Timeline of German history

This is a timeline of German history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Germany and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Germany. See also the list of German monarchs and list of Chancellors of Germany and the list of years in Germany.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

6th century BC

Year	Date	Event
600 BC		Speakers of East Germanic languages first began to move from Scandinavia into the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers.

5th century BC

Year	Date	Event
500 BC		German peoples first appeared in northern Germany.

3rd century BC

Year	Date	Event
300 BC		The migration of speakers of East Germanic languages from Scandinavia came to an end.

2nd century BC

Year	Date	Event
113 BC		Germanic Wars: A series of wars between Rome and the Germanic peoples began.
109 BC		Germanic Wars: The Cimbri, Teutons and Helvetii joined a confederation against the Romans.

1st century BC

Year	Date	Event
57 BC		Gallic Wars: Julius Caesar invaded the region populated by the Belgae.
53 BC		The Eburones, Nervii, Menapii and Morinii joined an unsuccessful revolt against Rome.
8 BC		The Marcomanni and Quadi drove the Boii out of Bohemia.

1st century

Year	Date	Event
9		Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: Roman forces suffered a devastating defeat in the Teutoberg Forest at the hands of an alliance of Germanic peoples
98		Roman author Tacitus published Germania.

5th century

Year	Date	Event
410		Visigothic King Alaric I dies from disease.
412		Sarus the Goth is executed, Death of Uldin the Hun.
415		Assassination of Visigothic King Ataulf, Assassination of Visigothic King Sigeric.
419		Death of Visigothic King Valia.
426		War between Visigoths and Alans, Western Alan King Attaces dies in battle, Alans subject to the Vandals.
450		Danes defeat the Frisii in the Battle of Finnsburg, Frisian King Finn dies in battle, Danish Prince Hnæf dies in battle.
453		Attila the Hun marries Germanic girl Ildico. Attila dies during heavy drinking.
454		Germanic Gepids defeat the Huns in the Battle of Nedao, Hunnic King Ellac dies in battle.
468		Ostrogoths decisively defeat the Huns in the Battle of Bassianae.
477		Death of Vandal King Genseric, begin of decline of the Vandal Kingdom.
481		Gothic chieftain Theodoric Strabo dies in an accident.
493		Assassination of King Odoacer by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, Burgundian civil war, Assassination of Burgundian King Chilperic II.
496		War between Merovingians and Alemanni for supremacy on the Rhine, Franks defeat the Alemanni in the Battle of Tolbiac, Alemannic King Gibuld dies in battle, Alemanni subject to the Merovingians, Begin of Christianization of the Franks, Begin of Christianization of Europe.

6th century

Year	Date	Event
501		Assassination of Burgundian King Godegisel.
507		Franks under Merovingian King Clovis I and the Byzantine Empire plot against the Visigoths and defeat them in the Battle of Vouillé, Visigothic King Alaric II dies in battle, Paris becomes capital of the Frankish Kingdom.
c. 510		Death of Thuringii King Basinus.
511		Death of Merovingian King Clovis I.
516		Death of Burgundian King Gundobad.
523		Assassination of Burgundian Prince Sigerich, Political crisis between Burgundians and Ostrogoths, Merovingian Kings Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I march against the Burgundians.
524		Capture and Execution of Burgundian King Sigismund, Prince Gisald and Prince Gondebaud, Recapture of Burgundy by Burgundian King Godomar with aid of Theodoric the Great, Defeat of the Merovingians in the Battle of Vézeronce, Merovingian King Chlodomer dies in battle, Retreat of the Merovingians.
526		Death of Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, Burgundians lose the Ostrogoths as allies.
529		Thuringii King Bertachar dies in battle, Beheading of Thuringii King Baderic.
531		Merovingian King Theuderic I defeats the Thuringii in the Battle of the Unstrut River.
532		Thuringii King Hermanfrid falls to death, Fall of the Thuringii Kingdom.
532–534		Merovingian Kings Childebert I and Clothar I conquer the Burgundians in the Battle of Autun, Fall of the Burgundian Kingdom.
534		Assassination of Burgundian King Godomar, Destruction of the Burgundian Kingdom by Franks, Burgundians now ruled by Frankish Kings.
558	23 December	King Childebert I of Paris died without male heirs. His brother King Clothar I the Old of Soissons, Orléans and Reims became king of all the Franks.
561	29 November	Clothar died.
585		Invasion of Suevic Gallaecia by Visigoths, Fall of the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia.

8th century

Year	Date	Event
751	March	Mayor of the Palace Pepin the Short became king of the Franks on the deposition of Childeric III by Pope Zachary.
800	25 December	Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.

9th century

Year	Date	Event
804		Charlemagne conquered the Saxons.
841		Battle of Fontenoy: The forces of Charles the Bald and King Louis the German of Bavaria dealt a decisive defeat to Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I and King Pepin II the Younger of Aquitaine at Fontenoy.
843	August	The Treaty of Verdun was signed, dividing the Carolingian Empire into West Francia, Middle Francia and East Francia.
870	8 August	The Treaty of Meerssen was signed.

10th century

Year	Date	Event
936	7 August	Otto I the Great was crowned as king of Germany at Aachen Cathedral.
955	10 August	Battle of Lechfeld: Otto repelled a Hungarian invasion on the flood plain of the Lech.
962	2 February	Otto was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
972	24 June	Battle of Cedynia: The forces of Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire, were decisively repelled by the Polans near the Oder, possibly near Cedynia.
996	3 May	Bruno of Carinthia was elected Pope Gregory V.

11th century

Year	Date	Event
1046	25 December	Clement II was elected pope.
1048	17 July	Damasus II was elected pope.
1049	12 February	Leo IX was elected pope.
1055	13 April	Victor II was elected pope.
1057	3 August	Stephen IX was elected pope.
1072		Agnes of Germany was born.
1075	28 February	Investiture controversy: A council held at the Lateran Palace concluded that popes alone could appoint, remove and transfer bishops.
1077	28 January	Walk to Canossa: After fasting outdoors in a blizzard for three days, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was allowed to enter Canossa Castle and receive forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII for the illegitimate appointment of bishops.
1095	27 November	First Crusade: Pope Urban II called on all Catholics to assist the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in repelling the invading Seljuk Empire.
1096		Rhineland massacres: Crusaders took part in anti-Jewish violence in the Rhineland.
1098		Hildegard of Bingen was born.

12th century

Year	Date	Event
1122	23 September	Investiture Controversy: Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V signed the Concordat of Worms, under which it was agreed that Holy Roman Emperors had the right to grant bishops secular authority but not religious authority.
1143	24 September	Agnes died.
1147		Northern Crusades: A series of crusades began against the pagan peoples around the Baltic Sea.
1152	9 March	Frederick I Barbarossa was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1170		Walther von der Vogelweide was born.
1190		A field hospital was established at Acre which would become the nucleus of the Teutonic Order.
		The Nibelungenlied was written.

13th century

Year	Date	Event
1214	27 July	Battle of Bouvines: The combined forces of Flanders, England, Boulogne and the Holy Roman Empire were dealt a decisive defeat by the French at Bouvines.
1273	29 September	Rudolph I was crowned King of the Romans.
1291		Crusades: The Crusades ended.
	August	The people of Uri, Schwyz and the Lower Valley joined an alliance under the Federal Charter of 1291.

14th century

Year	Date	Event
1338		The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire declared in the Declaration of Rhense that the election of the Holy Roman Emperor was not subject to the approval of the pope.
1356		The Imperial Diet issued the Golden Bull of 1356, which fixed the offices of the seven prince-electors and established that the Holy Roman Emperor could be elected by a simple majority vote.
		The Hanseatic League was established.
1370		The Treaty of Stralsund was signed, ending a war between Denmark and the Hanseatic League.
1392		The Victual Brothers were hired by the Duchy of Mecklenburg to assist in its fight against Denmark.
1400		The period of Meistersinger lyric poets began.
		The period of Minnesänger singers ended.

15th century

Year	Date	Event
1410	15 July	Battle of Grunwald: The Teutonic Order was decisively defeated by the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania at Grunwald.
1414		Council of Constance: An ecumenical council began which would condemn Jan Hus as a heretic, depose Antipopes John XXIII and Benedict XIII, and elect Pope Martin V.
1418		Council of Constance: The council ended.
1455		The Gutenberg Bible, one of the first books in the West made using moveable type, was first printed by Johann Gutenberg.
1471	21 May	Albrecht Dürer was born.
1483	10 November	Martin Luther was born.
1495		The Imperial Diet established the Reichskammergericht, a permanent court of appeal with jurisdiction over the whole of the Holy Roman Empire.
1499		Swabian War: A war between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg took place in which the Swiss would win an exemption from paying taxes to the Holy Roman Empire and participating in the Imperial Diet.

16th century

Year	Date	Event
1517	31 October	Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses, a disputation condemning abuses in the Catholic Church, on the door of All Saint's Church in Wittenberg.
1521		Diet of Worms: An Imperial Diet was held at Worms which would condemn Luther as a heretic.
1522	9 January	Adrian VI became pope.
1524		German Peasants' War: An uprising of German-speaking peasants began.
1525		German Peasants' War: The war ended in the defeat of the peasant army.
	10 April	Prussian Homage: Grand Master Albert of the Teutonic Order resigned his position and was appointed duke of Prussia by the Polish king Sigismund I the Old.
1529	19 April	Protestation at Speyer: Six fürsten and the representatives of fourteen free imperial cities read out their objection to the imperial ban on Luther and his works at the Imperial Diet at Speyer.
		Siege of Vienna: The Ottoman Empire was forced to retreat after the failure of their siege of Vienna.
1546	10 July	Schmalkaldic War: A war began between the Schmalkaldic League of Lutheran principalities and a coalition led by the Holy Roman Empire.
1547	23 May	Schmalkaldic War: The war ended in an imperial victory.
1555	25 September	The Peace of Augsburg was signed, granting princes of the Holy Roman Empire the right to determine the state religion within their territories.
1600		Northern Crusades: The crusades ended.
		The period of Meistersinger lyric poets ended.

17th century

Year	Date	Event
1608	14 May	The Protestant Union, a military alliance of Protestant German princes, was established under the command of Elector Frederick IV of the Palatinate.
1609	10 July	The Catholic League, an alliance of Catholic German princes, was established.
1613		King James I of England, Ireland and Scotland married his daughter Elizabeth Stuart to Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate, leader of the Protestant Union.
1618		Thirty Years' War: A war began which would cause massive devastation and loss of life, primarily in Germany.
1629	6 March	Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II issued the Edict of Restitution, which demanded that lands expropriated since and in contradiction to the terms of the Peace of Augsburg be restored to the Catholic Church.
1631	20 May	Sack of Magdeburg: Forces under the command of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League breached the walls of the Protestant city of Magdeburg and murdered some twenty thousand of its thirty thousand inhabitants.
	17 September	Battle of Breitenfeld: The combined forces of Saxony and the Swedish Empire dealt a decisive defeat to the Holy Roman Empire and its allies near Breitenfeld.
1632	16 November	Battle of Lützen: Forces led by the Swedish Empire defeated forces under the command of the Holy Roman Empire near Lützen. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus was killed.
1642	23 October	Battle of Breitenfeld: The Swedish army dealt a decisive defeat to the Holy Roman Empire near Breitenfeld.
1646		Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born.
1648		Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Westphalia was concluded, ending the war and granting Switzerland and the Netherlands independence from the Holy Roman Empire.
1653		Johann Pachelbel was born.
1683	11 September	Battle of Vienna: The combined forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire and their allies broke an Ottoman siege of Vienna.
1685		Johann Sebastian Bach was born.
1686		The League of Augsburg, a military alliance of European countries, was established to defend the Palatinate from France.
1697	15 September	The elector of Saxony was elected King Augustus II the Strong of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1700	17 July	Leibniz founded the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

18th century

Year	Date	Event
1701	18 January	Frederick I of Prussia crowned himself king; the Duchy of Prussia became the Kingdom of Prussia.
1706		Pachelbel died.
1712	24 January	Frederick II of Prussia, the Great, was born.
1716	14 November	Leibniz died.
1724	22 April	Immanuel Kant was born.
1740	11 December	The Prussian king Frederick the Great issued an ultimatum to Austria demanding the cession of Silesia according to the terms of an inheritance treaty.
	16 December	Silesian Wars: Prussia invaded Silesia.
1742	28 July	Silesian Wars: The Treaty of Berlin was signed, transferring most of Austria's Silesian territories to Prussia and ending the war.
1745	4 June	Battle of Hohenfriedberg: A Prussian force led by Frederick the Great decisively defeated the allied armies of Austria and Saxony, halting the attempted reconquest of Silesia.
	25 December	Silesian Wars: Prussia, Austria and Saxony signed the Treaty of Dresden, confirming Prussia's sovereignty over Silesia and ending the war.
1749	28 August	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born.
1750	28 July	Bach died.
1756	27 January	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.
	29 August	Seven Years' War: Prussia invaded Saxony.
1759	10 November	Friedrich Schiller was born.
1763	15 February	Seven Years' War: Prussia, Austria and Saxony signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, ending the war and restoring the three states' prewar borders.
1770	27 August	Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born.
		Ludwig van Beethoven was born.
1777	30 April	Carl Friedrich Gauss was born.
1786	17 August	Frederick the Great died.
1788		The Abitur, a university admission exam, was established in Prussia.
1789	13 June	French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates General declared itself the National Assembly.
1791	27 August	Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, promising to join a coalition to restore Louis XVI of France to the French throne.
	5 December	Mozart died.
1792	20 April	French Revolutionary Wars: France declared war on Austria.
	25 July	Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, commander of the allied armies of Prussia and Austria, issued the Brunswick Manifesto, which threatened reprisals against French civilians in the event that the French king Louis XVI or his family were harmed.
1796	20 May	Rhine Campaign of 1796: Austria declared that its truce with French forces in the area of the Rhine was over effective May 31st.
1797	31 January	Franz Schubert was born.
	16 November	Frederick William III of Prussia became king of Prussia.
1799	9 November	Coup of 18 Brumaire: Three of the five members of the French Directory were persuaded to resign, the other two arrested.

19th century

Year	Date	Event
1802	25 March	French Revolutionary Wars: France and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war.
1803	27 April	Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ratified the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, consolidating the states of the Empire especially through the secularization of ecclesiastical lands and abolishment of free imperial cities.
	18 May	Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom declared war on France.
	5 July	Johann Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Wallmoden-Gimborn, commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian armed forces, signed the Convention of Artlenburg, dissolving Hanover and incorporating its territory into France.
1804	12 February	Kant died.
		Schiller published William Tell.
1805	9 May	Schiller died.
		Napoleonic Wars: Austria joined the United Kingdom, Sweden and Russia in coalition against France.
1806	12 July	Sixteen German states established the Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation and protectorate of France.
	6 August	Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, abdicated his title and released his subjects from their obligations to the empire.
		Napoleonic Wars: Prussia declared war on France.
	14 October	Battle of Jena-Auerstedt: French forces dealt a decisive defeat to a numerically superior Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt.
1807		The Prussian minister Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein published the Nassauer Denkschrift, laying out his vision for the Prussian reforms.
	9 July	France and Prussia signed the second of the Treaties of Tilsit, in which the latter ceded half of its territory to Russia and French client states.
1808		Johann Gottlieb Fichte published his Addresses to the German Nation, arguing for German nationalism and unity.
1812		The Brothers Grimm published their first collection of fairy tales.
	30 December	The Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg signed the Convention of Tauroggen, establishing an armistice with Russia in contravention of the Treaty of Paris.
1813	22 May	Richard Wagner was born.
	19 October	Battle of Leipzig: The French army was encircled and forced to retreat from Leipzig in a battle in which some ninety thousand French and allied troops were killed or injured.
1814	30 May	War of the Sixth Coalition: France signed the Treaty of Paris, under which it returned to its 1792 borders and the House of Bourbon was restored to the French throne, ending the war.
1815	1 April	Otto von Bismarck was born.
	9 June	Congress of Vienna: A conference of twenty-three ambassadors signed a treaty reordering Europe's national boundaries and establishing freedom of navigation on the Rhine and the Danube. France was greatly expanded and a German Confederation of thirty-four states was established.
	18 June	Battle of Waterloo: The restored French emperor Napoleon was dealt a decisive defeat by the United Kingdom and its allies at Waterloo.
	31 October	Karl Weierstrass was born.
1816	5 May	The constitution of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was promulgated.
1817	18 October	Wartburg Festival: A protest of liberal students took place at Wartburg.
1818	5 May	Karl Marx was born.
	26 May	The Bavarian king Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria issued a constitution which established a bicameral legislature, the Landtag of Bavaria, and guaranteed freedom of religion.
	22 August	The legislature of the Grand Duchy of Baden held its first meeting.
1819	18 March	The conservative writer August von Kotzebue was fatally stabbed by a liberal theology student, Karl Ludwig Sand.
	20 September	Representatives of the states of the German Confederation issued the Carlsbad Decrees, under which each resolved to become involved in instruction and hiring at universities, require prior restraint on all serial publications, and dissolve student organizations such as the liberal Burschenschaften.
1826	17 September	Bernhard Riemann was born.
1827	26 March	Beethoven died.
1828	19 November	Schubert died.
1830	7 September	The duke of Brunswick Charles II, Duke of Brunswick was forced by an angry mob to flee the capital Braunschweig.
1831	14 November	Hegel died.
1832	22 March	Goethe died.
	15 April	Wilhelm Busch was born.
	27 May	Hambach Festival: A rally began at Hambach Castle where participants demonstrated for the liberalization and unification of the German states.
1833	7 May	Johannes Brahms was born.
1834	1 January	The Zollverein came into existence, merging the Bavaria–Württemberg Customs Union, the Prussia–Hesse-Darmstadt Customs Union and the Thuringian Customs and Commerce Union into a single customs union.
1837		The Göttingen Seven published a document opposing the Hanoverian king Ernest Augustus I of Hanover's decision to abrogate his country's 1833 constitution.
1839		Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Russia and the German Confederation signed the Treaty of London, recognizing Belgium's independence and guaranteeing its neutrality.
1840	7 June	Frederick William died.
	28 June	The educator Friedrich Fröbel coined the term kindergarten.
1841		The economist Friedrich List published his National System of Political Economy.
1844	15 October	Friedrich Nietzsche was born.
1848	27 February	German revolutions of 1848–49: An assembly in Mannheim adopted a resolution demanding a bill of rights.
	24 March	First Schleswig War: Ethnic German rebels loyal to the provisional government in the Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein captured the government fortress at Rendsburg.
	1 May	German federal election, 1848: Elections were held in the thirty-nine states of the German Confederation to a national constituent assembly, the Frankfurt Parliament.
1849	18 June	German revolutions of 1848–49: The chamber of the Frankfurt Parliament, since reduced to a rump parliament and moved to Stuttgart, was occupied by the Württemberg army. A repression began which would force the liberal Forty-Eighters into exile.
1850	30 May	The Prussian three-class franchise, according to which all males over the age of 24 were allowed to vote for their representatives in the lower house of the Prussian parliament, with votes weighted by amount of taxes paid, was introduced.
	29 November	Prussia and Austria signed the Punctuation of Olmütz, under which the former agreed to the dissolution of the Prussian-led Erfurt Union and the revival of the German Confederation under Austrian leadership.
1852	8 May	First Schleswig War: Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom signed the London Protocol, guaranteeing the nominal independence of Schleswig and Holstein in personal union with Denmark and ending the war.
1855	23 February	Gauss died.
1856	August	Neanderthal remains were discovered in Neandertal.
1858	23 April	Max Planck was born.
1859		The reformist Albrecht von Roon was appointed Prussian minister of war.
1863	23 May	The General German Workers' Association was formed.
1864	1 February	Second Schleswig War: Prussia invaded Schleswig.
	30 October	Second Schleswig War: Denmark, Austria and Prussia signed the Treaty of Vienna, placing the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein under Prussian and Austrian administration, respectively, and ending the war.
1866	14 June	Austro-Prussian War: Prussia declared war on Austria.
	3 July	Battle of Königgrätz: Prussian forces broke an Austrian line and dealt them a decisive defeat at modern Hradec Králové.
	20 July	Riemann died.
	18 August	Prussia and fifteen smaller northern German states signed the North German Confederation Treaty, transferring their armed forces to the North German Confederation under the command of the Prussian king William I, German Emperor.
	23 August	Austro-Prussian War: Prussia and Austria signed the Peace of Prague, in which the latter agreed to some small territorial concessions and the dissolution of the German Confederation, ending the war.
1870	10 March	Deutsche Bank was established.
	16 July	Franco-Prussian War: France declared war on Prussia.
	10 December	The Reichstag of the North German Confederation renamed the North German Confederation the German Empire.
1871	18 January	William was crowned emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
	21 March	Minister President Otto von Bismarck of Prussia was appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.
1872	11 March	Kulturkampf: The School Supervision Act was passed, transferring all religious schools to state control.
1873	22 October	Germany joined the League of the Three Emperors, a conservative alliance with Russia and Austria-Hungary aimed at preserving those nations' interests in Eastern Europe.
		Roon resigned from the Prussian Ministry of War.
1875	6 June	Thomas Mann was born.
1878	13 July	Congress of Berlin: The United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Berlin (1878), granting independence to the former Ottoman territories of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy to a federal Bulgaria.
1879	7 October	Germany and Austria-Hungary joined a mutual defense treaty, the Dual Alliance.
1880	July	Kulturkampf: The First Mitigation Law was passed, resuming government payments to Prussian dioceses.
	16 December	First Boer War: Boer rebels laid siege to a British fort at Potchefstroom.
1882	20 May	Italy joined the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1883	13 February	Wagner died.
	14 March	Marx died.
1884	15 November	Berlin Conference: A conference was convened in Berlin to formalize the practice of territorial claims in Africa by the participating powers Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman Empire and the United States.
1886		Automobiles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were produced independently by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.
1887	18 June	Germany and Russia signed the secret Reinsurance Treaty, in which each promised benevolent neutrality in the event the other should go to war.
1889	20 April	Adolf Hitler was born.
1890	20 March	Bismarck was dismissed as Chancellor.
	1 July	Germany and the United Kingdom signed the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, under which Germany renounced its claims over Zanzibar in exchange for the strategic island of Heligoland.
1891		The racist, nationalist Pan-German League was established.
1892		Rudolf Diesel invented the Diesel engine.
1896	3 January	The German emperor Wilhelm II, German Emperor sent the Kruger telegram to president Paul Kruger of the South African Republic, congratulating him on the successful repulsion of the Jameson Raid.
1897	19 February	Weierstrass died.
	3 April	Brahms died.
1898	30 July	Bismarck died.
1899	11 October	Second Boer War: The South African Republic and the Orange Free State declared war on the United Kingdom.
1900	25 August	Nietzsche died.

20th century

Year	Date	Event
1905	31 March	First Moroccan Crisis: Wilhelm met with representatives of the Moroccan sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco in Tangier in support of Moroccan sovereignty.
		Field marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, chief of the German General Staff, developed the Schlieffen Plan, a plan for the quick invasion and conquest of France through Belgium and the Netherlands in the event of a two-front war.
1906	7 April	Algeciras Conference: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium signed the final act of the conference, which limited Moroccan spending and placed French and Spanish officers in charge of its police.
1908	9 January	Busch died, his death changed German history.
1911	1 July	Agadir Crisis: The German gunboat SMS Panther arrived at the Moroccan port of Agadir.
1913	6 November	Saverne Affair: Two local Saverne papers reported on offensive comments made by a local Prussian military officer.
1914		Albert Einstein moved to Berlin.
	28 July	World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
	4 August	World War I: The United Kingdom declared war on Germany.
		Blockade of Germany: The United Kingdom established a blockade of war materiel and foodstuffs bound for Germany.
	30 August	Battle of Tannenberg: The German 8th Army decisively defeated a Russian force near Olsztyn, practically destroying the Russian 2nd Army.
	9 September	First Battle of the Marne: French forces met the invading 1st and 2nd Armies of the German Empire at the Marne.
1915	22 April	Second Battle of Ypres: The German army released chlorine gas against the French line at Ypres.
1916	31 May	Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet met in battle in the North Sea, at a cost of some ten thousand lives and several ships sunk.
	4 June	Brusilov Offensive: The Russian Empire launched an offensive across the Eastern Front in the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which would cost some half million Russian casualties and over a million German and Austrian casualties.
	1 July	Battle of the Somme: A British force drove the German 2nd Army behind its first line of defense at a cost of some sixty thousand casualties.
	24 October	Battle of Verdun: The French Second Army consolidated control over Fort Douaumont in Douaumont, ending major operations in a battle which cost as many as one million French and German casualties.
		The Turnip Winter begins--a period of famine in which the German people were driven to subsist on turnips.
1917	1 February	The German navy introduced unrestricted submarine warfare, in which submarines sought to destroy surface ships without warning.
		The Turnip Winter ended.
1918	21 March	Spring Offensive: German forces attacked the British Fifth Army and broke their line in northern France.
	8 August	Hundred Days Offensive: An allied force of primarily French, British and American troops drove back the German line at Amiens.
	9 November	German Revolution of 1918–19: Wilhelm abdicated his titles as German Emperor and king of Prussia.
	10 November	German Revolution of 1918–19: The Council of the People's Deputies, a body elected from the workers' councils of Berlin, introduced sweeping liberal reforms including the elimination of the Prussian three-class franchise and women's suffrage.
	11 November	World War I: A German delegation signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918, promising an immediate cessation of hostilities, significant territorial concessions, and the surrender of Germany's war materiel.
1919	15 January	Spartacist uprising: The Freikorps crushed a Berlin uprising by the Marxist Spartacus League, killing some hundred and fifty civilians and executing their leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
	11 February	German presidential election, 1919: Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was elected president by the Weimar National Assembly, with seventy-three percent of the vote.
	6 April	Ernst Toller declared the establishment of a Bavarian Council Republic in Bavaria.
	28 June	Paris Peace Conference, 1919: Representatives of some thirty world powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, under which Germany was forced to disarm, give up its colonies, make substantial territorial concessions, and pay reparations to the Allies.
	11 August	The Weimar Constitution came into force. The Weimar Republic succeeded the German Empire.
1920	13 March	Kapp Putsch: The Freikorps Marinebrigade Ehrhardt occupied Berlin. Wolfgang Kapp of the national conservative German National People's Party (DNVP) declared himself chancellor.
		Ruhr uprising: The Communist Party of Germany, the Communist Workers' Party of Germany, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Free Workers' Union of Germany together established the Ruhr Red Army, which expelled the Freikorps from the valley of the Ruhr.
1921	June	Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic: Inflation of the Papiermark (Mark) began in response to the first reparations payment to the Allies under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
1922	16 April	Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Rapallo, in which each renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other and pledged to normalize relations.
1923	11 January	Occupation of the Ruhr: France invaded the valley of the Ruhr.
	13 August	Gustav Stresemann of the national liberal German People's Party was appointed chancellor and minister for foreign affairs.
	8 November	Beer Hall Putsch: Nazi Party chairman Adolf Hitler led some six hundred Sturmabteilung (SA) to the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, where they held Bavarian state officials Gustav Ritter von Kahr, Hans Ritter von Seisser and Otto von Lossow at gunpoint to demand they support a Nazi coup.
1924	August	Germany and the Triple Entente agreed to the Dawes Plan negotiated by head of the United States Bureau of the Budget chief Charles G. Dawes, under which the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr valley was ended and the reparation payment schedule restructured.
1925	16 October	The last of the Locarno Treaties, under which France, Belgium and Germany settled their borders and pledged not to attack each other, was signed.
1926	8 September	Germany joined the League of Nations.
1929	31 August	The Allies accepted the Young Plan, which reduced Germany's war reparations and allowed it to defer a greater portion, which would accrue interest due to a consortium of American banks.
	3 October	Stresemann died.
	29 October	Wall Street Crash of 1929: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped twelve percent in a trading session of record volume.
1930	14 September	German federal election, 1930: The SPD retained a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. The Nazi Party gained ninety-five seats.
1933	30 January	Hitler was appointed chancellor at the head of a Nazi-DNVP coalition.
		The process of Gleichschaltung, in which the government dismantled non-Nazi parties and societies, began.
	27 February	Reichstag fire: The Reichstag building was burned. The Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was caught at the scene and confessed.
	28 February	President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending most civil liberties.
	24 March	The Enabling Act of 1933, which granted the cabinet the power to make laws, was passed and signed in the presence of armed members of the SA and Schutzstaffel (SS).
	20 July	Vice-chancellor Franz von Papen of Germany and cardinal secretary of state Pope Pius XII of the Holy See signed the Reichskonkordat, which required bishops to swear loyalty to the president of Germany.
1934	30 June	Night of the Long Knives: SS paramilitaries killed at least eighty-five potential threats to Hitler's power, including SA head Ernst Röhm and Gregor Strasser, head of the left wing of the Nazi Party.
	1 August	Hitler issued a law merging the powers of the presidency into the office of the chancellor.
	2 August	Hindenburg died from lung cancer.
1935	16 March	German re-armament: Hitler announced that Germany would rebuild its military, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
1936	7 March	Remilitarisation of the Rhineland: German troops entered the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
		1936 Summer Olympics: Germany won the greatest number of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics, held in Berlin. Black American Jesse Owens won four gold medals, the highest individual total.
1938	12 March	Anschluss: German troops entered Austria.
	9 November	Kristallnacht: A pogrom took place in which SA paramilitaries and German civilians destroyed Jewish businesses and at least ninety-one were killed.
1939	23 August	The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, promising mutual non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and agreeing to a division of much of Eastern Europe between those two countries.
	1 September	Invasion of Poland: Germany invaded Poland.
1941		Konrad Zuse built the Z3.
1942	20 January	Wannsee Conference: A government conference was held to discuss the implementation of the Final Solution, the extermination of European Jewry.
1945	30 April	Death of Adolf Hitler: Hitler committed suicide by gunshot in the Führerbunker in Berlin.
	26 June	The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) was founded.
	1 August	Potsdam Conference: British prime minister Clement Attlee, president Harry S. Truman of the United States and Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, issued the Potsdam Agreement at Cecilienhof in Potsdam. The parties agreed that Germany would be returned to its 1937 borders with some additional cessions to the Soviet Union and ratified its division into British, French, American and Soviet occupation zones.
1946	29 March	The first of the Allied plans for German industry after World War II, which called for the reduction of German industrial capacity, was issued by the Allied Control Council.
	6 September	United States secretary of state James F. Byrnes read the speech Restatement of Policy on Germany, clarifying his nation's desire for economic recovery in Germany and guaranteeing its borders.
1947	4 October	Planck died.
1948	20 June	Ludwig Erhard, the appointed economic director of the Bizone, introduced the Deutsche Mark.
	24 June	Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union blocked Western Bloc access to West Berlin by road and rail.
	25 June	Berlin Blockade: United States cargo planes began shipping food and medical supplies to West Berlin.
	12 December	The Free Democratic Party (FDP) was established.
1949	12 May	Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union lifted the blockade.
	23 May	West Germany was founded.
	14 August	West German federal election, 1949: The CDU and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) won a narrow plurality of seats in the Bundestag.
	15 September	Konrad Adenauer of the CDU became chancellor of West Germany.
	7 October	East Germany was founded.
1950		Wirtschaftswunder: The Times first used the term Wirtschaftswunder to refer to the rapid postwar economic growth of West Germany and Austria.
1951	18 April	The Inner Six European nations including West Germany signed the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, a single market in coal and steel governed by supranational institutions.
1952	26 May	East Germany strengthened its border protection regime along the Inner German border.
		The General Treaty, which granted West Germany the "authority of a sovereign state", was signed by West Germany, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.
1953	16 June	Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: In response to a 10 percent increase in work quotas, between 60 and 80 construction workers went on strike in East Berlin. Their numbers quickly swelled and a general strike and protests were called for the next day.
	17 June	Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: 100,000 protestors gathered at dawn, demanding the reinstatement of old work quotas and, later, the resignation of the East German government. At noon German police trapped many of the demonstrators in an open square; Soviet tanks fired on the crowd, killing hundreds and ending the protest.
1954	4 July	1954 FIFA World Cup Final: West Germany defeated the heavily favored Hungarian national team in the final match of the FIFA World Cup in Bern.
1955	9 May	West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective defense organization.
	14 May	Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact, a collective defense organization.
	12 August	Mann died.
1961	13 August	Construction began on the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin.
1963	16 October	Erhard became chancellor of West Germany.
1964	November	The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was established.
1966		CDU/CSU Kurt Georg Kiesinger became Chancellor in Grand Coalition.
		CDU/CSU economist Ludwig Erhard ended his term as Chancellor.
1967		The German student movement began.
1968		The German student movement ended.
1969		Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor
		CDU/CSU Kurt Georg Kiesinger ended his term as Chancellor.
1970		Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
		Treaty of Moscow
		Treaty of Warsaw
		The Red Army Faction began to operate.
1971		Four Power Agreement on Berlin
1972		Basic Treaty between West and East Germany
		West Germany hosts the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Palestinian terrorists cause Munich massacre
1973		East and West Germany join United Nations
1974		West Germany hosts and wins Football World Cup
		Helmut Schmidt becomes Chancellor
1982		Helmut Kohl becomes Chancellor
1987		First ever official visit by Erich Honecker to the Federal Republic of Germany
1989		Monday demonstrations in Leipzig
		Berlin Wall falls
		The division of Germany during the Cold War into West Germany and East Germany, and the similar division of Berlin, ended.
1990		Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany
		West Germany wins Football World Cup
		German reunification
1991		Berlin becomes the capital
1993		Alliance '90/The Greens merge
		Germany signs Maastricht Treaty leading to the creation of the European Union
1994		Federal Constitutional Court says Bundeswehr can take part in UN peacekeeping outside NATO territory
1998		SPD's Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor (1998 to 2005) in coalition with Greens
		The Red Army Faction ended operations.
1999		The NATO war in Yugoslavia is the first war the Bundeswehr actively takes part in
2000		Hanover hosts Expo 2000

21st century

Year	Date	Event
2001		Women join Bundeswehr for the first time
2002		Euro notes and coins introduced and replace Deutsche Mark as currency
2005		Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (b. 1927) becomes Pope Benedict XVI
		A period began in which a grand coalition was in control and the CDU's Angela Merkel was chancellor.
2006		Germany hosts Fifa World Cup 2006.
2009		2009 elections; Merkel begins to head a centre-right government of the CDU/CSU and FDP.
		The grand coalition ended.
2010		Euro financial crisis; Germany takes the lead in imposing austerity programs in return for subsidies to governments
2013		2013 elections; Merkel heads a centre-right grand coalition of the CDU/CSU and SPD.
		Merkel's time at the head of centre-right government of the CDU/CSU and FDP comes to an end.
2014		German national football team wins Football World Cup
		Germany began to take the lead in economic sanctions against Russia regarding Ukraine,
2015		Germany relinquished its lead in economic sanctions against Russia.

See also

• Category:Timelines of cities in Germany

Further reading

• In two parts: to 1657 + 1658–1914 (fulltext)