and melancholic during this period, and was surrounded by men who advocated [[clericalism]] and [[Divine right of kings|absolute divine monarchy]]. The Prussian people once again lost interest in politics. Prussia not only expanded its territory but began to industrialize rapidly, while maintaining a strong agricultural base.

====Bismarck takes charge (1862–1866)====
In 1857, the Prussian king [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]] suffered a stroke and his brother [[William I, German Emperor|William]] served as regent until 1861 when he became King William I. Although conservative, William was very pragmatic. His most significant accomplishment was the naming of [[Otto von Bismarck]] as Prussian minister president in 1862. The cooperation of Bismarck, Defense Minister [[Albrecht von Roon]], and Field Marshal [[Helmut von Moltke]] set the stage for the military victories over Denmark, Austria, and France that led to the unification of Germany.{{Sfn|Holborn|1969|pp=131–167}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feuchtwanger |first=Edgar |title=Bismarck: A Political History |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4157-2477-7 |edition=2nd |pages=83–98 |oclc=863633117 |ol=26785882M |author-link=Edgar Feuchtwanger}}</ref>

In 1863–1864, disputes between Prussia and Denmark over [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]], which was not part of the German Confederation, and which Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate into the Danish kingdom escalated. The conflict led to the [[Second War of Schleswig]] in 1864. Prussia, joined by Austria, easily defeated Denmark and occupied [[Jutland]]. The Danes were forced to cede both the Duchy of Schleswig and the [[Duchy of Holstein]] to Austria and Prussia. The subsequent management of the two duchies led to tensions between Austria and Prussia. Austria wanted the duchies to become an independent entity within the German Confederation, while Prussia intended to annex Austria. The disagreement served as a pretext for the [[Seven Weeks War]] between Austria and Prussia that broke out in June 1866. In July, the two armies clashed at Sadowa-Königgrätz (Bohemia) in an [[Battle of Königgrätz|enormous battle]] involving half a million men. Prussian superior logistics and the then-modern breech-loading [[needle gun|needle guns']] superiority over the slow [[muzzle-loading rifle]]s of the Austrians proved to be essential for Prussia's victory. The battle had also decided the [[Austria–Prussia rivalry|struggle for hegemony]] in Germany and Bismarck was deliberately lenient with a defeated Austria that would play only a subpordinate role in future German affairs.{{Sfn|Holborn|1969|pp=167–188}}{{Sfn|Feuchtwanger|2014| pp=99–147}}

====North German Confederation, 1866–1871====
{{Main|North German Confederation}}

After the [[Seven Weeks War]], the German Confederation was dissolved and the [[North German Federation]] (German ''Norddeutscher Bund'') was established under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded and its immense influence over Germany finally came to an end. The North German Federation was a transitional organisation that existed from 1867 to 1871, between the dissolution of the German Confederation and the founding of the German Empire.<ref>Gordon A. Craig, ''Germany, 1866–1945'' (1978) pp. 11–22.</ref>

==German Empire, 1871–1918==
{{Main|German Empire}}

===Overview===
[[File:Flag of the German Empire.svg|thumb|Flag of the [[North German Confederation]] (1866–1871) and the [[German Empire]] (1871–1918)]]
[[File:Deutsches Reich1.svg|thumb|Imperial Germany 1871–1918]]

Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] determined the political course of the German Empire until 1890. He fostered alliances in Europe to contain France on the one hand and aspired to consolidate Germany's influence in Europe on the other. His principal domestic policies focused on the suppression of socialism and the reduction of the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church on its adherents. He issued both the [[Anti-Socialist Laws]] and a set of social laws, including universal health care, pension plans and other social security programs, that were intended to win socialists over to the government's side. His [[Kulturkampf]] policies were vehemently resisted by Catholics, who organized political opposition in the Center Party (Zentrum). German industrial and economic power had grown to match Britain by 1900.

In 1888, the young and ambitious Kaiser [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Wilhelm II]] became emperor. He rejected advice from experienced politicians and ordered Bismarck's resignation in 1890. He opposed Bismarck's carefully considered foreign policy and was determined to pursue colonialist policies, as Britain and France had been doing for centuries. The Kaiser promoted the active colonization of Africa and Asia for the lands that were not already colonies of other European powers. The Kaiser took a mostly unilateral approach in Europe only allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and embarked on a dangerous naval arms race with Britain. His aggressive and ill-considered policies greatly contributed to the situation in which the assassination of the Austrian-Hungarian crown prince would spark [[World War I]].

===Bismarck era===
Bismarck was the dominant personality not just in Germany but in all of Europe and indeed the entire diplomatic world 1870–1890. Historians continue to debate his goals. [[Lothar Gall]] and [[Ernst Engelberg]] consider Bismarck was a future-oriented modernizer. In sharp contrast, [[Jonathan Steinberg (historian)|Jonathan Steinberg]] decided he was basically a traditional Prussian whose highest priorities were to reinforce the monarchy, the Army, and the social and economic dominance of his own Junker class, thereby being responsible for a tragic history after his removal in 1890.<ref>Jonathan Sperber, "Review," ''Journal of Modern History'' 85#3 (2012), pp. 768–769.</ref>

====The new empire====
[[File:Wernerprokla.jpg|thumb|On 18 January 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] of the [[Palace of Versailles]]. Bismarck in the center in white.]]
In 1868, the Spanish queen [[Isabella II]] was deposed in the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution]], leaving the country's throne vacant. When Prussia suggested the Hohenzollern candidate, [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen|Prince Leopold]] as successor, France vehemently objected. The matter evolved into a [[Ems Dispatch|diplomatic scandal]] and in July 1870, France resolved to end it in a [[Franco-Prussian War|full-scale war]]. The conflict was quickly decided as Prussia, joined by forces of a pan-German alliance never gave up the tactical initiative. A series of victories in north-eastern France followed and another French army group was simultaneously encircled at Metz. A few weeks later, the French army contingent under Emperor [[Napoleon III]]'s personal command was finally forced to capitulate in the [[Battle of Sedan|fortress of Sedan]].<ref name="Rüstow1872">{{Cite book |first=Wilhelm |last=Rüstow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cBVAAAAYAAJ |title=The War for the Rhine Frontier, 1870: Its Political and Military History |publisher=Blackwood |date=1872}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=James D. |last=McCabe |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.acj5737.0001.001;view=1up;seq=11 |title=History of the war between Germany and France |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |date=1871 |access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref> Napoleon was taken prisoner and a [[Government of National Defence|provisional government]] hastily proclaimed in Paris. The new government resolved to fight on and tried to reorganize the remaining armies while the Germans settled down to besiege Paris. The starving city surrendered in January 1871 and Jules Favre signed the surrender at Versailles. France was forced to pay indemnities of 5&nbsp;billion francs and cede [[Alsace-Lorraine]] to Germany. This conclusion left the French national psyche deeply humiliated and further aggravated the [[French–German enmity]].

During the [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|Siege of Paris]], the German princes assembled in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] of the [[Palace of Versailles]] on 18 January 1871 and announced the establishment of the [[German Empire]] and proclaimed the Prussian King [[Wilhelm I of Germany|Wilhelm I]] as [[German Emperor]]. The act [[Unification of Germany|unified all ethnic German states]] with the exception of Austria in the [[Lesser Germany|Little German solution]] of a federal economic, political and administrative unit. Bismarck was appointed to serve as Chancellor.
[[File:AHW Bau Voelkerschlachtdenkmal Leipzig 1912.jpg|thumb|upright|The {{Convert|91 |m|ft|abbr=on}} high [[Monument to the Battle of the Nations]] under construction, [[Leipzig]], 1912]]

====A federal empire====
[[File:Berlin Nationaldenkmal Kaiser Wilhelm mit Schloss 1900.jpg|thumb|right|[[Berlin Palace]], the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern]]
The new empire was a [[Federation|federal]] union of 25 states that varied considerably in size, demography, constitution, economy, culture, religion and socio-political development. However, even Prussia itself, which accounted for two-thirds of the territory as well as of the population, had emerged from the empire's periphery as a newcomer. It also faced colossal cultural and economic internal divisions. The Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the Rhineland for example had been under French control [[Confederation of the Rhine|during the previous decades]]. The local people, who had benefited from the liberal, civil reforms, that were derived from the ideas of the French Revolution, had only little in common with predominantly rural communities in authoritarian and disjointed [[Junker]] estates of [[Pommerania]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Stephen |last=Tonge |date=11 November 2013 |title=Bismarck's Domestic Polices 1871 -1890 |url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/bisdom.htm |access-date=22 March 2019 |publisher=History Home}}</ref>
The inhabitants of the smaller territorial lands, especially in central and southern Germany greatly rejected the Prussianized concept of the nation and preferred to associate such terms with their individual home state. The Hanseatic port cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck ranked among the most ferocious opponents of the ''so-called contract with Prussia''. As advocates of free trade, they objected to Prussian ideas of economic integration and refused to sign the renewed [[Zollverein]] (Custom Union) treaties until 1888.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keller |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Shiue |first2=Carol H. |title=Endogenous Formation of Free Trade Agreements: Evidence from the Zollverein's Impact on Market Integration |journal=The Journal of Economic History |date=December 2014 |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=1168–1204 |doi=10.1017/S0022050714000898 |s2cid=154596279 }}</ref> The [[Hanseatic (class)|Hanseatic]] merchants' overseas economic success corresponded with their globalist mindset. The citizens of Hamburg, whom Bismark characterized as ''extremely irritating'' and the German ambassador in London as ''the worst Germans we have'', were particularly appalled by Prussian militarism and its unopposed growing influence.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Guenther |first1=Jack Harrold |title='Gateway to the World': Hamburg and the Global German Empire, 1881-1914 |date=2018 |doi=10.14418/wes01.1.1723 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2022}}

The Prusso-German authorities were aware of necessary integration concepts as the results and the 52% [[voter turnout]] of the [[1871 German federal election|first imperial elections]] had clearly demonstrated. Historians increasingly argue, that the nation-state was ''forged through empire''.<ref name=build/> National identity was expressed in bombastic imperial [[Emperor William monuments|stone iconography]] and was to be achieved as an imperial people, with ''an emperor as head of state and it was to develop imperial ambitions'' – domestic, European and global.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Patrick |last=Wright |date=9 September 2006 |title=A fistful of Fredericks – He considers the "invention of tradition" in Prussia, and the importance of memorials and ceremonies of remembrance in shaping patriotic identity. |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/09/featuresreviews.guardianreview10 |access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="build">{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9789633860175-007 |chapter=Building the Nation Among Visions of German Empire |title=Nationalizing Empires |date=2015 |last1=Berger |first1=Stefan |pages=247–308 |isbn=978-963-386-017-5 }}</ref>

Bismarck's domestic policies as Chancellor of Germany were based on his effort to universally adopt the idea of the Protestant Prussian state and achieve the clear separation of church and state in all imperial principalities. In the [[Kulturkampf]] (lit.: culture struggle) from 1871 to 1878, he tried to minimize the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its political arm, the [[Catholic Centre Party]], via secularization of all education and introduction of civil marriage, but without success. The Kulturkampf antagonised many Protestants as well as Catholics and was eventually abandoned. The millions of non-German imperial subjects, like the Polish, Danish and French minorities, were left with no choice but to endure discrimination or accept<ref>{{Cite web |title=A German Voice of Opposition to Germanization (1914) |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=772 |access-date=18 May 2019 |website=German History in Documents and Images |publisher=German Historical Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Germanization Policy: Speech by Ludwik Jazdzewski in a Session of the Prussian House of Representatives (January 15, 1901) |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=771 |access-date=18 May 2019 |website=German History in Documents and Images |publisher=German Historical Institute}}</ref> the policies of [[Germanisation]].

==== A three-class system: Aristocracy, middle class, and working class ====

The new Empire provided attractive top level career opportunities for the national nobility in the various branches of the consular and civil services and the army. As a consequence the aristocratic near total control of the civil sector guaranteed a dominant voice in the decision making in the universities and the churches. The 1914 German diplomatic corps consisted of 8 princes, 29 counts, 20 barons, 54 representants of the lower nobility and a mere 11 commoners. These commoners were indiscriminately recruited from elite industrialist and banking families. The consular corps employed numerous commoners, that however, occupied positions of little to no executive power.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=J. C. G. |last=Röhl |date=1967 |title=Higher Civil Servants in Germany, 1890–1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-contemporary-history_1967-07_2_3/page/101 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd. |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=101–121 |doi=10.1177/002200946700200306 |jstor=259809 |s2cid=160827181}}</ref> The Prussian tradition to reserve the highest military ranks for young aristocrats was adopted and the new [[Constitution of the German Empire|constitution]] put all military affairs under the direct control of the Emperor and beyond control of the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]].{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=158, 603–623}} With its large corps of reserve officers across Germany, the military strengthened its role as ''"The estate which upheld the nation"'', and historian [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] added: ''"it became an almost separate, self-perpetuating caste".''<ref>{{Cite web |first=Hans-Ulrich |last=Wehler |title=Hans Ulrich Wehler-The German Empire 1871-1918-Berg (1985) |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/371706306/Hans-Ulrich-Wehler-The-German-Empire-1871-1918-Berg-1985 |access-date=31 March 2019 |via=Scribd |page=157}}</ref>

Power increasingly was centralized among the 7000 aristocrats, who resided in the national capital of [[Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region|Berlin and neighboring Potsdam]]. Berlin's rapidly increasing rich middle-class copied the aristocracy and tried to marry into it. A peerage could permanently boost a rich industrial family into the upper reaches of the establishment.{{Sfn|Richie|1998|p=207}} However, the process tended to work in the other direction as the nobility became industrialists. For example, 221 of the 243 mines in Silesia were owned by nobles or by the King of Prussia himself.{{Sfn|Blackbourn|1998|p=32}}

The [[middle class]] in the cities grew exponentially, although it never acquired the powerful parliamentary representation and legislative rights as in France, Britain or the United States. The [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|Association of German Women's Organizations]] or BDF was established in 1894 to encompass the proliferating women's organizations that had emerged since the 1860s. From the beginning the BDF was a [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] organization, its members working toward equality with men in such areas as education, financial opportunities, and political life. Working-class women were not welcome and were organized by the Socialists.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Mazón |first=Patricia M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SKPLZtwulQC&pg=PA53 |title=Gender and the Modern Research University: The Admission of Women to German Higher Education, 1865–1914 |publisher=Stanford U.P. |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-8047-4641-0 |page=53}}</ref>

The rise of the Socialist Workers' Party (later known as the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]], SPD), aimed to peacefully establish a socialist order through the transformation of the existing political and social conditions. From 1878, Bismarck tried to oppose the growing social democratic movement by [[Anti-Socialist Laws|outlawing the party's organisation]], its assemblies and most of its newspapers. Nonetheless, the Social Democrats grew stronger and Bismarck initiated his [[State Socialism (Germany)|social welfare program]] in 1883 in order to appease the working class.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moses |first=John Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yy6oSv2N_iIC&pg=PA149 |title=Trade Unionism in Germany from Bismarck to Hitler, 1869–1933 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-8604-3450-4 |page=149}}</ref>

Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care, and unemployment insurance that formed the basis of the modern [[European welfare state]]. His paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hennock |first=E. P. |title=The Origin of the Welfare State in England and Germany, 1850–1914: Social Policies Compared |date=2007}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Beck |first=Hermann |title=Origins of the Authoritarian Welfare State in Prussia, 1815–1870 |date=1995}}</ref> Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade.<ref>{{Citation |last=Spencer |first=Elaine Glovka |title=Rules of the Ruhr: Leadership and Authority in German Big Business Before 1914 |date=Spring 1979 |journal=Business History Review |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=40–64 |publisher=[President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge University Press] |doi=10.2307/3114686 |jstor=3114686 |s2cid=154458964}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Lambi |first=Ivo N. |title=The Protectionist Interests of the German Iron and Steel Industry, 1873–1879 |date=March 1962 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=59–70 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0022050700102347 |jstor=2114256|s2cid=154067344 }}</ref>

====Kulturkampf====
{{Main|Kulturkampf}}
[[File:Kladderadatsch 1875 - Zwischen Berlin und Rom.png|thumb|''Between Berlin and Rome'', Bismarck (left) confronts Pope Pius IX, 1875.]]

Bismarck would not tolerate any power outside Germany—as in Rome—having a say in domestic affairs. He launched the [[Kulturkampf]] ("culture war") against the power of the pope and the Catholic Church in 1873, but only in the state of Prussia. This gained strong support from German liberals, who saw the Catholic Church as the bastion of reaction and their greatest enemy. The Catholic element, in turn, saw in the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National-Liberals]] the worst enemy and formed the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Center Party]].<ref>Douglas W. Hatfield, "Kulturkampf: The Relationship of Church and State and the Failure of German Political Reform", ''Journal of Church and State'' (1981) 23#3 pp. 465–484 {{JSTOR|23916757}}</ref>

Catholics, although nearly a third of the national population, were seldom allowed to hold major positions in the Imperial government, or the Prussian government. After 1871, there was a systematic purge of the remaining Catholics; in the powerful interior ministry, which handled all police affairs, the only Catholic was a messenger boy. Jews were likewise heavily discriminated against.<ref>John C.G. Roehl, "Higher civil servants in Germany, 1890–1900" in James J. Sheehan, ed., ''Imperial Germany'' (1976) pp. 128–151</ref><ref>Margaret Lavinia Anderson, and Kenneth Barkin. "The myth of the Puttkamer purge and the reality of the Kulturkampf: Some reflections on the historiography of Imperial Germany". ''Journal of Modern History'' (1982): 647–686. esp. pp. 657–662 {{JSTOR|1906016}}</ref>

Most of the Kulturkampf was fought out in Prussia, but Imperial Germany passed the [[Pulpit Law]] which made it a crime for any cleric to discuss public issues in a way that displeased the government. Nearly all Catholic bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws and defiantly faced the increasingly heavy penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. Historian Anthony Steinhoff reports the casualty totals:

<blockquote>As of 1878, only three of eight Prussian dioceses still had bishops, some 1,125 of 4,600 parishes were vacant, and nearly 1,800 priests ended up in jail or in exile&nbsp;... Finally, between 1872 and 1878, numerous Catholic newspapers were confiscated, Catholic associations and assemblies were dissolved, and Catholic civil servants were dismissed merely on the pretence of having Ultramontane sympathies.<ref>Anthony J. Steinhoff, "Christianity and the creation of Germany", in Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, eds., ''Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8: 1814–1914'' (2008) p. 295</ref></blockquote>

Bismarck underestimated the resolve of the Catholic Church and did not foresee the extremes that this struggle would attain.<ref>John K. Zeender in ''The Catholic Historical Review'', Vol. 43, No. 3 (Oct. 1957), pp. 328–330.</ref><ref>Rebecca Ayako Bennette, ''Fighting for the Soul of Germany: The Catholic Struggle for Inclusion after Unification'' (Harvard U.P. 2012)</ref> The Catholic Church denounced the harsh new laws as anti-Catholic and mustered the support of its rank and file voters across Germany. In the following elections, the Center Party won a quarter of the seats in the Imperial Diet.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blackbourn |first=David |date=Dec 1975 |title=The Political Alignment of the Centre Party in Wilhelmine Germany: A Study of the Party's Emergence in Nineteenth-Century Württemberg |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3629315/blackbourn_polalignment.pdf?sequence=1 |journal=Historical Journal |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=821–850 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00008906 |jstor=2638516 |s2cid=39447688}}</ref> The conflict ended after 1879 because Pope Pius IX died in 1878 and Bismarck broke with the Liberals to put his main emphasis on tariffs, foreign policy, and [[Anti-Socialist Laws|attacking socialists]]. Bismarck negotiated with the conciliatory new pope [[Pope Leo XIII|Leo XIII]].{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=568–576}} Peace was restored, the bishops returned and the jailed clerics were released. Laws were toned down or taken back, but the laws concerning education, civil registry of marriages and religious disaffiliation remained in place. The Center Party gained strength and became an ally of Bismarck, especially when he attacked socialism.<ref>Ronald J. Ross, ''The failure of Bismarck's Kulturkampf: Catholicism and state power in imperial Germany, 1871–1887'' (1998).</ref>

Historians have cited the campaign against the Catholic church, as well as a similar campaign against the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]], as leaving a lasting influence on the German consciousness, whereby national unity can be encouraged by excluding or persecuting a minority. This strategy, later referred to as "negative integration", set a tone of either being loyal to the government or an enemy of the state, which directly influenced German nationalist sentiment and the later Nazi movement.<ref name="Childers negative integration">{{Cite episode |title=The First World War and Its Legacy |url=https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition |access-date=27 March 2023 |series=A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition |last=Childers |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Childers |date=2001 |number=2 |time=06:37-11:02 |language=English |publisher=[[The Great Courses]]}}</ref>

====Foreign policies and relations====
[[Image:Triple Alliance.png|thumb|The [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] of Germany, Austria and Italy in 1913]]
Chancellor Bismarck's imperial foreign policy basically aimed at security and the prevention of a Franco-Russian alliance, in order to avoid a likely [[Two-front war]]. The [[League of Three Emperors]] was signed in 1873 by Russia, Austria, and Germany. It stated that [[republicanism]] and [[socialism]] were common enemies and that the three powers would discuss any matters concerning foreign policy. Bismarck needed good relations with Russia in order to keep France isolated. Russia fought a victorious [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|war against the Ottoman Empire]] from 1877 to 1878 and attempted to [[Treaty of San Stefano|establish]] the [[Principality of Bulgaria]], that was strongly opposed by France and Britain in particular, as they were long concerned with the preservation of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and Russian containment at the [[Bosphorus Strait]] and the Black Sea. Germany hosted the [[Congress of Berlin]] in 1878, where a more moderate peace settlement was agreed upon.

In 1879, Germany formed the [[Dual Alliance (1879)|Dual Alliance]] with Austria-Hungary, an agreement of mutual military assistance in the case of an attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement of the Congress of Berlin. The establishment of the Dual Alliance led Russia to take a more conciliatory stance and in 1887, the so-called [[Reinsurance Treaty]] was signed between Germany and Russia. In it, the two powers agreed on mutual military support in the case that France attacked Germany or an Austrian attack on Russia. Russia turned its attention eastward to Asia and remained largely inactive in European politics for the next 25 years. In 1882, Italy, seeking supporters for its interests in [[North Africa]] against France's colonial policy, joined the Dual Alliance, which became the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]]. In return for German and Austrian support, Italy committed itself to assisting Germany in the case of a French attack.<ref>{{Citation |last=Weitsman |first=Patricia A. |title=Dangerous alliances: proponents of peace, weapons of war |page=79 |date=2004}}</ref>

Bismarck had always argued that the acquisition of overseas colonies was impractical and the burden of administration and maintenance would outweigh the benefits. Eventually, Bismarck gave way, and a number of colonies were established in Africa ([[Togo]], the [[Kamerun|Cameroons]], [[German South-West Africa]], and [[German East Africa]]) and in [[Oceania]] ([[German New Guinea]], the [[Bismarck Archipelago]], and the [[Marshall Islands]]). Consequently, Bismarck initiated the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1885, a formal meeting of the European colonial powers, who sought to "established international guidelines for the acquisition of African territory" (see [[Colonisation of Africa]]). Its outcome, the ''General Act of the Berlin Conference'', can be seen as the formalisation of the "Scramble for Africa" and "[[New Imperialism]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belgum |first=Kirsten |title=Popularizing the Nation: Audience, Representation, and the Production of Identity in "Die Gartenlaube", 1853–1900 |date=1998 |page=149}}</ref>

===Wilhelminian Era (1888–1918)===

====Wilhelm II====
[[File:1890 Bismarcks Ruecktritt.jpg|thumb|upright|"[[Dropping the Pilot]]" – British editorial cartoon depicting Bismarck's dismissal by Wilhelm II in 1890]]
Emperor William I died in 1888. His son [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Frederick III]], open for a more liberal political course, reigned only for ninety-nine days, as he was stricken with throat cancer and died three months after his coronation. His son [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] followed him on the throne at the age of 29. Wilhelm rejected the liberal ideas of his parents and embarked on a conservative autocratic rule. He early on decided to replace the political elite and in March 1890 he forced chancellor Bismarck into retirement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neugebauer |first=Wolfgang |title=Die Hohenzollern. Band 2 – Dynastie im säkularen Wandel |date=2003 |publisher=[[Kohlhammer Verlag]] |isbn=978-3-1701-2097-6 |location=Stuttgart |pages=174–175 |language=de}}</ref> Following his principle of "Personal Regiment", Wilhelm was determined to exercise maximum influence on all government affairs.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kroll |first=Franz-Lothar |title=Preussens Herrscher. Von den ersten Hohenzollern bis Wilhelm II. |page=290 |date=2000 |editor-last=Kroll |editor-first=Franz-Lothar |contribution=Wilhelm II. (1888–1918) |place=Munich |publisher=C. H. Beck |language=de}}</ref><ref>Christopher Clark, ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' (2000) pp. 35–47</ref><ref>John C. G. ''Wilhelm II: the Kaiser's personal monarchy, 1888–1900'' (2004).</ref>

====Alliances and diplomacy====
{{Main|Triple Alliance (1882)}}

The young [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm]] set out to apply his imperialist ideas of ''Weltpolitik'' ({{IPA|de|ˈvɛltpoliˌtiːk|lang}}, "world politics"), as he envisaged a gratuitously aggressive political course to increase the empire's influence in and control over the world. After the removal of Bismarck, foreign policies were tackled with by the Kaiser and the Federal Foreign Office under [[Friedrich von Holstein]]. Wilhelm's increasingly erratic and reckless conduct was unmistakably related to character deficits and the lack of diplomatic skills.<ref>On the Kaiser's "histrionic personality disorder", see Tipton (2003), pp. 243–245</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Röhl |first=J. C. G. |date=Sep 1966 |title=Friedrich von Holstein |journal=Historical Journal |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=379–388 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00026716 |s2cid=163767674}}</ref> The foreign office's rather sketchy assessment of the current situation and its recommendations for the empire's most suitable course of action were:
<blockquote>First a long-term coalition between France and Russia had to fall apart, secondly, Russia and Britain would never get together, and finally, Britain would eventually seek an alliance with Russia.</blockquote>
Subsequently, Wilhelm refused to renew the [[Reinsurance Treaty]] with Russia. Russia promptly formed a closer relationship with France in the [[Franco-Russian Alliance|Dual Alliance of 1894]], as both countries were concerned about the novel disagreeability of Germany. Furthermore, Anglo–German relations provided, from a British point of view, no basis for any consensus as the Kaiser refused to divert from his, although somewhat peculiarly desperate and anachronistic, aggressive imperial engagement and the [[Anglo-German naval arms race|naval arms race]] in particular. Holstein's analysis proved to be mistaken on every point and Wilhelm failed too, as he did not adopt a nuanced political dialogue. Germany was left gradually isolated and dependent on the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]], with Austria-Hungary and Italy. This agreement was hampered by differences between Austria and Italy and in 1915 Italy left the alliance.<ref name="raff">{{Citation |last=Raff |first=Diethher |title=History of Germany from the Medieval Empire to the Present |pages=34–55, 202–206 |date=1988}}</ref>

In 1897, Admiral [[Alfred von Tirpitz]], state secretary of the [[German Imperial Naval Office]] devised his initially rather practical, yet nonetheless [[Tirpitz Plan|ambitious plan]] to build a sizeable naval force. Although basically posing only an indirect threat as a [[Fleet in being]], Tirpitz theorized, that its mere existence would force Great Britain, dependent on unrestricted movement on the seas, to agree to diplomatic compromises.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woodward |first=David |date=July 1963 |title=Admiral Tirpitz, Secretary of State for the Navy, 1897–1916 |journal=History Today |volume=13 |issue=8 |pages=548–555}}</ref> Tirpitz started the program of warship construction in 1898 and enjoyed the full support of Kaiser Wilhelm. Wilhelm entertained less rational ideas on the fleet, that circled around his romantic childhood dream to have a "fleet of {{Interp|his|orig=my}} own some day" and his obsessive adherence to direct his policies along the line of [[Alfred Thayer Mahan]]'s work [[The Influence of Sea Power upon History]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=John B. |last=Hattendorf |url=https://www.academia.edu/661532 |title=he Influence of History on Mahan: Proceedings of a Conference Marking the Centenary of Alfred Thayer Mahan's Influence of Sea Power Upon History |date=January 1991 |publisher=Academia |access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref> In exchange for the eastern African island of [[Zanzibar]], Germany had bargained the island of [[Heligoland]] in the [[German Bight]] with Britain in 1890, and converted the island into a naval base and installed immense coastal defense batteries. Britain considered the imperial German endeavours to be a dangerous infringement on the century-old delicate balance of global affairs and trade on the seas under British control. The British, however, resolved to keep up the [[Anglo-German naval arms race|naval arms race]] and introduced the highly advanced new ''[[Dreadnought]]'' battleship concept in 1907. Germany quickly adopted the concept and by 1910 the arms race again escalated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herwig |first=Holger |title=Luxury Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918 |date=1980}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Alfred Thayer |last=Mahan |url=https://archive.org/details/seanpowerinf00maha/page/n6 |title=The Influence of Sea Power Upon History |publisher=Archive Org |date=1890 |access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref>

In the [[First Moroccan Crisis]] of 1905, Germany nearly clashed with Britain and France when the latter attempted to establish a protectorate over Morocco. Kaiser Wilhelm II was upset at having not been informed about French intentions, and declared their support for Moroccan independence. William II made a highly provocative speech regarding this. The following year, a conference was held in which all of the European powers except Austria-Hungary (by now little more than a German satellite) sided with France. A compromise was brokered by the United States where the French relinquished some, but not all, control over Morocco.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Esthus |first=Raymond A. |title=Theodore Roosevelt and the International Rivalries |date=1970 |pages=66–111}}</ref>

The [[Agadir Crisis|Second Moroccan Crisis]] of 1911 saw another dispute over Morocco erupt when France tried to suppress a revolt there. Germany, still smarting from the previous quarrel, agreed to a settlement whereby the French ceded some territory in central Africa in exchange for Germany's renouncing any right to intervene in Moroccan affairs. This confirmed French control over Morocco, which became a full protectorate of that country in 1912.<ref name="PageSonnenburg2003">{{Cite book |first1=Melvin Eugene |last1=Page |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA8 |title=Colonialism: An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia |last2=Penny M. Sonnenburg |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2003 |isbn=978-1-5760-7335-3 |page=8}}</ref>

====Economy====
[[File:BASF Werk Ludwigshafen 1881.JPG|thumb|The [[BASF]] chemical factories in [[Ludwigshafen]], 1881]]
By 1890, the economy continued to industrialize and grow on an even higher rate than during the previous two decades and increased dramatically in the years leading up to World War I. Growth rates for the individual branches and sectors often varied considerably, and periodical figures provided by the ''Kaiserliches Statistisches Amt'' ("Imperial Statistical Bureau) are often disputed or just assessments. Classification and naming of internationally traded commodities and exported goods was still in progress and the structure of production and export had changed during four decades. Published documents provide numbers such as: The proportion of goods manufactured by the modern industry was approximately 25% in 1900, while the proportion of consumer related products in manufactured exports stood at 40%.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Christoph |last=Buchheim |title=German Yearbook on Business History 1985 |publisher=Springer |date=1986 |isbn=978-3-6427-1198-5 |pages=41–55 |chapter=Germany on the World Market at the End of the 19th Century |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-71196-1_3}}</ref> Reasonably exact are the figures for the entire industrial production between 1870 and 1914, which increased about 500%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Industrial Growth (1870–1914) |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=638 |access-date=4 April 2019 |publisher=German History Docs}}</ref>

Historian J. A. Perkins argued that more important than Bismarck's new tariff on imported grain was the introduction of the sugar beet as a main crop. Farmers quickly abandoned traditional, inefficient practices in favor of modern methods, including the use of artificial fertilizers and mechanical tools. Intensive methodical farming of sugar and other root crops made Germany the most efficient agricultural producer in Europe by 1914. Even so, farms were usually small in size and women did much of the field work. An unintended consequence was the increased dependence on migratory, especially foreign, labor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perkins |first=J. A. |date=Spring 1981 |title=The Agricultural Revolution in Germany 1850–1914 |journal=Journal of European Economic History |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=71–119}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Leslie |last=Page Moch |title=Internal migration before and during the Industrial Revolution: the case of France and Germany |url=https://d-nb.info/1031444017/34 |access-date=4 April 2019 |publisher=EGO}}</ref>

[[File:Paul Hoeniger Spittelmarkt 1912.jpg|thumb|left|Berlin in 1912]]
The basics of the modern chemical research laboratory layout and the introduction of essential equipment and instruments such as [[Bunsen burner]]s, the [[Petri dish]], the [[Erlenmeyer flask]], task-oriented working principles and team research originated in 19th-century Germany and France. The organisation of knowledge acquisition was further refined by laboratory integration in research institutes of the universities and the industries. Germany acquired the leading role in the world's [[chemical industry]] by the late 19th century through strictly organized methodology. In 1913, the German chemical industry produced almost 90 per cent of the global supply of [[dye]]stuffs and sold about 80 per cent of its production abroad.<ref>{{Citation |first=Fred |last=Aftalion, Otto Theodor Benfey |title=A History of the International Chemical Industry |date=1991 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Haber |first=Ludwig Fritz |title=The chemical industry during the nineteenth century |date=1958}}</ref>

Germany became Europe's leading steel-producing nation in the 1890s, thanks in large part to the protection from American and British competition afforded by tariffs and cartels.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Webb |first=Steven B. |date=June 1980 |title=Tariffs, Cartels, Technology, and Growth in the German Steel Industry, 1879 to 1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-economic-history_1980-06_40_2/page/309 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=309–330 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700108228 |jstor=2120181 |s2cid=154281603}}</ref> The leading firm was "Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp", run by the [[Krupp|Krupp family]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Harold |title=Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=2012}}</ref> The merger of several major firms into the ''Vereinigte Stahlwerke'' (United Steel Works) in 1926 was modeled on the [[U.S. Steel]] corporation in the United States. The new company emphasized rationalization of management structures and modernization of the technology; it employed a multi-divisional structure and used return on investment as its measure of success. By 1913, American and German exports dominated the world steel market, as Britain slipped to third place.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allen |first=Robert C. |date=Dec 1979 |title=International Competition in Iron and Steel, 1850–1913 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-economic-history_1979-12_39_4/page/911 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=911–937 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700098673 |jstor=2120336 |s2cid=154582825}}</ref>

In machinery, iron and steel, and other industries, German firms avoided cut-throat competition and instead relied on trade associations. Germany was a world leader because of its prevailing "corporatist mentality", its strong bureaucratic tradition, and the encouragement of the government. These associations regulate competition and allowed small firms to function in the shadow of much larger companies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Gerald D. |last2=Nocken |first2=Ulrich |date=Winter 1975 |title=Trade Associations and Economic Power: Interest Group Development in the German Iron and Steel and Machine Building Industries, 1900–1933 |journal=Business History Review |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=413–445 |doi=10.2307/3113169 |jstor=3113169 |s2cid=153420481}}</ref>

====Colonies====
{{Main|German colonial empire}}
[[File:GermanColonialEmpire(UPT3).jpg|thumb|413x413px|[[German colonial empire|German colonies and protectorates]] in 1914]]
[[File:German colonial lord.jpg|thumb|A colonial lord in the German colony [[Togoland]]]]
By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and the Pacific ([[Jiaozhou Bay|Kiauchau]] in China, the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]], the [[Caroline Islands]], [[Samoa]]) led to frictions with Britain, Russia, Japan and the United States.<ref>John Anthony Moses and Paul M. Kennedy, ''Germany in the Pacific and Far East, 1870–1914'' (1977).</ref> The construction of the [[Baghdad Railway]], financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Turkish Empire and the [[Persian Gulf]], but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests.<ref>sean McMeekin, ''The Berlin-Baghdad express: the Ottoman Empire and Germany's bid for world power, 1898–1918'' (Penguin, 2011)</ref>

The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa.<ref>Gann, L., and Peter Duignan, ''The Rulers of German Africa, 1884–1914'' (1977) focuses on political and economic history; Perraudin, Michael, and Jürgen Zimmerer, eds. ''German Colonialism and National Identity'' (2010) focuses on cultural impact in Africa and Germany.</ref> The harsh treatment of the [[Nama people|Nama]] and [[Herero people|Herero]] in what is now [[Namibia]] in Africa in 1906–1907 led to charges of genocide against the Germans. Historians are examining the links and precedents between the [[Herero and Nama genocide]] and the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] of the 1940s.<ref>Tilman Dedering, "The German-Herero war of 1904: revisionism of genocide or imaginary historiography?". ''Journal of Southern African Studies'' (1993) 19#1 pp: 80–88.</ref><ref>Jeremy Sarkin, ''Germany's Genocide of the Herero: Kaiser Wilhelm II, His General, His Settlers, His Soldier'' (2011)</ref><ref>Kirsten Dyck, "Situating the Herero Genocide and the Holocaust among European Colonial Genocides". ''Przegląd Zachodni'' (2014) No. 1 pp: 153–172. [http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=cab65bd2-ba20-4947-b2d7-1ea0c9275be6&articleId=2d260385-975f-4228-ad57-3e589a7da544 abstract]</ref>

Other claimed territories of the German Colonial Empire are: [[Bear Island (Norway)|Bear Island]] (occupied in 1899),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gradén |first=Lizette |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbooDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT223 |title=Performing Nordic Heritage: Everyday Practices and Institutional Culture |date=13 May 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3170-8235-4 |page=223 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Togo-Hinterlands,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Akinwumi |first=Olayemi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOK8FYenMiEC&pg=PA97 |title=The Colonial Contest for the Nigerian Region, 1884-1900: A History of the German Participation |date=2002 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-6197-1 |page=97 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> [[German attempts to colonise the Somali Coast|German Somali Coast]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bückendorf |first=Jutta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oc7CgiWH-asC&pg=PA232 |title="Schwarz-weiss-rot über Ostafrika !": deutsche Kolonialpläne und afrikanische Realität |date=1997 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-2755-7 |page=232 |language=de |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Katanga Territories, [[Pondoland]] (failed attempt by {{Ill|Emil Nagel|de}}),<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Makiwane |first1=Monde |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GhHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Reflections from the Margins: Complexities, Transitions and Developmental Challenges: The Case of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa |last2=Gumede |first2=Ntombizonke A. |last3=Zembe-Mkabile |first3=Wanga |date=11 October 2021 |publisher=African Sun Media |isbn=978-1-9912-0113-3 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Nyassaland ([[Mozambique]]), Southwestern Madagascar,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tetzlaff |first=Rainer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zsDAAAAMAAJ |title=Koloniale Entwicklung und Ausbeutung: Wirtschaftsu. Sozialgeschichte Deutsch-Ostafrikas 1885-1914 |date=1970 |publisher=Duncker u. Humblot |page=27 |isbn=978-3-428-02209-0 |language=de |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Santa Lucia Bay ([[South Africa]]) (failed attempt in 1884),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Office |first=Great Britain Foreign |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQpmnM_G7xAC&pg=PA322 |title=The end of British isolation |date=1927 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=32 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> and the Farasan Islands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bönker |first=Dirk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_2tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 |title=Militarism in a Global Age: Naval Ambitions in Germany and the United States before World War I |date=15 March 2012 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-6388-4 |page=123 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref>

===World War I===
{{Main|World War I|History of Germany during World War I|German Revolution of 1918–1919}}
[[File:German soldiers in a railroad car on the way to the front during early World War I, taken in 1914. Taken from greatwar.nl site.jpg|thumb|alt=Men waving from the door and window of a rail goods van|German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914. Awaiting a short war, a message on the car spells out "Trip to Paris".]]

====Causes====
Ethnic demands for nation states upset the balance between the empires that dominated Europe, [[causes of World War I|leading to World War I]], which started in August 1914. Germany stood behind its ally Austria in a confrontation with Serbia, but Serbia was under the protection of Russia, which was allied to France. Germany was the leader of the Central Powers, which included Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and later Bulgaria; arrayed against them were the Allies, consisting chiefly of Russia, France, Britain, and in 1915 Italy.

In explaining why neutral Britain went to war with Germany, author Paul M. Kennedy recognized it was critical for war that Germany become economically more powerful than Britain, but he downplays the disputes over economic trade imperialism, the Baghdad Railway, confrontations in Central and Eastern Europe, high-charged political rhetoric and domestic pressure-groups. Germany's reliance time and again on sheer power, while Britain increasingly appealed to moral sensibilities, played a role, especially in seeing the invasion of Belgium as a necessary military tactic or a profound moral crime. The German invasion of Belgium was not important because the British decision had already been made and the British were more concerned with the fate of France. Kennedy argues that by far the main reason was London's fear that a repeat of 1870&nbsp;– when Prussia and the German states smashed France&nbsp;– would mean that Germany, with a powerful army and navy, would control the English Channel and northwest France. British policy makers insisted that would be a catastrophe for British security.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Paul M. |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofanglogerma0000kenn |title=The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860–1914 |date=1980 |isbn=978-0-0494-0060-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/riseofanglogerma0000kenn/page/464 464]–470|publisher=Allen & Unwin }}</ref>

====Western Front====
{{Main|Western Front (World War I)}}
[[File:German trench WW1 French attack.gif|thumb|Entrenched German troops fighting off a French attack, Champagne, France, 1917 <ref>"World War I and Its Aftermath." Brewminate: We're Never far from Where We Were, 22 Feb. 2017, brewminate.com/world-war-i-and-its-aftermath/.</ref>]]
In the west, Germany sought a quick victory by encircling Paris using the [[Schlieffen Plan]]. This plan failed due to unexpectedly strong Belgian resistance, Berlin's diversion of troops, and very stiff French resistance during the [[First Battle of the Marne]], north of Paris. The [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] became an extremely bloody battleground of [[trench warfare]]. The stalemate lasted from 1914 until early 1918, with ferocious battles that moved forces a few hundred yards at best for thousands of casualties along a line that stretched from the [[North Sea]] to the Swiss border. The British imposed [[Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)|a tight naval blockade]] in the North Sea which lasted until 1919, sharply reducing Germany's overseas access to raw materials and foodstuffs. Food scarcity became a serious problem by 1917.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winter |first=J.M. |title=Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin, 1914–1919 |date=1999}}</ref> The United States joined with the Allies in April 1917. The entry of the United States into the war – following Germany's declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare – marked a decisive turning-point against Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strachan |first=Hew |title=The First World War |date=2004}}</ref>

Total casualties on the Western Front were 3,528,610 killed and 7,745,920 wounded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=Micheal |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed |date=2017 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7470-7 |page=407}}</ref>

====Eastern Front====
{{Main|Eastern Front (World War I)}}
More wide open was the fighting on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]]. In the east, Germany managed to score decisive victories against the Russian army, including the trapping and destruction of large parts of the Russian 2nd army at the [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]], followed by huge Austrian and German successes. Although the Russians enjoyed some success during the [[Brusilov offensive]], [[Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia (1914–1915)|capturing significant amounts of Austro-Hungarian territory]], the eventual breakdown of Russian forces – exacerbated by internal turmoil caused by the 1917 [[Russian Revolution]] – led to the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] the Bolsheviks were forced to sign on 3 March 1918 as Russia withdrew from the war. It gave Germany control of Eastern Europe. Spencer Tucker says, "The German General Staff had formulated extraordinarily harsh terms that shocked even the German negotiator."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Spencer C. |last=Tucker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA225 |title=World War One |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-8510-9420-2 |page=225}}</ref> When Germany later complained that the [[Treaty of Versailles]] of 1919 was too harsh on them, the Allies responded that it was more benign than Brest-Litovsk.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Zara S. |last=Steiner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V00vGP4TobwC&pg=PA68 |title=The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1919–1933 |publisher=Oxford U.P. |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-1982-2114-2 |page=68}}</ref>

====1918====
By defeating Russia in 1917, Germany was able to transfer hundreds of thousands of combat troops from the east to the Western Front, giving it a numerical advantage over the Allies. By retraining the soldiers in new [[Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)|storm-trooper tactics]], the Germans hoped to break the stalemate on the Battlefield and win a decisive victory before the American army could arrive in force.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herwig |first=Holger H. |title=The First World War: Germany and Austria–Hungary 1914–1918 |date=1996}}</ref> However, the spring offensives all failed, as the Allies fell back and regrouped, and the Germans lacked the reserves necessary to consolidate their gains. In the summer, with the Americans arriving at 10,000 a day, and the German reserves exhausted, it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied offenses destroyed the German army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paschall |first=Rod |url=https://archive.org/details/defeatofimperial0000pasc |title=The defeat of imperial Germany, 1917–1918 |date=1994 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0-3068-0585-1}}</ref>

====Homefront====
Although war was not expected in 1914, Germany rapidly mobilized its civilian economy for the war effort, the economy was handicapped by the British blockade that cut off food supplies.<ref>Feldman, Gerald D. "The Political and Social Foundations of Germany's Economic Mobilization, 1914–1916", ''Armed Forces & Society'' (1976) 3#1 pp 121–145. [http://afs.sagepub.com/content/3/1/121 online]</ref>

Steadily conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. Causes involved the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, an overburdened railroad system, shortages of coal, and especially the British blockade that cut off imports from abroad. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter", because that vegetable, usually fed to livestock, was used by people as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry people, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the rations for soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chickering |first=Roger |title=Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914–1918 |date=2004 |pages=141–142}}</ref> Morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink. According to historian [[William H. McNeill (historian)|William H. McNeill]]:
:By 1917, after three years of war, the various groups and bureaucratic hierarchies which had been operating more or less independently of one another in peacetime (and not infrequently had worked at cross purposes) were subordinated to one (and perhaps the most effective) of their number: the General Staff. Military officers controlled civilian government officials, the staffs of banks, cartels, firms, and factories, engineers and scientists, workingmen, farmers-indeed almost every element in German society; and all efforts were directed in theory and in large degree also in practice to forwarding the war effort.<ref>William H. McNeill, ''The Rise of the West'' (1991 edition) p. 742.</ref>

1918 was the year of the deadly [[1918 flu pandemic|1918 Spanish Flu pandemic]] which struck hard at a population weakened by years of malnutrition.

===Revolution 1918–1919===
{{Main|German revolution of 1918–1919}}[[File:Waffenstillstand gr.jpg|thumb|Painting depicting the [[Armistice with Germany]] in Compiègne, 11 November 1918]]

In October 1918, [[General Ludendorff]], who wanted to protect the reputation of the Imperial Army by placing responsibility for the capitulation on the democratic parties and the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Imperial Reichstag]], pushed for the government to be democratised. A new [[Chancellor of Germany|chancellor]] was appointed, members of the Reichstag's majority parties were brought into the cabinet for the first time and the [[German constitutional reforms of October 1918|constitution modified]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=23 December 2011 |title=Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19 |trans-title=From Empire to Republic 1918/19 |url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/nationalsozialismus-zweiter-weltkrieg/dossier-nationalsozialismus/168748/vom-kaiserreich-zur-republik-1918-19/ |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref> The moves did not, however, satisfy either the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] or the majority of German citizens.

The [[German revolution of 1918–1919]] began on 3 November with a [[Kiel mutiny|sailor's mutiny at Kiel]] which spread rapidly and all but bloodlessly across Germany. Within a week, [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers' councils]] were in control of government and military institutions across most of the Reich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mutiny of German Sailors in Kiel |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/before-1933/mutiny-of-german-sailors-in-kiel |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref> On 9 November, Germany was [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|declared a republic]]. The following day, the [[Council of the People's Deputies]], formed from members of Germany's two main socialist parties, began acting as the provisional government. By the end of the month, all of Germany's [[List of German monarchs in 1918|ruling monarchs]], including Emperor Wilhelm II, who had fled to exile in the Netherlands, had been forced to abdicate.{{Sfn|Mommsen|1996|p=22}}

In early January 1919, the [[Spartacist uprising]] led by the newly founded [[Communist Party of Germany]] attempted to take power in Berlin, but it was quashed by government and [[Freikorps]] troops. Into the spring there were additional violently suppressed efforts to push the revolution further in the direction of a [[Soviet republic|council republic]], such as the short-lived local soviet republics, notably in [[People's State of Bavaria|Bavaria]] ([[Munich Soviet Republic|Munich]]). They too were put down with considerable loss of life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Second World War. Interbellum 1918–1936 |url=https://www.thesecondworldwar.org/interbellum-1918-1936/1918/the-weimar-republic/german-revolution/spartacist-uprising |access-date=1 December 2024 |website=The Second World War}}</ref>

The revolution's end is generally set at 11 August 1919, the day the [[Weimar Constitution]] was signed following its adoption by the popularly elected [[Weimar National Assembly]], Even though the widespread violence largely ended in 1919, the revolution remained in many ways incomplete. A large number of its opponents had been left in positions of power in the military and the Reich administration, and it failed to resolve the fracture in the Left between moderate socialists and communists. The Weimar Republic as a result was beset from the beginning by opponents from both the Left and – to a greater degree – the Right.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=November 2011 |title=Weimarer Republik |journal=Informationen zur Politischen Bildung |language=de |volume=261 |pages=12, 25}}</ref>

==Weimar Republic, 1918–1933==
{{Main|Weimar Republic}}

=== Overview ===
Under the peace terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], Germany's first democracy began its fourteen-year life facing territorial losses, [[World War I reparations|reparations to the victors]] of World War I and stringent limitations on its military. Political violence from those on the Right who wanted a return to the monarchy and those on the Left who wanted a soviet-style regime repeatedly threatened the moderate socialist government through 1923. Ongoing issues with state finances, impacted by war debt and the funding of striking workers in the Ruhr, fuelled the [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation of 1923]] that impoverished many Germans and left them bitter enemies of the Republic. A period of relative political and economic stability that lasted until the onset of the [[Great Depression]] in 1929 was followed by the rapid growth of parties on the extremes – the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communists]] on the Left and the [[Nazism|Nazis]] on the Right – that left the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] (parliament) all but unable to function. In quick succession, four [[Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)|chancellors]] tried and failed to govern by decree before [[President Hindenburg]] named [[Adolf Hitler]] chancellor in 1933. In only a few months he had turned the Republic into a Nazi dictatorship.

=== Treaty of Versailles ===
{{Main|Treaty of Versailles}}[[File:Karte des Deutschen Reiches, Weimarer Republik-Drittes Reich 1919–1937.svg|thumb|right|Germany 1920–1938]]The [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]] ended the fighting in World War I, and on 28 June 1919 Germany reluctantly signed the peace terms laid out in the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Germany had to renounce sovereignty over its colonies<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part IV#Article 118}}</ref> and in Europe lost 65,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (25,000 sq mi) or about 13% of its former territory – including 48% of its iron and 10% of its coal resources – along with 7 million people, or 12% of its population.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Aaron |date=21 June 2022 |title=Approximate German territorial losses, and related loss of resources, following the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086370/territorial-resource-loss-treaty-of-versailles/ |access-date=2 December 2024 |website=statista}}</ref> Allied troops [[Occupation of the Rhineland|occupied the Rhineland]], and it along with an area stretching 50 kilometres east of the Rhine were demilitarized.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part III#Section III. Left Bank of the Rhine}}</ref> The German army was limited to no more than 100,000 men with 4,000 officers and no general staff; the navy could have at most 15,000 men and 1,500 officers. Germany was prohibited from having an air force, submarines or [[dreadnoughts]]. A large number of its ships and all of its air-related armaments were to be surrendered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Treaty of Versailles |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Treaty-of-Versailles |access-date=2 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part V}}</ref> The most contentious article of the treaty, the so-called [[War Guilt Clause]] (Article 231), stated that Germany accepted responsibility for the loss and damage from the war caused to the Allies, and therefore had to pay reparations for the damage caused to the Allied Powers.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part VIII#Section I. General Provisions}}</ref>

The treaty was reviled as a dictated rather than a negotiated peace. [[Philipp Scheidemann]], the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic]] minister president of Germany, said to the [[Weimar National Assembly]] on 12 May 1919, "What hand should not wither that puts this fetter on itself and on us?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philipp Scheidemann gegen die Annahme des Versailler Vertrages (12. Mai 1919) |trans-title=Philipp Scheidemann Against Accepting the Versailles Treaty (12 May 1919) |url=https://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/deu/WR_SCHEIDEMANN_GERa.pdf |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=Deutsche Geschichte in Dokumente und Bildern |page=3 |language=de}}</ref>

===The early years===
[[File:Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg|thumb|''Flag of the Weimar Republic 1919–1933'']]The [[Weimar Constitution]] established a federal [[semi-presidential republic]] with a [[Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)|chancellor]] dependent on the confidence of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] (parliament), a strong president who had considerable [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|powers to govern by decree]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Leyser |first1=K.J. |last2=Wallace-Hadrill |first2=John Michael |date=2 December 2024 |title=The Weimar Constitution |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Weimar-constitution |access-date=3 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> and a substantial set of individual rights.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Weimar_constitution#Chapter_II:_Fundamental_Rights_and_Duties_of_Germans}}</ref> The Social Democrat [[Friedrich Ebert]] was the Republic's first president.

The Left accused the Social Democrats of betraying the ideals of the labour movement because of their alliance with the old elites in the military and administration, and the Right [[Stab-in-the-back myth|held the supporters of the Republic responsible]] for Germany's defeat in the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World War I: Aftermath – The Undermining of Democracy in Germany |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-i-aftermath?series=20 |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> In early 1920, the right-wing [[Kapp Putsch]], backed by units of the paramilitary [[Freikorps]], briefly took control of the government in Berlin, but the putsch quickly collapsed due to a general strike and passive resistance by civil servants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kapp Putsch |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Kapp-Putsch |access-date=4 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In the putsch's wake, workers in the industrial [[Ruhr district]], where dissatisfaction with the lack of nationalisation of key industries was particularly high, rose up and attempted to take control of the region. [[Reichswehr]] and Freikorps units suppressed the [[Ruhr uprising]] with the loss of over 1,000 lives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wulfert |first=Anja |date=22 January 2002 |title=Der Märzaufstand 1920 |trans-title=The March Uprising 1920 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/maerzaufstand-1920.html |access-date=4 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> The unstable political conditions of the period were reflected in the [[1920 German federal election|Reichstag election of 1920]], in which the centre-left [[Weimar Coalition]], which until then had held a three-quarters majority, lost 125 seats to parties on both the Left and Right.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Deutsche Reich: Reichstagswahl 1920/22 |trans-title=The German Reich: Reichstag Elections 1920/22 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT1.html |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref>

Political violence continued at a high level through 1923. A [[Organisation Consul|right-wing extremist group]] assassinated former finance minister [[Matthias Erzberger]] in August 1921 and [[Walther Rathenau]], the Jewish foreign minister, in June 1922.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sabrow |first=Martin |date=8 February 2010 |title=Organisation Consul (O.C.), 1920–1922 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Organisation_Consul_(O.C.),_1920-1922 |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref> 1923 saw the communist-led takeover attempt known as the [[German October]], the right-wing [[Küstrin Putsch]] and [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Beer Hall Putsch]].

Germany was the first state to establish diplomatic relations with the new [[Soviet Union]] in the 1922 [[Treaty of Rapallo, 1922|Treaty of Rapallo]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 April 2023 |title=Treaty of Rapallo |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Rapallo |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In October 1925, Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Italy signed the [[Treaty of Locarno]], which recognised Germany's borders with France and Belgium but left its eastern borders open to negotiations. The treaty paved the way for Germany's admission to the [[League of Nations]] in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 November 2022 |title=Pact of Locarno |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Pact-of-Locarno |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

In May 1921 the Allied Powers set Germany's reparations liability under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles at 132 billion Reichsmarks, to be paid either in gold or commodities such as iron, steel and coal.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019">{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=24 September 2019 |title=War reparations and Weimar Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/reparations/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> After a series of German defaults, French and Belgian troops [[Occupation of the Ruhr|occupied the Ruhr]] in January 1923. The German government responded with a policy of passive resistance. It underwrote the costs of idled factories and mines and paid the workers who were on strike. Unable to meet the enormous costs by any other means, it resorted to printing money. Along with the debts the state had incurred during the war, it was one of the major causes of the 1923 peak in [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|Germany's post-war hyperinflation]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=25 September 2019 |title=The Ruhr Occupation |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/ruhr-occupation/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> The passive resistance was called off in September 1923, and the occupation ended in August 1925, following an agreement (the [[Dawes Plan]]) to restructure Germany's reparations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDougall |first=Walter A. |date=6 September 2024 |title=Allied politics and reparations |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/20th-century-international-relations-2085155/Allied-politics-and-reparations |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In November 1923 the government introduced a new currency, the [[German rentenmark|Rentenmark]] (later the [[German reichsmark|Reichsmark]]). Together with other measures, it quickly stopped the hyperinflation, but many Germans who lost their life savings became bitter enemies of the Weimar Republic and supporters of the anti-democratic Right.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Latella |first=Luisa |date=7 December 2023 |title=Hyperinflation Weimar |url=https://americangerman.institute/2023/12/hyperinflation-weimar/ |access-date=6 December 2024 |publisher=American-German Institute}}</ref> During the following six years the economic situation improved. In 1928 Germany's industrial production surpassed the pre-war level of 1913.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The recovery of the Republic, 1924–29 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9y64j6/revision/6 |access-date=6 December 2024 |publisher=BBC Bitesize}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C06886, Paul v. Hindenburg.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Paul von Hindenburg]], German president 1925–1934]]
In 1925, following the death in office of President Ebert, conservative Field Marshal [[Paul von Hindenburg]] was [[1925 German presidential election|elected]] to replace him. His presidency, coming after a campaign that emphasised nationalism and Hindenburg's ties to the fallen German Empire, was the beginning of a significant shift to the right in German politics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inauguration of Paul von Hindenburg as President of Germany |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/before-1933/inauguration-of-paul-von-hindenburg-as-president-of-germany-1 |access-date=8 December 2024 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref>

===Economic collapse and end of the Republic, 1929–1933===
The [[Wall Street crash of 1929]] marked the beginning of the worldwide [[Great Depression]], which hit Germany as hard as any nation. In 1931 several [[European banking crisis of 1931|major banks failed]], and by early 1932 the number of unemployed had soared to more than six million.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dimsdale |first1=Nicholas H. |last2=Horsewood |first2=Nicholas |last3=Van Riel |first3=Arthur |date=September 2006 |title=Unemployment in Interwar Germany: An Analysis of the Labor Market, 1927&ndash;1936 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/216448809 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=66 |issue=3 |page=778 |doi=10.1017/S0022050706000325 |id={{ProQuest|216448809}} }}</ref> In the [[1930 German federal election|Reichstag election of September 1930]], the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) gained 23 seats, while the [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (NSDAP, Nazi Party), until then a minor far-right party, increased its share by 95 seats, becoming Germany's second largest party behind the Social Democrats.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagswahl 1930 |trans-title=Reichstag Election 1930 |url=https://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT5.html |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The Nazis were particularly successful among Protestants, unemployed young voters, the lower middle class in the cities and the rural population. It was weakest in Catholic areas and in large cities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard F. |url={{Google books|dcX_AwAAQBAJ|page=3|plainurl=yes}} |title=Who Voted for Hitler? |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-400-85534-6 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=3 ff}}</ref> The shift to the political extremes made the unstable coalition system by which every Weimar chancellor had governed increasingly unworkable. The last years of the Weimar Republic were marred by even more systemic political instability than previous years, and political violence increased. Four chancellors ([[Heinrich Brüning]], [[Franz von Papen]], [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and, from 30 January to 23 March 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]]) governed through [[Presidential cabinets of the Weimar Republic|presidential decree]] rather than parliamentary consultation.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> It effectively rendered the Reichstag powerless as a means of enforcing constitutional [[checks and balances]].

Hindenburg was [[1932 German presidential election|re-elected president in 1932]], out-polling Hitler by almost 6 million votes in the second round.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Deutsche Reich. Die Reichspräsidenten 1919–1934 |trans-title=The German Reich. The Reich Presidents 1919–1934 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/Praesidenten.html |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The Nazi Party became the largest party in the Reichstag following the [[July 1932 German federal election|election of July 1932]]. It received 37% of the vote, with the SPD second (22%) and the Communist KPD third at 14%. The Nazis dropped to 33% after another [[November 1932 German federal election|election four months later]], but they remained the largest party. The splintered Reichstag was still unable to form a stable coalition. On 30 January 1933, seeing no other viable option and pressured by former chancellor [[Franz von Papen]] and other conservatives, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor.{{Sfn|Evans|2003|pp=283–308}}

===Science and culture in 19th and 20th century===
{{Main|Science and technology in Germany}}
The Weimar years saw a flowering of [[German science]] and high culture, before the Nazi regime resulted in a decline in the scientific and cultural life in Germany and forced many renowned scientists and writers to flee.
German recipients dominated the [[Nobel laureates by country|Nobel prizes in science]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobel Prize |url=http://nobelprize.org |access-date=19 November 2009 |publisher=Nobelprize.org}}</ref> Germany dominated the world of physics before 1933, led by [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], [[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Otto Hahn]], [[Max Planck]] and [[Werner Heisenberg]]. Chemistry likewise was dominated by German professors and researchers at the great chemical companies such as [[BASF]] and [[Bayer]] and persons like [[Justus von Liebig]], [[Fritz Haber]] and [[Emil Fischer]]. Theoretical mathematicians [[Georg Cantor]] in the 19th century and [[David Hilbert]] in the 20th century. [[Karl Benz]], the inventor of the automobile, and [[Rudolf Diesel]] were pivotal figures of engineering, and [[Wernher von Braun]], rocket engineer. [[Ferdinand Cohn]], [[Robert Koch]] and [[Rudolph Virchow]] were three key figures in microbiology.

Among the most important German writers were [[Thomas Mann]], [[Hermann Hesse]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]]. The reactionary historian [[Oswald Spengler]] wrote ''[[The Decline of the West]]'' (1918–1923) on the inevitable decay of Western Civilization, and influenced intellectuals in Germany such as [[Martin Heidegger]], [[Max Scheler]], and the [[Frankfurt School]], as well as intellectuals around the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Joll |first=James |date=April 1985 |title=Two Prophets of the Twentieth Century: Spengler and Toynbee |journal=[[Review of International Studies]] |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.1017/s026021050011424x |s2cid=145705005}}</ref>

After 1933, Nazi proponents of "[[Aryan physics]]", led by the Nobel Prize-winners [[Johannes Stark]] and [[Philipp Lenard]], attacked Einstein's theory of relativity as a degenerate example of Jewish materialism in the realm of science. Many scientists and humanists emigrated; Einstein moved permanently to the U.S. but some of the others returned after 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stackelberg |first=Roderick |url=https://archive.org/details/routledgecompani00stac |title=The Routledge companion to Nazi Germany |date=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/routledgecompani00stac/page/135 135] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Forced Migration and Scientific Change: Emigré German-Speaking Scientists and Scholars after 1933 |date=1996 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Mitchell G. |editor-last2=Söllner |editor-first2=Alfons}}</ref>
{{Gallery
|title= 19th and 20th century German authors, scientists and philosophers
|align=center
|width=120
|File:Hermann von Helmholtz.jpg|[[Hermann von Helmholtz]]
|File:Rudolf Virchow NLM3.jpg|[[Rudolf Virchow]]
|File:RobertKoch cropped.jpg|[[Robert Koch]]
||[[Karl Benz]]
|File:Georg Cantor2.jpg|[[Georg Cantor]]
|File:Roentgen2.jpg|[[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]]
|File:Rudolf Diesel2.jpg|[[Rudolf Diesel]]
|File:Max Planck.png|[[Max Planck]]
|File:Fritz Haber.png|[[Fritz Haber]]
|File:Thomas Mann 1937.jpg|[[Thomas Mann]]
|File:Otto Hahn 1970.jpg|[[Otto Hahn]]
|File:Einstein 1921 by F Schmutzer - restoration.jpg|[[Albert Einstein]]
|File:Heidegger 2 (1960).jpg|[[Martin Heidegger]]
|File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg|[[Bertolt Brecht]]
|File:Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg.jpg|[[Werner Heisenberg]]
}}

==Nazi Germany, 1933–1945==
{{Main|Nazi Germany}}
[[File:World War II in Europe, 1942.svg|thumb|European territory occupied by Nazi Germany and [[Axis Powers|its allies]] at its greatest extent in 1942, Germany (Reich) is shown in the darkest blue.]]
<!-- [[File:NS administrative Gliederung 1944.png|thumb|upright=1.35|''Nazi Germany'' in 1944]] This is a map of the internal structure of the NSDAP, not that of Germany. -->
The Nazi regime suppressed labor unions and strikes, leading to prosperity which gave the [[Nazi Party]] popularity, with only minor, isolated and subsequently unsuccessful cases of [[German resistance to Nazism|resistance among the German population]] over their rule. The [[Gestapo]] (secret police) destroyed the political opposition and persecuted the Jews, trying to force them into exile. The Party took control of the courts, local government, and all civic organizations except the Christian churches. All expressions of public opinion were controlled by the propaganda ministry, which used film, mass rallies, and Hitler's hypnotic speaking. The Nazi state idolized Hitler as its Führer (leader), putting all powers in his hands. [[Nazi propaganda]] centered on Hitler and created the "Hitler Myth"—that Hitler was all-wise and that any mistakes or failures by others would be corrected when brought to his attention.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |title=[[The "Hitler Myth"|The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich]] |date=2001 |author-link=Ian Kershaw}}</ref> In fact Hitler had a narrow range of interests and decision making was diffused among overlapping, feuding power centers; on some issues he was passive, simply assenting to pressures from whoever had his ear. All top officials reported to Hitler and followed his basic policies, but they had considerable autonomy on a daily basis.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamson |first=David |date=2002 |title=Was Hitler a Weak Dictator? |journal=History Review |pages=9ff}}</ref>

===Establishment of the Nazi regime===
{{Main|Adolf Hitler's rise to power|Government of Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg|thumb|left|National flag of Germany, 1935–1945]]

To secure a ''Reichstag'' majority for his party, Hitler called for new elections. After the 27 February 1933 [[Reichstag fire]], Hitler swiftly blamed an alleged Communist uprising, and convinced President Hindenburg to approve the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]], rescinding civil liberties. Four thousand [[Communist Party of Germany|communists]] were arrested{{Sfn|Evans|2003|pp=329–334}} and Communist agitation was banned. Communists and Socialists were brought into hastily prepared [[Nazi concentration camp]]s, where they were at the mercy of the [[Gestapo]], the newly established secret police force. Communist ''Reichstag'' deputies were taken into "[[protective custody (Nazi Germany)|protective custody]]".

[[File:WWII, Europe, Germany, "Nazi Hierarchy, Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Hess", The Desperate Years p143 - NARA - 196509.jpg|thumb|Key leaders of the Nazi regime (left to right): [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Hermann Göring]], [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Rudolf Hess]]]]
Despite the terror and unprecedented propaganda, the last free General Elections of 5 March 1933, while resulting in 43.9% failed to give the Nazis their desired majority. Together with the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP), however, he was able to form a slim majority government. On 23 March 1933, the [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]] marked the beginning of Nazi Germany,{{Sfn|Evans|2003|p=354, 336}} allowing Hitler and his cabinet to enact laws on their own without the President or the Reichstag.{{Sfn|Evans|2003|p=351}} The Enabling Act formed the basis for the dictatorship and the dissolution of the [[States of Germany|Länder]]. Trade unions and all political parties other than the Nazi Party were suppressed. A centralised totalitarian state was established, no longer based on the liberal [[Weimar Republic|Weimar]] constitution. Germany withdrew from the [[League of Nations]] shortly thereafter. The coalition parliament was rigged by defining the absence of arrested and murdered deputies as voluntary and therefore cause for their exclusion as wilful absentees. The Centre Party was voluntarily dissolved in a ''quid pro quo'' with the [[Holy See|Pope]] under the ''anti-communist'' [[Pope Pius XI]] for the ''[[Reichskonkordat]]''; and by these manoeuvres Hitler achieved movement of these Catholic voters into the Nazi Party, and a long-awaited international diplomatic acceptance of his regime. The Nazis gained a larger share of their vote in Protestant areas than in Catholic areas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Geary |first=Dick |date=October 1998 |title=Who voted for the Nazis? (electoral history of the National Socialist German Workers Party) |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_history-today_1998-10_48_10/page/8 |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=48 |issue=10 |pages=8–14}}</ref> The Communist Party was proscribed in April 1933.

Hitler used the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and Gestapo to purge the entire SA leadership—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries in the [[Night of the Long Knives]] from 30 June to 2 July 1934.{{Sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=309–314}} As a reward, the SS became an independent organisation under the command of the ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]]. Upon Hindenburg's death on 2 August 1934, Hitler's cabinet passed a law proclaiming the presidency to be vacant and transferred the role and powers of the head of state to Hitler.

===Antisemitism and the Holocaust===
{{Main|History of the Jews in Germany#Jews under the Nazis (1933–1945)|The Holocaust}}
[[File:Buchenwald-bei-Weimar-am-24-April-1945.jpg|thumb|U.S. Senator [[Alben W. Barkley]] views the bodies of prisoners at a liberated [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] in April 1945.]]

The Nazi regime was particularly hostile towards Jews, who became the target of unending [[antisemitic]] propaganda attacks. The Nazis attempted to convince the German people to view and treat Jews as "subhumans"<ref name="Marchak2003">{{Cite book |first=M. Patricia |last=Marchak |title=Reigns of Terror |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press&nbsp;— MQUP |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-7735-2642-6 |page=195}}</ref> and immediately after the [[March 1933 German federal election|1933 federal elections]] the Nazis imposed a nationwide [[Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses|boycott of Jewish businesses]]. In March 1933 the first [[Nazi concentration camp]] was established at [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]]{{Sfn|Evans|2003|p=344}} and from 1933 to 1935 the Nazi regime consolidated their power. The [[Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service]] forced all Jewish civil servants to retire from the legal profession and the civil service.{{Sfn|Majer|2003|p=92}} The [[Nuremberg Laws]] banned sexual relations between Jews and Germans and only those of German or related blood were eligible to be considered citizens; the remainder were classed as state subjects, without citizenship rights.{{Sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=345}} This stripped Jews, [[Romani people|Romani]] and others of their legal rights.{{Sfn|Evans|2005|p=544}} Jews continued to suffer persecution under the Nazi regime, exemplified by the [[Kristallnacht|Kristallnacht pogrom]] of 1938, and about half of Germany's 500,000 Jews fled the country before 1939, after which escape became almost impossible.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedlander |first=Saul |title=Nazi Germany and the Jews |date=1998 |volume=1: The Years of Persecution 1933–1939}}</ref>

In 1941, the Nazi leadership decided to implement a plan that they called the "[[Final Solution]]" which came to be known as the [[Holocaust]]. Under the plan, Jews and other "lesser races" along with political opponents from Germany as well as [[German–occupied Europe|occupied countries]] were systematically murdered at murder sites, and starting in 1942, at [[extermination camps]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Interpreting the 20th Century: The Struggle Over Democracy, The Holocaust|first=Pamela |last=Radcliff |pages=104–107 |url=http://anon.eastbaymediac.m7z.net/anon.eastbaymediac.m7z.net/teachingco/CourseGuideBooks/DG8090_EFF59C.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714184534/http://anon.eastbaymediac.m7z.net/anon.eastbaymediac.m7z.net/teachingco/CourseGuideBooks/DG8090_EFF59C.PDF |archive-date=14 July 2014 |access-date=10 June 2014}}</ref> Between 1941 and 1945 Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, communists, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled and members of other groups were targeted and methodically murdered – the origin of the word "[[genocide]]". In total approximately 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jennifer |last=Rosenberg |title=Holocaust Facts |url=http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/holocaustfacts.htm |website=About.com Education |access-date=10 June 2014 |archive-date=19 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219040820/http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/holocaustfacts.htm }}</ref>

===Military===
{{Main|Wehrmacht}}
{{See also|Military Administration (Nazi Germany)}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P017073, Berlin, Olympische Spiele im Olympiastadion.jpg|thumb|The [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in Berlin&nbsp;– a great propaganda success for the Nazi regime]]
In 1935, Hitler officially re-established the [[Luftwaffe]] (air force) and reintroduced universal military service, in breach of the [[Treaty of Versailles]]; Britain, France and Italy formally protested. Hitler had the officers swear their personal allegiance to him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bullock |first=Alan |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlerstudytyran00bull |title=Hitler: a study in tyranny |publisher=Harper Torchbooks |date=1991 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hitlerstudytyran00bull/page/n163 170] |url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1936, German troops [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|marched into the demilitarised Rhineland]].{{Sfn|Evans|2005|p=633}} As the territory was part of Germany, the British and French governments did not feel that attempting to enforce the treaty was worth the risk of war.{{Sfn|Evans|2005|pp=632–637}} The move strengthened Hitler's standing in Germany. His reputation swelled further with the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in Berlin, and proved another great propaganda success for the regime as orchestrated by master propagandist [[Joseph Goebbels]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thacker |first=Toby |title=Joseph Goebbels: Life and Death |date=2009 |pages=182–184}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
{{Main|Foreign relations of Nazi Germany}}
{{See also|Relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L09218, Berlin, Japanische Botschaft.jpg|thumb|Flags of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] draping the facade of the Embassy of Japan on the [[Tiergartenstraße]] in Berlin (September 1940)]]

Hitler's diplomatic strategy in the 1930s was to make seemingly reasonable demands, threatening war if they were not met. When opponents tried to appease him, he accepted the gains that were offered, then went to the next target. That aggressive strategy worked as Germany pulled out of the [[League of Nations]], rejected the [[Versailles Treaty]] and began to re-arm, won back the Saar, remilitarized the Rhineland, formed an alliance with Mussolini's Italy, sent massive military aid to Franco in the Spanish Civil War, annexed Austria, took over Czechoslovakia after the British and French ''appeasement'' of the Munich Agreement, formed a peace pact with [[Joseph Stalin]]'s Soviet Union, and finally invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany and [[World War II]] in Europe began.{{Sfn|Evans|2005|pp=618, 623, 632–637, 641, 646–652, 671–674, 683}}{{Sfn|Beevor|2012|pp=22, 27–28}}

Having established a "Rome-Berlin axis" with [[Benito Mussolini]], and signing the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] with Japan&nbsp;– which was joined by Italy a year later in 1937&nbsp;– Hitler felt able to take the offensive in foreign policy. On 12 March 1938, German troops marched into Austria, where an attempted Nazi coup had been unsuccessful in 1934. When Austrian-born Hitler entered [[Vienna]], he was greeted by loud cheers and Austrians voted in favour of the annexation of their country. After Austria, Hitler turned to [[Czechoslovakia]], where the [[Sudeten German]] minority was demanding equal rights and self-government. At the [[Munich Agreement|Munich Conference]] of September 1938, Hitler, Mussolini, British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] and French Prime Minister [[Édouard Daladier]] agreed upon the cession of Sudeten territory to the German Reich by [[Czechoslovakia]]. Hitler thereupon declared that all of German Reich's territorial claims had been fulfilled. However, hardly six months after the Munich Agreement Hitler used the smoldering quarrel between [[Slovak people|Slovaks]] and [[Czechs]] as a pretext for taking over the rest of Czechoslovakia. He then secured the return of [[Klaipėda Region|Memel]] from [[Lithuania]] to Germany. Chamberlain was forced to acknowledge that his policy of [[appeasement]] towards Hitler had failed.

===World War II===
{{Main|World War II}}
[[File:Nazi Occupied Europe September 1943 Map.png|thumb|[[German-occupied Europe]], September 1943]]
At first Germany was successful in its military operations. In less than three months (April – June 1940), Germany conquered [[German invasion of Denmark (1940)|Denmark]], [[Norwegian campaign|Norway]], the Low Countries, and [[Battle of France|France]]. The unexpectedly swift defeat of France resulted in an upswing in Hitler's popularity and an upsurge in war fever.{{Sfn|Beevor|2012|pp=70–71, 79}}{{Sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=562}} Hitler made peace overtures to the new British leader [[Winston Churchill]] in July 1940, but Churchill remained dogged in his defiance with major help from US president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Hitler's bombing campaign against Britain (September 1940 – May 1941) failed. Some 43,000 British civilians were killed and 139,000 wounded in [[the Blitz]]; much of [[London]] was destroyed. Germany's armed forces [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]] in June 1941 swept forward until they reached the gates of Moscow. The [[Einsatzgruppen]] (Nazi mobile [[death squads]]) executed all Soviet Jews that it located, while the Germans went to Jewish households and forced the families into concentration camps for labor or to extermination camps for death.

[[File:SFP 186 - Flug ueber Berlin.ogv|thumb|US Air Force photographs of the destruction in central Berlin in July 1945]]

The tide began to turn in December 1941, when the invasion of the Soviet Union hit determined resistance in the [[Battle of Moscow]] and Hitler declared war on the United States in the wake of the Japanese [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor attack]]. After surrender in [[North African Campaign|North Africa]] and losing the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in 1942–1943, the Germans were forced into the defensive. By late 1944, the United States, Canada, France, and Great Britain were closing in on Germany in the West, while the Soviets were victoriously [[Operation Bagration|advancing in the East]].
[[File:Raising a flag over the Reichstag - Restoration.jpg|thumb|A Russian soldier [[Raising a Flag over the Reichstag|raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag]] during the [[Battle of Berlin]]]]

In 1944–1945, Soviet forces completely or partially liberated [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|Romania]], Bulgaria, [[Budapest Offensive|Hungary]], [[Belgrade Offensive|Yugoslavia]], Poland, [[Prague Offensive|Czechoslovakia]], [[Vienna Offensive|Austria]], Denmark, and [[Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive|Norway]]. Nazi Germany collapsed as [[Battle in Berlin|Berlin was taken]] by the Soviet Union's Red Army in a fight to the death on the city streets. 2,000,000 Soviet troops took part in the assault, and they faced 750,000 German troops. 78,000–305,000 Soviets were killed, while 325,000 German civilians and soldiers were killed.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Axelrod |first1=Alan |title=Encyclopedia of World War II, Volume 1 |last2=Kingston |first2=Jack A. |date=2007 |publisher=H W Fowler |page=165}}</ref> Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945. The final [[German Instrument of Surrender]] was signed on 8 May 1945, marking the end of Nazi Germany.

By September 1945, Nazi Germany and its Axis partners (mainly [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]) had all been defeated, chiefly by the forces of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain. Much of Europe lay in ruins, over 60 million people worldwide had been killed (most of them civilians), including approximately 6 million Jews and 11 million non-Jews in what became known as [[the Holocaust]]. World War II destroyed Germany's political and economic infrastructure, caused its partition, considerable loss of territory (especially in the East), and historical legacy of guilt and shame.<ref>{{Cite book |first=David Clay |last=Large |url=https://archive.org/details/berlin00larg_0 |title=Berlin |publisher=Basic Books |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-4650-2632-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/berlin00larg_0/page/482 482] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Germany during the Cold War, 1945–1990==
{{Main|History of Germany (1945–1990)}}
[[File:German territorial losses 1919 and 1945.svg|lang=en|thumb|Territorial losses of modern Germany 1920–1945|link=File:German_territorial_losses_1919_and_1945.svg]]
As a consequence of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the onset of the [[Cold War]] in 1947, the country's territory was shrunk and split between the two global blocs in the East and West, a period known as the division of Germany. Millions of refugees from Central and Eastern Europe moved west, most of them to West Germany. Two countries emerged: [[West Germany]] was a parliamentary democracy, a [[NATO]] member, a founding member of what since became the [[European Union]] as one of the world's largest economies and under allied military control until 1955,<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2009 |title=Allies end occupation of West Germany |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-end-occupation-of-west-germany |access-date=4 March 2019 |publisher=A&E Television Networks}}</ref> while [[East Germany]] was a totalitarian Communist dictatorship controlled by the Soviet Union as a satellite of Moscow. With the collapse of Communism in Europe in 1989, [[German reunification|reunion followed]].

No one doubted Germany's economic and engineering prowess; the question was how long bitter memories of the war would cause Europeans to distrust Germany, and whether Germany could demonstrate it had rejected totalitarianism and militarism and embraced democracy and human rights.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Stearns |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7YPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |title=Demilitarization in the Contemporary World |publisher=University of Illinois Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-2520-9515-3 |page=176}}</ref>

=== Expulsion ===

At the [[Potsdam Conference]], Germany was [[Partitions of Germany|divided into four military occupation zones]] by the Allies and did not regain independence until 1949. The provinces east of the Oder and Neisse rivers (the [[Oder-Neisse line]]) were transferred to Poland and Soviet Russia ([[Kaliningrad oblast]]) while Saarland separated from Germany to become a French [[protectorate]] on 17 December 1947 (joined West Germany on 1 January 1957), pending a final peace conference with Germany, which eventually never took place.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Roberts, Patricia Hogwood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q40tDwAAQBAJ |title=The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-8477-9032-3 |page=50}}; {{Cite book|title=The United States and Poland|author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz|publisher=Harvard University Press|date= 1980|page=303|isbn=978-0-6749-2685-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC}}; {{Cite book|title=The Oder-Neisse Line: a reappraisal under international law|author=Phillip A. Bühler|series=East European Monographs|date= 1990|page=33|isbn=978-0-8803-3174-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riBpAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Most of the remaining German population [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|was expelled]]. Around 6.7 million Germans living in [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|"west-shifted" Poland]], mostly within previously German lands, and the 3 million in German-settled regions of Czechoslovakia were [[Ethnic cleansing|deported west]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schechtman |first=Joseph B. |date=April 1953 |title=Postwar Population Transfers in Europe: A Survey |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_review-of-politics_1953-04_15_2/page/151 |journal=Review of Politics |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=151–178 |doi=10.1017/s0034670500008081 |jstor=1405220 |s2cid=144307581}} "Most had left" is p. 158.</ref>

===Post-war chaos===
{{Further|Office of Military Government, United States}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P054320, Berlin, Brandenburger Tor und Pariser Platz.jpg|thumb|left|Devastation in Berlin after the [[Second World War]], 1945]]
The total of [[World War II casualties#Third Reich|German war dead]] was 8% to 10% out of a prewar population of 69,000,000, or between 5.5 million and 7 million people. This included 4.5 million in the military, and between 1 and 2 million civilians. There was chaos as 11 million foreign workers and POWs left, while soldiers returned home and more than 14 million displaced German-speaking refugees from both the eastern provinces and East-Central and Eastern Europe were expelled from their native land and came to the western German lands, often foreign to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bessel |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/germany194500rich |title=Germany 1945: From War to Peace |publisher=Harper Collins Publishers |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-0605-4036-4 |author-link=Richard Bessel}}</ref> During the [[Cold War]], the [[West German]] government estimated a death toll of 2.2 million civilians due to the [[flight and expulsion of Germans]] and through [[forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union|forced labour in the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Die Arbeit der Suchdienste – 6o Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg: Narben bleiben – p.13 |url=https://www.volksbund.de/fileadmin/redaktion/BereichInfo/BereichPublikationen/Reihe_Allgemeine_Reihe/Erweiterungen/0100_Band_10/0%20Band10%20Narben%20bleiben.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611215917/http://www.volksbund.de/fileadmin/redaktion/BereichInfo/BereichPublikationen/Reihe_Allgemeine_Reihe/Erweiterungen/0100_Band_10/0%20Band10%20Narben%20bleiben.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2017 |access-date=4 March 2019 |publisher=Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Bernd |last=Faulenbach |date=6 April 2005 |title=Die Vertreibung der Deutschen aus den Gebieten jenseits von Oder und Neiße |url=http://www.bpb.de/geschichte/nationalsozialismus/dossier-nationalsozialismus/39587/die-vertreibung-der-deutschen |access-date=4 March 2019 |publisher=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung}}</ref> This figure remained unchallenged until the 1990s, when some historians put the death toll at 500,000–600,000 confirmed deaths.<ref>Robert Bard, ''Historical Memory and the expulsion of ethnic Germans in Europe, 1944'' (PhD. Diss. University of Hertfordshire, 2009) [http://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/4445/Thesis?sequence=1 online]</ref> In 2006, the German government reaffirmed its position that 2.0–2.5 million deaths occurred.

[[File:Map-Germany-1945.svg|thumb|Occupation zone borders, 1947. Berlin, although within the Soviet zone, was also divided among the four occupied powers. The areas in white to the east were transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union under the terms of the [[Potsdam Agreement]].]]

[[Denazification]] removed, imprisoned, or executed most top officials of the old regime, but most middle and lower ranks of civilian officialdom were not seriously affected. In accordance with the Allied agreement made at the [[Yalta Conference]], millions of POWs were used as [[Foreign forced labor in the Soviet Union|forced labor]] by the Soviet Union and other European countries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Eugene |title=The death and life of Germany: an account of the American occupation |page=121}}</ref>

In the East, the Soviets crushed dissent and imposed another police state, often employing ex-Nazis in the dreaded [[Stasi]]. The Soviets extracted about 23% of the East German GNP for reparations, while in the West reparations were a minor factor.<ref name="Liberman1998">{{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Liberman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWQjE7Y0yVUC |title=Does Conquest Pay?: The Exploitation of Occupied Industrial Societies p. 147 |date=23 August 1998 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-0242-2}}</ref>

In 1945–1946 housing and food conditions were bad, as the disruption of transport, markets, and finances slowed a return to normal. In the West, bombing had destroyed the fourth of the housing stock,<ref>2.3 million units out of 9.5 million were destroyed.</ref> and over 10 million refugees from the east had crowded in, most living in camps.<ref name="tipton">{{Cite book |last=Tipton |first=Frank B. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderng0000tipt |title=A History of Modern Germany since 1815 |date=2003 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderng0000tipt/page/n508 508]–513, 596–599}}</ref> Food production in 1946–1948 was only two-thirds of the prewar level, while grain and meat shipments – which usually supplied 25% of the food – no longer arrived from the East. Furthermore, the end of the war brought the end of large shipments of food seized from occupied nations that had sustained Germany during the war. Coal production was down 60%, which had cascading negative effects on railroads, heavy industry, and heating.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoover |first=Calvin B. |date=May 1946 |title=The Future of the German Economy |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-economic-review_1946-05_36_2/page/642 |journal=American Economic Review |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=642–649 |jstor=1818235}}</ref> Industrial production fell more than half and reached prewar levels only at the end of 1949.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milward |first=Alan S. |url=https://archive.org/details/reconstructionof0000milw |title=The Reconstruction of Western Europe: 1945–51 |date=1984 |isbn=978-0-5200-5206-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reconstructionof0000milw/page/356 356], 436|publisher=University of California Press }}</ref>

Allied economic policy originally was one of [[Industrial plans for Germany|industrial disarmament]] plus building the agricultural sector. In the western sectors, most of the industrial plants had minimal bomb damage and the Allies dismantled 5% of the industrial plants for reparations.<ref name="ardagh">{{Cite book |last=Ardagh |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/germanygermans00john |title=Germany and the Germans |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-0601-5839-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/germanygermans00john/page/74 74]–82, 84}}</ref>

However, deindustrialization became impractical and the U.S. instead called for a strong industrial base in Germany so it could stimulate European economic recovery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gareau |first=Frederick H. |date=Jun 1961 |title=Morgenthau's Plan for Industrial Disarmament in Germany |journal=Western Political Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=517–534 |doi=10.2307/443604 |jstor=443604}}</ref> The U.S. shipped food in 1945–1947 and made a $600 million loan in 1947 to rebuild German industry. By May 1946 the removal of machinery had ended, thanks to lobbying by the U.S. Army. The Truman administration finally realised that economic recovery in Europe could not go forward without the reconstruction of the German industrial base on which it had previously been dependent. Washington decided that an "orderly, prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=28 July 1947 |title=Conferences: Pas de Pagaille! |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887417,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014043427/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887417,00.html |archive-date=14 October 2007}}</ref><ref>For US and Allied official policy statements see U.S. Dept. of State ''Germany, 1947–1949: The Story in Documents'' (1950); these are primary sources.</ref>

In 1945, the occupying powers took over all newspapers in Germany and purged them of Nazi influence. The American occupation headquarters, the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) began its own newspaper based in Munich, ''Die Neue Zeitung.'' It was edited by German and Jewish émigrés who fled to the United States before the war. Its mission was to encourage democracy by exposing Germans to how American culture operated. The paper was filled with details on American sports, politics, business, Hollywood, and fashions, as well as international affairs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gienow-Hecht |first=Jessica C.E. |date=1999 |title=Art is democracy and democracy is art: Culture, propaganda, and the Neue Zeitung in Germany |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_diplomatic-history_winter-1999_23_1/page/21 |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=21–43 |doi=10.1111/0145-2096.00150}}</ref>

===East Germany===
{{Main|East Germany|History of East Germany}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1007-402, Berlin, 40. Jahrestag DDR-Gründung, Ehrengäste.jpg|thumb|[[Erich Honecker]] and guests of honor like [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] celebrate the 40th (and last) anniversary of the socialist regime of the [[German Democratic Republic]] on 7 October 1989.]]
On 7 October 1949, the Soviet zone became the "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" – "DDR" ("German Democratic Republic" – "GDR", simply often "East Germany"), under control of the Socialist Unity Party. Neither country had a significant army until the 1950s, but East Germany built the [[Stasi]] into a powerful secret police that infiltrated every aspect of its society.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bruce |first=Gary |title=The Firm: The Inside Story of the Stasi |date=2010}}</ref>

East Germany was an [[Eastern bloc]] state under political and military control of the Soviet Union through her occupation forces and the [[Warsaw Pact|Warsaw Treaty]]. Political power was solely executed by leading members (''[[Politburo]]'') of the communist-controlled [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] (SED). A Soviet-style [[command economy]] was set up; later the GDR became the most advanced [[Comecon]] state. While [[Communist propaganda|East German propaganda]] was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programs and the alleged constant threat of a West German invasion, many of her citizens looked to the West for political freedoms and economic prosperity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fulbrook |first=Mary |title=The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker |date=2008}}</ref>

[[Walter Ulbricht]] was the party boss from 1950 to 1971. In 1933, Ulbricht had fled to Moscow, where he served as a Comintern agent loyal to Stalin. As World War II was ending, Stalin assigned him the job of designing the postwar German system that would centralize all power in the Communist Party. Ulbricht became deputy prime minister in 1949 and secretary (chief executive) of the Socialist Unity (Communist) party in 1950.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Granville |first=Johanna |date=Sep 2006 |title=East Germany in 1956: Walter Ulbricht's Tenacity in the Face of Opposition |journal=Australian Journal of Politics and History |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=417–438 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8497.2006.00427.x}}</ref> Some 2.6 million people had fled East Germany by 1961 when he built the [[Berlin Wall]] to stop them – shooting those who attempted it. What the GDR called the "Anti-Fascist Protective Wall" was a major embarrassment for the program during the Cold War, but it did stabilize East Germany and postpone its collapse.<ref>{{Citation |last=Biesinger |first=Joseph A. |title=Germany: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present |page=270 |date=2006}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Taylor |first=Frederick |title=The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961–1989 |date=2008}}</ref> Ulbricht lost power in 1971, but was kept on as a nominal head of state. He was replaced because he failed to solve growing national crises, such as the worsening economy in 1969–1970, the fear of another popular uprising as had occurred in 1953, and the disgruntlement between Moscow and Berlin caused by Ulbricht's détente policies toward the West.

The transition to [[Erich Honecker]] ([[Leadership of East Germany|General Secretary]] from 1971 to 1989) led to a change in the direction of national policy and efforts by the Politburo to pay closer attention to the grievances of the proletariat. [[Erich Honecker|Honecker]]'s plans were not successful, however, with the dissent growing among East Germany's population.

In 1989, the socialist regime collapsed after 40 years, despite its omnipresent secret police, the [[Stasi]]. The main reasons for its collapse included severe economic problems and growing emigration towards the West.

East Germany's culture was shaped by Communism and particularly Stalinism. It was characterized by East German psychoanalyst Hans-Joachim Maaz in 1990 as having produced a "Congested Feeling" among Germans in the East as a result of Communist policies criminalizing personal expression that deviates from government approved ideals, and through the enforcement of Communist principals by physical force and intellectual repression by government agencies, particularly the Stasi.<ref name="pence-betts">{{Cite book |last1=Pence |first1=Katherine |title=Socialist modern: East German everyday culture and politics |last2=Betts |first2=Paul |publisher=University of Michigan Press |date=2011 |edition=4 |pages=37, 59}}</ref> Critics of the East German state have claimed that the state's commitment to communism was a hollow and cynical tool of a ruling elite. This argument has been challenged by some scholars who claim that the Party was committed to the advance of scientific knowledge, economic development, and social progress. However, the vast majority regarded the state's Communist ideals to be nothing more than a deceptive method for government control.<ref name=pence-betts/>

According to German historian [[Jürgen Kocka]] (2010):
:''Conceptualizing the GDR as a dictatorship has become widely accepted, while the meaning of the concept dictatorship varies. Massive evidence has been collected that proves the repressive, undemocratic, illiberal, nonpluralistic character of the GDR regime and its ruling party.''<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jürgen |last=Kocka |author-link=Jürgen Kocka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8mo4uP3SQMC&pg=PA37 |title=Civil Society and Dictatorship in Modern German History |publisher=UPNE |date=2010 |isbn=978-1-5846-5866-5 |page=37}}</ref>

===West Germany (Bonn Republic)===
[[File:Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg|thumb|Flag of West Germany and unified Germany, 1949 – present]]
{{Main|West Germany}}

On 23 May 1949, the [[Trizone|three western occupation zones]] (American, British, and French) were combined into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany). The government was formed under Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] and his conservative CDU/CSU coalition.<ref>The [[Christian Social Union of Bavaria|Christian Social Union]] or CSU is the Bavaria branch of the CDU. It has always operated in close collaboration with the CDU, and the CDU/CSU is usually treated as a single party in national affairs.</ref> The CDU/CSU was in power during most of the period since 1949. The capital was [[Bonn]] until it was moved to Berlin in 1990. In 1990, FRG absorbed [[East Germany]] and gained full sovereignty over Berlin. At all points West Germany was much larger and richer than East Germany, which became a dictatorship under the control of the Communist Party and was closely monitored by Moscow. Germany, especially Berlin, was a cockpit of the [[Cold War]], with NATO and the Warsaw Pact assembling major military forces in west and east. However, there was never any combat.<ref>Jürgen Weber, ''Germany, 1945–1990: A Parallel History'' (Budapest, Central European University Press, 2004)</ref>

====Economic miracle====
[[File:1000000th Beetle.jpg|thumb|The [[Volkswagen Beetle]] was an icon of West German reconstruction.]]
West Germany enjoyed prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s (''[[Wirtschaftswunder]]'' or "Economic Miracle").<ref name="weber">{{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Jurgen |title=Germany, 1945–1990 |publisher=Central European University Press |date=2004 |pages=37–60, 103–118, 167–188, 221–264}}</ref> Industrial production doubled from 1950 to 1957, and gross national product grew at a rate of 9 or 10% per year, providing the engine for economic growth of all of Western Europe. Labor unions supported the new policies with postponed wage increases, minimized strikes, support for technological modernization, and a policy of [[co-determination]] (''Mitbestimmung''), which involved a satisfactory grievance resolution system as well as requiring representation of workers on the boards of large corporations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fürstenberg |first=Friedrich |date=May 1977 |title=West German Experience with Industrial Democracy |journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=431 |pages=44–53 |doi=10.1177/000271627743100106 |jstor=1042033 |s2cid=154284862}}</ref> The recovery was accelerated by the [[Deutsche Mark#Currency reform of June 1948|currency reform of June 1948]], U.S. gifts of $1.4 billion as part of the [[Marshall Plan]], the breaking down of old trade barriers and traditional practices, and the opening of the global market.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1968 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2004 |editor-last=Junker |editor-first=Detlef |volume=1 |pages=291–309}}</ref> West Germany gained legitimacy and respect, as it shed the horrible reputation Germany had gained under the Nazis.

West Germany played a central role in the creation of European cooperation; it joined [[NATO]] in 1955 and was a founding member of the [[European Economic Community]] in 1958.

==== 1948 currency reform ====
[[File:C-54landingattemplehof.jpg|thumb|Berliners watching a transport bringing food and coal during the [[Berlin Blockade]] of 1948–1949]]

The most dramatic and successful policy event was the currency reform of 1948.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sauermann |first=Heinz |date=1950 |title=The Consequences of the Currency Reform in Western Germany |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_review-of-politics_1950-04_12_2/page/175 |journal=Review of Politics |volume=12 |pages=175–196 |doi=10.1017/s0034670500045009 |jstor=1405052 |s2cid=145428438 |number=2}}</ref> Since the 1930s, prices and wages had been controlled, but money had been plentiful. That meant that people had accumulated large paper assets, and that official prices and wages did not reflect reality, as the black market dominated the economy and more than half of all transactions were taking place unofficially. On 21 June 1948, the Western Allies withdrew the old currency and replaced it with the new [[Deutsche Mark]] at the rate of 1 new per 10 old. This wiped out 90% of government and private debt, as well as private savings. Prices were decontrolled, and labor unions agreed to accept a 15% wage increase, despite the 25% rise in prices. The result was that prices of German export products held steady, while profits and earnings from exports soared and were poured back into the economy. The currency reforms were simultaneous with the $1.4 billion in [[Marshall Plan]] money coming in from the United States, which was used primarily for investment.

In addition, the Marshall Plan forced German companies, as well as those in all of Western Europe, to modernize their business practices and take account of the international market. Marshall Plan funding helped overcome bottlenecks in the surging economy caused by remaining controls (which were removed in 1949), and Marshall Plan business reforms opened up a greatly expanded market for German exports. Overnight, consumer goods appeared in the stores, because they could be sold for realistic prices, emphasizing to Germans that their economy had turned a corner.<ref name="tipton"/>

The success of the currency reform angered the Soviets, who cut off all road, rail, and canal links between the western zones and [[West Berlin]]. This was the [[Berlin Blockade]], which lasted from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949. In response, the U.S. and Britain launched an airlift of food and coal and distributed the new currency in West Berlin as well. The city thereby became economically integrated into West Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Giangreco |first1=D. M. |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/INDEX.HTM |title=Airbridge to Berlin: The Berlin Crisis of 1948, Its Origins and Aftermath |last2=Griffin |first2=Robert E. |publisher=Presidio Press |date=1988 |access-date=10 February 2011 |archive-date=6 March 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020306213315/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/INDEX.HTM }}</ref> Until the mid-1960s, it served as "America's Berlin", symbolizing the United States' commitment to defending its freedom, which John F. Kennedy underscored during his visit in June 1963.<ref>[[Andreas Daum]], ''Kennedy in Berlin''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 1‒5, 125–163.</ref>

==== Adenauer ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F078072-0004, Konrad Adenauer.jpg|thumb|upright|Adenauer in 1952; he forged close ties with France and the U.S. and opposed the Soviet Union and its satellite of East Germany.]]
[[Konrad Adenauer]] was the dominant leader in West Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Charles |title=Konrad Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany |date=2000}}</ref> He was the first chancellor (top official) of the FRG and until his death was the founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a coalition of conservatives, [[Ordoliberalism|ordoliberals]], and adherents of Protestant and [[Catholic social teaching]] that dominated West Germany politics for most of its history. During his chancellorship, the West Germany economy grew quickly, and West Germany established friendly relations with France, participated in the emerging [[European Union]], established the country's armed forces (the ''[[Bundeswehr]]''), and became a pillar of [[NATO]] as well as firm ally of the United States. Adenauer's government also commenced the long process of reconciliation with the Jews and [[Israel]] after the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hiscocks |first=Richard |title=The Adenauer era |date=1975 |page=290}}</ref>

==== Erhard ====
[[Ludwig Erhard]] was in charge of economic policy as economics director for the British and American occupation zones and was Adenauer's long-time economics minister. Erhard's decision to lift many price controls in 1948 (despite opposition from both the social democratic opposition and Allied authorities), plus his advocacy of free markets, helped set the Federal Republic on its strong growth from wartime devastation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Granieri |first=Ronald J. |date=2005 |title=Review |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-interdisciplinary-history_autumn-2005_36_2/page/262 |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=36 |pages=262–263 |doi=10.1162/0022195054741190 |s2cid=142774747 |number=2}}</ref> Norbert Walter, a former chief economist at [[Deutsche Bank]], argues that "Germany owes its rapid economic advance after World War II to the system of the Social Market Economy, established by Ludwig Erhard."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walter |first=Norbert |title=The Evolving German Economy: Unification, the Social Market, European and Global Integration |journal=SAIS Review |issue=15 (Special Issue 1995) |pages=55–81}}. Quote from p. 64</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mierzejewski |first=Alfred C. |title=Ludwig Erhard: a biography |date=2004}}</ref> Erhard was politically less successful when he served as the CDU Chancellor from 1963 until 1966. Erhard followed the concept of a [[social market economy]], and was in close touch with professional economists. Erhard viewed the market itself as social and supported only a minimum of welfare legislation. However, Erhard suffered a series of decisive defeats in his effort to create a free, competitive economy in 1957; he had to compromise on such key issues as the anti-cartel legislation. Thereafter, the West German economy evolved into a conventional west European welfare state.<ref>{{Citation |last=Mierzejewski |first=Alfred C. |title=1957: Ludwig Erhard's Annus Terribilis |work=Essays in Economic and Business History |volume=22 |pages=17–27 |date=2004 |issn=0896-226X}}</ref>

Meanwhile, in adopting the [[Godesberg Program]] in 1959, the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) largely abandoned Marxism ideas and embraced the concept of the [[market economy]] and the welfare state. Instead it now sought to move beyond its old working class base to appeal the full spectrum of potential voters, including the middle class and professionals. Labor unions [[Social corporatism|cooperated]] increasingly with industry, achieving labor representation on corporate boards and increases in wages and benefits.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Henry Ashby |url=https://archive.org/details/twogermaniessinc00turn |title=The two Germanies since 1945 |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-3000-4415-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/twogermaniessinc00turn/page/80 80]–82|publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>

==== Grand coalition ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F033246-0022, Bonn, Bundestag, Rede Bundeskanzler Brandt.jpg|thumb|[[Willy Brandt]], German Chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1971]]
In 1966, Erhard lost support and [[Kurt Kiesinger]] was elected as Chancellor by a new CDU/CSU-[[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] alliance combining the two largest parties. [[Social Democracy|Social democratic]] (SPD) leader [[Willy Brandt]] was Deputy Federal Chancellor and Foreign Minister. The 1966–1969 Grand Coalition reduced tensions with the Soviet bloc nations and establishing diplomatic relations with [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Romania]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]].

==== Guest workers ====
{{Main|Gastarbeiter}}
With a booming economy short of unskilled workers, especially after the Berlin Wall cut off the steady flow of East Germans, the FRG negotiated migration agreements with Italy (1955), [[Francoist Spain|Spain]] (1960), Greece (1960), and Turkey (1961) that brought in hundreds of thousands of temporary guest workers, called ''[[Gastarbeiter]]''. In 1968, the FRG signed a guest worker agreement with Yugoslavia that employed additional guest workers. ''Gastarbeiter'' were young men who were paid full-scale wages and benefits, but were expected to return home in a few years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shonick |first=Kaja |date=Oct 2009 |title=Politics, Culture, and Economics: Reassessing the West German Guest Worker Agreement with Yugoslavia |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=719–736 |doi=10.1177/0022009409340648 |s2cid=145180949}}</ref>

The agreement with Turkey ended in 1973 but few workers returned because there were few good jobs in Turkey.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Castles |first=Stephen |date=1985 |title=The Guests Who Stayed – The Debate on "Foreigners Policy" in the German Federal Republic |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_international-migration-review_fall-1985_19_3/page/517 |journal=International Migration Review |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=517–534 |doi=10.2307/2545854 |jstor=2545854 |pmid=12341062}}</ref> By 2010 there were about 4 million people of Turkish descent in Germany. The generation born in Germany attended German schools, but had a poor command of either German or Turkish, and had either low-skilled jobs or were unemployed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ewing |first=Katherine Pratt |date=Spring–Summer 2003 |title=Living Islam in the Diaspora: Between Turkey and Germany |journal=South Atlantic Quarterly |volume=102 |issue=2/3 |pages=405–431 |doi=10.1215/00382876-102-2-3-405 |s2cid=162029927}}. In [[Project MUSE]]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mandel |first=Ruth |title=Cosmopolitan Anxieties: Turkish Challenges to Citizenship and Belonging in Germany |publisher=Duke University Press |date=2008}}</ref>

==== Brandt and Ostpolitik ====
{{Main|Ostpolitik}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F031406-0017, Erfurt, Treffen Willy Brandt mit Willi Stoph.jpg|thumb|Brandt (left) and [[Willi Stoph]] in 1970, the first encounter of a Federal Chancellor with his East German counterpart]]
[[Willy Brandt]] was the leader of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] in 1964–1987 and West German Chancellor in 1969–1974. Under his leadership, the German government sought to reduce tensions with the [[Soviet Union]] and improve relations with the [[German Democratic Republic]], a policy known as the ''[[Ostpolitik]]''.<ref name=weber/> Relations between the two German states had been icy at best, with propaganda barrages in each direction. The heavy outflow of talent from East Germany prompted the building of the [[Berlin Wall]] in 1961, which worsened [[Cold War]] tensions and prevented East Germans from travel. Although anxious to relieve serious hardships for divided families and to reduce friction, Brandt's ''Ostpolitik'' was intent on holding to its concept of "two German states in one German nation".

''Ostpolitik'' was opposed by the conservative elements in Germany, but won Brandt an international reputation and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ostpolitik, 1969–1974: European and Global Responses |date=2009 |editor-last=Fink |editor-first=Carole |editor-last2=Schaefer |editor-first2=Bernd}}</ref> In September 1973, both West and East Germany were admitted to the [[United Nations]]. The two countries exchanged permanent representatives in 1974, and, in 1987, East Germany's leader [[Erich Honecker]] paid an [[Erich Honecker's 1987 visit to West Germany|official state visit]] to West Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fulbrook |first=Mary |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofgermany0000fulb_t6t0 |title=History of Germany, 1918–2000: the divided nation |date=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofgermany0000fulb_t6t0/page/170 170]}}</ref>

==== Economic crisis of 1970s ====
{{See also|Steel crisis}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F051012-0010, Bonn, Empfang Staatspräsident von Frankreich.jpg|thumb|left|[[Helmut Schmidt]], left, with French President [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] (1977)]]
After 1973, Germany was hard hit by a worldwide economic crisis, soaring oil prices, and stubbornly high unemployment, which jumped from 300,000 in 1973 to 1.1 million in 1975. The [[Ruhr]] region was hardest hit, as its easy-to-reach coal mines petered out, and expensive German coal was no longer competitive. Likewise the Ruhr steel industry went into sharp decline, as its prices were undercut by lower-cost suppliers such as Japan. The welfare system provided a safety net for the large number of unemployed workers, and many factories reduced their labor force and began to concentrate on high-profit specialty items. After 1990 the Ruhr moved into service industries and high technology. Cleaning up the heavy air and water pollution became a major industry in its own right. Meanwhile, formerly rural Bavaria became a high-tech center of industry.<ref name=ardagh/>

A spy scandal forced Brandt to step down as Chancellor while remaining as party leader. He was replaced by [[Helmut Schmidt]] (b. 1918), of the SPD, who served as Chancellor in 1974–1982. Schmidt continued the ''Ostpolitik'' with less enthusiasm. He had a [[PhD]] in economics and was more interested in domestic issues, such as reducing [[inflation]]. The debt grew rapidly as he borrowed to cover the cost of the ever more expensive welfare state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinn |first=Hans-Werner |url=https://archive.org/details/cangermanybesave00sinn |title=Can Germany be saved?: the malaise of the world's first welfare state |publisher=MIT Press |date=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cangermanybesave00sinn/page/183 183]}}</ref> After 1979, foreign policy issues grew central as the Cold War turned hot again. The German peace movement mobilized hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to protest against American deployment in Europe of new [[medium-range ballistic missile]]s. Schmidt supported the deployment but was opposed by the left wing of the SPD and by Brandt.

The pro-business [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party (FDP)]] had been in coalition with the SPD, but now it changed direction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cerny |first=Karl H. |title=Germany at the polls: the Bundestag elections of the 1980s |date=1990 |page=113}}</ref> Led by Finance Minister [[Otto Graf Lambsdorff]] the FDP adopted the market-oriented "Kiel Theses" in 1977; it rejected the Keynesian emphasis on consumer demand, and proposed to reduce social welfare spending, and try to introduce policies to stimulate production and facilitate jobs. Lambsdorff argued that the result would be economic growth, which would itself solve both the social problems and the financial problems. As a consequence, the FDP switched allegiance to the CDU and Schmidt lost his parliamentary majority in 1982. For the only time in West Germany's history, the government fell on a [[vote of no confidence]].<ref name=tipton/><ref>For a primary source see Helmut Schmidt, '' Men and Power: A Political Retrospective'' (1990)</ref>

====Kohl====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F074398-0021, Bonn, Pressekonferenz Bundestagswahlkampf, Kohl.jpg|thumb|[[Helmut Kohl]] became first chancellor of a reunified Germany.]]
[[Helmut Kohl]] brought the conservatives back to power with a [[Cabinet Kohl I|CDU/CSU-FDP coalition]] in 1982, and served as Chancellor until 1998.<ref name="weber"/> He orchestrated reunification with the approval of all the Four Powers from World War II, who still had a voice in German affairs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pruys |first=Karl |title=Kohl: Genius of the Present: A Biography of Helmut Kohl |date=1996}}</ref> He lost in [[1998 German federal election|the left's biggest landslide victory in 1998]], and was succeeded by the SPD's [[Gerhard Schröder]].<ref>{{cite news |title=SCHROEDER DEFEATS KOHL IN HISTORIC GERMAN VOTE |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/09/28/schroeder-defeats-kohl-in-historic-german-vote/aef75701-81af-4620-a6ef-ccdd5358dbb7/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

===Reunification===
{{Main|German reunification}}

During the summer of 1989, rapid changes known as ''peaceful revolution'' or ''[[Die Wende]]'' took place in East Germany, which quickly led to [[German reunification]].<ref name="weber"/> Growing numbers of East Germans emigrated to West Germany, many via Hungary after Hungary's reformist government opened its borders.
[[File:Oliver Mark - Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, Pöcking 2006.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Habsburg]], who played a leading role in opening the Iron Curtain]]
The opening of the [[Iron Curtain]] between [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]] at the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989 then triggered a chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer a GDR and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. [[Otto von Habsburg]]'s idea developed the greatest mass exodus since the construction of the Berlin Wall and it was shown that the USSR and the rulers of the Eastern European satellite states were not ready to keep the Iron Curtain effective. This made their loss of power visible and clear that the GDR no longer received effective support from the other communist Eastern Bloc countries.<ref>Miklós Németh in Interview, Austrian TV – ORF "Report", 25 June 2019.</ref><ref>Thomas Roser: ''DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln'' (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Michael Frank: Paneuropäisches Picknick – Mit dem Picknickkorb in die Freiheit (German: Pan-European picnic – With the picnic basket to freedom), in: Süddeutsche Zeitung 17 May 2010.</ref> Thousands of East Germans then tried to reach the West by staging sit-ins at West German diplomatic facilities in other East European capitals, most notably in Prague. The exodus generated demands within East Germany for political change, and [[Monday demonstrations in East Germany|mass demonstrations in several cities]] continued to grow.<ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref>
[[File:Thefalloftheberlinwall1989.JPG|thumb|left|The fall of the [[Berlin Wall]], November 1989]]
Unable to stop the growing civil unrest, [[Erich Honecker]] was forced to resign in October, and on 9 November, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity; new crossing points [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|were opened in the Berlin Wall]] and along the border with West Germany. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that ended with the dissolution of East Germany and the [[German reunification]] that came into force on 3 October 1990.<ref>For primary sources in English translation and a brief survey see Konrad H. Jarausch, and Volker Gransow, eds. ''Uniting Germany: Documents and Debates, 1944–1993'' (1994)</ref>

==Federal Republic of Germany, 1990–present==
{{Main|History of Germany since 1990}}
{{Further|Politics of Germany|New states of Germany|Merkel cabinet (disambiguation){{!}}Merkel cabinets|Scholz cabinet}}
[[File:BRD.png|thumb|[[Germany]] in its modern borders]]

[[File:Reichstag building Berlin view from west before sunset.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Reichstag (building)|''Reichstag'']] in [[Berlin]] – the seat of German parliament since 1999.]]

The SPD/Green coalition won the 1998 elections and SPD leader [[Gerhard Schröder]] positioned himself as a [[centrist]] "[[Third Way (centrism)|Third Way]]" candidate in the mold of [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|U.K. Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] and [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Bill Clinton]]. Schröder proposed [[Agenda 2010]], a significant downsizing of the welfare state with five goals: tax cuts; labor market deregulation, especially relaxing rules protecting workers from dismissal and setting up [[Hartz concept]] job training; modernizing the welfare state by reducing entitlements; decreasing bureaucratic obstacles for small businesses; and providing new low-interest loans to local governments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hockenos |first=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/joschkafischerma00hock |title=Joschka Fischer and the making of the Berlin Republic |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-1951-8183-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/joschkafischerma00hock/page/n335 313]–14 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |url-access=limited}}</ref>

On 26 December 2004 during [[Boxing Day]] celebration, nearly 540 Germans died and many more thousands of Germans went missing due to the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|Indian Ocean tsunami from Indonesian earthquake]] while vacationing in Southern [[Thailand]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 2005, after the SPD lost to the [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union (CDU)]] in [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Gerhard Schröder]] announced he would call federal elections "as soon as possible". A [[motion of confidence]] was subsequently defeated after Schröder urged members not to vote for his government to trigger new elections. In response, a grouping of left-wing SPD dissidents and the neo-communist [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]] agreed to run on a joint ticket in the general election, with Schröder's rival [[Oskar Lafontaine]] leading the new group.

In the [[2005 German federal election|2005 elections]], [[Angela Merkel]] became the first female chancellor. In 2009 the German government approved a €50&nbsp;billion stimulus plan.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 January 2009 |title=Germany agrees on 50-billion-euro stimulus plan |work=France 24 |url=http://www.france24.com/en/20090106-germany-agrees-new-50-billion-euro-stimulus-plan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513022443/http://www.france24.com/en/20090106-germany-agrees-new-50-billion-euro-stimulus-plan |archive-date=13 May 2011}}</ref> Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of [[European integration]], the [[Energy transition in Germany|energy transition]] ({{Lang|de|Energiewende}}) for a [[sustainable energy]] supply, the [[Debt brake (Germany)|debt brake]] for balanced budgets, measures to increase the [[Ageing of Europe#Germany|fertility rate]] ([[Natalistic politics|pronatalism]]), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as [[Industry 4.0]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 January 2014 |title=Government declaration by Angela Merkel |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/merkel-regierungserklaerung110.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101010608/http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/merkel-regierungserklaerung110.html |archive-date=1 January 2015 |publisher=ARD Tagesschau |language=German}}</ref>
From [[2005 German federal election|2005]] to [[2009 German federal election|2009]] and [[2013 German federal election|2013]] to [[2021 German federal election|2021]], Germany was ruled by a [[Grand coalition (Germany)|grand coalition]] led by the CDU's [[Angela Merkel]] as chancellor. From 2009 to 2013, Merkel headed a centre-right government of the CDU/CSU and FDP.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Germany After the Grand Coalition: Governance and Politics in a Turbulent Environment |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2010 |editor-last=Bolgherini |editor-first=Silvia |editor-last2=Grotz |editor-first2=Florian}}</ref>

[[File:Angela Merkel und José Barroso vor dem Brandenburger Tor.jpg|thumb|upright|left|German chancellor [[Angela Merkel]] with [[José Barroso]] in 2007 promoting the [[Treaty of Lisbon]] to reform the EU]]

Together with France, Italy, Netherlands, and other EU member nations, Germany has played the leading role in the [[European Union]]. Germany (especially under Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]]) was one of the main supporters of admitting many East European countries to the EU. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary union to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus. German Chancellor Schröder expressed an interest in a permanent seat for Germany in the [[UN Security Council]], identifying France, Russia, and Japan as countries that explicitly backed Germany's bid. Germany formally adopted the Euro on 1 January 1999 after permanently fixing the Deutsche Mark rate on 31 December 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 December 1998 |title=Determination of the euro conversion rates |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/1998/html/pr981231_2.en.html |access-date=4 March 2019 |publisher=European Central Bank}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Carol C. |last=Bertaut, Murat F. Iyigun |title=The Launch of the Euro |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/1999/1099lead.pdf |access-date=4 March 2019 |publisher=Federal Reserve}}</ref>

Since 1990, German [[Bundeswehr]] has participated in a number of peacekeeping and disaster relief operations abroad. Since 2002, German troops formed part of the [[International Security Assistance Force]] in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan]], resulting in the first German [[German Armed Forces casualties in Afghanistan|casualties]] in combat missions since World War II.

In light of the worldwide [[Great Recession]] that began in 2008, Germany did not experience as much economic hardship as other European nations. {{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} Germany later sponsored a massive financial rescue in the wake of the [[European debt crisis|Eurozone crisis]] which affected the German economy.

Following the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|2011 earthquake and tsunami]] in Japan, which led to the [[Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster|Fukushima nuclear disaster]], German public opinion turned sharply against [[nuclear power in Germany]], which at the time produced a fourth of the electricity supply. In response Merkel announced plans to close down the nuclear power plants over the following decade, and a commitment to rely more heavily on wind and other alternative energy sources, in addition to coal and natural gas.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mufson |first=Steven |date=30 May 2011 |title=Germany to close all of its nuclear plants by 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/germany-to-close-all-of-its-nuclear-plants-by-2022/2011/05/30/AG0op1EH_story.html}}</ref>

Germany was affected by the [[European migrant crisis]] in 2015 as it became the final destination of choice for many asylum seekers from [[Africa]] and the [[Middle East]] entering the EU. The country took in over a million refugees and migrants and developed a quota system which redistributed migrants around its federal states based on their tax income and existing population density.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 January 2016 |title=Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911 |access-date=31 January 2016}}</ref> The decision by Merkel to authorize unrestricted entry led to heavy criticism in Germany as well as within Europe.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 January 2016 |title=Chancellor Running Out of Time on Refugee Issue |work=Spiegel Online |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/critique-of-merkel-on-refugee-issue-deepens-a-1072549.html |access-date=7 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=9 August 2016 |title=Merkel Critic Says Chancellor's Refugee Policy Is a 'Time Bomb' |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-09/merkel-critic-says-chancellor-s-refugee-policy-is-a-time-bomb |access-date=7 June 2017 |publisher=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref> This was a major factor in the rise of the far-right party [[Alternative for Germany]] which entered the Bundestag in the [[2017 German federal election|2017 federal election]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |title=Far-right AfD enters German parliament: What it means for German politics {{!}} DW {{!}} 24.09.2017 |work=DW.COM |url=https://www.dw.com/en/far-right-afd-enters-german-parliament-what-it-means-for-german-politics/a-40664281}}</ref>

===German government response to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-22)===
{{Further|German government response to the COVID-19 pandemic}}
In January 2020, Germany confirmed the first case of [[COVID-19 pandemic in Germany|novel coronavirus]], originating from Wuhan, China. In March 2020, Germany went on national lockdown, which greatly impacted the German economy, healthcare system, and society, and was also commended for being an effective model for instituting methods of curbing infections and deaths, but lost this status by the end of the year due to rising number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. In December 2020, COVID-19 vaccines began to be administered in Germany. Unfortunately, from June 2021 to the end of March 2022, Germany saw a new surge of huge COVID-19 infection wave, fueled by the highly transmissible [[SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant|Delta]][[SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant|cron]] hybrid variant, which is combined of Delta and Omicron mutations. However, Germany has suffered from a recombination event of Deltacron, which was caused by vaccine shortages in the first quarter. As of May 2022, Germany has reported 140,292 COVID-19-related deaths, the fifth highest mortality toll (behind Russia, the United Kingdom, [[Italy]], and [[France]]), out of 2 million deaths in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Germany COVID – Coronavirus Statistics – Worldometer |url=https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany |website=worldometers.info |language=en}}</ref>

COVID-19 measures in Germany were relaxed in March 2022. Mask obligation has been lifted, except for facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, and public vehicles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=COVID-19 measures lifted in most European countries |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/covid-19-measures-lifted-in-most-european-countries/2570613 |access-date=2025-07-08 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref>

===Post-COVID period (Since 2022)===
On 8 December 2021 just three months after Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) narrowly won the federal [[2021 German federal election|election]], ending 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel, Social Democrat [[Olaf Scholz]] was sworn in as Germany's new chancellor. He formed a coalition government with the Green Party and the liberal Free Democrats.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 September 2021 |title=Germany elections: Centre-left claim narrow win over Merkel's party |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58698806}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Crowcroft |first=Orlando |date=8 December 2021 |title='New era': Scholz becomes Germany's new chancellor as Merkel bows out |language=en |work=euronews |url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/08/olaf-scholz-to-become-germany-s-new-chancellor-as-merkel-bows-out}}</ref>

In February 2022, [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]] was elected for a second five-year term as Germany's president. Although largely ceremonial post{{Clarify|reason=Poor English|date=October 2025}}, he has been seen as a symbol of consensus and continuity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |title=Frank-Walter Steinmeier elected to second term as German president {{!}} DW {{!}} 13.02.2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/frank-walter-steinmeier-elected-to-second-term-as-german-president/a-60760871}}</ref>

After [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine]] in 2022, Germany's previous foreign policy towards Russia (traditional Ostpolitik) has been severely criticized for having been too credulous and soft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The ruins of Ostpolitik |url=https://www.eurozine.com/german-ostpolitik-in-the-shadow-of-russias-imperial-revenge |website=eurozine.com|date=23 February 2022 }}</ref> Following concerns from the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Germany announced a major shift in policy, pledging a €100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr{{Snd}}to remedy years of underinvestment{{Snd}}along with raising the budget to above 2% [[GDP]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Sheahan |first1=Maria |last2=Marsh |first2=Sarah |last3=Sheahan |first3=Maria |last4=Marsh |first4=Sarah |date=27 February 2022 |title=Germany to increase defence spending in response to 'Putin's war' – Scholz |language=en |work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-hike-defense-spending-scholz-says-further-policy-shift-2022-02-27/}}</ref>
As of April 2023, over 1.06 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded in Germany.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ukrainian refugees by country 2023 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1312584/ukrainian-refugees-by-country/ |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref>

As of December 2023, Germany is the fourth largest economy in the world after the United States, China and Japan and the largest economy in Europe. It is the third largest export nation in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 December 2023 |title=Economic Key Facts Germany |url=https://kpmg.com/de/en/home/insights/overview/economic-key-facts-germany.html}}</ref>

In February 2025, CDU/CSU, the conservatives, won Germany's 2025 federal [[2025 German federal election|election]], becoming the biggest group in the parliament. However, far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, doubled its support  to became the second biggest political party in parliament with  20.8% of the vote. SPD, the Social Democrats, had its worst performance in decades with 16.4% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news |title=Five key takeaways from the German election |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx29wlje6dno |work=www.bbc.com |date=24 February 2025}}</ref>

On 6 May 2025, [[Friedrich Merz]] was sworn in as Germany's next chancellor by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Merz formed a coalition with his Christian Democrats, its sister party the Christian Social Union, and the Social Democrats.<ref>{{cite news |title=Germany's Merz becomes chancellor after surviving historic vote failure |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp22zlrgko |work=www.bbc.com |date=6 May 2025}}</ref>

==See also==

{{Portal|Germany}}
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Historiography of Germany]]
* [[Conservatism in Germany]]
** [[Liberalism in Germany]]
* [[Economic history of Germany]]
* [[History of Berlin]]
* [[History of German foreign policy]]
* [[History of German journalism]]
* [[History of the Jews in Germany]]
* [[History of women in Germany]]
* [[List of chancellors of Germany]]
* [[List of German monarchs]]
** [[Family tree of German monarchs]]
* [[Military history of Germany]]
* [[Names of Germany]]
* [[Politics of Germany]]
* [[Territorial evolution of Germany]]
* [[Timeline of German history]]
* [[Timeline of the German Empire]]
* [[Timeline of the Weimar Republic]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
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* {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |title=The Coming of the Third Reich |title-link=The Coming of the Third Reich |date=2003 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-1430-3469-8 |location=New York |author-link=Richard J. Evans}}
*: {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |url=https://archive.org/details/thirdreichinpowe00evan |title=The Third Reich in Power |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-1430-3790-3 |location=New York |author-mask=1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fichtner |first=Paula S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ilyK1_1f0zYC |title=Historical Dictionary of Austria |date=2009 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-6310-1 |edition=2nd |volume=70}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fortson |first=Benjamin W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSxHgej4tKMC |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction |date=2011 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-4443-5968-8 |edition=2nd |series=Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics |volume=30}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fuhrmann |first=Horst |title=Germany in the High Middle Ages: C.1050–1200 |date=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5213-1980-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Green |first=Dennis H. |title=[[Language and history in the early Germanic world]] |date=2000 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-5217-9423-7 |edition=Revised}}
*: {{Cite book |last=Green |first=Dennis H. |title=The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective |date=2003 |publisher=[[Boydell & Brewer]] |isbn=978-1-8438-3033-7 |editor-last=Heather |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Heather |edition=Revised |volume=4 |chapter=Linguistic evidence for the early migrations of the Goths |author-mask=1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MADmH2eaGIC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hayton |first=Darin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VnkCgAAQBAJ |title=The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I |date=2015 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-8113-8 |language=en |access-date=25 December 2021}}
* {{Cite book |last=Heather |first=Peter J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wCOJfTB7HtgC |title=The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1951-5954-7 |edition=Reprint |author-link=Peter Heather}}
* {{Cite book |last=Historicus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pz9NAQAAIAAJ |title=Frankreichs 33 Eroberungskriege |date=1935 |publisher=Internationaler Verlag |others=Translated from the French. Foreword by Alcide Ebray |edition=3rd |language=de |trans-title=France's 33 wars of conquest |access-date=21 November 2015}}
* {{Cite book |last=Heather |first=Peter |title=Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe |date=2010 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hen |first=Yitzhak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fAl6ACLP7oC |title=Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: A.D. 481–751 |date=1995 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0041-0347-4 |series=Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions: Medieval and Early Modern Peoples Series |volume=1 |author-link=Yitzhak Hen |access-date=26 November 2015}}
* {{Cite book |last=Holborn |first=Hajo |ol=21270043M |title=A History of Modern Germany |volume=1: The Reformation 1648–1840 |date=1959 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |author-link=Hajo Holborn |oclc=1035596914}}
** {{Cite book |last=Holborn |author-mask=1 |first=Hajo |ol=24953951M |title=A History of Modern Germany |volume=2: 1648–1840 |date=1964 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |author-link=Hajo Holborn |oclc=25222664}}
** {{Cite book |last=Holborn |author-mask=1 |first=Hajo |ol=6269387M |title=A History of Modern Germany |volume=3: 1840–1945 |date=1969 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |author-link=Hajo Holborn |oclc=23101189}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |title=Hitler: A Biography |date=2008 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-3930-6757-6 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC |title=Medieval France: An Encyclopedia |date=1995 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-8240-4444-2 |editor-last=Kibler |editor-first=William W. |series=Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages |volume=2 |access-date=26 November 2015}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kristinsson |first=Axel |title=Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe Since the Bronze Age |date=2010 |publisher=ReykjavíkurAkademían |isbn=978-9-9799-9221-9 |chapter=Germanic expansion and the fall of Rome |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9s2uzr47M-cC}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Loyd E. |date=1985 |title=The German Confederation and the Consolidation of State Power in the South German States, 1815–1848 |journal=Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750–1850: Proceedings |volume=15}}
* {{Cite book |last=Longerich |first=Peter |title=Heinrich Himmler: A Life |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1995-9232-6 |location=Oxford; New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Majer |first=Diemut |title="Non-Germans" under the Third Reich: The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe, with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939–1945 |date=2003 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-6493-3 |location=Baltimore; London}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Princes and Princely Culture: 1450–1650 |publisher=BRILL |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cqMgy6ZxlMC&pg=PA298 |access-date=24 October 2021 |last=Müller |first=Jan-Dirk |date=2003 |editor-last=Gosman |editor-first=Martin |page=298 |isbn=978-9-0041-3572-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024064350/https://books.google.com/books?id=6cqMgy6ZxlMC&pg=PA298 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |editor-last2=Alasdair |editor-first2=A. |editor-last3=MacDonald |editor-first3=A. |editor-last4=Macdonald |editor-first4=Alasdair James |editor-last5=Vanderjagt |editor-first5=Arie Johan |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Hans |title=The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-8078-4721-6 |location=Chapel Hill, NC |pages=11–12 |translator-last=Forster |translator-first=Elborg |translator-last2=Jones |translator-first2=Larry Eugene}}
* {{Cite book |last=Noflatscher |first=Heinz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqT5V2mq4SIC |title=Maximilian I. (1459–1519): Wahrnehmung – Übersetzungen – Gender |date=2011 |publisher=StudienVerlag |isbn=978-3-7065-4951-6 |page=245 |language=de |access-date=7 November 2021}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nipperdey |first=Thomas |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691636115/germany-from-napoleon-to-bismarck |title=Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck: 1800–1866 |date=1996 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6916-0755-9 |translator-last=Nolan |translator-first=Daniel |ol=1273142M |author-link=Thomas Nipperdey}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ozment |first=Steven |title=A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People |date=2004 |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |isbn=978-0-0609-3483-5}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Germany |encyclopedia=Concise Encyclopedia of World History |publisher=Atlantic Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGKsS-9h4BYC |last=Ramirez-Faria |first=Carlos |date=2007 |isbn=978-8-1269-0775-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richie |first=Alexandra |title=Faust's Metropolis. A History of Berlin |date=1998 |page=207}}; emphasis on 20th century
* {{Cite book |last=Rodes |first=John E. |title=Germany: A History |date=1964 |publisher=[[Holt, Rinehart and Winston]] |asin=B0000CM7NW}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rüger |first=C. |title=The Cambridge Ancient History: X, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69 |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5212-6430-3 |editor-last=Bowman |editor-first=Alan K. |edition=2nd |volume=10 |chapter=Germany |orig-date=1996 |editor-last2=Champlin |editor-first2=Edward |editor-last3=Lintott |editor-first3=Andrew |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZLW4-wba7UC&pg=PA528}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sagarra |first=Eda |title=A Social History of Germany 1648–1914 |date=1977 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-3431-5 |edition=2002}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schulman |first=Jana K. |title=The Rise of the Medieval World, 500–1300: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=James J. |title=German History 1770–1866 |date=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1982-0432-9 |series=Oxford History of Modern Europe |location=Oxford |ol=7397485M |author-link=James J. Sheehan}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stollberg-Rilinger |first=Barbara |title=The Holy Roman Empire: A Short History |date=11 May 2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6912-1731-4 |edition=first paperback |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=w5IIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 46–53] |language=de |trans-title=Das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation: Vom Ende des Mittelalters bis 1806 |ol=34693404M |orig-date=2018}}
* {{cite book |last1=Stolper |first1=Gustav |title=German Economy, 1870-1940: Issues and Trends |date=14 June 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-84711-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_8nDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=James Westfall |title=Economic and Social History of Europe in the Later Middle Ages (1300–1530) |date=1931}}
* {{Cite book |last=Van Dam |first=Raymond |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |date=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-5360-6 |editor-last=Fouracre |editor-first=Paul |editor-link=Paul Fouracre |series=Vol. 1, C.500–700 |chapter=8: Merovingian Gaul and the Frankish conquests |access-date=23 November 2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcmwuoTsKO0C}}
* {{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ax6DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich, 1648-1806 |date=24 November 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1916-2822-1 |location=Oxford |page=74 |access-date=3 March 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wiesflecker |first=Hermann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmIiAQAAIAAJ |title=Maximilian I. |date=1991 |publisher=Verlag für Geschichte und Politik |isbn=978-3-7028-0308-7 |language=de |access-date=21 November 2015}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire |date=2016 |publisher=[[Belknap Press]] |isbn=978-0-6740-5809-5 |author-link=Peter H. Wilson}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==

===Surveys===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Bithell, Jethro, ed. (1955) ''Germany: A Companion to German Studies'' (5th ed.); essays on German literature, music, philosophy, art and, especially, history.
* Bösch, Frank. (2015) ''Mass Media and Historical Change: Germany in International Perspective, 1400 to the Present'' (Berghahn). [https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/132865/seul-b%C3%B6sch-mass-media-and-historical-change-germany-international online review]
* Buse, Dieter K. ed. (1998) ''Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture 1871–1990''
* Detwiler, Donald S. (1999) ''Germany: A Short History'' (3rd ed.)
* {{Cite book |last=Fulbrook |first=Mary |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521368360 |title=A Concise History of Germany |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5213-6836-0 |series=Cambridge concise histories |url-access=registration}} This text has updated editions.
* Gall, Lothar. (2003) ''Milestones – Setbacks – Sidetracks: The Path to Parliamentary Democracy in Germany, Historical Exhibition in the Deutscher Dom in Berlin'', exhibit catalog; heavily illustrated; political history since 1800
* [[Ulrich Herbert|Herbert, Ulrich.]] (2019) ''A History of Twentieth-Century Germany''
* Kitchen, Martin. (2006) ''A history of modern Germany, 1800–2000'' [https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderng0000kitc online]
* Maehl, William Harvey. (1979) ''Germany in Western Civilization''; focus on politics and diplomacy
* Orlow, Dietrich. (2002) ''A history of modern Germany : 1871 to present'' [https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderng00orlo online]
* Raff, Diether. (1988) ''History of Germany from the Medieval Empire to the Present''
* Reinhardt, Kurt F. (1961) ''Germany: 2000 Years'' stress on cultural topics
* [[Hagen Schulze|Schulze, Hagen]], and Deborah Lucas Schneider. (2001) ''Germany: A New History''
* [[Helmut Walser Smith|Smith, Helmut Walser]], ed. (2011) ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History'', 862 pp; 35 essays by specialists; Germany since 1760
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Helmut Walser |title=Germany, a nation in its time: before, during, and after nationalism, 1500–2000 |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-8714-0466-4 |edition=First |location=New York, NY}}
* Snyder, Louis, ed. (1958) ''Documents of German history'' [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.186509 online]. 167 primary sources in English translation
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=A.J.P. |date=2001 |title=The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History since 1815 |title-link= The Course of German History |isbn=0-4152-5558-9 |ol=3949947M |publisher=Routledge |orig-date=1945 |author-link=A. J. P. Taylor}}
* Watson, Peter. (2010) ''The German Genius''. 992 pp covers many thinkers, writers, scientists etc. since 1750; {{ISBN|978-0-7432-8553-7}}
* Winkler, Heinrich August. (2006) ''Germany: The Long Road West'', since 1789
* Zabecki, David T., ed. (2015) ''Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History''
{{Refend}}

===Medieval===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Arnold, Benjamin. (1998) ''Medieval Germany, 500–1300: A Political Interpretation''
* Arnold, Benjamin. (2004) ''Power and Property in Medieval Germany: Economic and Social Change, c. 900–1300'' (Oxford University Press)
* {{Cite book |last=Goffart |first=Walter A. |title=The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon |date=1988 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-5514-5 |hdl=2027/heb.01027}}
* Haverkamp, Alfred, Helga Braun, and Richard Mortimer. (1992) ''Medieval Germany 1056–1273''
* Innes; Matthew. (2000) ''State and Society in the Early Middle Ages: The Middle Rhine Valley, 400–1000'' (Cambridge University Press)
* Jeep, John M. (2001) ''Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia'', 650 articles by 200 scholars cover AD 500 to 1500
* Nicholas, David. (2009) ''The Northern Lands: Germanic Europe, c. 1270 – c. 1500'' (Wiley-Blackwell).
* Reuter, Timothy. (1991) ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800–1056''
{{Refend}}

===Reformation===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Bainton, Roland H. (1978; reprinted 1995) ''Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther''
* Dickens, A. G. (1969) ''Martin Luther and the Reformation'', basic introduction
* Junghans, Helmar. (1998) ''Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times, 1483–1546.''
* MacCulloch, Diarmaid. (2005) ''The Reformation'', influential recent survey
* Ranke, Leopold von. (1905) ''History of the Reformation in Germany'' 792 pp; by Germany's foremost scholar [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPdBAAAAIAAJ complete text online free]
* Smith, Preserved. (1920) ''The Age of the Reformation''; [https://archive.org/details/agereformation03smitgoog complete text online free]
* Robert A. Kann, (n.d). A HISTORY OF THE HABSBURG EMPIRE 1526–1918.
{{Refend}}

===Early Modern to 1815===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* [[Asprey, Robert B.]] (2007) ''Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma''
* Atkinson, C.T. (1908) ''A history of Germany, 1715–1815'' old; focus on political-military-diplomatic history of Germany and Austria [https://archive.org/details/ahistorygermany00atkigoog online edition]
* [[Blanning, Tim]]. (2016) ''Frederick the Great: King of Prussia'', major new scholarly biography
* Bruford W.H. (1935, 1971) ''Germany in the Eighteenth Century The Social Background of the Literary Revival''[https://archive.org/details/germanyineightee00bruf online free to borrow], covers social history
* Gagliardo, John G. (1991) ''Germany under the Old Regime 1600–1790''
* Gaxotte, Pierre. (1942) ''Frederick the Great'', Yale University Press; political biography by French historian
* Heal, Bridget. (2007) ''The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany: Protestant and Catholic Piety, 1500–1648''
* Hughes, Michael. (1992) ''Early Modern Germany, 1477–1806''
* [[Sheilagh Ogilvie|Ogilvie, Sheilagh]]. (1996) ''Germany: A New Social and Economic History, Vol. 1: 1450–1630'' (1995); ''Germany: A New Social and Economic History, Vol. 2: 1630–1800''
* Ogilvie, Sheilagh. (2003) ''A Bitter Living: Women, Markets, and Social Capital in Early Modern Germany'' DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205548.001.0001 online
* [[Ozment, Steven]]. (2001) ''Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany''.
* Schulze, Hagen. (1991) ''The Course of German Nationalism: From Frederick the Great to Bismarck 1763–1867''
* Storring, Adam L. (2021) "'Our Age': Frederick the Great, Classical Warfare, and the Uses and Abuses of Military History." ''International Journal of Military History and Historiography'' 1.aop: 1–33.[https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/329947/Our%20Age_Frederick%20the%20Great,%20Classical%20Warfare,%20and%20the%20Uses%20and%20Abuses%20of%20Military%20History.pdf?sequence=1 online]
{{Refend}}

===1815–1890===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blackbourn |first=David |title=The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918 |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-1950-7672-9 |location=New York |author-link=David Blackbourn}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Blackbourn |first1=David |title=The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany |last2=Eley |first2=Geoff |date=1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1987-3057-6 |location=Oxford & New York |author-link=David Blackbourn |author-link2=Geoff Eley}}
* Brandenburg, Erich. (1933) ''From Bismarck to the World War: A History of German Foreign Policy 1870–1914''; an old standard scholarly history
* Brose, Eric Dorn. (1997) ''German History, 1789–1871: From the Holy Roman Empire to the Bismarckian Reich.''
* Craig, Gordon A. (1978) ''Germany, 1866–1945'' [https://archive.org/details/germany186619450000crai online]
* Hamerow, Theodore S. ed. (1974) ''Age of Bismarck: Documents and Interpretations''; 133 excerpts from primary sources put in historical context by Professor Hamerow
* Hamerow, Theodore S. ed. (1993) ''Otto Von Bismarck and Imperial Germany: A Historical Assessment'', excerpts from historians and primary sources
* [[Katja Hoyer|Hoyer, Katja]]. (2021) ''Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918''
* Ogilvie, Sheilagh, and Richard Overy. (2004) ''Germany: A New Social and Economic History Volume 3: Since 1800''
* Pflanze Otto, ed. (1979) ''The Unification of Germany, 1848–1871'', essays by historians
* Ramm, Agatha. (1967) ''Germany, 1789–1919: a political history'' [https://archive.org/details/germany17891919p0000ramm online free to borrow]
* Sheehan, James J. (1993) ''German History, 1770–1866'', the major survey in English [https://archive.org/details/germanhistory17700shee online]
* Steinberg, Jonathan. (2011) ''Bismarck: A Life'', a major scholarly biography
* Stern, Fritz. (1979) ''Gold and Iron: Bismark, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire'' Bismark worked closely with this leading banker and financier
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=A.J.P. |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.543989 |title=Bismarck: the Man and the Statesman |date=1969 |publisher=Alfred A Knopf |isbn=978-0-3947-0387-9 |location=New York |ol=7461954M |author-link=A.J.P. Taylor |orig-date=1955}}
* Wehler, Hans-Ulrich. (1984) ''The German Empire 1871–1918''
{{Refend}}

===1890–1933===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Balfour, Michael. (1972) ''The Kaiser and his Times'' [https://archive.org/details/kaiserhistimes0000balf_v0r1 online]
* Berghahn, Volker Rolf. (1987) ''Modern Germany: society, economy, and politics in the twentieth century'' [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.01673 ACLS E-book]
* Berghahn, Volker Rolf. (2005) ''Imperial Germany, 1871–1914: Economy, Society, Culture, and Politics'' (2nd ed.)
* Brandenburg, Erich. (1927) ''From Bismarck to the World War: A History of German Foreign Policy 1870–1914'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20170315175229/http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/12322 online].
* Cecil, Lamar. (1996) ''Wilhelm II: Prince and Emperor, 1859–1900''
* Cecil, Lamar. (1989) vol2: ''Wilhelm II: Emperor and Exile, 1900–1941''
* Child, John. (2009) ''Edexcel GCSE History A : the making of the modern world : Unit 2A, Germany 1918–39 : student book'' [https://archive.org/details/edexcelgcsehisto0000chil_f9a0 online]
* Craig, Gordon A. (1978) ''Germany, 1866–1945'' [https://archive.org/details/germany186619450000crai online]
* Dugdale, E.T.S. ed. ''German Diplomatic Documents 1871–1914'' (1928–31), in English translation. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28Dugdale%29%20german online]
* Gordon, Peter E., and John P. McCormick, eds. (2013) ''Weimar Thought: A Contested Legacy'' (Princeton University Press); scholarly essays on law, culture, politics, philosophy, science, art and architecture
* [[Ulrich Herbert|Herbert, Ulrich.]] (2019) ''A History of Twentieth-Century Germany''
* Herwig, Holger H. (1996) ''The First World War: Germany and Austria–Hungary 1914–1918'', {{ISBN|0-3405-7348-1}}
* Kolb, Eberhard. (2005) ''The Weimar Republic''
* Mommsen, Wolfgang J. (1995) ''Imperial Germany 1867–1918: Politics, Culture and Society in an Authoritarian State''
* Morrow, Ian F. D. "The Foreign Policy of Prince Von Bulow, 1898–1909". ''Cambridge Historical Journal'' 4#1 (1932): 63–93. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020573 online]
* Peukert, Detlev. (1993) ''The Weimar Republic''
* Retallack, James. (2008) ''Imperial Germany, 1871–1918'' (Oxford University Press)
* Scheck, Raffael. (2008) "Lecture Notes, Germany and Europe, 1871–1945" [https://web.archive.org/web/20010406134004/https://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/Contents.html full text online], a brief textbook
* Stolper, Gustav. (2017) ''German Economy, 1870–1940: Issues and Trends'' (Routledge).
* Watson, Alexander. (2014) ''Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I''
{{Refend}}

===Nazi era===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Bullock, Alan. (1962) ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, '' [https://archive.org/details/hitlerstudyintyr0000bull online]
* Burleigh, Michael. (2000) ''The Third Reich: A New History.''. Stress on antisemitism;
* {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |title=The Third Reich at War |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-5942-0206-3 |language=de |trans-title=Das Dritte Reich. Krieg |ol=22665338M |author-link=Richard J. Evans |orig-date=2005 |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Press}}
* Friedlander, Saul. (2009) ''Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933–1945'' abridged version of the standard history
* [[Ulrich Herbert|Herbert, Ulrich.]] (2019) ''A History of Twentieth-Century Germany''
* Kershaw, Ian. (1999) ''Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris.'' vol. 1.
* Kershaw, Ian. (2000) ''Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis.'' vol 2.
* Kirk, Tim. (2017) ''The Longman Companion to Nazi Germany''.
* Koonz, Claudia. (1986) ''Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, Family Life, and Nazi Ideology, 1919–1945.''
* Overy, Richard. (2004) ''The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia''; comparative history
* Spielvogel, Jackson J. and David Redles. (2009) ''Hitler and Nazi Germany'' (6th ed.)
* Stackelberg, Roderick. (1999) ''Hitler's Germany: Origins, Interpretations, Legacies''
* Stackelberg, Roderick, ed. (2007) ''The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany''
* Stibbe, Matthew. (2003) ''Women in the Third Reich,'', 208 pp.
* Tooze, Adam. (2007) ''The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy''
* Thomsett, Michael C. (2007) ''The German Opposition to Hitler: The Resistance, the Underground, and Assassination Plots, 1938–1945'' (2nd ed)
* Zentner, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann, eds. (1991) ''[[The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich]]''.
{{Refend}}

===Since 1945===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bark |first1=Dennis L. |title=A History of West Germany |last2=Gress |first2=David R. |date=1992 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0-6311-6787-7 |volume=1: From Shadow to Substance, 1945–1963 |ol=2058977M}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bark |first1=Dennis L. |title=A History of West Germany |last2=Gress |first2=David R. |date=1992 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-1-5578-6322-5 |volume=2: Democracy and Its Discontents 1963–1991 |ol=8602440M |author-mask=1 |author-mask2=1}}
* Berghahn, Volker Rolf. (1987) ''Modern Germany: Society, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century'' [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.01673 ACLS E-book online]
* [[Andreas Daum|Daum, Andreas]]. (2008) ''Kennedy in Berlin''. New York: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-5218-5824-3}}.
* Gehler, Michael. (2013) ''Three Germanies: West Germany, East Germany and the Berlin Republic'' (Reaktion Books).
* Hanrieder, Wolfram F. (1989) ''Germany, America, Europe: Forty Years of German Foreign Policy'' {{ISBN|0-3000-4022-9}}
* [[Ulrich Herbert|Herbert, Ulrich.]] (2019) ''A History of Twentieth-Century Germany''
* Jähner, Harald. (2022) ''Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955''
* Jarausch, Konrad H. (2008) ''After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945–1995''
* Junker, Detlef, ed. (2004) ''The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War'', 150 short essays by scholars covering 1945–1990
* Main, Steven J. (2014) "The Soviet Occupation of Germany. Hunger, Mass Violence and the Struggle for Peace, 1945–1947". ''Europe-Asia Studies'' 66#8 pp: 1380–1382.
* Schwarz, Hans-Peter. (1995) ''Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction''[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4vQw1RNkQ8C excerpt and text search vol 2]
* Smith, Gordon, ed, (1992) ''Developments in German Politics'' {{ISBN|0-8223-1266-2}}, broad survey of reunified nation
* {{Cite book |title=Documents on Germany under Occupation, 1945–1954 |date=1955 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Von Oppen |editor-first=Beate Ruhm |oclc=1980291 |ol=7206115W}}
* Weber, Jurgen. (2004) ''Germany, 1945–1990'' (Central European University Press)
{{Refend}}

===GDR===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Dennis, Mike, and Norman LaPorte. (2011) ''State and Minorities in Communist East Germany'' (Berghahn Books) scholarly analysis of treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, guest workers from Vietnam and Mozambique, football fans and others.
* Fulbrook, Mary. (1998) ''Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949–1989''
* Fulbrook, Mary. (2008) ''The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker''
* Harsch, Donna. (2008) ''Revenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic''
* Jarausch, Konrad H.. and Eve Duffy. (1999) ''Dictatorship As Experience: Towards a Socio-Cultural History of the GDR''
* Jarausch, Konrad H., and Volker Gransow, eds. (1994) ''Uniting Germany: Documents and Debates, 1944–1993'', primary sources on reunification
* McAdams, A. James. (1992 and 1993) "Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification". Princeton University Press
* Pence, Katherine, and Paul Betts, eds. (2008) ''Socialist Modern: East German Everyday Culture and Politics''
* Pritchard, Gareth. (2004) ''The Making of the GDR, 1945–53''
* Ross, Corey. (2002) ''The East German Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of the GDR''
* Saxonberg, Steven. (2013) ''The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland'' (Routledge).
* Steiner, André. (2010) ''The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of East Germany, 1945–1989''
{{Refend}}

===Historiography===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Berghahn, Volker R., and Simone Lassig, eds. (2008) ''Biography between Structure and Agency: Central European Lives in International Historiography''
* Chickering, Roger, ed. (1996) ''Imperial Germany: A Historiographical Companion''; 18 essays by specialists;
* Evans, Richard J. (1997) ''Rereading German History: From Unification to Reunification, 1800–1996''
* Hagemann, Karen, and Jean H. Quataert, eds. (2008) ''Gendering Modern German History: Rewriting Historiography''
* {{Cite journal |last=Hagemann |first=Karen |date=2007 |title=From the Margins to the Mainstream? Women's and Gender History in Germany |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-womens-history_spring-2007_19_1/page/193 |journal=Journal of Women's History |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=193–199 |doi=10.1353/jowh.2007.0014 |s2cid=143068850}}
* Hagen, William W. (2012) ''German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation''
* Jarausch, Konrad H., and Michael Geyer, eds. (2003) ''Shattered Past: Reconstructing German Histories''
* Klessmann, Christoph. (2001) ''The Divided Past: Rewriting Post-War German History''
* Lehmann, Hartmut, and James Van Horn Melton, eds. (2003) ''Paths of Continuity: Central European Historiography from the 1930s to the 1950s''
* Perkins, J. A. (April 1986) "Dualism in German Agrarian Historiography, ''Comparative Studies in Society and History,'' Vol. 28 Issue 2, pp 287–330,
* Rüger, Jan, and Nikolaus Wachsmann, eds. (2015) ''Rewriting German history: New Perspectives on Modern Germany'' (Palgrave Macmillan).
* Stuchtey, Benedikt, and Peter Wende, eds. (2000) ''British and German Historiography, 1750–1950: Traditions, Perceptions, and Transfers''
{{Refend}}

{{Germany topics}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{European history by country}}
{{Middle Ages}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Germany}}
[[Category:History of Germany| ]]
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