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Peace at Westphalia
Define the concept of chruch and state
-separation of church and state
sovereignty
first view of modern diplomacy
balance of powers
politics develop -
Germany becomes a Germany
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Dreyfus Affair
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Second Balkan War
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Francis Ferdinand was assassinated
Prince Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo. The Archduke had been on a visit to Bosnia. The assassin was a Serbian nationalist whose co-conspirators were in Belgrade. The Serbians wanted to detach Bosnia from the Austro- Hungarian Empire. -
Germany declares war
When the Russians came to the defense of the Serbs, the Germans had no choice but to go to war to defend their Austrian allies. Their strategy for war against Russia was the Schefffein Plan which called for an initial attack against France, Russia's ally. So even though Germany had no dispute with France at the time, it still declared war against France. -
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WWI
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Russian Revolution
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Russian Revolution
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Stalin enforces "Forced Collectivization"
Stalin began a policy of forced collectivization of farms. Small farmers were forced off their land and onto collectives. Those who refused were killed. Thousands died, and Soviet agriculture never recovered. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
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Germany Rejects Versailles Treaty
Adolf Hitler announced, on March 16th, that he was abrogating those portions of the Versailles Treaty that limited the size and weapons of the German armed forces. -
Kristallnacht in Germany
In a one-night spree, Nazis burned synagogues, destroyed Jewish shops and killed Jews at random. The night became known as "Kristallnacht", the night of the broken glass. The incident portended a much darker fate for the Jews trapped in Europe. -
Kristallnacht
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Germany invades Poland
The German-Polish Crisis began in March, when the German government demanded that Danzig be turned over to Germany. In addition, the Germans demanded the right to construct an extra-territorial railroad across the corridor. The Poles refused, and the French and British pledged to aid the Poles. After the signing of the Non-Aggression Pact, all attempts at negotiations failed and the Germans and Poles mobilized for war. The British and the French did the same, reasserting that they would come to -
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WWII
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Cold War
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Verdicts at Nuremberg Trials
Nine of Nazi Germany's top leaders were hung at the end of their trials. They were accused of crimes "so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated." The crimes included the murder of at least six million European Jews. -
Truman Doctrine
In 1946, Communist guerrillas had begun a civil war against the government of Greece. The Communist government of Yugoslavia gave substantial support to the guerrillas, while the British had provided the Greek government with aid. Eventually, the British informed the United States that Britain could no longer help support the regime in Greece. The Greeks officially requested American aid and on March 12th, President Truman went before Congress and requested support for Greece as well as for Tur -
Marshall Plan unveiled
On June 5th, Marshall gave a commencement address at Harvard. He stated: "It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed, not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desertion, and chaos." -
Berlin Blockade
No agreement could be reached with the Soviets on continued control of Germany. When the Allies decided to introduce a new currency into West Germany to counter inflation, the Soviets opposed the move. As a response, and as a means of stopping the reunification of Western Germany, the Soviets imposed a blockade on Berlin, which had been and remained under four-power control. The American Commander in Germany, General Clay, stated that if the Soviets managed to push the U.S. out of Berlin, the n -
NATO founded
The Berlin blockade provided compelling evidence that in order to deter the Soviets from further aggression, an alliance was necessary between nations of Western Europe and the United States. On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States formally signed the North Atlantic Treaty. The key paragraph was Article 5. It stated that "an armed attack against one or more of -
Stalin dies
Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, died of a stroke at the age of 73. Stalin was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev. The new government eliminated some of the most repressive activities of the Stalin regime, including the execution of Laurentia Beria the head of the Secret Police. -
Germany joins NATO
In October 1955, a NATO meeting voted to terminate the occupation of West Germany. The vote also called for the continued presence of NATO troops in West Germany. At the meeting, it was further decided to admit West Germany to the alliance as a member. -
Berlin Wall constructed
From the time of the Vienna summit, East German exodus to West Germany began to skyrocket. The Soviets began to talk about war, and in July the Soviets detonated a 60-megaton atomic bomb, the largest atomic bomb up to that point. On August 13th, the Berlin Wall went up, dividing East and West Berlin, ending the flow of refugees out of East Germany and dividing the city. -
Berlin Wall comes down
On October 18th, the regime of Erich Hoenecker, the Communist leader of East Germany, fell. It succumbed to increasing riots, as well as a flood of East Germans leaving via the open borders of Hungary. On November 10th, the new government announced the end of all travel restrictions, and soon thousands of Berliners took part in taking down the Berlin Wall that had divided the city for 27 years. -
Civil War in Former Yugoslavia
Civil war broke out in Yugoslavia. As the Communist regime fell, Yugoslavia was divided up into Serbia, Bosnia-Hergezovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia. Fighting soon broke out inside these areas, as Serbs attempted to gain control of the entire territory. The Serbs instituted a policy of "ethnic" cleansing, whose goal was to force non-Serbs out of all areas that the Serbs conquered. -
War in Kosovo
Before the rise of Milosevic in Yugoslavia, the province of Kosovo, which was primarily populated by Moslem ethnic Albanians, had been granted extensive autonomy. Milosevic rescinded that autonomy, which resulted in growing resentment of Serbian control. It led to the rise of the KLA, which was dedicated to Kosovo independence. In order to avoid the slaughter that had taken place in Bosnia, NATO became actively involved in negotiating a peace settlement between the KLA and the Serbs. An agreemen -
Ten Nations join EU
May 1 2004. Ten nations including eight former eastern european nations became part of the Common market. While the growth of the Common market had been larger in 1973 this growth pushed borders of the Common Market far to the east and brought the membership of the commond market to 25 nations.