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Dateline
- 9 B.C.-A.D. 9 Romans attempt to conquer Teutonic tribes.
- 486 Clovis founds Frankish kingdom, ruling from Paris.
- 496 Franks converted to Christianity.
- 800 Pope crowns Charlemagne in Rome.
- 962 Pope crowns Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1152-90 Frederick Barbarossa's reign leads to a greater centralization of power, but his invasion of Italy is beaten back by the Lombard League.
- 1158 Munich founded by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony.
- 1241 Hanseatic League founded to protect the trade of such cities as Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck.
- 1432 Maximilian I, "last of the German knights," becomes Holy Roman Emperor, the beginning of the hegemony of the Habsburgs.
- 1456 Johannes Gutenberg prints the first book in Europe using movable type.
- 1517 Martin Luther nails his "Ninety-Five Theses" to a church door in Wittenberg, beginning the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
- 1618-48 Thirty Years' War devastates Germany, as Protestant forces defeat Catholic Habsburgs.
- 1740-86 Prussian might grows under Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment.
- 1806 Armies of Napoleon invade Prussia, which is incorporated briefly into the French Empire.
- 1813 Prussians defeat Napoleon at Leipzig.
- 1815 At the Congress of Vienna, the German Confederation of 39 independent states is created.
- 1862 Otto von Bismarck (1815-98) becomes prime minister of Prussia.
- 1870-71 Germany invades and defeats France in the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1871 Wilhelm I is crowned emperor of the newly created German Empire; Bismarck becomes chancellor.
- 1890 Bismarck is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who launches an aggressive foreign policy.
- 1907 Russia, Great Britain, and France form the Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
- 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand launches World War I.
- 1918 Germany is forced to sign Treaty of Versailles, accepting responsibility for starting World War I.
- 1923 Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch," a rightist revolt, fails in Munich.
- 1925 Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.
- 1926 Germany is admitted to the League of Nations in the heyday of the Weimar Republic.
- 1933 Hitler becomes chancellor.
- 1934 President von Hindenburg dies and Hitler declares himself Führer (leader) of the Third Reich.
- 1935 Nürnberg Laws deprive Jews of citizenship and forbid marriage between Jews and non-Jewish Germans.
- 1936 Summer Olympic Games held in Berlin. Winter Games held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Germany militarizes the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler signs agreements with Italy and Japan to form the Axis.
- 1938 Germany occupies Austria and the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
- 1939 Hitler signs nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union in August and invades Poland on September 1, launching World War II. After a Blitzkrieg, Hitler and Stalin carve up Poland.
- 1940 Nazi troops overrun Denmark, and then take Norway in fierce fighting. The Low Countries, Belgium, and France fall to Hitler. Hitler's Battle of Britain fails to bomb London into submission.
- 1941 Hitler orders the invasion of the Soviet Union in June, ending the Hitler-Stalin pact. The Nazi empire, at its peak, stretches from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic Circle. Hitler declares war on America after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
- 1942-43 War starts to go against the Germans, with significant defeats in Stalingrad and North Africa.
- 1944 Eisenhower conducts the invasion of Normandy: The reconquest of Europe has begun. The Third Reich's final major offensive, the Battle of the Bulge, fails in December.
- 1945 Allies cross the Rhine, as Soviets advance toward Berlin. Hitler commits suicide. The Third Reich endures not for 1,000 years, but for 12. Germany sues for peace.
- 1945 The Yalta Conference divides Germany into zones of occupation. Germany is in ruins.
- 1948-49 The Soviet Union attempts to exclude the Allies from Berlin by blockade; the city is saved by a massive airlift.
- 1949 Soviets establish the German Democratic Republic (East Germany); Konrad Adenauer becomes chancellor of newly established Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
- 1950 West Germany's "economic miracle" begins to take hold.
- 1958 West Germany becomes a founding member of the European Economic Community (now European Union).
- 1961 The Berlin Wall divides the city.
- 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich are marred by a terrorist attack that kills 11 Israeli athletes.
- 1985 West Germany joins the Group of Seven (G7) organization of the world's greatest industrial powers.
- 1989 Refugees from East Germany flood into West Germany; Communist power collapses in the east, and the Berlin Wall comes down.
- 1990 East Germany and West Germany reunite.
- 1991 Berlin is chosen as the capital of the united Germany.
- 1992 Unemployment and disillusionment sweep across the former East Germany as reunification costs mount.
- 1995 Bundestag approves German participation in the NATO Bosnia mission.
- 1997 German government and private companies tally up the cost of rebuilding eastern Germany: $1 trillion to date.
- 1998 Chancellor Kohl is defeated in election by Gerhard Schröder.
- 1999 The German seat of government is returned to Berlin.
- 2000 Christian Democrats shaken by political scandals; Germany pledges $5.2 billion to aid Nazi victims.
- 2001 Chancellor Schröder presides over restoration of German power in Europe and the country's change from deutsche mark to euro.
- 2002 Germany abandons its postwar backseat military role, declares a more "muscular" policy, and participates in U.S.-led strikes against terrorist bases.
- 2003 German-American relations reach lowest point since World War II over Iraq crisis.
- 2004 Germany and U.S. announce alliance for the 21st century.
- 2005 Angela Merkel becomes first woman to lead Germany.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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