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History of Germany
The ancestors of the Germans were the Germanic people who lived in Central Europe in ancient times. In the 10th century, the Germans established the Holy Roman Empire, which later split. In 1871, the Kingdom of Prussia annexed all the German states except the Austrian Empire to establish the German Empire and complete the unification of Germany. In 1914 and 1939, Germany successively provoked two world wars and lost them. In 1945 it split into two parts. On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic (referred to as East Germany or GDR) officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany to achieve the reunification of the two Germanys.
Early History
The word Germania comes from the Latin Germania, and Julius Caesar used Germania to refer to the tribes on the right bank of the Rhine. Germania was recorded in the Germania in 100 AD. Deutschland in German (the land of the Germans, originally diutisciu land) comes from deutsch, from the Old High German diutisc (popular, referring to the diot or diota “people”) word, the word Originally used to distinguish local dialects from Latin and Romance languages.
The word diutisc comes in turn from Proto-Germanic þiudiskaz (popular), þiudiskaz from þeudō, and þeudō from Proto-Indo-European tewtéh (people). Germans lived in Germany a long time ago, and tribes gradually formed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The Roman Empire (Western Rome) was overthrown in AD 476.
Holy Roman Empire
Germany split from the Frankish Empire in 843 and the Holy Roman Empire was established in 962. Through long-term foreign conquests, the Holy Roman Empire occupied the Czech Republic, northern Italy and western Poland, and expeditions to Russia and Hungary. In the mid-13th century, it moved towards feudal separatism. In 1157, the empire was given the title of “Holy Empire”. In 1254, the Empire first began to use the title “Holy Roman Empire”. After the Cologne Empire Conference in 1512, an edict was issued to use the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”, which was used as the official name until 1806.
On July 12, 1806, through the signing of the Rhine Confederation Treaty (German: Rheinbundakte), 16 southern and mid-western German states on both sides of the Rhine including Liechtenstein, Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden under the protection of France , broke away from the Holy Roman Empire and established a new political union “Rhine Confederation”.
The Confederation set up a bicameral parliament in Frankfurt, elected Napoleon as the protector, and let Napoleon dominate the Confederacy’s foreign affairs and military affairs. On August 6, Franz I, who had called himself Emperor of Austria (that is, Franz II of the Holy Roman Empire), was forced to renounce the title of Holy Roman Emperor, and the Holy Roman Empire fell.
The Habsburgs were only able to rule the Austrian Empire (renamed Austria-Hungary in 1867). In the following years, another 23 states joined the Rhine Confederation; only Austria, Prussia, Holstein controlled by Denmark, and Sweden’s Pomerania did not join the Rhine Confederation in the German region, and were not counted into France. the West Bank of the Rhine and Erfurt.
German Empire
At the beginning of the 18th century, Prussia had already risen, competing with Austria for the dominance of Germany. By the 19th century, with the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire, the establishment of a unified modern nation-state became more urgent. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the German Confederation was formed. In 1848, a revolution broke out in various parts of Germany. Since then, Prussia has increasingly become the dominant force for German unification. In particular, Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck has led the arduous internal, military and diplomatic struggles.
In 1864, Prussia united Austria to defeat Denmark and regain the land occupied by Denmark in the north; in the “Seven Weeks War” in 1866, Prussia defeated Austria again and established the North German Confederation the following year; in 1870, the Franco-Prussian War was launched, and many southern German states Separated from French rule, German unification was completed in 1871 and the German Empire was established.
Two World Wars
The German Empire provoked World War I in 1914, and in 1918 it collapsed due to defeat, and Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. In February 1919, Germany established the Weimar Republic. In 1933 Hitler came to power to implement a dictatorship and established Nazi Germany. Germany started World War II in 1939. Under the attack of the Allies, Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.
The German army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and then cooperated with the Soviet army to quickly occupy the entire territory of Poland. The United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, and World War II began. As the war progressed, Germany and its allies quickly took control of continental Europe and North Africa, but plans to force Britain to surrender or armistice failed. From 1939 to 1940, by launching a blitzkrieg, it quickly occupied Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, and launched air strikes against the United Kingdom.
On June 22, 1941, Germany violated the Soviet-German non-aggression pact and invaded the Soviet Union. Germany’s Blue Operation from June 28, 1942 to February 19, 1943 failed and retreated from the Eastern Front, and fell into the Battle of Stalingrad. Germany’s ally Italy surrendered in September 1943, forcing Germany to defend the Italian front. The Western Front was added after the Battle of Normandy, and the Allied armies moved further into German territory.
In the Battle of Berlin on April 25, 1945, the Soviet army invaded the city of Berlin. On April 30, the Soviet army completely occupied the city of Berlin. Hitler committed suicide that afternoon. The party refused. On May 2, the Berlin garrison surrendered after repeated negotiations to no avail. On May 8, Germany officially announced its unconditional surrender.
East and West Germany
After World War II, according to the Yalta Agreement and the Potsdam Agreement, Germany was divided and occupied by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union in August 1945, and the Allied Control Committee formed by the four countries took over the supreme power of Germany. The city of Berlin is also divided into 4 occupation zones.
In June 1948, the German-occupied territories of the United States, Britain and France were merged.
On May 23, 1949, the combined occupation of western Germany formed the Federal Republic of Germany (abbreviated as the Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany). On October 7 of the same year, the Soviet-occupied areas of eastern Germany established the German Democratic Republic (abbreviated as the Democratic Republic of Germany or East Germany). Germany has since officially split into two sovereign states.
In 1961, the GDR built the Berlin Wall to stop East Germans from moving westward.
In 1989, the situation in the GDR changed dramatically. Since May of the same year, a large number of citizens have left the Federal Republic of Germany. In early October of the same year, demonstrations of various sizes broke out in many cities, demanding relaxation of restrictions on overseas travel and news media. On October 18, GDR President Honecker announced his resignation. On November 9, the “Berlin Wall” opened. On November 28, Federal German Chancellor Kohl proposed a ten-point plan for the reunification of the two Germanys.
German reunification
The drastic changes in Eastern Europe in 1989 saw the collapse of socialist regimes in various countries, including East Germany;
In 1990, with the consent of the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, East Germany and West Germany finally reached a two-German reunification treaty.
On February 13-14, 1990, GDR Chancellor Modelo visited the Federal Republic of Germany for the first time. On March 18, the People’s Assembly of the GDR implemented free elections. After De Maizier became prime minister, the pace of reunification between the two Germanys was greatly accelerated.
On May 18, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR signed a national treaty on the establishment of a monetary, economic and social union in Bonn.
On August 31, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR signed the Reunification Treaty in Berlin.
On September 24, 1990, the National People’s Army of the GDR officially withdrew from the Warsaw Pact.
On October 3, 1990, the GDR officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The constitution of the GDR, the House of the People, and the government were automatically abolished. The original 14 regions were changed to 5 states in order to adapt to the Federal Republic of Germany. They were merged into the Federal Republic of Germany, and the two Germanys that had been divided for more than 40 years were reunited.
On October 28, 2015, the Federal Republic of Germany was elected as a member of the 70th UN Human Rights Council for a term from 2016 to 2018.
On June 8, 2018, the UN General Assembly elected Germany as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2019 and 2020.
