Man appeared on the territory of Germany 500 thousand years BC, during the Lower Paleolithic era. In the 1st millennium BC. Most of the territory of Germany was inhabited by Germanic tribes. In 9 AD The prince of the German Cherusci tribe, Arminius, won a victory in the Teutoburg Forest over three Roman legions, and this year has long been considered the beginning of German history, and Arminius is the first German national hero. In the 6th-8th centuries. The Franks subjugated the entire territory of Germany, which became part of the Frankish state, which reached its greatest power under Charlemagne. Soon after his death (814), the state disintegrated: the Western and Eastern empires arose.
The separation of German lands and the formation of the German state proper dates back to the 10th century. The first German king is considered to be the Frankish Duke Conrad I (911-19). Only Otto I (936-73) became the real ruler of the empire, who in 962 conquered the North and was crowned emperor by the Pope. This marked the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. Under Frederick I Barbarossa (ruled 1152-90), feudal fragmentation began, which sharply intensified in the 13th century. Despite the fragmentation, the country experienced rapid economic development, the growth of crafts and trade. During the revolutionary communal movement, which began in late 11th century uprisings in the Rhine cities of Worms, etc. and lasting until the 14th century, many cities freed themselves from the power of the lords, achieved self-government and personal freedom of the townspeople. An association of North German cities, the Hansa, was created, concentrating in its hands almost all intermediary trade between the German coast, Scandinavia, Russia, England, etc.
In the beginning. 16th century long-gestating oppositional sentiments spread across various social strata and resulted in the first major socio-political protests in Germany, which began with Martin Luther’s speech against indulgences (1517). The Revolt of the Imperial Knights (1522-23) and the Peasants' War (1525) failed. However, the religious and political struggle continued for several more decades. According to the Peace of Augsburg (1555), princes received the right to determine the religion of their subjects. Protestantism acquired equal rights with Catholicism.
Confessional and political differences led to the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), during which vast German territories were devastated and depopulated. According to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, part of the territory of Germany went to France and. The territorial fragmentation of the country (about 300 principalities for 4 million people) was legally enshrined. In the 18th century under Frederick II (the Great) (1740-86), the Kingdom of Prussia became a powerful military power, annexing Silesia and part of Poland. However, an unsuccessful attempt by Prussia and Austria to stop the revolutionary movement in France resulted in a retaliatory strike by Napoleonic troops, as a result of which the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation finally collapsed. After the victory over Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), the German Confederation was created as a union of sovereign states, but with the clear dominance of Prussia and Austria.
In the beginning. 19th century in the Confederation of the Rhine, created in 1806 under the protectorate of France, and in Prussia, reforms were carried out aimed at eliminating feudal barriers to political and economic development (in Prussia this is associated with the names of K. von Stein, K. A. Hardenberg, W. Humboldt).
In the 1830s. The process of industrialization began, especially in the Rhineland and Saxony. In 1834, the German Customs Union of 18 states led by Prussia arose. The process of industrialization exacerbated social problems and gave rise to the beginnings of a labor movement. In 1844, the first major uprising of the German proletariat took place (the uprising of Silesian weavers, suppressed by the Prussian army). In the 1840s. Marxism arose on German soil, claiming to express the interests of the proletariat in the world.
Rapid economic growth was accompanied by the rise of Prussia, whose prime minister in 1862 was Otto von Bismarck, who set a course for the unification of Germany.
The first steps on this path were the Danish War of 1864 (the seizure of Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark) and the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which ended with the defeat of the Austrian army at Sadovaya (July 3, 1866). Under the terms of the Prague Peace of 1866, Austria left the German political scene. Its former allies (Nassau, Hesse, ) were annexed to Prussia. The German Confederation was liquidated, and in its place the North German Confederation was created in 1867 under the rule of Prussia.
Victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, which resulted in France losing Alsace and Lorraine and paying huge reparations, removed the last barriers to unification. The South German states united with the North German Confederation to form the German Empire. On January 18, 1871, the Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor. The constitution, adopted in April 1871, provided for general elections in Germany and a federal structure, although the most important issues were decided by the imperial authorities, primarily the government and the Reich Chancellor (Bismarck in 1871-90).
Bismarck pursued a balanced, peaceful and allied foreign policy, but in domestic politics he fought against all liberal democratic tendencies - from socio-political Catholicism and the left-liberal bourgeoisie to the organized labor movement. Bismarck, with the help of progressive laws that improved the social status of wage workers (compulsory health insurance in 1883, a pension system with old-age and disability pensions in 1889), laid the foundation of the “welfare state” that still exists in Germany.
8 1888 Emperor Wilhelm II ascended the throne. Continuing the reactionary course in domestic politics, he supplemented it with a transition to “world politics,” which meant widespread expansion (imperialism) and militarism. began to create a powerful fleet to put an end to domination of the seas. In World War I (1914-18), Germany suffered not only military defeat, but also political collapse. On November 11, 1918, an armistice between Germany and the Entente was signed in Compiegne.
On November 9, during the November Revolution, the Kaiser's regime collapsed. In February 1919, the Constituent Assembly opened in Weimar, which adopted the Constitution of the German Republic (Weimar Constitution) on July 31. Germany became a parliamentary republic. The first president was the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert. The government, consisting of representatives of bourgeois parties and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was headed by F. Scheidemann.
The Troubles of 1923 (colossal inflation, which amounted to 2.4 thousand% in 1922, and 1.87 billion% in 1923, occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium, the Hitler-Ludendorff putsch, the communist uprising under the leadership of E. Thälmann) almost led The Weimar Republic will collapse. The situation was stabilized for a short time - until the economic crisis of 1929-32, which became the beginning of the fall of the Weimar Republic. Unemployment and mass poverty led to the strengthening of left-wing and right-wing nationalist radicals in the Reichstag, which did not allow the creation of a capable government. On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed the leader of the National Socialist Workers' Party A. Hitler as Reich Chancellor and instructed him to form a government.
Having come to power, the Nazis quickly eliminated basic political freedoms, banned all parties (except their own), dispersed trade unions in 1934, and abolished freedom of the press. Those who disagreed with the regime were thrown into concentration camps. In 1934, after the death of Hindenburg, Hitler united the posts of chancellor and president, thereby becoming supreme commander in chief. The country's economy has undergone a radical restructuring.
Already in 1935, the Hitler regime began to eliminate the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles and expand the “living space for the German people.” In 1935, the Saarland was returned to Germany and the right to create a regular army was restored. In March 1938, Germany annexed and, with the connivance of Great Britain and France, annexed the territories seized from them, and then the whole of Czechoslovakia. Having signed a Non-Aggression Pact with the USSR on August 23, 1939, Germany attacked on September 1, 1939, thereby unleashing the 2nd World War, which, according to Hitler’s plans, was to ensure the Third Reich complete dominance in Europe.
Initially, the German army won victories, quickly occupying Poland, Denmark, Holland, Yugoslavia and. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR, and within 5 months, Wehrmacht forces captured the Baltic states and came close to Moscow. However, driven back from the capital in December 1941 and suffering crushing defeats at Stalingrad and Kursk, they were forced to retreat. From the end 1942 Germany and its allies suffered defeats on all fronts. On May 8, 1945, Germany signed an act of unconditional surrender.
The war cost Germany almost 14 million killed, wounded and prisoners. The country was destroyed, the remaining industrial enterprises were subject to dismantling after the war. Direct material losses suffered by Germany in the war due to destruction amounted to approximately $50 billion.
At the conference (February 1945), the Allies decided to divide Germany into 4 occupation zones (4 sectors), but not split it into separate states. On June 5, supreme power in the country passed to the victorious powers (USSR, Great Britain and France), which formed a Control Council consisting of the commanders of the occupation forces. The Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) established the need for denazification, demilitarization, demonopolization and democratization of Germany. The occupation zones were tied to different political and economic systems, which led to a particularly acute manifestation of the Cold War in Germany and its forty-year split.
On June 20, 1948, a monetary reform was carried out in the western zones and the German mark was introduced. At the same time, economic liberalization reform was carried out. The Soviet leadership used this separate reform as a pretext for the blockade of West Berlin (June 24, 1948 - May 4, 1949). From ser. 1948 West and East Germany developed according to different economic models. In the western part, thanks to American economic assistance (in 1948-52, under the Marshall Plan, Germany received $1.4 billion in aid) and reforms carried out by the director of the Economics Office (then Minister of Economics) Ludwig Erhard, the model of a social market economy began to be implemented. In the eastern part, where a monetary reform was also carried out on June 24, 1948, the socialization of production and the formation of a Soviet-type administrative-planned economy continued.
The economic division of the country was followed by a political one. On May 23, 1949, the Parliamentary Council proclaimed the entry into force of the Basic Law (Constitution) (FRG). In August 1949, elections were held to the West German parliament - the Bundestag. On September 20, 1949, a government was formed headed by the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Konrad Adenauer, who took the post of Federal Chancellor. Nevertheless, in West Germany the occupation status remained until May 5, 1955, when Germany joined NATO.
On October 7, 1949, the People's Council proclaimed the creation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). On the same day, the People's Council transformed itself into the Provisional People's Chamber, which enacted a democratic Constitution. Wilhelm Pieck was elected president of the GDR, and Otto Grotewohl became prime minister.
In 1951, the three Western occupying powers declared the end of the state of war with Germany, and in January 1955 the USSR did the same, establishing diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany (diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic were established in 1949). In 1951, Germany became one of the founders of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and on March 27, 1957, along with five others, signed the Treaties of Rome, which created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Germany actively participated in European integration construction and became one of the initiators of the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the creation of the European Union (and within its framework, the Economic and Monetary Union).
With widespread support from the United States, the Adenauer government managed to quickly and effectively restore the devastated economy of Germany. The German “economic miracle” is associated with the consistent implementation of the principles of the liberal model of a social market economy by Minister of Economics L. Erhard, who became Federal Chancellor in 1963. After the first post-war recession of 1966/67, a government of a large coalition (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and SPD) was formed, and in 1969 - a small coalition (SPD and Free Democratic Party) led by Chancellor Willy Brandt, who in 1974 succeeded by Helmut. In the foreign policy sphere, a “new Eastern policy” began to be pursued, aimed at improving relations with the countries of the Soviet bloc.
In 1982-98, the government of the right-wing liberal coalition of the CDU/CSU and FDP and Chancellor Helmut Kohl, whose name is associated not only with the turn in economic policy, but primarily with the unification of Germany, were in power.
The mass demonstrations that began in September 1989 became the prologue to the collapse of the GDR. On October 19, the Secretary General of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Erich Honecker, resigned, and on November 9, the Berlin Wall collapsed. The unification of the country took place on October 3, 1990 (based on the Unification Treaty signed on August 31, 1990). Even before this, on July 1, 1990, the Treaty on the Formation of an Economic, Monetary and Social Union came into force, which authorized the transfer of the West German social market economy system to the territory of East Germany.
1990s passed under the sign of the integration of the East German lands, which turned out to be more difficult than initially thought. Germany as a whole faces tough challenges, forcing it to reform its labor market, social services and public finances. This has become the main task of the coalition government of the SPD and Union 90/Greens, in power since 1998, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
The territory of Germany was inhabited in prehistoric times.
Scientists think the Heidelberg Man jawbone, discovered near the southern German city of Heidelberg, is about 400,000 years old, and Neanderthal Man takes its name from the Neanderthal Valley near Dusseldorf, where the remains of an early species of homo sapiens were first discovered in 1856. These discoveries have greatly clarified the initial stage of human evolution.
In the last millennium BC, the region was inhabited by Celtic peoples. Traces of their culture are few, although fragments of pile houses have been preserved on the shores of Lake Constance.
Invasions of countless Germanic tribes from neighboring eastern and northern lands more and more often disrupted the calm flow of life of the Celts. These ancestors of modern Germans may have come here to hide from the Romans as they expanded their empire east from their conquered Celtic Gaul (modern France).
In 58 BC. e. Julius Caesar prevented Ariovistus, the leader of the Sueves, from entering Alsace and drove his forces back across the Rhine. Here Caesar stopped his legions, believing that beyond the river there were only wild forests. Later the Romans crossed the Rhine and reached the Elbe. It seemed that nothing prevented the inclusion of Germany into the Roman Empire when, in 9 AD. e. three excellent Roman legions were destroyed in the battle of the Teutoburg Forest by soldiers led by Arminius (much later the Germans, in search of their hero, called him Hermann). The Romans abandoned attempts to conquer the lands beyond the Rhine and limited themselves to the Romanization of the western and southern regions of the country.
The historian Tacitus called the Germans warlike and lazy, although he recognized their bravery in battle. He spoke contemptuously of an unpleasant country with a harsh climate and, as a rule, disgusting in appearance. However, within the limits of the limes (protective walls following the contours of the Rhine and Danube), his compatriots settled down very well. Large and small cities arose, as well as military camps. Some of them still exist today, such as Cologne, Augsburg and Trier, rich in Roman antiquities.
In 275, the Germans destroyed Trier, but the city was revived and became the capital of the Western Empire, and under Emperor Constantine - a major Christian center. But the end of the empire was not far off; the peoples migrating to Eastern Europe pressed the restless Germans, and in the 5th century. Several Germanic tribes moved west, sweeping away already weak Roman fortifications on their way.
The Romans left, the empire collapsed, but their legacy influenced the history of many countries. Even today, along the Rhine, where the Romans once lived, a special atmosphere, a feeling of joy of life, remains. Perhaps this is due to the wine imported from Italy. Even the post-war division of Germany, when the capital of West Germany was the Rhineland Bonn, and the capital of Communist Germany was distant East Berlin, reflected ancient historical divisions.
Porta Nigra in Trier is a great monument from the Roman era.
A Brief History of the Revival of the German Empire
During the period of the Great Migration of Peoples, which followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, from the 4th to the beginning of the 7th century. n. e., there was a complex process of mixing of European peoples.
The Franks strengthened, settling the fertile lands along the lower reaches of the Rhine and Moselle with their center in Aachen. Their greatest leader, Charlemagne, became king of the Franks in 768. On Christmas Day 800, he was proclaimed emperor in Rome, which allowed him to consider himself and his people the successors of the now legendary Rome. Being at the same time a cruel and enlightened ruler, he conquered all his enemies and contributed to the development of literature, education and the arts. The largest monument preserved from those times is the cathedral in Aachen.
After the death of Charlemagne, the kingdom was divided into three parts, which formed the basis of the future France and Germany. The central government weakened, and local lords were forced to maintain order themselves and repel attacks by the Normans and Huns. Through their efforts, the large duchies of Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria and Swabia were formed. Henry of Saxony (the Birdcatcher) managed to conquer the other dukes and, to some extent, restore a unified kingdom.
His son Otgon held a brilliant ceremony of his own coronation in Aachen in 936. He proclaimed himself king of Germany and heir to Charlemagne.
Otgon's greatest success was the final elimination of the threat to European stability emanating from the east from the rampaging Huns. The victory at Lech near Augsburg was decisive. In 962, the Pope proclaimed Ottonov emperor in Rome. Since then, for hundreds of years, German kings were also emperors, and they were required to intervene in the internal affairs of Italy and reckon with the temporal and spiritual power of the pontiffs.
Heading East
From the beginning of the second millennium, emperors had to observe with alarm the strengthening of the nobility and bishops, who were both landowners and church leaders.
In 1077, a dispute over investiture confronted Emperor Henry IV with the need for public humiliation. His power was undermined by the restless German princes. Fearing that Pope Gregory VII would strengthen his influence in Europe, he went to the residence of the pontiff, the Italian castle of Canossa. Here, wearing only a hair shirt in the winter cold, he humiliatedly waited for an audience, then fell on his face, stretching out his arms in a cross. The satisfied Pope confirmed his absolute power, which strengthened the position of the emperor, although this did not save Europe from civil strife.
Ambitious rulers constantly encroached on imperial power and authority. Emperor Frederick I, who reigned from 1152 to 1190, was an outstanding representative of the outstanding Hohenstaufen dynasty. His magnificent court, where poets and sweet-voiced minnesingers shone, can be considered the heyday of medieval knighthood. Despite the political fragmentation and weakness of the central government and army, the empire survived. Until the end of the Middle Ages, it existed under the name of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.
In principle, German imperial and royal power was not hereditary. The question of who would receive the imperial regalia was decided by the seven electors of the most important German cities, including the prince-archbishops of Trier, Mainz and Cologne. But in reality, representatives of the Habsburg dynasty ruled for many centuries not only in Austria, but also in other German regions, as well as in the Netherlands and Spain. This meant that the emperor could only partially concentrate on German affairs, which was a constant temptation for local rulers who wanted to wrest some power from him.
A Brief History of Germany during the Reformation
The 95 theses that the young monk Martin Luther nailed to the gates of Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517 led to events that split Germany and completely changed the political geography of Europe. Even before Luther, there were voices condemning the worldliness of popes and high clergy, and attempts were made to return the church to the people, as well as to enable ordinary people to study the Bible.
A flagrant abuse was the sale of indulgences, with the help of which funds were extorted to satisfy the political ambitions of the highest church officials. The ossified church did not want change; it preferred to burn the reformers at the stake, like John Hus, rather than heed their warnings.
Jan Hus was sentenced to death in Constance in 1415. In 1521, Luther was summoned to Worms before the Reichstag, where he was condemned and excommunicated. This was accompanied by harsh threats against everyone who was ready to come to his aid. There was more at stake than just the freedom of the monk who defied the Pope and the Emperor. Many German rulers found his teaching a convenient means to achieve their political goals. When Luther left Worms, supporters of the Saxon Elector took him to Wartburg Castle near the city of Eisenach. Here he spent the best years of his seclusion, devoting them to translating the Bible into German, which would be understandable to everyone.
Events developed rapidly. One peasant uprising followed another. Reformist and even revolutionary religious sects arose and disappeared.
Around the middle of the 16th century. many princes and most of the free cities accepted Lutheranism, and the attempts of Emperor Charles V to crush the Reformation ended in a compromise.
The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 was in fact an agreement of disagreement, and the principle of whose power is his faith allowed local rulers to determine the religious concession in their domains. Since then, Protestants have predominated in Central and East Germany, while Catholics have predominated in Bavaria and the Rhine.
A Brief History of Germany during the Thirty Years' War
In 1618-1648. Central Europe became the scene of the Thirty Years' War. It was also often invaded by outside powers such as France and Sweden. Events began to develop rapidly after the Prague defenestration, when the Protestant nobles, outraged by the emperor’s attempt on their privileges, threw two of his governors out of the window of the Prague Castle.
The emperor's revenge followed in 1621 - his army defeated the troops of Bohemia in the Battle of the White Mountain near Prague. Battles took place throughout Germany. Entire cities, like Magdeburg, were destroyed, peasants abandoned their lands, crops rotted in the fields, and epidemics broke out.
At the same time, America was discovered, and large trade routes appeared between Central Europe and the expanses of the New World.
After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Germany gradually came to its senses, but economically it lagged far behind France and England.
The Peace of Westphalia cemented Germany's political fragmentation and gave local rulers more sovereignty. Alsace went to France, part of the Baltic states to Sweden.
Absolutism and enlightenment
From the end of the 17th century. and during the 18th century. political leaders in Germany were the rulers of large states, primarily the kings of Prussia.
Following the example of France and the ruling style of the Sun King Louis XIV, they reorganized their kingdoms along absolutist lines, centralized power, strengthened the bureaucracy, and created standing armies.
Rulers often abandoned their cramped medieval castles and built spacious Baroque palaces. Among the most ambitious and extravagant rulers were spiritual electors, such as representatives of the Schönborn dynasty, who administered state affairs from the luxurious Würzburg residence.
Many princes tried to increase their authority by inviting famous philosophers, artists and musicians. Among them was the French writer and thinker Voltaire, whose wit and erudition captivated many, especially the Potsdam court of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
In high society they spoke French. Frederick was a highly educated man; his flute playing is depicted in a famous 19th-century painting. Adolf von Menzel. Johann Sebastian Bach based his Musical Offering on a theme proposed to him by the king. Despite this, the great composer spent most of his creative life as a cantor in the Free City of Leipzig, where his employer was not the king, but the city council.
Frederick the Great was from the Hohenzollern dynasty, whose representatives founded Prussia with its center in Brandenburg near the small town of Berlin.
In the 18th century The Hohenzollerns managed to build a state with strong government, an effective bureaucracy and a disciplined army. Relatively liberal in internal affairs, Prussia pursued an aggressive foreign policy, constantly expanding, primarily at the expense of its main rival, Austria, from which it took Silesia as a result of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The Habsburgs, who now retained almost the nominal title of Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, abandoned Germany and directed their efforts to Hungary and the Balkans to fill the void left by the departure of the Ottoman Porte from there.
Other German states watched the rise of Prussia with apprehension, perhaps anticipating that in the next century it would be this militaristic state that would lead the fight for German unity and impose its rules on still fragmented territories with very different traditions.
Destruction of Magdeburg by imperial troops led by Count Tilly in 1632
Revolutions and restorations
The French Revolution of 1789 led to the French-German confrontation, and by 1794 all lands west of the Rhine were in French hands. Soon Napoleon included all of Germany in the continental system with France at its head.
Many urgent reforms were carried out, such as the partial liberation of the Jews. The French also streamlined the political map of Germany: church states were abolished, and Baden and Bavaria received the status of kingdoms and significantly expanded their territories. In 1806, the surprisingly resilient, but now unnecessary, Holy Roman Empire ended its days.
Indignation caused by foreign domination stirred up patriotic sentiments. In the spring of 1813, anti-French unrest broke out throughout Germany. In October, at the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig, the combined forces of Russia, Austria and the revived Prussia defeated Napoleon's army. But a new order was never established in Central Europe. The victorious powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 were determined to prevent further uprisings. Although many of the results of Napoleon's reorganization of Germany were preserved, Russia, Prussia, and Austria joined forces to recreate authoritarianism.
Despite this, unrest and unrest arose. At the Wartburg Festival in 1817, students first raised the black, red and yellow banner, which became the national flag of Germany. It also fluttered at a festival attended by 30,000 people at Hambach Castle in the Palatinate, where passionate speeches were made demanding democracy and unity. In 1848, when all of Europe was engulfed in revolution, it seemed that the old order would finally collapse. Frightened governments made significant concessions, and the national parliament, meeting in Frankfurt's St. Paul's Church, was to decide the fate of a united, constitutional, democratic Germany. However, while the deputies were playing for time in discussions, conservative forces concentrated, dispersed parliament and ruthlessly suppressed speeches.
Unification according to the Prussian model
German unification was achieved not through discussion, but through ruthless diplomatic warfare and moderate pressure. This path was preferred by Otto von Bismarck, who was appointed Chancellor of Prussia in 1862. In 1864, Bismarck used Austria to capture Schleswig-Holstein, and in 1866 he turned against his ally. The crushing defeat inflicted by the Prussian army on the Austrians at the Battle of Sadowa in Bohemia excluded any participation of Austria in resolving the German question and meant that from now on only Prussia would lead Germany to unity. In 1870, the South German states, as allies of Prussia, entered the Franco-Prussian War, which ended in German victory.
France had to pay huge indemnities, and most of the German-speaking Alsace and Lorraine, which had belonged to France since the 17th century, became part of the Second Reich. On January 18, 1871, the King of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor. The new Kaiser Wilhelm I believed that this was the end of the Prussian monarchy, and other German princes and dukes were also worried; the consent of the Bavarian king Ludwig II had to be bought for a lot of money.
Yet Germany was gripped by national euphoria. The economy picked up quickly. Industry flourished, gigantic construction began, and an extensive network of railways spread out. The country caught up and surpassed England in the production of coal and steel and entered the era of the second industrial revolution, developing the chemical industry and electrification.
The government paid great attention to the social security of the unemployed and disabled, mainly to get ahead of the Social Democrats in this. The powers of the Reichstag were small; Politics was made by Bismarck, and after his dramatic resignation in 1890, by Kaiser Wilhelm II and a small group of his associates, increasingly replenished by the military.
Great War
Germany was late to the fight for Africa, its colonial claims irritated England and France, and its determination to become a maritime power was perceived only as a deliberate provocation.
At the beginning of the 20th century. Tensions between the major European powers were increasing, and they were not skimping on weapon modernization. When the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo in June 1914 by a Serbian student, Germany immediately demanded that Austria rein in its unruly neighbor, Serbia. European alliances were set in motion, pitting Germany and Austria against Russia, France and Great Britain. After the failure of a carefully prepared attack on France, Germany could not hope to succeed in grueling trench warfare. The situation was aggravated by the entry into the war of the United States with its unlimited material and human resources.
Germans abandon the trenches during the failed final offensive (World War I).
At the end of the summer of 1918, the German military leadership was forced to admit defeat, but tried to avoid shame by blaming the civilian government, which demanded an armistice. The soldiers returned home to the sounds of brass bands and waving banners. Thus was born the legend of the stab in the back.
Weimar respite
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled to Holland.
The new German republican government met in Weimar, as there was great unrest in Berlin. First of all, he had to accept the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles: recognition of responsibility for starting the war, painful reparations, the cession of the Rhine lands, the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France, the loss of some regions of Prussia and the provision of Poland with the so-called Polish corridor - access to the Baltic Sea. Many perceived agreement with these demands as a betrayal.
In 1923, the government was forced to admit hyperinflation, which ruined millions of people, and come to terms with the fact that France occupied the Ruhr Basin.
At the end of the 1920s. the situation improved somewhat when social reforms seemed to be creating the basis for a brighter future. But the Great Depression, which broke out in 1929, dealt the Weimar Republic a fatal blow.
In 1932, there were six million unemployed in the country, and the National Socialist German Workers' Party won the most seats in the Reichstag. After the second round of elections in 1932, the incumbent President Hindenburg agreed to appoint Adolf Hitler as Chancellor, head of the coalition government. On January 30, 1933, Hitler took the oath.
A Brief History of Germany during the Third Reich and World War II
On the night of February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire, blame for this was placed on a certain Dutch communist, although it may have been the work of Nazi stormtroopers. Hitler used the fire as a pretext to arrest his opponents, and in the March elections he took full power into his own hands. He had a rare ability to play on the fears, despair and ambitions of the Germans.
Besides outcast Jews and other undesirable citizens, the Nazis tried to please everyone. The economy was revived, the military-industrial complex developed, which ensured the loyalty of industrialists and the military.
Provided they renounced communist sympathies, not a single worker was in danger of ending up on the street. Although the middle class had to tighten its belts, inflation stopped, and many small entrepreneurs were glad to see the disappearance of Jewish competitors.
Semi-criminal elements could now terrify the townspeople with impunity, in beautiful form.
After a series of Hitler's foreign policy successes, starting with the seizure of the Rhineland in 1936, almost all Germans were freed from the shame of defeat and the humiliation of Versailles. It seemed that the nationalist dreams of the 19th century. are coming true.
In 1939, after the invasion of Poland, England and France declared war on Germany. Not all Germans were delighted, but a series of brilliant blitzkriegs convinced many of them that Hitler was invincible. Doubts arose after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and the entry of the United States into the war. They were fully justified by the crushing defeat at Stalingrad in January 1943, but there was no turning back, especially after the Allies declared a course for the unconditional surrender of Germany. Nevertheless, a conspiracy against Hitler arose in the army, and in July 1944, it almost succeeded. But the assassination attempt failed, and Germany fought for almost another year. During this time, the country suffered more damage than in all previous years of the war. Allied air forces razed entire cities to the ground. In the last months of the war and in the first post-war years, about 15 million Germans either fled or were expelled from their lands where they had lived for many generations - from Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia - and from the German lands proper that were now transferred into other hands - from East Prussia, Silesia, most of Pomerania.
Restoration and separation
It seemed that Germany, physically devastated, half-starved, shivering from the cold in the terrible first post-war winters, full of demoralized refugees, ruled by foreign armies, would never be reborn.
After the end of hostilities, the country was divided into occupation zones. The British, American and French zones became the Federal Republic of Germany. It was brought out of the state of post-war devastation by thoughtful monetary reforms that eliminated the black market and cleared the way for an economic miracle that turned the country into one of the most prosperous countries in the Western world.
The Soviet zone became the GDR. It was governed according to the Soviet style by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, which arose on the basis of the Social Democratic Party, absorbed by its once mortal enemy - the communists.
Germany became the main theater of the Cold War. In 1948, the fragile alliance between the Western powers and the Soviet Union fell apart. In May 1948, the USSR blocked all approaches to Berlin - railways, highways, waterways. In the following months, British and American planes delivered almost 2.5 million tons of goods, including significant coal reserves. Almost a year later, the USSR lifted the blockade. The Berlin Air Corridor was a turning point in the Cold War and soon changed the image of Berlin in the West - from a Nazi capital to an outpost of freedom.
Despite significant achievements in some areas - low rents, excellent social security, guaranteed employment - the population of the GDR was not completely loyal. In 1961, about 3 million people crossed over to the West. The construction of the Berlin Wall this year was a desperate measure, a reaction to the exodus of the population that was undermining the country's economy.
From separation to unification
In the 1960-1980s. divided Germany was a feature of the European political landscape. The Federal Republic of Germany continued to prosper, but was tormented by the nightmares of its Nazi past. The generation that came of age in the 1960s asked their parents questions that they were often reluctant to answer. The small Red Army faction carried out terrorist attacks and kidnapped people, hoping that the state's response to this violence would expose its fascist nature. Its leaders were captured and put on trial, and later committed suicide in custody.
The GDR liked to say that the country would soon become one of the leading industrial powers in the world, but all its achievements were explained by the shameless manipulation of statistical data, and the industry mainly produced goods that could only be foisted on prisoners. Such was the bumpy and environmentally damaging little Trabant.
In reality, like the Soviet Union, the GDR fell further and further behind the West. When in the late 1980s. Mikhail Gorbachev began to weaken the iron principles of the Soviet system, General Secretary Erich Honecker thought that the GDR, despite this, would survive, but without the support of the Soviets, the regime began to fall on its side. In 1989, hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets demanding change.
A turning point in German history
The Germans use the word Wende when talking about the important events of 1989-1990 that led to the unification of the country. A united Germany was not an inevitable consequence of the collapse of the GDR communist regime. Many advocated for a long transition period while the country came to terms with its newfound freedom.
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 is an event of enormous symbolic significance, and yet it is only a stage in the gradual collapse of East Germany.
Many members of the communist leadership believed that the departure of figures such as Secretary General Erich Honecker from the scene and reforms would save the regime.
Western leaders used every possible argument to convince them that German unification was both necessary and desirable. And when the hated wall collapsed, many East Germans were quite happy with the opportunity to go to the West for a day, do some shopping and return home. But as the picture of total control of the lives of citizens by the Stasi (secret police), as well as corruption and private privileges, became clearer, more and more citizens of the GDR began to expect help from the West.
German Chancellor Kohl quickly grasped these sentiments and in December, speaking to a huge crowd in Dresden, he said: My goal... is the unity of the people!
The GDR government could only await its fate in the first free and fair elections in the country's history. Their result in March 1990 was the triumph of the Christian Democrats. The merger took place on October 3, 1990.
History of Germany. From francs to Germany
Former Nazi Germany was divided into several. Austria left the empire. Alsace and Lorraine returned to French protection. Czechoslovakia received back the Sudetenland. Statehood was restored in Luxembourg.
Part of Poland's territory, annexed by the Germans in 1939, returned to Poland. The eastern part of Prussia was divided between the USSR and Poland.
The remainder of Germany was divided by the Allies into four zones of occupation, administered by Soviet, British, American and military authorities. The countries that took part in the occupation of German lands agreed to pursue a coordinated policy, the main principles of which were denazification and demilitarization of the former German Empire.
Education Germany
A few years later, in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was proclaimed on the territory of the American, British and French occupation zones, which became Bonn. Western politicians thus planned to create in this part of Germany a state built on a capitalist model, which could become a springboard for a possible war with the communist regime.
The Americans provided considerable support to the new bourgeois German state. Thanks to this support, Germany quickly began to transform into an economically developed power. In the 50s they even talked about the “German economic miracle.”
The country needed cheap labor, the main source of which was Türkiye.
How did the German Democratic Republic come into being?
The response to the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany was the proclamation of the constitution of another German republic - the GDR. This happened in October 1949, five months after the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany. In this way, the Soviet state decided to resist the aggressive intentions of its former allies and create a kind of stronghold of socialism in Western Europe.
The Constitution of the German Democratic Republic proclaimed democratic freedoms to its citizens. This document also secured the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. For a long time, the Soviet Union provided the government of the GDR with political and economic assistance.
However, in terms of the rate of industrial growth, the GDR, which had taken the socialist path of development, lagged significantly behind its western neighbor. But this did not prevent East Germany from becoming a developed industrial country, where agriculture also developed intensively. After a series of rapid democratic transformations in the GDR, the unity of the German nation was restored; on October 3, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR became a single state.
History of Germany
Germany is a unique country from many points of view. Centuries of territorial fragmentation, repeated changes in borders, world wars and subsequent divisions have determined the historical appearance of the country. But first things first...1200 years of German history
/ A fascinating series about the history of Germany from ZDF /
Season 1, episode 1. Otto the Great and the Empire.
In the 10th century there was no talk of “Germans” as such. The tribes of Bavarians, Saxons, Swabians and Franks are united, first of all, by their language. An external enemy contributes to their unity. Otto I decides to take advantage of this fortunate moment: to rule as a king over the German lands, and as an emperor over the entire Western Christian world.
Season 1, episode 2. Henry and the Pope.
In the 11th century, conflict broke out. Who is stronger: the King of the Germans or the Pope? Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII are fighting for power in the Kingdom of the Germans and throughout Western Christendom. Victory or defeat in this struggle depends on the German princes.
Season 1, episode 3. Frederick Barbarossa and Henry the Lion.
Frederick Barbarossa of the Staufen dynasty is the king of the Germans, and he wants to become emperor of the entire Western world. His empire will extend to the south of Italy, he himself will be known as an energetic and virtuous monarch, but his power will be challenged by powerful rivals. Even his former ally, Henry the Lion, will challenge the monarch.
Season 1, episode 4. Martin Luther and the German nation.
At first, Martin Luther only wanted to be firm in the faith and renew the church, but Pope Leo X and Emperor Charles V felt he was a danger to themselves and excommunicated him from the Church. However, the majority of the common people support him. Will he split the Germans or unite them?
Season 1, episode 5. Wallenstein and the Thirty Years' War.
Catholics against Protestants: the struggle for faith and power. By order of the emperor, the commander Albrecht von Wallenstein must defeat the followers of Martin Luther. The Germans will be related by one fate: their country will become a battlefield and a toy in the hands of European powers.
Season 1, episode 6. Frederick the Great and Empress Maria Theresa.
Germany in the 18th century had many rulers, but two monarchs stood out: Frederick of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria. They compete with each other. A war between them will split not only Germany, but also Europe. Will there be a winner in this war?
Season 1, episode 7. Napoleon and Germany.
The French Emperor Napoleon wants to rule in Germany as well. As the "General of the Revolution," he awakens hopes for freedom, but as a military leader, he turns the Germans against him. Against his will, he will give impetus to the awakening of the German nation.
Season 1, episode 8. Robert Blum and the revolution.
In the 19th century, dozens of princes ruled in Germany, but people longed for freedom and national unity. A revolution broke out. One of the main exponents of her ideas was Robert Blum. His fate represents a huge opportunity for German society.
(1.5 million years ago - 1st century BC)
Stone Age in Europe: Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Bronze Age in Europe: the first appearance of the Germanic tribes. Iron Age in Europe: the time of the Celts.
Germanic tribes in Europe (1st century BC - 6th century)
Life of the ancient Germans. Roman Empire and Germanic tribes. The crisis of the Roman Empire and the Great Migration. Germanic tribes that participated in the Great Migration.
Early Middle Ages(VI-XI centuries)
Franks, founders of the Frankish state. The Frankish state and the first dynasties of kings (Merovingians, Pipinids). Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty. Division of the Frankish state after Charles and the emergence of the East Frankish state. Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
High Middle Ages (mid-11th century - mid-13th century)
Otto the Great is the Holy Roman Emperor of the German nation. The struggle for investiture and the Concordat of Worms. Hohenstaufen dynasty. Frederick Barbarossa. Crusades. Inquisition. Agrarian revolution. The first universities in Europe. Hanseatic League.
Late Middle Ages (Renaissance) (mid-13th century - mid-16th century)
Interregnum 1256-1273. Urban development. Humanism and Renaissance in Europe. Plague in Europe. Typography. Discovery of America. The end of the Eastern Roman Empire. Great geographical discoveries. Copernicus. Witch-hunt. Church crisis.
New time (mid-16th century - mid-19th century)
Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Thirty Years' War. Absolutism. Revolutions in Europe. Napoleon. Creation of the USA. Industrial revolution.
German Empire (mid-19th century - early 20th century)
The Rise of Prussia. German-French war. Otto von Bismarck and the founding of the German Empire. The era of imperialism. German Empire under Wilhelm II. World War I. November Revolution of 1918
From the Weimar Republic to the division of Germany (1919-1949)
Weimar Republic. "Golden Twenties". National Socialist dictatorship. The Second World War. Division of Germany.
From the division to the unification of Germany (from 1949 to present)
The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic after the division of Germany. The sixties: the Berlin Wall and student movements. Willy Brandt and the New Eastern Policy. The era of Helmut Kohl. Unification of Germany. Modern Germany.
History of Germany
© "Knowledge is power"
History of Germany in the period 58 BC. - 16th century.
Now let's continue the story about the history of Germany. Let us, naturally, dwell only on the main events that determined the fate of Germany. A detailed presentation of German history cannot be included in our task, because even the electronic memory of a powerful computer may not be enough for material of such volume.
The Germanic tribes were neighbors of the slave-owning Roman Empire and were in constant economic relations with it. This contributed to the decomposition of the tribal layer and gradual social differentiation among the ancient Germans.
In 58 BC. Caesar conquered Gaul, which was owned by the Suevian tribal union of the Germans. Later, under Emperor Augustus, the Romans conquered the lands between the Rhine and Weser. But in 9 AD. The German Cherusci tribe, under the leadership of their leader Arminus, defeated the Roman troops in the Teutoburg Forest, and the Romans moved on to defend the northern and western borders of the empire. The "Roman Wall" was built - a chain of fortifications between the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danube. A period of peaceful relations began between the Germans and Rome. There was brisk trade with the border tribes. Leaders with squads, and sometimes entire Germanic tribes, settled on Roman territory as warriors. Many Germans penetrated the Roman army and partly into the state apparatus. There were many Germans among the slaves in the Roman Empire.
Although nothing is known about Arminus except his name and the fact of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, he is considered the first German national hero. Arminus during the period 1838 - 1875. a monument was erected near the city of Detmold (North Rhine-Westphalia). As the productive forces of the Germans grew, their pressure on the Roman Empire intensified. The invasion of the Quadi, Marcomanni and other Germanic tribes (Marcomanni War of 165-180), and then the invasion in the 3rd century of a number of Germanic tribes (Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni) became one of the reasons for the so-called migration of peoples in 4-6 centuries. The subsequent campaigns of the Germans, Slavs and other tribes and the simultaneous uprisings of slaves and colons contributed to the collapse of the slave system of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. German kingdoms appeared on the territory of Western Europe, in which a new, more progressive social mode of production gradually took shape - feudalism.
The beginning of German history
9 AD conventionally considered the beginning of German history. The formation of the German people began, which lasted for many centuries. The word "deutsch" ("deutsch") apparently appeared only in the eighth century. At first, this word denoted the language spoken in the eastern part of the Frankish empire, which in the 6th century included the duchies of the Germanic tribes of the Alamanni, Thuringians, Bavarians and some others conquered by the Franks. Later, other tribes, by the beginning of the 9th century, were conquered and included in the Frankish Empire by the Saxons. Soon, however, after the death of the creator of the Frankish Empire, Charlemagne (814), this empire began to disintegrate and by the end of the 9th century ceased to exist. From the eastern part of the collapsed Frankish Empire arose the Kingdom of Germany, which later became an empire. The formal date of the emergence of the German kingdom is usually considered to be 911, when, after the death of the last representative of the Carolingians, Louis the Child, Duke of the Franks Conrad I was elected king. He is considered the first German king.
Gradually, the Germanic tribes developed a sense of identity, and then the word “Deutsch” began to mean not only the language, but also those who spoke it, and then the territory of their residence - Germany. The Germanic western border was fixed early, around the mid-10th century, and remained fairly stable. The eastern border changed as German territory expanded eastward. The eastern border was fixed in the mid-14th century and remained until the outbreak of World War II.
Officially, the title of the king of Germany was first called "Frankish king", later - "Roman king". The empire was called the "Roman Empire" from the 11th century, the "Holy Roman Empire" from the 13th century, and the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in the 15th century. The king was elected by the highest nobility, along with this the “right of consanguinity” (“Geblütsrecht”) was in force, i.e. the king had to be related to his predecessor. There was no capital in the medieval empire. The king ruled the country by constantly visiting different areas. There were no state taxes in the empire. The treasury's revenues came from state property, which the king administered through proxies. It was not easy for the king to earn authority and respect from the powerful dukes of the tribes: military force and skillful politics were required. Only the heir of Conrad I, the Saxon Duke Henry I (919 - 936), succeeded. And even more so to the son of the latter, Otto I (936 - 973) - in German Otto I, who became the real ruler of the empire. In 962, Otto I was crowned in Rome and became Kaiser (emperor). According to the plan, imperial power was universal and gave its bearer the right to rule over all of Western Europe. It is known, however, that such a plan could never come true.
By the early 10th century, the kingdom of Germany included the duchies of Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony and Thuringia. In the first half of the 10th century, Otto I added Lorraine to them, and in 962 Otto I also annexed Northern Italy. In this way, an empire was created, which later received the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." Conrad II (the first king of the Frankish dynasty) annexed the kingdom of Burgundy to the empire in 1032.
The created empire struggled for a long time and to no avail with the power of the Pope. Under Henry V, a compromise treaty was concluded - the Concordat of Worms in 1122.
11th - 12th century
In the 70s of the eleventh century in Germany there was a powerful movement of Saxon peasants against the increase in corvée on the Crown Lands (i.e. on the lands of the king). The onslaught of large landowners in Germany was vigorously resisted by the peasant community - the mark. This was the main reason why the feudal system developed slowly in Germany. It was only in the twelfth century that the formation of feudal relations in Germany was largely completed. This was the period of formation of the so-called princely territories. Let us explain what these territories are. There is a rapid growth of cities, but the weak imperial power is not able to use for its own purposes the new source of funds that have opened up - income from urban crafts and trade - and create a support for itself in the growing social stratum of the townspeople, as was the case in England, France and other countries . The owners of independent principalities (or duchies), having subjugated the cities of their regions and seized income from crafts and trade, sought to obtain the rights of sovereign sovereigns over the territories under their control. This was the process of formation of princely territories.
In the twelfth century, the hierarchy of the feudal class took shape, which by the end of this century represented three groups: princes, counts and knights. The princes gradually occupied a dominant position. The exploitation of peasants intensified as commodity-money relations developed. In 1138, the century of the Staufen dynasty began, one of whose representatives was Frederick I Barbarossa (1152 - 1190). This king fought against the Pope, as well as against his main rival in Germany, the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion. In search of material resources, Frederick I turned his attention to the flourishing cities of Northern Italy. Formally subject to the German emperor, these cities were actually completely independent of him. Relying on knighthood and on the former servants of the king and on large lords who had political influence and created a mercenary army, Frederick I decided to turn fictitious imperial rights (collection of taxes and duties, judicial law) into real ones. Barbarossa moved to northern Italy. Having met resistance from individual cities, he took them by storm. It is known that his troops almost completely destroyed Milan during the assault in 1162. To repel the German invasion, the northern Italian cities united in 1167 into the Lombard League. Pope Alexander III entered into an alliance with the Lombard League. At the Battle of Legnano in 1176, Barbarossa's troops were completely defeated. Barbarossa capitulated to the papacy, and then, according to the peace concluded in Constance in 1183, was forced to renounce his rights to the Lombard cities.
13th - 15th century
Neither Frederick I Barbarossa nor his successors from the Staufen dynasty, which ended in 1268, were able to achieve the establishment of effective centralized imperial power. By the 13th century, Germany had not yet become a single national state, but consisted of a number of separate principalities, economically and politically isolated. Moreover, the political and economic fragmentation of Germany intensified, and by the end of the 13th century, the territorial princes acquired the rights of supreme jurisdiction over the principalities subject to them, close to the rights of royal power: the right to tax, mint coins, control the troops of the principality, etc. And under the emperor Charles IV, the princes achieved in 1356 the publication of the so-called Golden Bull, which recognized the right of the princes to elect the emperor. For this purpose, a board of seven prince-electors was approved. These princes were called Electors. All princes received confirmation of all the rights they had acquired as a sovereign sovereign, with the exception of the right to independently wage war with foreign states and conclude peace. At the same time, a central government body was established - the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), which was a congress of imperial princes and some imperial cities. But the Reichstag did not have an executive apparatus and therefore was not and could not be in any way an organ of the unification of Germany. In individual principalities, the estate representative bodies were Landtags (land diets). By the beginning of the 16th century, Germany was a collection of many virtually independent states.
In connection with the later, in comparison with England, France and other states, the unification of Germany into one centralized national state, the term appears in historical literature "belated nation", related to the Germans. This term seems to us not entirely appropriate if we take into account the contribution of the German nation to world science and culture, as well as the results achieved in the socio-economic development of modern Germany.
Speaking about the events of German history of the 13th century, one cannot fail to mention Battle on the Ice. This is the name given in history to the battle that took place in April 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipsi between the knights of the Teutonic Order and the army of the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky and ended in the complete defeat of the German knights. The Teutonic Order was forced to withdraw its troops from the borders of Russian lands. The further fate of this order was disastrous for him. In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the combined Polish-Lithuanian-Russian troops defeated the Teutonic Order, after which it recognized its vassal dependence on Poland.
Late 15th - 16th century
The end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th centuries went down in German history as period of the Reformation and the Peasants' War. The Reformation was a broad social movement against the Catholic Church. It all started with a speech by Luther, a professor at the University of Wittenberg, on October 31, 1517, with theses against the trade in indulgences. Luther denounced the abuses of the Catholic clergy and opposed the all-powerful papal power. He put forward a whole program of church reform. Each opposition class interpreted this program in accordance with its aspirations and interests. The burghers wanted the church to become “cheap,” the princes and knights wanted to seize church lands, and the oppressed masses understood the reformation as a call to fight against feudal oppression. The leader of the plebeian-peasant masses was Thomas Münzer. He openly called for the overthrow of the feudal system and its replacement with a system based on social equality and community of property. Luther, as a representative of the burghers, could not share such radical views and opposed the revolutionary understanding of his teaching. Although the ideas of the Reformation pushed to some extent the Peasants' War of 1525, Luther's movement nevertheless took on a one-sided character in Germany: purely religious struggle, issues of religion for many years overshadowed the broader tasks of transforming public life and culture. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the Reformation reveals increasing narrowness and, no less than the Catholic Counter-Reformation, intolerance of free thought, of reason, which Luther declared “the harlot of the devil.” According to Erasmus of Rotterdam, sciences died wherever Lutheranism was established.
Luther's reform ultimately became an instrument of princely absolutism, which was manifested, in particular, in the alienation of church lands in favor of secular princes, carried out in some principalities.
© Vladimir Kalanov,
"Knowledge is power"
