Timeline: German history from 1871 to today
The naturalization test catalog asks about years and historical events in several places. This timeline lists the main events from the founding of the German Empire in 1871 to the 2024 citizenship reform, in chronological order, each in one to three short sentences.
- 1871: Founding of the German Empire
- After the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was founded. The previously separate German states were united in a common nation-state for the first time, with the King of Prussia as Emperor.
- 1933: Start of Nazi rule
- Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933. The NSDAP then quickly built a dictatorship and dismantled democracy and basic rights.
- 1938: November pogroms
- On the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, synagogues, Jewish-owned shops, and homes were attacked and destroyed across Germany. These attacks, known as the November pogroms or Kristallnacht, marked a turning point toward the systematic persecution of the Jewish population.
- 1939 to 1945: Second World War
- Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939 started the Second World War. During the war, the Holocaust killed around six million European Jews. The war in Europe ended in May 1945 with Germany's defeat.
- 1945: End of the war and the start of the occupation
- After the surrender, Germany was divided into occupation zones administered by the four victorious powers: the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France.
- 1948: Currency reform and the Berlin Blockade
- In 1948, the Deutsche Mark was introduced in the western occupation zones. In the same year, the Soviet Union began the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers answered with the Berlin Airlift to keep supplying West Berlin.
- 1949: The Basic Law and two German states
- The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) took effect on 23 May 1949, founding the Federal Republic of Germany. In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR, DDR) was founded in the east. Germany was now split into two states for about 40 years.
- 1953: Uprising in East Germany
- On 17 June 1953, people across the GDR protested against the government, partly over increased work quotas. Soviet troops put down the uprising.
- 1955: Sovereignty and the start of labor migration
- In 1955, the Federal Republic regained largely full sovereignty and joined NATO. That same year, a recruitment agreement with Italy began the deliberate recruitment of foreign workers, later extended to other countries too.
- 1961: Building of the Berlin Wall
- On 13 August 1961, the GDR began building the Berlin Wall to stop people fleeing to the West. The wall divided East and West Berlin for almost 28 years.
- 1968: The student movement
- In 1968, widespread student protests took place in the Federal Republic, partly against authoritarian structures and in favor of social change. This movement, known as the "68er" generation, shaped society and politics for years afterward.
- 1972: Basic Treaty between West and East Germany
- In 1972, the Federal Republic and the GDR signed the Grundlagenvertrag (Basic Treaty), which regulated relations between the two states without the Federal Republic fully recognizing the GDR as an equal foreign state.
- 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall
- After growing protests in the GDR, the border crossings in Berlin opened on 9 November 1989. The fall of the wall is seen as the central moment of the peaceful revolution in East Germany.
- 1990: German reunification
- On 3 October 1990, the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Since then, Germany has again been a single state, with today's 16 federal states.
- 2002: The euro introduced as cash
- After several years as an accounting currency, the euro was introduced as cash in Germany on 1 January 2002, replacing the Deutsche Mark.
- 2024: Citizenship law reform
- The Staatsangehörigkeitsmodernisierungsgesetz (Citizenship Act Modernization Law) took effect in June 2024. It shortened the usual minimum residence period for naturalization to 5 years, or 3 years under certain conditions, and since then usually allows dual citizenship.
This timeline covers the events most often tested in the catalog, but it is not complete. For a deeper look at individual events, history books or the topic pages on German history on this site are a good next step.