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7 Publius Quinctilius Varus is appointed governor of Germany.
13 Tiberius made his triumphant procession through Rome after siege of Germany.
14 Germanicus is appointed commander of the forces in Germany, beginning a campaign that will end in 16.
39 Legio XV ''Primigenia'' and XXII ''Primigenia'' are levied by Caligula for the German frontier.
47 Pliny the Elder sees military service in Germany.
86 The Roman General Trajan, future emperor, begins a campaign to crush an uprising in Germany.
121 Roman settlement in present-day Wiesbaden, Germany is first mentioned.
150 The Roman army consists of 400,000 men. Of these, there are ten legions (55,000 men) and 140 auxiliary units (80,000 men, of which half are cavalry) based in the Balkans and along the Danube; 50,000 legionaires and auxiliaries in Britain; 45,000 in Germany; 20,000 men in Egypt; and 10,000 in Africa and Numidia.
179 Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the Regen river") was built at Regensburg, Germany.
187 Albinus defeats the Chatti, a highly organized German tribe that controlled the area that includes the Black Forest.
196 In order to assure the support of the legions in Germany on his march to Rome, Clodius Albinus, is declared Augustus by his army while crossing Gaul.
214 Caracalla's victories in Germany ensure his popularity within the Roman army.
259 Roman fort of Wiesbaden (Germany) captured by the Alamanni (possibly 260)
260 Roman fort of Wiesbaden (Germany) captured by the Alamanni (possibly 259).
380 Cathedral built in Trier, Germany.
600 Irish missionaries preach in Scotland and Germany.
736 The first documented instance of hop cultivation in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany (which is today the most important production centre with about 25% of the worldwide production)
887 Arnulf of Carinthia ascends to the throne of Eastern Francia (modern Germany)=
892 Poppo of Thuringia, count of the march in Thuringia,is deposed by the German Carolingian king Arnulf of Carinthia
936 Otto I is the first German king to be crowned in Aachen.
953 First documented mention of the village of Aach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
972 Battle of Cedynia - Polish duke Mieszko I defeats Germans.
977 German emperor Otto II grants Lower Lorraine, where modern-day Brussels is located, to Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, illegitimate son of King Louis IV of France.
994 Otto III reaches his majority and begins to rule Germany in his own right.
1002 Henry II succeeds Otto III as king of Germany.
1014 Henry II of Germany crowned Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII (ruled since 1003)
1014 Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany
1018 Peace of Bautzen between Poland and Germany.
1028 Henry III, son of Conrad, was elected king of the Germans.
1039 Henry III becomes King of Germany.
1056 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes King of Germany.
1061 Erection of the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, begins.
1101 The County of Berg, Germany is established.
1102 The Hohenbaden castle is built in Baden-Baden, Germany.
1112 Salzwedel, Germany is founded
1129 Castle of Burgsteinfurt built in what is now Steinfurt, Germany.
1143 The exploration of the uncharted eastern parts of Germany begins and results in the founding of cities such as Lübeck
1150 Neuruppin city founded in Brandenburg, Germany
1150 Rinteln city founed in Lower Saxony, Germany
1152 Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans.
1214 Foundation of the German city of Bielefeld.
1216 Dresden, Germany becomes a city
1234 Pope replaced the Bogumil Bosnian Bishop with a Catholic Dominican German ''Johann''
1242 Cleves, Germany is chartered as a city.
1249 The city of Stralsund (in present-day Germany) is burned to the ground by forces from the rival city of Lübeck.
1251 The German city of Berlin, founded some fifty years earlier, receives its city charter.
1255 The German state of Nassau is divided, not to be reunited until 1806.
1259 The German cities of Lübeck, Wismar, and Rostock enter into a pact to defend against pirates of the Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the Hanseatic League.
1260 German musical theorist Franco of Cologne publishes ''Ars Cantus Mensurabilis'', in which he advances a new theory of musical notation in which the length of a musical note is denoted by the shape of that note, a system still used today.
1264 Anti-Jewish riots in Arnstadt (modern-day Germany)
1266 In the Battle of Benevento, an army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
1284 The German city of Hamburg is destroyed by a fire.
1315 Dassel of Germany is granted city rights.
1329 Amberg, Germany passes to the Wittelsbach family.
1362 The "Grote Mandrenke" storm tide strikes Holland, England, Germany and Denmark destroying the city of Rungholt in Nordfriesland, Germany.
1362 The "Grote Mandrenke" storm tide strikes Holland, England, Germany and Denmark destroying the city of Rungholt in Nordfriesland, Germany.
1367 Otto I becomes Duke of the independent city of Göttingen (now in Germany) after the death of his father, Ernst I.
1372 In this year, the city of Aachen, Germany begins adding a Roman numeral Anno Domini date to a few of its coins. It is the first city in the world to do so.
1392 Erfurt University is founded in Erfurt, central Germany
1438 Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany
1490 Regular postal service connects the Habsburg residences of Mechelen and Innsbruck, the first in Germany.
1521 18 - Martin Luther is examined before Emperor Charles V and the German Diet of Worms.
1524 The Peasants' War in Germany (1524-1525).
1527 Spanish and German troops led by the Duke of Bourbon sack Rome (the infamous Sacco di Roma), forcing Pope Clement VII to make peace with Charles V.
1558 Foundation of the University of Jena in Thuringia, Germany
1584 Latin Book of Concord published in Germany
1614 Institution of the Rosicrucian Order in Germany according to Fraternitas Rosae Crucis.
1630 Swedish warships depart from Stockholm to Germany.
1630 July 6 - Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany to aid Protestants.
1645 Founding of the Stolberg-Wernigerode branch of the family of counts of Stolberg and Wernigerode in Germany
1650 ''Einkommende Zeitungen'' - first German newspaper (cancelled 1918).
1654 Ferdinand Maria, elector of Bavaria is crowned. His absolutistic style of leadership becomes a benchmark for the rest of Germany
1662 Foundation of the "Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg" in Germany.
1683 A 140,000-man Ottoman force arrives at Vienna in June and starts to besiege the city. The siege is broken in at the Battle of Vienna on September 12 with the arrival of a force of 30,000 Polish, Austrians and Germans under Polish-Lithuanian king Jan III Sobieski, whose cavalry turns their flank. Considered to be the turning point in the Ottoman Empire's fortunes.
1690 The clarinet is invented in Nuremberg, Germany.
1710 Swiss and Palatine German Protestants under the leadership of Christoph von Graffenried travel to Bath County in the Province of Carolina. The settlers displace the native town of Chattoka and found New Bern, named for von Graffenried's hometown of Berne, Switzerland.
1775 Last official execution for witchcraft in Germany
1780 The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded
1804 German astronomer K. L. Harding discovers the asteroid Juno.
1810 Birth of Robert Schumann, German composer.
1823 The Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.
1828 Feral child: Kaspar Hauser is discovered in Nuremberg, Germany.
1841 With the help of industrial espionage, August Borsig builds the first German locomotives.
1846 Neptune discovered by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, although the planet did not get its current name for many years.
1847 German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1848 British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.
1848 Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1848 Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1854 German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears, two years later his remains are found in the canal near Charlottenburg.
1860 First International Chemistry Congress in Karlsruhe, Germany.
1865 German Chemicals producer, Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik(BASF) founded in Mannheim.
1865 German Chemicals producer BASF moves its headquarters and factories from Mannheim to the Hemshof District of Ludwigshafen.
1868 The Dortmunder Actien Brauerei is founded in Germany.
1871 The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from the political stage by introducing harsh laws concerning the separation of church and state.
1873 German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for Franco-Prussian War.
1879 Dual Alliance formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary
1882 Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
1883 Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (German bacteriologist) discovers the cholera bacillus.
1884 Germany takes possession of Cameroon.
1887 The Reinsurance Treaty is closed between Germany and Russia.
1889 In March of 1889, a German naval force shelled a village in Samoa, and by doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Samoan harbor and were prepared to fire on the three German warships found there. Before guns were fired, a hurricane blew up and sank all the ships, American and German. A compulsory armistice was called because of the lack of warships.
1890 Britain receives Zanzibar from Germany in exchange for Heligoland.
1891 Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany
1892 Cholera in Hamburg, Germany
1895 The first Boxer show was held at Munich, Germany.
1900 Strikes in Belgium and Germany lead to mining riots
1900 First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
1903 Turkey and Germany signs an agreement to build the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway
1911 Earthquake in Swab, South Germany
1914 Germany declares war on Russia, following Russia's military mobilization in support of Serbia.
1914 Secret treaty between Turkey and Germany to secure Turkish neutrality
1914 World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
1914 World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins - Northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under General Michel-Joseph Maunoury attack German forces who are advancing on the capital. Over 2 million troops will fight in the battle and 500,000 will be killed or wounded in this significant Allied victory.
1914 World War I: Siege of Antwerp - Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
1914 World War I: Battle of Coronel fought - A Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock is met and defeated by the superior German forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. This is the first British naval defeat of the war.
1915 Sinking of the battleship ''HMS Formidable'', off Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, by a German U-Boat.
1915 World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
1915 World War I: Second Battle of Ypres - German troops introduce poison gas at Ypres, Belgium.
1915 World War I: The RMS ''Lusitania'' is sunk by a German U-boat killing 1,198.
1915 World War I: Second Battle of Artois - German and French forces fight.
1915 World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
1916 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, are cancelled.
1916 Food is rationed in Germany.
1916 World War I: Paris is bombed by German zeppelins for the first time.
1917 World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
1917 World War I: First major German bombing raid on London left 162 dead and 432 injured
1917 World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
1917 World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Germany.
1919 June 21 — Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. Nine Germans died.
1919 August 11 — In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is passed into law.
1919 Female suffrage in Germany and Luxembourg
1920 New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
1921 Referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany
1921 U.S. President Warren Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to America's state of war with Germany, Austria and Hungary.
1921 The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
1921 Oppau explosion happened at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany - 500—600 dead.
1922 German army occupies Saxony and crushes Soviet Republic of Saxony
1923 Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments
1923 Gustav Stresemann is named chancellor and founds a coalition government in Weimar Republic Germany
1929 The German airship ''Graf Zeppelin'' begins a round-the-world flight (will end on August 29).
1931 Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and USA recognize the Spanish Republic
1932 About 6 million unemployed in Germany
1933 Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire (see: Reichstag fire).
1933 The ''Reichstag'' passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
1933 The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.
1933 Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1933 Nazi party in Germany introduces law to legalize eugenic sterilization
1933 Germany announces intention to leave the League of Nations - officially
1934 Adolf Hitler becomes ''Führer'' of Germany, becoming head of state as well as Chancellor.
1935 The Luftwaffe is created as Germany's air for (March 11?)
1935 Adolf Hitler announces German rearmament in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement: Britain agrees to a German navy equal to 35% of her own naval tonnage.
1936 The IV Olympic Winter Games opens in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
1936 In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
1936 The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany.
1937 Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
1937 In his report of the Falangist attack on Guernica, British journalist George Steer reports that he had found German bomb casing; that means that Luftwaffe planes were connected with the attack
1937 Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
1937 World War II: In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
1938 ''Anschluss:'' German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
1938 Holocaust: Kristallnacht begins - In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair saw 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested).
1939 German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to WWII
1939 Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
1939 Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
1939 Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Hitler and Stalin agree to divide eastern Europe between themselves (Finland, the Baltic states and eastern Poland to the USSR; Western Poland to Germany).
1939 World War II: France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany.
1939 World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
1939 Canada declares war on Germany.
1939 Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.
1939 World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
1940 World War II: Axis powers - Hermann Goering assumes control of all war industries in Germany.
1940 World War II - British destroyer ''Cossack'' pursues German freighter ''Altmark'' into Jossingfjord in southwestern Norway, resulting in freedom for 290 British sailors and seamen held as prisoners.
1940 World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in operation ''Weserübung.'' The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
1940 World War II: Battle of France begin - German forces invaded France and Low Countries.
1940 Brussels falls to German forces; Belgian government flees to Ostend.
1940 World War II: German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel. Holocaust: concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau opens in Poland.
1940 World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.
1940 World War II: Paris falls under German occupation.
1940 World War II: Verdun falls to German forces.
1940 Henri Petain becomes Prime Minister of France and immediately asks Germany for peace terms.
1940 World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
1940 General Charles DeGaulle broadcasts from London, calling on all French people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."
1940 World War II: France and Germany sign armistice at Compiegne in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.
1940 World War II: France and Germany sign armistice at Compiegne in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.
1940 World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.
1940 World War II: German forces land in Guernsey marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel Islands
1940 World War II: The USS ''Greer'' becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
1940 World War II: Germany, Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact.
1940 AA World War II: Battle of Britain - During a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb; Musician John Lennon is born during an air-raid in Liverpool, England.
1940 World War II: Battle of Britain ends - The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Britain.
1940 World War II: In England, the city of Coventry is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
1940 World War II: In response to Germany leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents died from Allied attacks).
1940 World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
1941 World War II: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
1941 World War II: German troops enter Belgrade.
1941 World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1941 World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the British Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
1941 World War II: Battle of Crete - Germany launches airborne invasion of Crete.
1941 World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship ''Bismarck'' sinks the HMS ''Hood'' killing all but three crewman on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
1941 The ex-kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, dies in exile at Doorn, Netherlands.
1941 World War II: Germany attacks the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa
1941 World War II: German troops reach the Dnieper River.
1941 World War II: The USS ''Greer'' becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
1941 Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.
1941 World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Deutsche deported to Siberia.
1941 World War II: Operation Typhoon - Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow.
1941 World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
1941 World War II: Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians
1941 World War II: The destroyer USS ''Reuben James'' is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.
1941 World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory was near.
1941 World War II: Battle of Moscow: Temperatures around Moscow drop to −12 °C and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
1941 World War II: Germany declares war on the United States.
1942 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
1942 World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
1942 World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
1942 World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
1942 World War II: Battle of the Atlantic - German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to an effective American convoy system.
1942 World War II: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed (two others were cooperative and received life imprisonment instead).
1942 World War II: Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy.
1942 First successful launch of A-4 rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. The rocket flew 147 kilometres wide and reached a height of 84.5 kilometres and was therefore the first man-made object reaching spa
1942 World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends - German forces under Erwin Rommel are forced to retreat during the night.
1942 World War II: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
1942 World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack Operation Uranus and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German Sixth Army is surrounded.
1943 World War II: 50 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany (Wilhelmshaven was the target).
1943 World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
1943 Heinz Guderian becomes the Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army.
1943 World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
1943 World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
1943 World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
1943 Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."
1943 World War II: After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.
1944 "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
1944 German forces occupy Hungary.
1944 A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
1944 Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England.
1944 Operation Bagration: General attack by Soviet forces to clear the German forces from Belarus which resulted in the destruction of the German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII.
1944 Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany.
1944 Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany.
1944 Finland breaks off relations with Germany.
1944 The French town of Menton is liberated from Germany.
1944 Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
1944 German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
1944 Aachen is the first German city to fall.
1944 American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
1944 Hungary declares war on Germany.
1945 World War II: The Royal Air Force bombs Dresden, Germany.
1945 World War II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.
1945 World War II: Adolf Hitler orders that all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
1945 World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
1945 World War II: Elbe Day, United States and Soviet troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two
1945 World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
1945 Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
1946 Ion Antonescu, prime minister and "Conducator" (Leader) of Romania during World War II is executed; he was found guilty of betraying Romanian people for benefits of Germany and sentenced to death by Bucharest People's Tribunal.
1947 Prussia is legally abolished in March by the Allied Control Council following World War II and the establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as Germany's eastern border.
1949 Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control.
1950 The first Volkswagen Type 2 van - also known as the Volkswagen Microbus - rolls off the assembly line in Wolfsburg, Germany.
1952 Cold War over Germany's frontiers intensify
1952 In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany.
1954 Finland and Germany officially end the state of war.
1955 The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. Until then, despite the end of World War II, the USSR was formally at war with Germany.
1960 March 3 — Elvis Presley returns home from Germany, after being away on duty for 2 years.
1961 John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during 2 days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
1962 Heavy storms flood Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die, thousands lose their homes.
1962 ''Der Spiegel'' publishes an article on a NATO exercise criticizing the weakness of the West German army (the offices of the paper are occupied by the police on the 16th).
1963 The Elysée Treaty is signed between France and Germany.
1963 Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days.
1964 Germany receives its 1,000,000th foreign worker.
1967 PAL first introduced in Germany.
1967 Nine executives of the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal are charged for breaking German drug laws because of thalidomide.
1969 The Social Democrats and the Free Democrats receive a majority of votes in the German parliamentary elections, and decide to form a common government.
1972 Three out of six bombs explode in the Springer Press building in Hamburg, Germany - 17 are injured. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility.
1974 An express train bound for Germany from Belgrade derails in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing more than 150 passengers.
1979 Sprengel Museum opens in Hanover, Germany.
1982 The German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 for Germany, with the song ''Ein Bisschen Frieden''.
1989 Cold War: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to freely travel to West Germany for the first time in decades (the next day celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down).
1990 German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
1990 The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German re-unification.
1990 East Germany and West Germany reunify into a single Germany.
1990 Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the border at the Oder-Neisse line.
1990 A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
1991 Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.
1993 In Bad Kleinen, Germany, GSG 9 troopers arrest terrorists Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams.
1998 Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails between Hannover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
1998 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council members France, Germany and Russia call for sanctions to end against Iraq. The 3 Security Council members also call for UNSCOM to either be disbanded or for its role to be recast. The U.S. says it will veto any such proposal
1999 LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
1999 'solid - the socialist youth is formed in Hannover, Germany.
2002 Robert Steinhäuser opens fire on his former teachers and other students in Erfurt, Germany and then kills himself; 16 are dead.
2002 In Germany, BV Borussia Dortmund wins the Bundesliga title after a 2-1 victory over SV Werder Bremen.
2002 A Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Uberlingen in Southern Germany; 72 are dead (see Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937).
2004 Monday demonstrations against social cutbacks began in Germany.
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