Chronography of France & Germany ex
World War Two
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World War Two in Europe, 1939-1945, click here
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France, INSEE, statistics
site, https://www.insee.fr/fr/accueil
1)
Maps of Heligoland, Mediaeval
times.
2)
Maps of France, Germany, 843 � 880.
3)
Maps of Germany at Treaty of Verdun and
under Charlemagne.
4)
Growth of Prussia, 1415 � 1914.
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Brandenburg 1415 click here.
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now,
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minute video, Blitz on Dresden
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(Berlin Wall just erected) and 2008
Click Here for map of Hamburg 1910.
Maps of Heligoland, Mediaeval
times.
.Growth of Prussia, 1415 � 1914
Maps of France, Germany, 843 � 880.
Maps of Germany at Treaty of Verdun and
under Charlemagne
For Dreyfus Affair see Jewish history
Box
Index (click below� for quick access to
historical periods)
19.0,
Gilet Janue (Yellow Vest)
protests across France, 2018-19
18.0, Racial tensions hit France and
Germany, 2014-16
17.0, Restoration of Berlin as German
capital 1991-99
16.0, End of the Red Army Faction 1998
15.0, Racism in Germany 1992/3
14.0, German Reunification, 1989-90
13.0, Klaus Barbie Trial 1987
12.0., Baader Meinhof terrorists captured,
imprisoned, 1972-77
11.0, Normalisation of relations between
East and West Germany, 1970-74
10.0, De Gaulle loses referendum; replaced
by Pompidou, 1969-70
9.0, French Civil unrest, Strikes, De
Gaulle wins power, 1968
8.0, Berlin Wall, construction 1958-61
7.0, French 5th Republic, led by Charles de
Gaulle. Plans for Algerian independence, opposed, 1958-63
6.0, West Germany becomes a regularised
State 1953-56
5.0, Soviet crackdown in East Germany
1952-53
4.0 De Gaulle Presidency 1945-46
3.0 Inception of, and division
between,� post war East and West Germany,
1947-52
2.0 Soviet blockade of West Berlin,
1948-49
1.0 Judicial dealings with Nazis, 1945-51
0.0 Post World War Two political
developments, 1946-57
-1.0, Germany prepares to invade Poland;
start of World War Two, with Britain and France involved, 1939
-2.0, Nazi
Germany annexes Memel (Lithuania), 1939
-3.0, Nazi
Germany annexes the remainder of Czeckoslovakia, 1938-39
-4.0, Refugees
from Spanish Civil War flee to France, 1939
-5.0, Final
prelude to War 1938-39, last attempts to preserve peace in Europe
-6.0, Nazi
Germany annexes the Sudetenland (Czeckoslovakia), 1935-38
-7.0, Nazi
Germany annexes Austria, 1936-38
-8.0, Consolidation
of Nazi power in Germany; political, cultural and economic, 1935-39
-9.0, Increasing
power of Hitler and the Nazis, 1934-36
-10.0, Chancellor Dollfus of Austria bans Nazis,
assassinated by Nazis, 1933-34
-11.0, Hitler gains absolute power in
Germany, eliminates all opposition, 1933-34
-12.0, Nazis suffer electoral defeat.
Attempt to form non-Nazi Government, but agreement impossible, 1932-33������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
-13.0, Nazi electoral resurgence 1929-33.
Reichstag Fire, Hitler becomes Dictator
-14.0, German banking and unemployment
Crisis 1929-31 (see Hyperinflation 1923-24 below)
-15.0, France evacuates the Rhineland,
Germany makes treaties, tries to join League of Nations, 1925-30
-16.0, Nazis, start of Party, then electoral
decline, 1919-29; but see 1930s
-16.5, Hitler imprisoned, released early, 1923-4
-17.0, German Hyperinflation Economic
Crisis 1923-24
-18.0, German Reparations Crises Terms
eased, Allied occupation ended, 1921-34
-19.0, Communist agitation in western
Europe, 1918-23
-20.0, International adjustments post
World War One. German War Trials begin, 1918-20
For World War One
1914 � 18 click here
-21.0, Western European nations begin a
military build up, 1905-13
-22.0, Germany backs down over Morocco
rivalry with France, 1911-12
24/4/2022, In the final round of the
French Presidential elections, Emmanuel Macron won by 58.5% to Marine le Pen;s
41.5%; turnout was just 71.9%, the lowest since 1969. The 2017 result was 66.1%
Macron to 33.9% le Pen.
16/10/2020, A teenage Chechen refugee beheaded Samuel Paty,
a French teacher who had shown his class at a school on the edge of Paris
controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
26/9/2019, Jacques Chirac died aged 86. He had twice been
President of France.
15/4/2019, Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris was very
severely damaged by fire. The fire was believed to have been caused by
renovation works, which, having suffered delays due to lack of funding, had
been going on for years; the blaze started shortly after 6pm local time.
19.0, Gilet Janue (Yellow Vest)
protests across France, 2018-19
20/4/2019, Yellow Vest
protests in Paris for the 23rd consecutive Saturday.
23/3/2019, Yellow Vest
protestors caused disturbances in the Champs-Elys�es area of central Paris for
the 19th consecutive Saturday. The previous Saturday, 16/3/2019, the
level of destruction had ratcheted up with banks, cafes and shops being set
fire to. President
Macron put military soldiers on the streets on the 23/3/2019,
raising fears that a protestor would be shot dead.
8/12/2018, Another
weekend of rioting in Paris saw 1700 arrested and 71 injured. Riots also
occurred in Brussels and Amsterdam.
1/12/2018, Rioting by the
�yellow vests� in France escalated, with major unrest around the Arc de
Triomphe in Paris and in several other cities, also The Netherlands and Belgium
were affected. 412 were arrested and 133 seriously injured, including 23 policemen,
as several cars and other property was torched. The protestors took their name
from the yellow high-visibility jacket that motorists in France must carry;
the unrest was focussed on high fuel taxes. Protestors called for President
Macron to resign.
24/11/2018, A week of
rioting across France (began 17/11/2018) with 300,000 people protesting at high
petrol taxes. By this date, one protestor had died and over 400 had been
injured.
29/10/2018, Mrs Angela Merkel announced that she would not
stand in 2021 for re-election as Chancellor of Germany, a post she had held
since 2005. This followed disappointing election results for her Party, the CDU
(Christian Democratic Union), and her coalition partners, the Social Democrats,
in elections in Hesse.
24/9/2017, German elections. Angela Markel�s CDU (Christian
Democratic Union) Party still had the largest number of seats, but lost votes
as her share fell to 33%, from 41.5% in 2013, the lowest since 1949. Meanwhile
the Far Right AfD (Alternative for Germany) Party gained, securing 12.6% of the
vote, especially in the rural east, on the back of concerns about immigration
levels. In Saxony, the AfD got a vote of 27%.
6/7/2017, Anti-G20 Summit protestors in Hamburg blocked
roads and set cars alight.
16/6/2017, German statesman Helmut Kohl died, aged 87.
7/5/2017, In the final round of the French Presidential
Elections, Emmanuel
Macron of the En Marche Party
won 66.1% of votes cast, against 39.1% for Marine le Pen of the Front National. However Macron was only supported by 43.6% of the
total electorate, le Pen receiving 22.4%, whilst 25.4% of voters
abstained and 8.5% of ballot papers were left blank or spoilt, as a protest
against both the candidates on offer.
17/5/2016, A wave of strikes hit France. Petrol stations ran
dry as strikers picketed refinery gates. Workers were objecting to France
introducing more flexible labour laws.
18.0, Racial tensions hit
France and Germany, 2014-16
19/12/2016, A large lorry
was driven into crowds at a Christmas market in Berlin. The lorry had been
hijacked by an Islamist terrorist who killed the Polish driver and drove it, laden with
25 tonnes of steel, into the market. 12 shoppers were killed and 48 injured.
26/10/2016, Demolition of
the �Jungle� refugee camp at Calais began. Its residents were dispersed to
reception areas across France. However some inhabitants set up their own
unofficial tent cities in central Paris.
22/7/2016, A German-Iranian
gunman opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing 9 and injuring 21. He
later killed himself.
14/7/2016, Islamist
terrorists drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade
des Anglais, Nice, France. 84 were killed and 202 injured, 18 critically. The
lorry driver was shot dead by police. The lorry contained guns and explosives,
raising fears that a worse attack could have been possible.
31/12/2015, Some 200 women alleged they had been groped, robbed
and even raped during New Year�s Eve celebrations in Cologne by migrant gangs.
Tensions in Germany over mass immigration increased.
13/11/2015, Multiple
attacks by Islamic gunmen across six sites in Paris, including the Stade de France, the Bataclan
concert hall, and the Cambodge restaurant. 132 dead and 352 injured, 99� critically.
7/1/2015, Ten cartoonists were shot dead at the Paris offices
of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical
magazine, along with 2 policemen, by Islamists in revenge for perceived
anti-Islamic cartoons.
20/8/2014,
Anti-Semitic
attacks occurred in Paris. A synagogue in Sarcelles, a
working-class suburb of northern Paris with many Sephardic Jews, known as
�Little Jerusalem�, was threatened. Youths from the French Jewish defence
League defended the synagogue so Muslims attacked Kosher shops instead. The
Muslim attacks followed from the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
13/6/2014, A 17-year-old
Roma youth was attacked by about 20 men and left in a coma in the northern
Paris suburb of Pierrefitte sur Seine.
Many Roma lived in makeshift camps and had been blamed for rat infestations and
burglaries. There was conflict between Moroccans and Roma in Paris.
5/5/2011, Claude Schoules, the last known combat veteran of World War One,
died in Australia, aged 110.
12/3/2008, Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving French foot soldier of World
War One, died aged 110.� Born in the
Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, he loved France and joined the French Foreign
legion aged 16.� When Italy joined the
war he was enlisted in the Italian army but returned to France after the war
and became a French citizen in 1939.
24/1/2008, The French bank, Societe General, revealed that a rogue trader, Jerome Kerviel (born 11 January
1977), had cost it 4.9 billion Euros (about US$ 7 billion, or UK� 3.7 billion).
Kerviel
was arrested on charges of breach of trust and falsifying documents, and the
bank was fined 4 million Euros for failing to monitor his trading position. Daniel Bouton
resigned as the banks chief executive. Kerviel was found guilty in October 2010 and
sentenced to prison, but remained free pending an appeal. On 24
October 2012, a Paris appeals court upheld the October 2010 sentence to three
years in prison with another two suspended, and ordered to reimburse 4.9bn
euros to Societe General for its
loss.
16/5/2007, Sarkozy
was sworn in as President of France.
4/4/2006, France equalised the permissible age of marriage
between males and females. Formerly, the Civil Code of 1804 had set this age as
15 for females and 18 for males.
2/4/2006, Countess von Stauffenberg, widow
of the officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, died (born 27/8/1913).
22/11/2005, Angela Merkel became Germany�s first female
Chancellor.
Angela
Merkel became Chancellor of Germany
8/11/2005, French President Chirac declared a State of Emergency, on the 12th day of riots in
France.
6/11/2005, Rioting continued in
France, started by the death of 2 Algerian-origin boys by electrocution as they
hid from police in Paris; by now some 1,300 cars had been torched.
28/10/2005, Eugene K Bird, director of
Spandau Prison, died.
27/10/2005, Riots began in Paris after
the deaths of two Algerian-origin teenagers, see 6/11/2005.
29/5/2005, The French, in a
referendum, resoundingly rejected the European Constitution.� The margin was 45% to 55%.� This was effectively a vote against the
unpopular French President Chirac, and against globalisation.
27/1/2005, Nazi concentration camp survivors and world leaders
gathered at the Polish town of Oswiecim, better known as Auschwitz, to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of its liberation by Soviet forces.
29/11/2004, France announced plans to
build� the Louvre II at Lens to exhibit
some 600 artworks currently in storage at the Louvre.
19/9/2004, In regional elections in
the former East German States of Brandenburg and Saxony, neo-Nazi Parties
gained votes, polling at 6% and 7% respectively. The Democratic Socialists
(successors to the East German Communist Party) polled 28% and 23.6%
respectively. The neo-Nazi gains were due to an economic crisis in which� unemployment had exceeded 20%.
23/5/2004, Part of Charles de Gaulle
International Airport Terminal 2E collapsed, killing 5 people and injuring 3.
10/2/2004, The French National
Assembly voted 494 to 36 in favour of banning overt religious symbols,
including Islamic headscarves and Christian crosses, in the country�s State
schools.
14/7/2002. A neo-Nazi attempted to assassinate French
President Jacques
Chirac at the Bastille Day parade in Paris.
21/4/2002. In the
French Presidential elections, the National Front candidate, Jean Marie Le
Pen, scored a surprising second place with 17% of the vote to enter
the run-off with the right wing candidate Jacques Chirac. Lionel Jospin, the left wing
candidate, was narrowly beaten into third place. Jospin�s stance as �New
Socialist�, not too far to the left, drove some left wing voters to fringe left
parties, allowing Le Pen in. In the second round of voting on
5/5/2002 Chirac
was unsurprisingly elected with a massive 82% of the vote, against 18% for Le Pen.
3/9/1999, After an 18-month French
judicial inquiry, paparazzi press were cleared of responsibility for the car
crash which killed Diana.
10/2/1999, Avalanches in the French Alps killed 10 people.
2/4/1998, In Bordeaux, France, Maurice Papon was convicted of complicity
in Nazi crimes against humanity committed under the Vichy regime. He was
sentenced to 10 years prison.
1/6/1997, The Socialist Party won French elections starting a period of
�cohabitation� (cooperation) between a Left-wing Parliament and a Right-wing
President. Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became Prime Minister.
27/1/1997, It was revealed that French museums contained nearly 2,000 pieces of
artwork looted by Nazis.
3/12/1996, Algerian Islamic Fundamentalists exploded a bomb on the Paris Metro at
Port Royal Station, at 6.05pm in the rush hour, killing 2 and injuring 50
others. Algerian fundamentalists had carried out 7 attacks on the Paris Metro
in 1995. They were protesting at a referendum in Algeria, backing a crackdown
on fundamentalist political Parties.
17/7/1996, In France, convicted war criminal Paul Touvier died in
Fresnes Prison, of prostate cancer, see 17/3/1994.
29/1/1996. France bowed to international pressure and announced it had ended the
current series of atomic tests at Mururoa Atoll in the south Pacific.
8/1/1996. President Mitterrand, (born 1916) died of cancer. He was President of France 1981-95.
25/7/1995. A bomb
exploded on a train at the St Michel Metro station in Paris, killing seven people.
16/5/1995, Jacques Chirac became President of France.
7/5/1995. Jacques Chirac, Gaullist, was elected
President of France. He defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin. Alain
Juppe became Prime Minister of France.
18/1/1995, In France, a large cave system with many
prehistoric paintings was discovered near Vallon Pont d�Arc.
Jacques
Chirac became President of France
17.0, Restoration of Berlin as German capital
1991-99
19/4/1999,
The German Parliament returned to the new Reichstag buildings in Berlin.
8/9/1994, The last British forces left Berlin.
7/9/1994, The American
flag was lowered over the US HQ in Berlin, formally ending American presence on
the city after almost 50 years.
23/6/1993. The US lowered the Stars and Stripes for the
last time at the Tempelhof airbase in Berlin after 48 years of military service
there.
20/6/1991.
The German Parliament voted to move the
seat of government from Bonn to Berlin.
12/4/1999, Chancellor
Gerhardt Schroder became leader of the German
Social Democratic Party ()SDP)
27/9/1998, In German Parliamentary elections, the governing Centre-Right
CDU/CSU-FDP coalition lost its overall majority. Gerhardt Schroder
became Chancellor at the head of a �red-green� coalition of the Social
Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens.
7/7/1998, German car manufacturer Volkswagen AG agreed to pay compensation to
those who were used as slave labour during World War Two.
14/4/1997, Former Nazi SS
Captain Eric Priebke was retried; on 22/7/1997 he was sentenced to 5 years in
prison.
7/7/1996, The German town of Konstanz elected a Green Mayor.
16.0, End of
the Red Army Faction 1998
20/4/1998, In Germany, the
Red Army Faction announced that it was ceasing operations and winding up, as it
no longer had a political reason to exist.
13/2/1991. Germany�s Red Army Faction carried out a gun attack on the US Embassy in
Bonn, claiming a link to the Gulf War.
30/11/1989, The
Red Army, a West German terrorist group, blew up Alfred Herrhausen, head of the
Deutschebank in Frankfurt.
15.0, Racism in
Germany 1992/3
30/5/1993. Neo-Nazi
skinheads attacked and set fire to a hostel housing Turkish migrant workers in
the German steel town of Solingen. This was the worst of several such attacks
on migrant workers. The German government responded with a crackdown on
Neo-Nazis and more controls on immigration.
29/9/1992. Racism was
on the rise in Germany. 28% of Germans aged between 16 and 24 had racist views,
compared with 15% in 1990.
19/8/1992. Right
wing rioting began in Rostock, Germany.
Hundreds of right wing youths, throwing paving stones and firebombs, attacked
an immigrant hostel, cheered on by local people, in the poor Lichtenhagen area
of the city. Thousands of police were drafted in to restore order, which had
broken down when many Romanian refuges, unable to secure a place in the hostel,
had camped outside it. The asylum seekers were evacuated but fighting between
police and youths continued for days and spread to other German cities. Germany
had seen both a rise in asylum seekers and increased unemployment in the east
since reunification, as eastern industries were exposed to competition from the
more efficient west.
5/4/1992. Germany�s
extreme Right gained in elections, over the issue of immigrants from eastern Europe.
20/4/1994, In France, Paul Touvier was found guilty of ordering the
massacre of 17 Jews whilst serving in the Vichy France Milice.
17/3/1994, In France the trial of Paul Touvier, head of the Vichy
militia during World War Two, began. In April 1994 he was sentenced to life
imprisonment. He died in prison on 17/7/1996.
3/2/1993. Statistics showed French women had the highest life
expectancy in Europe at 81.1 years, 8 years more than French men.
20/12/1992, The Folies
Bergere, Paris music hall which opened in 1869, closed down.
17/11/1992, In
France, cave paintings were discovered at Cosquer that were estimated to date
from 25,000 BC.
8/10/1992, Willy Brandt,
Chancellor of West Germany, died.
6/7/1992. French
lorry drivers blockaded roads, causing chaos.
1/6/1992, The terrorist Carlos the Jackal was sentenced to life
imprisonment in France.
12/4/1992. Euro-Disney opened just east of Paris. The
$4 billion, 4,800 acre, complex could accommodate up to 60,000 visitors a day.
It had 6 hotels with a total of 5,200 rooms, and a total of 14,000 staff, or
�cast members�. On 4/6/1992 Euro-Disney reported that it had received 1.5
million visitors, or 30,000 per day.
17/12/1990, Lothar de Matziere resigned from the German
government after allegations that he had worked for the Stasi.
14.0, German
Reunification, 1989-90
29/5/1994, Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany, (born
1912) died.
14/1/1993. Despite calls for his arrest on manslaughter
charges, the former East German leader, Eric Honecker, 80 years old and with terminal
liver cancer, was allowed to depart for Chile because of his failing health.
29/7/1992, Herr Honecker, former leader of East Germany,
was forced to leave the Chilean Embassy in Moscow where he had taken refuge, to
face manslaughter charges over the deaths of people trying to escape over the
Berlin Wall to West Germany.
2/12/1990. Helmut Kohl
of the Christian Democrats won the first election in the reunited Germany.
14/11/1990, Germany and Poland signed a treaty agreeing
their border as the Oder-Neisse line.
3/10/1990. East
and West Germany reunited as the Federal Republic of Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November
1989 was one of the most remarkable events of the 20th century.
However the economy of the East was much poorer than the West and funds were
needed for housing, education, and health. In July 1990 the currency of West
Germany became that of the East. On
reunification on 3/10/1990 Berlin became the capital city.
20/9/1990, The East and West German Parliaments passed
legislation enabling reunification.
1/7/1990, The
Deutschemark became the official currency of both East and West Germany.
18/5/1990. A
treaty was signed in Bonn introducing German economic and monetary union.
The reunification took place on 3/10/1990.
24/4/1990, East and West Germany agreed to
merge their currencies and economies on 1/7/1990.
18/3/1990, East
Germany held its first free elections since 1932.
9/3/1990. Talks
on German reunification began in Berlin.
15/1/1990, Thousands
stormed the Stasi HQ in Berlin in order to see their records.
22/12/1989. Berlin�s Brandenburg Gate reopened, after the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
3/12/1989. The
East German leader Egon Krenz and the
politbureau resigned. A USSR-USA
summit was held in Malta. The
Cold war was declared over at 12.55pm that day.
1/12/1989. The
East German Parliament voted to remove the Communist monopoly on power.
13/11/1989, Hans Modrow was elected Prime Minister of East
Germany.
10/11/1989, Bulldozers
began to demolish the Berlin Wall.
9/11/1989. The East German government lifted the
Iron Curtain to allow free travel between East and West Berlin. Thousands of East Berliners visited the
West. 100,000 East Berliners visited West Berlin. The Berlin Wall originally went up on 13/8/1961.
7/11/1989, The
entire East German Government resigned, replaced the following day with Hans Modrow
as Prime Minister.
5/11/1989. Refugees
were reportedly leaving East Germany at the rate of 300 an hour.
4/11/1989, See 7/10/1989. Pro-democracy rallies
sparked by Gorbachev�s
visit to East Germany resulted a a million-strong protest in East Germany.
18/10/1989, Erich Honecker was dismissed as General Secretary
of of the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany).
9/10/1989, East Germans in Leipzig demonstrated,
demanding the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
7/10/1989. On a visit to East Germany, Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev urged the East German government to introduce reforms. See
4/11/1989.
26/9/1989. Over 1,500
East German refugees occupied the West German embassies in Prague and Warsaw
13/6/1989,
Mikhail Gorbachev and
Chancellor Kohl
agreed that East and West Germany should be reunited.
4/10/1989. 10,000 East
Germans left Prague by train for West Germany.
12/9/1989,
The �Democracy Now� movement was
founded in East Germany.
4/9/1989,
The first of a series of �Monday Demonstrations� calling for democracy were
held in ;Leipzig, East Germany.
5/10/1989, In Paris, the Moulin
Rouge celebrated its centenary.
14/7/1989. Margaret Thatcher
upset French festivities on Bastille Day when she denied that the French
Revolution had inspired Human Rights.
13/6/1989, The wreck of the German battleship Bismarck which was sunk in 1941, was
discovered 600 miles west of Brest, France.
29/3/1989, In France, President Mitterrand inaugurated the huge
glass Louvre Pyramid.
24/9/1988, Large and angry protests against the World
Bank and IMF meetings in West Berlin.
10/5/1988. President Mitterand
of France won a second term. The Right was
split, but the far Right Jean Marie Le Pen got 14.38% of the vote, 4
million votes. In Marseilles, Le Pen led with 28% of the vote.
26/8/1987, The funeral and burial of Rudolf Hess.
17/8/1987. Former
top Nazi Rudolf Hess, born 1894, committed suicide in
Spandau Prison, Berlin, after 46 years spent there.� He was 93 when he died. He had been the only
inmate, and demolition of the prison began almost immediately.
5/8/1987, Georg Gassman,
German politician, died.
13.0, Klaus Barbie Trial 1987
4/7/1987.
Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, 73. was convicted in France, and sentenced to life
imprisonment.
6/2/1983, The
trial of Klaus Barbie began in Lyons, France. Known as the �Butcher of Lyons� during World War Two, Barbie deported
hundreds of French Resistance fighters and Jews on
trains to Nazi death camps Barbie was tracked down to Bolivia by
Nazi-hunters Serge and Beatie Klarsfeld in 1971 but not extradited until 1983.
5/2/1983. Klaus Barbie was extradited from Bolivia
to France to face Nazi war crimes charges.
19/1/1983, The Nazi war criminal, Klaus Barbie, was arrested in Bolivia.
25/1/1987, In West German Parliamentary elections, the incumbent CDU//FDP
coalition won a further term.
5/4/1986, The La Belle discotheque in West Berlin, Germany, was bombed by terrorists.
2 died and over 100 were injured.
20/3/1986, In
France, Jacques Chirac,
Gaullist, was appointed Prime Minister.
16/3/1986, In French
elections, the opposition won a narrow majority ending five years of Socialist
rule.
28/12/1985, Fernand Braudel,
French historian, died aged 83.
22/9/1985, French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted that
French agents had sunk the Greenpeace boat Rainbow
Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand, on 10/7/1985. The French Defence Minister was forced to resign.
23/8/1985, Hans Tiedge, Head of West German
counter-intelligence, was discovered to be an East German agent.
15/7/1983. Armenian terrorists set off a bomb at Paris
airport.
6/5/1983, West Germany pronounced that the �Hitler Diaries� were a fake, made from paper not available
until at least 1955.� The magazine Stern was swindled out of an undisclosed
sum for the �diaries�. See 23/4/1983.
23/4/1983, The German weekly magazine Stern announced it had possession of hitherto unknown �Hitler Diaries�. See 6/5/1983.
6/3/1983, In West German elections,
the incumbent CDU/FDP coalition won a majority. The Green Party won seats in
Parliament for the first time.
13/1/1980, The Green Party was established in Germany.
18/10/1982, Pierre Mendes France, French politician, died
aged 75.
1/10/1982, In Germany, the Christian Democrat leader Helmut Kohl
was elected, replacing Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of West Germany.
20/11/1981, The USSR contracted to supply natural gas to West
Germany.
21/6/1981, In French elections, Socialists won a landslide
victory in the second round of elections to the National Assembly. The new
Assembly included three Communists.
10/5/1981. The Socialist, Francois Mitterand was elected President of France.
He defeated Valery
Giscard D�Estaing.
24/12/1980, Death of German
commander Grand
Admiral Karl Donitz, who was briefly Fuhrer in 1945.
10/10/1980, East
Germany banned the sport of hang-gliding, in case it was used
to escape to West Germany.
5/10/1980, West
Germany re-elected Chancellor Helmut Schmidt with an increased
majority.
26/9/1980. In
Munich, neo-Nazis planted a bomb at
a beer festival killing 12 and injuring 200 people.
13/8/1980, French fishermen blockaded Channel Ports, in a
campaign for government aid.
26/6/1980, French President Giscard D�Estaing disclosed
that France had the capability to produce a neutron bomb.
18/3/1980, Erich Fromm, German sociologist, died aged 79.
3/2/1980. The Communist
leader of East Germany, Mr Honecker,
praised the efforts of East German spies in the West.
16/10/1979, 23
people died when a tsunami hit Nice,
France.
16/9/1979, Three
families fled East Germany by balloon.
2/5/1979, Riots in Longwy, France, over the proposed closure
of steel plants.
26/6/1978, A bomb set
off by Breton nationalists damaged
Versailles.
10/9/1977. The last official execution by guillotine in France; execution of Hamida Djandoubi. See 17/6/1939.
4/9/1977, E F Schumacher, German economist, died aged
66.
12.0., Baader
Meinhof terrorists captured, imprisoned, 1972-77
28/4/1977, In Germany, the Baader
Meinhof terrorists, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan Raspe,
dedicated to the violent overthrow of
capitalism, were jailed for life. The trial began on 21/5/1975.
7/4/1977, In Germany, terrorists murdered the Attorney-General who
was prosecuting the Baader-Meinhof
gang.
12/1976, The French Gaullist Party became the
Rassemblement pour la Republique (Rally for the Republic) Party. Jacques Chirac
became Party leader.
9/5/1976, The terrorist Ulrike Meinhof,
42, hanged herself in her prison cell in Stuttgart. �
21/5/1975, The trial of the Baader
Meinhof terrorist group began. On 284/1977 they were sentenced to
life imprisonment.
16/6/1972, German police
captured Ulrike
Meinhof, the last member of the Baader Meinhof
gang still at large.
3/10/1976, In German elections, Helmut Schmidt�s Social-Democrat-led coalition
was returned to power with a reduced majority.
25/8/1976, Jacques Chirac resigned as French Prime Minister and was replaced by
Raymond Barre.
27/5/1975, Jacques Chirac
became Prime Minister of France.
27/2/1975, Peter Lorenz, Chairman of the West Berlin
Christian Democratic Union, was kidnapped by terrorists. He was released on
5/3/1975 after demands that 5 terrorists were released from German jails and
flown out of the country were met.
11.0, Normalisation
of relations between East and West Germany, 1970-74
4/9/1974. The USA established diplomatic relations with East
Germany.
22/6/1973. East
and West Germany were accepted into the UN.
21/12/1972,
East and West Germany signed the Grundvertrag
(Basic Treaty), by which the two
States recognised each other�s boundaries and established a reciprocal presence
in each other�s capital cities.
24/11/1972, Finland became
the first western nation to formally recognise East Germany.
19/3/1970,
Prime Minister Willi
Stoph of East Germany met Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany.
They discussed how to improve relations between the two countries.
19/5/1974, Valery Giscard
d�Estaing was elected President of France.
16/5/1974, Helmut Schmidt became Chancellor of West
Germany.� Chancellor Brandt had resigned
on 6/5/1974 over a spy scandal.
6/5/1974, Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany, was forced to resign after he unwittingly
employed an East German spy as a secretary. There had been warnings fro 4
years that Gunter
Guillaume was a spy.� Brandt
became Foreign Minister in 1966 and West Germany�s first Social Democratic
Chancellor in 1969. In 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Price for his
policies of detente with the Communist bloc.
2/4/1974. Georges Pompidou,
French president from 1969, died in office, from cancer, aged 62.
21/3/1974, France suffered widespread
power cuts as electricity workers went on a 24-hour strike..
24/11/1973, Germany imposed speed
limits on its autobahns in response to the global oil crisis. The limits were
;lifted 4 months later.
5/9/1973, Jordanian terrorists held 13 hostages in the Saudi Arabian
Embassy in Paris.
12/6/1973, In West Germany, Helmut Kohl
became leader of the right of centre Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU).
9/6/1973, Erich von Manstein, military adviser to Adolf Hitler in World War Two
(born in Berlin, 24/11/1887) died, having been imprisoned by the British in
August 1945. His advice on attacking France through the Ardennes in 1940 was
crucial to Nazi success here.
8/11/1972, East and West Germany signed the Basic
Treaty, agreeing to respect each other�s�
independence and sovereignty. The East claimed that this Treaty
finalised the division of Germany; the West claimed it did not preclude the
possible later reunification of Germany should the Cold War come to an end. In
any case the Treaty was a political triumph for Chancellor Willy Brandt and his
policy of Ostpolitik, allowing for
personal contact between the leaders of East and West Germany.
11/5/1972, In West Germany, The �Red Army
Faction� set off a bomb at the American 5th Army Corps base.
5/7/1972, Pierre
Mesmer succeeded Jacques Chaban-Delmas as Prime Minister of
France.
23/1/1972, Jerome
Guedj, French Socialist Party politician, was born.
3/9/1971, The USA,
Britain,
France and the USSR
signed the Berlin Agreement on
communications between West Berlin and West Germany.
3/5/1971, Erich
Honecker succeeded Walter Ulbricht as First Secretary of the
Socialist Unity Party of East Germany.
21/10/1969. Willy Brandt was elected Chancellor of West
Germany. He succeeded Kurt Georg Kiesinger.
1968, The Krupp steel business in Germany ceased to be a family business of the
Krupp family. The Krupp family, present in the Essen, Ruhr, region since
the 16th century, had been major arms manufacturers for over 300
years. Under Alfred
Krupp (1812-87) the business became the largest cannon manufacturer
in the world from 1847 onwards, also having ownership of mines and other
neterprises in the Ruhr region. Afred�s son, Friedrich Alfred Krupp
(1854-1902) diversified into shipbuilding and armour plate. Freidrich committed
suicide following accusations of immoral conduct and his daughter, Bertha
(1886-1957) took over the business. In 1902 she married Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach,
and he was allowed to change his name to Gustav Krupp von Bohlen (1869-1950). The Krupp
enterprise manufactured armaments for Gremany and its Allies during both World wars;
between the Wars it made tractors for the Weimar Republic. The Krupp family,
from 1932, vigorously supported Hitler,
as did their son Alfred Felix Krupp (1906-67). In 1943 Hitler passed a special Lex Krupp to ensure the business would
remain in Krupp
family hands.
In 1945 Gustav Krupp was indicted at Nuremberg as a
major war criminal, having utilised 130,000 slave labourers at Essen and
Auschwitz, and for inhumane treatment of foreign workers; however he was deemed
too frail to stand trial. Alfred Krupp was conicted and sentenced to 12
years imprisonment in 1947; however he wasd released in 1951 to assist on the
economic recovery of west Germany. By 1963 he was the most powerful
industrialist in the Common Market. Just before his death in 1967 the Krupp
enterprise encountered financial problems and was sold out of the family.
11/6/1968, East
Germany began requiring visas for West Germans to cross its territory.
10.0, De Gaulle loses referendum; replaced by
Pompidou, 1969-70
9/11/1970. Charles De
Gaulle died, aged 79 of a heart attack, in Colombey les Deux
Eglises. See 28/4/1969. He had been President of France between 1944 and 1945,
and between 1959 and his resignation on 28/4/1969.
15/6/1969,
Pompidou
became President of France, see 28/4/1969.
28/4/1969. �General De Gaulle, 79 years old, resigned as Prime Minister of France. President
Pompidou, who became French President on 15/6/1969, succeeded
him.� De Gaulle lost a referendum on
changes to French regional institutions.�
De
Gaulle was resented for high
taxation to pay for the French military, whilst health, education, and
social services were neglected, leading to French student riots in spring
1968.� De Gaulle retired to
Colombey.� See 9/11/1970.
1/4/1969. France formally left NATO.
9.0, French Civil unrest, Strikes, De Gaulle
wins power, 1968
30/6/1968.
De Gaulle won massive support in French
elections.
12/6/1968,
The French Government banned demonstrations and dissolved 11 student
organisations,
30/5/1968, French President De Gaulle announced he would not
resign, and called a General Election.
25/5/1968. Riots
continued in Paris. Demonstrators erected barricades and students stormed
the Bourse and set fire to the interior. In London a demonstration of support
for the rioters was made outside the French Embassy; the police moved in and
arrests were made, resulting in fines totalling �145 for 17 people. In north
London, students at Hornsey College of Art continued a sit in of the main
building, demanding �a change to the college�s educational system�.
22/5/1968. Striking French workers now numbered 9
million.
19/5/1968. Two million workers in France were on
strike.
17/5/1968. French President Georges Pompidou appealed to
ordinary Parisians to help stop the anarchy as student riots continued in Paris, with 30,000 people involved in a day and a night of
violence. Students at The Sorbonne were locked out of campus, causing further
unrest; the demonstrations were against the Vietnam War.
The Cannes Film Festival collapsed in chaos
as striking technicians and directors caused film screenings to be cancelled,
and three days later the number of striking
French workers had risen to about six million.
22/3/1968, Student �anarchists� rioted and occupied an administration
building at Nanterre University, France. The riots soon spread to other
universities.
20/3/1968, Six French
students were arrested in Paris during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
6/4/1968, In East Germany, 94.5% of voters approved the new
socialist constitution.
2/4/1968, Two West German terrorists, Baader and Ensslin, firebombed a Frankfurt
department store, in protest against the bombs being dropped by the US on
Vietnam.
19/4/1967, Konrad Adenauer, West German Chancellor from
1949 to 1963, died.
2/6/1967, Rioting in West Berlin against the visit of the Shah of Iran,
in which Benno
Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death resulted in the
founding of the terrorist group Movement
2 June.
1/10/1966, Albert Speer, Hitler�s
architect, was released from Spandau prison, West Berlin.
1/7/1966, France withdrew its armed forces from NATO.
11/3/1966, De
Gaulle announced that France was to withdraw from NATO and that NATO
must remove its bases from France by the end of 1966.
19/12/1965. De Gaulle was
re-elected president of France.
6/12/1965. General De Gaulle failed to win the French
presidential election outright, necessitating a second ballot between him and
Monsieur Mitterand.
15/2/1964, Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin, became
leader of the West German Social Democratic Party.
23/6/1963, US President Kennedy began a five-day tour of
West Germany, including West Berlin. He promised, �we shall risk our cities to
defend yours�.
22/1/1963,
German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
(1876-1967) signed a Treaty of Friendship with French President Charles de Gaulle, marking �the end of a
century of hostility and suspicion between the two nations�.
13/12/1962, Rudolf Wissell, German politician and former
Minister for Economic Affairs in the Weimar Republic, died aged 93.
11/12/1962,
In West Germany, a coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian
Socialist and Free Democrats was formed.
8.0, Berlin Wall, construction 1958-61
5/10/1964,
57 people escaped from East to West Berlin through a 98 metre tunnel under the
Berlin Wall.
17/8/1962, Peter Fechter, 18, became the first person to
be killed whilst trying to cross the Berlin Wall. He was shot dead by border
guards.
5/5/1962. Eleven elderly East Berliners escaped to the
West through a tunnel. They had dug the tunnel six feet high so the women
wouldn�t have to crawl.
28/10/1961, The Berlin Crisis, US and Soviet tanks
began a gradual withdrawal from stand-off positions either side of the border.
17/8/1961, Construction of the Berlin Wall began, see
13/8/1961. The Soviets had hidden building materials close to the site of the
wall, so construction was rapid.� 2,000
people a day had been leaving the east for West Germany.
13/8/1961. East German border guards stopped cars
passing through the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.�
The border between East and West Berlin was sealed, at first with barbed
wire, later by the Berlin Wall, erected on 17/8/1961. On 22/8/1961 a 100 metre
no-man�s-land was created either side of the Berlin Wall.
The Wall was 96 miles long and 3.6
metres high. It had 302 armed watchtowers and 20 bunkers.� 192 persons were killed at the Wall, and
another 200 wounded by shooting. The East German Government called the barrier
�an anti-fascist protection wall�. A second wall was added in June 1962, and a
third in 1965, reinforced by a fourth in 1975. The Berlin Wall finally came down on 8/11/1989.
4/6/1961, The USSR tried to negotiate for the general
demilitarisation of Berlin. It was
concerned that the joint occupation arrangements were providing an escape route
for many young skilled people to the West. The USA rejected the suggestion.
31/8/1960. East Germany closed the border with West
Berlin.
7/9/1960, Wilhelm Pieck, President of East Germany since
the nation's creation in 1949, died aged 84. The office was abolished following
his death.
1/10/1959, East Germany changed its flag (until now,
the same as West Germany�s) to include worker and rural peasant symbols.
27/11/1958, The Soviet Union demanded an end to the
4-power occupation arrangements of Berlin and the entire city to become a
demilitarised zone
For Algerian wars of independence see Algeria
7.0, French 5th
Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle. Plans for Algerian independence,
opposed, 1958-63
4/9/1963, Robert Schuman, French Prime Minister, died.
21/6/1963, France
withdrew its navy from NATO.
22/8/1962, Opponents of Charles de Gaulle�s plan to
grant Algeria independence attempted to assassinate him.
14/4/1962, Georges Pompidou became French Prime Minister.
21/1/1962 . In Paris OAS
terrorists opposed to President De Gaulle�s plans for Algeria
planted ten plastic explosives bombs
17/10/1961,
French police killed over 200 Algerians in Paris. They were demonstrating for
independence from France.
8/1/1961, France held a national referendum on
whether Algeria should be granted independence. The result was in favour of
independence.
29/5/1959, Charles de Gaulle formed a �Government of
National Safety� in France.
8/1/1959, Charles de
Gaulle was installed as first President of the 5th Republic.� See 21/12/1958.
21/12/1958. De Gaulle was elected the first President of
the Fifth Republic, with 78% of the vote.�
He now had the strong Presidency he had desired in 1945 (see
13/11/1945). �See 29/5/1958.
5/10/1958, In France the Fifth Republic was formed.
28/9/1958, In France, a referendum gave a 4 to 1
majority approval for the institutions of the new 5th Republic. De
Gaulle won the elections of November 1958.
29/5/1958. De Gaulle was voted into power in France, to
deal with the crisis in Algeria. See 21/12/1958.
7/11/1961, Konrad Adenauer was elected Chancellor of
Germany for the fourth time.
29/5/1961, The Western European Union agreed that West
Germany would be allowed to build destroyers equipped to fire nuclear weapons.
16/7/1960, Albert Kesselring, German Air Commander on all fronts during World
War Two, condemned as a war criminal, died.
31/5/1960, Walter Funk, Nazi government official, died aged 69.
14/9/1958, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany,
visited French Prime Minister De Gaulle at his home in Colombey les deux
Eglises to discuss Franco-German relations.
28/5/1958, Pierre Pflimlin resigned as
French leader.
14/5/1958, In France, Pierre Pflimlin,
Popular Republican, formed a government.
18/4/1958, Maurice Gamelin, French Army
General, died aged 85.
For Algerian wars of independence see Algeria
19/10/1957, West Germany severed
diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia after Yugoslavia recognised East Germany.
3/10/1957, Berlin voted in its youngest ever mayor,
44-year-old Willy
Brandt.
15/9/1957, Konrad Adenauer�s Christian Democratic Union
Party won a massive victory in German general elections.
12/6/1957, In France, Maurice Bourges-Manoury, Radical, formed a
Government.
21/5/1957, In France, Guy Mollet, Socialist, resigned as Prime
Minister after a Government defeat in the Assembly.
1/1/1957, The Saar was formally integrated in the German
Federal Republic.
For Suez
Crisis 1956 see Egypt
16/10/1956, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Foreign
Secretary Selwyn
Lloyd visited Paris and met with French Minister Guy Mollet
and Foreign Minister Christian Pineau to discuss joint action
against Egypt.
30/9/1956, Doenitz (born 1891), German Admiral during World War Two, and
technically head of State of Germany from Hitler�s
suicide on 1/5/1945 until his internment on 23/5/1945, was released from
Spandau Prison.� He had been sentenced to
10 years imprisonment in 1946 by the Allied Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
5/6/1956, In Luxembourg, Chancellor Adenauer of Germany
and Prime
Minister Mollet of France agreed that the Saar would have political
union with Germany from 1/1/1957, and economic union after a longer period.
19/4/1956, Prince Rainier of Monaco married American
actress Grace Kelly.
1/2/1956, Following French elections on 2/1/1956, Guy Mollett
formed a Socialist government in France.
23/2/1955, In France, Edgar Faure formed a Radical government.
5/2/1955, The Algerian crisis caused the fall of the French
Government under Pierre Mendes-France.. Former French Minister of Finance
and economoic affairs, Edgar Faure, formed a new Government.
18/6/1954, Pierre Mendes-France became Prime Minister of
France. He promised to end the war in Indo-China, after the humiliation of
France at Dien ben Phu. He initiated decolonisation in Tunsia and Morocco as
well as Indo-China.
6.0, West
Germany becomes a regularised State 1953-56
1/5/1956. Germans demonstrated in favour of reunification.
8/3/1956, West Germany amended its Constitution to
allow for the use of conscription for the military.
6/10/1955, The first group of German PoW�s released
from World
War Two captivity in Russia were brought to the Russian-Polish
border at Bialystok, to be taken on to West Germany. By the end of 1955, over
9,000 such PoWs had been repatriated,
9/9/1955, The West German Chancellor, Dr Adenauer,
went to Moscow as a guest of the Soviet Government. At a dinner with Marshall
Bulganin, they agreed to the final release of German prisoners of
war from World
War Two back to West Germany, after more than a decade in captivity.
9/5/1955. West
Germany became a member of NATO.
5/5/1955. West Germany became a
sovereign state (see 26/5/1952); the Allied occupation by France, UK and USA
officially ended.
25/1/1955. The USSR
officially ended the war with Germany.
23/10/1954. NATO voted to end the occupation of West
Germany and to form the Western European
Union. West Germany became a member of NATO.
17/7/1954, In West Germany, Theodor Heuss was elected President.
6/4/1953, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer visited New
York; on 14/5/1953 he visited London.
5.0, Soviet
crackdown in East Germany 1952-53
17/6/1953. In East Berlin, Soviet tanks crushed an
anti-Soviet uprising. Hundreds of East Germans took to the streets in a
protest that began over increased work quotas and food shortages caused by the
collectivisation of agriculture (see 12/7/1952).� The protests escalated to demands for free
elections. The first people to protest were construction workers on
Stalinallee, a new highway slicing through east Berlin. After Stalin�s
death in March 1953 some liberation was hoped for, but instead work quotas were
raised by 10%. Churches were also to be abolished. Food prices were high, there
was little meat and no fruit at all. Red Army tanks were brought in and the
Soviet military commander proclaimed a state of emergency. 50 people were killed by Soviet forces, at
least 20 of whom were summarily executed, and over 1,000 were convicted of
taking part in the �attempted fascist coup�. Churchill and the other
western powers were reluctant to intervene because they feared a reunited
Germany. In a memo of 22/6/1953 Churchill felt a divided Germany was safer at
present, but feared to say so in public for fear of German public opinion.
31/8/1952, During the past month, 16,000 people had
escaped from east to West Berlin,
1/6/1952. The
Soviet Iron Curtain isolated West Berlin.
20/8/1952, Kurt Schumacher, German politician, died aged
56.
28/5/1952, Communist demonstrations in Paris, France.
1/4/1952, Vincent Bollore, French industrialist, was
born.
29/3/1952, In France, the government of Edgar Faure fell after failing
to get the National Assembly to approve tax increases. Antoine Pinay, Conservative,
formed a government with Gaullist support.
29/2/1952, In France, Prime Minister Edgar Faure resigned after 40
days in office. He was succeeded by Paul Reynaud.
11/1/1952, French General de Lattre de Tassigny died of cancer
in Paris. He was the chief architect of the French defence plan in World War
Two.
13/12/1951, The French National Assembly ratified the Schuman Plan. This placed French and
German steel iron and coal industries under one common authority, to which
other countries could also accede.
17/6/1951, Elections for the French Assembly gave 107 seats
to the Gaullists; 97 to the Communists; 94 to the Socialists; 87 to the
Conservatives; 82 to the Popular Republicans; and 77 to the Radical Socialists.
10/3/1951, In France, political deadlock was resolved when Henry Queuille
formed a government.
28/2/1951, In France, the government of Rene Pleven fell over issues of
electoral reform.
26/1/1951, Gilles Lemaire: French politician, was born.
24/6/1950, Georges Bidault, French Prime Minister,
resigned after his government was defeated in a vote on a technical issue.
30/3/1950, Leon Blum, French statesman, died
3/3/1950. France granted the Saar autonomy.
5/9/1948, In France, Robert Schuman became President of the Council
while being Foreign Minister, As such, he was the negotiator of the major
treaties of the end of World War II.
30/8/1947, About 90 people were killed and 60 injured in a
cinema fire in the Rueil district of Paris, France. Police said the blaze was
caused by a wire in the second balcony that short-circuited
14/4/1947, In France, De Gaulle organised the RPF (Rassemblement
du Peuple Francais) Party, also known as �Gaullists�, to unite and reform
anti-Communists.
16/1/1947, In France, Vincent Auriol was elected President.
16/12/1946, In France, Leon Blum formed a Socialist government.
10/11/1946, In France, elections to the National Assembly
produced 166 seats for the Communists, 158 for the Popular Republican Movement,
90 for the Socialists, 55 for the Radical Socialists, 70 for the Conservatives
and 5 for the Gaullists. There was political deadlock.
17/5/1946. France nationalised its coal mines.
4.0 De Gaulle
Presidency 1945-46
20/1/1946. De Gaulle
resigned.� Goiun
became President of France.
21/12/1945, France appointed Jean Monnet as head of a
commission to repair and develop French industry.� He evolved the Monnet Plan which with 5 years enabled French industry to surpass
its per-war output level.
13/11/1945. De Gaulle was elected President of France by
the unanimous vote of all 555 deputies.�
However he resigned within ten weeks when the Fourth Republic disagreed
with his idea for a strong US-style Presidency.�
See 21/12/1958.
21/10/1945, Elections
in France provided gains for the Left. The Communists won 148 seats, the
Socialists 134, Radical Socialists 35 (the Popular Republican Movement won 141
seats), Conservatives 62 seats, others 2 seats.
3.0 Inception of, and division
between,� post war East and West Germany,
1947-52
26/5/1952, A treaty was concluded for West
Germany to be a sovereign state (see 5/5/1955), so long as Germany contributed
to Western defence.� Fears of the Soviet
Union overrode fears of German aggression.
15/10/1950, In East German elections, a vote of 99.7%
was recorded for the Communist-dominated National Front Party.
15/6/1950. West Germany admitted to the Council of
Europe.
8/2/1950, The Stasi was founded in East Germany.
7/10/1949. The German
Democratic Republic was set up in East Germany.
15/9/1949, Konrad Adenauer
was elected Chancellor of Germany.
12/9/1949, Theodor Heuss
was elected first President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
20/6/1949, The USA, the USSR, France, and the UK
signed a Four-Power agreement on Berlin, including a clause ensuring the
freedom of movement within the entire city.
23/5/1949. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was formally established,
with its capital at Bonn.
28/4/1949, The Allies set up the International Authority for the Ruhr, or IAR.� This was dissolved on 10/8/1952 when the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC) came into force.
1/8/1948, The French zone of occupation was merged
with the �bizone� (see 27/5/1947) to form the �trizone�. The �trizone� later
became West Germany (see 23/5/1949).
18/6/1948, Germany replaced the old Reichsmark with
the Deutschemark.
27/5/1947, The US and British zones of occupation were
merged to form the �bizone�.
2.0 Soviet
blockade of West Berlin, 1948-49
6/10/1949, The Berlin airlift ended.� It had carried on from 12/5/1949 despite the
Soviet lifting of the land blockade.
12/5/1949. The
Soviet blockade of West Berlin was called off after 11 months, it began 28
June 1948. It had cost the Allies �200 million to fly in food and essential
supplies, with up to 200 flights a day.
9/5/1949. Prince Ranier III became Head of State of Monaco, succeeding his grandfather Prince Louis II.
5/5/1949, The USSR announced it would lift the
blockade of Berlin on 12/5/1949.
16/4/1949, 16,000 tons of supplies were airlifted to
West berlin in just 24 hours.
28/6/1948. The Anglo-US airlift to Berlin began;
see 12/5/1949.
24/6/1948. The Russians
began a blockade of West Berlin.� The Berlin Airlift began on 28/6/1948
and delivered some 7,000 tons of food supplies to the city over a period of
three months by British and American aircraft, defying the Soviet land
blockade. The airlift continued until 30/9/1949, although the Soviet blockade
was lifted on 12/5/1949. See 30/3/1948.
18/4/1948, All roads
between Berlin and West Germany were now blocked by the Soviets.
1/4/1948. The Soviets
suspended all rail services between Berlin and West Germany.
30/3/1948, The Russians imposed restrictions on
Western traffic into West Berlin. See 26/4/1948. The West feared that the
USSR was trying to absorb West Berlin; Moscow said it was responding to the
West creating West Germany out of the three western occupation zones.
1.0 Judicial
dealings with Nazis, 1945-51
23/7/1951, Marshal Petain,
Head of Vichy France between 1940 and 1944,
died in prison in the Ile d�Yeu, aged 95, serving a life sentence for
collaboration, having been reprieved from a death sentence in 1945.
9/6/1951. In West Germany, the last Nazis convicted of war
crimes were hanged.
15/1/1951, Ilse Koch,
the �Bitch of Buchenwald�, wife of
the Commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp. was sentenced to life
imprisonment in a Court in West Germany.
6/1/1948, The
Ministries Trial began in Nuremberg. Twenty-one officials of various ministries
of the Third Reich went on trial, facing charges for their roles in atrocities
committed by the Nazis.
19/4/1947, The
Flick Trial began in Nuremberg. Friedrich Flick
and five other leading Nazi industrialists were put on trial for using slave
labour, among other crimes.
11/3/1946, Rudolf Hoss,
the Nazi Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was located and
arrested by British military police near the northern German town of Flensburg,
where he had been working on a farm under the alias "Franz Lang". Hoss, who confessed to overseeing the murder
of millions of prisoners, mostly Jewish, was himself executed at Auschwitz on
April 16, 1947.
26/10/1946, Otto Thierack,
German Reich Minister of Justice 1942-45, hanged himself in Neumunster
internment camp to avoid being brought to trial.
16/10/1946. After 216 meetings of the Nuremberg Tribunal, from 20/11/1945, the
verdicts on 24 top Nazis charged with war crimes were delivered on 30/9/1945. 3 Nazis were acquitted; Hjalmar Schacht, Franz
von Papen and Hans Fritzsche.
A fourth defendant, Robert Ley, had
committed suicide in prison before the trials were completed. The industrialist
Gustav Krupp was judged to be unfit
to stand trial through senile dementia. The remaining 19 defendants were found
guilty. Four of them, Karl Donitz, Baldur von Shirach, Albert Speer and Konstantin
von Neurath, received sentences of between 10 and 20 years. Three
defendants, Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk and Erich Raeder, received
life sentences. Rudolf Hess was
detained at Spandau Prison, Berlin, until his death in 1987. The
remaining 12 defendants were sentenced to death. Martin
Bormann was not executed as he had been tried in absentia having
escaped the Allied authorities. Hermann Goering
committed suicide in prison a few hours before he was due to be hanged. The
remaining ten, Hans Frank, Willhelm Frick, Julius
Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg,
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred
Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel and Arthur Seiss-Inquart, were hanged on
16/10/1946.
As
regards lesser Nazis, the problem facing the Allies was that millions of
Germans had joined the Nazi Party, some merely for reasons of
self-preservation, so it was impractical to prosecute all those who had served
Hitler. Ultimately, out of a population of 44.5 million Germans in West
Germany,� 209,000 were prosecuted. In
East Germany the Soviets prosecuted a much smaller number, just over 17,000.
This was because many Nazis were executed by the Soviets without a formal legal
process.
30/9/1946, Former Nazi leader Hermann Goering
committed suicide, the night before he was due to be executed.
13/9/1946, Captain Amon Goth, 37, Nazi SS officer who had carried out the mass
executions of more than 13,000 Jews in Krakow and Tarnow, and the Szebnia
concentration camp, was hanged, along with Dr.
Leon Gross, a Jew who had collaborated with him at the Plaszow
concentration camp.
17/6/1946, The Allied decided not to try Hirohito
as a war criminal.
22/5/1946, Karl Hermann Frank, the Nazi ruler in Czechoslovakia who ordered the massacre
at Lidice, was hanged in Prague.
21/3/1946. Goering denied he knew anything of the
�final solution�.
7/2/1946. Hess was on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes.
8/1/1946. The trial of Goering and Von Ribbentrop
began.
3/1/1946. Nazi propagandist William Joyce, the notorious Lord Haw Haw, was hanged in London for treason. He was known as Lord Haw Haw for the falsely
posh nasal tones of his radio broadcasts telling of German military �successes�
(often false). He had been convicted on 19/9/1945.
20/11/1945. The Nuremberg Trials began. Setting up a war
crimes tribunal was unprecedented and an act of doubtful legality, but the
world had a keen desire to see revenge for the atrocities the Nazis had
committees, especially in their concentration camps. 24 Nazi leaders were on
trial. Defendants included Goering,
Hess,
and Ribbentrop.
On 16/10/1946 the executions of the guilty began. These included Von Ribbentrop,
Rosenberg,
and Streicher.
2/11/1945, 42 staff members of Dachau concentration
camp were indicted at Nuremberg.
24/10/1945. Vidkun Quisling was hanged as a war criminal, at Askerhus Fortress, Oslo. He had joined the
Norwegian Fascist Party (Nasjonal Samlung) in 1933, and had encouraged Hitler
to invade Norway. He was also held responsible for sending nearly 1,000
Norwegian Jews to Nazi concentration camps. See 10/9/1945.
15/10/1945, Pierre Laval, leader of the French Vichy
government, was executed for treason for collaboration with the Nazis.
9/10/1945. Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of Vichy France, was
sentenced to death.
10/9/1945. Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death at Oslo for
collaborating with the Nazis. He
had been puppet Prime Minister during the Nazi occupation of Norway. He was
executed on 24/10/1945, by firing squad, at Akershus Fortress, Oslo.
15/8/1945, Marshal Petain was
convicted of treason (see 23/7/1945) and sentenced to death. Like all death
sentences on minors and women, this was commuted by President De Gaulle to life and
the 90-year-old Marshal was confined to the Ile de Yeu off the Vendee coast. In
June 1951 Petain,
feeble and devoid of mental faculties, was released; he died less than a month
later. Overall in France the purge of collaborators, known as l�epuration (the
purification) lasted from September 1944 to the end of 1949. Just over 2,000
death sentences were handed down, of which 768 were carried out. Even the
entertainer Maurice
Chevalier, who had merely entertained French PoWs in Germany,
narrowly escaped a firing squad. Some 12x this number of those officially
executed were summarily shot by firing squad immediately after liberation.
23/7/1945, Marshal Petain was
charged with treason, see 15/8/1945.
14/6/1945, Joachim von Ribbentrop
was captured in Hamburg.
28/5/1945, Lord Haw Haw,
William Joyce, was arrested, see 3/1/1946. William Joyce, known as Lord Haw Haw for his falsely posh tones in his
pro-Nazi radio broadcasts, was arrested in Denmark and charged with treason.
23/5/1945. Heinrich Himmler, former Nazi Chief of Police, killed
himself whilst in British custody.
He had joined the waves of German
civilian refugees unnoticed after VE Day and wandered aimlessly until he
encountered a British checkpoint at Bremervorde, where his true identity was
uncovered. As he was being searched he bit into a cyanide capsule and died.
10/5/1945, Vidkun Quisling was captured by Resistance fighters in Norway.
Judicial dealings with Nazis
0.0 Post
World War Two political developments (see above for judicial dealings with
Nazis) 1946-47
25/11/1947. The USSR
demanded war reparations from Germany.
10/2/1947. A
Peace Treaty concluded in Paris between Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria made the
following provisions. a) Most of the Italian province of Venezia Giulia, with
its predominantly Slovene and Croat population, as well as the enclave of Zadar
(Zara) and all the Adriatic Islands were ceded to Yugoslavia. b) A Free
Territory of Trieste, demilitarised and neutral, was to be formed. However this
was impractical and on 5/10/1954 the British, US, Italian, and Yugoslav
governments agreed to divide the territory between Italy and Yugoslavia. c)
Romania ceded Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the USSR. The Russian
occupation of these areas had been by aggression on 27/6/1940; the population
of Bessarabia was however mainly Romanian.
1/1/1947. The USA and British zones in West Germany
were merged.� Russia objected, and so did France, who wanted a divided Germany, and
had annexed the Saar from French-occupied Germany.
20/8/1946, The German Army was officially
dissolved by the Allied Control Commission.
29/7/1946, The Paris
Peace Conference began.
26/3/1946, Allied
Control Commission set limits on the level of German industrial production.
31/12/1945, Most Berliners
were subsisting on just 800 calories a day; in 1946 in the British sector
rations dropped on occasion to a slow as 400 calories a day, less than was
received by the inmates at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Not only was food
desperately short but numbers to be fed were swollen by huge numbers of German
refugees from eastern Europe. Medical supplies were also virtually
non-existent, and 43 of Berlin�s 44 hospitals had been destroyed or badly
damaged. Typhoid spread due to broken water mains and damaged sewers. Then
mosquitoes and other insects feeding on corpses spread disease, and dysentery
killed 6 out of 10 babies born in Berlin in July 1945. Another lethal hazard
was unexploded ordnance, shells, mines and grenades. In 1945 Berlin women
outnumbered men by 3 to 1.
12/9/1945, An estimate of War casualties reckoned that Britain had lost 420,000 members of
the armed forces; the US had lost 292,000, and the USSR, 13 million. German
loss of military men was put at 3.9 million, Japan�s at 2.6 million. British
civilian casualties from air raids were set at 60,000, with 860,000 severely
injured.
7/9/1945, Berlin
Victory Parade of 1945: The Allies held a victory parade in Berlin. The Soviet
JS-3 heavy tank was displayed in public for the first time.
2/8/1945, The Potsdam Conference (began 16/7/1945) ended
without agreement on the future of Europe. The Soviets would not agree to free elections in Eastern Europe.
26/7/1945. In the
Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, the banks were closed and citizens ordered to
hand over all their gold, silver, foreign currency and other valuables to the
Russians, who were also dismantling factories and taking them to Russia as
reparations.
17/7/1945, The
Potsdam Conference began, attended
by Allied leaders Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later replaced
by Attlee).
6/7/1945, US Chiefs of Staff plan the evacuation of
400 top German scientists.
9/6/1945, Russia established Soviet Military
occupation in Germany (SMAD), in Berlin.
5/6/1945. Allied
commanders signed a pact for the occupation of Germany; it was t be divided
into 4 zones, British, French, USA, and USSR.
14/5/1945, The last of Germany�s U-Boats in the
Atlantic surrendered at Londonderry.
11/5/1945. Prague, the last European capital, was liberated.
Post World War Two political developments (see
above for judicial dealings with Nazis)
8/5/1945. VE Day. The Second World War officially ended in
Europe, at one minute past midnight. Field
Marshall Keitel signed the final capitulation. The
Channel Islands remained under Nazi occupation till the following day,
9/5/1945. Street parties were held all over Britain.
UK Bomber Command has calculated the following statistics
relating to the Second World War. 55,573 aircrew were killed, of whom 47,130
died on operations, 138 died as PoWs, and 8,090 were killed in �mon-operational
incidents� (mostly flying accidents). Of those killed, 38,462 were British,
9,980 were Canadian, 4,050 were Australian and 1,703 were New Zealanders. 530
RAF groundcrew were killed, and 759 injured, in incidents such as bombs
detonating when being loaded onto aircraft or being jammed in the bomb bay.
Total bombs dropped on Axis countries amounted to 955,044 tons, of which
657,674 tons was dropped on Germany itself. 336,037 bombing raids were carried
out by the RAF. 8,655 aircraft were reported as missing (failed to return). By
the end of 1944 Allied raids had reduced German oil production by 40%, so that
many German tanks and aircraft became unuseable due to lack of fuel, even if
they were serviceable.
German civilian casualties have been estimated at between
350,000 and 600,000.
Some 3.4 million German houses and flats had been destroyed out of a
total of 17.1 million; a further 30% of homes had been severely damaged by
bombing. The desperate housing shortage was exacerbated by an influx of some 10
million refugees from eastern Europe. Many Germans lived 5 or 6 to a room, or
existed in makeshift shelters. Some, as at Dachau near Munich, lived in former
concentration camps.
In Greater Manchester 684 people died in the bombing, and
an additional 2,364 were injured.
The start of major fighting in World War Two. Hostilities
began between Germany and Poland, and Germany and France.
-1.0, Germany
prepares to invade Poland; start of World War Two, with Britain and France
involved, 1939.
31/8/1939, In Gleiwitz, a small German town close to
the border with Poland, a small force of Nazi agents, dressed in Polish Army
uniforms, took over the local radio station and broadcast anti-German
propaganda in Polish. They then took bodies from Dachau concentration camp,
dressed these in Polish Army uniforms, and mutilated the corpses to make
identification impossible. Within a few
hours Adolf Hitler was denouncing the
�Gleiwitz Incident� in the German Reichstag and using it as a pretext to invade
Poland.
26/8/1939, Daladier and Chamberlain attempted to negotiate with Hitler,
but nothing was achieved.
25/8/1939, Britain signed an assistance pact with Poland, the Anglo-Polish Alliance. Britain had seen Hitler
seize Czechoslovakia, in breach of the Munich Agreement; Hitler was now demanding the
return of Gdansk (Danzig) and the coastal strip of land linking Germany to East
Prussia (depriving Poland of its Baltic coast).�
Britain therefore abandoned its policy of appeasement with Germany.
23/8/1939. Hitler and the USSR concluded a 20 year non-aggression pact, the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This left Hitler
free to invade Poland.� Hitler believed the German-Soviet pact would
lead France and Britain to withdraw their guarantees of assistance to
Poland.� When instead Britain reaffirmed
its support for Poland on 25/8/1939, Hitler postponed the attack on Poland,
originally scheduled for the night of 25-26/8/1939.�� Diplomatic moves with Britain failed to
dislodge UK support for Poland, and Hitler invaded on 1/9/1939.
22/8/1939, Hitler gave the Obersalzberg
Speech to commanders of the Wehrmacht, detailing
the pending invasion of Poland and plans for extermination of the Poles.
3/4/1939, Hitler ordered his generals to prepare plans for invading
Poland.
31/3/1939. The British Prime Minister, Neville
Chamberlain, pledged to defend Poland, if attacked by Germany; so
did France.�
28/3/1939. Hitler�s deputy Von Ribbentrop signed an agreement with the USSR that they would both invade Poland. See 31/3/1939 and
1/9/1939.
27/3/1939, Nazi
Germany began an anti-Polish propaganda campaign against �oppression of Germans
in German lands now controlled by Poles�.
-2.0, Nazi
Germany annexes Memel (Lithuania), 1939
23/3/1939, Between 5
and 7 a.m. German troops crossed into Memel. 31 ships of the German fleet
arrived at the port at 10:20 a.m. Aboard the Deutschland, Hitler signed the decree formally turning the
Territory over to Germany.
22/3/1939. Memel, part
of Lithuania, was ceded to Germany, see 20/3/1939.
20/3/1939, Germany
issued an ultimatum to Lithuania demanding the return of Memel, ceded by
Germany in 1919.
16/1/1939, Lithuania
and Germany signed a non-aggression pact. However in March 1939 Germany seized
the Lithuanian territory of Memel-Klaipeda, where many ethnic Germans lived.
-3.0, Nazi
Germany annexes the remainder of Czeckoslovakia, 1938-39
16/3/1939, Slovakia
became a German protectorate.� Hungary
annexed Ruthenia, another part of Czechoslovakia.
15/3/1939. Germany occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia
(Bohemia and Moravia). The Sudetenland
had already been occupied by Germany. Hitler
described this as his last territorial claim in Europe. See 6/6/1938.
9/3/1939. President Hacha of Czechoslovakia sacked his pro-German prime
Minister. Germany invaded a week later.
20/9/1938, The
Hungarian leaders, Imredy and Kanya, were summoned to Germany.
Hitler
told them he had no objections to Hungary�s desires to regain Slovakia and
Ruthenis, so long as Hungary actively took part in the destruction of
Czechoslovakia.
-4.0, Refugees
from Spanish Civil War flee to France, 1939
13/2/1939, France closed its border with Spain.
9/2/1939, In Spain, Franco�s army, pursuing the
fleeing Republicans north from Barcelona, reached the French border. France had
given refuge to the Republican forces, having confiscated their vehicles and
weapons.
30/1/1939, France opened refugee camps for Republican
women and children fleeing Barcelona after the defeat of the Republicans there
on 26/1/1939. By March 1939, these camps at Argeles and other locations in SE
France housed 250,000 refugees. This population movement was known as the
Retirada (withdrawal).
-5.0, Final
prelude to War 1938-39, last attempts to preserve peace in Europe
22/5/1939. Hitler and Mussolini
signed the 'Pact of Steel' in Berlin.
15/4/1939, US President Roosevelt asked Hitler and Mussolini for assurances that
they would not attack 31 named States.
13/4/1939, Britain
and France guaranteed the independence of Romania and Greece.
17/3/1939, The French
Parliament granted Edouard Daladier extensive powers to
accelerate rearmament.
14/2/1939 �The German
battleship Bismarck was launched.
27/1/1939, Hitler approved Plan Z, an ambitious naval construction
program that would give the Kriegsmarine some 800 ships by 1948.
1/11/1938, In
Britain, Balloon Command was formed, under Fighter Command, to establish
barrage balloon protection for 12 cities including Bristol and Cardiff.
Experiments with barrage balloons had been carried out by the Germans back in
1917; the Allies also used them to protect Venice in 1918. The idea was to hoist a �barrage�
of cables to prevent bomber aircraft diving low, so their accuracy was
impaired. With the balloons, they could still dive but could not pull out
afterwards without hitting a cable and crashing. The balloon wincher faced
danger from lightning bolts, and from the static electric charge built up on
the wincher, especially in wet weather. An operator had to jump away from the
winch when leaving to avoid electrical conductance between his body and the
winch and earth.
24/10/1938, Hitler demanded the return from Poland to Germany of
Danzig.� Poland refused.
-6.0, Nazi Germany annexes the Sudetenland
(Czeckoslovakia), 1935-38
5/10/1938, President
Benes of Czechoslovakia resigned.
1/10/1938. Germany
annexed the Sudetenland, see
6/6/1938.
30/9/1939, Chamberlain told a crowd �I believe it is peace in our time�
and waved the agreement he had made with Hitler at Munich,
bearing Hitler�s
signature.� Chamberlain said �How horrible,
fantastic, incredible, it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on
gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of
whom we know nothing�.
29/9/1938. In Munich, Chamberlain
appeased Hitler over Sudetenland.� Under the Munich Agreement, an agreement between Germany, Britain, France,
and Italy, the Sudetenland was surrendered to Nazi Germany.� No Czech representative was present.
15/9/1938.
Neville Chamberlain visited Hitler at the Berchtesgarten, over the Czech crisis. Hitler declared
he only wanted the Sudetenland.
7/9/1938. Sudetenland gained autonomy from Czechoslovakia, see 6/6/1938.
15/8/1938. Chamberlain visited Hitler
for crisis talks.
12/8/1938. Germany
mobilised its forces.
6/6/1938.
President Benes of
Czechoslovakia offered self-government to the Sudetenland. However on 27/9/1938 Hitler stated his intention to annex the Sudetenland. On 21/9/1938 Prague
agreed to Anglo-French proposals to cede the Sudetenland to Germany. Czechs protested. German troops entered the Sudetenland on 1/10/1938, as Teschen, in
Czech Silesia, was annexed by Poland. On 5/10/1938 President Benes of Czechoslovakia resigned.
20/5/1938. Czechoslovakia
ordered 400,000 troops to the Austro-German border.
28/4/1938. Anglo-French
talks on the Sudeten question. President Benes was urged to make concessions.
24/4/1938, Sudeten
German leader Konrad
Henlein presented a list of demands in a speech in Karlsbad. The
principal demand was the creation of an autonomous German state within
Czechoslovakia. Though left unsaid, it
was readily inferred that this state could then vote to secede and join Germany.
23/4/1938. Sudeten Germans
in Czechoslovakia demanded total self-government.
24/3/1938. The
British Prime Minister, Chamberlain,
announced that Britain would not oppose the German occupation of
Czechoslovakia, in the interests of peace. However Britain would fight for
France and Belgium.
29/11/1937, Sudeten
Germans walked out of the Czech Parliament following a ban on political
meetings.
17/11/1937, Lord Halifax arrived in Berlin for talks with Hitler on the
Sudetenland; this was the first step in the process of appeasement.
17/10/1937. Sudeten
Nazis rioted in Czechoslovakia.
19/5/1935. The Nazi Party made gains in elections in the
Sudetenland.
-7.0, Nazi
Germany annexes Austria, 1936-38
13/3/1938 Austria
was declared to be part of the German Third Reich (the Anschluss, or �joining�); a province of Germany called Ostmark.� A Nazi-controlled referendum gave a �vote� of
99.75% in favour of unification.
The
Anschluss had been expressly forbidden by the Treaties of Versailles and St
Germain, 1919, and a proposed customs union between the two countries in 1931
had been vetoed by France and Czechoslovakia. However after Austrian
Chancellor von Schuschnigg was forced to resign in early 1938, the
Germans occupied Austria and formally declared a union anyway.
12/3/1938. Germany invaded Austria.� This was 24
hours before an Austrian plebiscite was to have been held concerning closer
relations with Germany.� At 10.00 am German
troops crossed into Austria, thereby tearing up Article 88 of the Treaty of
Versailles, which forbade union of Germany and Austria.
11/3/1938, Hitler demanded the resignation of Austrian Chancellor Kurt von
Schusnigg, after Schusnigg tried to forestall Hitler�s
demands for unification with Germany by a referendum.
1/3/1938, Field
Marshal Hermann
Goering was named Chief of Staff of Germany�s Luftwaffe.
12/2/1938. Hitler insisted that Austria released Nazi prisoners.
15/1/1937. Austria announced an amnesty for Nazis.
11/7/1936, Austria and Germany entered closer relations.� Hitler forbade the Austrian Nazis from
mounting another uprising to preserve a face of legality.
19/7/1938, King George VI of Britain visited Paris.
10/3/1938, In France, the Chautemps Government collapsed,
weakening the French administration.
20/12/1937, Erich Ludendorff, German general who helped formulate strategy in
World War One, died.
24/11/1937, In Germany, Walter Funk replaced Dr Schacht as Minister of
Economics.
18/11/1937, A Fascist plot was discovered in Paris.
22/10/1937. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin
to meet Hitler,
study housing conditions, and hear a concert by the Nazi District Orchestra.
The Duke had been advised not to go to Germany, but, having abdicated as King,
he wanted to show he still had influence.
12/7/1937, Lionel Jospin,
Prime Minister of France, was born.
4/2/1937, The German
Ambassador gave King George VI a Nazi salute.
-8.0, Consolidation
of Nazi power in Germany; political, cultural
and economic, 1935-39
20/3/1939, The Nazis burnt �degenerate� art works in Berlin.
22/4/1938,
Nazi Germany decreed that Jewish-owned businesses were forbidden from changing
their names.
4/2/1938. Hitler took over as War Minister in Germany.
Joachim Von
Ribbentrop became Foreign Minister.
5/9/1937. A huge rally marked the start of the
Nazi congress in Nuremberg.
19/7/1937, In Berlin, the Germans staged an exhibition, intended as
mocking, of �degenerate art�; art
condemned by the Nazis.
16/7/1937, The Buchenwald concentration camp opened in
Germany, on a plateau overlooking Weimar. The first inmates were mainly
political prisoners, but most of the 238,980 prisoners ultimately sent there
were Jews,
of whom 56,545 died in the gas chambers.
For details of Nazi
anti-Semitism, see Judaism, history
2/6/1937, German
War Minister Werner
von Blomberg began a three-day visit to Italy to discuss
German-Italian military ties.
20/6/1937, All
Catholic
schools in Bavaria were closed by the Nazis.
30/1/1937, Hitler made a speech on the 4th
anniversary of the beginning of the Nazi Revolution.� He spoke of having friendly relations with
other European powers but also spoke of the need for �lebensraum� �
living space � stating that Germany needed colonies for economic expansion. He
also promised to respect the neutrality of Belgium and The Netherlands.
16/1/1937,
The Kiel Canal was supposed to be open without restriction for all shipping. This
day Germany abrogated a condition of the Treaty of Versailles by requiring that
ships now obtain permission for transit from their naval command.
5/1/1937, Nazi Germany recommended its artists
depict at least four children in illustrations of German families.
1/12/1936. In Germany the Hitler Youth Law was ratified, making membership of the
Hitler Youth compulsory for children aged 10 to 18.
25/11/1936. Germany and
Japan
agreed to protect world civilization from the Bolshevik menace, and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, organised by Ribbentrop.� Germany recognised the Japanese puppet state
in Manchuria.� See 6/11/1937.
14/11/1936, Germany denounced the clauses of the
Versailles Treaty internationalising its waterways.
1/11/1936. Mussolini announced an anti-Communist
�axis� with Germany, and urged France and Britain to join.
20/10/1936, Hitler established closer relations with Mussolini,
using the Spanish Civil war as a pretext.
19/10/1936, Germany began a Four Year Plan for Economic
Growth. This was intended to prepare the
nation for war by late 1940.
24/8/1936, Germany extended conscription from one year to two.
16/8/1936. Hitler�s dreams of the
proof of Aryan supremacy at the Berlin Olympics were shattered when the Black
athlete, Jesse
Owens, won four gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400
metres relay, and the long jump. After Owens�s
second win,
Hitler
stormed out
of the stadium in disgust.
11/8/1936, Joachim von Ribbentrop was appointed German
Ambassador to London.
1/8/1936. Adolf Hitler opened the 11th
Olympic Games in
Berlin.�
The Olympic flame was carried to the venue from Greece for the first
time.� See 16/8/1936.
1/5/1936, Starting on this day, every newlywed couple in Nazi
Germany was to receive a copy of Mein Kampf from the registrar.
18/2/1936, Charlie Chaplin�s film, Modern Times, was banned in
Nazi Germany because it had �Communist tendencies�. Many suspected the real
reason for the ban was the resemblance of Charlie Chaplin to Hitler in the film.
15/2/1936, Hitler announced that every German household
would have a Volkswagen car.
6/2/1936. Hitler opened the Winter Olympic Games
in Germany.
30/11/1935. Non-belief in Nazism was made legal grounds for divorce
in Germany.
12/10/1935, Hitler banned American jazz from
German radio, calling it decadent. Music of Jewish
or Black origin was also banned.
4/1/1937, Paul Behncke, German admiral, died aged 67.
2/10/1937, France devalued the Franc
(27/9/1936, France left the Gold Standard). Inflation began to rise,
obliterating the gains made by the French working class, causing bitter
political divisions later on.
17/7/1936, France nationalised its munitions industry.
30/6/1936, The Fascist Party in France was suppressed.
12/6/1936, France instituted a 40-hour working week.
4/6/1936, In France, Leon Blum formed a Leftist Popular Front
government.
8/5/1936, Oswald Spengler, German historian, died aged
55.
3/5/1936, The Left won in French elections.
23/1/1936, In France, Prime Minister Pierre Laval resigned after
criticism of the Hoare-Laval pact. This was a secret pact between the British
Foreign Secretary, Samuel Hoare, and the French Prime Minister, Pierre Laval,
to allow Italy to retain its conquest of Abyssinia, so as not to drive Italy
closer to Germany.
4/6/1935, In France, Pierre Laval formed a government.
31/5/1935, In France, politician Pierre Flandin lost power.
2/5/1935. France and the USSR signed a mutual defence pact in
case of attack.� See 7/3/1936.
14/4/1935. Britain, France, and Italy agreed to form a united
front against German re-armament.
15/10/1934, Raymond Poincare, French statesman, died aged
74.
9/10/1934, Alexander
(1888 � 1934), King of Yugoslavia since 1921, was assassinated by Croatian
terrorists from the Ustase Movement in Marseilles. The French Foreign Minister,
Louis
Barthou, was also killed. Alexander I was succeeded by his 11-year old
son Peter II
(1923-1970). Alexander�s
cousin, Paul
(1893-1976) acted as Regent until 27/3/1941; however just a
fortnight after this, Peter II was forced into exile by invading
German forces.
-9.0, Increasing
power of Hitler and the Nazis, 1934-36
29/3/1936. Hitler won 99% of the vote in German 'elections'.
12/3/1936, Germany threatened to enter a state of
"honourable isolation" and increase its military presence in the
Rhineland if France and Belgium continued to mass troops on their eastern
borders.
7/3/1936. The German Army re-entered the Rhineland,
supposedly a demilitarised area. A token force of 22,000 troops marched into
the 50-kilometre wide strip of territory bordering the Rhine, goose-stepping
through Essen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Cologne. France wanted action but
Britain did not object. This was in breach of the Treaties of Versailles
and Locarno. Germany justified its move by saying the French-Soviet pact,
concluded in 1934 and ratified by the French government in early 1936, was
against the Locarno Treaty.
7/11/1935, Germany introduced a new Reichskriegsflagge (Reich war
flag). It resembled the national swastika flag, with elements of the old
Imperial war flag included.
15/9/1935. The Swastika was made the official flag of
Germany.
15/8/1935. Hitler decreed that the Swastika was to be Germany�s
national flag, and banned German-Jewish marriages.
18/6/1935. France was angry at an Anglo-German naval deal that
allowed Germany to build up its naval strength, albeit to only 35% of the Royal
Navy. This was in contravention of
the Treaty of Versailles.
8/5/1935, The UK Cabinet heard that it was
estimated that the RAF was inferior to the Luftwaffe by 370 aircraft and that
in order to reach parity the RAF must have 3,800 aircraft by April 1937�an
extra 1,400 on the existing air programme. It was learnt that Germany was
easily able to outbuild this revised programme as well. On 21 May 1935, the Cabinet agreed to expanding the
home defence force of the RAF to 1,512 aircraft (840 bombers and 420 fighters).
7/4/1935. In the free city of Danzig, the
Nazis won 60% of the vote.
29/3/1935,
Stalin
and Eden met in Moscow to discuss German
re-armamament.
16/3/1935, Germany announced it was reintroducing conscription, for one year (see 24/8/1936), with a view to
building a peacetime army of 35 divisions.�
This was in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles; other European� powers protested but did nothing else.
15/3/1935. France extended
compulsory military service to two years.
11/3/1935. In
Germany, Hermann Goering announced
the creation of the Luftwaffe, or German air force.
13/1/1935. A plebiscite in the Saar indicated a desire to
return to Germany.� The vote was 90.36% in favour of joining
Germany, with an almost-100% turnout.�
The Saar rejoined Germany on 1/3/1935.�
2,000 refugees fled the Saar for
France.
1934, Nazi Germany began
the Erzengungsslacht program to make
the country self-sufficient in food. By 1937 Germany was producing 90% of the food
it consumed.
28/11/1934. Churchill warned of growing German air strength.
24/10/1934. Nazi labour movement formed.
18/9/1934. Britons first heard Lord Haw Haw (Irishman William Joyce)
make a pro-Nazi broadcast.
4/9/1934. In
Germany, 750,000 attended the opening of the Nazi Party Conference.
19/8/1934. A plebiscite in Germany gave sole power to the
Fuhrer; agreeing to his merging the offices of President and Chancellor, Adolf Hitler.
Of 45.5 million voters, 38m voted for Hitler, 4.25m voted against him, and
870,000 spoilt their ballot papers.
3/8/1934, Following the death of Hindenberg,
the German Cabinet merged the offices of President and Chancellor, and made Hitler �Der Fuhrer�.
4/5/1936, Ludwig von Falkenhausen, German General, died
aged 91.
2/8/1934. Paul von Hindenburg, German military leader
and President from 1925, died aged 86.
27/7/1934, Louis HG Lyautey, French Minister of Defence
1916-17, died aged 79
-10.0, Chancellor Dollfus of Austria bans Nazis,
assassinated by Nazis, 1933-34
31/7/1934, The murderers
of Chancellor
Dolfuss were executed.
30/7/1934, Kurt von Schuschnigg
was appointed Chancellor of Austria.
26/7/1934. Following the murder of Chancellor Dollfus in Austria,
on 25/7/1934 in a failed Nazi coup, the Austrian government ordered the round
up of all Nazis. Over 150 Austrian Nazis were arrested. The Nazis in
Austria had attempted an unsuccessful coup against the Dollfus administration; Dollfus
was a devout Catholic
and violently anti-Socialist. He had used the army to crush the schutzbund, the
big socialist defence force established in the housing estates outside Vienna.
The workers held out against the army for five days. A Nazi gang broke into the
Austrian Chancellery; Dollfus was shot in the throat and left to
bleed to death for four hours. When it was clear the Nazi coup was going to
fail the gang took other government ministers hostage and negotiated a promise
of safe conduct to the German border. This promise was withdrawn when it was
discovered that Dollfus
was dead. Three police and two Nazis died in a three hour battle for the radio
station.
25/7/1934, Engelbert
Dolfuss (1892-1934), Chancellor of
Austria, was assassinated in Vienna by rebel Austrian Nazis.� Otto Planetta was convicted of the crime and
hanged.
19/6/1933.
The Prime Minister of Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, banned all Nazi
organisations.
29/3/1933,
Austrian Nazis staged a large demonstration, in defiance of Chancellor
Dollfuss. Meanwhile Germany instituted a punitive 1,000 Mark tourist
tax on any German visiting Austria, which severely damaged the Austrian tourist
industry.
3/5/1934. The author H G Wells predicted there would be a major
world war by 1940.
23/4/1934, Berlin police prohibited fortune-telling.
12/2/1934, General
Strike in France began (until 13/2/1934) in protest at the dangers of Fascism.
6/2/1934, Riots in Paris between far Right and Communist factions. These riots continued until
9/2/1934. They had been sparked by the suicide, on 3/1/1934, of the Russian-born
Serge
Stavisky, a dubious speculator who had been protected from
prosecution by corrupt government officials. There were allegations that he had
in fact been killed to protect these officials, and both Far Right and
Communist factions protested over the inefficiency and corruption of the French
administration. Civil war loomed in France, until the establishment of a group
of new government officials who were innocent of any corruption allegations.
23/10/1933, Albert Sarraut became Prime Minister of
France.
21/5/1933. Britain signed a ten-year non-aggression pact with
Italy, France, and Germany.
-11.0, Hitler
gains absolute power in Germany, eliminates all opposition, 1933-34
20/7/1934, In Germany, the SS was constituted an independent
organisation within the Nazi Party.
13/7/1934.
Heinrich Himmler
(33) was put in charge of
Germany�s concentration camps.
3/7/1934. German
Vice-Chancellor Von
Papen resigned.
30/6/1934. Hitler�s rival Ernst Rohm and hundreds of
influential Nazis were murdered by the SS in the �night of the
long knives�. Hitler justified this by
claiming the SS were planning to overthrow him. The Army probably also
threatened to take over unless Hitler got rid of the brownshirt thugs and
stopped talk of socialist revolution. So they were crushed and the blackshirts,
or SS, emerged triumphant.
29/3/1934, Germany
published its defence estimates' which showed a total increase of one-third and
an increase of 250% in its air force
26/1/1934. Germany
signed a non-aggression pact with Poland.
30/1/1934. In Germany the regional Lander Diets were abolished
and power centralised.
1/1/1934. Sterilisation became
law in Germany.
23/12/1933, In
Germany, the sentences were announced at the Reichstag Fire Trial.
12/12/1933. In Germany,
the new Reichstag met but adjourned indefinitely.
30/11/1933, Hermann Goering created the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, or
secret state police), as an instrument of terror and repression.
12/11/1933. In a plebiscite in Germany, the Nazis won 92% of
the vote.
14/10/1933. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations.
27/9/1933, In Germany
the National Synod elected the pro-Nazi Ludwig Muller as Reichs-Bishop. Opponents
rallied round Pastor
Neimoller and formed the anti-Nazi Confessional Church.
21/9/1933,The
Reichstag Fire trial began.
2/9/1933, Adolf Hitler addressed a huge crowd at Zeppelin Field, promising that the Nazi Party would meet in
Nuremberg for the next 1,000 years.
25/8/1933, The Haavara (�transfer�) Agreement was
signed between the Nazi German Government and Zionist Jews. It provided for
the relocation of Jews from hostile Germany to what was then British Mandated
Palestine, and for these Jews to take some assets that would otherwise have
been confiscated by Germany. Advantages to Nazi Germany included the removal of
Jews from their territory and a possible easing of sanctions on the country
which had been imposed by Jews in the rest of Europe, which were a threat to
the still-fragile German economy. The Agreement was cancelled in 1939 after Hitler
invaded Poland. Hitler
inititally opposed the Haavara Agreement, but supported it in the period
1937-9.
25/7/1933. Hitler�s Cabinet announced
that disabled people would be sterilised.
14/7/1933. Nazis
banned all other political parties in Germany.
4/7/1933. The Deutsche
Volkspartei (DVP) was dissolved. The DVP had been formed in December 1918
as a moderate right-wing Party representing liberalism and industry. Its
leader, Streseman,
served as German Foreign Minister from 1923 until his death in 1929; he did
much to alleviate the harsher provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. However
from 1930 the DVP lost most of its electoral support.
22/6/1933, In
Germany, the Social Democrat Party was
suppressed.
30/5/1932, German
Chancellor Heinrich
Briening (1885-1970) was ousted from office by the pro-Nazi Franz von Papen.� Breining had been appointed as Chancellor by President
Hindenburg on 28/3/1930, as a counterweight to Nazi influence.� Breining
escaped from Germany to Holland in 1934 and went on to lecture at Harvard.
28/5/1933. The Nazis
won elections in the free city of Danzig.
17/5/1933, Hitler made the first of his �Peace� speeches.
16/5/1933, Hitler gave a secret instruction to begin mass production
of weaponry for the German Army.
9/5/1933. Hitler ordered the burning of more than 25,000 books.
�Un-German� volumes were thrown onto a huge bonfire outside Berlin University.
Other similar fires took place in other German cities and over 1 million books
may have been burned altogether.
6/5/1933, In a
prelude to mass book burnings in Germany, a gang of students destroyed the work
of Magnus
Hirschfeld, burning the contents of the Institut f�r
Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sex Research) in Berlin. Hirschfeld was out of the
country at the time and never returned to Germany. He died in 1935 aged 67.
2/5/1933, Trades Unions were forbidden in Germany.
The
�ADGD (Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund)
had been formed in 1919, as a federation of German Trades Unions, and had
gained a total membership of 5 million workers. On this day it was banned by the Nazi Party.
26/4/1933, The Gestapo German secret police force was
established.
23/3/1933. Germany
passed 'Enabling Laws' giving Hitler
dictatorial powers.
21/3/1933, The
first meeting of the German Reichstag, after the fire of 27/2/1933.� The Reichstag met in the garrison church in Potsdam,
a historical site of Prussian military power.
See Jewish History 1930s for anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany
14/3/1933. Goebbels
was appointed as Nazi Minister of
Propaganda and Public Enlightenment.
The Nazis
banned Kosher meat.�
5/3/1933. The Nazis won almost half the seats in the German
elections (43.9% of the vote). The
Communists won 12.3% of the vote.� Hitler capitalised on the Reichstag Fire
(27/2/1933) to raise the spectre of a Bolshevist takeover of Germany. The
result was, Nazis 288 seats, Social Democrats 120 seats, Communists 81 seats,
Centre 74 seats, National People�s Party 52 seats, Others 32 seats.
4/1/1933, Adolf Hitler and Franz von Papen met to conspire
to oust Kurt
von Schleicher as German Chancellor.
1/3/1933. The
Nazis began mass arrests of all political opponents.
28/2/1933, In
Germany, the Reichstag Fire Decree
banned the Communist
Party.
26/2/1933, James Goildsmith, financier, was born in
Paris.
31/1/1933, Edouard Daladier became Prime Minister of
France.
18/12/1932, In France, Edouard Herriot resigned after defeat over
proposal to pay War Debt to the USA, and Joseph Boncour formed a Government.
29/11/1932. (1) Jacques Chirac, French Prime Minister
1995-2007, was born in Paris.
(2) The USSR and France signed
a non-aggression pact.
4/6/1932, Second Government of Edouard Herriot began in France.
10/5/1932, Albert Lebrun succeeded Doumier as French
President.
8/5/1932, The Left gained around 100 seats in French
elections.
7/5/1932, Albert Thomas, French socialist politician
(Minister of Armament in WW1), died aged 53
6/5/1932, President Doumer of France was assassinated.
6/1/1932, Andre Maginot, French
politician, died.
28/1/1933, In Germany, Kurt von Schleicher�s Government
fell, after the Left and Centre failed to reach agreement.
4/12/1932, In Germany, Kurt von Schleicher attempted to
form a coalition with a majority in the German Parliament, but failed.
20/7/1932, As
law and order deteriorated in Prussia, Chancellor Franz von Papen dismissed the
Prussian Social Democrat Prime Minister (Otto Braun) and the Prussian Minister of the
Interior (Severing).
2/6/1932, In Germany, Franz von Papen, having been
repudiated by the Centre Party, formed a non-party �Cabinet of Barons�.
13/4/1932. The Nazi
paramilitary SA and SS were banned in Germany.
10/4/1932. Paul
Von Hindenburg won the German Presidency against Adolf Hitler after a second ballot to secure a majority. See
31/5/1932. Paul
von Hindenburg received 19.5 million votes, 53%, against Hitler,
13.4 million votes, 36.8%. Thalmann received 3.7 million, 10.2%.
13/3/1932. Hindenburg defeated Hitler
in the German presidential elections.�
Paul
von Hindenbiurg received 18.6 million votes (49.6%); Adolf Hitler
received 11.3 million votes (30.1%), and the Communist Ernst Thalmann received 4.9
million votes (13.2%). Because Hindenburg was o.4% below an absolute majority,
a second round was held on 10/4/1932.
10/3/1932, Paul von
Hindenburg gave a radio address in his one and only public speech of
the German presidential campaign, emphasizing his non-party status and pledging
to "oppose those who merely stand for party interests"
-13.0, Nazi electoral resurgence 1929-33. Reichstag Fire, Hitler becomes Dictator
27/2/1933. The German Reichstag burned down. The fire was blamed on a simple-minded Dutch
Communist, Marinus
Van Der Lubbe, who police found in the Reichstag grounds. Marinus Van Der
Lubbe was guillotined on
10/1/1934. However many suspect the Nazis. Hitler
now pressed
for, and succeeded in getting, dictatorial powers from President
Hindenburg, and the lack of a majority in the Reichstag was no longer
a hindrance to the Nazis.
10/2/1933. Hitler made a speech in Berlin
attacking democracy.
30/1/1933. Adolf Hitler, 43 years old,
was appointed Chancellor of Germany by 85-year old President Paul Von Hindenburg. Hitler�s Cabinet included only two Nazis; Hermann Goering
(Minister without Portfolio) and Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior). Franz von Papen
was vice-Chancellor, and Constantin von Neurath was Foreign Minister.
19/11/1932, At President
Hindenburg�s invitation, Adolf Hitler attempted to form a coalition
with a majority in the German Parliament, but failed.
17/11/1932. In
Germany, Prime Minister Von Papen
resigned after failing to form a government. Hitler refused the Chancellorship, if it meant a coalition with other parties,
as Hindenburg wanted.
6/11/1932, In
Germany�s last elections before Hitler assumed absolute power, the Nazi Party
lost 34 Reichstag seats, with gains for the Communists. The Nazis won 192
seats, Social Democrats 121 seats, Centre Party 70 seats, Communists 100 seats,
National People�s Party 52 seats, Others 45 seats.
2/11/1932, In Germany 12 died in clashes between
Communists and Nazis.
14/9/1932, Germany
withdrew from the Geneva Disarmament Conference (until December 1932),
demanding to be allowed to possess armaments equal to the other powers.
12/9/1932. Von Papen dissolved the Reichstag.
30/8/1932. Herman Goering, Nazi Party, was elected President of the Reichstag.
13/8/1932. Hitler refused to serve as Chancellor under Von Papen.
4/8/1932. Nazi versus
Communist riots in Berlin.
31/7/1932. The Nazis were now the biggest party in the
Reichstag, with 230 seats, but
without an overall majority.
26/7/1932. The War
Minister of Germany, Kurt Von Scheidler, said that Germany was ready to re-arm.
16/6/1932, In Germany, a ban on Nazi storm troopers, in place
since April, was lifted.
31/5/1932. (see 10/4/1932) President Hindenburg invited Franz Von Papen to form a government. On
1/6/1932 Von
Papen formed one that excluded
the Nazis. However on 14/6/1932 Hitler promised
to co-operate with Von Papen. On 16/6/1932 the ban on Nazi storm troopers in Germany was lifted.
24/4/1932. The Nazis led in four state elections (Prussia,
Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Hamburg; in Prussia they were the largest single Party
in Parliament). In the Prussian
state Parliament, their share of the seats rose from 6 to 162.
25/2/1932. Adolf Hitler was granted German citizenship. He had
been technically stateless since renouncing Austrian citizenship in 1925.
22/2/1932. The Nazis choose Hitler
as presidential candidate.
30/12/1931. The Nazi Party was formed in Holland.
15/11/1931. The
Nazi Party won elections in the state of Hesse.
17/10/1931, 100 were
injured in fighting between Nazis and Communists in Braunschweig, Germany.
9/7/1931, In
Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and German Nationalist leader Alfred
Hugenberg agreed to cooperate.
5/4/1931, Germany
formed a customs union with Austria. See 25/3/1931.
25/3/1931. Germany
announced plans for a customs union with Austria, in defiance of the terms of
the Treaty of Versailles.� France and Britain strongly objected. See
5/4/1931.
2/2/1931. The Nazis demanded that Germany withdraw from the
League of Nations.
23/9/1930, Three
Reichswehr artillery officers went on trial before the Leipzig Supreme Court in
Germany, charged with high treason for conspiring with the Nazis to overthrow the
German Government.
15/9/1930. Adolf Hitler, because he was an Austrian citizen, was barred
from taking his seat at the Reichstag. There was further trouble at the
Reichstag when Nazi deputies turned up, on 13/10/1930, wearing uniform; this
was illegal for civilians.
14/9/1930, The Berlin stock market fell 20 points as news that
the Nazis (denouncing the Versailles
Treaty) had gained 107 seats to become
the second largest party after the Socialists.�
Before the elections they had only 12 seats. Their vote rose from 800,000 in 1928 to 6.409,000,
only 2,000,000 behind the Socialists. Adolf Hitler played on voter�s fears of
economic chaos and social disorder. He blamed Jews and Bolsheviks as the cause
of the nation�s problems and promised to make Germany great again.
30/3/1930, In Germany Heinrich Bruning became Federal
Chancellor of a minority right-of-centre Government. However without a clear
majority he had to increasingly rely on emergency powers.
23/2/1930, Nazi thug Horst Wessel
died in a Berlin hospital of blood poisoning, aged 22. He had been shot
in a street brawl 14/1/1930. The Nazis made him a martyr, and used his
�Horst-Wessel-song�, with anti-Semitic lyrics and a tune plagiarised from
older Hamburg sailor�s ballads.
23/1/1930, In
Germany, Wilhelm
Frick was appointed Minister for Education and the Interior in
Thuringia, the first Nazi party member
to become a Minister in State Government.
8/12/1929. Hitler�s
Nazi Party won municipal elections in Bavaria.
7/11/1931, French police launched large raids against
Corsican bandits.
13/5/1931, In France, Paul Doumier was elected President.
-14.0, German
banking and unemployment Crisis 1929-31 (see Hyperinflation 1923-24 below)
22/7/1931. Britain,
France, and the USA renewed credits for Germany to help it through financial
problems.
13/7/1931. All
German banks closed till 5/8/1931 following the collapse of Danatbank.
13/6/1931. German
bank failure (Danatbank) caused the closure of all German banks.
11/5/1931. In
Austria, the bankruptcy of
Credit-Anstalt began Europe�s financial collapse.
24/2/1931. German
unemployment reached almost 5 million.
16/9/1930, The Berlin city council met for the first
time since summer recess, but broke up in turmoil after the Communists and
Nazis introduced a motion demanding that the council dissolve. The motion was
defeated.
27/3/1930, In Germany, Hermann Muller�s Government
resigned because of Social Democrat opposition to planned cuts in Unemployment
Benefits.
22/9/1929. Communists and Nazis fought on the streets
of Berlin.
3/5/1929. Severe civil unrest in Berlin.
1/5/1929, Communists in Berlin attacked policemen.
Three days of clashes ensued, with 15 dead.
15/2/1929. German
unemployment was over 3 million. In 1926 it had been 2 million,
falling to around 1.3 million in 1927 and 1928.
27/1/1931, Pierre Laval became Prime Minister in France.
7/1/1931, State funeral of MarshaL Joffre in Paris.
3/1/1931, Joseph Joffre, French marshal and commander in chief of the
French armies on the Western Front, died.
15/7/1930, Jacques Derrida, French philosopher, was born
(died 2004).
3/4/1930. Helmut Kohl, German Chancellor, was born.
6/3/1930, Alfred von Tirpitz, German Admiral, died.
22/1/1930, Old imperial fortifications near Kehl in Germany
were blown up. Until recently they had been occupied by the French, but it was
agreed at the second Hague conference that the French would evacuate the forts
and the Germans would raze them afterward.
24/11/1929, Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France,
died.
27/9/1929, In France, Raymond Poincare resigned due to ill health. Aristide Briand
became Prime Minister.
20/3/1929. The French military commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch died aged
68.
6/2/1929, Germany ratified the Kellogg-Briand anti war pact.
15/1/1929 The USA ratified the Kellogg-Briand anti war pact.
1928. Jean Marie Le Pen, French Far
Right Wing politician was born, son of a Breton fisherman. He formed the
National Front Party in 1972.
27/8/1928. In Paris, 15 nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact,
outlawing war. The USSR signed the pact on 6/9/1928.
28/6/1928, In
Germany, Hermann
Muller, Social Democrat, was appointed Chancellor following the
resignation of Wilhelm
Marx on 13/6/1928.
24/6/1928, France
devalued the Franc against the US Dollar.
13/6/1928, In
Germany, Chancellor
Wilhelm Marx resigned.
22/4/1928. In French elections Right-wing Parties won 325 out of the 610 seats.
28/3/1928. France shortened its term of compulsory military
service to one year.
24/7/1927, The Menin Gate, a
memorial at Ypres to the soldiers of the British Empire, was unveiled by Lord Plumer.
7/2/1927, Emile Coue, French psychotherapist, died at
Nancy.
-15.0, France
evacuates the Rhineland, Germany makes treaties, tries to join League of
Nations, 1925-30
17/5/1930, French Prime Minister Andr� Tardieu decided to
withdraw the last French troops from the Rhineland (they departed by
30/6/1930).
16/9/1927. President Von Hindenburg repudiated German
responsibility for the Great War (World War One).
8/9/1926. The League of Nations voted to admit
Germany as a member. On 11/9/1926 Spain left the League in protest at Germany
joining.
24/4/1926. Germany signed a friendship treaty with the
USSR.
13/3/1926. Germany was refused a place on the League
of Nations Council.
8/2/1926. Germany applied to join the League of
Nations.
1/12/1925, The Peace of Locarno was signed (by
UK, France, Italy, and Germany), guaranteeing peace and existing national
frontiers in Europe.
16/10/1925, France and Germany concluded the Locarno Treaty, guaranteeing their
mutual frontier. Italy and Britain also signed.�
Germany reaffirmed its renunciation of Alsace-Lorraine and guaranteed
not to attack France or Belgium.� Russia feared the Locarno Treaty meant an
alliance of western powers against it, see 24/4/1926.
12/10/1925, Germany and the USSR signed a commercial
treaty.
5/10/1925, The Locarno Conference opened, to
decide the German border and future of the Rhineland.
13/7/1925. French
troops begin to withdraw from the Rhineland.
2/2/1926, Giscard D�Estang, French President, was born.
27/11/1925, Aristide Briand formed a Government in France.
10/4/1925, In France, Paul Painleve became Prime Minister after the
defeat of Edouard
Herriot.
26/3/1925, Hindenburg was elected President of Germany.
15/1/1925, After a month of intense political negotiations in
Germany, Hans
Luther (Independent) succeeded Wilhelm Marx as Chancellor, and Gustav
Stresemann became Foreign Minister.
-16.0, Nazis,
start of Party, then electoral decline, 1919-29; but see 1930s
20/5/1928, In Germany, Socialists won the elections.
The result was, Social Democrats rose from 131 seats to 153, to become the
largest party but without an overall majority. Centre Party, 62 seats.
Communists, 54 seats. German National People�s Party, 73 seats. German People�s
Party, 45 seats. Nazis, 12 seats.
29/8/1926. A Nazi
Party rally was held at Nuremberg.
9/11/1925. The
German Schutzstaffel, or Protection Squad (SS), was formed.
18/6/1925. France
accepted German proposals for a security pact. Hitler�s Mein Kampf was
published.
25/4/1925. Hindenburg
became President of Germany. He won 48.5% of the popular vote, against 42.5% for Wilhelm Marx of
the Centre Party.
28/2/1925, Friedrich Ebert,
Social Democrat President of the German Republic, died. He had been pilloried
buy the extreme Right in Germany who had accused him of treason since he was
appointed in 1919. He was replaced by war hero Hindenburg (see 25/4/1925).
27/2/1925, Hitler
spoke at a Nazi meeting at a Munich beer hall.
14/2/1925. The
ban on the Nazi Party in Bavaria was lifted.
-16.5, Hitler
imprisoned, released early, 1923-4
20/12/1924. Adolf Hitler was freed from prison on
parole after serving just 8 months of his jail term for high treason.
7/12/1924, In
German elections, the Communists (45 seats) lost ground to the Social
Democrats (131 seats). The Conservative Nationalists also gained (103 seats) whilst the Nazis slumped to 14 seats.
The Centre Party won 69 seats.
8/7/1924, Adolf Hitler
resumed leadership of the Nazi Party.
4/5/1924, In
elections to the German Parliament (Reichstag), the Nationalists made gains,
winning 95 seats, as did the Communists with 62 seats. The Social Democrats won
100 seats and the Centre Party had 65 seats. For the first time the National Socialist (Nazi) Party entered Parliament,
with 32 seats.
1/4/1924. Adolf Hitler was jailed for 5 years for his part
in the abortive Munich beer hall putsch.
26/2/1924, Adolf Hitler
was charged with treason for his part
in the abortive Munich beer hall putsch.
9/1/1924, In
Germany, Rhineland secessionist leader Heinz was assassinated.
9/11/1923. The
Munich beer hall putsch marked the start of Hitler�s
rise to power in Germany. This putsch against the Bavarian Government
failed and Hitler
was arrested on 11/11/1923 in a village outside Munich and
imprisoned.� Hitler then spent several months
in prison in Landsberg Am Lech, Bavaria, where he dictated part of his Mein
Kampf to Rudolf
Hess.
Hitler imprisoned, released early, 1923-4
2/9/1923, Hitler
fiercely denounced the Weimar Republic.
12/8/1923, Streseman
became German Chancellor.
27/1/1923. The German Nazi Party held its first rally,
in Munich.
20/1/1923, All US
troops withdrawn from Germany.
29/7/1921 Hitler became President of the National
Socialist Party.
1/4/1920, The
Nazi Party was officially founded in Germany.
24/2/1920. The National Socialist Workers (Nazi) party,
led by Adolf Hitler, published a programme for a Third Reich.
5/1/1919.� The
Nazi (National Socialist) Party was founded in Germany. Adolf Hitler,
a soldier in World War One who was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery, and who
was angry at the armistice terms imposed on Germany by the Treaty of
Versailles, and extremely opposed to Communism, headed the new Party. Hitler
was a poor student in the Austrian secondary school system. He became an artist
but failed to gain entry to the Academy of Fine Arts; Hitler was a melancholic
character, obsessed by fears that Jews, linked to communists, would take over
the world.
2/12/1924, The UK and Germany signed a trade pact.
13/6/1924, Gaston Doumergue became the 13th President of
France.
11/6/1924, The French President, Millerand, resigned. He had been
accused by the radoical Socialist Party ;leader Edouard Herriot of being too
Right-wing, when the President should be neutral. On 13/6/1924 Gaston
Doumergue became the new French President and on 14/6/1924 Herriot
became the new Prime Minister.
1/6/1924, Raymond Poincare resigned as Prime Minister of
France.
11/5/1924, In French elections the Left bloc emerged with the
largest number of seats, 287 out of 581.
28/12/1923. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who designed the 300
metre Eiffel Tower, Paris, died aged 91.
-17.0, German Hyperinflation Economic Crisis
1923-24 (See banking failures and unemployment 1929-31 above) (see also Reparations 1921-32 below)
7/11/1924, Germany announced its first balanced budget
since the war.
1/9/1924, The
Dawes Plan was implemented in Germany. It was drafted by Charles G Dawes,
a Chicago banker. Under it, a new Reichsmark was issued at one billion old
marks. The Reichsbank was now under Allied control. German reparations were
rescheduled, and the Allied loaned Germany 800 million gold Marks. Ne wtaxes
were introduced, and inflation began to subside. Political stability followed,
and support for extremist Parties declined.
30/8/1924, The German
Reichsbank was made independent of the government.� It issued a new currency, the ReichsMark, at 1,000,000 million old Marks to the new
currency.
6/6/1924, The German Reichstag approved the Dawes
Plan by a 247�183 vote.
15/11/1923. Rampant German inflation peaked with
the Mark worth 4,200,000 Million to the US Dollar, and 10,000,000 Million to
the UK Pound � if you could find anyone willing to change your marks for
dollars. It had been 4.2 to the Dollar in 1914, 350,000 to the pound (1 pound
was 5 dollars) on 1/6/1923, and 622,000 to the pound on 22/6/1923. A loaf of
bread cost 63 pfennigs in 1918, and 250 pfennigs in January 1923. But by July
1923 a loaf cost 3,465 pfennigs, and by November 1923, 201,000 million marks.
Workers were paid twice a day and by the evening a loaf of bread would cost
what a house was worth in the morning.
Money had effectively become worthless; trade was done by
barter. Middle class families with cash in the bank had been ruined. The
problem had been that, after French troops occupied the Ruhr to enforce war
reparations, the German Government began to print marks in huge numbers. German
industry was unable to produce the goods�
to match the vast increase in money supply. On 15/11/1923 Germany
introduced the Rentemark, tied to the country�s real estate. Each rentemark was
worth 1,000 million old marks.
11/10/1923, The German Mark reached 10,000 million to the UK
Pound.
1/10/1923, The German mark reached 242,000,000 to the US$
27/9/1923. Martial law
was proclaimed in Germany, under Article 48 of the Constitution.
15/9/1923, As the
German economy deteriorated, the German Bank Rate was raised to 90%.
10/8/1923, Civil
unrest began in Germany; strikes and riots, until 13/8/1923.
1/7/1923, The German Mark reached 160,000 to the US$.� Pre 1914 it had been 4.20; during 1922 the
rate fell from 162 to over 7,000 to the US$.
1/2/1923. Inflation in Germany continued; �1 was
now worth 220,000 Marks. On 2/1/1922� �1
had been worth 30,000 Marks.
12/1/1923 �Germany protested at the occupation of the Ruhr (see
11/1/1923) and ceased all coal reparations shipments to France.� The French erected customs posts and
economically divided the region from the rest of Germany.� This was a serious blow to the German
economy, especially after the loss of the industrial Upper Silesia to Poland.� The
resultant economic disruption hit the German economy and its currency began to
collapse.� See 31/7/1925.
2/1/1922. As
inflation soared in Germany, �1 bought over 30,000 German Marks. See 1/2/1923.
4/11/1921. The
German currency began to collapse.
6/8/1923, In Germany, Gustav Stresemann was appointed Chancellor
following the sudden resignation of Wilhelm Cuno. Stresemann formed a coalition
Government.
23/12/1922, Birth of Helmut Schmidt, German Chancellor.
22/11/1922, Wilhelm Cuno succeeded Wirth as German Chancellor.
4/9/1922, Silesia voted to remain with Prussia.
14/7/1922, French President Millerand escaped an assassination
attempt.
24/6/1922, German Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau, aged 54, was
murdered by anti-Semitic
nationalists.
16/4/1922. Germany restored relations with the USSR, signing
the Second Treaty of Rapallo. Secretly, the USSR agreed to let Germany build and
test weapons in Soviet territory that were forbidden within Germany under the
Treaty of Versailles.
26/2/1922, Britain
and France concluded a 20-year alliance.
25/2/1922, The
French murderer Henri
Landru, known as Bluebeard, was guillotined. He had killed 10 women after
luring them to his flat by dating adverts in newspapers.
31/1/1922, In
Germany, Walter
Rathenau was appointed Foreign Minister.
15/1/1922, In
France, Raymond
Poincare formed a Government in France, following Aristide
Briand�s resignation on 12//1/1903.
17/10/1921, Ludwig III, King of Bavaria, died.
12/10/1921, The Council of the League of Nations awarded
the upper two thirds of Silesia to Poland (along with most of its coal mines and
steelworks). Germany reluctantly accepted the decision.
21/9/1921, Large explosion at German factory near Mannheim;
2,000 killed or injured.
26/8/1921, The former German Finance Minister, Mathias
Erzberger, was assassinated by a nationalist gang.
25/8/1921. Peace treaty (Treaty
of Berlin) signed between Germany and the USA.
28/5/1921, In Germany, Chancellor Wirth appointed industrialist Walter� Rathenau as Minister for
Reconstruction, including responsibility for reparations.
20/5/1921, Germany and China resumed diplomatic relations.
6/5/1921, Germany and Russia signed a peace treaty.
-18.0, German
Reparations Crises Terms eased, Allied occupation ended, 1921-34
27/4/1934, Britain and France warned Germany not to
default on reparations payments.
9/7/1932. In
Switzerland, the Allies voted to ease Germany�s economic crisis by suspending
the repayment of war debts.
7/1/1932,
German Chancellor Heinrich Bruning declared that Germany could
not, and would not, resume Reparations payments.
30/6/1930. France
pulled the last of its troops out of the Rhineland, 5 years before the
date set by the Versailles Treaty.
12/10/1929, The last
British troops left the Rhineland, moving out of their base in Wiesbaden.
8/6/1929. At The
Hague, Germany�s war debts were
rescheduled. Germany was no longer required to pay for the reconstruction
of France�s war-damaged provinces. The Young Plan, named after its American
author Owen Young, removed controls on the German economy. However Germany must
still repay �1.65 billion over the next 40 years, including �2 million a year
that Britain insists upon to cover its American debt. Militant Germans,
including the Nazis, demonstrated
against these payments. The Plan
was intended to strengthen the position of the Weimar Government but instead
undermined it further.
30/1/1926. British troops ended a 7-year occupation of the
Rhineland.
30/11/1924, The last
French and Belgian troops left the Ruhr.
17/8/1924. French and
Belgian troops agreed to withdraw from the Ruhr within 1 year following
Germany�s agreement on war reparations.
16/8/1924, The
Allies and Germany accepted the Dawes Plan, for a revised timetable of
reparations.
8/8/1924, A
ten-nation summit agreed a plan drawn up by US banker Charles Dawes, designed to
assist Germany�s economy and fulfil reparation payments.
27/10/1923, French
troops occupied Bonn and Wiesbaden.
30/9/1923, A German uprising in Dusseldorf against French occupation of The
Ruhr.
31/3/1923, Rioting
German workers at the Krupps works in Essen in French-occupied Ruhr were shot
by French troops.
12/1/1923 �Germany protested at the occupation of the
Ruhr (see 11/1/1923) and ceased all coal reparations shipments to France.� The French erected customs posts and
economically divided the region from the rest of Germany.� This was a serious blow to the German
economy, especially after the loss of the industrial Upper Silesia to
Poland.� The resultant economic
disruption hit the German economy and its currency began to collapse.� See 31/7/1925.
11/1/1923, Germany
defaulted on reparations payments (see 26/12/1922), and French and Belgian
troops occupied Essen and The Ruhr.
16/12/1922, The
Reparation Commission accused Germany of intentional shortfalls in wood and
coal deliveries to France.� See
11/1/1923.
13/1/1922, At a
conference at Cannes, the Allies agreed to postpone Germany�s reparation
payments.
15/12/1921. Germany
sought a moratorium on reparations.
14/10/1921,
Demolition of the great fortress of Heligoland was completed.
30/9/1921. French
troops pulled out of the Ruhr.
4/5/1921. France
invaded the Ruhr to enforce reparations.
2/5/1921, France
mobilised its troops in preparation for an invasion of the Ruhr.
27/4/1921, The
Allies claimed �6,650 million (132,000 million gold Marks) compensation from
Germany. Germany reluctantly agreed, but it would put a great strain on the
German economy.� The Fehrenbach German
government at once resigned.� The Allies
threatened that if Germany did not agree, they would occupy the Ruhr.
24/4/1921. Germany
pleaded in vain to the USA for aid on reparations. On 27/4/1921 reparations
were set at �6.65 billion.in 42 annual instalments.
23/3/1921. Germany
defaulted on reparations.
20/3/1921, A
plebiscite in Upper Silesia resulted in a majority vote for remaining with
Germany.� Germany tried to claim that the
whole territory should therefore remain as German, no part passing to Poland.� The resultant crisis, with France supporting
Poland, was passed to the League of Nations, see 20/10/1921.
8/3/1921. Because
of Germany�s failure to give a satisfactory response to demands for war
reparations, Allied troops occupied the Ruhr towns. Germany agreed to pay
war reparations on 11/5/1921. These consisted of �10 billion in gold over the
next 42 years plus a 12.5% tax on Germany�s exports.
1/3/1921, Allied
troops entered Germany to enforce war reparations payments.
29/1/1921, A new sum
for German Reparations was set at US$ 31 billion.
24/1/1921, The Reparations Conference in Paris fixed
German War Reparations at US$ 56 billion, to
be paid over 42 years; of this sum, France would get 52%. German politician
reacted with outrage, seeing this as �enslavement of the German economy�, and
defaulted on repayments on 23/3/1921. Under pressure from the US, the Allies
reduced their claim but when Germany defaulted on this, too, they reoccupied
the Rhineland.
-19.0, Communist
agitation in western Europe, 1918-23
23/10/1923, A Communist
uprising occurred in Hamburg.
22/10/1923, Communists
in Hamburg led by Ernst Th�lmann were secretly called on to
mobilize.
24/3/1921, Pro-Communist riots in Hamburg, Germany.
30/12/1920, The
French Communist
Party was founded at Tours.
2/5/1919. German
troops entered Munich to crush the fledgling Soviet Republic in Bavaria.
22/2/1919. After the
murder of the Bavarian Prime Minister, Kurt Eisner, a Soviet Republic was declared in Bavaria.
4/2/1919, The �Soviet Republic of
Bremen� was suppressed.
11/1/1919. The
Spartacus League initiated a week of revolt in Berlin. Led by Rosa Luxembburg
and Karl
Leibknecht, they wanted a Communist workers State�
in Germany
10/1/1919, Bremen declared
itself a Soviet Republic; this was crushed on 4/2/1919,
30/12/1918, The German Communist Party was founded.� However within a fortnight, irregular German
troops had murdered its leaders.
28/1/1921, In Paris,
a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown nSoldier was installed below the Arc de Triomphe
to commemorate the dead of World War One.
21/1/1921, The
French Chamber of Deputies approved Aristide Briand as the new Premier, along with
his government, with a vote of 475 to 68 of confidence in his more moderate
policy regarding German reparations due to France.
16/1/1921, In France,
Aristide
Briand formed a Government.
10/12/1920, Woodrow Wilson
and Leon
Bourgeois were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
23/9/1920, Alexandre
Millerande was elected President of France, succeeding Paul Deschanel
who had resigned due to ill-health.
-20.0, International adjustments post World
War One. German War Trials begin, 1918-20
10/1/1921, In
Leipzig, war trials began at the German Supreme Court.
10/8/1920. Other
post-war provisions included the
creation of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia,�
Galicia was given to Poland, Transylvania to Romania, and Istria,
Trentino, and South Tyrol to Italy. Greece and Yugoslavia acquired parts of
Bulgaria.� German East Africa went to
Britain, the Samoan Islands to New Zealand, and South West Africa to South
Africa.� Germany itself lost territory to
Poland, France, Denmark, and Lithuania.
19/4/1920, The Conference of San Remo opened.� Following on from the London Conference (see
12/1/2920), post World War One frontiers in Europe were settled.
11/7/1920, The result of a plebiscite in East and West
Prussia was a 97% vote to remain with Germany.
14/3/1920, A plebiscite in the middle zone of
Schleswig favoured integration with Germany.
6/2/1920, The League of Nations took over
administration of Saarland from
France.
5/2/1920, Germany
refused to hand over alleged war criminals to the Allies.
23/1/1920, The Netherlands refused to extradite Kaiser Wilhelm
II, as demanded by the Suprme Allied War Council.
20/1/1920, Peace
Talks in Paris concluded, see 18/1/1919.
31/7/1919. Germany adopted the Weimar Constitution, named after the town where the constitution
was drafted.
12/7/1919, Britain and France authorised the
resumption of commercial relations with Germany.
4/7/1919. France
demobilised its troops.
28/6/1919. The Treaty of Versailles was signed. This
peace treaty between the Allies and the Germans was signed at Versailles and officially
ended World War One, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand started it. Alsace Lorraine was returned to France, German
colonies were under mandate, German East Africa went to Britain and German
South West Africa (Namibia) to South Africa.�
The west bank of the Rhine and a zone 30 miles deep on its east bank was
demilitarised. See 7/5/1919.
22/6/1919, The German
National Assembly at Weimar authorised the signing of the Peace Treaty.
20/6/1919, The German
Chancellor, Schiedemann,
fell due to his opposition to the Paris Peace Plan. On 21/6/1919 Gustave Bauer
formed a Cabinet comprising Social Democrats, Centre, and Democrats.
29/5/1919, German
delegates made counter-proposals to the Paris Peace conference,
7/5/1919, Peace terms were dictated to Germany.� Germany had
to ceded Alsace-Loraine to France; Upper Silesia, most of Poznan, and West
Prussia went to Poland.� This separated
East Prussia from the rest of Germany as Poland gained a corridor to the sea at
Danzig.� North Schleswig went to Germany
and Memel went to Lithuania. See 28/6/1919.
6/5/1919. Peace
conference shared out former German colonies.
28/4/1919, German delegates arrived at the Paris Peace
Conference.
4/4/1919. At
Versailles, the Germans agreed to make Danzig a �free city�.
11/3/1919. The Allies
agreed to supply famine-hit Germany with food.
18/1/1919, Peace talks opened at Versailles.� See 20/1/1920. 27 nations attended; Germany
was excluded
12/1/1919, Delegates
arrived in Paris for the Peace talks, see 18/1/1919.
6/12/1918. Allied
troops occupied Cologne.
5/12/1918, The
British Prime Minister demanded that the ex-German Kaiser be prosecuted by an
International Court.
2/12/1918, One of the
last acts of the British War Cabinet; it demanded the extradition of the German
Kaiser
Wilhelm.
1/12/1918. The British
Second Army entered Germany.
30/11/1918. German
occupation of Bucharest, capital of Rumania, ended, see 6/12/1916.
25/11/1918, French
troops entered Strasbourg.
23/11/1918, Mutinous
German sailors occupied the Chancellery and took Ebert hostage; he was rescued on
24/11/1918 by soldiers from Potsdam.
21/11/1918. Surrender of the German Fleet to the Allies at Scapa
Flow, for internment. On 21/6/1919
it was scuttled at Scapa Flow, in the Orkneys.
18/11/1918. The German occupation of
Brussels ended, see 20/8/1914.
21/6/1920, In Germany, Konstantin Fehrenbach of the Centre Party
became Chancellor. His coalition Government of Social Democrats and Centre
Party was joined by the People�s Party.
14/6/1920, Max Weber, German sociologist died aged 56.
6/6/1920, In Germany, the first elections held after the
Treaty of Versailles showed a shift away from the Social Democrats and Centre, towards extremist
Parties.
19/3/1920. In Germany, Socialists rebelled and captured Essen.
13/3/1920. A pro-Royalist coup was attempted in Berlin, led by
Dr Wolfgang
Kapp. The German Government had to retreat to Stuttgart but the
German workers opposed the coup and began a general strike; the coup plotters
had to flee.
17/1/1920, Paul Deschanel was elected President of
France. Georges
Clemenceau was rejected because the Treaty of Versailles was
regarded as too lenient o n Germany.
19/2/1919, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was shot by an
anarchist.
23/1/1919. The Socialists won the German elections.
23/12/1918, Helmut Schmidt, German leader, was born (died
2015)
For World War One
1914 � 18 click here
27/2/1915, In Paris, the Moulin Rouge burnt down.
16/3/1914, Madame Caillaux, wife of the French Finance
Minister, shot dead the editor of Le Figaro to protect her husband against
libel.
18/12/1913, Willy Brandt, German Chancellor, was born in Lubeck as Karl
Herbert Frahm.
20/11/1913,
The Zabern Incident. A German officer insulted Alsatian recruits, causing
friction between France and Germany.
7/4/1913, Jean Constans, French politician, died in
Paris (born 3/5/1833 in Beziers).
24/2/1913, Jules Gabriel Compayre, French educationalist,
died in Paris (born 2/1/1843 in Albi).
21/1/1913, In France, Aristide Briand succeeded Poincare as Prime Minister.
5/1/1913, Gottlieb von Jagow became German Foreign
Minister.
18/2/1912, The German Kaiser, Wilhelm, declined to meet the
Socialist winners of the General Election.
6/2/1912, Eva Braun, mistress of Adolf Hitler, was born.
-21.0, Western European
nations begin a military build up, 1905-13
7/8/1913, France
passed an Army Bill, imposing three year�s compulsory military service.
5/3/1913, 71 sailors drowned when the German
destroyer S-178 was accidentally rammed by the German cruiser Yorck in the
North Sea off of Helgoland.
6/6/1913. Germany
passed a Bill for a large increase in its army.
8/12/1912, The German Kaiser
held a secret meeting with his military chiefs. It was agreed that the Schlieffen Plan, to quickly conquer France
before turning east on Russia, should not be delayed much beyond 1914 because
after that swifter Russian mobilisation would cause a collapse of the German
Eastern Front before France fell. The Schlieffen
Plan, named after Graf Schlieffen, Chief of the German General
Staff 1890-1905, was to attack France through Belgium, by-passing the
heavily-fortified Franco-German frontier. German troops defending this frontier
were to be reduced, possibly even allowing for French advances into Germany
here. However the German advance through Belgium would then swing eastwards to
the south west of Paris and come round to hit the French Army in the rear.
Schlieffen allowed for ten German divisions to hold the Russian front until
France could be crushed (six weeks allowed for this task); also for a British
Expeditionary Force of 100,000 to assist the French.
27/8/1911. At Hamburg
the German Kaiser
made his �place in the sun� speech,
foreshadowing a large increase in the German navy. Britain responded by
increasing its navy, although Anglo-German relations remained friendly.
1/8/1911. Germany
began to fortify Heligoland, a small island in the North Sea.
21/7/1911, Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, warned Germany not to
threaten British interests in the western Mediterranean, or Gibraltar.� See 1/7/1911.�
Germany denied such ambitions, but Britain began preparing for war with
Germany.
8/3/1911, Britain stated it would not assist France
if it was attacked by Germany.
24/2/1911, The
Reichstag voted to increase the German Army by half a million men.
7/6/1909. France
joined the arms race by announcing it was to spend �120 million on new naval
ships.
27/10/1908, Emperor William II made comments that the
German people were hostile to Britain; the Daily Telegraph published these
comments, worsening German-UK relationships.
6/8/1908, The British
Admiralty stated that the new battleships being built by the Germans would be the
most heavily armed in the world.
8/7/1908. The German
Navy was catching up in strength with the British, according to the 'World Navy
List'.
14/6/1908, A fourth German naval Bill authorised
expenditure on four more large naval vessels.
5/6/1906, Germany
decided to build more battleships.
10/2/1906, Britain
launched the revolutionary new battleship Dreadnought.� She made every other warship obsolete,
outgunning and outranging them all. Her new steam turbine propulsion made her
much faster than older ships. This marked the start of a keen naval arms
race between Britain and Germany. Germany
now realised that the latest class of battleships were too big to pass through
the Kiel Canal. The Russo-Japanese War demonstrated the need for such
battleship innovation, as naval battles
were now fought at long range, using torpedoes, and torpedo boats therefore had
to be destroyed at a distance with accurate long-range artillery.
19/9/1905, Britain and
Germany held simultaneous war manoeuvres.
-22.0, Germany
backs down over Morocco rivalry with France, 1911-12
27/11/1912. France and Spain agreed on their respective spheres
of influence in Morocco.
4/11/1911, Germany settled the Morocco crisis with France. Germany agreed to allow
France a free hand in Morocco, in exchange for territory in the Congo.
10/7/1911, Russia warned Germany that it supported France in the Morocco crisis.
1/7/1911, Germany sent the gunboat Panther to Agadir, Morocco, to protect
German commercial interests there from French expansion in Morocco.� Britain was concerned about Germany�s ambitions in Africa so
close to Gibraltar.� See
21/7/1911.
31/8/1911, The Director of the Louvre art gallery, Paris, was
sacked following the theft of the Mona Lisa (22/8/1911). The painting was not
recovered until two years later.
16/8/1911, E F Schumacher, German economist and
statistician, was born (died 1977).
11/7/1911, In Paris, 60,000 stonemasons went on strike.
5/7/1911. Birth of Georges Pompidou, in Montboudif, Auvergne. He
was French President from 1969 until his death in 1974.
26/5/1911, The German Reichstag granted the former French
territory of Alsace-Lorraine its own legislature and a large measure of
autonomy.
15/5/1911, �King George V
and his cousin the Kaiser reasserted their friendship.
10/3/1911. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time as standard time
across the country.
17/1/1911, An attempt was made on the life of the French
Prime Minister, Aristide Briand.
24/7/1909, Aristide Briant became French PM.
14/7/1909, In Germany, Berhard von Bulow resigned as
Chancellor and was replaced by Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg.
8/7/1909, Gaston Galliffet, French General, died (born
23/1/1830).
18/6/1909, Joan of Arc was beatified by the Pope, 478
years after the English burnt her at the stake in Rouen.
8/5/1909, Friedrich von Holstein, German statesman, died
(born 1837)
13/9.1908, In Germany the Social Democrats staged a rally at
Nuremberg.
31/8/1907, The UK and Russia agreed an entente, defining
spheres of influence in Persia, Tibet, and Afghanistan.� There was an implicit agreement that Britain
would not allow Russia to control the Bosporus, and the entente opened up the
London money markets to Russia, allowing it to recover from the Japanese defeat
of 1904/5. France was also part of this agreement, forming a Triple Entente to contain the newly
unified Prussian-dominated Germany.
3/8/1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II met at
Swinemunde to discuss the Baghdad Railway.
7/7/1907, Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy renewed their
Triple Alliance for another 6 years.
2/5/1907, King Edward VII of Britain met the French
President in Paris.
12/3/1907, The French battleship Jena exploded at Toulon, killing 118.
28/1/1907, 164 miners died in a pit explosion at Saarbrucken,
Germany.
11/1/1907, Pierre Mendes-France, French politician, was
born (died 1982)
9/1/1907, Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, Queen of Hanover,
died aged 88.
13/12/1906, A revolt of the Centre Party in the German
Reichstag opposed spending on colonial wars. Von Bulow dissolved the
Reichstag; in subsequent elections the Socialists lost ground.
25/10/1906, Georges Clemenceau became PM in France.
24/4/1906, The Nazi
collaborator William
Joyce, or �Lord Haw Haw�, was born in Brooklyn, New York
City.
5/4/1906,
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany dismissed Count Friedrich Holstein, a key advisor in the
Foreign Department, ending
fears of a German war with France over Morocco.
19/3/1906, Adolf
Eichmann, German Nazi responsible
for the execution of millions of European Jews during World War II, was born in
Solingen. See Jewish History.
11/3/1906, 1,200 miners died in a pit explosion in northern
France.
15/2/1906, Yvette Labrousse, winner of Miss France 1930,
was born.
4/2/1906, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian who was part of the group who
tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler, was born.
17/1/1906, In France, Clement Fallieres was elected president,
through the influence of Georges Clemenceau.
1/1/1906, General Von Moltke was made head of the German
armed forces.
29/11/1905, Marcel Lefebvre, French Roman Catholic Bishop,
was born (died 1991)
25/9/1905, Jacques Cavaignac, French politician, died
(born 21/5/1853).
13/9/1905, Rene Goblet, French politician, died (born
26/11/1828).
24/7/1905, Kaiser William of Germany and Czar Nicholas
of Russia signed the Treaty of Bjorko at a meeting in Finland. This proposed a
mutual defence pact between the two countries if either was attacked by another
European power. However the Russian Foreign Office opposed the Treaty because
it threatened Russia�s relationship with France, upon whom Russia was dependent
for aid. The German Chancellor, Von Bulow also opposed the Treaty, and
Franco-German tension over the Morocco crisis left the Treaty dead in the water.
6/6/1905, Theophile Delcasse, French Foreign Minister
since 1898, resigned under pressure from Germany.
1/5/1905, In talks lasting until the 5th May, Paul Rouvier,
French Prime Minister, failed to settle the Moroccan Question with Germany.
31/3/1905, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany arrived in Tangier,
Morocco, to give a speech in favour of Moroccan independence. This was intended to humiliate France, who
saw Morocco as their own protectorate, and to test the closeness of the
Franco-British entente. Germany intended to subsequently �grant France
limited control in Morocco�, a move supposed to bring France closer to Germany
and away from Britain. However Germany
was surprised by the forcefulness with which British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey backed France; Germany was further
isolated from France, Britain and hence Russia too. This event paved the
way for the Agadir crisis of 1911.
19/3/1905, Albert Speer,
architect for the Nazis, was born.
10/1/1905, Clemence Michel,
French anarchist, died.
15/10/1904, George,
King of Saxony, died.
12/7/1904, Britain and Germany signed a five-year treaty, to
resolve disputes through arbitration rather than by military means.
28/8/1904. A treaty was concluded in London whereby France
would allow the British freedom of action in Egypt in return for the British
allowing the French a free hand in Morocco. For many years the nominally
independent Sultanate of Morocco had been losing power as it became
increasingly dependent on French, Spanish, and German business and subsidies for
financial security. In October 1904 the French also concluded a secret treaty
with the Spanish. This disturbed
Emperor
Wilhelm II of Germany who saw his country being squeezed out of
North Africa. Wilhelm
II therefore landed at Tangier on 31 March 1905. The sultan sided
with the Germans and serious friction with the French resulted. On 161/1906 the
Algecieras Conference was held.
German claims were backed by Austria whilst French claims were backed by
Britain. Germany failed to curb France�s privileged position in Morocco. See
8/4/1904.
8/4/1904. Entente
Cordiale set up between Britain and France. Each country recognised the
other�s colonial interests.� France
agreed not to interfere in Egypt and England agreed not to interfere in
Morocco. Germany, which also wanted
control in Morocco, felt threatened
by this entente. Britain had become unpopular with many countries after the
Boer War, and needed friends; relations with France had been strained since the
Fashoda incident in 1898. Now both
Britain and France felt anxious over the rise of the German economy and
military might, especially its navy. The entente meant Britain�s navy could
concentrate on defending the North Sea whilst France�s monitored the
Mediterranean. See 28/8/2904.
1/2/1904, Britain agreed with France to remain neutral if
there was war between Russia and Japan.
6/7/1903, French President Emile Loubet, and Theophile
Delcasse, visited London to begin the Entente Cordiale.
4/3/1903, King Edward VII of Britain concluded a visit
to Paris, during which Anglo-French relations were strengthened.
1/2/1903, Martin Delbruck, Prussian statesman, died
(born 16/4/1817).
22/11/1902, In Germany, the steel magnate Friedrich Krupp (1854-1902),
head of Germany�s largest manufacturing firm and the richest man in the
country, died unexpectedly of a stroke.�
He was aged 48.� Friedrich�s
father Alfred
had founded the Krupp Company but Freidrich
had been in charge since the age of 33 when his father died.
8/11/1902, The Kaiser
arrived in London on a 12-day State Visit to try and improve Anglo-German relations.
1/11/1902, France signed the Franco-Italian entente with Italy. Italy
assured France it would remain neutral if France was attacked.
7/8/1902, Rudolf Bennigsen, German politician, died
(born in Luneburg 10/7/1824).
10/6/1902, Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony from 1873
(born 23/4/1828) died.
3/6/1902, In France, Rene Waldbeck-Rousseau resigned, despite
having a majority on the Chamber, over disputes with extremists. He was
succeeded by Emile
Combes, who pursued a strongly anti-clerical policy.
27/10/1901, Negotiations on an Anglo-German alliance broke down, after the British
Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, made an anti-German speech
in Edinburgh.
5/8/1901, Victoria, Empress of Germany, 60, daughter of Queen Victoria
of the UK, sister of King Edward VII, wife of Kaiser Friedrich III, and mother
of Kaiser
Wilhelm II of Germany, died aged 60.
1/7/1901, France enacted its anti-clerical Association Law,
which outlawed all religious institutions not formally registered with the
State.
29/5/1901, Lord Salisbury, in a confidential memo,
decided against developing an alliance between Britain and Germany.
24/4/1901, 200 were killed in an explosion at a chemical
factory in Griesheim, Germany.
6/3/1901, Anarchists attempted to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm,
who escaped with face wounds.
21/12/1900, Leonhard Blumenthal, Prussian Field-Marshal, died
in Quellendorf (born in Schwedt on Oder 30/7/1810).
16/12/1900,
France and Italy agreed to respect each
other�s sphere of influence in North Africa.
16/11/1900,
In Germany, a woman hurled an axe at Kaiser
Wilhelm, but failed to kill him.
10/11/1900,
The first World Fair closed in Paris; it had been open since 14/4/1900. It had
included over 70,000 exhibitors, and co-run with the Olympic Games also in Paris this year. The
scale of the event meant that, despite huge numbers of visitors, it was a
financial loss, covered by the French Government, Culturally however the event
was good for France, promoting art-nouveau, and precipitating a rash of
construction projects in France including new boulevards, new Paris rail
termini, and the Paris Metro.
10/10/1900,
In Germany, Chlodwig von Hohenlohe
resigned as Chancellor, and was replaced by his Foreign Minister,� the Nationalist Prince
von Bulow.
7/10/1900, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler was born in Munich. He was leader of the Nazi SS, second in command to
Hitler from 1929, and gained notoriety in 1934 when he masterminded the
assassination of several Nazis whose loyalty to Hitler was in question. He
controlled the concentration camps in which millions of Jews, communists, trade
unionists, Jehovah�s Witnesses, and others, died.
2/8/1900, In Paris, anarchist Francois Salsou attempted to
assassinate the Shah of Persia, but he survived.
16/6/1900, Francois Joinville, French statesman, died
(born 14/8/1818).
12/6/1900, A second German
Naval Act proposed a fleet of 38 battleships
within the next 20 years.
29/4/1900, A footbridge collapsed at the Great World
Exhibition, Paris, killing 10 people.
14/4/1900, The World Exhibition opened in Paris. See
10/11/1900.
23/3/1900, Erich Fromm, German social psychologist, was
born (died 1980).
1899, The Right-wing French
movement Action Francaise was founded
by the poet and political journalist Charles Maurras (1868-1952). It sought to
rally the defeated opponents of Dreyfus, and was anti-Semitic, nationalistic and
royalist. Its influence peaked in the 1920s. Supporting the Vichy Government of 1940-44, the movement became
indistinguishable from fascism.
2/5/1899, Martin Simson, German politician, died (born
10/10/1810)
16/2/1899, Francois Faure, President of France, died
(born 30/1/1841).
6/2/1899, Georg Caprivi, German statesman (born 24/2/1831)
died.
28/7/1898,Bismarck died,
three years after his wife, at Friedrichsruh.�
He was a Prussian politician and founder
of the modern state of Germany.
28/3/1898, Germany passed
an Act allowing for substantial expansion of its navy.
13/2/1898, August Potthast, German historian (born
13/8/1824), died.
29/10/1897, Joseph
Goebbels, Nazi political leader and
propagandist, was born in
Rheydt, son of a factory foreman.
15/6/1897, Tirpitz
was appointed German Naval Secretary.
7/5/1897, Henri Aumale,
French statesman, died in Zucco, Sicily (born 16/1/1822 in Paris).
19/2/1897, French tightrope walker Charles Blondin died. He was
born on 28/2/1824.
8/12/1896, Ernst Engel, German political economist, died
(born 21/3/1821).
26/10/1896, Paul Challemel-Lacour, French politician, died
(born 19/5/1827).
18/8/1896, Richard Avenarius, German philosopher, died in
Zurich (born 19/11/1834 in Paris).
20/1/1896, Henry Prince of Battenberg died (born
5/10/1859).
For Dreyfus
Affair see
Jewish
1895, In France the CGT
(Confederation Generale du Travail) was formed, a Trades Union organisation.
29/12/1895, Leander Starr Jameson, an agent of the British South
Africa Company, invaded the Boer Republic of Transvaal with 470 men. On
2/1/1896 Jameson
surrendered At Doorn Kop after a defeat at Krugersdorp. On 3/1/1896 Kaiser William
II sent a telegram to Paul Kruger
congratulating him on the defeat of Jameson.
This caused outrage in Britain, which saw the telegram as an attempt by Germany
to expand its influence in Africa. Britain mocked the German Navy, saying
it would be �child�s play� for the British Navy to wipe it out. Wilhelm I
now decided on a course of massive expansion of the German Navy, seeing Britain
no longer as an ally but a potential threat.
24/11/1895, Saint Hilaire
Barthelemy, French politician, was born in Paris (died 24/11/1895).
22/7/1895, Heinrich Gneist,
German politician, died (born 13/8/1816)
28/1/1895, Francois Canrobert, French military leader
(born 27/6/1809) died.
17/1/1895, Francois Felix Faure became President of
France.
13/1/1895, President Jean Casimir Perier of France resigned.
12/12/1894, Auguste Burdeau, French politician, died (born
1851).
26/10/1894, Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe succeeded Leo von Caprivi
as Imperial German Chancellor.
24/6/1894, The
President of France, Marie Francois Carnot, was stabbed to death at
Lyons by an Italian anarchist.
26/4/1894, Rudolf
Hess, Adolf Hitler�s deputy, was born
in Alexandria, Egypt.
15/3/1894, Germany and France signed a treaty outlining their
spheres of influence in tropical Africa
10/2/1894, Germany signed a commercial treaty with Russia.
4/1/1894, Russia and France signed a treaty of mutual
defence. Despite huge differences between their political systems, both
countries felt threatened by encirclement. France felt threatened by a rare
entente between Germany and Britain. Russia saw itself threatened to the south
and east by the British Empire in central and eastern Asia.
17/10/1893, Marie MacMahon, French President, died (born
13/7/1808).
22/8/1893, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha, died
(born 21/6/1818).
13/7/1893, Germany passed a bill to substantially increase the
size of its army.
30/4/1893, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler�s foreign minister, was born
17/3/1893, Jules Ferry, French politician, died (born
5/4/1832).
12/1/1893, Hermann
Goering, German Nazi leader and
founder of the Luftwaffe, was born
in Rosenbaum, Bavaria.
17/8/1892, Russia and France signed a military convention.
2/5/1892, Baron Mandred von Richtofen, German air ace of World War One, known as the �Red Baron� because he flew a red
Fokker, was born in Schweidnitz in Prussia, to aristocratic parents.
4/3/1892, Jean Jurian de la Graviere, French Admiral,
died.
24/1/1892, Henri Baudrillart, French economist, died in
Paris (born in Paris 28/11/1821).
30/12/1891, Antoine Pinay, French statesman, was born
12/12/1891, Charles Freppel, French politician and Bishop,
died (born 1/6/1827).
15/11/1891, Birth of German Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel,
commander of the Afrika Corps, in Heidenheim, Germany.
30/9/1891, George Boulanger, French General, committed
suicide in Brussels (born in Rennes 29/4/1837).
16/9/1891, Karl Doenitz, German Admiral, was born in
Berlin.
9/9/1891, Francois Grevy, French President 1879-87, died
(born 15/1/1813)
1/5/1891, In a violent clash between striking French workers
and French troops, nine workers, including two children, were killed as troops
opened fire. 60 more workers were injured. The workers were campaigning for an
8 hour day.
24/4/1891, Helmuth von Moltke, Prussian general, died.
22/11/1890, Charles de Gaulle, French President, was born
in Lille (died 1970).
28/10/1890, The German East Africa Company ceded all its
powers and assets to the German government.
17/9/1890, Jules Joffrin, French politician, died (born
16/3/1846).
9/8/1890, Heligoland
was formally transferred from Britain to Germany.
1/7/1890, Britain and Germany signed the Heligoland Treaty, by which Germany
gave up claims in East Africa, including Zanzibar, in return for the British
island of Heligoland in the Elbe estuary. Germany
soon made Helogoland a major naval base for the defence of the newly
constructed Kiel Canal.
18/3/1890, Prince Otto von Bismarck was dismissed from the German Chancellorship by Kaiser Wilhelm
II, after 29 years as Germany�s first Chancellor. Bismarck�s
foremost achievement had been the
unification of Germany under Prussian leadership, but there had been
increasing political dissent between Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm from 1888.
18/3/1890, Prince Otto von Bismarck was dismissed from the German
Chancellorship by Kaiser Wilhelm II, after 29 years as Germany�s
first Chancellor. Bismarck�s foremost achievement had been the
unification of Germany under Prussian leadership. He had held Germany back from
a damaging competitive rush for colonies that would cause conflict with other
European powers, and he negotiated the Reinsurance
Treaty with Russia that limited the possibility for conflict between them.
However when Wilhelm
II succeeded his father Kaiser Frederick III, German policy changed. Bismarck
was replaced by Leo
von Caprivi, who allowed the Reinsurance
Treaty with Russia to lapse. This pushed Russia into closer relations with
France, Germany�s enemy. Meanwhile Germany pursued a fruitless attempt to make
a friendship treaty with Britain.
6/5/1889, The
official opening of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, to the public. It was only
intended to stand for 20 years, but soon acquired iconic status.
20/4/1889. Birth of Adolf Hitler, in Braunau, Austria (died 1945). His father was
a customs official who changed his name from Schicklgruber.
17/6/1888, Heinz Guderian, German World War Two General,
was born.
15/6/1888, Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, died. He was succeeded by his 29-year son, Wilhelm II,
who was the last German monarch.
15/4/1888, In
France, Georges
Boulanger, having retired from the army and now elected to the Chamber
of Deputies, started plotting to overthrow the Third Republic and become
dictator; he failed.
9/3/1888, Death of Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia, aged 90. He was succeeded by his 57-year old son, Friedrich
Wilhelm, but he died of cancer later in the year, on 15/6/1888.
27/2/1888, As Italian-French
relations deteriorated, France imposed selective duties against Italian
products. Italy retaliated in kind on 1/3/1888.
2/12/1887, Francois Grevy,
President of France from 30/1/1879, resigned after a scandal involving his son
in law Daniel Wilson, involving the sale of Legion d�Honneur medals. The
scandal; boosted the popularity of the nationalist Boulanger.
24/11/1887, Erich von Manstein,
military adviser to Adolf Hitler in World War Two, was born in Berlin �He died on 9/6/1973, having been imprisoned by
the British in August 1945. His advice on attacking France through the Ardennes
in 1940 was crucial to Nazi success here.
18/7/1887, Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian diplomat who turned traitor, was born in
Fyresdal, Telemark province, southern Norway.
14/7/1887, Alfred Krupp, German manufacturer of arms in
Essen, the Ruhr, died.
23/5/1887. The French crown jewels went on sale and raised
six million francs.
18/5/1887, In France the Right-wing Georges Boulanger
was excluded from a new administration formed by Maurice Rouvier. As war
minister, Boulanger had led a nationalist campaign for
revenge (revanche) against Germany.
20/2/1887, The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria and
Italy was renewed for a further 5 years.
29/1/1887,
Construction work began on the Eiffel Tower, Paris.
14/1/1887. Bismarck dissolved the Reichstag because it
refused to vote for the military budget.
11/1/1887, Bismarck proposed an expansion of the German
Army.
29/6/1886, Robert Schuman,
French politician and Prime Minister, was born in Luxembourg.
13/6/1886, Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, drowned, probably
suicide.
16/1/1886, Frederic
Falloux, French politician died (born 11/5/1811). He organised the
Loi Falloux (Education-Schools, France, 15/3/1850).
4/1/1886, In
France, Georges
Boulanger was appointed Minister for War. His anti-German speeches
came close to provoking war with Germany, and he had ambitions to overthrow the
French Third Republic.
20/11/1885, Albert Kesselring, German Air Force Commander, was born in Markstedt.
9/9/1884, The foundation stone for the new German Reichstag
Parliament building was laid (see 19/4/1871). The building opened in 1894.
24/8/1883, Henri Chambord, contender for the French
throne, died (born 29/9/1820).
29/4/1883, Franz Schulze-Delitzsch, German economist,
died in Potsdam (born 29/8/1808 in Delitzsch).
12/5/1881, Tunisia became a French Protectorate. The French
invaded in April 1881 when the Tunisian first minister made various reforms
taking away French economic privileges. This
French move was disturbing to Italy, who had believed that Britain would never
permit an extension of French power in North Africa.
29/10/1879, Franz von Papen, German politician and ambassador, was born in Werl,
Westphalia.
20/10/1879, Bernhardt von
Bulow, German statesman, died (born 2/8/1815).
1/10/1879, An Austro-German alliance was signed.
2/6/1879, Louis, Prince Imperial of France and
prospective Napoleon IV, was killed by a Zulu assegai. The French suspected
British connivance.
19/11/1878, Theresa Essler, wife of Prince Adalbert of
Prussia, died (widowed 1873).
19/10/1878, Bismarck passed an anti-Socialist law, placing
many restraints on socialist meetings and banning trade union activities.
7/8/1876, Dutch spy, Mata Hari
(Margarete
Gertrude Zelle), who passed secrets to the Germans in World War One,
was born in Leeuwarden. The French arrested her in 1917 and she was executed by
firing squad.
5/1/1876, Konrad Adenauer, West German Chancellor, was
born in Cologne.
29/10/1873, John, King of Saxony, died (born 12/12/1801). King Albert of
Saxony succeeded his father to the throne. He was born on 23/4/1828,
and died on 10/6/1902.
16/9/1873, The last German troops left France. An
economic recovery of France had taken place, which was to enable it to build up
its military forces.� However a recession
began in France from 1873 onwards.
24/5/1873, M Thiers ceased to be President of France.
9/1/1873, Napoleon III of France, nephew of Bonaparte, died in exile at
Chislehurst, Kent, to where he had withdrawn following his defeat by the
Prussians and his imprisonment at Wilhelshohe Castle.
30/9/1872, The last date for the inhabitants of Alsace,
conquered by Germany in 1870, to opt for either German nationality and remain
or French nationality and leave for France. Around 45,000 opted to leave for
France.
29/8/1871, Albert Lebrun, French President, was born.
7/4/1870, Gustav Landauer, German anarchist, was born.
Birth of
the unified German State, centred on Berlin
19/4/1871,� The
new German Parliament, the Reichstag, began planning for a permamnent home.
This was not started until 9/6/1884.
3/3/1871, The first all-German elections were held,
and returned a Parliament dominated by the National
Liberal Party. The German Union was changed by this Parliament from a Bund (Federation,
as proposed by Bismarck,
to reassure states reluctant to join a Prussian-dominated union such as Baden
and Wurttemberg that their autonomy would not be lost), to the more
centralist term Reich, organised
from Berlin. This was the Second Reich,
(First Reich = Holy Roman Empire)
which fell in 1918. The red-black-white colours of its flag inspired the
colours of the Nazi Third Reich.
18/1/1871, William I, King of Prussia, was declared
Emperor of Germany at Versailles.
Paris Commune set up, suppressed.
28/5/1871, The Paris Commune, set up on 28/3/1871, was brutally
suppressed by French government troops. Urban warfare in Paris had killed
33,000 and left sections of the city in ruins. Other Communes in Lyons and
Marseilles had also collapsed. The Paris Communards had failed to adequately
man a fort defending the west of Paris.
21/5/1871, The Treaty of
Frankfurt was ratified.
10/5/1871, Germany and France signed a peace treaty at
Frankfurt. France surrendered
all of Alsace and most of Lorraine to Germany. France also had to pay an
indemnity of 5 billion francs to Germany, the equivalent amount that Napoleon I
imposed on Prussia in 1807; a German army was to remain in France till this is
paid. The British Prime Minister, Gladstone, protested that Alsace and Lorraine
should not be handed over without a vote by the people living there. Prussia�s
Prime Minister, Bismarck,
placed no limit in the treaty on the size of France�s future army, gambling
that France was already isolated and humbled by her defeat at Sedan.
28/3/1871, French proletarian radicals proclaimed a �Paris Commune�,
backed by intellectuals and workers, hoping to exploit popular discontent at
France�s humiliating loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. The French Government fled to Versailles. See 28/5/1871.
18/3/1871, The Commune
insurrection against the French Government began in Paris.
1/3/1871, In
France, Napoleon
III was deposed and the Paris Commune set up.
End of Franco-Prussian War; France totally
defeated.
26/2/1871. Prussia and France signed a preliminary peace
treaty at Versailles.
17/2/1871, The Pact of
Bordeaux was signed.
16/2/1871The French fortress of Belfort
capitulated to the Germans.
28/1/1871. Starving and surrounded by Prussian troops, Paris surrendered
to Germany. During the 5-month siege, balloons were used to maintain
contact with the rest of France. Finally, a 3-week artillery bombardment
destroyed all resistance. All the
animals at Paris Zoo had been eaten (which one was eaten last?)
Seige of Paris, 9/1870 � 1/1871. Defeat of France
by Prussia.
27/1/1871, German forces grew
impatient with the length of the siege of Belfort and on this day General von
Tresckow launched an attack on the city which was repulsed and the siege
operations resumed.
22/1/1871, The Moselle
railway bridge at Fontenoy was blown up.
19/1/1871, Germany defeated the French at the Battle of St Quentin.
15/1/1871, Battle of Lisaine, near Belfort; Germany defeated France.
10/1/1871, The Battle of Le Mans began; Germany defeated France.
9/1/1871, The Battle of Beaugency, near Orleans; Germany defeated
France. Germany advanced towards Tours.
8/1/1871. Prussian troops
bombarded Paris.
2/1/1871, Germany defeated France at the Battle of Baupame.
23/12/1870, Germany defeated France at the Battle of Hallue, near
Amiens. German forces now advanced south west towards Rouen.
2/12/1870,� Germany defeated France at the Battle of Loigny, near
Orleans.
28/11/1870. The Germans in the
Franco-Prussian War took Amiens.
9/11/1870, The Battle of Coulmiers, near Orleans; France defeated
Germany.
3/11/1870. The Prussians
besieged Belfort, 275 miles ESE of Paris. The siege continued until
the armistice of 15/2/1871.
27/10/1870. The French at Metz, 140,000 troops, surrendered to
Prussia after a two-month seige. In November 1870 the southern
German states of Wurttemberg and Bavaria joined with the North German
Confederation, ensuring Prussian political hegemony. Francois-Achille
Bazaine (1811-88), Marshall
of France and commander of the 180,000 men besieged at Metz, was accused of
treachery and after a court martial at Versdailles in 1873 was sentenced to
death. This was commuted by President Macmahon to 20 years imprisonment. In
August 1874 Bazaine escaped from the island fortress of Ste Narguerite and fled
to Madrid. His supporters maintained that Bazaine was a scapegoat for general
French military inefficiency and for the failures of other Field Commmanders
from more distinguished families.
7/10/1870, Gambetta, French Minister of the
Interior, escaped the siege of Paris
in a balloon.� Reaching the safety of
Tours, he encouraged the French troops.
28/9/1870. Strasbourg, under siege by Prussia
since August 1870, was surrendered by the French.
19/9/1870. Siege of Paris by the Germans began.
Franco-Prussian War, 7/1870 � 2/1871. Prussia
defeated France.
4/9/1870. France formed a Republic (The Third
Republic) and a government of national defence was formed.�
2/9/1870. Napoleon III of France capitulated to Prussia
at Sedan. Fighting had lasted 44 days, and the 380,000 strong Prussian army
had triumphed over the 235,0000 strong French army. Only a hastily assembled
French National Guard stood between the Prussians and Paris. Empress Eugenie
and the prince imperial fled to England. Napoleon III was held as prisoner in the
comfortable royal apartments of Wilhelmshohe Castle. The French had sent a
force to relieve their main Army besieged at Metz but this army, 84,000 men,
2,700 officers, 39 generals, surrendered to Prussia.
1/9/1870, (1) The Battle of Sedan; the Germans defeated the French.
(2) The siege of Metz began.�
30/8/1870, Battle of
Beaumont; Germany defeated France.
18/8/1870. Prussian forces defeated the French at the Battle of
Gravelotte.
16/8/1870,The French lost to the Prussians at the Battle of Vionville.
13/8/1870, Germany defeated France at the Battle of Noisseville.
6/8/1870, Battle of Froeschwiller, in NE France; Germany defeated
France.
4/8/1870. Germany defeated
France at the Battle of Wissembourg, in NE France.
2/8/1870, Prussia
had mobilised rapidly and now had 380,000 troops on the French border.
19/7/1870, France declared war on Prussia. The origins of this war lay
in the vacancy of the Spanish throne, which the French regarded as their sphere
of influence. There was a Hohenzollern (German) candidate for the Spanish
throne, and Napoleon III demanded, not only the withdrawal of the Hozenhollern
claim to the Spanish throne, but the guarantee from Germany never again to
claim this position. In the Ems telegram of 13/7/1870 the Prussian King, in Ems,
wrote to Bismarck declining to give such a guarantee.
France was
unprepared for war and its army disorganised,�
and within a month the main French Army was besieged at Metz. See 2/9/1870. See also French
Railways 11/6/1842.
12/7/1870, Prince Leopold, the Hohenzollern candidate for
the Spanish throne, withdrew, not keen on such an insecure position as Spanish
monarch. France rejoiced, but Bismarck of Prussia felt humiliated; he wanted
war with France. Bismarck received news of Leopold�s withdrawal by telegram
at Ems on 13/7/1870. Benedetti of France had sought assurances from
King William
of Prussia of Leopold�s withdrawal, which until now William
had refused to give.� When Leopold
himself withdrew, William regarded the affair as closed and saw
no further need for meetings with Benedetti. It was this news that was in the
telegram to Bismarck.
However Bismarck
edited the telegram to a shorter version that made it appear as if King William
had declined to meet with Benedetti, not due to Leopold�s withdrawal, but due to
the demands made by Benedetti. This was the version of the
telegram released to the media. It now looked as if Benedetti had been discourteous
to William,
and William
had curtly rebuffed the French. Once this version was reported by the press,
both the French and German peoples wanted war.
6/7/1870, The French Foreign Minister stated that
unless Prince Leopold, the Hohenzollern candidate for the Spanish throne, was
withdrawn, France would treat it as a cause for war. The King of Prussia was part
of the Hohenzollern family, and France feared encirclement by pro-German
States.
29/2/1868, Ex-King Louis of Bavaria died in Munich, aged 81.
Louis
was a patron of the arts and his capital, Munich, was a centre of culture. Louis
had an affair with an Irish dancer, Marie Gilbert (stage name Lola Montez). This affair
provoked a revolution; Louis had to abdicate in 1848, and Marie
died destitute in New York in 1861, aged 43.
Supremacy
of Prussia 1861-69
17/6/1869 Wilhelmshaven,
Germany�s first military port, was officially inaugurated.
3/2/1868, Karl Mathy,
Baden statesman who worked for German unity, and who helped found the newspaper
Deutsche Zeitung, which promoted the
unification of the German states, died (born 17/3/1807).
1/7/1867. The German Federal Constitution came into
force.
17/4/1867, The North German Reichstag adopted the new
federal Constitution.� Four years later
all of the German Empire had adopted it.
8/2/1867, As Prussia became increasingly powerful
under Prime
Minister Otto von Bismarck and King Wilhelm I, political differences between
Germany and the Hapsburgs of Austria, who had ruled Austria since 1278. This weakened Austria to the point where
Hungary threatened to break away, and to save the unity of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, Austria was forced to agree to a Dual Monarchy, where each State had a
separate government and a convoluted system of joint Ministers to oversee the
Empire. However
this in turn alienated ethnic minorities within Austro-Hungary, ultimately
sparking off demands for Serbian independence and the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand that led to World War One.
3/10/1866,
The states north of the Mainz joined a
new North German Confederation under Prussian leadership.� Austria
was finally excluded from the German Confederation.� The formerly independent duchy of Nassau,
Germany, 1,830 square miles, was incorporated with the Kingdom of Prussia.
Prussia annexed Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and Frankfurt Am
Main.� The southern German states agreed that their troops should come under
the command of Prussia in the event of war.�
Austro-Prussian
(Seven Weeks) War, 1866
23/8/1866, The Treaty of Prague was signed, ending the
war between Austria and Prussia. Austria
agreed to withdraw from the German Confederation, renounced its claim on
Schleswig-Holstein, and ceded Venetia to Italy.
3/7/1866,
In northern Czechoslovakia, the Austrian
army was routed by Prussian forces at the Battle of Sadowa (Koniggratz).
The victory by Bismarck was sealed at the Treaty
of Prague, by which Austria renounced her claim to Schleswig-Holstein,
where Germany would later build a great naval base at Kiel and build the Kiel
Canal linking the Baltic and North Seas.
29/6/1866, The Hanoverian army was forced to capitulate to the Prussians
after a defeat in the Battle of Lasngensalza. King George V of Hanover had refused, contrary to the wishes of his
Parliament, to agree to Prussian demands that the Kingdom of Hanover remain
neutral in the war between Prussia and Austria. In 9/1866 Hanover
was formally annexed by Prussia.
15/6/1866,
Prussian troops crossed the frontiers of Hanover, Saxony, and
Hesse-Cassel.�
14/6/1866, The
brief Austro-Prussian War began, over
a dispute between Prussia and Austria over the Duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein.
7/6/1866,
Prussian troops entered Holstein.� This
was the start of the Austro-Prussian War.
21/4/1866, Austria
mobilised, before it was ready for war, against Prussia.
8/4/1866. Bismarck
arranged an alliance between Italy and Germany.
Italy promised to join Germany against Austria if war broke out in the next
three months.
28/9/1862, Bismarck
made his �blood and iron� speech.
23/9/1862. Bismarck arrived in Berlin and was
made Prime Minister of Prussia.
30/10/1864. By the Peace of Vienna, Denmark gave up
Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenberg.�
These provinces came under Austrian and Prussian rule.
21/4/1864, Max Weber,
German political economist, was born.
10/3/1864, Maximilian II,
King of Bavaria, died.
1/2/1864, Austrian and
Prussian troops under the command of Friedrich von Wangle invaded Schleswig,
Denmark. Although the British monarch, Queen Victoria, was pro-German, the British Prince Edward,
the future King
Edward VII � who had only months earlier married Alexandra of
Denmark � was shocked; they supported Denmark. The Second Schleswig
War began. This event ensured that under King Edward VII�s reign, British foreign
policy was pro-Danish, anti-German, and
Britain formed a triple entente with France and Russia against Germany.
2/1/1861, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia died aged 65.
He was succeeded by his brother and Regent, Wilhelm I.
5/10/1859, Henry Prince of Battenberg was born (died
20/1/1896).
10/7/1859, The Treaty of Villafranca was signed.
27/1/1859,
Kaiser Willhelm II was born in Potsdam, near Berlin. He was the son of the German Emperor
and the grandson of Queen Victoria.
7/10/1858, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was certified
insane, and his brother, 61-year-old Wilhelm, was made Regent.
10/7/1858, Napoleon III of France secretly met Count Cavour at Plombieres. The two
agreed to jointly attack Austria.
For more on Austro-Piedmont War 1859 see Italy
20/3/1858, Johannes Gossner, German preacher and
philanthropist, died (born 14/12/1773).
13/3/1858, Felice Orsini, Italian revolutionary, was
executed for his part in the assassination attempt on Napoleon III in Paris.
14/1/1858, An Italian assassin threw a bomb at French Emperor
Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie as they drove to the Paris
Opera. The bomb, thrown by Felici Orsini, missed its target but killed
eight bystanders and injured 100. Orsini planned the attack in London, causing
anti-British sentiment in France.
24/4/1856, Philippe Petain, French Army Marshall, was
born in Cuchy a la Tour.
30/7/1855, Georg Wilhelm von Seimens, German
industrialist, was born.
For Crimean War see Russia 1850s
4/4/1853, The customs
union signed by various German states was extended for another 12 years;
Austria remained excluded.
29/1/1853, Napoleon III of France married Eugenie de Montijo in Paris.
1852, Napoleon III gave the Bois de
Bolougne to Paris for a public
park. It had been a royal hunting
ground since the 1600s.
2/12/1852, Louis Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of
France as Napoleon III.� The Second
French Empire was proclaimed.
12/1/1852, Joseph Joffre, French Army Marshall and
Commander in Chief on the Western Front, was born in Rivesaltes.
18/11/1851, Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, died (born
5/6/1771).
2/10/1851, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French General who led
the counteroffensive that defeated Germany in 1918, was born in Tarbes, France.
24/12/1850, Frederic Bastiat, French economist, died in
Rome (born in Bayonne 29/6/1801).
26/8/1850, Death of Louis Philippe, the �citizen king�, who
abdicated rather than face a middle-class revolt.
25/7/1850, Battle of Idstedt; Denmark defeated Germany.
31/5/1850, France
passed a law requiring voters to be resident in the same place for three years
before qualifying for a vote.� This was
to exclude migratory workers, who tended to be radical.
16/4/1850, Swiss waxworks show proprietor Madame Marie Tussaud died. She was born on 11/12/1761 in Strasbourg. She learnt
the art of wax modelling from her uncle, Philippe Curtius. Before the French Revolution
Mme Tussaud
was art tutor at Versailles to Louis XVI�s sister, Elizabeth. After a period in
prison she was tasked with making death masks from the heads of those
guillotined, some of whom she recognised as friends. She left Paris in 1802,
along with her waxwork models, and two sons from a failed marriage to a French
engineer, Francois
Tussaud. She spent 33 years touring Britain before opening a
permanent display in London.
3/5/1849, Bernhard, Prince von Bulow, German Chancellor
and Prime Minister of Prussia (1900-09) was born.
19/3/1849, Alfred von Tirpitz, German
Admiral, was born in Kustrin, Brandenburg, Prussia.
For
1848-49 Schleswig conflict see Denmark.
20/12/1848, Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte was proclaimed President of France.
11/12/1848. Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte was elected President of the French Republic by a
large majority.
9/11/1848, Robert Blum, German politician, was
executed.
20/3/1848, Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, abdicated.
17/3/1848, Protests in Berlin against the conservatism of
Prussian ruler Frederick
William IV.
Political, economic, unrest in France 1847 - 48
26/6/1848. Riots
in Paris from the 23rd to the 26th June.
10/5/1848, The French
Assembly spurned the proposal of Louis Blanc to establish a Ministry of Labour
and Progress, a bold measure to implement Blanc's socialist agenda.
3/3/1848, Louis-Philippe of France arrived in England,
following his abdication. Meanwhile
economic depression and hunger, and discontent amongst the growing middle
classes, was spurring revolution across Europe. Demonstrations occurred in
Vienna and across Hungarian cities; ethnic minorities within the
Austro-Hungarian Empire were demanding self-rule. Venice proclaimed
independence from Austria.
2/3/1848, Universal male suffrage was enacted in
France, giving the country nine million new voters.
28/2/1848, French workers demonstrated in the Place de
l'H�tel-de-Ville, Paris, to demand a Ministry of Labour and the 10-hour day.
26/2/1848, The
Second French Republic was proclaimed. See 24/2/1848.
25/2/1848, Lamartine rejected the proposed Socialist Red
Flag as the new French flag, preferring the �liberal democratic� Tricolour to
the �Blood Flag of anarchy�.
24/2/1848, The
French monarchy fell as King Louis Philippe
fled to exile in England. See 26/2/1848.
22/2/1848, In France a socialist �banquet�, or
political meeting, to commemorate the birthday of George Washington was banned.
This ban caused major unrest and riots in the following days.
12/2/1848, In France, the Liberal Opposition to the
Conservative Guizot
Government in France reduced Guizot�s majority to 43 in the Chamber of
Deputies.
28/1/1847. Severe depression, unemployment, and food shortages
provoked rioting amongst agricultural workers in central France. See 27/2/1848.
18/12/1847, Marie Louise, 2nd wife of Napoleon I, died (born
12/12/1791).
15/1/1846, In France, Angelique Cottin, aged 14, of La Perriere,
began to experience frightening paranormal phenomena in which objects including
furniture violently retreated at her touch. Many witnessed these events, which
lasted for some 10 weeks.
25/8/1845, Ludwig II, King of
Bavaria, was born.
18/12/1844, Ludwig Brentano,
German economist, was born.
18/8/1842, Louis Freycinet,
French navigator, died (born 7/8/1779).
8/5/1842, Jules Dumont,
French navigator, died (born 23/5/1790).
7/5/1842, A large fire ended in Hamburg, Germany (began 5/5). It had destroyed
4,219 buildings including 2,000 homes, leaving a fifth of the city homeless.
28/9/1841, Georges Clemenceau, French Prime Minister
1917-20, was born.
30/1/1841, Francois Faure, President of France, was born
(died 16/2/1899).
15/12/1840, Napoleon�s body was interred in Les Invalides,
Paris.
7/6/1840, Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia died at 69
after a reign of over 42 years. He was succeeded by his 44-year-old son, Friedrich
Wilhelm IV, who ruled until 1861.
30/12/1838, Emile Loubet, 7th President of the French
Republic 1899-1906, was born.
11/8/1837, Marie Carnot, 4th President of the Third
French Republic, was born (died 24/6/1894).
30/7/1836, The Arc de
Triomphe, Paris, was completed (commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon
to commemorate his victories from 1790 onwards). It is Europe�s largest triumphal
arch, 50 meres high and 45 metres wide.
6/11/1836, Charles X, King of France, died (born 1757).
19/2/1836, Guiseppe Fieschi, conspirator to assassinate Louis Philippe,� was guillotined.
2/3/1835, Francis II, last Holy Roman Emperor, died. He was succeeded, as Emperor of Austria only, by his 4-year-old
son, Ferdinand
I.
20/5/1834, Marquis de Lafayette, Frenchman who fought
with the American colonists for independence from Britain and was a key figure
in the French Revolution, died..
7/8/1834, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French inventor, died.
Unification
of Germany 1828 - 34
1/1/1834, The German zollervein (customs
union) now extended to all German states except Austria and the north-eastern
states.
22/3/1833, A customs union, or zollverein, was
signed between Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Prussia, and Hesse-Darmstadt. Austria
was excluded. This zollverein covered 17 states with a total population of 20
million. Until now, 67 different tariffs and 13 non-Prussian enclaves, each
with a different fiscal system, had hampered economic development. The
zollverein was the idea of the economist Friedrich
List, who returned to Prussia from the USA in 1832. Germany
was also being united by the spread of the railways out from Berlin.
24/9/1828, Several German states founded the
Commercial Union of Central Germany, signing a customs agreement with Prussia.
11/1/1828, The
Prussian zollervein, or customs
union, was extended to Hesse Darmstadt.�
From 1825 a new Prussian finance minister, Friedrich von Motz, had begun to
extend the Prussian customs union or zollervein.� Independent enclaves or city states had
previously served as smuggling centres, hindering tax collection.� In May 1829 Bavaria, whose ruler Louis I
was keen on the zollervein, joined.� See
1/1/1834.
1832, France ceased to brand its
galley slaves with the letters TF (Travaux Forces).
28/6/1832, Metternich
insisted on the German Confederation�s acceptance of the Six Articles. This
uniformised the behaviour of sovereigns across German States, forbade public
meetings, and introduced surveillance of suspicious characters.
18/10/1831, Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, was born.
9/3/1831, King Louis-Philippe founded the French Foreign Legion. Its headquarters
was at Sidi-bel-Abbes in Algeria. In 1962 the headquarters was moved to Aubagne, France. See 5/7/1830.
15/12/1830, Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke (born
18/2/1776) a Prussian general and the first recipient of the Iron Cross, died.
7/8/1830, Louis Philippe accepted the Crown of France.
King
Charles X 1824-30, deposed after harsh rule, revolution
2/8/1830, The July
Revolution in France ended. Charles X abdicated.
29/7/1830, French liberals opposed to Charles X
seized Paris.
27/7/1830, Revolutionary riots in Paris, The July Revolution, sparked by the harsh
policies of King
Charles X.
14/6/1828, Augustus Charles died (born 3/9/1757).
23/4/1828, Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony from 1873
(died 10/6/1902) was born.
26/6/1826, Adolf Bastian, German ethnologist, was born in
Bremen.
5/5/1826, Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, was born in
Grenada., Spain.
13/10/1825, Maximilian I, King of Bavaria, died.
16/9/1824, Louis XVIII, King of France, died aged 68, leaving a strong and prosperous country, in
contrast to its defeat under Napoleon. However his attempts at
constitutional reform were thwarted by the ultra-royalists. He was succeeded by
his brother, Charles
X.
28/2/1824, Charles Blondin,
French tightrope walker famous for his crossings of Niagara Falls, was born in
Hesdin near Calais, as Jean Francois Gravelet.
1/4/1822, Louis Bertillon, French anthropologist, was
born in Paris (died in Neuilly 28/2/1883).
28/11/1821, Henri Baudrillart, French economist, was born
in Paris (died in Paris 24/1/1892).
5/5/1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died, in exile on St Helena, in the Atlantic
(born 15/8/1769).� The cause may have
been arsenic poisoning, or it may have been stomach cancer, which also killed Napoleon�s
father.
21/3/1821, Ernst Engel, German political economist, was
born (died 8/12/1896).
29/12/1820, Antoine Montyon, French philanthropist, died
(born 23/12/1733).
29/9/1820, Henri Chambord, contender for the French
throne, was born (died 24/8/1883).
12/9/1819, Gebhard von Blucher, Prussian Field Marshall
who helped the Allies to victory against Napoleon, died in Silesia.
27/5/1819, George V, King of Hanover, was born.
21/11/1818, France was admitted to the Quadruple alliance, now
the Quintuple alliance (see 20/11/1815).�
France�s war indemnity was cut.
29/9/1818, The Congress of Aix La Chapelle began.
26/5/1818, A Bill presented by the economist and councillor Karl Maaseen
was adopted. It abolished customs procedures within Prussia and lifted
trade restrictions.
13/10/1815, Joachim Murat, King of the Two Sicilies, was
executed.
11/10/1815, Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, politician, was
born.
22/8/1815, Pro
Royalists won the first free elections in France.
8/8/1815, Napoleon set sail for
exile on St Helena. He arrived there on 16/10/1815.
17/7/1815, Napoleon attempted to escape to America from Rochefort but
was captured by the British.
15/7/1815, Napoleon surrendered to Captain Maitland of the ship Bellerophon
at Rochefort.
7/7/1815, The Allies
entered Paris victoriously a second time, and King
Louis XVIII returned to Paris.on 8/7/1815.
1/7/1815, A battle between
the French and the Allies at
Ligny, near Fleurus, Belgium.
26/9/1815, Holy Alliance formed between Russia, Austria,
and Prussia.
8/6/1815, Abandoning the idea of re-establishing the old
German Empire, the 39 disparate German
States formed a Union whose constitution was laid down in the Federal Act
which came into force this day.� However
the rulers of States such as Bavaria, Hanover, Wurttemberg, Baden, and Saxony
were unwilling to cede any authority to a central government.
Napoleon
escapes Elba, attempts to regain power. The Hundred Days War. Exile to St
Helena.
7/12/1815, Marshall Ney, a famous general of Napoleon,
convicted of high treason, was executed by firing squad for supporting Napoleon
at Waterloo when ordered by the Allies to arrest him.
20/11/1815, A
second Treaty of Paris reduced France to its 1789 frontiers (see
30/5/1814), stripped her of the port of Savoy, and created an organisation
charged with the collective security of Europe. Britain, Austria, Prussia, and
Russia renewed their Quadruple Alliance and agreed to exclude the
Bonaparte dynasty from French rule for another 20 years. An Allied army of
occupation was installed in Paris. An Allied army of occupation was installed
in Paris. Under this Alliance, each power agreed to supply 60,000 soldiers in
the event of French aggression.
16/10/1815, Napoleon arrived at St Helena, see 8/8/1815.
25/6/1815, Napoleon abdicated in Paris
for a second time.
21/6/1815, Napoleon reached Paris.
18/6/1815, Sunday;
the Battle of Waterloo was fought, in driving rain., in the flat Belgian
countryside. Combined British and
Prussian forces, 15,000 and 8,000 respectively) led by the Duke of Wellington and Field
Marshall Blucher decisively defeated the French (25,000) under Napoleon. Napoleon
miscalculated, underestimating his enemies.�
The French soldiers were aware of an advancing force on their right
flank; Napoleon
knew this was the Prussian Army, but reckoned he could defeat the British
before they arrived, then re-deploy.� He
told the French Army these were more French soldiers.� When the Prussians opened fire on the French
it seemed as these �French� soldiers had changed sides; a cry of �treason� went
up, and the French Army disintegrated.� Napoleon
himself retreated westwards, but was held up at Genappe, only four miles from
the battlefield, as a mass of men attempted to cross the only bridge over the
River Dyle. Finally, only minutes before the Prussian cavalry arrived at
Genappe, Napoleon
succeeded in crossing the bridge and galloped away towards Paris. See
26/2/1815.
16/6/1815, Battle of
Quatre Bras. Napoleon
defeated by Lord
Wellington; however the French managed to prevent Wellington
from aiding Blucher
at Ligny this day, where the Prussians were defeated.
15/6/1815, Napoleon defeated the Prussians under Blucher
at the Battle of Ligny, Netherlands.
The Prussians lost 12,000 men, against French losses of of 8,500. Napoleon was hoping, by invading The
Netherlands, to eliminate Britain and Prussia from the coalition against him.
23/5/1815, Ferdinand IV formally retook the Neapolitan
throne.
20/5/1815, Murat
fled to Corsica and the pro-Napoleon Neapolitans, now under the command of General Michele
Caracosa, signed a treaty agreeing to the restoration of King Ferdinand
IV.
3/5/1815, Murat
was heavily defeated at the Battle of Tolentino by General Bianchi�s Austrian I
Corps.
9/4/1815, Murat was defeated at the
Battle of Occhiobello.
25/3/1815, Britain,
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, concluded a new alliance against France. On
10/4/1815 Austria also declares war on Joachim Murat, the King of Naples, who has allied himself with Napoleon. On 3/5/1815 Murat
was defeated by the Austrians at Tolentino. Murat fled Naples on 20/5/1815
and entered France. On 3/6/1815 Murat was replaced by Ferdinand IV, the former King of
Naples.
20/3/1815, Napoleon re-entered Paris; Louis XVIII
had hurriedly left the previous night, and fled for Ghent. British fears that
Elba was too close a place to France to exile Napoleon
were realised.
17/3/1815, Britain,
Russia, Austria and Prussia mobilised 150,000 men each to fight Napoleon.
15/3/1815, On
hearing of Napoleon�s
escape, Joachim
Murat, King of Naples and Napoleon�s brother in law, declared war on
Austria.
14/3/1815,Marshal Ney,
who had been sent to arrest Napoleon at Auxerre, instead joined him with
6,000 men.
7/3/1815, The first
French troops rallied to Napoleon.
1/3/1815, Napoleon landed at Cannes, southern
France, with a force of 1,500 men, and marched on Paris.
26/2/1815, Napoleon escaped from exile on Elba. He
arrived in Paris on 20/3/1815.
2/12/1814, Marquis de Sade died in a lunatic asylum at
Charenton.
1/11/1814, The Congress of
Vienna opened, following Napoleon�s defeat.
30/5/1814. The Treaty of Paris returned France to its 1792
borders (see 20/11/1815). France
renounced all claims to Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, and Malta.
29/5/1814, Death of Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon
Bonaparte.
24/5/1814, Pope Pius VII, exiled by Napoleon
Bonaparte, returned to Rome.
3/5/1814, Louis XVIII entered Paris, to rule as a constitutional
(Bourbon) monarch, ending his
exile in England.
28/4/1814, Napoleon departed from the port of Frejus for Elba.
11/4/1814, Napoleon officially abdicated, see
6/4/1814.
6/4/1814, Napoleon, granted a pension and sovereignty of the island
of Elba, agreed to abdicate at Fontainebleau (he abdicated on 11/4/1814).
He retained the title of Emperor. On 3/5/1814 Napoleon
landed on Elba.
31/3/1814, Paris, encircled, poorly
defended, and flooded with refugees, surrendered.
Marmont
was the French commander who surrendered.
20/3/1814, Napoleon was defeated at Arcis sur Aube, 17 miles NE of
Troyes, leaving the way open for the Allies to occupy Paris.
12/3/1814, British forces
under Wellington
occupied Bordeaux, following, on 10/3/1814, Napoleon�s
defeat at Laon.
17/1/1814, Murat defected from Napoleon�s
rule, and the French domination of Italy
was at risk.
31/12/1813, Prussian forces under Blucher
crossed the Rhine frontier into France, pursuing retreating French forces.
30/12/1813, Danzig surrendered to the Allies, who
then threatened to invade France if Napoleon did not come to terms.
26/12/1813, Modlin and Torgau captured by the Allies.
5/12/1813, Lubeck surrendered to the Allies.�����������
11/11/1813, Dresden surrendered to the Allies.
10/11/1813, Wellington crossed
the frontier into France in pursuit of Marshal Soult.
18/10/1813. Napoleon was
defeated at Leipzig, Saxony, by the Prussians, Swedes, and Austrians.� The French lost
Germany.� Casualties totalled
110,000. See 31/12/1813.
6/9/1813. While trying to
take Berlin, Napoleon�s forces under Marshall Ney
were defeated by the Prussians under Bulow, at Dennewitz.
27/8/1813, Battle of
Dresden, the last major victory of Napoleon.
15/6/1813, Britain formed a
new alliance with Prussia and Russia
against Napoleon.
30/5/1813, The French took Hamburg.
22/5/1813. Napoleon I
defeated an allied army of Russians and Prussians at Bautzen, Saxony.
2/5/1813. Napoleon defeated a combined Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorchen, near Lutzen.
18/3/1813. Russian troops reached Hamburg, and on 27/3/1813 they
occupied Dresden, capital of Saxony.
13/3/1813. Prussia declared war on France, but was defeated at Lutzen and Bautzen.
4/3/1813. The Russians reached Berlin,
which surrendered without a fight.
3/10/1813, Clement
Garnier, French economist, was born (died 25/9/1881).
15/1/1813, Francois Grevy, French President 1879-87, was
born (died 9/9/1891)
11/1/1813, France called up 250,000 men who had become
liable, by age, for military service.
Napoleon ousted from Spain
8/10/1813. Having
liberated Spain from the French, British troops under Wellington invaded
southern France.
12/8/1813. Austria declared war on France.� England was giving financial support to Spain, and the Spaniards together with English troops were advancing from the
south against France.� Napoleon was
therefore now fighting almost the whole of Europe.
21/6/1813. The victory
of Wellington at Vitoria in the Peninsular War. Spain was lost by the French. Napoleon
had deposed the Spanish monarch and replaced him with his own brother, Joseph. However this act provoked major
Spanish popular resistance against France and led to Napoleon�s defeat there.
12/6/1813. Napoleon pulled out of Madrid.
2/11/1812. Napoleon�s forces re-occupied Madrid after a
British force failed to capture Burgos,
which they laid siege to in September 1812.
For more events of Peninsular
War, see Spain-Portugal
12/8/1812. Viscount
Wellington�s British forces entered Madrid in the war against Napoleon�s
brother, Joseph
Bonaparte.
22/7/1812. British
forces under the Duke of Wellington defeat the French at Salamanca, western Spain, during the Peninsular War.
Napoleon
attempts invasion nf Russia. Fails due to Russian scorched earth policy at
Moscow
20/12/1812. The
retreating remains of Napoleon�s Russian invasion force reached eastern Prussia.
26/11/1812, The
Battle of Berezina. The Russians won; French plans to over-winter at
Smolensk had been thwarted.
18/11/1812, Russian forces closing in on the retreating
French in western Russia won the Battle of Polotsk.
16/11/1812, French
troops retreating from Moscow
successfully broke through a Russian roadblock at Krasnoi.
9/11/1812. One of
the worst winters on record in northern Europe began, severely affecting Napoleon�s troops as they retreated from Moscow
(see 14/9/1812). Napoleon�s army endured temperatures as low as �37 C for 27
consecutive days.� On 9/12/1812 Napoleon�s
troops reached the undefended city of Vilnius;
some 35,000 French troops died during the last four days of the march westwards
to Vilnius.� Napoleon
had already fled Vilnius on 5/12/1812, and returned to Paris, abandoning
his army to the Russians. On
10/12/1812 the Russians reached Vilnius and vented their fury on
Napoleon�s army.� Most of the French had
already died of cold, hunger, and disease by the time the Tsar entered Vilnius
on 22/12/1812.
3/11/1812, French
troops retreating from Moscow
successfully broke through a Russian roadblock at Vyazama.
24/10/1812, Battle of
Maloyaroslavets. The French had planned a retreat from Moscow through undamaged
terrain, white they might gather sustenance. However the Russians positioned
artillery to cover the bridges over the River Luzha, which the French had to
cross to achieve this planned retreat. After a series of fierce battles, the
French did capture the town, but the Russian artillery still commanded the
bridges. The French now had no choice but to attempt a retreat through the
devastated terrain they had previously advanced through.
23/10/1812, An anti-Napoleonic
faction in Paris attempted a coup, believing Napoleon to have died in Russia.
19/10/1812, Napoleon�s forces began their retreat from Moscow.
18/10/1812, Russian forces defeated the French at the
Battle of Tarutino, south of Moscow.
16/9/1812, French
troops in Moscow destroyed what the
Russian had left.
14/9/1812. Napoleon entered Moscow, which had been abandoned
and burned by the Russians in their scorched earth policy.� This denied Napoleon�s
army much-needed winter quarters. Winter was approaching (see 9/11/1812)
and Napoleon was forced to retreat. Napoleon
failed to persuade Czar Alexander to come to terms, and his army
began to leave Moscow to return to
France on 19/10/1812.
For Napoleon in Russia see also Russia, 1812
For more events of Peninsular
War see also Spain 1810s
7/9/1812. Napoleon�s forces marching to Moscow
defeated the Russians under Kutzov at the Battle of Borodino, 70 miles
west of the city. Each side lost some 40,000 men.
18/8/1812. Napoleon�s
forces entered Smolensk.
16/8/1812, The
Battle of Smolensk began. The
Russians initially defended the city with a tenacity that the French had not
anticipated, then managed to withdraw to avoid encirclement. The Russians
destroyed all buildings and bridges as they fell back, leaving Napoleon�s
forces having captured nothing but ruins.
24/6/1812. Napoleon began his conquest of Russia. France and Russia had been allies but
relations had deteriorated between them. Russia had refused to support the
Continental Syatem economic blockade against Britain. This day La
Grande Armee crossed the River Niemen into Russia. On 28/6/1812 he captured
Vilnius, capital of Poland. Napoleon
headed the biggest army ever assembled up to that time, 614,000 men of at least
20 different nationalities. Within 6 months, 90% of them would be dead. Napoleon wanted Russia under Tsar Alexander I to join the French blockade of Britain.
Napoleon�s
army was welcomed as he entered Lithuania and Poland, as liberators from the
Russians, who had taken control of these countries in 1795. However Napoleon
was making the same mistake as Hitler was to
make some 130 years later, by attacking Russia when to his west Britian
remained unsiubdued.
26/4/1812, Alfred Krupp,
German arms manufacturer, was born in Essen, in the Ruhr.
28/11/1811, Maximilian II, King of Bavaria, was born (died
10/3/1864).
For more
events of Peninsular war see Spain
31/8/1811, Louis Bougainville, French navigator, died in
in Paris (born in Paris 11/11/1729).
20/3/1811, Napoleon Bonaparte�s son was born; he was nominated as the King of Rome.
1810, The Krupp Works, Essen, Germany, opened.
19/7/1810, Queen Louise of Prussia died, aged 34.
10/7/1810, Louise, Queen of Prussia, died (born
10/3/1776).
2/4/1810, Napoleon married Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian
Emperor, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the
royal nursery.
17/2/1810, Napoleon annexed the Papal States.
4/2/1810, Czar Alexander refused Napoleon
the hand of his sister Anna, aged 15.
16/12/1809, Napoleon divorced Josephine Beauharnais, because she has not given him a son, during their
13-year marriage.
15/7/1809, Napoleon Bonaparte annulled his marriage to Josephine. He married the
Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise in April 1810.
6/7/1809, Napoleon gained victory at Wagram over Austria. Pope Pius VII
was arrested.� Austria had tried to
regain its old position whilst Napoleon was occupied in Spain.� See 14/10/1809.
5/7/1809, Napoleon annexed
the Papal States.
10/6/1809, Napoleon was excommunicated by Pope Pius VII. On 6/7/1809
Pope Pius was arrested for this act.
21/5/1809, Battle of Aspern-Essling,
fought between Napoleon�s French
troops and the Austrians.� Napoleon
lost.� Austria had reopened hostilities
against France in 1809, with a re-organised army.� However Napoleon
reacted swiftly and pushed down the Danube to occupy Vienna.
17/5/1809,
The French under Napoleon annexed the
Papal States. Pope Pius VII then
excommunicated Napoleon, who in
return held the Pope prisoner.
22/4/1809, Napoleon defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Eckmuhl.
20/4/1809, Napoleon inflicted a major defeat on the Austrian Army under
Archduke
Louis and General Hiller at
Abensburg, Bavaria.
10/4/1809. Austria declared war on France and its army entered
Bavaria.
12/3/1809. Britain signed a treaty with Persia, forcing the French
out of the country.
14/10/1808, The closure of
the Conference of Erfurt (began 27/9/1808); a settlement of European affairs
between Napoleon
I of France and Czar Alexander I of Russia. It was also
attended by the 34 princes of the Confederation of the Rhine. In return for
territorial gains in Europe (Finland, Moldova and Wallachia) Alexander I
agreed not to hinder the French war effort in Spain, and to assist Franc if it
was attacked by Austria.
Napoleon in
Spain and Portugal, 1808-10
For more events of Peninsular
War see also Spain 1810s
27/9/1810, (Spain) Wellington defeated the French at Busaco, in the Peninsular
War.
Wellington then withdrew behind the Lines (fortifications) of Torres Vedras which Wellington
had built to protect Lisbon and waited as the French forces starved and retreated.
28/7/1809, At the Battle of Talavera,
in the Peninsular War, the Duke of
Wellington was victorious over the French Admiral Soult.
16/1/1809,
The British won a rearguard action against the French, under Nicolas Soult, at Corunna in the Peninsular War.
Britain had invaded Spain in the hope of raising anti-Napoleonic support but
found this lacking. Corunna enabled the British forces to be successfully
evacuated. However the British commander, Sir John Moore, was killed in this battle.
3/12/1808,
Napoleon entered Madrid. He installed Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain.
21/8/1808,
British troops under Wellington defeated
the French under General Junot.� This was at the Battle of Vimiero, during the Peninsular War.� The Peninsular War absorbed
some 300,000 of Napoleon�s best troops, and�
was ended when Napoleon heard reports
that Austria, backed by Britain, was arming against him.
20/7/1808,
Joseph
Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, entered Madrid; meanwhile Spanish
patriots defeated the French army at Bailen.
1/5/1808,
King Charles
IV of Spain abdicated in
favour of Joseph
Bonaparte.
29/11/1807,
The Portuguese Royal Family fled to Brazil as France invaded Portugal, which
had refused to join the Continental System.
2/5/1808, The people of
Madrid rebelled against Napoleon�s rule. The French had replaced the Spanish
monarch with Napoleon�s
elder brother, Joseph.
Moreover, Marshal
Joachim Murat proposed removing the children of the Royal Family to
France. This precipitated a riot with a crowd assembled at the Royal Palace to
prevent this removal. The French dealty with the protest harshly, killing many,
which merely inflamed matters further.
23/3/1808, French forces
occupied Madrid.
13/7/1808, Marie MacMahon, French
President, was born (died 17/10/1893).
20/4/1808, Napoleon III, Emperor of France, was born.
2/2/1808, French forces occupied Rome.
17/12/1807, The Milan Decree
was issued.
5/9/1807, British forces seized the
North Sea island of Heligoland from Denmark. In 1980 Britain ceded the island
to Germany in return for Zanzibar.
2/9/1807, Britain bombarded and
destroyed the Danish
fleet at Copenhagen, to prevent its use by France or Russia.
18/8/1807, Napoleon I created the Kingdom of Westphalia, and set up his
brother Jerome
as ruler.
Napoleon�s gains in Poland and Russia, 1806-07
11/11/1807, Britain extended its naval blockade to
Russia after the Anglo-Russian alliance against France was broken, see 7/7/1807.
7/7/1807. Napoleon signed the Treaty
of Tilsit, making peace with Russia and Prussia.� Prussia
continued to exist as a kingdom, but was forced to cede all its lands west of
the Elbe, as well as most of its recent acquisitions in Poland.� Out of the former Prussian territory between
the Elbe and the Weser, Napoleon
created the Kingdom of Westphalia,
installing his brother Jerome as King. Napoleon
and Alexander of Russia ostensibly saw themselves as Emperors of the West and
East respectively. Only the stubborn resistance of Britain marred this vision.
However the underlying truth was that Russia and France were ultimately in
conflict, not allies, as they both wanted to control the Near East, from Turkey
to Palestine.
25/6/1807, Napoleon
and Tsar
Alexander held talks at Tilsit.
14/6/1807. Napoleon gained victory at
Friedland Prussia, against the Russians,
under Levin
Bennigsen.
26/5/1807,
The French took Danzig.
8/2/1807, Napoleon�s army fought a
combined force of Russians and Prussians at Eylau, East Prussia.� Napoleon�s advance into Poland
was halted, temporarily.
26/12/1806,
Battle of Pultusk, fought 60 km NNE
of Warsaw, between the Russians and the French. The French came off slightly
better, although both sides claimed victory.
22/5/1807, Henry Edgeworth
de Firmont, last confessor to Louis XVI, died (born 1745).
4/5/1807. The Finkenstein Treaty was signed between France and Persia. The
French agreed to military aid and advice, to assist Persia in expelling the Russians
from Georgia. In return Persia pro missed to assist France in any French
invasion of British-held
India.
18/3/1807, British
troops occupied Alexandria,
but were forced out again by the Turks.
17/3/1807, Karl
Mathy, Baden statesman who worked for German unity, and who helpo
found the newspaper Deutsche Zeitung,
which promoted the unification of the German states, was born (died 3/2/1868).
21/11/1806. Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree forbidding the
importation of British goods and even excluding
from harbours under his control or in friendly countries any vessel that
had touched at a British port. This was effectively an economic blockade of
Britain, causing British food prices to rise and the
British textile industry to decline. However ultimately this Napoleonic �Continental System�
did more harm to France than to Britain, and France abandoned it in 1813. To
make it work Napoleon had to control ever more of the European coastline,
against hostile pop[ulations, yet Britain could still freely trade outside of
Europe.
27/10/1806, French forces
entered Berlin. Creation of the Confederation of the Rhine.� Napoleon united the states he had created,
including Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and Berg.� The Confederation of the Rhine had an
independent internal policy but no foreign policy independent of Napoleon,
and had to supply troops to Napoleon if required.� The
old German Empire ceased to exist politically; Germany became a mere
geographical area.
14/10/1806. Napoleon�s army defeated
the Prussians at Jena. The French General Davout also defeated the Prussians
this day at Auerstadt.� Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph and Frederick William had to flee to
Konigsberg.
6/8/1806, Francis II renounced the crown of the Holy
Roman Empire.
16/5/1806. Britain blockaded the European coast from Brest to
Hamburg.
15/2/1806. France and
Prussia signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Prussia closed its ports to
British goods. Britain declared war on Prussia.
23/1/1806. William Pitt the Younger, twice Prime Minister
(the first when only 24), died at Putney aged 47. He was buried in Westminster
Abbey. Napoleon was
still strong in Europe. Prussia, who had been reluctant to join the Allies, now
had to live with French domination of the puppet state of the Confederation of
the Rhine.
31/12/1805. The French
Revolutionary Calendar introduced
after the Revolution was abandoned
for the Gregorian Calendar.
14/12/1805, Nelson blockaded the French Mediterranean ports, and Spain
declared war on Britain.
2/12/1805. Battle of Austerlitz near Brunn, Moravia. The French
under Napoleon I defeated a combined force
of the Russians and Austrians.
Napoleon, with 70,000 troops, faced an enemy reinforced to 86,000 men by the
arrival of new Russian troops. A Russian attempt to outflank Napoleon�s right was
thwarted by Napoleon�s thrust towards the weakened Allied centre. The Allies
lost 18,500 men to just 900 French casualties. Austria sued for peace, and was
forced to abandon her territorial interests in Italy, also losing lands in the
western Alps. The British Prime Minister, Pitt, was
dismayed.� The Russians withdrew from
fighting France, and Napoleon now occupied much of southern Germany.� See 26/12/1805.
14/11/1805. Napoleon�s army entered Vienna.
21/10/1805. Battle of Trafalgar. Death of Nelson. Nelson blockaded the combined fleets of France
and Spain in Cadiz. The French Admiral, Villeneuve, attempted to break out, but British
ships sank or captured most of the French and Spanish ships. The French had
planned to link up with the Spanish fleet in the West Indies and so lure the
British into giving chase across the Atlantic. However Nelson guessed at the French
tactics and the Admiralty was warned. A British fleet under Calder found the
French fleet off Cape Finistere and they put into Spanish harbours. The French
fleet later emerged to sail, not for Britain, but to return to the
Mediterranean. The French were intercepted off Cape Trafalgar, and destroyed in
the Battle
of Trafalgar. This destroyed Napoleon�s chances of dominating the English
Channel, so prevented a French invasion of England.
20/10/1805, The outnumbered
French army of Napoleon defeated an
Austrian army at Ulm;27,000 Austrian troops surrendered. Napoleon had already realised he cold not gain
control of the English Channel, or overcome British naval supremacy, so before
the Battle of Trafalgar he had directed his forces eastwards, against Austria.
Austria had to submit to the Treaty of
Presburg, by which Venetia was ceded to the French Kingdom of Italy and the
States of the Lower Rhine were forced into the Confederation of the Rhine, a
French dependency. The Electors of Bavaria and Wurttemberg became Kings independent
of Austria, and Austria had to pay Napoleon a war contribution of 40 million
francs.
15/10/1805, Karl Mack, Prussian General, was forced to surrender to Napoleon at Ulm.
26/5/1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.
2/12/1804, Napoleon
Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of
France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by Pope Pius VII.
1/12/1804, Napoleon Bonaparte married
Josephine of Martinique.
10/6/1804, Georges Cadoudal, French Royalist, was
executed in France (born 1771).
21/5/1804, The Pere
Lachaise cemetery was opened in Paris.
18/5/1804, Napoleon
Bonaparte was appointed Emperor of
France. He was crowned Emperor on
2/12/1804 in the presence of Pope Pius VII. He had ruled in name since he
was made Consul for Life in 1802, when a referendum gave him 3 million votes,
with only a few thousand against. He had reformed the economy and government,
and made France a great power again.
21/3/1804, A new civil code,
the Code Napoleon, came into force in
Paris.
20/3/1804, The Duc d�Enghien
was shot at Vincennes for plotting to restore the French monarchy.
9/1/1804, Aurelle de
Paladines, French General, was born in Malzieu, Lozere (died in
Versailles 17/12/1877).
2/12/1803 , The French
army set up camp at Boulogne, preparing to invade England.
18/3/1803, France and
England were at war again, in
contravention of the Treaty of Amiens,
signed in 1802 See 25/3/1802.
2/8/1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was made Consul for life.
19/5/1802, France instituted the Legion d�Honneur, the
highest award for civil or military distinction.
18/5/1802, Britain declared war on Napoleonic France.
25/3/1802, The Treaty of Amiens was signed between the British, Spanish,
Dutch, and the French, ushering in a fragile peace between the 2 countries that lasted just over 12
months.� Both counties were exhausted from continual warfare.� Napoleon
still detested the British and
both countries built up their navies as Britain
still feared a French invasion. See 18/5/1803.
15/7/1801, The Roman
Catholic Church was re-established in France.
2/4/1801, Nelson put his blind eye to his telescope at the Battle of Copenhagen, aboard the Elephant,
thus failing to see Admiral Parker�s command to stop fighting. He continued the action until the French-Danish fleet was totally
subdued.
21/3/1801, At the Battle of
Alexandria, The French made a surprise attack on the British near
Alexandria, Egypt. The
British under General
Abercrombie defeated the French, but Abercrombie himself was mortally
wounded.
2/3/1801, The British
landed a force at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, to
try and evict the French from that country.
9/2/1801, By the Peace of Luneville, the cession of the
west bank of the Rhine to France was confirmed. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.
See also Egypt for British-French military
conflict 1801 in Egypt
24/12/1800. An unsuccessful
attempt was made on Napoleon�s life
at Rue St Nicaise by French Royalists.
3/12/1800, Battle of Hohenstaufen; the French defeated the Austrians.
26/10/1800, Helmuth von Moltke, Prussian general, was born
in Mecklenberg.
30/9/1800, Napoleon signed the Treaty
of Mortefontaine, settling a naval dispute between France and America.
13/9/1800, Claud Martin, French adventurer,
died (born 4/1/1735).
5/9/1800, French troops
occupying Malta surrendered to Britain.
13/2/1800, Bank of France was
founded.
7/2/1800, French plebiscite gave 3
million votes in favour of the new Constitution and just 1,500 against.
21/11/1798, Jerome Blanqui, French economist, was born in
Nice (died 1854).
France won control of Italy
14/6/1800. At the Battle of Marengo, near Alessandria,
north west Italy,
the French under Napoleon heavily defeated the Austrians during
the French Revolutionary Wars.�
The French won back Italy, gaining control of the Po Valley, and then advanced
into southern Germany.
9/6/1800,
Napoleon won the Battle of Montebello,
south of Milan.
2/6/1800,
Napoleon�s army occupied Milan.
17/5/1800,
Napoleon�s army reached Aosta. Italy,
having traversed the Great St Bernard Pass.
14/5/1800,
Napoleon�s army reached Martigny on its
march south east into Italy.
24/3/1800, A
French army under Kleber defeated the Turks at Heliopolis.
Napoleon became dictator
19/2/1800, Napoleon
Bonaparte appointed himself First
Consul of the newly formed French dictatorship.
9/1/1800, Jean
Championnet, French General, died (born 1762).
24/12/1799, In France, a
public referendum led to the end of the French
Revolution and the founding of the First Republic.
15/12/1799, France
declared a new constitution.
9/11/1799, After a
coup, Corsican General
Napoleon Bonaparte
was appointed Consul, with Sieyes and Ducis. He made his name at the
defeat of the British fleet at the revolt of Toulon, 1793.
Napoleon
invades Egypt, strategic position against Britain and Ottomans
9/10/1799, Napoleon returned to France.
25/9/1799, Napoleon gained victory at Zurich.
18/9/1799, Napoleon gained victory at Alkmaar, Holland.
23/8/1799. Leaving
the French Army under Kleber, Napoleon
left to return to France.
15/8/1799, Napoleon
was defeated at Novi.
25/7/1799. Napoleon gained victory over the Turks at Aboukir.
7/6/1799, Battle of
Zurich. Napoleon
defeated a Russian army.
10/5/1799, Napoleon withdrew from attacking Acre after an 8th
unsuccessful assault.
29/12/1798, Formation
of the Second Coalition against France; Britain, Austria, Russia, Naples and Portugal.
9/9/1798, The Ottoman Empire declared war on France
because of its occupation of Egypt.
1/8/1798, At the
Battle of the Nile, at Aboukir Bay, Admiral Nelson,
on the ship Vanguard, destroyed 11 out of 13 French battleships which
were the convoy that took Napoleon to Egypt.� The French commander was Brueys, aboard the ship L�Orient.� The crew were mostly ashore getting water,
leaving no one to man the 120 French guns. This
effectively trapped the French Army in Egypt.� Five French ships with 5,000 men were sunk, 2
ships were captured, and 2 ships managed to escape from Nelson.� On 10/2/1799 Napoleon left Egypt for Syria, occupying Gaza on 24/2/1799. On 7/3/1799 Napoleon captured Jaffa, where his soldiers massacred over 2,0000 Albanian prisoners.
On 17/5/1799 Napoleon
lifted the siege of Acre after
failing to capture it.
21/7/1798, At the Battle of the Pyramids, Napoleon,
soon after his invasion of Egypt,
defeated an army of some 60,000 Mamelukes.
Napoleon now intended
to establish a French base in Egypt from where he could harass British-India
sea traffic. He could also attack
the Ottoman Empire form here via Syria. He sought to assure the ulema, the
Egyptian intelligentsia, that he was no modern Crusader but had come to empower
them and facilitate Egyptian self-rule independent of the Ottomans. However
the Egyptians were not yet ready for such self-determination, and failed to
follow the French initiatives.
2/7/1798, The
French invaded Egypt, see 31/8/1801.
13/6/1798, Johann Baehr, German scholar, was born in
Darmstadt (died in Heidelberg, 29/11/1872).
16/11/1797, Death of Prussian King Frederick William II, aged 53. He was succeeded by Frederick William III.
22/3/1797, Wilhelm I, Emperor of Germany, was born.
Napoleon
begins invasion of Europe; plans to invade Egypt
11/6/1798. Malta surrendered to Napoleon
Bonaparte. On 2/9/1798 the
Maltese revolted against French occupation, forcing the French troops to take
refuge in the citadel of Valetta.
19/5/1798. Napoleon left France for Egypt.
11/2/1798, French troops captured Rome.
17/10/1797. Napoleon made peace with Austria at Campo-Formio.� Austria to cede the Belgian provinces to
France in return for Venice, Dalmatia and Istria.
4/9/1797, A French
army coup halted the plans of British backed Royalists in Paris.
25/6/1797. Admiral Nelson was wounded in the
right arm by grapeshot, during the Battle of Santa Cruz, off Tenerife.� He had the arm amputated that afternoon.
14/5/1797, Napoleon
conquered Venice.
18/4/1797� Napoleon signed preliminaries of peace with
Austria.
13/4/1797, Napoleon captured Leoben on his advance from
Italy into Austria.
22/3/1797, Napoleon captured Gorizia, in an advance from Italy into Austria..
19/2/1797, Napoleon captured Tolentino, Italy, where he
signed a treaty with the Papacy (The
Peace of Tolentino)
9/2/1797, Napoleon captured Ancona, Italy.
2/2/1797, Napoleon captured Mantua, Italy.
1/2/1797, Napoleon captured Bologna, Italy.
14/1/1797, Battle of
Rivoli. Napoleon�s
first decisive victory over the Austrians.
15/12/1796, A French
fleet under General
Hoche sailed from Brest to invade Ireland. However a storm dispersed
the fleet off Kerry and the invasion was called off.
5/10/1796. Spain declared war on Britain
by signing the Treaty of San Il Defonso, allying it with Revolutionary
France. The Treaty was engineered by Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, lover of King Charles IV�s wife Maria Luisa.
De Godoy
was opposed to monarchist Britain.
Many ordinary Spanish opposed the Treaty, which diminished Spain as an imperial
power and weakened her influence in The Americas.
30/6/1796, Napoleon marched into central Italy, taking
Florence this day.
23/6/1796, Pope Pius VI
signed an armistice with Napoleon.
3/6/1796, Napoleon advanced to Verona, thereby securing
all of Austrian Lombardy.
17/5/1796, Napoleon advanced to Brescia.
15/5/1796, Napoleon occupied Milan.
10/5/1796, Napoleon won the Battle of Lodi against the
Austrians. Napoleon was greeted in Milan
as a liberator of the city from Austrian rule.
28/4/1796, Napoleon reached an armistice with Sardinia.
13/4/1796, Napoleon won the Battle of Millesimo.
10/3/1796. Napoleon gained victory at the Battle of Lodi.
9/3/1796. Napoleon married Josephine de
Beautharnais.
2/3/1796.
Napoleon was appointed Commander in
Chief of the Army of Italy and The Alps.
26/10/1795.
Napoleon was appointed General of the
Army of the Interior.
5/10/1795.
Napoleon participated in defeating a
Royalist uprising in Paris. He became Commander of the Army of the Interior.
20/8/1794,
Napoleon was released, see 10/8/1794.
10/8/1794,
In France, Napoleon
Bonaparte was briefly arrested because of his connections with the
Jacobins, a radical political group.
18/12/1793.
The British withdrew from Toulon and Napoleon was appointed General de Brigade.
11/6/1793,
Napoleon had to leave Corsica with
his family and went to Toulon.
1/10/1795, Belgium was incorporated in the French Republic.
15/7/1795. The Marsellaise was officially adopted as the French National Anthem. It had been written by the French
Army Captain Rouget de Lisle in 1792, whilst he was
stationed at Strasbourg.
27/6/1795, A force of French
Royalists, under D�Hervilly and Puisaye, landed at Quiberon to try and start a
pro-monarchist rebellion. They were defeated by General Hoche, all prisoners
being shot.
23/6/1795, Off the
port of Lorient, NW France, a British fleet under Lord Bridport defeated the
French under Villaret-Joyeuse.
23/5/1795, In Paris troops suppressed a riot
caused by food shortages.
5/4/1795, Frederick William of Prussia signed a peace
treaty with France (First Treaty of Basle), to leave himself free to deal with
his eastern frontier.� The west bank of the Rhine was given to
France.
1/4/1795, Martial law was declared in Paris as
food shortages sparked riots.
2/1/1795, The French captured the
Dutch fleet as it stood frozen into the River Texel. William V escaped to
England as the French established a Batavian Republic.
12/7/1794. Admiral Nelson
lost his right eye at the siege of the French garrison at Calvi in Corsica.
26/6/1794, The French defeated the Austrians at the Battle of
Fleurus.
1/6/1794, The Battle of the Glorious 1st June. The British
fleet under Lord
Howe defeated the French under Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, 700km west of
Ushant.
8/11/1793, In Paris, the
Revolutionary Government allowed the public to view the Royal art collection
for the first time.
1/8/1793, The kilogram was introduced in France as the first metric weight.
Many executed as Reign of Terror progressed
31/10/1795,
Saturday (-54,610) The French Executive Directory was elected.
10/10/1795, Joseph le Bon,
French politician, was executed (born 29/9/1765).
23/9/1795, France
proclaimed a new Constitution.
31/5/1795, France
suspended the Revolutionary Tribunal.
7/5/1795,
Antoine
Fouquier-Tinville, French revolutionary, was guillotined (born 1746).
21/1/1795, France granted freedom of worship.
16/11/1794,
Jean Carrier,
French Revolutionary, was guillotined (born 1756).
31/7/1794, In the two months of June and July, the French guillotine had claimed 1,285
victims.
28/7/1794, Maximillien
Robespierre, 36, French leader of the
Jacobins during the French Revolution, was guillotined in Paris.
Anti-Jacobin sentiment rose. Robespierre�s zeal for use of the guillotine
made even his former friends uneasy. See 27/7/1793.
17/7/1794, The Paris Commune, set up in 1791, was suppressed.
10/5/1794,
Elizabeth,
daughter of Louis
the Dauphin, born 3/5/1764, was executed.
28/4/1794,
Charles
Estaing, French Admiral, born 1729, was executed for his close relations
to the French Queen.
23/4/1794, Chretien
Malesherbes, French statesman, was guillotined (born 6/12/1721).
22/4/1794,
Jean
Epremesnil, French magistrate, was guillotined (born 5/12/1745).
12/4/1794,
Jean Gobel,
French politician, was guillotined (born 1/9/1727)
5/4/1794,
George
Jacques Danton, French revolutionary leader, was guillotined
for treason, nine months after his dismissal from the Committee of Public
Safety which was ruling France.
24/3/1794,
Jean Cloots,
French Revolutionary, was guillotined.
7/12/1793,
Madame du
Barry, last mistress of King Louis XV of France, was guillotined by the Revolutionary
Council.
4/12/1793, Armand
Kersaint, French politician, was executed (born 29/7/1742).
29/11/1793,
Antoine
Barnave, orator of the French Revolution, was executed at The Tuileries (born
in Grenoble 22/10/1761).
24/11/1793, Clement
Laverdy, Fremnch statesman, was guillotined.
3/11/1793,
Execution by guillotine
of French playwright Olympe de Gouges, Horrified by the bloodshed
that was characterising the French Revolution, she had called for a referendum
that would let the people decide between a Republic or restoration of the
monarchy. She was executed along with other moderate Girondists.
31/10/1793,
Jacques
Brissot. French Girondist,
was executed.
30/10/1793,
Claude
Fauchet, French Revolutionary Bishop, was executed (born 22/9/1744).
16/10/1793,
Marie Antoinette, born 2/11/1755, the Queen of France as wife
of Louis XVI, was convicted of
treason and guillotined in Paris. See
21/7/1793. Aged 38, she had been held in prison for over a year; since August
in solitary confinement.
5/10/1793, France
adopted the Revolutionary Calendar.
Start of the Reign of Terror, 1793
17/9/1793, Revolutionary
France passed the Law of Suspects. This was a wide-ranging measure that authorised the
arrest of anyone who had supported tyranny or federalism, former nobles and
their relatives, also emigres. It was the basis for the Reign of Terror, and was
repealed in 1795. Some 70% of the
victims of The Terror were peasants and labourers, accused of rebellion against
the State.
27/8/1793, The British occupied Toulon, France.
23/8/1793,
France introduced the first national
conscription, claiming all unmarried men aged 18 to 25.
27/7/1793,
Maximilian
Robespierre, Jacobin leader,
became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, established to guard against
an attack on France by neighbouring countries after the execution of King Louis XVI.
See 28/7/1794. Robespierre was now effectively Dictator of France.
17/7/1793,
Charlotte
Corday was guillotined for the murder of Jean Paul Marat, see 13/7/1793.
13/7/1793,
Jean Paul
Marat, French Revolutionary,
was stabbed to death by a Girondist (right-wing) supporter, Charlotte
Corday. Marat�s zeal for execution of royalty and
government ministers had made him many enemies.
2/6/1793, In an early act of the reign of Terror (French Revolution), Jean-Paul Marat
led the expulsion of 31 Girondists from the French National Convention.
31/5/1793,
The Reign of Terror, in which
thousands went to the guillotine, in the French Revolution, began.
6/4/1793, In
France, the Committee of Public Safety was formed.
10/3/1793, France
created the Revolutionary
Tribunal.
French Revolution suffers adverse events; sense of crisis
6/4/1793,
French General Dumouriez was defeated at the Battle of Jemappes, and the French
driven out of Holland. Dumouriez subsequently defected to the Austrians.
20/3/1793, An army of
peasant Royalists defeated the Republicans in the Vendee region of France. See14/3/1793.
18/3/1793, Austrian
forces defeated a French Revolutionary Army at the Battle of Neerwinden.
14/3/1793, A force of counter-revolutionaries in western France
was trying to restore the monarchy.
See 20/3/1793.
11/3/1793, In
France, start of a counter Revolution in the Vendee.
7/3/1793, France declared war on Austria, and also on Spain
on 7/3/1793.
1/2/1793, Britain declared war on France. The
British economy entered a depression.
21/1/1793, The county of Nice was annexed to France. Monaco
was annexed to France on 14/2/1792.
19/11/1792, The new French Republican Government offered to
help any other nation that wished to overthrow its monarchy; Britain saw this
as provocative.
6/11/1792, �The French
under General Dumouriez decisively
defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Jenappes, Belgium. As a result of this
battle, the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) were annexed by revolutionary
France.
27/10/1792, France invaded the Spanish Netherlands.
30/9/1792, French troops took Speyer, in the Rhineland.
Final
elimination of French Royal Family
21/1/1793, Louis XVI, King of France since 1774, was executed by guillotine in the Place de la
Revolution, Paris, convicted of treason.
The executioner was called Sanson. His trial had ended with the death
sentence on 19/1/1793. See 16/10/1793.
22/9/1792, This day was declared the beginning of Year
One of the New French Republic. A new �Revolutionary Calendar� was
introduced, consisting of 12 30-day months divided into 3 10-day weeks. The
months were given names corresponding to the prevailing weather or harvest
conditions. An extra 5 days (6 in leap years) were added as holidays at the end
of each year. This calendar ran in France until it was abolished in 1805 by
Napoleon I.
21/9/1792. France formally
abolished the monarchy and declared itself a Republic.
17/9/1792, The
French Crown jewels were stolen in Paris.
19/8/1792, The
French Revolutionary Tribunals were set up. They were created to try �political
offenders�, but soon became a convenient means to bypass the regular Court
system for anyone troublesome. The Revolutionary
tribunal of Paris sentenced to death 2,639 people, and other Revolutionary Courts
condemned a further 17,000. There were a further 40,000 victims, who died in
summary mass executions across France. The Revolutionary Tribunals were
finally abolished in May 1795.
11/8/1792, Robespierre was elected to
the Commune (French Revolutionary Government).
10/8/1792, The
French mob invaded the Palace of Versailles. The French Royal Family was imprisoned. Napoleon participated
in the assault on the Tuileries Palace.
20/9/1792, The Battle
of Valmy.� The Prussians failed to
successfully attack the French, in wet marshy conditions, and retreated; the
French considered it a victory.
2/9/1792, Rumours spread in Paris that imprisoned Royalists
were planning a counter-revolution. This day mobs attacked prisoners being
transferred between jails in Paris, and the killing then spread to numerous
provicvial prisons. Some 1,200 prisoners were killed in 5 days.
20/8/1792, The
Prussian army took Verdun.
14/7/1792. The Prussians threatened to invade France to
restore the French monarchy. However an attempted Prussian invasion of France
failed.
25/4/1792.� The
guillotine was first erected in Paris, at the Place de la Greve. It was
first used to behead a highwayman called Pelletier. The guillotine had been
designed to make executions more humane but swiftly became a symbol of the
tyranny of the French Revolution. Beheading took less than half a second.
In fact a version of the guillotine was in use in Ireland as early as 1307. During the French Revolution an estimated 40,000
people were guillotined.
The last public execution in France was
on 17/6/1939 and the guillotine was last officially used in France
on 10/9/1977. See 20/3/1792.
24/4/1792. Claude Rouget de l�Isle composed the French
National Anthem, the Marseillaise.
20/4/1792. France declared war on Austria. Austria was
allied with Prussia but there was disunity between the two commanders. In
1793 England and Holland joined in against France, which was attempting to
annex Belgium, an Austrian possession. Ultimately Austria received Bavaria
as a compensation for Belgium going to France.
20/3/1792, The French legislature approved the use of the guillotine, see 25/4/1792.
1/3/1792, Leopold III, Holy Roman Emperor, died unexpectedly, aged 44. He was succeeded by his
24-year old son, Francis II, last of
the Holy Roman Emperors.
6/10/1790, Leopold was crowned Holy Roman Emperor at
Frankfort.
20/2/1790, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, died. His
reforms had provoked rebellion in Belgium and Hungary.
Prussia attacked the new Revolutionary French regime, failed
20/2/1792, The Battle of Valmy. French
Revolutionary forces successfully drove back an invading Prussian force. This
greatly boosted French Revolutionary morale.
7/2/1792, Austria and Prussia signed a military
alliance against France.
French
Revolution, King Louis XVI arrested and deposed
24/1/1792. In
Paris, five days of looting ended in a riot as the cost of living soared.
12/12/1791, Marie Louise, 2nd wife of Napoleon I, was born (died 18/12/1847).
1/10/1791, In France, first session of the Legislative
Assembly.
21/9/1791, The National Assembly announced that France
was now officially a Republic.
9/9/1791. French
Royalists
took control of Arles and barricaded themselves inside the town.
4/9/1791, King Louis XVI was forced to approve the new French constitution, making him a mere civil servant.
27/8/1791, European
monarchs backed King
Louis XVI against the Revolution.
16/7/1791,
Louis XVI was
suspended from office until he agreed to ratify the new French Constitution.
21/6/1791, The French royal family attempted to flee Paris in disguise but are forced to return after being arrested at Varennes. The King, disguised as a valet, intended to meet supporters at Pont de Sommeville but they were delayed and the villagers got suspicious of the soldiers, who had to hide in the woods and� got lost. The King pressed on to Varennes, 14