History.—What is now the German republic was originally divided among a number of independent races—the Ale manni, Franks, Saxons, Slays, Avari, and others. Charlemagne conquered these various tribes, and incorporated them in his vast empire, and the treaty of Verdun, signed in 843 by the sons of Louis-le-Debonnaire, gave birth to the Kingdom of Germany. On the extinc tion of the Carlovingian family, the mon archy became elective, and the crown was conferred, in 011 on Conrad I., Duke of Franconia. Tho Saxons renewed, in the person of Otto the Great, the empire of Charlemagne, giving it the name "The Holy Roman Empire of the Ger man Nation." The Saxon dynasty added to the empire Lotharingia, Bohemia, and Italy; and to this family succeeded that of Franconia, which reigned from 1024 to 1137, and added the Kingdom of Arles to the possessions of the empire. The house of Suabia next succeeded, and, of this line, Conrad III., and Frederick Barbarossa, from 1138 to 1190, raised the imperial power to its utmost height. On Conrad IV.'s death commenced the long interregnum from 1254 to 1273, which ended in delivering Germany from anarchy by Rudolph of Hapsburg. The Golden Bull or charter was granted to the feudatories and electors by Charles IV. in 1356, and Albert of Haps burg was elected emperor and became the head of the present house of Austria. Under Ferdinand II., the Thirty Years' War began in 1618, resulting in the con firmation of the Lutheran religion. The reigns of Leopold I. and Charles VI. were occupied with long wars with Louis XIV. and XV. of France; and the death of Charles, in 1740, gave rise to the War of the Austrian Succession, which secured the throne to the husband of Maria Theresa, Charles' daughter, and thus placed on the throne a member of the House of Lorraine, Francis I. Napoleon I., who since 1799 had directed the foreign policy of the French nation, not satisfied with this reduction of the power of the empire, now conceived the idea of effecting its entire dissolution. The treaty of Pressburg, in 1805, which followed the battle of Austerlitz, gave him the means of carrying this project into effect, by forming a confederation of German princes, called the Confedera tion of the Rhine, who, uniting into a corporate body, in 1807 placed them selves under the protectorate of the French emperor. The wars which fol lowed gave Napoleon the power of al tering the territorial distribution of Ger many at pleasure. He accordingly cre ated for his brother Jerome the new kingdom of Westphalia, and for his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, the grand-duchy of Berg, and raised those members of the Rhenish confederation who supported his cause to new digni ties and an openly recognized independ ence of sovereigns. Under the circum stances, the emperor, Francis II., by a solemn act, renounced the style and title of emperor of Germany, Aug. 6, 1809. The termination of the war with Russia, called in Germany the Liberation War, restored Germany to its geograph ical and political position in Europe, but not as an empire acknowledging one supreme head. A confederation of 35 in dependent sovereigns and 4 free cities replaced the elective monarchy, that fell under its own decrepitude. A national government was recognized in 1848, and Archduke John, of Austria, was elected Vicar, but he frustrated all energetic moves on the part of the Parliament. In 1850 Austria and Prussia combined to restore the Diet, but in 1866, the Bund was dissolved and war broke out between these states. By the treaty of Prague, Aug. 20, 1866, Austria was excluded from participation in the new organiza tion of German states, and was forced to pay 40,000,000 thalers for the ex pense of the war. In 1870 the Franco German War broke out between France and Prussia, resulting in the defeat of France, the cession of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and the consolidation of all the German states into the German Em pire. On Jan. 18, 1871, William, King of Prussia, was proclaimed first Em peror of Germany, at Versailles. An of fensive and defensive alliance was formed between Austria and Germany in 1879, and later Italy entered, form ing the Triple Alliance. During the dif ficulties between the European powers with the United States and China in 1900-1901, Germany bore a conspicuous part, and Field-Marshal Count von Wal dersee was appointed commander-in chief of the international military forces. In the first years of the twentieth cen tury, the keynote of the German foreign policy was a growing hostility toward Great Britain, which had for its causes commercial rivalry and resentment at the conduct of the Emperor at the outbreak of the South African War. Germany was entirely neutral during the Russo-Jap anese War, but took advantage of the Russian defeat to antagonize France and Russia by attempting interference with the policy of France in Morocco. In the early months of 1905 war with France seemed imminent, but the Anglo French agreement held fast and Ger many was obliged to yield at the con ference held at Algeciras, in 1906. The annexation by Austria of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, threatened war against Austria by Serbia and Russia, but the announcement that Russia would support Austria, prevented hostilites and enabled Austria to maintain her ac tion. Measures providing for electoral reform were passed in 1910. By a treaty made in 1911, Russia and Germany agreed as to their relative rights in the Near East. Germany's influence was to continue along the Bagdad Railway, while Russia was given supremacy in north Persia and Kurdestan. In this
year there was also a second controversy with France over the question of Mor occo. England supported France, and Germany was obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of French claims. In return, France ceded to Germany 112 square miles in the French Congo. Rapid increase in tile war armament in the years preceding the World War made it necessary to levy special taxes on prop erty value and incomes. The military system received severe criticism in 1913, owing to disturbances at Zabern, in which German officers were found to have acted with great brutality toward the people. The outbreak of the World War found Germany well prepared from a military standpoint. Indeed, there was abundant evidence to show that for 30 years previous economic and military preparations had been made for a great European war, and that only the oppor tunity was lacking. This was furnished by the assassination of the Crown Prince Ferdinand, on June 24, 1914.
The details of the part played by Ger many in the World War are told in the article of that title.
The nation was well united at the out break of the war, and the first war loan of 4,505,000,000 marks was easily raised. All political parties supported the war. With the beginning of 1915 the question of regulating the food supply became important, and the food question con tinued throughout the years following to be the most acute of the domestic prob lems of the country. Political opposition to the war developed in 1916, when a split was brought about in the ranks of the Social Democratic party. The opposition was led by Carl Liebknecht, who on January 13, 1916, was expelled from membership in the party. Lieb knecht was later arrested and im prisoned. The question of possible terms of peace continued throughout 1916. The Socialists opposed the annexation of any territory, while the Supreme War party insisted upon annexation of all conquered territory. At the beginning of 1917 war appropriations had reached the total of 40,000,000,000 marks. There were during this year a number of im portant cabinet changes, the most im portant of these being in the navy de partment, where Grand Admiral von Tir pitz, who had inaugurated and ardently supported the submarine campaign, was succeeded by Admiral von Capelle.
Political conditions during 1917 rapidly grew more acute. The position of the Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, became continually more difficult. The condition was rendered more complicated by the revolution in Russia, which raised a demand for electoral reforms in Ger many. These were promised by the Em peror and by the Chancellor. The op position to the conduct of the war grew serious and was led by Mathias Erzber ger. He attacked the government for antagonizing the United States, and for its erroneous predictions in regard to the successful conclusion of the war. A de mand for peace continued to grow. Bethmann-Hollweg resigned on July 14, 1917, and was succeeded by Dr. George Michaelis, who in turn was suc ceeded on November 1, 1917, by Count George von Hertling. There was great dissatisfaction in the military party over the terms of peace with Russia. The reactionary, or military element, was strong enough to defeat the reform measures undertaken by the government. They also strongly insisted upon a dic tated peace, involving the annexation of large parts of Belgium and France, and the payment to Germany of a vast in demnity. This party was strongly op posed by the Socialists, and there were other indications that the people were becoming restless. This unrest was in creased by the uncompromising attitude taken by the Chancellor toward concili atory speeches made by President Wil son and Lloyd George. In March, 1918. there was published the so-called Lich nowsky memorandum which revealed the unsuccessful attempts of the former German ambassador at London to pre vent war.
The failure of the final German drive in spring of 1918 brought about a re versal of the government's position in regard to peace terms. The Chancellor in July declared that Germany did not intend to hold Belgium permanently. There were also many signs of dissen sion between the separate German states and between Germany and Austria. In September separate peace overtures were made with Belgium. Von Hertling re signed on September 29, 1918, and Prince Max von Baden became Imperial Chan cellor. On October 5, he appealed to the President of the United States, ask ing him to take steps to bring about peace, and on October 21, sent another note to President Wilson describing the changes that had been made in the Ger man Government and claiming that the Government was now in complete accord with the principle of representation of the people. The note also stated that orders had been issued to all German submarines to cease the torpedoing of passenger ships. President Wilson re plied on October 23, expressing his will ingness to consider the question of an armistice. The discussion was carried on in the German Reichstag during, the weeks following. In the meantime, an armistice had been signed between Aus tria and Italy, and political unrest in Germany was becoming very intense. On November 5, the German Govern ment received the Allied answer to the request of an armistice, and after negotiations between the Allied and Ger man military officers, an armistice was finally signed on November 11, 1918.