Timeline / 1820 to 1880 / GERMANY
Date Country Theme
1820s - 1860s Germany Travelling
The formation of modern tourism grows in stages, first the nobility, then the educated middle classes and finally citizens of much more modest means. Karl Baedeker, who published the first successful travel book in 1827, was one of the innovators of modern mass tourism. The first group- and corporation-travel tours were inaugurated by the English firm Thomas Cook in 1840. In 1863 the first travel agency opened in Breslau, followed in 1869 by the founding of the German Alp Society, which opened up the Alps to tourism.
1820 - 1825 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The German naturalists and explorers Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg embark on a research tour in cooperation with Martin Lichtenstein (who published Reisen im südlichen Afrika (Tourism in Southern Africa) in 1810 and was appointed director of the Berlin Zoological Museum in 1813) from Cairo to Derna in Libya, along the Nile, and through the Sinai Desert and Lebanon, collecting natural and historical specimens.
1822 - 1829 Germany Political Context
The War between Greece and the Ottoman Empire concludes with Greece attaining its independence with the help of Russia and the Western nations.
1824 - 1829 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
Rosenstein Palace is built by Giovanni Salucci under Wilhelm I; it has been a public museum since 1954.
1825 - 1848 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
This era, one marked by the politician and statesman Klemens von Metternich, a supporter of restoration politics and conditions prior to the French Revolution, is satirised by the Junges Deutschland, a movement in literature (i.e. the works of Büchner, Heine and Grabbe) that is characterised by a rejection of these beliefs in support of a free press and freedom of expression.
1830 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The French July Revolution strengthens the power of the Besitzbürgertum (the landed gentry). Revolutions in central and north Germany enforce constitutional state reforms.
1830 - 1847 Germany Political Context
Stimulated by the French July Revolution, the Vormärz (pre-March) Revolution refers to the formation of political programmes and factional movements.
1830 - 1840 Germany Economy And Trade
Industrialisation and the Industrial Revolution. Date Country Theme
1830 - 1871 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
Due to the rise of industrialisation in Germany, in 1862, the Hobrecht-Plan aims to modernise Berlin over the following 50 years.
1832 Germany Political Context
From 27 to 30 May an apparently non-political country fair, the “Hambacher Fest”, was held by a German national democratic assembly, demanding freedom, national entity and popular sovereignty.
1832 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The “Hambacher Fest” demonstrates the liberal, democratic and national opposition in Germany.
1833 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
First communication by telegram.
1834 Germany Travelling
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam is connected to Berlin by rail, one of the first electrified railway sections in Old Germany. Since 1911, the Palace has been used as a film location (i.e. The Blue Angel, 1930).
1834 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Standardisation of the Abitur (equivalent to the A-Level system used elsewhere) which allows students to enter German universities.
1835 - 1838 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
The first section of railway is established between Nürnberg and Fürth (6 km); the building of the long-haul between Leipzig and Dresden is finished in 1838.
1840 - 1880 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
Development of a railway network across the whole of Germany, much of which still exists today. The most important stations are developed during this period, including: Berlin Ostbahnhof (1842), Nürnberg Central Station (1844), Duisburg Central Station (1846) and Munich Central Station (1849).
1841 - 1844 Germany Travelling
The Berlin Zoological Gardens was established in 1841 and opened to the public in 1844. The oldest zoo in Germany, today, it hosts more visitors than any zoo in Europe (around 3 million visitors per year).
1842 - 1846 Germany Rediscovering The Past Date Country Theme
The Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius is appointed director of an expedition to Egypt by Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
1843 - 1876 Germany Fine And Applied Arts
Formation of the Neues Museum (1843–55), built by Friedrich August Stüler, a follower of K. F. Schinkel. Stüler and Carl Busse then design the Alte Nationalgalerie (1867–76).
1843 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Friedrich Gottlob commodifies paper production (the mass production of cheap paper).
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The first Proletariat uprising, the Weber Rebellion, witnesses 3,000 weavers in Silesia protesting against inhumane working conditions and exploitation. The uprising is quashed by the Prussian military – which murders them all.
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
First proletarian uprising: 3000 weavers in Silesia are protesting against the inhumane working conditions and their exploitation. They are all being killed by the Prussian military.
1848 Germany Political Context
Establishment of the first parliament in German history (at the Paulskirche, Frankfurt am Main), and elaboration of the German Imperial Constitution.
1848 - 1849 Germany Political Context
The Pre-March Revolution involves a series of protests, gatherings and disturbances, but by July 1849 the Bundes troops are victorious and the revolution fails.
1848 Germany Political Context
The German National Assembly meets in Frankfurt.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Liberal regimes, now with seats in government, herald a series of liberal reforms in all German states. After riots in Berlin, Prussian King Frederick William IV promises liberal and national reforms.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
1849 Germany Political Context Date Country Theme
The German National Assembly approves the Constitution of the German Empire.
1849 Germany Political Context
The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV refuses the German Imperial Crown.
1849 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Popular movements in Saxony, Baden and the Pfalz attempt to put into effect the Constitution of the Empire, but they are defeated by Prussian troops.
1850 - 1870 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Surveillance, spying and so on, creates fear and leads to political persecution of musicians (e.g. both Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper are forced into exile). Music of this era falls under the label “late Romanticism” (i.e. when emotional expression and freedom of style are enhanced), and new genres are born; i.e. symphonic poetry (Franz List) and musical drama (Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, 1865).
1851 Germany International Exhibitions
The First World Fair is opened by Prince Albert in London.
1853 Germany Economy And Trade
Levi Strauss & Co founds the first company to manufacture blue jeans.
1854 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Heinrich Göbel invents the light bulb.
1856 Germany Rediscovering The Past
A Neanderthal is discovered and examined by Johann Carl Fuhlrott and Hermann Schaaffhausen. Rudolf Virchow, friends with the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, claims that the Neanderthal is not prehistoric man. He is wrong.
1857 - 1859 Germany Economy And Trade
The Great Depression, which starts in the United states with the panic of 1857, represents the first global economic crisis.
1858 Germany Political Context
King Wilhelm I – later Kaiser (Emperor) of the Second Empire – assumes his regency.
1859 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Johann Phillipp Reis invents the telephone. Date Country Theme
1862 Germany Political Context
Otto von Bismarck becomes prime minister of Prussia.
1864 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The chemist Julius Lothar Meyer (1830–95) develops the first periodic table of chemical elements.
1864 Germany Political Context
As a consequence of the Prussian–Danish war, Denmark retracts its demand for Schleswig and Holstein.
1866 - 1871 Germany Economy And Trade
Formation of the North German Confederation in 1866/7 sees a federation of the 22 independent states of northern Germany, with nearly 30 million inhabitants. It was the first modern German nation-state and the basis for the later German Empire (1871–1918).
1866 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Werner von Siemens invents the dynamo.
1870 Germany Economy And Trade
The Deutsche Bank is founded by Georg von Siemens.
From 1871 Germany Economy And Trade
The capital market is enlivened by France’s payment of 5 million French francs, paid to Germany as compensation following the war between the two countries (1870–1).
1871 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
Berlin becomes the imperial capital.
1871 Germany Political Context
The German Empire, a union of sovereign states and free cities, is established under Prussian leadership.
1872 - 1879 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
As a consequence of the Kulturkampf the influence of the Catholic Church is limited in Germany.
1873 - 1880 Germany Economy And Trade Date Country Theme
The economic crash known as the Gründerkrise sees companies and banks shut down and a rise in unemployment and social dissatisfaction.
1873 - 1878 Germany International Exhibitions
The Moorish Kiosk, built for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878, was subsequently bought for Linderhof Palace Park by Ludwig II. The Moroccan House, which was actually built in Morocco for the International Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 and acquired by a private individual after the king’s death, was bought by the German state in 1980 and reconstructed in the Palace Park in 1998.
1873 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Levi Strauss, a German citizen in exile in America, requests the patent for blue Jeans.
1873 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The development of Classical Archaeology is strongly influenced by Heinrich Schliemann in the second half of the 18th century when for example he finds the “Gold of Troy”.
1873 Germany Economy And Trade
The Krupp Corporation is the largest industrial concern in Europe.
1876 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Robert Koch discovers bacteriology.
1879 Germany Economy And Trade
The German Empire moves from a free-trade system to protective duty.
1879 Germany International Exhibitions
The Great Industrial Exposition is held at the Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin, where one of main attractions is the first electric locomotive from Siemens & Halske.
1880 Germany Travelling
The dome of Cologne is completed (construction began in 1248). It is the tallest church building in the world at the time.