50 Fun Facts About German History

Which American TV star sang Looking for Freedom at the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989?

David Hasselhoff had spent eight weeks at number one in Germany with the song. He sang it two months after the Wall had come down.

Which crop did Prussia's Frederick the Great promote so keenly that Germans nicknamed him its king?

Potatoes earned Frederick the nickname Der Kartoffelkönig, the Potato King. He also brought in the turnip and dug canals to carry crops to market.

Germany's last emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was the eldest grandchild of which British monarch?

Queen Victoria had 42 grandchildren and Wilhelm was the first of them. His mother Vicky was her eldest child.

Napoleon took the Quadriga chariot statue to Paris from atop which Berlin landmark in 1806?

The Brandenburg Gate got its quadriga back in 1814, after Napoleon's defeat and the Prussian occupation of Paris. He had been the first to march through the gate in triumph.

Which German landmark, begun in 1248, was finally completed 632 years later as the world's tallest building?

Cologne Cathedral sat unfinished for centuries after work halted around 1560. Once complete it held the height record for only four years, until the Washington Monument.

Which Russian empress was born a German princess, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, in the Prussian port of Stettin?

Catherine the Great married the heir to the Russian throne, the future Peter III, then overthrew him in a coup in 1762. Her birthplace is now Szczecin in Poland.

Which type of school did German educator Friedrich Fröbel found in 1837 and name three years later?

Kindergarten was the word Fröbel coined in 1840 for the Play and Activity Institute he had opened at Bad Blankenburg. The term soon entered English as well.

Which French writer quipped that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire?

Voltaire was mocking a realm that would last a millennium in all. Emperor Francis II formally dissolved it in 1806, after defeats by Napoleon.

In which room of Louis XIV's palace near Paris was the German Empire proclaimed in January 1871?

The Hall of Mirrors has a ceiling that celebrates the Sun King as a conqueror of German cities. Prussia's Wilhelm I was hailed as emperor beneath it.

At which Berlin Wall crossing point did American and Soviet tanks face each other in October 1961?

Checkpoint Charlie sat at the junction of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse. The stand-off came soon after the Wall went up that August.

Which Frankish king was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day 800?

Charlemagne ruled from Aachen, his imperial capital, and was buried there in 814 in his own palace chapel.

Where did Germanic tribes under Arminius ambush and destroy three Roman legions led by Varus in AD 9?

The Teutoburg Forest ambush was an inside job: Arminius was himself an officer in the auxiliary troops serving under Varus.

In which Saxon university town did Martin Luther write his Ninety-five Theses against indulgences in 1517?

Wittenberg was where Luther taught moral theology. Tradition has him nailing the theses to a church door, though he may never have posted them there at all.

Where did Martin Luther hide under the name Junker Jörg while translating the New Testament into German?

The Wartburg sheltered Luther from May 1521 to March 1522, after he refused to recant at the Diet of Worms. He finished the translation in just ten weeks.

The Thirty Years' War began when Protestant nobles threw royal governors from a castle window in which city?

Prague's two governors and their secretary survived the 21-metre fall in 1618. Protestant pamphlets later claimed they had landed on a dung heap.

Which Rhine city was the hometown of Johannes Gutenberg, the printer of the 42-line Bible?

Mainz founded the Gutenberg Museum in 1900 to mark 500 years since his birth. He completed his famous Bible there in 1455.

Which kingdom's ruler, Gustavus Adolphus, invaded northern Germany in 1630 to join the Thirty Years' War?

Sweden's king looked set to become a major European leader, but he was killed two years later at the Battle of Lützen, fighting Wallenstein's imperial army.

Which medieval alliance of trading towns, growing from Lübeck, dominated commerce on the Baltic and North Seas?

The Hanseatic League ultimately took in nearly 200 settlements across eight modern countries, reaching as far east as Estonia and Russia.

How did Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa die in 1190 while leading a German army on the Third Crusade?

He drowned in a river, the Saleph, near the castle of Seleucia. Most of his army then abandoned the crusade before it reached Acre.

Where in Italy did German king Henry IV wait three days in a blizzard to beg Pope Gregory VII's pardon?

Canossa saw the king kneel outside the castle gate in a monk's hair-shirt, allegedly barefoot, in what has been called one of the most dramatic moments of the Middle Ages.

In which city did the first freely elected parliament for all German states meet in a church in 1848?

Frankfurt's Paulskirche housed the assembly from May 1848 to May 1849, and the constitution it drafted is still named after the church.

Which Prussian statesman, nicknamed the Iron Chancellor, built the first modern welfare state in the 1880s?

Otto von Bismarck created the welfare state to undermine his socialist opponents, not out of sympathy with them. It was meant to make ordinary Germans loyal to throne and empire.

At which 1870 battle did Prussian-led German armies capture the French emperor Napoleon III?

Sedan cost France its emperor and over a hundred thousand troops, all taken prisoner. Fighting still went on for months under a new French government.

Which rival power did Prussia defeat at Königgrätz in the Seven Weeks' War of 1866?

Austria met the Prussian armies in Bohemia on 3 July 1866. The conflict is also known as the German Civil War and the Brothers' War.

The Kulturkampf of the 1870s was a political struggle between Prussia's government and which body?

The Catholic Church in Germany, led by Pope Pius IX, was locked in the conflict for seven years, from 1871 to 1878. The name means cultural struggle.

Which modern African country was the colony of German South West Africa from 1884 until 1915?

Namibia became independent under that name in 1990. Allied forces had captured the colony from Germany during the First World War.

Which philosopher, born in the Prussian city of Trier, co-wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848?

Karl Marx was expelled from Germany after the revolutions of 1848 and moved to London, where he wrote Das Kapital.

Which dynasty ruled Prussia as kings from 1701 and held the German imperial crown from 1871 to 1918?

Hohenzollern rulers also sat on a throne far from Berlin: members of the family were kings of Romania.

To which neutral country did Kaiser Wilhelm II flee by train into exile in November 1918?

The Netherlands became his home for good: he bought a country house at Doorn, spent much of his time chopping wood there, and died in 1941.

In which Baltic naval port did German sailors mutiny in November 1918, setting off a revolution?

Kiel's revolt followed trouble at Wilhelmshaven, where crews had refused orders to sail out for a final battle against the British Grand Fleet.

Which small city gave its name to the German republic of 1919 to 1933 after hosting its constituent assembly?

Weimar was chosen because conditions in Berlin were still too unsettled for the delegates to meet there.

Which 1919 peace settlement made Germany accept responsibility for the First World War in its War Guilt clause?

The Treaty of Versailles carried the clause as Article 231, which blamed the war's losses and damage on the aggression of Germany and her allies.

Which Polish-born co-founder of the Spartacus League was murdered after the failed Berlin uprising of January 1919?

Rosa Luxemburg was captured with her comrade Liebknecht after the Freikorps, a government-sponsored paramilitary force, crushed the uprising.

In which city did Adolf Hitler launch the failed Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923?

Munich was meant to be the base for a march on Berlin, inspired by Mussolini's March on Rome. Hitler was jailed for treason and dictated Mein Kampf in prison.

Which German president and former field marshal reluctantly appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor in January 1933?

Paul von Hindenburg was ideologically opposed to Nazism. He had won his fame in 1914 as the victor over the Russians at the Battle of Tannenberg.

Which Berlin building burned in February 1933, giving the Nazis a pretext to suspend civil liberties by decree?

The Reichstag fire was pinned on a Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe. The Nazis used it to claim that Communists were plotting against the government.

Which American sprinter won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, held under Adolf Hitler's regime?

Jesse Owens won the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump and sprint relay. No one won the same four events at one Games again until Carl Lewis in 1984.

Which German army officer tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in July 1944?

Claus von Stauffenberg was central to Operation Valkyrie, a plan to arrest the Nazi leadership after Hitler's death and negotiate an end to the war. He died the day after the attempt.

Which Bavarian city, once the site of Nazi party rallies, hosted the Allied trials of leading Nazis from 1945?

Nuremberg lay in the American occupation zone, and its Palace of Justice was relatively intact, with an attached prison to hold the defendants.

The candy-dropping planes that German children nicknamed raisin bombers flew in which Allied operation of 1948–49?

The Berlin Airlift kept the blockaded western sectors supplied by air. When news of the sweet drops reached the US, children there sent in their own candy to help.

Which East German secret police force used a vast network of informants to watch its own citizens until 1990?

The Stasi had one secret policeman for every 166 East Germans. By one estimate it watched its own people more closely than any such force in history.

Which West German chancellor unexpectedly knelt before the Warsaw Ghetto memorial during a 1970 visit to Poland?

Willy Brandt knelt spontaneously after laying a wreath. The gesture is thought to be one reason he received the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

In which East German city did the Monday demonstrations of autumn 1989 begin, starting the Peaceful Revolution?

Leipzig's marches began on 4 September 1989. They set off the chain that brought down the Berlin Wall, then the government, and ended in reunification.

Which East German spokesman's muddled press conference answer in November 1989 seemed to open the Berlin Wall at once?

Günter Schabowski had been handed the new travel rules shortly before the briefing. Asked when they took effect, he paused and guessed that it was immediately.

Which East German leader had the Berlin Wall built in 1961 after Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev gave permission?

Walter Ulbricht had demanded the barrier while the Kremlin was still reluctant. It set off a diplomatic crisis but succeeded in curtailing emigration.

Which far-left militant group, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Gang, caused the German Autumn crisis of 1977?

The Red Army Faction outlasted the Cold War: founded in West Germany in 1970, it stayed active until 1998.

West Germany's 1954 World Cup win, the Miracle of Bern, came in a final against which heavily favoured team?

Hungary had thrashed West Germany 8–3 in the group stage and had gone 31 games unbeaten before losing the final 3–2.

Which 1356 decree of Emperor Charles IV fixed how the Holy Roman Empire chose its ruler for four centuries?

The Golden Bull was meant to end rows like that of 1314, when opposing sets of electors had each chosen a different king.

Which US president, speaking in West Berlin in June 1987, challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall?

Ronald Reagan kept the line in although several senior aides advised cutting it. His chief of staff thought it sounded extreme and unpresidential.

Which student resistance group, led by siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, ran an anti-Nazi leaflet campaign from 1942?

The White Rose lost the Scholl siblings to the guillotine four days after their arrest. Allied planes later dropped the group's final leaflet over Germany.