Germany is
known for its turbulent history. In this blog post I will explain to you the
many events that took place.
The first
people who are known to have lived in ancient Germany are Germans and Celts. But
from the 2nd Century BC the Roman Empire put a lot of pressure on
the Germanic tribes. They pushed them up north towards the Rhine, where three
Roman legions were defeated by Arminius, a great German military chief.
In the 8th
and 9th century the Saxons are the main tribe ruling Germany. They fought
the Frankish territories and Charles the Great. After thirty years of brutal
war, the Saxons settled as Christians within the empire of Charles the Great.
In AD 805 pope Leo III visits Aachen together with Charles the Great for a
religious ceremony. He consecrated the spectacular new church, Aix-la-Chapelle,
which is small, but richly decorated.
Germany in
medieval times is defined by division and complicated political situations. Local
rulers declared war to each other and the only religious unity collapsed when
the Protestant Reformation started. This divided the German people in Roman
Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist. These controversies added to the Thirty Year’s
War, which took place from 1618 till 1648.
The first
ever political figure who succeeded in uniting Germany was Otto von Bismarck. As
the minister president he reined from 1862 to 1890. Bismarck knew the power of
nationalism, and used it for his own aims. He wanted to get rid of Austria,
which he did, and preserve the triumph of his country Prussia. In this time,
Germany was united for several years, until the First World War
The aim of
the First World War was to enlarge Germany with countries like Poland and our
precious Belgium. But German’s military strategy failed and the German empire
fell apart. In 1919, France, Great Britain and the United States set up the
Treaty of Versailles as a punishment for Germany. But the conditions of this
treaty were the cause for World War II.
The defeat
of World War I lead to an economic depression in Germany, called the Great
Depression. But along came Adolf Hitler,
who promised a drastic economic improvement, which made him win the elections
in 1933. Sadly, these elections lead to disastrous consequences like the Second
World War and the Holocaust.
After World
War II, Germany was divided again, this time in an eastern and western part. West
Germany flourished economically, whereas East Germany fell further behind. In order
to prevent people to immigrate from East to West, the infamous Berlin Wall was
build. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall lead to the unification of Berlin,
but economic integration still hasn’t been successful.
Sources:
The history of Germany is very interesting. The whole story of the war, Hitler, how the Jews were treated, becomes clear in the Jüdisches Museam in Berlin. Worth visiting!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenHere is the link of the museum: http://www.jmberlin.de/
BeantwoordenVerwijderen