Germany Timeline

1287 Dec 14 St. Lucia's Flood
St. Lucia's flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on December 14, 1287 (the day after St. Lucia Day) when a dike broke during a storm...
1450 Johannes Gutenburg Begins Operation of First Mechanical Printing Press
Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors (which were believed to capture holy light from religious relics) for sale to pilgrims to Aac...
1454 First Copies of the Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was one of the first books printed in Europe. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gute...
1622 May 6 Battle of Wimpfen
The Battle of Wimpfen was a battle in the Bohemian Revolt period of the Thirty Years' War on May 6, 1622 near Wimpfen. The forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic League under Marsha...
1622 Jun 20 Battle of Höchst
The Battle of Höchst was fought on June 20, 1622, between the combined army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly, and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba against Protestant forces led by Chris...
1623 Aug 6 Battle of Stadtlohn
The Battle of Stadtlohn was fought on August 6, 1623 between Roman Catholic and Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War. The Catholics were led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly,...
1626 Aug 27 Battle of Lutter am Berenberge
The Battle of Lutter (Lutter am Barenberge) took place during the Thirty Years' War, on 27 August 1626, between the forces of the Protestant Christian IV of Denmark and those of the Catho...
1628 Jul 5 Battle of Stralsund
The Battle of Stralsund was a battle of the Thirty Years' War, fought starting July 5, 1628, between the Holy Roman Empire and an alliance of the Swedes, Scots, and the inhabitants of Str...
1628 Aug 12 Battle of Wolgast
Christian IV of Denmark, encouraged by his successes at Stralsund, assembled another army off the German coast on the Island of Usedom. This landed at the mouth of the Oder and progressed...
1630 Nov
to 1631 May
Sack of Magdeburg
The Sack of Magdeburg (German: Magdeburgs Opfergang or German: Magdeburger Hochzeit) refers to the siege and subsequent plundering of Magdeburg by the army of the Holy Roman Empire during...
1631 Jul 22 Battle of Werben
The Battle of Werben was a battle of the Thirty Years' War, fought on July 22, 1631, between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. The Swedes had 16,000 soldiers and were led by G...
1631 Sep 17 Battle of Breitenfeld
The Battle of Breitenfeld (German: Schlacht bei Breitenfeld; Swedish: Slaget vid Breitenfeld) or First Battle of Breitenfeld (sometimes First Breitenfeld) , was fought at the crossroads v...
1632 The Siege of Nürnberg
The Siege of Nuremberg or Siege of Nürnberg was a battle campaign that took place in 1632 about the Imperial Free City of Nürnberg (Nuremberg) during the Thirty Years' War. In 1632, ra...
1632 Nov 16 Battle of Lützen
The Battle of Lützen (1632) was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Prote...
1634 Sep 6
to 1634 Sep 7
 Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
The Battle of Nördlingen (Spanish: Batalla de Nördlingen; German: Schlacht bei Nördlingen; Swedish: Slaget vid Nördlingen) was fought on 27 August (Julian calendar) or 6 September (Gregor...
1636 Oct 4 Battle of Wittstock
The Battle of Wittstock was fought on 24 September (Julian calendar) or 4 October (Gregorian calendar) 1636, between a Protestant Swedish army and an alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and...
1638 Feb 28
to 1638 Mar 3
 Battle of Rheinfelden
The Battle of Rheinfelden was in fact two battles fought in 1638 to the north and south of the present-day town of Rheinfelden between a mercenary army led by Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and ...
1638 Dec 17 The Siege of Breisach Ends in a French Victory
Battle of Breisach was fought on August 18 — December 17, 1638 as part of Thirty Years' War. It ended when a garrison of the Holy Roman Empire surrended to the French, commanded by Bernar...
1642 Oct 23 Second Battle of Breitenfeld
The Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig (October 23, 1642), took place at Breitenfeld (4 miles north-east of Leipzig), Germany, during the Thirty Years...
1643 Nov 24 Battle of Tuttlingen
The Battle of Tuttlingen was fought in Tuttlingen on November 24, 1643. Those involved in the conflict were the French forces led by Marshal Josias Rantzau and the armies of the Holy Roma...
1644 Aug 3
to 1644 Aug 9
 Battle of Freiburg
The Battle of Freiburg, also called the Three Day Battle, took place on August 3, August 5 and August 9, 1644 as part of the Thirty Years' War. The entrenched Bavarians led by Franz von M...
1644 Nov 23 Battle of Jüterbog
Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson had unexpectedly marched into Jutland in September 1643. While engaged in operations there, an Imperial army under the command of Count Matthias Gallas ve...
1645 May 2 Battle of Mergentheim
The Battle of Herbsthausen, or the Battle of Mergentheim, was fought on May 2, 1645.The battle was between French forces led by Marshal Turenne and the Bavarian army led by Franz von Merc...
1645 Aug 3 Second Battle of Nördlingen
The second Battle of Nördlingen (or Battle of Allerheim) was fought on August 3, 1645 southeast of Nördlingen near the village of Alerheim. France and its Protestant German allies defeate...
1648 May 15
to 1648 Oct 24
 The Peace of Westphalia is Achieved through the Treaties of Osnabrück and Münster
The term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thi...
1756
to 1763
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a major military conflict that lasted from 1756, as a result of the French and Indian War that erupted in North America in 1754, until the conclusion of the treat...
1791 Brandenburg Gate Completed
The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city center at the junction of Unter de...
1796 Alois Senefelder Invents Lithography
Problems with the printing of [Alois's] play Mathilde von Altenstein caused him to fall into debt, and unable to afford to publish a new play he had written, Senefelder experimented with ...
1875 Dec Plot Leads to Major Catastrophe
Alexander 'Sandy' Keith, Jr. was a notorious nineteenth century criminal from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Keith was born in 1827 in Caithness, Scotland, immigrating to Halifax when he was a ...
1880 Cologne Cathedral Completed
Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria) is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne (current...
1882 Sep 3 Hugstetten Rail Disaster
The Hugstetten rail disaster occurred on the railway line between Freiburg im Breisgau and Breisach am Rhein on 3 September 1882. With 64 killed and some 230 seriously injured, it was the...
1904 Apr 8 Signing of the Entente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale was the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé, France’s foreign minister from 1898, who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some ...
1906 Nov 4 Auguste Deter is the First Person Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease
On November 4th, 1906, during a lecture at the 37th Conference of South-West German Psychiatrists in Tübingen, the German neuropathologist and psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer described “eine...
1914
to 1918
Adolf Hitler serves in World War I
Hitler, by all accounts, was an unusual soldier with a sloppy manner and unmilitary bearing. But he was also eager for action and always ready to volunteer for dangerous assignments even ...
1914 Aug 6 Serbia Declares War on Germany
Setting the stage On July 23, Austria-Hungary demanded Serbia comply with its March 1909 declaration to the Great Powers to maintain good neighborly relations with Austria-Hungary and ...
1914 Aug 7
to 1914 Aug 10
 The Battle of Mulhouse
The Battle of Mulhouse (or Mülhausen), which began on August 9, 1914, was the opening attack of World War I by the French army against Germany. The battle was part of a French attempt to ...
1914 Aug 8
to 1914 Sep 20
 German Atrocities in Belgium Horrify Humanity
"In Vendre, all the inhabitants without exception were brought out and shot. This shooting was heartbreaking, as they all knelt down and prayed." —The Diary of Eitel Anders
1914 Aug 12 Battle of Haelen (1914)
First Field Battle in Belgium The first field battle of the war in Belgium took place northwest of Liege, on August 12, when a force of 5000 German cavalry, supported by artillery and ...
1914 Aug 14
to 1914 Aug 23
 Battle of Lorraine
On the morning of August 15, 1914, General de Castelnau's Second French army moved rapidly toward the Lorraine border on a front extending from the Grand Cauronne to the Vosges. In the ...
1914 Aug 17 Battle of Stallupönen
On August 17 Rennenkampf started the invasion of Prussia, marching the First Army directly westward towards the German lines. Although he faced no resistance, Rennenkampf stopped his adva...
1914 Aug 20 Battle of Gumbinnen
The Battle of Gumbinnen, initiated by forces of the German Empire on August 20, 1914, was the first major German offensive on the Eastern Front during the First World War. Due to the hast...
1914 Aug 21
to 1914 Aug 23
 Battle of the Ardennes
The Battle of the Ardennes was one of the opening battles of World War I. It took place from August 21-23, 1914, part of the Battle of the Frontiers. Background French commander-in-...
1914 Aug 21 Germany Captures Namur
While von Kluck's army was investing Liege and its fortresses, von Buelow's army, 280,000 strong, was advancing up the valley of the Meuse toward Namur. The villagers fled from their home...
1914 Aug 22 Battle of Charleroi
The French army of Gen. Lanrezac, on the day following the battle of Neufchateau, met with defeat, because that general had failed to carry out his instructions, which were: To occupy the...
1914 Aug 23 Battle of Mons
Although the French armies on his right were in full retreat from the Belgian frontier on August 23, 1914 following their defeat first at Neuf chateau and then at Charleroi, Gen. Sir John...
1914 Aug 23 German Troops Capture Dinant, Executing 674 of Its Inhabitants
On 23 August 1914, 674 inhabitants of Dinant were summarily executed by German troops. It was one of the biggest atrocities committed by the Germans during 1914. A series of German wa...
1914 Aug 24
to 1914 Sep 7
 Siege of Maubeuge
Skilful Retreat Conducted by Foch De Castelnau's Lorraine army was still in peril, however, and a further withdrawal across the Seille and Meurthe rivers and thence into France, was de...
1914 Aug 27 Imperial Japanese Navy First Sends the Suwo to Blockade German-Controlled Kiaochow
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) first sent ships under Vice-Admiral Sadakichi Kato, flying his flag in the pre-dreadnought Suwo, to blockade the coast of German-controlled Kiaochow, begi...
1914 Aug 29
to 1914 Aug 30
 First Battle of Guise
The Battle of St. Quentin (also called the First Battle of Guise (French: 1ere Bataillede Guise)) was fought during World War I. On the night of 26 August 1914, the Allies withdrew fro...
1914 Sep 2 Japanese 18th Infantry Division Begins Landings at Longkou
During the course of the naval operations off Tsingtao, the British Royal Navy (RN) attached the China Station's pre-dreadnought HMS Triumph and the destroyer HMS Usk to the IJN. The Brit...