Germany travel guide

From Romans to Teutones
As you travel around Germany, or browse through the eclectic regional choices on offer, you will be struck by history and architecture that are not only emblems of Roman, medieval, Prussian and indeed Russian presence, but also by the fact that each region is so varied. Some of Germany’s oldest towns, the oldest being Trier (founded in 16 BC) in the Rhineland-Palatinate region, for example, go back to the Roman Empire, who ruled in Germany as far back as the 1st century BC. During this time, peoples known as the Teutones migrated from the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark into the south and west of the Danube valley, where they faced the Romans head on and continued south in battle with the Roman rulers, finally defeated in Aix en Provence in 102 BC.

Charlemagne & Hanseatic Cities
Another emperor to rule in Germany was Charles the Great between 768-814, better known as Charlemagne and who created a Frankish Empire between France and Germany, until his death in 814 AD. During this time he was also crowned by the Pope as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Aachen Cathedral dates back to these times as it became his seat of power and is the oldest in the country. The 10th-13th centuries saw the ruling power of regional duchies, wealthy families and the ecclesiastical elite take hold. Indeed, the proliferation of magnificent palaces and castles throughout the country illustrate the growth of this power as well as the growth of Hanseatic cities such as Lübeck and Hamburg, in Germany, Hanse meaning ‘a guild of merchants’ as these towns were perfectly placed to trade across the Baltic.

From Prussia to Reformation
During this period, another source of power came onto the scene. Prussia. Originally made up of a Slavic people hailing from modern day Poland and Lithuania, it was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in 1226, but the Prussians fought back to regain their territory in 1454. The Prussians remained a huge influence in German history, although the hugely important Reformation, 1517-1648 upstaged everything for a while, culminating in the Thirty Years' War of 1618-48.

Napoleon
Napoleon’s presence led to the Confederation of the Rhine between 1806-1807. This basically merged all of Germany east of the Rhine, with the exception of Prussia and Saxony, into one big Francophile confederation. Although Saxony did join a year later, with Napoleon ‘protector’ of the whole thing. Until the German Campaign, or Wars of Liberation, of 1813 which freed them from Napoleon’s grasp, which was being loosened at the same time on the other side, as Wellington advanced up through southern France.

Bismarck and the German Empire.
Post Napoleon saw renewed rivalry and battling for states, however the big sea change was the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, making Germany a world power. It also led to the Prussian Prime Minister, Otto von Bismarck finally unifying the German states, and the creation of the German Empire. Bismarck became Chancellor of the Empire, and Wilhelm II, the last of the Hohenzollern dynasty, Emperor (Kaiser) in 1888, ruling until Germany's defeat in World War I.

Post WWI and the Weimar Republic
After WWI and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, led by Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democrats and first Chancellor of the German Republic. Years of political and economic unrest followed, as Germany was obliged to pay billions of Dollars in reparations following the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The German economy collapses, and there are Communist uprisings in Saxony, Thuringia and Hamburg.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi era
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. Within a year he created authoritarian power, was an outright dictator and in 1934 declared the Third Reich. By this time he had also built concentration camps and, by 1935 made it illegal for Jews to work for government bodies, marry non Jews, or be German citizens. He started to invest in the country’s infrastructure, violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by reintroducing conscription and building an army and navy, annexed Sudetenland and Austria in 1938 and invaded Poland in 1939. After the mass murder of millions of Jews as well as other groups from society, in what became known as the Holocaust, Germany was invaded by the Allied Forces in 1945 and Hitler killed himself.

Post WWII
In 1949 Germany was divided, with the US, French and British zones in the west becoming the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet zone in the east the communist German Democratic Republic. In 1955 West Germany joined NATO and East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact but the Berlin Wall was put up in 1961, not to fall until 1989. It wasn’t until 1991 that Berlin was declared the capital of the newly unified Germany.