Notes

History of Germany

Germany started as part of the Roman Empire.

In 395 AD, the Roman Empire fell, splitting to the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire. the Western Roman Empire would become the Byzantine Empire.

In 481 AD, the Kingdom of the Franks was started, owning most of France and Germany

After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Kingdom of the Franks was split into West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia.
East Francia was the predeccesor to germany.

In 936 AD, Otto the Great became King of East Francia.

In 962 AD, Otto the Great is named king of the Holy Roman Empire. East Francia becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire, which is kind of germany.
the Holy Roman Empire owned parts of Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czechs, and Italy.

On August 6, 1806, Emperor Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, abdicates, ending the empire after almost 100 years.
Holy Roman Empire: 962-1806



Germany was divided into many kingdoms and citystates


First outisde of Germany was the Austrian Empire. the Austrian Empire would later become the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Major Kingdoms:

Kingodm of Prussia
Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Wurttemburg

Electorates

Hesse-Kassel

Grand Duchies

Baden
Hesse-Darmstadt
Luxembourg
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Oldenburg
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duchies
Anhalt
Brunswick
Holstein
Limburg
Nassau
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Coburg and Gatha
Saxe-Lauenburg
Saxe-Meiningan

Principalities

Liechtenstein
Lippe
Reusse-Gera
Reuss-Greiz
Scaumburg-Lippe
Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwartzburg-Sondershaussen
Walden and Pyrmont

Land Graviates
Hessen-Homburg

Free Cities
Bremen
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Lubeck

States merged to form Anhalt
Anhalt-Dessau
Anhalt-Bernburg
Anhalt-Kothen



All states above were part of the German Confederation, a german alliance




In 1867, many states merged to form the North German Confederation

North German Confederation states

Kingdoms

Prussia
Saxony

Grand Duchies
Hesse
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Oldenburg
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duchies
Anhalt
Brunswick
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Meiningan

Principalities
Lippe
Reuss-Gera
Reuss-Geriz
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwartzburg-Sondershaussen
Waldeck and Pyrmont

Free Cities

Bremen
Hamburg
Lubeck


All state states merged into 1 country, the North German Confederation.







Finally, in 1871, the North German Confederation merged with the Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom of Wurttemburg, Grand Duchy of Baden, and Alsace-Lorraine.



1871:

North German Confederation
Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Wurttemburg
Grand Duchy of Baden
Alsace-Lorraine

These combined and formed the German Empire.



Countries of Europe 1871

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Republic of France
Belgium
Netherlands
German Empire
Switzerland
Austria-Hungary
Kingdom of Italy
Ottoman Empire
Greece
Kingdom of Spain
Kingdom of Portugal
Kingdom of Sweden
Denmark
Kingdom of Norway
Russian Empire.



By 1914, the Ottoman Empire had lost Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, and territory in Greece





World War I

the German Empire was in the Central Powers faction with the Astro-Hungarian Empire.


In 1914, in Bosnia, Austria-Hungary, Franz-Ferdinand I was riding around, but was assassinated by Serbian assassins.
Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia, in which Serbia refused. On July 28th, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

WWI

July 28, 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
Russian Empire declares war on Austria-Hungary
German Empire declars war on Russian Empire
France declares war on German Empire
United Kingdom declares war on German Empire

World War I had begun.

Austria-Hungary struggled to invade Serbia, and the Russians started to push into Austria-Hungary. Then the German Empire started pushing into Russia, but were stopped and thus began a stalemate. On the Western Front, the Germans pushed into France a bit, but both sides were entrenched.
To get around the French defense, Germany declares war on Belgium, and invaded Belgium, and pushed into France but were stopped.


By 1915 Romania, Bulgaria, and more Balkan states had joined the war

In 1917, the Russian Empire had the February Revolution where the Bolsheviks seized power, but in the October Revolution, Lenin took power, and the Russian Empire became the Russian SFSR. the Russian SFSR pulled out of the war.

Austria-Hungary later left the war, on on November 11, 1918, the German Empire signed an armistice with France and the UK, therefore ending World War I


Treaty of Versailles:

German Empire lost territory in Poland

Poland gained independence
German Empire became the German Republic (Weimar Republic)
German Republic ceded Alsace-Lorraine to France

Russian Empire lost Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland
Russian Empire became the Russian SFSR, which some Russian Empire states became SFSR's, and th Russian SFSR formed the Soviet Union.

Austria-Hungary split up.
Czechoslovakia gained independence from Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary split up into Austria and Hungary.


Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and more became Yugoslavia.
Yugoslvia gained independence from Austria-Hungary.