Berlin: History

Pre-20th-Century History

The area currently occupied by Berlin has been settled since the Stone Age, but its 'modern' history began in the 13th century with the founding of the trading posts of Berlin and Cölln by itinerant merchants in the area of today's Nikolaiviertel, in the Mitte district. In 1307, Berlin and Cölln merged for political and security purposes.

In the 1440s, Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg established the rule of the Hohenzollern dynasty, which was to last until Kaiser Wilhelm II's escape from Potsdam in 1918. Berlin's importance increased in 1470, when the elector moved his residence there from Brandenburg and built a palace near the present Schlossplatz (previously known as Marx-Engels-Platz).

During the Thirty Years' War Berlin's population was decimated, but in the mid-17th century the city was reborn stronger than before under the so-called Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. His vision was the basis of Prussian power, and he sponsored Jewish and Huguenot refugees seeking asylum and benevolent rule.

The Great Elector's son, Friedrich I, the first Prussian king, made the fast-growing Berlin his capital, and together with his second wife Sophie Charlotte encouraged the development of the arts and sciences and presided over a lively and intellectual court. His grandson, Friedrich II, sought greatness through building and was known for his political and military savvy. In the late 18th century, the Enlightenment arrived with some authority in the form of the playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and the philosopher and publisher Friedrich Nicolai; both helped make Berlin a truly international city.

The 19th century began on a low note, with the French occupation of 1806-13, and in 1848 a bourgeois democratic revolution was suppressed, somewhat stifling the political development that had been set in motion by the Enlightenment. The population doubled between 1850 and 1870 as the Industrial Revolution, spurred on by companies such as Siemens and Borsig, took hold. In 1871 Bismarck, the Prussian Prime Minister, united Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I. The population of Berlin was almost two million by 1900.

Modern History

Before WWI Berlin had become an industrial giant, but the war and its aftermath led to revolt throughout Germany. On 9 November 1918 Philipp Scheidemann, leader of the Social Democrats, proclaimed the German Republic from a balcony of the Reichstag (parliament) and hours later Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a free Socialist republic from a balcony of the City Palace. In January 1919 the Berlin Spartacists Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were murdered by remnants of the old imperial army, which entered the city and brought the revolution to a bloody end.

On the eve of the Nazi takeover, the Communist Party was the strongest single party in 'Red Berlin', having polled 31% of the votes in 1932. Large parts of Berlin remained anti-Nazi during the years Hitler was in power. The city was heavily bombed by the Allies in WWII and especially towards the end of the war. The final Battle of Berlin began in mid-April 1945 when more than 1.5 million Soviet soldiers barrelled towards the capital from the east. On 30 April, the fighting reached the government quarter where Hitler was esconced in his bunker with his long-time mistress Eva Braun. That afternoon Hitler shot Braun then himself. Germany capitulated a few days later. Most of the buildings you see today along Unter den Linden and elsewhere were reconstructed from the ruins.

In August 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the four Allied powers - the USA, Britain, France and the Soviet Union - divided Germany into four zones of occupation and Berlin into four sectors, with each country taking control of its own zone. The road to Germany's long-term division began in June 1948 when the three western Allies introduced the Deutschmark in their zones without consulting the Soviets. The USSR then blockaded West Berlin, but a massive Allied airlift kept the area supplied and allowed it to stave off invasion. In October 1949, East Berlin became the capital of the GDR. The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 stopped the drain of skilled labour to the West.

Recent History

On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall opened and its dismantling began soon thereafter. The Unification Treaty between the two Germanys designated Berlin the official capital of Germany, and in June 1991 the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin over the next decade. A huge consortium of public and private organisations was charged with constructing the heart of a metropolis from scratch. As a result the 1990s saw a ballet of cranes revitalising Potsdamer Platz with a new urban district anchored by DaimlerCity, the Sony Center and the Beisheim Center (completed in 1998, 2000 and 2004, respectively). In April 1999 the revamped Reichstag reopened and hosted unified Germany's parliament.

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