HS 340 - Past to Present: From the "Reichsgruendung" (1871) to the "Berliner Republik" (21st Century)

The course shows the turbulent development of the German nation state since its unification under Bismarck as an Empire (1871) to the present day. The basic pattern of this monarchy and the characteristics of the era (imperialism) are the background for understanding the First World War and the demise of old Europe. Many problems of the Empire were taken over the course of the hasty change of government and the failure of the November Revolution in the new democracy (Weimar Republic). These unresolved problems contributed significantly to the political weakness of the parliamentary democratic system – which in the face of economic crisis, proved to be unable to create a significant resistance against the seizure of power by National Socialism. The influences of these years of the dictatorship (1933-1945) reach through forcible coordination of the society, through war and genocide far beyond the threshold of military defeat and shaped the history of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic throughout the division (1949-1989). After the fall of the wall a unified Germany re-emerged. Today it represents 80 Million inhabitants right in the middle of Europe.