Dr. Oliver Benjamin Hemmerle, M.A.

hemmerle.post@email.de




Some keywords (events and concepts) concerning the lecture:


                                     In the Middle of Europe:

                        The Strategic History of Germany from 1648 to Today



          I.       From the peace of Westphalia to Enlightenment

·     Peace of Westphalia

·     Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation (Holy Roman Empire; role of rulers with territories
within and outside HRE)

·     Louis XIV of France and the HRE

·     Austria versus Prussia


         II.       Germany and the French Revolution

·     HRE war efforts against the French Revolution

·     French concept of sister republics


        III.       Germany under/with/against Napoleon

·     "Rheinbund"

·     Napoleonic model states in Germany (Westphalia etc.) versus "Preußische Reformen" (Prussian
reforms)

·     "Kontinentalsperre" (blocus continental, continental system)

·     "Convention of Tauroggen" (Prussia changing the alliance in late 1812)

·     "Befreiungskriege" (anti-Napoleonic wars 1813-1815) and the emerging German nationalism


       IV.       Germany between Waterloo and the revolutions of 1848/49

·     "Heilige Allianz" (Holy Alliance; Austria, Prussia and Russia)

·     "Karlsbader Beschlüsse" ("Carlsbad Decrees")

·     Failed revolution(s) of 1848/49


        V.       Defeating democracy, creating unity – The Germany of Bismarck

·     "Großdeutsche" versus "kleindeutsche Lösung" (united Germay with or without Austria)

·     "Einigungskriege" (wars of German unification)

·     Annexation of Alsace-Lorraine

·     colonial question


       VI.       Expansionism without limits (1): Wilhelm II. and WW I

·     "Neuer Kurs" (change of policy after Bismarck)

·     "Schlieffen-Plan" and violation of the neutrality of Belgium

·     German-Austrian alliance

·     "uneingeschränkter U-Boot-Krieg" (unrestricted submarine warfare; entry of the USA into WW I)

·     Treaty of Brest-Litovsk


     VII.       The unexpected and unaccepted defeat (Weimar Republic)

·     Treaty of Versailles

·     "Republik ohne Republikaner" ("Republic without Republicans")

·     Revision of the Versailles treaty (first by "cheating" and confrontation, then by diplomacy)


    VIII.       Expansionism without limits (2): Hitler, WW II and genocide

·     Violation of Versailles treaty by Hitler and "Appeasement" policy

·     "Anschluß" (Austria 1938)

·     "Münchner Abkommen" (Munich agreement)

·     "Blitzkrieg"

·     "Vernichtungskrieg" (extermination war; Holocaust as part of WW II)

·     alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan


       IX.       The undeniable defeat (the two German states 1945/49-1989/90)

"unconditional surrender"

·     "unconditional surrender"

·     role of the Allies (occupation, denazification, Berlin etc.)

·     new German borders in the East ("Oder-Neiße-Grenze")

·     German sovereignty (1945, 1949, 1955, 1990)

·     emergence of two German states in 1949


        X.       Settings for a future inside Europe (West Germany 1955-1989/90)

·     "Westbindung"

·     Rearmament and NATO membership

·     Membership in European institutions from the 1950s

·     Franco-German friendship treaty (1963)

·     "Ostpolitik"

·     "Two Plus Four Agreement" (1990)


       XI.       (Re-)United, surrounded by friends, end of history?

[not part of the exam]




Examination dates:

18.12.2008 (first possibility)

15.01.2009 (second possibility)

15.01.2009 (first repetition possibility for those who failed)

28.01.2009 (second repetition possibility for those who failed)

Please refer to the Information System!



The following links might be useful for the preparation of the exam:

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/

http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~europe/germ/wwwsite/germ/history.htm

http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Germany:_Primary_Documents

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/home.html