# Timeline of German history

This is a timeline of German history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Germany and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Germany. See also the list of German monarchs and list of chancellors of Germany and the list of years in Germany.

## BC

| Year | Event | Source |
| c. 1.33 million years BP | The first stone tools were made in the Upper Rhine Plain | |
| 609,000 ± 40,000 BP | The hominid to whom the Mauer 1 mandible (discovered in 1907 in Mauer) belonged, the type specimen of Homo heidelbergensis, dies. | $^{:19727}$ |
| ~225,000 BP | The hominid to whom the Steinheim skull (discovered in 1933 in Steinheim an der Murr) belonged (previously sometimes dubbed Homo steinheimensis) dies. | $^{:740}$ |
| ~130,000 BP | The Neanderthal (named after its initial site of discovery, the Neandertal valley) emerges in Europe. | |
| ~45,000 BP | Homo sapiens first appears in Europe (sometimes called EEMH or Cro-Magnon). | |
| 35,000–45,000 BP | The Venus of Hohle Fels is made. | |
| >32,000 BP | The Löwenmensch figurine is made. | |
| ~23,000 BP | The Venus of Willendorf is made. | |
| ~11,500 BP | The Pleistocene (Last Glacial Period (LGP)) ends. | $^{:1ff.}$ |
| ~10,000 B.C. | The Ahrensburg culture prospers in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. | $^{:43}$ |
| 5,500–5,000 B.C. | Sedentary agriculture is adopted in central Europe, following a southeastern-to-northwestern trajectory of spread. The Linear Pottery culture is present in central Europe. | |
| ~4,500 B.C. | The Linear Pottery culture disintegrates into more distinct regional styles, such as the Funnelbeaker culture. | |
| 3rd Millennium BCE | The Corded Ware culture (emerging from Poland around 2,800 BCE) and the Bell Beaker culture are present in central Europe. | |
| Late 3rd Millennium BCE | With the discovery of Bronze, the Neolithic ends and the Bronze Age begins. The Unetice culture spreads. | |
| ~1,300 B.C. | The Urnfield culture (also known as Tumulus period) spreads. | |
| ~800 B.C. | The Hallstatt culture (named for Hallstatt, Austria) spreads. | |
| 5th century BCE | The Hallstatt culture develops into the La Tène culture, the first distinctly Celtic cultural group. | $^{:392}$ |
| 390 B.C. | Battle of the Allia: Rome, then the capital of the growing Roman Republic, is sacked by Celtic warriors. | $^{:11}$ |
| 113–101 B.C. | Cimbrian War: The Cimbri and Teutons undertake migratory movements during which they clash with Roman forces (Battle of Noreia, Battle of Arausio, Battle of Aquae Sextiae, Battle of Vercellae). The Cimbri and Teutons are later added by Julius Caesar to the category of "Germans", even though they were perceived as Celts by the Romans of their own time. | $^{:11}$ |
| 58–50 B.C. | Gallic Wars: Julius Caesar marches his forces into Gaul for purposes of conquest, broadly categorizing the people he encountered into "Gauls", "Aquitani", "Belgae", and "Germans" (using the Rhine river as a boundary between Germania and Gaul). He classifies Ariovistus as "King of the Germans", and defeats the forces of Ariovistus at the Battle of Vosges. Caesar documents his military campaigns in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico. | $^{:3f.}$ |

## 1st century

| Year | Event | Source |
| 9 | Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: An alliance of Germanic tribes under the leadership of Arminius ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. | |
| 15 | Battle at Pontes Longi | |
| 16 | Battle of the Angrivarian Wall fought near Porta Westfalica between the Roman general Germanicus and an alliance of Germanic tribes commanded by Arminius. | $^{:35}$ |
| 16 | Battle of Idistaviso fought between Roman legions commanded by Roman emperor Tiberius' heir and adopted son Germanicus, and an alliance of Germanic peoples commanded by Arminius. | $^{:90f.}$ |
| 98 | The Roman historian Tacitus finishes his influential Germania (in the original: "De origine et situ Germanorum"), describing Ancient Germany and its inhabitants. | |

## 3rd century

| Year | Event |
| 235 | Battle at the Harzhorn |
| 235 | Roman emperor Severus Alexander died at Mogantiacum (Mainz). |
| 260 | The Romans make Cologne their capital city. |
| 297 | The Roman emperor allowed the Salian Franks to settle among the Batavi. |

## 4th century

| Year | Event |
| 310 | A bridge was constructed near Cologne. |
| 313 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cologne was founded. |
| 314 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz was founded. |
| 357 | The Battle of Strasbourg took place. |
| 368 | The Battle of Solicinium took place. |

## 5th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 406 | 21 December | Battle of Mainz, Crossing of the Rhine |
| 450 | | King Chlodio of the Salian Franks died. |
| 450 | | Chlodio's son Merovech became king of the Salian Franks with the support of the Western Roman dux Flavius Aetius. |
| 451 | 20 June | Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: The Franks joined a coalition led by the Western Roman Empire which defeated the Huns in modern northeastern France. |
| 457 | | Merovech died. He was succeeded as king of the Salian Franks by his son Childeric I. |
| 463 | | Battle of Orleans (463): The Salian Franks and forces loyal to the magister militum Aegidius defeated an attack by the Visigothic Kingdom at Orléans. |
| 481 | | Childeric died. He was succeeded as king of the Salian Franks by his son Clovis I. |
| 486 | | Battle of Soissons (486): An alliance of Franks led by Clovis defeated the Kingdom of Soissons. Syagrius, the king of Soissons and son of Aegidius, fled to the Visigothic Kingdom. |
| 486 | | The Visigoths surrendered Syagrius to the Salian Franks to be executed. |
| 496 | | Battle of Tolbiac: A Frankish force under Clovis defeated the Alemanni in modern Zülpich. The former credited his victory to Jesus. |
| 496 | | Clovis was baptized Catholic at Reims. |
| 500 | | Clovis commissioned the Salic Law, the first written code of civil law among the Franks. The law forbade women from inheriting land. |

## 6th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 507 | | Battle of Vouillé: A Frankish force led by Clovis defeated the Visigothic Kingdom at Vouillé. The Visigothic king Alaric II was killed. Clovis annexed Aquitaine. |
| 508 | | Clovis was crowned king of the Franks with his capital at Paris. |
| 511 | | First Council of Orléans: A synod of Catholic bishops called by Clovis at Orléans granted some legal powers and immunities to the Catholic Church. |
| 511 | 28 November | Clovis died. His domain was split among his four sons Theuderic I, Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I the Old, who became kings ruling at Reims, Orléans, Paris, and Soissons, respectively. |
| 524 | 25 June | Battle of Vézeronce: A Frankish invasion of Burgundy was halted near modern Vézeronce-Curtin. The Burgundian king Sigismund of Burgundy was captured and Chlodomer was killed. |
| 524 | | Chlodomer's wife Guntheuc married Chlothar. |
| 524 | | Chlothar had two of Chlodomer's sons killed. The third, Clodoald, fled to Provence. |
| 531 | | Battle of the Unstrut River (531): Theuderic conquered the Thuringii near the Unstrut. |
| 532 | | Battle of Autun: Childebert and Chlothar defeated Burgundy near Autun. |
| 534 | | Theuderic died. His son Theudebert I inherited his throne. |
| 534 | | The Burgundian king Godomar was killed by Frankish forces. |
| 534 | 30 April | The pro-Byzantine regent of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, Amalasuntha, was murdered on the orders of her cousin and coregent Theodahad. |
| 534 | | Gothic War: The Byzantine Empire invaded the Ostrogothic Kingdom. |
| 535 | | Council of Clermont (535): A synod was held in modern Clermont-Ferrand which limited the rights of Catholic bishops to appeal to the state and which condemned marriage between Christians and Jews and between relatives. |
| 539 | | Frankish forces under Theudebert I drove Byzantine and Ostrogothic armies from their encampments on the Po. |
| 539 | November | The Frankish army on the Po, suffering from dysentery, surrendered to the Byzantines. |
| 548 | | Theudebert I died. His son Theudebald inherited his kingdom. |
| 549 | October | Fifth Council of Orléans: A synod presided over by Sacerdos of Lyon in Orléans condemned Nestorianism and simony. |
| 554 | | Battle of the Volturnus (554): A Byzantine force cut off and destroyed a joint Frankish-Ostrogothic army at their camp on the Volturno. |
| 555 | | Theudebald died, childless. His kingdom passed to Chlothar. |
| 555 | | Garibald, head of the frankisch Agilolfing noble family becomes the first Duke of Bavaria |
| 558 | 13 December | Childebert I died without male heirs. Chlothar inherited his kingdom. |
| 560 | December | Conomor, king of Domnonée, who had allied with Chlothar's son Chram against him, was killed in battle by Chlothar's forces. |
| 561 | | Chram was captured and executed. |
| 561 | 29 November | Chlothar died of pneumonia. His kingdom was divided among his surviving sons Charibert I, Guntram, Sigebert I and Chilperic I. |
| 567 | December | Charibert I died. His kingdom was divided among his brothers Guntram, Chilperic I and Sigebert I, the latter of whose domains become known as Austrasia, the eastern land, with its capital at Metz. |
| 575 | | Sigebert I died. He was succeeded by his young son Childebert II, with his wife Brunhilda of Austrasia acting as regent. |
| 577 | | Guntram's sons died of dysentery. |
| 584 | September | Chilperic I was stabbed to death. His infant son Chlothar II the Great, the Young inherited his kingdom under the regency of his mother Fredegund. |
| 587 | | Guntram and Brunhilda agreed to the Treaty of Andelot, according to which the former adopted Childebert II as his son and heir. |
| 591 | | Childebert II appointed Tassilo I of Bavaria king of Bavaria. |
| 592 | 28 January | Guntram died. His kingdom passed to Childebert II. |
| 595 | | Childebert II died. Austrasia was divided between his two sons Theudebert II and Theuderic II. |
| 599 | | Theudebert II expelled Brunhilda from his kingdom. |
| 599 | | Theuderic II declared war on Theudebert II. |

## 7th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 602 | | The Duchy of Gascony was created as a buffer state against the Vascones and the Visigothic Kingdom. |
| 612 | | Theuderic II captured Theudebert II in battle in modern Zülpich. |
| 612 | | Theudebert II was killed in captivity along with his son on Brunhilda's orders. Theuderic II inherited his kingdom as king of unified Austrasia. |
| 613 | | Theuderic II died of dysentery. His young bastard son Sigebert II became king of Austrasia under the regency of Brunhilda. |
| 613 | | Chlothar the Great invaded Austrasia. The Austrasian mayor of the palace Warnachar II recognized him as regent and ordered the army not to resist. |
| 613 | | Brunhilda, Sigebert II and Sigebert's brother were executed on Chlothar the Great's orders. The latter annexed Austrasia. |
| 614 | 18 October | Chlothar the Great issued the Edict of Paris. Among its provisions, the edict banned Jews from holding royal office and granted the nobility the exclusive power to appoint royal officers. |
| 617 | | Chlothar the Great made the office of the mayor of the palace a lifetime appointment. |
| 623 | | Chlothar the Great donated Austrasia to his son Dagobert I. |
| 623 | | Dagobert I took Arnulf of Metz, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz, as an adviser and appointed the Austrasian noble Pepin of Landen his mayor of the palace. |
| 629 | 18 October | Chlothar the Great died. |
| 629 | | Dagobert I laid claim to Chlothar the Great's territory with the exception of Aquitaine, which he left to his half-brother Charibert II. |
| 629 | | Dagobert I dismissed Pepin of Landen as mayor of the palace. |
| 631 | | Battle of Wogastisburg: An invading Frankish army was defeated by Samo's Empire. |
| 631 | | Dagobert I established the Duchy of Thuringia on the former territory of the Thuringii. |
| 632 | | Charibert II was killed on the orders of Dagobert I. |
| 632 | | Charibert II's infant son Chilperic of Aquitaine was killed on the orders of Dagobert I, who established the Duchy of Aquitaine on his territories with the patrician Felix of Aquitaine as duke. |
| 632 | | The nobility of Austrasia joined a revolt led by Pepin of Landen. |
| 634 | January | Dagobert I ceded Austrasia to his young son Sigebert III, with Adalgisel acting as coregent and mayor of the palace of Austrasia and the bishop Cunibert acting as coregent. |
| 639 | 19 January | Dagobert I died. His kingdom passed to his young son Clovis II, with his wife Nanthild acting as regent. |
| 639 | | Pepin of Landen replaced Adalgisel as mayor of the palace of Austrasia. |
| 640 | 27 February | Pepin of Landen died. |
| 640 | | Otto (mayor of the palace) was appointed mayor of the palace of Austrasia. |
| 643 | | Otto was murdered by duke Leuthari II on the orders of Pepin of Landen's son Grimoald the Elder, who succeeded him as mayor of the palace of Austrasia. |
| 650 | | Synod of Rouen: A Catholic synod was held in Rouen which again condemned simony. |
| 656 | 1 February | Sigebert III died. Grimoald the Elder tonsured Sigebert's son Dagobert II and declared his own son Childebert the Adopted, whom Sigebert III had adopted while still childless, king of Austrasia. |
| 657 | 27 November | Clovis II died. His kingdom passed to his young son Chlothar III, under the regency of his wife Balthild. |
| 661 | | Chlothar III conquered Austrasia and executed Grimoald the Elder and Childebert the Adopted. |
| 662 | | Chlothar III ceded Austrasia to his young brother Childeric II and appointed Wulfoald his regent and mayor of the palace. |
| 673 | | Chlothar III died. His younger brother Theuderic III inherited his kingdom with the support of his mayor of the palace Ebroin. |
| 673 | | Childeric II invaded and annexed Theuderic III's kingdom. |
| 675 | | Childeric II was killed along with his wife Bilichild and a son, Dagobert, by a conspiracy of nobles. |
| 675 | | Theuderic III reclaimed his kingdom. |
| 675 | | Clovis III became king of Austrasia. |
| 676 | | Clovis III died. |
| 676 | | Dagobert II became king of Austrasia with the support of Wulfoald. |
| 679 | 23 December | Dagobert II was murdered, probably on Ebroin's orders. Theuderic III inherited his kingdom. |
| 680 | | Wulfoald died. |
| 680 | | Pepin of Herstal, the son of Arnulf's son Ansegisel and Pepin of Landen's daughter Begga, became mayor of the palace of Austrasia. |
| 687 | | Battle of Tertry: Austrasian forces loyal to Pepin of Herstal defeated the invading army of Theuderic III at modern Tertry, Somme. Pepin of Herstal accepted Theuderic's unification of the Frankish kingdoms on the condition that he replace Berchar as his mayor of the palace. |
| 687 | | Pepin of Herstal took the title Duke of the Franks. |
| 690 | | Battle of Dorestad: A Frankish force conquered Dorestad from the Frisian Kingdom. |
| 691 | | Theuderic III died. He was succeeded by his young son Clovis IV. |
| 695 | | Clovis IV died. He was succeeded by his young brother Childebert III the Just. |
| 695 | | Pepin of Herstal appointed his sons Drogo of Champagne and Grimoald the Younger mayors of the palaces in Neustria and Burgundy, respectively. |

## 8th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 708 | | Drogo died. |
| 711 | 24 April | Childebert the Just died. His young son Dagobert III succeeded him as king of the Franks. |
| 714 | | Grimoald the Younger was assassinated. |
| 714 | 16 December | Pepin of Herstal died. His son Theudoald succeeded him as mayor of the palace of Austrasia and in the west, with his mother Plectrude as regent. |
| 715 | | Dagobert III appointed Ragenfrid mayor of the palace in the west. |
| 715 | 26 September | Battle of Compiègne: Forces loyal to Ragenfrid defeated an army loyal to the young Theudoald, forcing him to flee to Cologne. |
| 715 | | Pepin of Herstal's illegitimate son Charles Martel was acclaimed mayor of the palace of Austrasia by the Austrasian nobility. |
| 715 | | Dagobert III died. He was succeeded by Chilperic II, his cousin and a son of Childeric II. |
| 716 | | Battle of Cologne: A Frisian army joined by the forces of Chilperic II conquered Cologne in Austrasia, forcing Charles to flee to the Eifel and compelling Plectrude to accept Chilperic II as king. |
| 716 | | Battle of Amblève: Charles defeated the forces of Frisia and Chilperic II at Amel. |
| 717 | 21 March | Battle of Vincy: Charles dealt Chilperic II a decisive defeat at modern Les Rues-des-Vignes and subsequently declared Chlothar IV king of Austrasia. |
| 718 | | Battle of Soissons (718): Charles defeated the armies of Chilperic II and Aquitaine at Soissons. Chilperic II fled to Aquitaine. |
| 718 | | Charles recognized Chilperic II as king of the Franks in exchange for his appointment as mayor of the palace with extensive powers. |
| 718 | | Chlothar IV died. |
| 719 | | Umayyad invasion of Gaul: The Umayyad Caliphate conquered Narbonne. |
| 721 | 13 February | Chilperic II died. He was succeeded by Dagobert III's son Theuderic IV. |
| 721 | | Battle of Toulouse (721): An Aquitainian force broke an Umayyad siege of Toulouse. |
| 732 | | Battle of the River Garonne: An Umayyad army wiped out an Aquitainian force on the Garonne. |
| 732 | 10 October | Battle of Tours: Charles, joined by the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Kingdom of the Lombards, dealt a decisive defeat to the Umayyad Caliphate near modern Vouneuil-sur-Vienne. Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, the Umayyad governor of al-Andalus, was killed. |
| 734 | | Battle of the Boarn: A Frankish army led by Charles defeated and annexed the Frisian Kingdom and killed its king, Bubo, Duke of the Frisians. |
| 736 | | Battle of Nîmes: Charles destroyed the Umayyad Septimanian cities of Nîmes, Agde, Béziers and what is now Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone. |
| 737 | | Battle of Avignon: Charles breached and burned the Umayyad-held city of Avignon. |
| 737 | | Battle of Narbonne (737): Charles besieged but failed to capture the Umayyad-held city of Narbonne. |
| 737 | | Battle of the River Berre: Charles intercepted and destroyed an Umayyad army sent to relieve his siege of Narbonne near the Étang de Berre. |
| 737 | | Theuderic IV died. Charles prevented his succession. |
| 740 | | Charles divided his lands between his two elder sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the former ruling as king in the east and the latter in the west. |
| 741 | 22 October | Charles died. |
| 742 | 21 April | Concilium Germanicum: A synod called by Carloman and presided over by Saint Boniface settled some issues of Catholic ritual and organization. The Rule of Saint Benedict became mandatory in Frankish monasteries. |
| 743 | | Childeric III was appointed king of the Franks. |
| 746 | | Council of Cannstatt: Carloman executed the Alemanni nobility, numbering in the thousands, in modern Stuttgart. |
| 747 | 15 August | Carloman retired to live as a monk in Rome. His son Drogo succeeded him as mayor of the palace. |
| 751 | March | The pope Pope Zachary deposed Childeric III as king of the Franks at the urging of Pepin the Short. |
| 751 | | An assembly of Frankish nobles elected Pepin the Short king. |
| 752 | | Siege of Narbonne (752–59): Pepin the Short laid siege to Narbonne, still held by forces loyal to Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, governor of Al-Andalus under the defunct Umayyad Caliphate. |
| 753 | | Drogo was tonsured and forced to live in a monastery. |
| 755 | | Pepin the Short closed or nationalized the private mints and fixed pence and shillings to the silver French denier. |
| 756 | | Pepin the Short gave the Donation of Pepin, territories ceded by the Kingdom of the Lombards under military pressure, to the pope, Pope Stephen II. |
| 759 | | Siege of Narbonne: The defenders of Narbonne opened the city gates to the Franks. |
| 768 | 24 September | Pepin the Short died. His kingdom was divided between his sons Charlemagne and Carloman I, with the latter receiving territories including the Paris Basin, the Massif Central, Provence, southern Austrasia and Alsace. |
| 770 | | Charlemagne married Desiderata of the Lombards, a daughter of Desiderius, the king of the Kingdom of the Lombards. |
| 771 | 4 December | Carloman I died. His widow Gerberga, wife of Carloman I fled with his two sons to the Kingdom of the Lombards. |
| 771 | | Charlemagne repudiated his marriage to Desiderata. |
| 772 | 1 February | Pope Stephen III died. Pope Adrian I was elected to succeed him as pope. |
| 772 | | Adrian demanded that Desiderius cede to the Papal States the territory surrendered in 756. |
| 772 | | Saxon Wars: Charlemagne invaded the territory of the Saxons and destroyed their sacred symbol Irminsul near Paderborn. |
| 773 | September | Siege of Pavia (773–74): Charlemagne laid siege to the Lombard capital Pavia. |
| 774 | June | Siege of Pavia (773–74): Desiderius opened the gates of Pavia and surrendered to Charlemagne. |
| 774 | 10 July | Charlemagne was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy king of the Lombards at Pavia. |
| 776 | | Charlemagne established the March of Friuli on the territory of the old Duchy of Friuli. |
| 778 | 15 August | Battle of Roncevaux Pass: A Basque force attacked and decimated Charlemagne's army in the Roncevaux Pass. |
| 781 | 15 April | Charlemagne appointed his son Pepin of Italy king of Italy. |
| 782 | | Battle of Süntel: A Saxon force led by Widukind defeated a Frankish expedition. |
| 782 | October | Massacre of Verden: Charlemagne had some forty-five hundred Saxon captives murdered at modern Verden an der Aller. |
| 785 | | Saxon Wars: The Saxon leader Widukind converted to Christianity and pledged fealty to Charlemagne. |
| 785 | | Charlemagne issued the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, a legal code which, among other clauses, prescribed the death penalty for any Saxons who refused to convert to Christianity. |
| 785 | | Council of Paderborn: A council held at Paderborn outlawed idolatry and called for the death penalty for anyone who had caused another to be executed for witchcraft. |
| 789 | | Charlemagne issued the Admonitio generalis, reforming the Christian liturgy in his empire and calling for the establishment of schools. |
| 795 | | Charlemagne established the Marca Hispanica between the Pyrenees and the Ebro. |
| 799 | | Siege of Trsat: Eric of Friuli, the duke of Friuli and an officer of Charlemagne, was killed during a failed siege of Trsat, in Croatia. |
| 799 | 26 December | The pope Pope Leo III was assaulted in Rome and nearly mutilated before his rescue and flight to the Duchy of Spoleto. |
| 800 | November | Charlemagne arrived in Rome. |
| 800 | 23 December | Leo took an oath of innocence of the charges of his political enemies. Charlemagne ordered them exiled. |
| 800 | 25 December | Leo crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor. |

## 9th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 802 | | Charlemagne issued the Capitularia missorum specialia, defining the office of the missus dominicus, a salaried emissary to the kingdom. |
| 803 | | Charlemagne issued the Lex Saxonum, allowing Saxon customs which were not contradictory to Christianity and granting some rights and protections to the church in the Saxon lands. |
| 804 | | Charlemagne organized the Duchy of Saxony on the territories of the conquered Saxons. |
| 810 | 8 July | Pepin of Italy died. He was succeeded as king of Italy by his illegitimate son Bernard of Italy. |
| 811 | | Charlemagne and Hemming of Denmark, the king of Denmark, signed the Treaty of Heiligen, promising peace and fixing their border at the Eider. |
| 812 | | Charlemagne established the March of Tuscany. |
| 813 | 13 September | Charlemagne crowned his son Louis the Pious, the Fair, the Debonaire co-Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 814 | 28 January | Charlemagne died. |
| 816 | | Battle of Pancorbo (816): Forces loyal to the Frankish vassal Velasco the Gascon were routed by the Emirate of Córdoba at Pancorbo. |
| 816 | August | Synods of Aachen (816–819): A synod was called at the Palace of Aachen in Aachen which would conform monks to the Rule of Saint Benedict and separate them from canons, who were called to live according to the Institutio canonicorum Aquisgranensis. |
| 817 | | Louis the Pious appointed his son Pepin I of Aquitaine king of Aquitaine, his son Louis the German king of Bavaria, and his son Lothair I co-Holy Roman Emperor with the promise of receiving his other domains. |
| 818 | 17 April | Bernard died, two days after being blinded with a hot poker on Louis the Pious's orders. Lothair I inherited Italy. |
| 819 | | Louis the Pious issued the Notitia de servitio monasteriorum, which listed monasteries in his kingdom and the services they owed the crown. |
| 823 | 5 April | Lothair I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by the pope Pope Paschal I. |
| 824 | | Battle of Roncevaux Pass (824): A combined Basque-Banu Qasi force defeated a Frankish pacifying expedition at Roncevaux Pass. |
| 829 | | Louis the Pious promised the inheritance of Alamannia to his son Charles the Bald. |
| 830 | May | A rebellion of Pepin I of Aquitaine, Louis the German and Lothair I, instigated in part by Wala of Corbie, the abbot of Corbie Abbey, captured their father Louis the Pious at Compiègne and forced their stepmother, Charles the Bald's mother Judith of Bavaria (died 843), into a nunnery. |
| 830 | | Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German declared their loyalty to their father Louis the Pious against Lothair I in exchange for the promise of a greater portion of his inheritance. Wala was deposed as abbot of Corbie Abbey and Judith returned to her husband's court. |
| 832 | | Louis the Pious declared Charles the Bald king of Aquitaine and promised Lothair I the rest of his kingdom in the face of an uprising by Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German. |
| 833 | | Lothair I joined the rebellion of his brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German against his father Louis the Pious. |
| 833 | | Louis the Pious met his sons Pepin I of Aquitaine, Louis the German and Lothair I and their armies, as well as the pope, Pope Gregory IV, at the Field of Lies near Colmar. |
| 833 | 13 November | Ebbo, archbishop of the archdiocese of Reims, presided over a synod in Soissons which deposed Louis the Pious as Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 834 | 1 April | Louis the Pious was restored as Holy Roman Emperor with the support of the Frankish nobility. |
| 835 | 2 February | Synod of Thionville: Ebbo publicly recanted his charges against Louis the Pious at a synod at Thionville. |
| 836 | | Louis the Pious appointed Lothair I king only of Italy; all else was divided between Pepin I of Aquitaine, Louis the German and Charles the Bald. |
| 837 | | Louis the Pious crowned Charles the Bald king of Alamannia and Burgundy, granting him some lands which were before promised to Louis the German. Louis the German rose in revolt; Louis the Pious responded by promising all his lands save Bavaria to Charles the Bald. |
| 838 | 13 December | Pepin I of Aquitaine died. Louis the Pious appointed Charles the Bald king of Aquitaine. |
| 839 | | The Aquitainian nobility rebelled in favor of Pepin I of Aquitaine's son Pepin II the Younger of Aquitaine. Louis the German invaded Swabia. |
| 840 | | Louis the Pious and Lothair I agreed to a division of the empire after the former's death, with Charles the Bald inheriting the western part and Lothair I inheriting the eastern, including Italy. |
| 840 | | Defeated by the forces of Louis the Pious and Lothair I, the Aquitainian nobility accepted Charles the Bald as king of Aquitaine. |
| 840 | | Louis the Pious and Lothair I defeated the armies of Louis the German. |
| 840 | 23 February | Lothair I and Pietro Tradonico, doge of the Republic of Venice, signed the Pactum Lotharii, reiterating earlier agreements between the Franks and the Byzantine Empire. |
| 840 | 20 June | Louis the Pious died. Lothair I claimed the whole inheritance of his territories as Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 841 | 25 June | Battle of Fontenoy: The forces of Charles the Bald and Louis the German dealt a decisive defeat to Lothair I and Pepin the Younger at Fontenoy. |
| 841 | | An uprising began among Saxon peasants who called themselves the Stellinga. |
| 842 | 12 February | Louis the German and Charles the Bald took the Oaths of Strasbourg, in which each pledged to aid the other against Lothair I. Their soldiers pledged not to obey an order counter to this oath. |
| 843 | August | The Treaty of Verdun was signed, ending the war between Charles the Bald, Lothair I, and Louis the German, who received West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia, respectively. Lothair I retained the title Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 844 | 15 June | Lothair I's son Louis II of Italy was crowned Holy Roman Emperor jointly with his father in Rome by the pope Pope Sergius II. |
| 855 | 19 September | Lothair I and his sons signed the Treaty of Prüm in Schüller. On his death Louis II of Italy was to become Holy Roman Emperor and king of Italy, Lothair II king of Lotharingia, and Charles of Provence king of the rest of his domains. |
| 855 | 29 September | Lothair I died. |
| 869 | 8 August | Lothair II died. Lotharingia passed to his brother Louis II, at that time away at war with the Emirate of Bari. |
| 870 | 8 August | Louis the German and Charles the Bald signed the Treaty of Meersen, under which they agreed to partition Lotharingia between themselves. |
| 875 | 12 August | Louis II died. He left Italy and the title of Holy Roman Emperor to his cousin, Louis the German's son Carloman of Bavaria. |
| 875 | | Charles the Bald was crowned king of Italy at Pavia with the Iron Crown of Lombardy with the support of the pope Pope John VIII. |
| 875 | 29 December | Charles the Bald was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by the pope Pope John VIII. |
| 876 | 28 August | Louis the German died. His kingdom was divided along ethnic lines among his sons Carloman of Bavaria, Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat, who received, roughly, Bavaria, Saxony, and Swabia, respectively. |
| 876 | | Carloman of Bavaria appointed his illegitimate son Arnulf of Carinthia duke of Carinthia. |
| 876 | 8 October | Battle of Andernach (876): Louis the Younger defeated an attempted West Frankish invasion of East Francia across the Rhine near Andernach. |
| 877 | 6 October | Charles the Bald died. Carloman of Bavaria conquered Italy. West Francia Passed to his son, Louis the Stammerer. |
| 879 | | Carloman of Bavaria was incapacitated, probably by a stroke. |
| 879 | November | Carloman of Bavaria abdicated Bavaria and Italy to his brothers Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat, respectively. |
| 880 | February | Battle of Thimeon: Louis the Younger destroyed a Viking camp near modern Charleroi. |
| 880 | February | Louis the Younger signed the Treaty of Ribemont with Louis III of France and Carloman II, kings ruling jointly in West Francia, recognizing some territorial gains he had made in Lotharingia. |
| 881 | 12 February | Charles the Fat was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope Pope John VIII. |
| 882 | 20 January | Louis the Younger died. His brother Charles the Fat inherited his kingdom. |
| 882 | | Siege of Asselt: The Viking leader Godfrid, Duke of Frisia was besieged in his camp in the valley of the Meuse by East Frankish forces. After converting to Christianity he was granted the Kennemerland as a vassal of Charles the Fat. |
| 882 | | Wilhelminer War: The Wilhelminers rebelled against Aribo of Austria, the margrave of the East Frankish March of Pannonia. |
| 882 | | The Wilhelminers paid homage to Arnulf of Carinthia in exchange for his support against Aribo. |
| 882 | | Frankish-Moravian War: Svatopluk I of Moravia, the king of Great Moravia, intervened in Pannonia on the side of Aribo. |
| 884 | 12 December | King Carloman II of West Francia died on a hunting expedition. His cousin Charles the Fat inherited his kingdom. |
| 885 | 25 November | Siege of Paris (885–86): Some three hundred Viking ships arrived at Paris. |
| 886 | October | Siege of Paris (885–86): The army of Charles the Fat arrived in Paris. He allowed the Viking fleet to sail to Burgundy, then in revolt. |
| 887 | November | An assembly of East Frankish nobles at Trebur deposed Charles the Fat in favor of his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia. |
| 887 | 26 December | Berengar I of Italy, the margrave of Friulu, was crowned king of Italy at Pavia by the Italian nobility. |
| 888 | 13 January | Charles the Fat died. |
| 888 | | The nobility in Upper Burgundy elected Rudolph I of Burgundy king. |
| 888 | February | The Count of Paris Odo of France was crowned king of France at Compiègne following his election by the French nobility. |
| 891 | 21 February | The pope Pope Stephen V crowned Guy III of Spoleto, his preferred claimant to the throne of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 891 | September | Battle of Leuven (891): An East Frankish force repelled a Viking invasion at modern Leuven. |
| 892 | 30 April | Guy's son Lambert of Italy was crowned co-Holy Roman Emperor with his father at Ravenna by the pope, Pope Formosus. |
| 894 | 12 December | Guy died. |
| 895 | | Arnulf of Carinthia appointed his illegitimate son Zwentibold king of Lotharingia. |
| 896 | 21 February | Arnulf of Carinthia, joined by Berengar, conquered Rome from Lambert and freed the pope Pope Formosus from his imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo. |
| 896 | 22 February | The pope Pope Formosus crowned Arnulf of Carinthia Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 899 | 8 December | Arnulf of Carinthia died. His young son Louis the Child succeeded him as king of East Francia. |
| 900 | | Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin: Hungary conquered the Great Hungarian Plain and the March of Pannonia. |
| 900 | 13 August | Zwentibold was killed by Reginar, Duke of Lorraine. His young half-brother Louis the Child inherited his kingdom. |
| 900 | 12 October | The king of Provence Louis the Blind conquered Pavia from Berengar, and had himself crowned there king of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. |

## 10th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 901 | 22 February | Louis the Blind was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope Pope Benedict IV. |
| 903 | | Louis the Child issued the Raffelstetten customs regulations, regulating customs on a bridge in modern Asten. |
| 905 | 21 July | Berengar ordered Louis the Blind stripped of his royal Italian and imperial titles and blinded in Verona. |
| 907 | 6 July | Battle of Pressburg: An East Frankish army was wiped out by a Hungarian force at modern Bratislava during an attempted reconquest of Pannonia. |
| 908 | 3 August | Battle of Eisenach (908): An East Frankish army was dealt a crushing defeat by a Hungarian force at Eisenach. Burchard, Duke of Thuringia, the duke of Thuringia, was killed. Thuringia was absorbed into Saxony. |
| 910 | 12 June | Battle of Lechfeld (910): A Hungarian force decisively defeated an East Frankish army near Augsburg after a feigned retreat. |
| 911 | 20 September | Louis the Child died. The Lotharingian nobility, led by Reginar, Duke of Lorraine, elected Charles the Simple, king of France, to succeed him. |
| 911 | 10 November | Conrad I the Younger of Germany, duke of Franconia, was elected king of East Francia by the rulers of the other East Frankish duchies, the so-called stem duchies of Bavaria, Saxony and Alamannia. |
| 915 | December | Berengar was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope Pope John X. |
| 918 | 23 December | Conrad died from injuries sustained in battle with Arnulf the Bad, Duke of Bavaria, the duke of Bavaria. He was succeeded as duke of Franconia by his younger brother Eberhard of Franconia. |
| 919 | 24 May | Henry the Fowler, the duke of Saxony and Conrad's choice, was crowned king of Germany after his election by the dukes of the stem duchies. |
| 923 | 15 June | King Charles the Simple of Lotharingia was captured in battle by French forces. |
| 924 | 7 April | Berengar was murdered by a member of his retinue. |
| 925 | | The Lotharingian nobility, led by Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, elected Henry the Fowler their king. |
| 932 | | Synod of Erfurt: A synod at Erfurt decided that Germany would cease paying tribute to Hungary. |
| 933 | 15 March | Battle of Riade: A Hungarian force camped on the Unstrut was put to flight by a German army. |
| 936 | 2 July | Henry died after a stroke. He was succeeded as duke of Saxony and king of Germany by his son Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 936 | | Otto the Great created the Billung March, governed by Hermann Billung, and the Marca Geronis. |
| 937 | 11 July | Rudolph II of Burgundy, the king of Burgundy, died. |
| 937 | | Rudolph II's son Conrad I of Burgundy became king of Burgundy with the support of Otto the Great against Hugh of Italy, the king of Italy. |
| 938 | | Otto the Great deposed the duke of Bavaria Eberhard, Duke of Bavaria, installing his uncle Berthold, Duke of Bavaria on the condition that as king he retain the right to appoint bishops and administer royal property in Bavaria. |
| 939 | 2 October | Battle of Andernach: A rebellion of Franconia and Lotharingia against Otto the Great was decisively defeated at Andernach. The dukes of Franconia and Lotharingia Eberhard of Franconia and Gilbert were killed. Otto the Great prevented succession in both duchies and dissolved the former. |
| 940 | | Otto the Great appointed his younger brother Henry I, Duke of Bavaria duke of Lotharingia. |
| 955 | 10 August | Battle of Lechfeld (955): Otto the Great repelled a Hungarian invasion on the flood plain of the Lech. |
| 955 | 16 October | Battle on the Raxa: A German army defeated an Obotrite rebellion in the Billung March, probably on the Recknitz. |
| 962 | 2 February | Otto the Great was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 965 | 20 May | Gero, the margrave of the Marca Geronis, died. The march was divided into five: the Northern March, the Saxon Eastern March, the Margravate of Meissen, the March of Zeitz and the March of Merseburg. |
| 967 | 25 December | Otto the Great's young son Otto II the Red, Holy Roman Emperor was crowned co-Holy Roman Emperor with his father by the pope Pope John XIII. |
| 972 | 24 June | Battle of Cedynia: The forces of Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, the margrave of the Saxon Eastern March, were decisively repelled by the Polans near the Oder, possibly near Cedynia. |
| 973 | 7 May | Otto the Great died. |
| 973 | 8 May | The Roman nobility acclaimed Otto the Red his father's successor as Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 976 | | Otto the Great established the Margraviate of Austria, a march subordinate to Bavaria on the territory of the former March of Pannonia. |
| 981 | | Wigger I, the margrave of Zeitz, died. Rikdag, the margrave of Meissen, inherited his territory. |
| 982 | 14 July | Battle of Stilo: A Sicilian army dealt heavy casualties to a Roman force at Capo Colonna. Gunther, Margrave of Merseburg, the margrave of Merseburg, died. Rikdag inherited his territory. |
| 983 | | Great Slav Rising: An uprising by the Polabian Slavs overthrew German authority in the Northern March and the Billung March. |
| 996 | 3 May | Bruno of Carinthia was elected Pope Gregory V. |

## 11th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1046 | 25 December | Clement II was elected pope. |
| 1048 | 17 July | Damasus II was elected pope. |
| 1049 | 12 February | Leo IX was elected pope. |
| 1055 | 13 April | Victor II was elected pope. |
| 1057 | 3 August | Stephen IX was elected pope. |
| 1072 | | Agnes of Germany was born. |
| 1075 | 28 February | Investiture controversy: A council held at the Lateran Palace concluded that popes alone could appoint, remove and transfer bishops. |
| 1077 | 28 January | Walk to Canossa: After fasting outdoors in a blizzard for three days, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was allowed to enter Canossa Castle and receive forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII for the illegitimate appointment of bishops. |
| 1095 | 27 November | First Crusade: Pope Urban II called on all Catholics to assist the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in repelling the invading Seljuk Empire. |
| 1096 | | Rhineland massacres: Crusaders took part in anti-Jewish violence in the Rhineland. |
| 1098 | | Hildegard of Bingen was born. |

## 12th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1122 | 23 September | Investiture Controversy: Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V signed the Concordat of Worms, under which it was agreed that Holy Roman Emperors had the right to grant bishops secular authority but not religious authority. |
| 1143 | 24 September | Agnes died. |
| 1147 | | Northern Crusades: A series of crusades began against the pagan peoples around the Baltic Sea. |
| 1152 | 9 March | Frederick I Barbarossa was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 1170 | | Walther von der Vogelweide was born. |
| 1190 | | A field hospital was established at Acre which would become the nucleus of the Teutonic Order. |
| 1190 | | The Nibelungenlied was written. |

## 13th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1201 | | Valdemar II of Denmark occupied Hamburg. |
| 1210 | | The Lübeck Cathedral was constructed. |
| 1214 | 27 July | Battle of Bouvines: The combined forces of Flanders, England, Boulogne and the Holy Roman Empire were dealt a decisive defeat by the French at Bouvines. |
| 1230 | | St. Nicholas' Church was constructed in Berlin. |
| 1241 | | Lübeck and Hamburg formed an alliance. |
| 1244 | | Freie Stadt Mainz was founded in Mainz. |
| 1248 | | A Fire started in Hamburg. |
| 1273 | 29 September | Rudolph I was crowned King of the Romans. |
| 1290 | | Duchy of Cleves captured Duisburg. |
| 1291 | | Crusades: The Crusades ended. |
| 1291 | August | The people of Uri, Schwyz and the Lower Valley joined an alliance under the Federal Charter of 1291. |
| 1298 | | St. Lawrence church was constructed. |

## 14th century

| Year | Event |
| 1338 | The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire declared in the Declaration of Rhense that the election of the Holy Roman Emperor was not subject to the approval of the pope. |
| 1356 | The Imperial Diet issued the Golden Bull of 1356, which fixed the offices of the seven prince-electors and established that the Holy Roman Emperor could be elected by a simple majority vote. |
| 1356 | The Hanseatic League was established. |
| 1370 | The Treaty of Stralsund was signed, ending a war between Denmark and the Hanseatic League. |
| 1392 | The Victual Brothers were hired by the Duchy of Mecklenburg to assist in its fight against Denmark. |
| 1400 | The period of Meistersinger lyric poets began. |
| 1400 | The period of Minnesänger singers ended. |

## 15th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1410 | 15 July | Battle of Grunwald: The Teutonic Order was decisively defeated by the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania at Grunwald. |
| 1414 | | Council of Constance: An ecumenical council began which would condemn Jan Hus as a heretic, depose Antipopes John XXIII and Benedict XIII, and elect Pope Martin V. |
| 1418 | | Council of Constance: The council ended. |
| 1455 | | The Gutenberg Bible, one of the first books in the West made using moveable type, was first printed by Johann Gutenberg. |
| 1471 | 21 May | Albrecht Dürer was born. |
| 1483 | 10 November | Martin Luther was born. |
| 1495 | | The Imperial Diet established the Reichskammergericht, a permanent court of appeal with jurisdiction over the whole of the Holy Roman Empire. |
| 1499 | | Swabian War: A war between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg took place in which the Swiss would win an exemption from paying taxes to the Holy Roman Empire and participating in the Imperial Diet. |

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1517 | 31 October | Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses, a disputation condemning abuses in the Catholic Church, on the door of All Saint's Church in Wittenberg. |
| 1521 | | Diet of Worms: An Imperial Diet was held at Worms which would condemn Luther as a heretic. |
| 1522 | 9 January | Adrian VI became pope. |
| 1524 | | German Peasants' War: An uprising of German-speaking peasants began. |
| 1525 | | German Peasants' War: The war ended in the defeat of the peasant army. |
| 1525 | 10 April | Prussian Homage: Grand Master Albert of the Teutonic Order resigned his position and was appointed duke of Prussia by the Polish king Sigismund I the Old. |
| 1529 | 19 April | Protestation at Speyer: Six princes and the representatives of fourteen free imperial cities read out their objection to the imperial ban on Luther and his works at the Imperial Diet at Speyer. |
| 1529 | | Siege of Vienna: The Ottoman Empire was forced to retreat after the failure of their siege of Vienna. |
| 1546 | 10 July | Schmalkaldic War: A war began between the Schmalkaldic League of Lutheran principalities and a coalition led by the Holy Roman Empire. |
| 1547 | 23 May | Schmalkaldic War: The war ended in an imperial victory. |
| 1554 | | Moritzbastei was constructed as a bastion. |
| 1555 | 25 September | The Peace of Augsburg was signed, granting princes of the Holy Roman Empire the right to determine the state religion within their territories. |
| 1583 | | Beginning of the Cologne War. |
| 1588 | | End of the Cologne War. |
| 1600 | | The period of Meistersinger lyric poets ended. |

## 17th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1608 | 14 May | The Protestant Union, a military alliance of Protestant German princes, was established under the command of Elector Frederick IV of the Palatinate. |
| 1609 | 10 July | The Catholic League, an alliance of Catholic German princes, was established. |
| 1613 | | King James I of England, Ireland and Scotland married his daughter Elizabeth Stuart to Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate, leader of the Protestant Union. |
| 1618 | | Thirty Years' War: A war began which would cause massive devastation and loss of life, primarily in Germany. |
| 1629 | 6 March | Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II issued the Edict of Restitution, which demanded that lands expropriated since and in contradiction to the terms of the Peace of Augsburg be restored to the Catholic Church. |
| 1631 | 20 May | Sack of Magdeburg: Forces under the command of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League breached the walls of the Protestant city of Magdeburg and murdered some twenty thousand of its thirty thousand inhabitants. |
| 1631 | 17 September | Battle of Breitenfeld: The combined forces of Saxony and the Swedish Empire dealt a decisive defeat to the Holy Roman Empire and its allies near Breitenfeld. |
| 1632 | 16 November | Battle of Lützen: Forces led by the Swedish Empire defeated forces under the command of the Holy Roman Empire near Lützen. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus was killed. |
| 1642 | 23 October | Battle of Breitenfeld: The Swedish army dealt a decisive defeat to the Holy Roman Empire near Breitenfeld. |
| 1648 | | Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Westphalia was concluded, ending the war and granting Switzerland and the Netherlands independence from the Holy Roman Empire. |
| 1683 | 11 September | Battle of Vienna: The combined forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire and their allies broke an Ottoman siege of Vienna. |
| 1686 | | The League of Augsburg, a military alliance of European countries, was established to defend the Palatinate from France. |
| 1697 | 15 September | The elector of Saxony was elected King Augustus II the Strong of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. |
| 1700 | 17 July | Leibniz founded the Prussian Academy of Sciences. |

## 18th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1701 | 18 January | Frederick I of Prussia crowned himself king; the Duchy of Prussia became the Kingdom of Prussia. |
| 1706 | | Johann Pachelbel died. |
| 1712 | 24 January | Frederick II of Prussia, the Great, was born. |
| 1716 | 14 November | Gottfried Leibniz died. |
| 1740 | 11 December | The Prussian king Frederick the Great issued an ultimatum to Austria demanding the cession of Silesia according to the terms of an inheritance treaty. |
| 1740 | 16 December | Silesian Wars: Prussia invaded Silesia. |
| 1742 | 28 July | Silesian Wars: The Treaty of Berlin was signed, transferring most of Austria's Silesian territories to Prussia and ending the war. |
| 1745 | 4 June | Battle of Hohenfriedberg: A Prussian force led by Frederick the Great decisively defeated the allied armies of Austria and Saxony, halting the attempted reconquest of Silesia. |
| 1745 | 25 December | Silesian Wars: Prussia, Austria and Saxony signed the Treaty of Dresden, confirming Prussia's sovereignty over Silesia and ending the war. |
| 1750 | 28 July | Bach died. |
| 1756 | 29 August | Third Silesian War (Seven Years' War): Prussia invaded Saxony. |
| 1763 | 15 February | Third Silesian War: Prussia, Austria and Saxony signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, ending the war and restoring the three states' prewar borders. |
| 1786 | 17 August | Frederick the Great died. |
| 1788 | | The Abitur, a university admission exam, was established in Prussia. |
| 1789 | 13 June | French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates General declared itself the National Assembly. |
| 1791 | 27 August | Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, promising to join a coalition to restore Louis XVI of France to the French throne. |
| 1791 | 5 December | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. |
| 1792 | 20 April | French Revolutionary Wars: France declared war on Austria. |
| 1792 | 25 July | Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, commander of the allied armies of Prussia and Austria, issued the Brunswick Manifesto, which threatened reprisals against French civilians in the event that the French king Louis XVI or his family were harmed. |
| 1796 | 20 May | Rhine Campaign of 1796: Austria declared that its truce with French forces in the area of the Rhine was over effective 31 May. |
| 1797 | 16 November | Frederick William III of Prussia became king of Prussia. |
| 1799 | 9 November | Coup of 18 Brumaire: Three of the five members of the French Directory were persuaded to resign, the other two arrested. |

## 19th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1802 | 25 March | French Revolutionary Wars: France and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war. |
| 1803 | 27 April | Francis II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ratified the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, consolidating the states of the Empire especially through the secularization of ecclesiastical lands and abolishment of free imperial cities. |
| 1803 | 18 May | Napoleonic Wars: Great Britain declared war on France. |
| 1803 | 5 July | The Convention of Artlenburg, dissolved Hanover and incorporating its territory into France. |
| 1804 | 12 February | Kant died. |
| 1804 | | Friedrich Schiller published William Tell. |
| 1805 | 9 May | Schiller died. |
| 1805 | | Napoleonic Wars: Austria joined Britain, Sweden and Russia in the War of the Third Coalition against France. |
| 1806 | 12 July | Sixteen German states established the Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation and protectorate of France. |
| 1806 | 6 August | Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, abdicated his title and released his subjects from their obligations to the empire. |
| 1806 | | Napoleonic Wars: Prussia declared war on France. |
| 1806 | 14 October | Battle of Jena-Auerstedt: French forces dealt a decisive defeat to a numerically superior Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt. |
| 1807 | | The Prussian minister Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein published the Nassauer Denkschrift, laying out his vision for the Prussian reforms. |
| 1807 | 9 July | France and Prussia signed the second of the Treaties of Tilsit, in which the latter ceded half of its territory to Russia and French client states. |
| 1808 | | Johann Gottlieb Fichte published his Addresses to the German Nation, arguing for German nationalism and unity. |
| 1810 | | Robert Schumann was born. |
| 1810 | | The Brothers Grimm published their first collection of fairy tales. |
| 1812 | | The Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg signed the Convention of Tauroggen, establishing an armistice with Russia in contravention of the Treaty of Paris. |
| 1813 | 22 May | Richard Wagner was born. |
| 1813 | 19 October | Battle of Leipzig: The French army was encircled and forced to retreat from Leipzig in a battle in which some ninety thousand French and allied troops were killed or injured. |
| 1814 | 30 May | War of the Sixth Coalition: France signed the Treaty of Paris, under which it returned to its 1792 borders and the House of Bourbon was restored to the French throne, ending the war. |
| 1815 | 1 April | Otto von Bismarck was born. |
| 1815 | 9 June | Congress of Vienna: A conference of twenty-three ambassadors signed a treaty reordering Europe's national boundaries and establishing freedom of navigation on the Rhine and the Danube. France was greatly expanded and a German Confederation of thirty-four states was established. |
| 1815 | 18 June | Battle of Waterloo: The restored French emperor Napoleon was dealt a decisive defeat by the United Kingdom and its allies at Waterloo. |
| 1815 | 31 October | Karl Weierstrass was born. |
| 1816 | 5 May | The constitution of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was promulgated. |
| 1817 | 18 October | Wartburg Festival: A protest of liberal students took place at Wartburg. |
| 1818 | 5 May | Karl Marx was born. |
| 1818 | 26 May | The Bavarian king Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria issued a constitution which established a bicameral legislature, the Landtag of Bavaria, and guaranteed freedom of religion. |
| 1818 | 22 August | The legislature of the Grand Duchy of Baden held its first meeting. |
| 1819 | 18 March | The conservative writer August von Kotzebue was fatally stabbed by a liberal theology student, Karl Ludwig Sand. |
| 1819 | 20 September | Representatives of the states of the German Confederation issued the Carlsbad Decrees, under which each resolved to become involved in instruction and hiring at universities, require prior restraint on all serial publications, and dissolve student organizations such as the liberal Burschenschaften. |
| 1826 | 17 September | Bernhard Riemann was born. |
| 1827 | 26 March | Beethoven died. |
| 1828 | 19 November | Schubert died. |
| 1830 | 7 September | Charles II, Duke of Brunswick was forced by an angry mob to flee the capital Braunschweig. |
| 1831 | 14 November | Hegel died. |
| 1832 | 22 March | Goethe died. |
| 1832 | 15 April | Wilhelm Busch was born. |
| 1832 | 27 May | Hambach Festival: A rally began at Hambach Castle where participants demonstrated for the liberalization and unification of the German states. |
| 1833 | 7 May | Johannes Brahms was born. |
| 1834 | 1 January | The Zollverein came into existence, merging the Bavaria–Württemberg Customs Union, the Prussia–Hesse-Darmstadt Customs Union and the Thuringian Customs and Commerce Union into a single customs union. |
| 1837 | | The Göttingen Seven published a document opposing the decision of Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, to abrogate his country's 1833 constitution. |
| 1839 | | Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Russia and the German Confederation signed the Treaty of London, recognizing Belgium's independence and guaranteeing its neutrality. |
| 1840 | 7 June | Frederick William died. |
| 1840 | 28 June | The educator Friedrich Fröbel coined the term kindergarten. |
| 1841 | | The economist Friedrich List published his National System of Political Economy. |
| 1844 | 15 October | Friedrich Nietzsche was born. |
| | 25 November | Karl Benz was born |
| 1848 | 27 February | German revolutions of 1848–49: An assembly in Mannheim adopted a resolution demanding a bill of rights. |
| 1848 | 24 March | First Schleswig War: Ethnic German rebels loyal to the provisional government in the Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein captured the government fortress at Rendsburg. |
| 1848 | 1 May | German federal election, 1848: Elections were held in the thirty-nine states of the German Confederation to a national constituent assembly, the Frankfurt Parliament. |
| 1849 | 18 June | German revolutions of 1848–49: The chamber of the Frankfurt Parliament, since reduced to a rump parliament and moved to Stuttgart, was occupied by the Württemberg army. A repression began which would force the liberal Forty-Eighters into exile. |
| 1850 | 30 May | The Prussian three-class franchise, according to which all males over the age of 24 were allowed to vote for their representatives in the lower house of the Prussian parliament, with votes weighted by amount of taxes paid, was introduced. |
| 1850 | 29 November | Prussia and Austria signed the Punctuation of Olmütz, under which the former agreed to the dissolution of the Prussian-led Erfurt Union and the revival of the German Confederation under Austrian leadership. |
| 1852 | 8 May | First Schleswig War: Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom signed the London Protocol, guaranteeing the nominal independence of Schleswig and Holstein in personal union with Denmark and ending the war. |
| 1855 | 23 February | Gauss died. |
| 1856 | August | Neanderthal remains were discovered in Neandertal. |
| 1858 | 23 April | Max Planck was born. |
| 1859 | | The reformist Albrecht von Roon was appointed Prussian minister of war. |
| 1863 | 23 May | The General German Workers' Association was formed. |
| 1864 | 1 February | Second Schleswig War: Prussia invaded Schleswig. |
| 1864 | 30 October | Second Schleswig War: Denmark, Austria and Prussia signed the Treaty of Vienna, placing the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein under Prussian and Austrian administration, respectively, and ending the war. |
| 1866 | 14 June | Austro-Prussian War: Prussia declared war on Austria. |
| 1866 | 3 July | Battle of Königgrätz: Prussian forces broke an Austrian line and dealt them a decisive defeat at modern Hradec Králové. |
| 1866 | 20 July | Riemann died. |
| 1866 | 18 August | Prussia and fifteen smaller northern German states signed the North German Confederation Treaty, transferring their armed forces to the North German Confederation under the command of the Prussian king William I, German Emperor. |
| 1866 | 23 August | Austro-Prussian War: Prussia and Austria signed the Peace of Prague, in which the latter agreed to some small territorial concessions and the dissolution of the German Confederation, ending the war. |
| 1870 | 10 March | Deutsche Bank was established. |
| 1870 | 16 July | Franco-Prussian War: France declared war on Prussia. |
| 1870 | 10 December | The Reichstag of the North German Confederation renamed the North German Confederation the German Empire. |
| 1871 | 18 January | William was crowned emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. |
| 1871 | 21 March | Minister President Otto von Bismarck of Prussia was appointed Chancellor of the German Empire. |
| 1872 | 11 March | Kulturkampf: The School Supervision Act was passed, transferring all religious schools to state control. |
| 1873 | 22 October | Germany joined the League of the Three Emperors, a conservative alliance with Russia and Austria-Hungary aimed at preserving those nations' interests in Eastern Europe. |
| 1873 | | Roon resigned from the Prussian Ministry of War. |
| 1875 | 6 June | Thomas Mann was born. |
| 1878 | 13 July | Congress of Berlin: The United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Berlin (1878), granting independence to the former Ottoman territories of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy to a federal Bulgaria. |
| 1879 | 7 October | Germany and Austria-Hungary joined a mutual defense treaty, the Dual Alliance. |
| 1880 | July | Kulturkampf: The First Mitigation Law was passed, resuming government payments to Prussian dioceses. |
| 1880 | 16 December | First Boer War: Boer rebels laid siege to a British fort at Potchefstroom. |
| 1882 | 20 May | Italy joined the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. |
| 1882 | 3 September | Hugstetten rail disaster |
| 1883 | 13 February | Wagner died. |
| 1883 | 14 March | Marx died. |
| 1884 | 15 November | Berlin Conference: A conference was convened in Berlin to formalize the practice of territorial claims in Africa by the participating powers Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman Empire and the United States. |
| 1886 | | Automobiles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were produced independently by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. |
| 1887 | 18 June | Germany and Russia signed the secret Reinsurance Treaty, in which each promised benevolent neutrality in the event the other should go to war. |
| 1889 | 20 April | Adolf Hitler was born. |
| 1890 | 20 March | Bismarck was dismissed as Chancellor. |
| 1890 | 1 July | Germany and the United Kingdom signed the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, under which Germany renounced its claims over Zanzibar in exchange for the strategic island of Heligoland. |
| 1891 | | The Pan-German League was established. |
| 1892 | | Rudolf Diesel invented the Diesel engine. |
| 1896 | 3 January | The German emperor Wilhelm II, German Emperor sent the Kruger telegram to president Paul Kruger of the South African Republic, congratulating him on the successful repulsion of the Jameson Raid. |
| 1897 | 19 February | Weierstrass died. |
| 1897 | 3 April | Brahms died. |
| 1898 | 30 July | Bismarck died. |
| 1899 | 11 October | Second Boer War: The South African Republic and the Orange Free State declared war on the United Kingdom. |
| 1900 | 25 August | Nietzsche died. |

## 20th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1905 | 31 March | First Moroccan Crisis: Wilhelm met with repreesentitives of the Moroccan sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco in Tangier in support of Moroccan sovereignty. |
| 1905 | | Field marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, chief of the German General Staff, developed the Schlieffen Plan, a plan for the quick invasion and conquest of France through Belgium and the Netherlands in the event of a two-front war. |
| 1906 | 7 April | Algeciras Conference: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium signed the final act of the conference, which limited Moroccan spending and placed French and Spanish officers in charge of its police. |
| 1908 | 9 January | Poet Wilhelm Busch died. |
| 1911 | 1 July | Agadir Crisis: The German gunboat SMS Panther arrived at the Moroccan port of Agadir. |
| 1913 | 6 November | Saverne Affair: Two local Saverne papers reported on offensive comments made by a local Prussian military officer. |
| 1914 | | Albert Einstein moved to Berlin. |
| 1914 | 28 July | World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. |
| 1914 | 4 August | World War I: The United Kingdom declared war on Germany. |
| 1914 | 4 August | Blockade of Germany: The United Kingdom established a blockade of war materiel and foodstuffs bound for Germany. |
| 1914 | 30 August | Battle of Tannenberg: The German 8th Army decisively defeated a Russian force near Olsztyn, practically destroying the Russian 2nd Army. |
| 1914 | 9 September | First Battle of the Marne: French forces met the invading 1st and 2nd Armies of the German Empire at the Marne. |
| 1915 | 22 April | Second Battle of Ypres: The German army released chlorine gas against the French line at Ypres. |
| 1916 | 31 May | Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet met in battle in the North Sea, at a cost of some ten thousand lives and several ships sunk. |
| 1916 | 4 June | Brusilov offensive: The Russian Empire launched an offensive across the Eastern Front in the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which would cost some half million Russian casualties and over a million German and Austrian casualties. |
| 1916 | 1 July | Battle of the Somme: A British force drove the German 2nd Army behind its first line of defense at a cost of some sixty thousand casualties. |
| 1916 | 24 October | Battle of Verdun: The French Second Army consolidated control over Fort Douaumont in Douaumont, ending major operations in a battle which cost as many as one million French and German casualties. |
| 1916 | | The Turnip Winter begins—a period of famine in which the German people were driven to subsist on turnips. |
| 1917 | 1 February | The German navy introduced unrestricted submarine warfare, in which submarines sought to destroy surface ships without warning. |
| 1917 | | The Turnip Winter ended. |
| 1918 | 21 March | German spring offensive: German forces attacked the British Fifth Army and broke their line in northern France. |
| 1918 | 8 August | Hundred Days Offensive: An allied force of primarily French, British and American troops drove back the German line at Amiens. |
| 1918 | 9 November | German Revolution of 1918–1919: Wilhelm abdicated his titles as German Emperor and king of Prussia. |
| 1918 | 10 November | German Revolution of 1918–1919: The Council of the People's Deputies, a body elected from the workers' councils of Berlin, introduced sweeping liberal reforms including the elimination of the Prussian three-class franchise and women's suffrage. |
| 1918 | 17 November | World War I: A German delegation signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918, promising an immediate cessation of hostilities, significant territorial concessions, and the surrender of Germany's war materiel. |
| 1919 | 15 January | Spartacist uprising: Government and Freikorps troops put down an uprising in Berlin by the Marxist Spartacus League, killing some hundred and fifty insurgents. Their leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were murdered extrajudicially a few days later. |
| 1919 | 11 February | German presidential election, 1919: Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was elected president by the Weimar National Assembly, with seventy-three percent of the vote. |
| 1919 | 6 April | Ernst Toller declared the establishment of a Bavarian Council Republic in Bavaria. |
| 1919 | 28 June | Paris Peace Conference, 1919: Representatives of some thirty world powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, under which Germany was forced to disarm, give up its colonies, make substantial territorial concessions, and pay reparations to the Allies. |
| 1919 | 14 August | The Weimar Constitution came into force. The Weimar Republic succeeded the German Empire. |
| 1920 | 13 March | Kapp Putsch: The Freikorps Marinebrigade Ehrhardt occupied Berlin. Wolfgang Kapp of the national conservative German National People's Party (DNVP) declared himself chancellor. The coup attempt collapsed on 18 March. |
| 1920 | 13 March | Ruhr uprising: The Communist Party of Germany, the Communist Workers' Party of Germany, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Free Workers' Union of Germany together established the Ruhr Red Army in an attempt to set up a soviet-style government. Freikorps and regular troops defeated the Red Army with considerable loss of life. |
| 1921 | June | Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic: Inflation of the Papiermark (Mark) began in response to the first reparations payment to the Allies under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| 1922 | 16 April | Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Rapallo, in which each renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other and pledged to normalize relations. |
| 1923 | 11 January | Occupation of the Ruhr: France invaded the valley of the Ruhr. |
| 1923 | 13 August | Gustav Stresemann of the national liberal German People's Party was appointed chancellor and minister for foreign affairs. |
| 1923 | 8 November | Beer Hall Putsch: Nazi Party chairman Adolf Hitler led some six hundred Sturmabteilung (SA) to the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, where they held Bavarian state officials Gustav Ritter von Kahr, Hans Ritter von Seisser and Otto von Lossow at gunpoint to demand they support a Nazi coup. |
| 1924 | August | Germany and the Triple Entente agreed to the Dawes Plan negotiated by head of the United States Bureau of the Budget chief Charles G. Dawes, under which the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr valley was ended and the reparation payment schedule restructured. |
| 1925 | 16 October | The last of the Locarno Treaties, under which France, Belgium and Germany settled their borders and pledged not to attack each other, was signed. |
| 1926 | 8 September | Germany joined the League of Nations. |
| 1929 | 31 August | The Allies accepted the Young Plan, which reduced Germany's war reparations and allowed it to defer a greater portion, which would accrue interest due to a consortium of American banks. |
| 1929 | 3 October | Gustav Stresemann died. |
| 1929 | 29 October | Wall Street crash of 1929: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped twelve percent in a trading session of record volume. |
| 1930 | 14 September | German federal election, 1930: The SPD retained a plurality of seats in the Reichstag. The Nazi Party gained ninety-five seats. |
| 1933 | 30 January | Hitler was appointed chancellor at the head of a Nazi-DNVP coalition. |
| 1933 | 30 January | The process of Gleichschaltung, in which the government dismantled non-Nazi parties and societies, began. |
| 1933 | 27 February | Reichstag fire: The Reichstag building was burned. The Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was caught at the scene and confessed. |
| 1933 | 28 February | President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending most civil liberties. |
| 1933 | 24 March | The Enabling Act of 1933, which granted the cabinet the power to make laws, was passed and signed in the presence of armed members of the SA and Schutzstaffel (SS). |
| 1933 | 20 July | Vice-chancellor Franz von Papen of Germany and cardinal secretary of state Pope Pius XII of the Holy See signed the Reichskonkordat, which required bishops to swear loyalty to the president of Germany. |
| 1934 | 30 June | Night of the Long Knives: SS paramilitaries killed at least eighty-five potential threats to Hitler's power, including SA head Ernst Röhm and Gregor Strasser, head of the left wing of the Nazi Party. |
| 1934 | 1 August | Hitler issued a law merging the powers of the presidency into the office of the chancellor. |
| 1934 | 2 August | Hindenburg died from lung cancer. |
| 1935 | 16 March | German re-armament: Hitler announced that Germany would rebuild its military, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| 1936 | 7 March | Remilitarisation of the Rhineland: German troops entered the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| 1936 | | 1936 Summer Olympics: Germany won the greatest number of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics, held in Berlin. Black American Jesse Owens won four gold medals, the highest individual total. |
| 1938 | 12 March | Anschluss: German troops entered Austria. |
| 1938 | 9 November | Kristallnacht: A pogrom took place in which SA paramilitaries and German civilians destroyed Jewish businesses and at least ninety-one were killed. |
| 1939 | 23 August | The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, promising mutual non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and agreeing to a division of much of Eastern Europe between those two countries. |
| 1939 | 1 September | Invasion of Poland: Germany invaded Poland. |
| 1939 | 22 December | Genthin rail disaster |
| 1940 | 9 April | Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway. |
| 1940 | 10 May | Case Yellow: Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. |
| 1940 | 22 June | Armistice of 22 June 1940 with France |
| 1941 | | Konrad Zuse built the Z3. |
| 1941 | 6 April | Invasion of Yugoslavia |
| 1941 | 6 April | German invasion of Greece |
| 1941 | 22 June | Operation Barbarossa: German forces invade the Soviet Union. |
| 1942 | 20 January | Wannsee Conference: A government conference was held to discuss the implementation of the Final Solution, the extermination of European Jewry. |
| 1942 | 23 August | The Battle of Stalingrad begins. |
| 1943 | 2 February | The Battle of Stalingrad ends, resulting in the destruction of the German 6th Army (Friedrich Paulus). |
| 1944 | 6 June | Normandy landings: Allied forces (including contingents from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada) disembark on five landing grounds in German-occupied Normandy, reopening the Western Front of World War II. |
| 1945 | 20 March | The first Arnsberg Forest massacre starts, killing 71 Polish and Russian prisoners of war. Two more massacres would occur over the next three days, killing 208 people in total. |
| 1945 | 30 April | Death of Adolf Hitler: Hitler committed suicide by gunshot in the Führerbunker in Berlin. |
| 1945 | 8 May | German Instrument of Surrender: World War II ends in Europe (VE Day). |
| 1945 | 23 May | The Flensburg Government around Karl Dönitz and Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk is detained by British forces. |
| 1945 | 23 May | Heinrich Himmler commits suicide. |
| 1945 | 26 June | The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) was founded. |
| 1945 | 2 August | Potsdam Conference: British prime minister Clement Attlee, president Harry S. Truman of the United States and Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, issued the Potsdam Agreement at Cecilienhof in Potsdam. The parties agreed that Germany would be returned to its 1937 borders with some additional cessions to the Soviet Union and ratified its division into British, French, American and Soviet occupation zones. |
| 1946 | 29 March | The first of the Allied plans for German industry after World War II, which called for the reduction of German industrial capacity, was issued by the Allied Control Council. |
| 1946 | 3 September | U.S. President Harry S. Truman approves Operation Paperclip (de facto ongoing since 1945) in a secret directive. |
| 1946 | 6 September | United States secretary of state James F. Byrnes read the speech Restatement of Policy on Germany, clarifying his nation's desire for economic recovery in Germany and guaranteeing its borders. |
| 1947 | 4 October | Planck died. |
| 1948 | 20 June | Ludwig Erhard, the appointed economic director of the Bizone, introduced the Deutsche Mark. |
| 1948 | 24 June | Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union blocked Western Bloc access to West Berlin by road and rail. |
| 1948 | 25 June | Berlin Blockade: United States cargo planes began shipping food and medical supplies to West Berlin. |
| 1948 | 12 December | The Free Democratic Party (FDP) was established. |
| 1949 | 12 May | Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union lifted the blockade. |
| 1949 | 23 May | West Germany was founded. |
| 1949 | 14 August | West German federal election, 1949: The CDU and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) won a narrow plurality of seats in the Bundestag. |
| 1949 | 15 September | Konrad Adenauer of the CDU became chancellor of West Germany. |
| 1949 | 7 October | East Germany was founded. |
| 1950 | | Wirtschaftswunder: The Times first used the term Wirtschaftswunder to refer to the rapid postwar economic growth of West Germany and Austria. |
| 1951 | 18 April | The Inner Six European nations including West Germany signed the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, a single market in coal and steel governed by supranational institutions. |
| 1952 | 26 May | East Germany strengthened its border protection regime along the Inner German border. |
| 1952 | 26 May | The General Treaty, which granted West Germany the "authority of a sovereign state", was signed by West Germany, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. |
| 1953 | 16 June | Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: In response to a 10 percent increase in work quotas, between 60 and 80 construction workers went on strike in East Berlin. Their numbers quickly swelled and a general strike and protests were called for the next day. |
| 1953 | 17 June | Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: 100,000 protestors gathered at dawn, demanding the reinstatement of old work quotas and, later, the resignation of the East German government. At noon German police trapped many of the demonstrators in an open square; Soviet tanks fired on the crowd, killing hundreds and ending the protest. |
| 1954 | 4 July | 1954 FIFA World Cup Final: West Germany defeated the heavily favored Hungarian national team in the final match of the FIFA World Cup in Bern. |
| 1955 | 9 May | West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective defense organization. |
| 1955 | 14 May | Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact, a collective defense organization. |
| 1955 | 12 August | Mann died. |
| 1959 | 20 June | Lauffen bus crash |
| 1961 | 13 August | Construction began on the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin. |
| 1963 | 16 October | Erhard became chancellor of West Germany. |
| 1964 | November | The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was established. |
| 1966 | 1 December | Erhard resigned. |
| 1966 | 1 December | Kurt Georg Kiesinger of the CDU was elected Chancellor of West Germany in coalition with the SPD. |
| 1967 | 2 June | The unarmed student Benno Ohnesorg, a member of the German student movement, was shot and killed by Karl-Heinz Kurras, a Berlin Police inspector and East German spy, while protesting the state visit of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran. |
| 1967 | 6 July | Langenweddingen level crossing disaster |
| 1968 | 30 May | The German Emergency Acts were passed, amending the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany to allow for the restriction of certain freedoms in the event of an emergency, and marking a major political defeat for the German student movement. |
| 1969 | 21 October | Willy Brandt of the SPD was elected chancellor of West Germany. |
| 1970 | 5 June | The Marxist–Leninist terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF) was founded. |
| 1970 | 19 June | The voting age for participation in West German federal elections was lowered from twenty-one to eighteen. |
| 1970 | 12 August | West Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Moscow, in which the former recognized East Germany and renounced its claims on historical German territory east of the Oder–Neisse line. |
| 1970 | 7 December | West Germany and Poland signed the Treaty of Warsaw, in which both parties pledged to remain at peace and the former again affirmed its recognition of the border at the Oder–Neisse line. |
| 1971 | 27 May | Dahlerau train disaster |
| 1971 | 3 September | France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Four Power Agreement on Berlin, in which all parties pledged peace and the latter pledged to continue to allow trade and communication between West Berlin and West Germany. |
| 1972 | 26 August | 1972 Summer Olympics: The Olympic games opened in Munich, in West Germany. |
| 1972 | 5 September | Munich massacre: Eight members of the Black September Organization snuck into the Olympic Village in Munich and took nine members of the Israeli team hostage. |
| 1972 | 21 December | East and West Germany signed the Basic Treaty, in which each recognized the other's sovereignty. |
| 1973 | 18 September | East and West Germany were admitted to the United Nations (UN). |
| 1974 | 16 May | Helmut Schmidt of the SPD was elected chancellor of West Germany. |
| 1974 | 7 July | 1974 FIFA World Cup Final: West Germany beat the Netherlands national team in the final match of the FIFA World Cup in Munich, in West Germany. |
| 1982 | | Germany wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, marking their first win by Nicole with 'Ein Bißchen Frieden' |
| 1982 | 1 October | Helmut Kohl of the CDU became chancellor of West Germany. |
| 1987 | September | Erich Honecker, the general secretary of the ruling party of East Germany, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, paid a state visit to West Germany. |
| 1989 | 4 September | Monday demonstrations in East Germany: A peaceful demonstration began in Leipzig, in East Germany, which called for democracy and the right of citizens to travel abroad. |
| 1989 | 9 November | The checkpoints on the Berlin Wall were opened. |
| 1990 | 8 July | 1990 FIFA World Cup Final: West Germany beat the Argentine national team in the final match of the FIFA World Cup in Rome. |
| 1990 | 12 September | The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed by East and West Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. The latter four renounced all rights they held in Germany. |
| 1990 | 3 October | German reunification: Five East German states acceded to West Germany. Berlin became the capital of Germany. |
| 1992 | 7 February | The Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union (EU) was signed by twelve European countries including Germany. |
| 1993 | 14 May | Alliance '90/The Greens was established from the merger of Alliance 90 and the Green Party. |
| 1994 | | The Federal Constitutional Court held that the Bundeswehr could take part in UN peacekeeping operations outside NATO territory. |
| 1998 | 3 June | Eschede train disaster |
| 1998 | 27 October | Gerhard Schröder of the SPD became chancellor at the head of a coalition with Alliance '90/The Greens. |
| 1999 | 24 March | NATO bombing of Yugoslavia: NATO forces began bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in support of the Kosovo Liberation Army. |
| 2000 | 1 June | Expo 2000: A world's fair was held in Hanover. |

## 21st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 2002 | 1 January | Physical Euro currency was introduced. The Deutsche Mark lost its status as legal tender in Germany. |
| 2005 | 19 April | Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope. |
| 2005 | 22 November | Angela Merkel of the CDU became chancellor in coalition with the CSU and SPD. |
| 2006 | 9 June – 9 July | 2006 FIFA World Cup: The 2006 FIFA World Cup was held in Germany. |
| 2006 | 22 September | Lathen train collision |
| 2008 | 14 September | Sebastian Vettel wins the Italian Grand Prix, marking him F1's youngest winner. |
| 2009 | 27 September | German federal election, 2009: Elections were held to the Bundestag. The SPD lost seventy-six seats; the CDU-CSU coalition and the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) gained. |
| 2010 | 23 April | European debt crisis: Greece requested a loan from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. |
| 2010 | 29 May | Germany wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with Lena and 'Satellite'. This was their second win. |
| 2010 | 14 November | Sebastian Vettel wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Championship, marking him F1's youngest world champion. |
| 2012 | 18 March | 2012 German presidential election: Joachim Gauck was elected Federal President. |
| 2013 | 22 September | German federal election, 2013: Elections were held to the Bundestag. The FDP failed to meet the electoral threshold. The CDU-CSU coalition and the SPD both gained seats. |
| 2014 | 17 March | The EU instituted travel bans and asset freezes against individuals connected with the Russian invasion of Crimea. |
| 2014 | 13 July | 2014 FIFA World Cup Final: Germany defeated the Argentine national team in the final match of the FIFA World Cup in extra time in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2014 | 12 October | Mercedes wins their first championship against Red Bull in Russia, despite tensions between Hamilton and Rosberg. |
| 2015 | | In European migrant crisis migrants number in Germany increase up to 1.5 million in 2015. |
| 2016 | 9 February | Bad Aibling rail accident |
| 2016 | 19 December | 2016 Berlin terror attack on a Christmas market, killing 13 and injuring 55. |
| 2017 | 19 March | Frank-Walter Steinmeier became Federal President. |
| 2017 | 30 June | Same-sex marriage was legalized by German parliament, effective 1 October. |
| 2017 | 24 September | German federal election, 2017: Elections were held to the Bundestag. The ruling coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD took significant losses, with AfD, entering parliament for the first time, the main winner. FDP re-entered parliament, bringing the overall number of political parties in the Bundestag up to six. |
| 2017 | 19 November | After an initial refusal by the SPD to continue the previous governing coalition, the attempt by CDU/CSU, Alliance 90/The Greens and FDP to form a Jamaica coalition failed with the withdrawal by the FDP around Christian Lindner. |
| 2018 | 14 March | Angela Merkel was elected to her fourth term as chancellor (364/688 votes in the Bundestag), forming the Fourth Merkel cabinet. Olaf Scholz (SPD) became Vice Chancellor. |
| 2018 | 7 April | 2018 Münster attack: 3 civilians and the perpetrator were killed. |
| 2018 | 7 December | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer becomes the new CDU chairwoman. Angela Merkel did not candidate again after 18 years at the party leadership. |
| 2019 | | British troops in Germany that stayed there since World War II are expected to leave. |
| 2020 | 19 February | Hanau shootings |
| 2020 | 24 February | Volkmarsen ramming attack |
| 2020 | 22 August | Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny arrives in Berlin for medical treatment. |
| 2020 | 29 August | Right-wing rioters attempt to storm the Reichstag building. |
| 2020 | 3 September | 2020 Solingen killings |
| 2020 | 4 October | 2020 Dresden knife attack |
| 2021 | 15–16 January | January 2021 CDU leadership election: Armin Laschet defeats Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen to become CDU leader. |
| 2021 | 25 June | 2021 Würzburg stabbing |
| 2021 | 26 September | German federal election, 2021: Elections were held to the Bundestag. The SPD, led by Olaf Scholz, emerged the strongest party (25.7%) ahead of CDU/CSU (24.1%), led by Armin Laschet. |
| 2021 | 8 December | Following coalition negotiations between SPD, Greens, and FDP, a traffic light coalition was formed between the three parties, instating the Scholz cabinet with Olaf Scholz (SPD) as Germany's ninth chancellor since 1949. |
| 2021 | 4–16 December | December 2021 CDU leadership election: Friedrich Merz defeats Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun to become CDU leader. |
| 2022 | 24 January | Heidelberg University shooting |
| 2023 | 15 April | Germany phased out all of its nuclear power plants. |
| 2028 | | The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link connecting Denmark and Germany would be fully constructed. |
| 2040 | | Trans-European Transport Networks is expected to finish construction, connecting southern Italy and Germany. |