500-400 BC -Teutonic ancestors inhabit south Sweden and north Germany

200 BC -clash with Romans

9 BC -Roman occupation up to Elbe

200 BC -Franks (north of Rhine), Burgundians and Alemanni (south of Main, east of Rhine)

500 AD -Anglo-Saxons in England, Franks in Gaul, Burgundians in Rhone valley.
-Christianity embraced

800's AD -Louis I successor to Charlemagne-emperor of Carolingian empire.
-barbarian invasions, Danes, Magyars

911 AD -Carolingian rule ended, Conrad I.

982 AD Otto I emperor

1024 AD -Franconian dynasty, papal reforms, Henry IV against Pope Gregory VII
-civil war against Henry IV, 1076 to
-focus turned away from Germany toward Rome and Norman England

1125 AD -end of respect for blood right to throne -expansion and colonization, Silesia, Bohemia and Italy

1152 AD -Hohenstaufen emperors
-conflict with papacy

1215 AD -Frederick II secures crown from Otto IV
-anti-kings elected by Archbishops

1247 AD -William of Holland (anti-king)
-deterioration of central authority
-decline of Hohenstaufen power
1250 to -the Great Interregnum

1273 AD -Pope Gregory X wanted monarch sympathetic to Crusades
-Rudolf of Habsburg
-shift of powerr from Rhineland to East Germany -alternation of dynasties

1312 AD -Henry VII wanted restoration of Empire in Italy, made Holy Roman Emperor

1313 AD -Henry VII dies, civil war

1346 AD -Charles IV, Golden Bull-minimize areas of dispute in future elections and strengthen ties with electors

1350 AD -Bubonic Plague

1376 AD -Wenceslas, son of Charles IV made king
-monarchs losing control, ascension of princes
-cities VS princes

1410 AD -Sigismund elected
-problems; weak monarchy, princes VS cities conflict, increased lawlessness
-Husssite conrtoversy: Jan Hus, Prague-controversial teachings, excommunicated, burned at stake-martyrdom
-civil war in Bohemia
-Hussites invade Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia
-Sigismund makes concessions to Czechs

1437 AD -death of Sigismund

1486 AD -Maximillian I, Austrian heir
-movement among princes for constitutional reform lead by Berthold, Archbishop of Mainz
-end of middle ages, feudal system becomes purely nominal, Crown has no real control over heads of States
-the Reformation: church weakened by Hussite movement and Renaissance thinking

1517 AD -Martin Luther-Wittenberg, contested doctrine of Catholic church
-national sentiment of antagonism toward papacy

1520 AD -Emperor Charles V crowned
-teachings of Luther banned

1522 AD -Peasant's War (Bauernkrieg)-uprising against grasping policy of princes and landowners
-rise of Protestantism

1555 AD -the Peace of Augsburg- between Protestants and Catholics

1576 AD -Rudolf II
-Catholics grow in strength, opposing Protestant and Catholic Leagues formed

1619 AD -Ferdinand II-emperor,Catholic
-revolt of Protestant nobles in Bohemia 1618, refuse to acknowledge Ferdinand II, start of 30 Years' War

1625 AD -war flares up in Germany, King Christian IV of Denmark VS Ferdinand II, Maximillian and Catholic League -Catholics successful

1630 AD -Gustavus of Sweden champions Protestant cause in Germany

1635 AD -movement for peace in Germany
-Spain on side of Catholics, France, Sweden-Protestants

1641 AD -Treaty of Westphalia
-France and Sweden gain territory, Switzerland and Holland recognized as independent nations
-great decrease in rural population due to 30 Years' War
-industry and commerce ruined by wars
-widespread poverty, national pride diminished

1663 AD -Reichstag founded-3 chambers:electoral princes, princes and cities
-French imperialism under Louis XIV

1672 AD -Leopold I sends troops to Rhine

1679 AD -peace of Nijmswegen with France

1681 AD -Strasbourg seized by France

1683 AD -Turks attack Austria from east

1699 AD -Peace of Carlowitz with Turks, Hungary restored to emperor

1733-35 AD -War of the Polish Succession, Lorraine restored to France

1741 AD -Frederick II of Prussia secured Silesia by 1742

1748 AD -Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, tension between Austria and Prussia

1756 -The Seven Years' War: Frederick II against Austria, to France, Russia, Saxony and Sweden

1763 AD -Silesia maintained by Frederick

1792 AD -Austro-Prussian campaign against France, after French Revolution, left bank of Rhine to France 1801

1803 AD -Napoleon against England, Russia and Austria, won in 1805

1806 AD -Confederation of the Rhine founded by Napoleon: Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau and Berg, states independent for internal administration but to Napoleon's foreign policy old German empire completely disappeared

1812 AD -Napoleon defeated in Russia
-Frederick William of Prussia declares war on France

1814 AD -Napoleon opposed by whole of Europe, defeated
-empire split up

1834 AD -Zollverein founded, Germany formed an economic entity

1840 AD -Frederick William IV, conservative, tried to organize Prussia, 1847 summoned national parliament, first political parties formed

1848 AD -revolution: Liberals against old order
-Prussia becomes part of Germany
-Franfurt parliament
-industry

1854 AD -Crimean War, Germany neutral

1859 AD -German National Union (Deutscher Nationalverein) founded to establish German Federal State on basis of 1849 constitution

1862 AD -Bismarck, wanted unification of Germany under leadership of Prussia