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This article gives an overview of the History of Germany. It begins with the birth of the nation from Ancient Roman times to the 8th century, and then continues into the Holy Roman Empire dating from the 9th century until 1806. more...

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At its largest extent, the territory of this empire included what today is Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, western Poland, the Low Countries, eastern France, Switzerland and most of northern Italy. After the mid 15th century, it was known as the \"Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation\".

This was followed by the German Confederation of 1815–1866, the German Empire of 1871–1918 and the Weimar Republic of 1919–1933, then by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany (or \"Third Reich\", his proclaimed successor of the large medieval Empire or \"Reich\") of 1933–1945 and the devastations of World War II. The article concludes with the history of the post-war Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the history of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990.

For further details on each period, please consult the main articles mentioned at the beginning of each section and subsection.

Conquest

The Merovingian kings of Gaul, themselves dynasts of the Germanic Franks, conquered several other German tribes in the sixth century, and placed them under the control of autonomous dukes of mixed Frankish and native blood. Colonists from Gaul were encouraged to move to the newly conquered territories. While the local German tribes were allowed to preserve their laws, they were pressured into changing their religion.

Christianization

The Roman provinces north of the Alps had been Christianised since the 4th century and dioceses such as that of Augsburg were maintained after the end of the Roman Empire. However, from around 600 there was a renewed Christian mission of the pagan Germanic tribes. Irish-Scottish monks founded monasteries at Würzburg, Regensburg, Reichenau, and other places. The missionary activity in the Merovingian kingdom was continued by the Anglo-Saxon monk Boniface, who established the first monastery east of the Rhine at Fritzlar. Bishoprics under Papal authority were established to spread the Christian faith in the German lands.

Frankish Empire

In 751 Pippin III, mayor of the palace under the Merovingian king, himself assumed the title of king and was anointed by the Church. The Frankish kings now set up as protectors of the Pope, Charlemagne launched a decades-long military camapign against their heathen rivals, the Saxons and the Avars. The Saxons and Avars were eventually overwhelmed and forcibly converted, and their lands were annexed by the Carolingian Empire.

Middle Ages

From 772 to 814 king Charlemagne extended the Carolingian empire into northern Italy and the territories of all west Germanic peoples, including the Saxons and the Bajuwari (Bavarians). In 800 Charlemagne's authority in Western Europe was confirmed by his coronation as emperor in Rome. The Holy Roman Empire, was established. The Frankish empire was divided into counties, and its frontiers were protected by border Marches. Imperial strongholds (Kaiserpfalzen) became economic and cultural centres (Aachen being the most famous).

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