Europe History

Germany

Germany [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany (German:

The Federal Republic of Germany is a federal state in Europe. This country occupies a very important economic and political position in Europe and the world. With an area of 357,021 square kilometers and a population of approximately 82 million, it is a country of 16 states (states, plural:

A federal state) is an important member of the European Union organization (the most populous), a link for the transportation of goods and services between regional countries and the country with the third largest immigrant population in the world.

Although the modern nation-state of Germany did not emerge until 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, political units in the region have played a prominent role in European monarchies since the pre-modern era of the Roman Empire. Before the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The unification of Central Europe under Charlemagne, leader of the Frankish Empire, in the 8th century paved the way for a nearly 1,000 year old federal empire, the Holy Roman Empire. This empire left a deep mark on feudal culture throughout Europe and became the center of the Christian Church Reformation that gave rise to Protestantism in the 16th century. When the Holy Roman Empire broke up in 1806 as a result of the divisions caused by the Napoleonic Wars, a sense of unity as a people with a common language (German) developed. However, the modern state was later unable to reconcile these national ideals when Austria allied with Hungary to become a separate state from the modern German state. In 1949, Germany, whose territory had been greatly reduced by the two major European wars, was divided into two separate countries:

West Germany and East Germany. This distinction ended on 3 October 1990 (now Germany's National Day) when East Germany officially united with West Germany. Germany (West) is a founding country of the European Economic Community (which later became the European Union in 1993). This country is also a member of the Schengen area and a user of the euro since 2002. As an important country, Germany is one of the G8 countries, a G20 country, is fourth in gross national product and fifth in terms of purchases. strength. balance of power (2009), second among exporting countries and second among exporting countries, both importing countries (2009) and second in the world in their annual budgets (2008) in the value of foreign aid. Germany is also considered a country with good social networks and a very high standard of living. Germany is known as a country that masters advanced science and technology in various fields, both in the natural sciences as well as social sciences and humanities, and has won many achievements in sports such as Formula 1, football and others. . Germany is considered a country that literally makes the world come alive. In other words: Germany is also a country that influences the state of the global economy/stock market.

Austria

Archaeological evidence suggests that people have been living in the Vienna area since 500 BC, when Celts settled there. The Romans later fortified the city, which they called Vindobona, in 15 BC to protect against Germanic tribes. Throughout history, Vienna maintained close connections with other Celtic groups. Notable figures such as Saint Colman and Saint Fergil had ties to the city, and Irish Benedictines established monastic settlements in the twelfth century. The Babenberg dynasty played a significant role in Vienna's development, with Leopold I of Babenberg becoming the count of the Eastern March in 976. The Babenbergs expanded their territory eastward along the Danube, eventually making Vienna their family residence in 1145. From then on, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty.

Vienna became the residence of the Habsburg dynasty in 1440 and later became the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a hub for arts, science, music, and cuisine. The city was occupied by Hungary between 1485 and 1490. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Vienna successfully defended against Ottoman armies in the Siege of Vienna in 1529 and the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The Great Plague of Vienna in 1679 caused significant loss of life. During the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna became the capital of the Austrian Empire in 1804. It played a significant role in European politics and hosted the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. The city experienced uprisings against Habsburg rule in 1848, which were suppressed. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Vienna remained the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a center of classical music and known as the First Viennese School. In the late 19th century, Vienna underwent significant urban development and grew in size. After World War I, it became the capital of the Republic of German-Austria and later the First Republic of Austria. From the late 19th century to 1938, Vienna was a center of high culture and modernism. It was renowned for its music and hosted famous composers. The city made significant contributions to art, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and architecture. In 1934, during the Austrian Civil War, the Austrian Army attacked socialist militia in civilian housing.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler, the German Chancellor who was born in Austria, made a triumphant entry into Austria and addressed the Austrian Germans from the balcony of the Neue Burg. Following this, the new Nazi authorities in Vienna began to harass and persecute Viennese Jews, looting their homes and deporting them to be killed. As a result of the Anschluss, Vienna lost its status as the capital and became part of Nazi Germany until the end of World War II in 1945.

During the November pogroms in 1938, 92 synagogues in Vienna were destroyed, except for the city temple in the 1st district where the data of all Jews in Vienna were stored. Adolf Eichmann played a role in the expropriation and persecution of Jews from his office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild. Out of the nearly 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were forced to emigrate and approximately 65,000 were killed. After the war, the Jewish population in Vienna was reduced to only 5,000.

Vienna was also a hub for a significant resistance group led by Heinrich Maier, which provided the Allies with valuable information about V-1 and V-2 rockets, Peenemünde, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, and other aircraft. This information was crucial for Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, which were preliminary missions for Operation Overlord. The group also shared the locations of factories producing war-essential products as targets for the Allied Air Force. However, the group was discovered, and its members were subjected to months of torture by the Gestapo in Vienna before being executed. Karl Burian, a member of the group, even attempted to blow up the Gestapo headquarters in the Hotel Metropole.

On April 2, 1945, the Soviet Red Army launched an offensive against the German forces holding Vienna, besieging the city. The infrastructure of Vienna was severely damaged by British and American air raids, as well as artillery battles between the Red Army and the SS and Wehrmacht. Tram services, water and power distribution, and thousands of public and private buildings were destroyed or damaged. The Red Army received assistance from an Austrian resistance group within the German Wehrmacht, known as Radetzky, who tried to prevent further destruction and fighting in the city. Vienna fell to the Red Army eleven days later. After the war, Austria once again became separate from Germany, and Vienna regained its status as the capital of the Republic of Austria. However, Soviet control over the city continued until 1955, when Austria regained full sovereignty.

Following the war, Vienna was part of Soviet-occupied Eastern Austria until September 1945. Similar to Berlin, Vienna was divided into sectors by the four powers - the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union - and supervised by an Allied Commission. However, there was a key difference in the occupation of Vienna compared to Berlin. The central area of Vienna, known as the first district, was an international zone where the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis. The control of this area was enforced by the four powers on a day-to-day basis, with the famous "four soldiers in a jeep" method. The Berlin Blockade of 1948 raised concerns in the West that the Soviets might repeat the blockade in Vienna. This issue was brought up in the UK House of Commons, with MP Anthony Nutting questioning the government's plans for dealing with a similar situation in Vienna, as the city was in a similar position to Berlin.

There was a shortage of airfields in the Western parts of Vienna, and authorities made plans to address the possibility of a blockade. These plans included placing metal landing mats at Schönbrunn. However, the Soviets did not actually blockade the city. Unlike in Berlin, where there were written guarantees of land access to the Western sectors, no such guarantees existed for the Western sectors of Vienna. Additionally, there was no specific event that triggered a blockade in Vienna. In Berlin, the Western powers introduced a new currency in 1948 to economically isolate the Soviets, but this did not happen in Vienna. During the ten years of the four-power occupation, Vienna became a hub for international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs. After the Berlin Blockade, the Cold War in Vienna took on a different character. While the Soviets accepted the division of Germany and Berlin, they decided against allowing the same situation to occur in Austria and Vienna. As a result, Soviet forces controlled certain districts in Vienna. In 1953, barbed wire fences were installed around West Berlin, but not in Vienna. By 1955, the Soviets agreed to relinquish their occupation zones in Eastern Austria and their sector in Vienna by signing the Austrian State Treaty. In return, they required Austria to declare its permanent neutrality after the allied powers had left the country. This ensured that Austria would not join NATO and that NATO forces would not have direct communication between Italy and West Germany. The atmosphere of four-power Vienna serves as the backdrop for Graham Greene's screenplay for the film The Third Man (1949). Later, he adapted the screenplay into a novel. Occupied Vienna is also depicted in the 1991 Philip Kerr novel, A German Requiem.

The control of Vienna by the four powers continued until the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in May 1955. Following years of reconstruction, the State Opera and the Burgtheater reopened to the public. The Soviet Union agreed to the State Treaty only after receiving a political guarantee from the federal government that Austria would declare neutrality after the withdrawal of allied troops. This neutrality law, passed in late October 1955, ensured that Austria would not align with NATO or the Soviet bloc, which is one of the reasons for Austria's delayed entry into the European Union in 1995.

In the 1970s, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky established the Vienna International Center, a new area of the city dedicated to hosting international institutions. Vienna has regained much of its former international prominence by hosting organizations such as the United Nations, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, OPEC, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Switzerland

Since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848, Switzerland has existed as a state in its current configuration. A loose confederation of states that lasted for centuries was created by the forerunners of Switzerland at the end of the 13th century (1291) as a defensive alliance.

Historical period.

Primary articles: Early Swiss history and Roman-era Switzerland.

About 150,000 years ago, the earliest evidence of hominid life was discovered in Switzerland. Around 5300 BC is the estimated date of the earliest farming settlements discovered in Switzerland, which were located at Gächlingen.

The first Roman town on the Rhine was Augusta Raurica (near Basel), founded by Lucius Munatius Plancus in 44 BC. It is now one of the most significant archaeological sites in Switzerland.

The Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, which took their names from the La Tène archaeological site on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, were the earliest tribes in the region that were known to have existed. Around 450 BC, the La Tène culture began to emerge and flourish. It is possible that the Greek and Etruscan civilizations had some influence on this culture. The Helvetii were one of the most significant tribes in the Swiss area. The Helvetii, who had been continuously persecuted by the Germanic tribes, decided to leave the Swiss plateau and migrate to western Gallia in 58 BC. However, Julius Caesar's armies pursued them and routed them at the Battle of Bibracte, in what is now eastern France, forcing the tribe to return to its original homeland. In 15 BC, Tiberius and Drusus, who would later rule as the second Roman emperor, overcame the Alps and incorporated them into the Roman Empire. The eastern part of modern Switzerland was incorporated into the Roman province of Raetia, while the region occupied by the Helvetii—the namesakes of the later Confoederatio Helvetica—first became a part of Rome's Gallia Belgica province and then of its Germania Superior province. Around the beginning of the Common Era, the Romans kept a sizable legionary camp known as Vindonissa, which is now a ruin at the confluence of the Aare and Reuss rivers close to the town of Windisch, a Brugg suburb.

For the inhabitants of the Swiss plateau, the first and second centuries AD marked a time of prosperity. Numerous towns, including Aventicum, Iulia Equestris, and Augusta Raurica, grew to impressive proportions, and hundreds of rural agricultural estates, or "Villae rusticae," were established.

The territory controlled by the Agri Decumates to the north of the Rhine fell around the year 260 AD, turning present-day Switzerland into an Empire frontier region. The population was forced to seek refuge near Roman fortresses like the Castrum Rauracense near Augusta Raurica as a result of the Alamanni tribes' frequent raids, which led to the destruction of the towns and economy of the Roman Empire. The Empire constructed a second line of defense (known as the Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes) along the northern border.

However, by the end of the fourth century, increased Germanic pressure compelled the Romans to give up the idea of a linear defense. Germanic tribes could now finally settle on the Swiss plateau.

Beginning at the end of the fourth century, the western portion of what is now Switzerland was a part of the Burgundian kings' domain during the Early Middle Ages. Alemannia was founded when the Alemanni colonized the Swiss plateau in the fifth century and the Alps' valleys in the eighth. The kingdoms of Alemannia and Burgundy consequently shared modern-day Switzerland. In the sixth century, the entire region was incorporated into the growing Frankish Empire as a result of Clovis I's victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504 AD and later Frankish rule over the Burgundians. 

The Swiss regions remained under Frankish hegemony (Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties) for the remainder of the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries. The Treaty of Verdun, which was signed in 843, divided the Frankish Empire after Charlemagne's expansion. The regions of modern-day Switzerland were split into Middle Francia and East Francia before being reunited under the Holy Roman Empire in the year 1000 AD.

By 1200, the houses of Savoy, Zähringer, Habsburg, and Kyburg had possessions on the Swiss plateau.  In order to give the empire direct control over the mountain passes, certain regions (Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, later known as Waldstätten), were granted imperial immediacy. Kyburg dynasty was overthrown in 1264 AD after the male line died out in 1263. The Kyburg lands were claimed by the Habsburgs under King Rudolph I (Holy Roman Emperor in 1273) and annexed, extending their realm to the eastern Swiss plateau. 

Development of the Old Swiss Confederacy, early modern Switzerland, and the Reformation.

The valley towns of the central Alps banded together to form the Old Swiss Confederacy. The Confederacy, which was led by nobles and patricians from different cantons, facilitated the management of shared interests and maintained peace along the crucial mountain trade routes. Although similar alliances are likely to have existed for many years prior, the Federal Charter of 1291 reached by the rural communes of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden is regarded as the confederacy's founding document.

The three original cantons merged in 1353 with the cantons of Glarus and Zug, as well as the city-states of Lucerne, Zürich, and Bern, to create the "Old Confederacy" of eight states, which lasted until the end of the 15th century. The confederation's power and wealth increased as a result of the expansion. After victories over the Habsburgs (Battle of Sempach, Battle of Näfels), Charles the Bold of Burgundy in the 1470s, and the success of the Swiss mercenaries, the confederates controlled the majority of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains by 1460. De facto independence within the Holy Roman Empire resulted from the Swiss victory in the Swabian War in 1499 against the Swabian League of Emperor Maximilian I. Basel and Schaffhausen joined the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1501.

The federal charter from 1291, or Bundesbrief.

The Old Swiss Confederacy had developed a reputation for invincibility during these earlier wars, but confederation expansion was hampered in 1515 by the Swiss defeat at the Battle of Marignano. This marked the end of Switzerland's supposedly "heroic" era. The Wars of Kappel in 1529 and 1531 were intercantonal religious conflicts brought on by Zwingli's Reformation's success in some cantons. The recognition of Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire and its neutrality by European nations did not come until 1648, more than a century after these internal conflicts, as part of the Peace of Westphalia. 

The Swiss Peasant War of 1653 occurred in the Early Modern era of Swiss history as a result of the patriciate families' escalating authoritarianism and a financial crisis following the Thirty Years' War. The conflict between Catholic and Protestant cantons continued in the background of this conflict, escalating in violence at the First War of Villmergen in 1656 and the Toggenburg War (or Second War of Villmergen) in 1712.

Victorian era.

Napoleon's effort to reach a deal between the Ancien Régime and a Republic was known as the Act of Mediation.

Invading Switzerland in 1798, the revolutionary French government imposed a new, unified constitution.  Additionally, Mülhausen joined France and the Valtellina valley joined the Cisalpine Republic, separating from Switzerland, as a result of this centralizing the country's government and effectively abolishing the cantons. The Helvetic Republic, the new government, did not enjoy much support. Years of tradition had been imposed and destroyed by an invading foreign army, reducing Switzerland to the status of a French satellite state. In September 1798, the Nidwalden Revolt was violently put down by the French, demonstrating the oppressive presence of the French Army and the local population's resistance to the occupation.

Russian and Austrian troops invaded Switzerland when war broke out between France and its adversaries. The Swiss refused to join the French in battle in support of the Helvetic Republic. Leading Swiss politicians from both sides met in Paris in 1803 thanks to an event organized by Napoleon. The Act of Mediation, which established a Confederation of 19 cantons and largely restored Swiss independence, was the outcome. In the future, a significant portion of Swiss politics would revolve around striking a balance between the need for a central government and the tradition of self-rule in the cantons.

The European powers decided to permanently recognize Swiss neutrality after the Congress of Vienna fully restored Swiss independence in 1815. Up until 1860, when they took part in the Siege of Gaeta, Swiss soldiers continued to serve foreign governments. The addition of the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva under the terms of the treaty also allowed Switzerland to expand its geographic area. Since then, with a few minor exceptions, Switzerland's borders have remained unchanged.

State under federal jurisdiction.

The first Federal Palace in Bern was built in 1857. Bern, one of the three cantons presiding over the Tagsatzung, was selected in 1848 as the permanent location of federal legislative and executive institutions, in part due to its proximity to the French-speaking region.

The patriciate's return to power was merely a passing change. A civil war (the Sonderbundskrieg) broke out in 1847 when some Catholic cantons attempted to form a separate alliance (the Sonderbund) following a period of unrest marked by frequent violent clashes, such as the Züriputsch of 1839. Less than 100 people died in the conflict, which lasted less than a month and was largely a result of friendly fire. Even though the Sonderbundskrieg may have seemed insignificant in comparison to other riots and wars in Europe during the 19th century, it still had a significant impact on Swiss psychology and Swiss society.

Most Swiss were persuaded by the war that they must stand strong and united with their neighbors in Europe. People from all social classes in Switzerland, whether Catholic or Protestant, liberal or conservative, realized that the cantons would benefit more from combining their economic and religious interests.

Thus, the Swiss drafted a constitution that provided for a federal structure, much of which was inspired by the American example, while the rest of Europe experienced revolutionary uprisings. This constitution established a centralized government while preserving the autonomy of the cantons over local matters. The National Council, which consists of representatives chosen from across the nation, and the Council of States, which consists of two representatives from each canton, were the two houses of the national assembly, which is credited to those who supported the power of the cantons (the Sonderbund Kantone). Any amendment to this constitution now requires a referendum. The legal status of nobility in Switzerland was also abolished by this new constitution.

The Gotthard Rail Tunnel, which connected the southern canton of Ticino, opened in 1882 and was the longest tunnel in the world at the time.

When a single system of weights and measures was established, the Swiss franc, which was later joined by the WIR franc in 1934, became the sole unit of currency in Switzerland in 1850.  The end of foreign service was signaled by Article 11 of the constitution, which prohibited sending troops to serve abroad. It arrived with the expectation of serving the Holy See, and the Swiss were still required to assist Francis II of the Two Sicilies during the 1860 Siege of Gaeta with Swiss Guards on hand.

A key provision of the constitution was its ability to be completely rewritten if necessary, allowing it to develop as a whole rather than being changed one amendment at a time. 

The rise in population and the ensuing Industrial Revolution quickly demonstrated the need for this modification when calls to do so were made. An early draft was rejected by the populace in 1872, but changes made in 1874 allowed it to be approved. It introduced the facultative referendum for laws passed at the federal level. Additionally, it established federal oversight of trade, the legal system, and defense. The constitution was revised in 1891 with unusually strong direct democracy provisions that are still exceptional today. 

Recent history.

For the duration of World War I, General Ulrich Wille served as the Swiss Army's top commander. Neither of the two world wars saw an invasion of Switzerland. Vladimir Illych Ulyanov (Vladimir Lenin), the revolutionary and father of the Soviet Union, lived in Switzerland during World War I. Prior to 1917, he stayed there.

In 1917, the Grimm-Hoffmann affair raised significant doubts about Switzerland's neutrality, but those doubts were quickly dispelled. Switzerland agreed to join the League of Nations in 1920 in exchange for being exempt from any military obligations. The League of Nations had its headquarters in Geneva.

Despite the Germans having elaborate invasion plans during World War II, Switzerland was never invaded. Switzerland was able to maintain its independence thanks to a combination of military deterrence, concessions made to Germany, and luck because larger wartime events prevented an invasion. An all-out mobilization of the armed forces was mandated by General Henri Guisan, who was named the war's supreme commander. The Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static defense at the borders to protect the economic heartland to one of planned long-term attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stocked positions high in the Alps known as the Reduit. Between the Axis and Allied powers, Switzerland served as a key espionage hub for both sides of the conflict and frequently served as a communication bridge.

Both the Allies and the Axis blockaded Switzerland's trade. According to the perceived likelihood of an invasion and the availability of other trading partners, economic cooperation and credit extensions to Nazi Germany varied. As a result of the 1942 severance of a vital rail link through Vichy France, which effectively cut off Switzerland (along with Liechtenstein) from the rest of the world because it was located entirely within Axis-controlled territory, concessions reached a peak. Over 300,000 refugees were interned in Switzerland throughout the war and Geneva-based International Red Cross played a significant role. Controversy was first sparked by strict immigration and asylum laws as well as financial ties to Nazi Germany at the turn of the 20th century.

The Swiss Air Force engaged aircraft from both sides during the conflict, shooting down 11 Luftwaffe intruders in May and June 1940 before switching to forcing down other intruders after a change in strategy in response to German threats. Between 1940 and 1945, the Allies bombed Switzerland, causing deaths and property damage, and more than 100 Allied bombers and their crews were interned. Bombs were dropped on a number of cities and towns, including Basel, Brusio, Chiasso, Cornol, Geneva, Koblenz, Niederweningen, Rafz, Renens, Samedan, Schaffhausen, Stein am Rhein, Tägerwilen, Thayngen, Vals, and Zürich. The bombings, which broke the 96th Article of War, were justified by the Allied forces as the result of pilot errors, equipment failure, weather, and navigational errors. The bombings are believed to have been carried out to put pressure on Switzerland to renounce its economic ties and neutrality toward Nazi Germany, which has alarmed and alarmed the Swiss. In both England and the U.S., court-martial proceedings were conducted. The government paid 62,176,433.06 Swiss francs as compensation for the bombings.

Over the course of the war, Switzerland accepted up to 300,000 refugees while rejecting tens of thousands more, including Jews who were brutally persecuted by the Nazis.

In order to aid Europe's recovery after the war, the Swiss government exported credits through the Schweizerspende charitable fund and contributed to the Marshall Plan, actions that ultimately benefited the Swiss economy.

Authorities in Switzerland considered building a nuclear bomb during the Cold War. Leading nuclear physicists like Paul Scherrer at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich made this a likely scenario. To research the therapeutic applications of neutron scattering technologies, the Paul Scherrer Institute was established in his honor in 1988. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 was regarded as a viable alternative because financial issues with the defense budget and ethical considerations prevented the significant funds from being allocated. By 1988, there were no longer any plans to produce nuclear weapons.

The coalition that had controlled Swiss politics since 1959 was changed in 2003 when the Parliament gave the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the executive branch. The last Western republic to grant women the right to vote was Switzerland. This was approved by some cantons in Switzerland in 1959; at the federal level, it was achieved in 1971; and, following resistance, in the final canton Appenzell Innerrhoden (one of the two remaining Landsgemeinde, along with Glarus), in 1990. After gaining the right to vote at the federal level, women quickly gained political clout. Elisabeth Kopp, who served on the seven-member Federal Council executive from 1984 to 1989, and Ruth Dreifuss, who took office in 1999, were the first two female presidents.

In 1963, Switzerland acceded to membership in the Council of Europe.  Areas of the Bern canton became independent from the Bernese in 1979, creating the new canton of Jura. A completely revised federal constitution was approved by the cantons and the Swiss populace on April 18, 1999. 

The Vatican City was the final widely recognized state without full UN membership after Switzerland joined as a full member in 2002. Despite not being a member of the European Economic Area, Switzerland is a founding member of the EFTA. The European Economic Area (EEA) was rejected in December 1992, when Switzerland was the only nation to hold an EEA referendum, and an application for membership in the European Union was sent in May 1992. Since then, there have been a number of referendums on the EU issue; as a result of citizen opposition, the membership application has been withdrawn. Nevertheless, the Swiss government has signed a number of bilateral agreements with the EU that gradually adapt Swiss law to be in line with EU law. Since Austria's entry into the EU in 1995, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have been completely surrounded by the EU. The Schengen treaty was approved by Swiss voters on June 5, 2005, with a 55 percent majority, a decision that EU commentators interpreted