A+Fascinating+History+of+Germany+(maybe+not+in+your+opinion)

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//media type="custom" key="16508556"We have divided the history of Germany into three parts: 1400-1555, 1556-1869, and 1870-2000. Notice that the breaks occur at: 1) Peace of Augsburg and at 2) Franco-Prussian War. Note that information about Prussia is omitted unless directly relevant to the other German states. Please refer to Ditchek's thorough and well-organized presentation on Prussia.//

//PLEASE TURN YOUR VOLUME ON IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC WHILE STUDYING!//

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=Who had this part? Not clear if you contributed as much as the other two. I would expect to see more about Charles (HRE) and the wider political and economic conditions of Germany in this period. = = **//__1401-1555:__ The German Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation//** = media type="custom" key="16099124" width="360" height="360"

Reformation
 * Luther was German.
 * He appealed to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and gained publicity.
 * Shmalkaldic league formed (group of wealthy Protestant German princes that demanded control over their religion.)(Pushed for European Protestantism)
 * Luther exiled from Germany
 * German Peasents Revolt occurred due to newfound ideas of revolt founded in Protestantism. However, the polical system had not yet been challenged, and not even Luther supported the movement. A total of 100,000 peasents died in the revolt.

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 * Peace of Augsburg:
 * o Year 1555, after numerous problems within Holy Roman Empire arose.
 * o Emperor Charles V signed the Peace of Augsburg, which allowed Germanic princes to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism as their state religion.
 * o Calvanism remained outlawed.
 * o The peace laster slightly over 50 years, until new Wears of Religion began to take place.

= **//__1556-1869__//**: //30 Years' War, Napoleon, & Revolutions of the 1800s// =

__//Background of 30 Years' War//__

**CHARLES V:** Thus, the time period before the 30 Years' War was tumultuous, and tensions between Protestants, Catholics, and Calvinists were quite tenuous.Tensions were high not only religiously, but also politically: France was growing unhappy over the Habsburgs' possessions on the continent, and northern European countries such as Denmark and Sweden eagerly awaited an opportunity to gain both territory and influence throughout Europe.
 * Charles V's reign was dedicated to opposing protestantism
 * He was the ruler of a **HUGE** empire: Spain, HRE, Italy, Burgundy, Low Countries...NEED I SAY MORE???
 * He convened the Council of Trent, led the Catholic Counter-Reformation and established the Jesuit Society in order to undermine protestantism intellectually
 * Most notably, he authorized the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, which was a compromise between Catholics and Protestants, but NOT Calvinists (this would later prove to be a grave mistake.)

__//Thirty Years' War in HRE//__
 * **The 30 Years' War (1618-1648) devastated the economies of the German states: led to destabilization of HRE.**
 * Was a conflict between Catholic Habsburgs and Protestants over territorial control and religious freedom
 * Involved Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark, HRE, Bohemia, Austria, England, & Spain---nearly every European country
 * Early appearance of //politique//- the doctrine which argues that political unity is more important that maintaining control over people's religions. Cardinal Richelieu in France (Catholic) and Gustavas Adolphus II of Sweden (Protestant) allied with each other in around 1630 for the common purpose of weakening the Spanish/Italian/HRE Habsburgs; demonstrates that political motives superseded religious ones.
 * 30 Years' War was ended by Peace of Westphalia in 1848
 * **Causes of the 30 Years' War**
 * Religious discontent in HRE—Peace of Augsburg in 1555 did not recognize Calvinists, yet many German princes were calvinist: they were unsatisfied with the current Catholic government
 * Northern HRE became protestant, while southern Germany remained Catholic; protestants in Northern Germany were distrustful of the power that the Catholics in southern Germany maintained
 * The weaknesses caused by religious disunity encouraged France to try to "pick away" at the individual German states; France was unhappy to be surrounded by both Spain and the HRE---2 Habsburg states in the early 1600s.
 * Dutch and Scandanavia wanted to gain more territory: needed to expand into Northern HRE to accomplish this
 * **DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE:** lead to Bohemian revolt against Catholics (namely Ferdinand II), which involved Catholic Spain, which thus provoked a response from Protestant countries: chain reaction from here (kinda like WWI)
 * **Consequences of the 30 Years' War:**
 * Decline of religion as a motive for political action
 * Weakening and decentralization of HRE: begins to fragment and dissolve
 * Rise of Protestantism and weakening of Catholicism
 * Power and territory of Habsburgs declines:
 * devastation of German land and economy---contributed to the end of feudalism
 * **PEACE OF WESTPHALIA (1848)**
 * changed relationship between subjects and their rulers
 * legalized protestantism
 * allowed the ruler (prince) of each individual German state to determine the religion there; **Cuius regio, eius religio-** "whose realm,whose religion" became the practice throughout HRE
 * divided the HRE into provinces, which divided Germany and kept it "un-unified" until 1871
 * recognized Calvinism as an accepted religion---extended the Peace of Augsburg (1555)
 * FRANCE WAS ESTABLISHED AS THE DOMINANT POWER IN EUROPE
 * Catholics and Habsburgs were no longer as powerful; Spain is a lesser country now---not as significant as it was in the late 1500s

//__Rise of Napoleon__// Concert of Europe, Revolutions of 1820s, 1830s, and 1840 Revolution of 1848
 * Napoleon took over most of Germany in around 1802-05. Germany became a forum and greenhouse for new ideas and anti-French sentiment during Napoleon's reign
 * Imposed //continental system//in around 1806, which prohibited nations under Napoleon's heel from commercializing with England
 * Led to much resentment throughout Europe, because not trading with England was detrimental to the economies of most European states
 * Nationalism developed in Germany, and people in Germany resented being used as puppets of Napoleon: did not want to sacrifice their personal economies for France's anti-Anglo agenda.
 * Napoleon founded the //Confederation of the Rhine//among west-German states: intended to assist Napoleon in ensuring that German industry and goods did not reach England
 * Germany hated that France was interloping in its affairs and restricting its economic freedom
 * Prussia and the other German states joined with Russia, England, and other enemies of Napoleon to push the French emperor back to his own borders
 * Napoleon surrendered in 1814 and was exiled (though he did return in 1815, where he was defeated again at Waterloo in Belgium
 * The Concert of Europe system aimed to restore old, dying monarchies to their thrones in the 1820s
 * In Germany, there was no centralized government in the early 1820s, so the revolutions that occured during the 1820s throughout Europe did not really occur in Germany
 * The Prussian nobles though—the traditional aristocracy of Germany—did gain some power.


 * From 1830-33, minor revolutions swept through Germany
 * Precipitated by:
 * //**Carlsbad decrees:**// reforms enacted by Metternich in 1819. These reforms limited freedom of the press, removed university leaders and professors who were not conservative (i.e. did not like the old regimes), and banned national gatherings among liberals. In the 1830s, Germans began to protest against these.
 * The July Revolution in France led to some revolts in Germany; university students and liberals were inspired by the demonstrations in France, and tried to replicate them in Germany.
 * Metternich and the "Concert System" quelled all German rebellions in the 1830s
 * It is interesting to note that rebellions in Germany at this time were not caused by the restoration of older regimes, rather by the limitations of personal freedoms
 * There is much NATIONALISM and LIBERALISM in Germany at this time---those are the "-isms" of this time period


 * **REVOLUTIONS OF 1848**
 * The revolutions of 1848 began in France, and then quickly spread across Europe, eventually reaching the German states
 * Rioting in Berlin began in March 1848
 * **AIMS OF THE MIDDLE-CLASS REVOLUTIONARIES:**
 * increased political freedom
 * reduce censorship and increase freedom of the press
 * democracy
 * nationalism
 * unification
 * arming the people
 * Parliamentary procedures
 * END OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHS
 * **AIMS OF THE LOWER-CLASS REVOLUTIONARIES:**
 * All of the above, AND
 * drastic improvements to working and living conditions
 * more equality among the classes

The people of Germany demanded that the emperor of Prussia, Frederick William IV, yield to the aforementioned demands: which he did in his address to the people. An elected-parliament system was quickly set setup, called the German National Assembly. This body proved unable to accomplish anything speedily, and the old monarchist regime quickly rocked back into place. Ultimately, the revolution failed because the non-aristocracy was unable to unite into a strong enough force to overcome the power of the Prussian Aristocracy. Many motions for elected-parliamentary bodies were pushed for in 1848, yet none withstood the test of time. For that to occur, the German states would have to wait until 1870, when a new man would establish a strong and nationalistic Germany: a compromise between the desires of the aristocracy and of the middle and lower classes.

= **//__1870-2000:__ Unification, Industrialization, World War I, The Inter-War Years, World War II, Cold War, & Berlin Wall//** =

German Unification:

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media type="custom" key="16508728" width="390" height="390"In 1871, Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) officially unified Germany into one country.
 * This new country with a strong military and well-off economic state challenged the balance of power in European society.
 * Bismarck had a several plans to achieve his ultimate goal of unifying Germany.
 * Bismarck’s initial phase of the plan (1864) to unify Germany was to modernize the Prussian army i.e. by giving them the most technologically advanced weapons available at the time as well as forming an alliance with Austria (against Denmark).
 * Next part of plan, after forming alliance with Italy and non-participation from France, was to declare war with Austria.
 * Austria was defeated in a matter of 7 weeks.
 * Final stage of Bismarck’s plan (1870) was to declare war on France, France then declared war on Prussia, Prussia with its glorious army defeated France. With the Prussian army at the top of the totem pole, Bismarck was finally able to unify Germany on January 18, 1871.

The Second Industrial Revolution:  Good! []

[|http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/castronovo.pdf] Steel: Efficiency: > Electricity: > Transportation: > Communication: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Science: > Medicine:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Bessemer __Steel__ technique (iron à <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">steel) was one of many accomplishments achieved in the Second Industrial Revolution.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A few years later, William Siemens developed an even more efficient and more cost effective method of producing steel.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, mass production and production lines were also founded in this new era of technological advancements.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The use of electrical power is arguably the greatest technological advancement of its kind in the way that it affects each and everyone’s daily lives, and how everyone has become dependent on it.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Developments in transportation from railroads, canal systems (Suez canal), trains and steamships were achieved.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">1876- Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. The Germans utilized this invention more than any other nation.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Synthetic dyes transformed the textile industry.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fertilizers for increase in crop yield.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dynamite invented (used for tunneling and removal of inconvenient hills)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The field of surgery was revolutionized with the discovery of anesthesia by dentist William Morton.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Discovery of microbes (invisible organisms) and their attribution to diseases.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pasteur explained the logic behind vaccines.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Surgeon Joseph Lister founded antiseptics for surgery: i.e. carbolic acid.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Doctor Ignaz Semmelweis proved how proper hand washing before delivery increased the probability of mothers surviving birth; this common death was known as “childbed fever” at the time.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 20pt;">World War I: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pearl, Kenneth. //Cracking the AP European History Exam//. New York, NY: Random House, 2010. Print.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

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<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Causes of the War: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">-new imperialism
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Colonization of Africa and Asia
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Political and Social tensions in Europe
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Increased Militarization

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Course of the War:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">July 28, 1914 Austria-Hungary fearing that their multinational will deteriorate, declared war on Serbia, a territory that Russia swore to protect. This offset a chain reaction of declaration of wars and mobilization of armies across Europe.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">With Russia mobilizing her army to aid Serbia, Germany commanded that Russia stop; Russia continued to mobilize her army (a) because they knew it would take longer for them to mobilize their army than for Germany (for war between them was clearly evident) and (b) because Russia feared that the war would spread rapidly and they did not want to get caught off-guard.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">With her refusal to demilitarize, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st of 1914.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This led France to mobilize her army, which was followed by Germany declaring war on France too.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Germans instituted the Schleiffen Plan, an attempt to capture northern France in six weeks, kicking them out of the war and therefore enabling full attention and military forces to mobilize eastward to combat Russia. However, to set successfully execute this plan, the Germans would have to cross through Belgium, a neutral territory. When the Germans invaded Belgium, Great Britain joined the war on the side of Russia and France.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Propaganda- governments controlled anything and everything they could to influence others of the ill nature of the enemy.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The End of the War:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Treaty of Versailles
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">8.5 million dead, 23 million wounded

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 20pt;">The Inter-War Years: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The German Weimar Republic
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This was a new form of democratic government established in November 1918 to replace the old imperial German government.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is named for the town of Weimar where the new constitution was written.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This government faced many problems with the economy and political activists.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This government accomplished the following: fixing tax policies, the country’s railroad system, and promoting technology and cultural life (art, music, etc.).

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">German Fascism:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fascism initially developed in Italy by Mussolini. Adolf Hitler took these ideas of fascism and employed them into the German society.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">These ideas included: patriotism, national unity, denouncing of communism, and high military values.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 20pt;">World War II: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Causes:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Great Depression was lingering and a war was the ideal way to restore the economy.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Germany felt humiliated by their loss in WWI and wanted to ‘make up’ for that.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The course of the war:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The fall of France during the war had a major impact on the rest of the allies.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Germany and Great Britain faced each other head to head during the war; Hitler thought their similar ideologies would stop the fighting once France fell, Hitler was wrong.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Holocaust- rise of anti-Semitism and mass persecution of the Jews.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">U.S. involvement due to attacks on Pearl Harbor.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The end of the War:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">50-60 million casualties.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Civilians made up the majority of the casualties.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">deNazification
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nuremberg Trial of 1946 sentenced to death the heads of the Nazi regime who were still alive (Hitler and other prominent leaders committed suicide)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Yalta Conference on the future of Germany (the allies) agreed to temporarily divide Germany.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Allied Control Council made joint decisions on what to do with Germany.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 20pt;">Berlin Wall: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] > > > <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] > > Sparknotes was very helpful in extrapolating the key events and all relevant information pertaining to them. > [] > This educational website was very helpful in understanding more about the German Unification process and all the events that occurred with it. > [] > > As all Wikipedia pages are, this page was excellent in describing all aspects of the Second Industrial Revolution and was exceedingly thourough. > > [|http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/castronovo.pdf] > > This was an in-depth analysis of all key aspects of the Second Industrial Revolution; it was very well done in a professional manner. > <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pearl, Kenneth. //Cracking the AP European History Exam//. New York, NY: Random House, 2010. Print. > > <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is my review book authored by (above) Kenneth Pearl PhD. He did in excellent in analysis of all relevant topics pertaining to the AP exam in this case namely information pertaining to WWI. > > [] > > this website gave useful information concerning propaganda and WWI, it was very useful in creating one of my side points. > [] > > Again, a Wikipedia page was professional in providing an in depth analysis of the Weimar Republic and all extraneous information pertaining to the subject that is really detailed. > > [] > This website was useful when researching German Fascism and the effects it had on the German society from a political, economical, and social/cultural perspectives. > [] > > This website was in depth analysis of WWII and all relevant information concerning Hitler and the Holocaust. > [] > > This website also provided key information pertaining to WWII and the effects on Europe that prevailed before, during, and after the war. > [] > Another Wikipedia page done professionally with more than enough in depth analysis of all aspects concerning the Berlin Wall and its effects on the economy and German society as a whole. > [] > This final website was useful almost like a timeline of all aspects concerning the Berlin wall and all the troubles on the East side and people’s urge to escape to the economic flourishing west. > media type="custom" key="16165594"
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">East and West Berlin were separated on August 13, 1961.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The people living in the eastern half of Berlin wanted to escape to the flourishing economy of West Berlin.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many lost their lives trying to cross the border
 * <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">Works Cited: