Germany: history to 1519

Recorded German history begins in the Roman period. In 113 BC Roman sources mention certain Germanic tribes, the Cimbri and Teutons, who had to be driven back from Roman territory. In the course of his conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar clashed with the German chieftain, Ariovistus, and banished him and his followers across the Gallic frontiers and beyond the River Rhine. In 55 BC Caesar beat back other Germanic tribes, the Suevi and Marcomanni, from their settlements in the area that is now Belgium.

An attempt in the reign of the Emperor Augustus to Romanize the Germanic peoples led to a rising under Arminius, the chieftain of the Cherusci, and the annihilation of a Roman force by Arminius in the Teutoburger Forest in AD 9 ended Roman attempts to conquer Germany east of the Rhine.

The migration period From the 3rd century AD onward the northern confines of the Roman Empire were continually threatened by a number of Germanic tribes: the Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians, Goths, Alemanni, and Franks, tribes that every so often built up great confederacies against their common enemy, Rome. The infiltration of these tribes into Roman territory were largely caused by the incursions into their own lands by nomadic peoples from the east, the Huns and Magyars.

Eventually the westward and southward pressure of the Germanic tribes led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century. Until the middle of the 9th century Germany was occupied by chieftains perpetually at war with one another, except when invasions from outside forced them into transitory alliance. Christianity was established in much of Germany in the 7th and 8th centuries.

Frankish domination By the 7th century the Franks, under the Merovingian dynasty, were the dominant power in western and southwestern Germany, as well as in France. The Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingian dynasty in the mid-8th century, and by the end of the 8th century, under Charlemagne, Frankish power was extended further north and east into Germany. Charlemagne was crowned emperor of Rome by the pope in 800, so establishing what was later to become known as the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne's capital at Aachen became a centre of learning and culture.

After the death of Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious (840) the empire was partitioned into three parts among Louis's sons, as was customary among the Franks. The partition was formalized at the Treaty of Verdun in 843, with much of central Germany going to Charlemagne's grandson, Louis the German. In 870 the Partition of Meersen extended Louis's territory, and he now ruled all the lands between the Rhine and the River Elbe. This territory was known as the ‘Teutonic Kingdom of Francia’, or the ‘Kingdom of the East Franks’. This infant Germany consisted not of a single people, but of a number of fairly homogeneous tribes, the Saxons, Swabians, Bavarians, Thuringians, and Franks.

The German kings of the 10th century Descendants of the Carolingian Louis ruled over Germany until 911, when the line became extinct, and a mass meeting of the Diet (parliament) appropriated for itself the privilege of choosing a king, so that from this time forward Germany became - at least theoretically - an elective rather than a hereditary monarchy.

The Diet's first choice was Conrad of Franconia, who became Conrad I. His successor from 919, Henry (I) the Fowler, founded the Saxon dynasty, which lasted until 1024, and was remarkable for the energy of its rulers. In 962 Henry's son, Otto I, was crowned emperor in Rome by the pope. From this dates the tradition to which the German rulers jealously clung, that he who had been crowned German king at Aachen was entitled also to be crowned king of Italy in Milan, and emperor in Rome.

The beginning of the papal-imperial conflict From 1024 to 1125 Germany was governed by Franconian emperors. The most noteworthy was Henry IV (Holy Roman Emperor 1056-1106; crowned 1084), whose humiliation before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa (1077) remains one of the most dramatic episodes in history. Ever since Otto I had revived the title of Roman emperor there had been rivalry between emperor and pope. It became an open quarrel when Henry refused to obey Gregory on the investiture issue. The so-called Investiture Contest essentially concerned the powers of secular rulers in church affairs, especially regarding ecclesiastical appointments. Although the issue was eventually settled by compromise, in German history it is primarily important because it started a long period of sporadic civil war.

The Hohenstaufen dynasty The Salian dynasty of Henry IV died out in 1125, and was shortly afterwards replaced by the Hohenstaufen dynasty, which ruled Germany from 1138 to 1254. The most celebrated was Frederick (I) Barbarossa (Holy Roman Emperor 1152-90). He had ambitious schemes of Italian conquests, but the Lombard league defeated him at Legnano (1176). It was during this century that the German emperors started to refer to their ‘Holy Empire’, which in the following century they started to call the ‘Holy Roman Empire’.

Frederick's successors continued his battles, and so the Guelph and Ghibelline factions - the adherents of the pope and the emperor respectively - spread throughout the empire, so that on the fall of the Hohenstaufens (1254) even the German kingdom had become like the Holy Roman Empire, a phantom. It was now split up into over 270 virtually independent states.

The rise of the leagues and of the electors There then followed an interregnum (until 1273), during which were formed the Hanseatic League and the Rhenish League, confederations of north European trading cities. The towns were growing strong and resorted to union as the one defence against the anarchy of the times, and especially against the arbitrary oppression of the great nobles.

Theoretically the kingship was still elective, although four secular and three spiritual princes (the electors) now claimed exclusive rights to choose the emperor. They gave the title in 1273 to the count of Habsburg, who accordingly reigned (until his death in 1291) as Rudolph I. Habsburg was the name of a minor Swiss principality, yet the house of Habsburg was destined - from the mid-15th century - to furnish a long succession of emperors.

Louis the Bavarian, emperor from 1314 to 1347, was involved in struggles both with his rival, Frederick of Austria, and with the pope, who refused to recognize his title. Louis gained the support of the Ghibelline faction, and of the electors, who in 1338 stood out for their elective rights, and in the Frankfurt Diet denied the necessity of papal approval of the German king's election. For a time, allied with Edward III of England against the pro-papal Philip VI of France, Louis aroused hostility by his acquisitive policy.

The establishment of the Habsburgs In 1438 Albert II of Austria was chosen emperor by the seven electors, and from that date, until the dissolution of the Empire by Napoleon in 1806, the imperial crown became effectively hereditary in the Habsburg line.

Maximilian I (reigned 1493-1519) was one of the last of the great medieval rulers. Anxious to force Charles VIII of France out of Italy, Maximilian summoned the Imperial Diet, or Reichstag, which met at Worms (1495), to secure the necessary funds. However, the Diet insisted on reform. The result was a ban on feud and private war in the Empire, and the creation of an imperial tribunal, or Reichskammergericht, to enforce the ban. At the same time, the Empire was divided into six ‘Circles’ (increased to ten in 1512) to ensure more effective regional or local security.

In 1500, another Diet, at Augsburg, again called by Maximilian to secure funds to pay for intervention in Italy, forced the creation of the Reichsregiment, which could legislate for the Empire without the emperor. This was the last serious attempt at reform before Maximilian's death.

However, before the end of Maximilian's reign, imperial and papal authority was to be flouted, and Germany set ablaze, by the denunciations of Martin Luther, which marked the beginning of the Reformation in Germany.

For subsequent developments in Germany, see Germany: history 1519-1815, Germany: history 1815-1919, Germany: history 1919-49. For German history since 1949 see Germany.