1300’s

The Holy Roman Empire:The Holy Roman Empire had been in power in the region since 962. The Emperor was in charge, but his ability to rule

was contingent on election. 7 German electors were traditionally in charge of naming the next emperor.They made sure not to give any one family unbroken power.

Within the empire, Germany and Italy were organized as kingdoms made up of duchies, archbishoprics, etc. In actuality, the “kingdoms” were really a bunch of independent states over which the emperor had tenuous control.

A list of emperors from the 1300’s to the 1500’s:• Albert I Habsburg, 1298-1308• Henry VII Luxemburg, 1312-1313• Louis IV Wittelsbach, 1314-1347• Charles IV Luxemburg, 1346-1378• Wenceslaus I Luxemburg, 1376-1400• Rupert III Wittelsbach, 1400-1410• Sigismund I Luxemburg, 1410-1437• Albert II Habsburg, 1438-1439• Frederick III Habsburg, 1440-1493• Maximilian I Habsburg, 1486-1519

The Dynasties:The four ruling dynasties that would play a key role in the course of German history were the Habsburgs, the

Hohenzollerns (and in a more minor role, the Wettins, and the Wittelsbachs).Initially, the Habsburgs were a minor Swabian noble family. Their spectacular rise began in the thirteenth century. By

means of enfeoffment (feudal device: land given in exchange for pledge of loyalty) with additional territories, a skillful marriage policy, and the consolidation of their estates, they extended their sphere of influence until, under Emperor Charles V (1519-1556), it encompassed Spain, the Netherlands, Burgundy, Austria, and newly discovered American possessions. By c. 1500, part of Burgundy and the Netherlands already belonged to the Habsburgs. In Austria, the Habsburgs would remain in power until the Revolution of 1918.

The Hohenzollerns also came from Swabia. By c. 1500, they already held considerable territorial possessions, ruling over Brandenburg as well as the areas around Ansbach and Bayreuth in Franconia (today near western Germany). Prussia, on the other hand, was still partially in the hands of the Teutonic Order, partially under Polish rule.

The Wettins came from Saxony-Thuringia, the Wittelsbachs from Bavaria. Since the Middle Ages, both dynasties had used their respective lands as bases for extending their territorial rules. Both reigned over their lands until 1918.

About a sixth of the Empire lived under the rule of ecclesiastical lords. In addition to the three aforementioned spiritual electors, this group included the archbishops of Salzburg, Magdeburg, and Bremen, plus the bishops of Utrecht, Münster, Würzburg, Bamberg, and many others. Their territories were often larger than those of the lesser princes.

The Birth of Austria:

Southern Germany was very wealthy, especially the southwest. An emperor from the Hapsburg family (Remember that name!) combined a group of duchies and archbishoprics in the east, making Austria. When his reign was over, the electors kept Austria and continued adding to it with areas like Carinthia, Carniola, and Tyrol.

Another form of Government: the Hanseatic League (1356):The Hanseatic League (Hansa) was a league of cities concentrated along the southern coast of the North Sea and Baltic

Sea. It had an economic focus, especially on negotiating trade deals. There were about sixty or eighty towns, with an agreement that disputes might be settled by "the league," which itself sometimes entered into treaties. The first formal Diet (Look out, Martin Luther) of the league was held in 1356, in Lübeck, which continued to be the leading city of the Hansa.

The League controlled most of the Baltic Sea trade, which ticked off Denmark and led to a few wars. The League also fought with the Teutonic Knights and Poland. It was never about physical boundaries, though; rather, trading rights were the motivation. Colonies (called kontore) of Hansa merchants could be found far inland all across Europe, from London to Novgorod.

1400’sThe Council of Constance Reforms:

In 1415 and 1417 a Duke named Sigismund held Reichstags at Constance (where the Constance Council was held) to work on imperial reforms. The reforms:

Organized the royal revenueImproved public securitySuppressed illegal tolls

Reformed the currencyDesignated imperial agents to preside over town leaguesOrganized southern and central Germany into four districts that were to assist each other in keeping the peace

However, foreign relations that included the Turkish menace, alliance with England against France, and conflicts with Venice kept him from responding to the towns’ petitions. Problems arose about how to pay for the reforms and who was to implement them. Four powerful German lords—including two electors—joined to oppose his reforms. They formed a defensive alliance, and the towns withdrew from the new programs.

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The Emperor:Emperor Frederick III, a Hapsburg, ruled at this time. His cousin Sigismund held his authority in contention, however,

and the two of them were often at odds. For example, in 1487 Sigismund arranged the marriage of Frederick’s daughter against Frederick’s will and also threw some of Frederick’s land into the bargain. Frederick responded by forming the Swabian League and regaining his territories by force—no word on if he made the same effort for his daughter.

Eventually, Sigismund was forced out of power and had to hand over his lands to Frederick’s son, Emperor Maximilian I. Father and son ruled jointly until Frederick died in 1493, when Maximilian inherited all of his father’s lands and title, uniting the Hapsburg holdings. His territories included Tyrol and Vorarlberg in the east, Further Austria in the north, and the County of Burgundy in the west.

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The Imperial Reforms of 1495:Once again, German leadership tried to centralize the government. And Imperial Diet was held in Worms in 1495 to

accomplish that goal. The results were mixed; Maximilian made headway, but he was forced to give several concessions to the powerful German Princes. Some of the reforms that he did manage to impose were:

An "eternal public peace" to end the constant feuding and anarchy of the robber barons A new standing Imperial Army -- each imperial estate had to send troopsThe common penny, a new head tax to finance this army

Some of the concessions Maximilian had to make were:A new supreme court (took highest judicial authority from emperor) (Imperial Chamber Court)A council of princes called the Reichsregiment (it convened in 1500, but Maximilian dissolved it two years later)

Note: the Swiss, who were often the more rebellious faction of the Hapsburg Empire, refused to honor the new reforms, especially the common penny.

1500’s

Imperial Circles (c. 1512):Maximilian had large areas of the Empire organized into ten Imperial Circles each headed by two princes, normally the

highest-ranking secular and ecclesiastical members of the Circle. The Imperial Circles were to:Safeguard the “Perpetual Public Peace” proclaimed in 1495Enforce verdicts passed by the Imperial Chamber Court established in 1495Supervise mintingCollect Imperial taxesRaising troops for the Empire

As the map shows, some territories within the Empire belonged to no Imperial Circle: Switzerland, Imperial Italy, Bohemia and its crown lands (Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia), and the lands of the Imperial Knights.

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The Revolution of 1525 (the German Peasants’ War):This was the biggest insurrection in European history before the French Revolution. It began in the Black Forest in late

summer and fall of 1524, reached its peak around Easter of 1525, and produced its last risings (Tyrol) in 1526. The revolution's ultimate causes go back to an agrarian depression in the Middle Ages that strengthened the peasants'

power over local life. Village self-government (communalism) became a widespread movement in the Holy Roman Empire, especially in the central and southern regions. Where there was already local self-government, as in Switzerland, there was no revolt. Peace remained in some other southern areas like Bavaria, too. The Lower Rhineland and the north German lands kept quiet. Otherwise, all of the Empire's southern and central spaces, including French-speaking Lorraine and Italian-speaking South Tyrol, caught the revolutionary fever.

In general, zones of stronger local government and weaker noble power (darker orange) formed the chief centers of the revolution, but their neighbors (lighter orange) often were swept up in the action. In some regions, especially in Saxony and Tyrol, miners and small-town burghers rebelled too. The main concerns were the redress of grievances and political reform—say, stronger territorial government.

Conflicts were usually between inexperienced rebel troops and princely armies strengthened by professionals and supported by strong cavalry and artillery; the rebel armies lost every time but one. Revolutionary results covered the spectrum: some places the rebels were squashed, their protests ignored. Elsewhere, their overlords reacted to their requests and lightened their loads.

Psychologically, the revolution was a major event in the early Protestant Reformation: it strengthened the convictions of some that religious abuses formed the main reasons for rebellion; it bolstered the arguments of others that the new doctrines had caused the revolution.

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Germany with Imperial and other Cities (c. 1555):After the Smalkaldic War of 1546/47 (Emperor Charles V vs. the Protestants) came the Religious Peace of Augsburg

(1555). That year, the Holy Roman Empire took on the basic constitution that would see it through to its fall in 1803. From the late 1520s on, the Habsburg dynasty held the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary and dominion over seventeen

provinces of the Netherlands. Leading princely dynasties had established stronger territorial positions. The Hohenzollerns, (in Franconia and Brandenburg) got Prussia in 1525, and the Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria were strong in

southern Germany. Saxony shifted against the leading Protestant family of the area. The Swiss, on the other hand, were rock solid; they had already taken on the rough shape of independent (1648) Switzerland.

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The Peace of Augsburg:The final agreement after the Schmalkaldic War allowed the rulers of individual domains to determine the religion

practiced there. This type of government, as mentioned earlier, would define Germany for the coming decades. Although overall a tolerant decree, prejudices within the states and between religious factions kept most Protestant faiths localized or trapped within certain regions, as shown below.

1600’s

The Treaty of Westphalia (1648):This treaty put an end to the 30 Year’s War, which had devastated much of Central Europe and caused enormous loss

of life in much of Germany. The treaty also changed much of Germany territorially. The Swiss Confederation and Dutch Republic became states

(not the Spanish Netherlands). France got most of Alsace (Upper Rhine) and Sweden got substantial lands in Germany, which gained it a seat in the Imperial Diet/Reichstag. As for the warring factions, the Catholics and the Protestants gained—for example, one of them got a new electoral seat, making the German electors a party of 8 instead of 7.

Central Germany saw no such unification. The Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns ruled lots of land outside the HRE, and they zealously protected their power over those outsiders and their holdings within the empire’s borders. The Treaty ended up limiting the Emperor even more than he already was, actually. Any action by him had to be approved by the

Imperial Diet, and the German Princes were allowed to act diplomatically without his input. The Treaty left the central states still without a central government or standing army.

1700’s

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748):Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, died on October 20, 1740. His death left the question of succession for the Austrian

Hapsburg throne open, and serious competition immediately arose. On one side were Bavaria, Saxony, and Spain, supported by France. They all had pretty thin claims to portions of the Hapsburg Empire. France also wanted Albert of Bavaria to take the Imperial crown, since that would ultimately ruin its longtime enemy, Austria. Against France and its puppets stood Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles IV and rightful heir to her family’s throne.

Beginning with Frederick II of Prussia’s invasion of the Hapsburg province Silesia on Dec. 16, 1740, the series of wars collectively known as the War of the Austrian Succession started off on a bad foot for Austria. Prussia took Silesia, prompting other greedy neighbors to join in the plundering. France quickly made its allies and incited them to move against Austria, which was backed by a French-wary Britain. The allies’ invasion of Bohemia and Austria failed due to lack of leadership and military ability, however, giving Austria time to negotiate neutrality with Prussia (it kept Silesia), kick the French & Co. out of Bohemia, and give Bavaria the same treatment that Prussia gave Silesia.

Eventually, France was driven back, and then in January of 1745 Emperor Charles VII (actually Albert of Bavaria) died, leaving the French even more lonely. Charles/Albert’s son gave up his claims to the throne, which scared Prussia into fighting again. The whole mess was finally cleared up with the treaty of Dresden in December 1745, which confirmed

Prussia’s ownership of Silesia and put the whole succession issue to rest.

The Seven Years War (the French and Indian War) (1756-1763):This was the last big conflict to involve all of the major European powers before the French Revolution. It started when

the Austrian Hapsburgs tried to take Silesia back from Prussia, but it eventually expanded into colonial disputes over North America and India between Britain and France. Unlike before, Britain sided with Prussia and Hanover against France, Austria, Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. The change in alliances between the English and Prussians was due to Hanover; the British rulers were tied to it, and Prussia was more likely to protect it than Austria.

Much of the focus of the war was not in Germany. Therefore, all you need to know about it is that the Austrians wanted Silesia back. They didn’t get it.

Partitions of Poland (1772-1795):The First Partition of Poland was in 1772. Russia’s Empire was growing, and the Kingdom of Prussian and the Austrian

Hapsburg Empire didn’t like it. Prussia’s Frederick negotiated the partition to keep jealous Austria from going to war against the Ottoman Empire like the Russians had. Poland, a commonwealth and weakly governed, was split up amongst the three bigger powers in order to appease their ambitions and restore the balance of power in the region. The helpless Polish parliament ratified the decision in 1773.

Poland was partitioned a second time in 1793. The renegotiation was prompted by the Polish reforms enacted after the first partition, which established a constitutional monarchy, strengthened the government, abolished many noble rights as well as serfdom, and overall alarmed Russia enough that it invaded in 1792. Again to keep the power balance, Prussia deserted its polish ally and opened negotiations with Russia. Receiving help from several indignant Polish nobles, they decided the new partition and forced the Poles to approve it once more.

The last partition of Poland led to its complete disappearance from the map in 1795. The outrage from the last partition along with the revolutionary examples being set in France incited the Polish people to turn against the occupying powers. Nationwide riots led to the declaration of a national uprising against Russia, Prussia, and Austria on March 24, 1794. Though initially successful, the Prussians and Russians had crushed the rebels by November. The domineering powers wasted no time in splitting up the whole commonwealth amongst themselves and pretending that Poland had never existed in the first place.

Sadly, this would not be the last time that Poland would get picked on by its (Russo-Prussian) neighbors…

French Invasion - Louis XIV (1661-1715):Louis XIV married a Spanish noblewoman and therefore started causing havoc in the Spanish Netherlands while he

tried to use her lineage to grab more power. I am not counting the Netherlands as part of Germany, but you should probably know about his antics over there. Louis was more or less successful in winning France more “stuff,” but he wanted more.

Louis XIV sent his forces into the Rhineland in 1688 to claim the Palatinate for his sister-in-law Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria (the War of League of Augsburg). Louis was not successful, however, and although he devastated the Rhineland, the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 did not improve France.

Thereafter, Louis turned towards Spain. The war of the Spanish Succession is important to Germany only because a Bavarian Hapsburg prince was selected as a candidate for the Spanish throne, so long as he promised to never ally with Austria. Britain and France decided this without Spain’s consent and implemented the plan despite the contrary plan for succession laid out in the Spanish monarch’s will.

1800’s

The French Revolution - Napoleon and the German Campaign (1789-1815):On his way back from Russia, it came to Napoleon’s attention that Frederick III of Prussia had declared war on France.

Since he was in the neighborhood already, I guess, Napoleon engaged the combined forces of German troops and volunteer fighters and Swedish/Russian soldiers. Britain was otherwise occupied, but it did send some minor support to the allies. They defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. This led to the ultimate dissolution of France’s German allies, who had already suffered a couple of major defeats by that time. Thus, Napoleon lost all of his influence east of the Rhine River. The final phase of the German campaign started in 1814 at the same time that the Duke of Wellington was on his way over through France. It ended with Napoleon’s defeat, abdication, and the Treaty of Paris in 1815.

The German Confederation (1815):The German campaign fostered a widespread sense of national pride and unity throughout the German states. That

nationalism faltered a bit with the founding of the German Confederation. It was formed at the Congress of Vienna out of 39 German states. As a loose association, it was meant to replace the Holy Roman Empire, which had become defunct around 1806, and was also designed to keep the powerful Austria and Prussia in check. In the Confederation, member states remained sovereign, but they were bound by the majority decisions of the Confederation. A parliament was created in Frankfurt am Main; the conservative Austrian prince Von Metternich was chairman, and it could be expanded into a federal assembly. Under Metternich, the Confederation actually became an obstacle to German unification rather than a vehicle of it. The Austrian actively worked against nationalist and democratic movements, and he made sure that the confederation did too.

Also, as a government the Confederation was rather inefficient and feeble. It would collapse before the decade was out under the pressure of Austro-Prussian rivalry, warfare, the 1848 revolution thanks to its members’ inability to compromise. But more on that later.

A note: several other non-German members were the kings of Great Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, since they governed the Kingdom of Hanover (until 1837), the Duchy of Holstein, and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, respectively. (No, Luxembourg was not a German state. It was in the confederation anyway.)

Prussia and Austria:These two were the dominant powers of central Europe. Both had substantial territories outside of the Confederation

and received more at the Congress of Vienna. Prussia expanded westward with Saxony and portions of the Rhineland and Westphalia, Austria lost the Hapsburg Netherlands but gained areas in Italy and on the Adriatic sea and in eastern Europe. Throughout the 19th century the two of them would be at odds. Their squabbling and warfare would destroy the German Confederation and lead to the question of Little Germany vs. Big Germany (creation of a German state with or without Austria). You’ll be seeing more of them in the following.

The Zollverein (Jan. 1, 1834):The Zollverein (German Customs Union) was another trade-based organization of German states. The 1833 Zollverein

Treaties were the fruit of several previous customs unions between states, which had been around since 1818. Prussia drove the efforts to create the Zollverein, and because of that and its protected markets, Austria was excluded. By 1866, almost all of Germany was in the Zollverein. When the Northern German Confederation was added in 1867, non-German states joined it as well, like Norway and Sweden. The Zollverein situation was unique, as the region was united not by a central government but economic charter.

Later, when the German Empire was founded in 1871, it took over the running of the Zollverein, but not all the German states were in it until 1888.

The Revolutions of 1848-1849:An economic depression at the midcentury heightened urban unemployment and a widespread crop failure caused

famines from Ireland to Russia. The discontent already smoldering under the effects of the industrial revolution skyrocketed, and rebellion broke out amongst the lower classes within the Confederation. These insurrections remained minor until the beginning of 1848, when word came that a rebellion in Paris had overthrown king Louis-Philippe. Inspired, the Germans revolted in earnest throughout the states against the German Confederation. Most of the conflicts were mild, but not all—Berlin’s battles were bitter and bloody.

On March 13, Metternich was forced to resign. Wary of the revolutionary experiments going on in France, the remaining German leaders quickly reconciled with the rebels. Leading Liberals gained office, reforms for human rights and the legislature, and the idea of a national assembly was embraced. After elections, the Frankfurt National assembly met on May 18 to begin work on the new German constitution. A few weeks of revolution had kick-started the rebuilding of Central Europe.

Unfortunately, soon the victors fell to infighting. The Liberals and Democrats couldn’t agree on how to create the new state. The question of including or excluding Austria as well as the prospect of selecting Prussia to be the new nation’s leader was divisive, to say the least. Furthermore, the poor masses who had made the first revolution possible began to suspect the truth: the new government wasn’t going to do any more for them than the old one had. As the debate in Frankfurt dragged on, the support of its purpose waned and the defeated Conservatives began to rally once more.

By the time that Frankfurt was ready with its new constitution in 1849, the Conservatives had regained enough confidence to oppose it outright. The Liberals and Democrats offered the crown of their new state to the Prussian King Frederick William IV, but he rejected it. He refused to subscribe himself to a construct of those beneath him that furthermore limited his powers over them. It was a heavy blow. The moderates of Frankfurt went home with their heads down, while the radicals went into a series of denial-revolutions. The lower classes did not participate, however, and the rebellions were quickly crushed. All of the forward progress that the first Liberal-Democratic revolution had won was lost in one harsh sweep.

Austro-Prussian War (1866):Also known as the 7 Week’s War, the Austro-Prussian conflict that had lasted for ages came to a head when Prussia

under Otto von Bismarck openly challenged Austria for the leadership of the German Confederation (ironically, said confederation wouldn’t survive the war over it). There had been a previous challenge in 1850, which ended in an embarrassing Austrian pitfall. Prussia wanted to do it again, though, and was looking for an excuse to provoke a conflict. Bismarck found his pretense in an administrative spat over Schleswig and Holstein, which Austria and Prussia had taken from Denmark in 1864 and then ruled jointly. Fighting broke out in mid-June between Prussia on the one side and Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and certain minor German states on the other.

As expected, Prussia thrashed them all, using an alliance with Italy to stretch its enemies thin. The Treaty of Prague settled things on August 23, leaving Prussia with Schleswig, Holstein, and unquestioned domination of the region. As a Prussian ally, Italy got Venetia as a prize for its aid in the Treaty of Vienna on October 6 that year.

The German Empire (1866-1871):Germany didn’t become a state all at once. Once Austria was ruled out of the equation in the Austro-Prussian War

(1866), Prussia snatched Hanover and other territories away from the foreign kings, unifying its east and west at last. It bullied Saxony and others into joining the Northern German Confederation in 1867. Bavaria and others resisted Prussian power-mongering for three years after that, but war with France began in 1870. As common enemies often do, the French menace brought the German peoples together. The new German Empire (the German Reich) was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in the French palace of Versailles on January 18, 1871.

A note: once again, Prussia grabbed territory: French Alsace and Lorraine became part of the “goody bag” of the unification party. France wasn’t pleased. It all turned out very well in the end.