Economic Timeline

wirtschäftsgeschichte

This timeline begins with the unification of modern Germany under Otto von Bismarck.  During medieval times, Germany was simply a region of central Europe defined by language. Hundreds of small regions ruled by varied aristocratic families maintained a strong system of trade defined by artisans and other small, local industries.  The Industrial Revolution created a disparity between northern states, rich in natural resources, and the resource-limited southern states.  During this time, the German government financed a great deal of industrial development in the North while the South remained reliant on small local industries (Solsten 249-50).

• 1871-88:  Wilhelm I, German Emperor.  The second German Reich begins.

• 28 June 1914:  Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Assassinated.  The next month, World War I begins.

• 1918:  World War I ends with Germany's defeat.

• 1919:  Treaty of Versailles.  The British economist John Maynard Keynes predicts that the terms of the treaty will destroy Germany's ability to restore a viable economy (Solsten 251).

• November 1923: Inflation destroys the value of the Reichsmark.  At its low point, the Reichsmark trades at a value of 4.2 trillion to every U.S. $1 (Solsten 252).

• 1933: Hitler becomes chancellor.  Much of the German economy does relatively well under the National Socialists due to government subsidies for those companies aiding rearmament.

• September 1939:  Germany invades Poland and World War II begins. 

• 1945:  World War II ends with the surrender of Germany.

• February 1945:  The Yalta conference divides Germany into four occupied zones.  The western French, British, and American zones become the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland), and the eastern Russian zone becomes the German Democratic Republic (Deutsches Demokratik Republik).

• 20 June 1948:  The Deutsche Mark is adopted in West Germany

• 1949:  The Federal Republic of Germany is officially declared a state.  The Soviet Zone is also declared a state under the official name German Democratic Republic..

• 1950s:  West Germany's economy expands at an unprecedented rate and is dubbed the "Economic Miracle." 

• 1952:  The European Coal & Steel Community is established as a way to limit any single European power from controlling industrial production.  The hope is to make it economically impossible for a single country to wage war on another country.

• 1957:  The European Economic Community is established as an early predecessor to today's European Union.

• 1961:  East Germany builds the Berlin Wall, thus isolation the western zone of Berlin.

• 1972:  Chancellor Willy Brandt tries to eliminate tensions between the East and the West with his initiation of Ostpolitik.  It normalizes relations between East and West Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia.  

• 1973:  East and West Germany are admitted into the United Nations.

• 1989:  The Berlin Wall falls and East Germany collapses.

• 1 July 1990:  An economic and currency union is established between East and West Germany. 

• 3 October 1990:  Germany is reunited under the name The Federal Republic of Germany.

• 1 January 1999:  The Euro becomes the unit of trade in all official transactions within Germany and in international trade.

• 1 January 2002:  The Euro enters the hands of the public as the official form of currency among European Union countries.