This has been adapted from the article Your German Past: Parts I and II by John Holwell in the October and November 1996 editions of the Journal of Online Genealogy.
Although settled for thousands of years, Germany has only existed in its present form since 1871. Ambitious feudal lords and princes, the influence of the church, and years of conflict have kept Germany's borders changing for centuries. Learning the names and boundaries of the old localities and their relationships to the modern map is important when determining where ones ancestors originated in this part of Europe.
The Celts were the first recorded peoples of the territory now known as Germany but, between 1000 BC and 100 BC, Scandinavian tribes gradually migrated from the north and conquered them. These northern people then settled the territory between the Elbe and Oder rivers and turned to agrarian pursuits. In the 1st century BC, the area comprised an estimated 4 million people and land had become a scarce commodity. Because of this overpopulation, several tribes in the region began to emigrate including the Visigoths to Spain, the Vandals to North Africa, and the Angles and Saxons to England. Other tribes such as the Teutons and Cimbri were defeated and destroyed.
Between 12 BC and AD 16, the Romans tried to conquer the Germanic tribes but only a small portion of south-western Germany came under their control. Unlike most of the territory to the west, which did fall at the hands of the Roman legions, the Germanic tribes of central Europe maintained their traditional ways and remained unaffected by much of the Roman influence.
By the third century AD, the Germanic tribe known as the Franks rose to prominence in the north-west of Germany near the lower and middle Rhine Valley. They were identified by writers of the day as the Salians, Ripuarians and Chatti, and are believed to have shared the same language and many laws. In 358, the Salian Franks assumed control of Toxandria, the region skirting the modern French - Belgian border.
Around the year 500, the first great leader of the Franks, Clovis, (reign 481-511) established the Merovingian dynasty which lasted until 751. Its territory extended from the Atlantic Ocean to Bavaria (German: Bayern, modern day state in south-central Germany) and Thuringia (German: Thuringen, east-central Germany now the state of Lander) in the east. Clovis converted to Christianity and began to sponsor the activities of missionaries in the eastern reaches of his realm.
In the 8th century, the Merovingian dynasty began to decline and one of its royal officials, Charles Martel, Charles Martel (c688-741) established a new line of Frankish kings. His grandson Charlemagne (742-814) quickly established dominance over more central European lands including Bavaria in the east and Saxony, between the Rhine and Elbe rivers (present German state of Lower Saxony or Niedersachsen). Charlemagne also conquered parts of Italy and Spain and in the year 800, when the pope crowned him emperor, he was recognised as master of a revived Roman Empire in the West.
After Charlemagne's death, civil wars erupted that lasted until 870 when two Frankish kingdoms emerged, that of the West Franks, France, and that of the East Franks, Germany. Also it was at about this time that the Vikings and Magyars (Hungarians, originally from the north-eastern Europe near the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers) conducted their invasions. Central government broke down and most of the German people fell under the feudal influence of local nobles.
In 876, Charles III (839-88), emperor of the East Franks, inherited the kingdom of Swabia (south-western Germany, present German states of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria). Three years later, on the resignation of his sick brother Carloman, he became king of Italy. The following year (882), he gained Saxony from the death of another brother; and the deaths of the West Frankish kings Louis III (882) and Carloman (884) gave him France.
The last Carolingian king of the East Franks was Louis the Child (reign 899-911). On his death, Lotharingia (Lorraine) was the only East Frankish duchy to transfer its allegiance to the Carolingian king of the West Franks. The dukes of the other four duchies, Bavaria, Franconia (central Germany, northern modern day state of Bavaria), Saxony, and Swabia who initially elected the duke of Franconia king of Germany as Conrad I. In 919, however, they turned their allegiance to Saxony who they believed to be better able to defend them against the Magyars.
The first two Saxon kings, Henry I and his son Otto I, did not let down their new supporters. They defeated the Magyars and expanded into eastern Europe. Central authority was re-established and in 962 Otto established the Roman Empire. (In the 12th century it was renamed the Holy Roman Empire.) It reflected the belief of that day that just as all Christians be united under One Holy Catholic Church, they also should be united in secular affairs under one ultimate leader. The pope's consent, however, was required for ascension to the throne.
Saxon hold on the crown had given way to Salian kings by the 11th century causing a series of power struggles between the German crown and the church in Rome. Known as the Investiture Controversy, it prevailed until 1122 when the Church regained some of its lost powers and the process of feudalisation in Germany was accelerated. Throughout this period, the Hohenstaufen family supported the Salian kings and were ultimately rewarded with the throne in 1138. The Hohenstaufen dynasty prevailed for over a hundred years and during this time gained the French province of Burgundy and most of Italy. After their reign, a series of local princes from different dynasties gained the crown and feudalism regained its hold on the people.
In 1338, Louis IV of Bavaria rallied the support of the German princes to elect an emperor without necessitating the pope's consent. Charles IV (reign 1347-78) of the house of Luxembourg, formally acknowledged the principle of elective monarchy with the 'Golden Bull' of 1356. This document served as a constitution for the Holy Roman Empire and defined seven electors, one each from the regions of Mainz and Trier in south-western Germany, Cologne, Saxony, Brandenburg (Berlin region), the Rhine, and Bohemia in the modern day Czech Republic.
From 1438 until 1806 when it dissolved, the Austrian dynasty of Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The only exception was from 1740-1745. Through marriages, Burgundy, the Low Countries, Spain, and much of Italy all came under the Habsburg rule. Discontent continued between local princes and the central authority. With the aim of alleviating the rift, in 1500, Maximilian I instituted an imperial governing council known as the Reichsrat which included several of the prominent princes. It did not evolve into an effective governing body, however, and Germany remained fragmented.
The 16th century brought about the age known as the Reformation which marked a rebirth of biblical beliefs and practices, known as Protestantism, throughout Europe. At Wittenberg in 1517 , theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546), led a revolt and posted his 95 theses condemning the sale of indulgences and abuses by the Roman Catholic church. The movement quickly spread and Lutheranism, as it came to be known, was even adopted by many of the regional princes. Their conversion was often more motivated by their desires to weaken the established church and gain access to church properties and rights of taxation. The struggles continued throughout the 1600s and Lutheranism and its new counterpart, Calvinism, steadily gained popularity throughout Germany despite the existence of a Catholic emperor.
The Protestant movement grew throughout the first half of the 16th century which led to political divisions and ultimately war. By the agreement known as the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555, a settlement had been reached that effectively recognised Lutheranism as the religion of most of northern and central Germany. Over the coming decades however, Lutheranism and Calvinism continued to expand throughout the German states, much to the chagrin of the Catholic emperors, particularly the Habsburgs who still hoped to unify Germany as a unified state. The rift between the Catholics and Protestants eventually erupted into a series of wars collectively known as the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). After all the conflict though, Germany remained overwhelmingly divided and was a collection of more than 300 virtually sovereigns.
In 1618, the leadership of Brandenburg achieved rule of Prussia by way of inheritance. Brandenburg - Prussia later gained territory by the peace agreement following the Thirty Years War. In the 18th century, as a result of the peace settlements following the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) and the Seven Years' War (1756-63), it also gained parts of Austria and Poland. When King Frederick William II (reign 1740-86) died, Prussia (including Brandenburg) and Austria were the dominant German states and still ruled by the Habsburg dynasty.
During the latter part of the 18th and early part of the 19th centuries, European attention was diverted to the aggressions of Napoleon Boneparte and the French. As a result of the French Revolution (1789-99) and the Napoleonic wars (1803-15), Germany was conquered by the French and the Holy Roman Empire dissolved. As is commonly the case, it was this outside aggression that brought about a sense of nationalism and a rejuvenated desire for German unity. Led by Prussian military might, Germany's victorious War of Liberation against the French in 1813 brought a new arrangement by the Congress of Vienna. This treaty restored most of the major princes while at the same time establishing a loose confederation of about three dozen states from the original three hundred.
Beginning in 1845, there was a series of European crop failures that led to a general economic depression across the continent. The resulting unrest spurred a series of revolutions to break out in 1848. Beginning in Paris, the strife quickly spread to other areas. To settle the crisis in Germany, several concessions were granted to the individual states and representatives were elected to the newly formed Frankfurt Parliament to unite the region. Divisions persisted however, and the effort was stalled the following year.
In 1862, Prussia's Otto Von Bismark took up the cause of German unification. Following wars with the Danish (1864) and Austrians (1866), he formed the North German Confederation unifying the northern states under Prussian leadership. In 1870-71, during a war with the French, the southern German states agreed to join the federation, and on January 18, 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was crowned emperor of the new German Reich at Versailles. Bismark was Chancellor.
The new nation was based on a federal system with certain powers allocated for the states and those of national import belonging to the democratically elected national parliament, known as the Reichstag. Real power still lay with the king and this eventually was a cause for national unrest as the country approached the 20th century. To Bismark's good fortune, he and William had a good relationship and he was essentially given a free hand to run the country.
Bismarck ruled with authority but his handling of domestic problems proved less effective than his efforts in foreign affairs. At home, he unsuccessfully tried to subdue the large Roman Catholic minority and its political arm. He achieved similar results when he tried to quell Germany's mildly Marxist party, the Social Democratic party that had gained popularity with the industrial working class during the economic depression that beset Germany in the 1880s. On foreign matters, Bismark promoted European stability, forged alliances with Austria and Italy known as the Triple Alliance in 1882, and signed a treaty with Russia in 1887.
In 1888, William I was succeeded by William II. Bismark's fortunes immediately changed. The new monarch did not like Bismark's heavy-handed methods, nor how he handled Germany's growing domestic disputes. In 1890, he forced Bismark to resign. William tried to conciliate the German working class but he was not willing to relinquish any power to the Reichstag, nor to renew the old constitution which many believed undemocratic. Whether a turnaround in German economic fortunes can be attributed to William is questionable, but Germany embarked on a period of unprecedented economic expansion during this period.
In contrast to Bismark's foreign policy success, William's efforts on the international stage were plagued with failures. Growing rivalries between Austria and Russian in the Balkan states led William to question his ability to maintain alliances with both. In 1890, he decided to side with Austria and abandoned the treaty with Russia. In 1894, France assumed Germany's old alliance and signed a treaty with Russia. Germany's overwhelming industrial successes became a growing concern among its European neighbours, and William's colonial expansion policies encountered French and English resistance. Soon after Britain and Germany entered a naval arms race. At the outset of World War I, Germany's only European ally was Austria-Hungary.
Anxious to support its Austrian ally in a dispute with Russian over Serbia, in 1914 Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia and when it was rejected, declared war on both Russia and France. In the beginning, the war effort was generally supported by most Germans, but as the war pressed on food shortages and the unlikelihood of a speedy conclusion caused support to wane. By 1918 the German people rose in revolt against their government and pressed for the abdication of the emperor. William went into exile in the Netherlands. The Social Democrat Party took over the government, proclaimed a republic, and brought the war to an end. It was the costliest and bloodiest war the world had ever known to that time.
To maintain order at home, particularly the suppression of communist expansion which had taken root in Russia, the Social Democrats accepted the support of the army. In 1919, a freely elected constituent assembly met in Weimar to write a constitution giving direct governing power to the Reichstag, and the new Weimar Republic was proclaimed. Soon after, the new government was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles which confiscated German land, people, and natural resources in an effort to force Germany to pay reparations for damages caused by the war.
In the years that followed, Germany was beleaguered with unrest. The war reparations, as anticipated, proved to be a tremendous burden and far in excess of Germany's ability to pay. Politically, the nation reverted to several parties representing all points on the political spectrum. No single group had sufficient support or alliances to form an effective government. By 1922, the economic burden had reached catastrophic proportions and a new reparations arrangement was agreed. Gradually the German economy revived and politics settled down. It is was all but short-lived however, as the Great Depression of the 1930s struck.
The global economic woes in the early 1930s restricted the German government to function only by emergency decree. Support for some of the smaller and more radical parties increased. With a patriotic fervour and a suite of radical solutions, in 1932 Adolf Hitler's National Socialist (Nazi) party was the largest in the Reichstag. The following year he was appointed chancellor. Hitler quickly manipulated and coerced the Reichstag into granting him absolute power, and soon thereafter founded a totalitarian state known unofficially as the Third Reich, the first and second being the Holy Roman Empire and the unified German Empire set up by Bismarck.
Few supporters of Hitler's rise to power knew his intentions, but by 1938 it was too late. Hitler eliminated any person who he deemed to be an enemy and positioned himself at the head of the military. A concerted state program of ending unemployment with public works projects and a restoration of business confidence produced remarkable economic recovery in Germany. Starting in 1936, the military was reinstituted and an efficient propaganda ministry controlled the media to assure that he was viewed as a genius and Nazi Germany as the best of all possible worlds.
Hitler's foreign policy was based on his belief that Germany was overpopulated and needed to secure living space in Poland and Russia. He won some concessions with other European powers and managed to annex Austria in 1938 and to partition Czechoslovakia in 1938-39 without effective interference. In 1939 however, after Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war. World War II had erupted and before the guns were quelled in 1945, Hitler found himself against an Allied enemy that included countries from all over the world. When Hitler committed suicide in Berlin in April 1945, Germany was largely in ruins and at the mercy of the countries it had ravaged.
Following the war, the Allies agreed to give most of eastern Germany to Poland and the USSR. The remainder was divided into four zones of occupation: American, British, French, and Russian. Further discussions failed to yield an agreement on whether or how to later reunite the zones. Mounting tensions between Russia and the Western nations led to a more permanent boundary between the Soviet zone and the other areas. In 1949, shortly after the Western powers permitted their zones to unite and restore parliamentary democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviets installed a puppet regime of German Communists in the east, creating the German Democratic Republic.
Since 1949, the division of Germany into East and West is what most adults living today came to accept as the norm. Prospects of reunification seemed remote until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the mid 1980s. With the USSR no longer willing to intervene and save it, the East German Communist government collapsed and the Berlin Wall was opened in November 1989. This paved the way for the unification of the two German states under the West German constitution on October 3, 1990. For the first time since 1933, the German people lived together in freedom and unity.
Saxon Genelaogy
Copyright: ©1996 John Holwell and 1999 Jon Kehrer, Canberra