Early Modern and Modern States of the German Lands: Map & History

The Helvetic Republic did highlight the desirability of a central authority to handle matters for the country as a whole (as opposed to the individual cantons which handled matters at the local level). In the post-Napoleonic era, the differences between the cantons (varying currencies and systems of weights and measurements) and the perceived need for better co-ordination between them came to a head and culminated in the Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848. The Republic's 5-member Directory resembles the 7-member Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's present-day executive.

From Wikipedia: Helvetic Republic · Legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine was not altogether a voluntary option for its future member states. Negotiations between France and the princes who had been selected by Napoleon to be members of the future alliance had been dragging on for the first six months of 1806, when Napoleon decided to rush things. On 12 July, the Paris envoys of the various princes were summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find themselves instructed by Talleyrand to sign the treaty of the new alliance, whose terms had been decided between him and Napoleon. This caused consternation among the envoys, given that the terms were far more onerous for the princes than what had been expected. They all protested that they were not empowered to sign before their masters authorised them to do so, but Talleyrand compelled them to sign then and there and so they did under duress.

From Wikipedia: Confederation of the Rhine · Formation (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor on 6 August 1806, thus dissolving the Empire. In the aftermath of the Treaty of Pressburg Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining 16 of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg). After the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt of October 1806 in the War of the Fourth Coalition, various other German states, including Saxony and Westphalia, also joined the Confederation. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein, Swedish Pomerania, and the French-occupied Principality of Erfurt stayed outside the Confederation of the Rhine. The War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to winter 1814 saw Napoleon's defeat and Germany's liberation.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · History: Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew 60% from 1815 to 1865, from 21,000,000 to 34,000,000. The era saw the demographic transition in Germany from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as the country developed from a pre-industrial to a modernized agriculture and supported a fast-growing industrialized urban economic system. In previous centuries, the shortage of land meant that not everyone could marry, and marriages took place after age 25. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality, plus periodic epidemics and harvest failures. After 1815, increased agricultural productivity meant a larger food supply and a decline in famines, epidemics, and malnutrition. This allowed couples to marry earlier and have more children.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Population: Demographic transition (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Further efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of a customs union, the Zollverein. In 1834, the Prussian regime sought to stimulate wider trade advantages and industrialism by decree—a logical continuation of the program of Stein and Hardenberg less than two decades earlier. Historians have seen three Prussian goals: to eliminate Austrian influence in Germany; to improve the economies; and to strengthen Germany against potential French aggression while reducing smaller states' economic independence.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Zollverein: economic integration (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The German Federal Army (Deutsches Bundesheer) was supposed to collectively defend the German Confederation from external enemies, primarily France. Successive laws passed by the Confederate Diet set the form and function of the army, as well as contribution limits of the member states. The Diet had the power to declare war and was responsible for appointing a supreme commander of the army and commanders of the individual army corps. This made mobilization extremely slow and added a political dimension to the army. In addition, the Diet oversaw the construction and maintenance of several German Federal Fortresses and collected funds annually from the member states for this purpose.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Military: Armed forces (CC BY-SA 4.0)

German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, turned to Romanticism. At the universities, high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in philosophy, Friedrich Schleiermacher in theology, and Leopold von Ranke in history, the University of Berlin, founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world-class science, led by Alexander von Humboldt in natural science and Carl Friedrich Gauss in mathematics.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism in the Vormärz era: High culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A new generation of statesmen responded to popular demands for national unity for their own ends, continuing Prussia's tradition of autocracy and reform from above. Germany found an able leader to accomplish the seemingly paradoxical task of conservative modernization. In 1851, Bismarck was appointed by King Wilhelm I of Prussia (the future Kaiser Wilhelm I) to circumvent the liberals in the Landtag of Prussia, who resisted Wilhelm's autocratic militarism. Bismarck told the Diet, "The great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes... but by blood and iron"—that is, by warfare and industrial might. Prussia already had a great army; it was now augmented by rapid growth of economic power.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Dissolution of the Confederation: Rise of Bismarck (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The late 18th century was a period of political, economic, intellectual, and cultural reforms—the Enlightenment (represented by figures such as Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Adam Smith), but also early Romanticism, climaxing with the French Revolution, where freedom of the individual and nation was asserted against privilege and custom. Representing a great variety of types and theories, they were largely a response to the disintegration of previous cultural patterns, coupled with new patterns of production, specifically the rise of industrial capitalism.

From Wikipedia: German Confederation · Impact of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic invasions (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In the German Empire, the Duchy had only one vote in the Bundesrat and two votes (for the two Duchies of Coburg and Gotha) in the Reichstag.

From Wikipedia: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha · Politics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Before 1867, the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had its own Army. But, on 26 June 1867, because of a treaty signed in 1866 with Prussia, its Army was added, for defending and recruiting purposes, to the 6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 95 of the 22nd Division of the XIth Army Corps. Three battalions of the 6th Thuringian were assigned to Gotha (No. 1), Hildburghausen (No. 2) and Coburg (No. 3) but the Corps headquarters was in Kassel. Unlike Prussia, where military service was mandatory, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha filled its quota in the Imperial Army with the draft.

From Wikipedia: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha · Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Republic of Baden was subdivided into four administrative districts (Landeskommissärbezirke, similar to the modern Regierungsbezirke) based in Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Freiburg and Konstanz. The four districts were further divided into a total of 53 Amtsbezirke (in 1924 the number was reduced to 40). The Amtsbezirke, roughly equivalent to American and British counties, were divided into a total of 1,536 municipalities.

From Wikipedia: Republic of Baden · Administration (CC BY-SA 4.0)

By mid-1917, war weariness, problems with the food supply, and the state's intervention in economic and social structures (such as through the Hindenburg Program) were beginning to erode many Badeners trust in the government at both the state and national levels. In response, Baden's branch of the moderate Majority Social Democratic Party (MSPD) began to urge reform of the Duchy's Landtag (parliament). Its aims included the introduction of proportional representation and ministerial responsibility to the Landtag rather than the grand duke. There were also protests by workers who wanted economic improvements and more participation in the political process. Their efforts made little progress because many members of the Landtag thought that their liberal 1818 constitution already came closer than any other in Germany to the ideal of a parliamentary monarchy.

From Wikipedia: Republic of Baden · History: World War I (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1866, the long-running tensions between Austria and Prussia broke out into the open hostilities of the Austro-Prussian War. The immediate cause was disagreement over the administration of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The majority of the largest states of the German Confederation – the kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg among others – sided with Austria in the war, while Prussia's allies were mostly smaller north German states.

From Wikipedia: North German Confederation · Prelude: Austro-Prussian War (1866) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On 10 December 1870, the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation the "German Empire" and gave the title of German Emperor to William I, King of Prussia, as Bundespräsidium of the Confederation. The new constitution (Constitution of the German Confederation) and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William was proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

From Wikipedia: German Empire · History: Foundation (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bismarck's efforts also initiated homogenization between German states, long independent in their evolution, especially with legislation. The completely different legal histories and judicial systems posed enormous complications, especially for national trade. While a common trade code had already been introduced by the Confederation in 1861 (which was adapted for the Empire and, with great modifications, is still in effect today), there was little similarity in laws otherwise.

From Wikipedia: German Empire · History: Law (CC BY-SA 4.0)

For 30 years, Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe's leading industrial power. Representative of Germany's industry was the steel giant Krupp, whose first factory was built in Essen. By 1902, the factory alone became "A great city with its own streets, its own police force, fire department and traffic laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60 different factory buildings, 8,500 machine tools, seven electrical stations, 140 kilometers of underground cable, and 46 overhead."

From Wikipedia: German Empire · History: = Industrial power = (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The encirclement, such as it was, was of Germany's own making. She had encircled herself by alienating France over Alsace-Lorraine, Russia by her support of Austria-Hungary's anti-Slav policy in the Balkans, England by building her rival fleet. She had created with Austria-Hungary a military bloc in the heart of Europe so powerful and yet so restless that her neighbors on each side had no choice but either to become her vassals or to stand together for protection....They used their central position to create fear in all sides, in order to gain their diplomatic ends. And then they complained that on all sides they had been encircled.

From Wikipedia: German Empire · History: = Buildup to War = (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Many Germans wanted an end to the war, and increasing numbers began to associate with the political left, such as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the more radical Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), which demanded an end to the war. The entry of the U.S. into the war in April 1917 tipped the long-run balance of power even more in favor of the Allies.

From Wikipedia: German Empire · History: = Revolt and demise = (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Many historians have emphasized the central importance of a German Sonderweg or "special path" (or "exceptionalism") as the root of Nazism and the German catastrophe in the 20th century. According to the 1988 historiography by Jürgen Kocka, the process of nation-building from above had very grievous long-term implications. In terms of parliamentary democracy, Parliament was kept weak, the parties were fragmented, and there was a high level of mutual distrust. The Nazis built on the illiberal, antipluralist elements of Weimar's political culture. The Junker elites (the large landowners in the east) and senior civil servants used their great power and influence well into the twentieth century to frustrate any movement toward democracy. They played an especially negative role in the crisis of 1930–1933.

From Wikipedia: German Empire · Legacy: Sonderweg (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Germany and the Central Powers fought the Allies of WWI between 28 July 1914 and 11 November 1918. The war ended with 20 million military and civilian deaths, including 2,037,000 German soldiers and from 424,000 to 763,000 civilians, many of them from disease and starvation as a result of the Allied blockade of Germany.

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · History: Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

With the proclamation on 21 October 1923 of the Rhenish Republic came a short-lived secessionist movement in the wake of which sections of the labor force became increasingly radicalized. In Saxony and Thuringia, the Communist Party (KPD) won enough seats to participate in governments under Social Democratic minister-presidents. In Saxony the Communists were expelled by a Reich execution (Reichsexekution) using Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, while in Thuringia the KPD ministers resigned voluntarily. In the Reichstag, the Social Democrats withdrew their support from Cuno's government and entered a grand coalition under DVP Chancellor Gustav Stresemann.

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · History: Additional political violence and the Hitler putsch (CC BY-SA 4.0)

An essential basis for the relative stabilization was the restructuring of reparations through the Dawes Plan. Without fixing a final total sum, the plan regulated the scope, composition and the security of transfers for future annual reparations payments. The latter was to be guaranteed by the American financial expert Parker Gilbert who, as reparations agent, could directly influence German fiscal and financial policy in order to secure monetary stability. The acceptance of the Dawes Plan in the Reichstag had long been uncertain – parts of the Right spoke of a "new enslavement of the German people" and the KPD of the enslavement of the German proletariat. Once the plan had been passed, it brought the Weimar Republic a significant inflow of American loans from state funds as well as private investors.

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · History: Framework for economic policy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty was widely perceived not only as a legal legitimization of reparations but also as a moral condemnation of Germany, and it triggered a storm of indignation among the German public. The hostility towards it came from across the political spectrum, from the far right to the moderate governing parties to the KPD.

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · History: War guilt (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The 1920s saw a remarkable cultural renaissance in Germany. During the worst phase of hyperinflation in 1923, the clubs and bars were full of speculators who spent their daily profits so they would not lose the value the following day. Berlin intellectuals responded by condemning what they considered the excesses of capitalism and demanding revolutionary changes on the cultural scenery.

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · History: Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Nazi propaganda tended to describe the Weimar Republic as a period of treason, degeneration, and corruption. The whole period from 1918 to 1933 was described in propaganda as "The time of the System" (Systemzeit), while the Republic itself was known as "The System" (Das System), a term that was adopted into everyday use after 1933. Another Nazi phrase used for the republic and its politicians was "the November criminals" or "the regime of the November criminals" (German: November-Verbrecher), referring to the month the republic was founded in (November 1918).

From Wikipedia: Weimar Republic · Legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Alps were inaccessible during the Ice Age, so human habitation dates no earlier than the Middle Paleolithic era, during the time of the Neanderthals. The oldest traces of human habitation in Austria, more than 250,000 years ago, were found in the Repolust Cave at Badl, near Peggau in the Graz-Umgebung district of Styria. These include stone tools, bone tools, and pottery fragments together with mammalian remains. Some 70,000-year-old evidence was found in the Gudenus Cave in northwestern Lower Austria.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · Prehistory: Paleolithic (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Emerging from the war, Austria had two main political parties on the right and one on the left. The right was split between clericalism and nationalism. The Christian Social Party, (Christlichsoziale Partei, CS), had been founded in 1891 and achieved plurality from 1907–1911 before losing it to the socialists. Their influence had been waning in the capital, even before 1914, but became the dominant party of the First Republic, and the party of government from 1920 onwards. The CS had close ties to the Roman Catholic Church and was headed by a Catholic priest named Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932), who served twice as Chancellor (1922–1924 and 1926–1929). While in power, Seipel was working for an alliance between wealthy industrialists and the Roman Catholic Church. The CS drew its political support from conservative rural Catholics.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · German Austria and the First Republic (1918–1933): Politics and government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Maria Theresa promulgated financial and educational reforms, with the assistance of her advisers, notably Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz and Gerard van Swieten. Many reforms were in the interests of efficiency. Her financial reforms considerably improved the state finances, and notably introduced taxation of the nobility for the first time, and achieved a balanced budget by 1775. At an administrative level, under Haugwitz she centralised administration, previously left to the nobility and church, along Prussian models with a permanent civil service. Haugwitz was appointed head of the new Directorium in publicis und cameralibus in 1749. By 1760 it was clear this was not solving Austria's problems and further reform was required. Kaunitz' proposal for a consultative body was accepted by Maria Theresa.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · Maria Theresa and reform (1740–1780): Governance and finance (CC BY-SA 4.0)

With the completion of the long running French wars a new order was required in Europe and the heads of the European states gathered in Vienna for a prolonged discussion of Europe's future, although the Congress was actually convened in September 1814 prior to Napoleon's attempted return, and completed on 9 June 1815, nine days before the Battle of Waterloo. At the completion of the Napoleonic wars, Austria found itself on the winning side as a new European leader, largely due to Metternich's diplomatic skills. It was as much a grand social event of the representatives of the great powers as a true Congress and was chaired by Metternich. Its purpose was to restore a new European order to emerge from the chaos of the Napoleonic wars.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · Francis II: French Revolution and wars (1792–1815): Congress of Vienna (1815) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The initial years of the 19th century following the Congress of Vienna, up until the revolution of 1848 was characterised by the Biedermeier period of design and architecture, partly fueled by the repressive domestic scene that diverted attention to domesticity and the arts.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · Dual Monarchy (1867–1918): The arts (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dollfuss and the Christian Social Party, moved Austria rapidly towards centralized power similar to the Fascist model. He was concerned that German National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, after his party had become the largest group in the parliament and was quickly assuming absolute power. Similarly the Austrian National Socialists (DNSAP) could easily become a significant minority in future Austrian elections. Fascism scholar Stanley G. Payne, estimated that if elections had been held in 1933, the DNSAP could have secured about 25% of the votes. Time magazine suggested an even higher level of support of 50%, with a 75% approval rate in the Tyrol region bordering Nazi Germany. The events in Austria during March 1933 echoed those of Germany, where Hitler also effectively installed himself as dictator in the same month.

From Wikipedia: History of Austria · Federal State of Austria (1933–1938): 1933: Dissolution of parliament and the formation of the Patriotic Front (CC BY-SA 4.0)