250,000 years ago Spear stab for German elephant
A spear of hardened yew, presumably flung or thrust by a human, fixes itself between the ribs of an elephant in what is now Saxony

35,000 years ago Prehistoric people carve human figures
The earliest known Venus figurine, with emphasized sexual features, is carved near the Hohle Fels cave in Germany from the tusk of a woolly mammoth

9 Arminius defeats Romans
The defeat of three Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest by Arminius, establishes the Rhine as a natural boundary of the Roman empire

98 Tacitus on Britain and Germany
Tacitus begins his career with two specialized but influential works of history, one on Britain and the other on Germany

98 Trajan is emperor
Trajan, succeeding to the imperial throne in AD 98, is sufficiently confident to spend a year in Germany before returning to Rome

687 Pepin unites Frankish kingdoms
With a victory at Tertry, Pepin II wins effective control over all three Frankish kingdoms

743 Boniface preaches to Germans
Boniface, working as a missionary among pagan Germans, makes his headquarters at Mainz

750 Germanic bards
The professional bards of the Germanic tribes give lasting life to Norse legend

771 Charlemagne rules all Franks
On the death of his brother, Charlemagne inherits the entire kingdom of the Franks

772 Charlemagne demolishes Saxon shrine
Charlemagne destroys a great Saxon shrine, the Irminsul - the start of a 30-year campaign against his pagan neighbours in what is now Germany

781 Alcuin takes job at Aachen
Charlemagne, meeting the English scholar Alcuin on a visit to Italy, invites him to become head of the palace school in Aachen

796 Alcuin moves to Tours
Alcuin leaves the palace school at Aachen to become abbot of the monastery of Tours

800 Beowulf
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons

800 Jews prosper in Spain and Germany
The Jews prosper in the Muslim and Carolingian empires, forming strong communities in Spain and in Germany

805 Pope consecrates Charlemagne's chapel
Pope Leo III consecrates Charlemagne's new palace chapel in Aachen, modelled on San Vitale in Ravenna

843 Francia Media promotes friction
The central Frankish kingdom, Francia Media, becomes one of the great fault lines of European history

919 Henry I elected in east Frankish kingdom
Henry I is elected king of the east Frankish kingdom, consisting of four great feudal duchies - Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony and Franconia

1000 Islam reaches Niger
A Muslim dynasty is established at Gao, on the Niger

1024 Conrad II begins new line on German throne
Conrad II is elected as the German king, begining the dynasty variously known as Franconian or Salian

1050 Kingdom of Ife
Ife emerges as a powerful kingdom in the equatorial forest of the lower Niger

1096 Peter the Hermit
Peter the Hermit, an old monk on a donkey, leads the largest of the popular groups from Germany on the first crusade

1096 Jews massacred in German cities
The German crusade begins with a massacre of Jews in many of the region's cities

1138 Hohenstaufen dynasty
Conrad III, of the Hohenstaufen family, is elected German king - a title which remains in the family for more than a century, bringing with it that of Holy Roman emperor

1147 Second crusade
The second crusade is led east by two kings, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany

1150 Charlemagne a saint in France and Germany
In feudal France and Germany Charlemagne is by now venerated as a saint

1150 Germans trade with Livonia
German merchants begin trading along the coasts of Latvia and Estonia, a region to which they give the name Livonia

1152 Frederick Barbarossa king of Germany
Frederick Barbarossa becomes king of Germany and Holy Roman emperor, greatly extending the power of the empire during a long reign

1159 First step towards Hanseatic League
Henry the Lion builds a new town at Lübeck, well placed to develop as the centre of the Hanseatic League

1180 Nibelungenlied
The shared memories and legends of Nordic peoples are brought together in a great German epic, the Nibelungenlied

1197 Three-year-old inherits Sicily and Germany
The three-year old Frederick II has a claim to the thrones of both Sicily and Germany on the death of his father, the emperor Henry VI

1200 German pressure to the east
German pressure eastwards (the Drang nach Osten) steadily brings colonists into regions previously occupied by Slavs

1205 Parsifal seeks Holy Grail
The story of Parsifal and the Holy Grail becomes the subject of a courtly epic by Wolfram von Eschenbach

1220 Frederick II is Holy Roman emperor
Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman emperor by a somewhat reluctant pope, Honorius III

1225 Teutonic knights tackle Prussians
The Teutonic knights undertake a new form of crusade, attempting to subdue the pagan Prussians who occupy part of the Baltic coast

1250 Tannhäuser among the Minnesinger
Tannhäuser is one of the Minnesinger, the German equivalents of the French troubadours

1254 Hohenstaufen dynasty ends
The death of the last Hohenstaufen ruler, Conrad IV, leaves a vacancy on the German throne which is not filled for nineteen years

1308 Teutonic knights seize Gdansk
The Teutonic knights seize the coastal area round Gdansk, cutting off Poland's access to the sea

1391 Canal links Baltic and North Sea
Construction begins on a canal from Lübeck south to the Elbe, linking the Baltic and the North Sea

1397 Germany develops harpsichord
The keyboard of the organ is adapted in Germany to strings, thus providing the harpsichord - first mentioned in a manuscript of this year

1400 Master singers compete in German towns
Guilds of singers and song-writers develop in German towns, calling themselves Meistersinger, or master singers

1414 Council called at Constance
A council is called at Constance, to consider the radical views of John Huss and to deal with the present excess of popes

1415 Huss burnt at stake
John Huss, invited to Constance under a promise of safe conduct, is arrested, tried and burnt at the stake as a heretic

1417 Three popes reduced to one
The Council of Constance, having done its best to dispose of the three existing popes, elects a new one - Martin V

1455 First printed engravings
Master ES becomes the first artist to produce engravings

1456 Movable type in Germany
A copy of Europe's first book printed from movable type, the Gutenberg Bible, is completed in Mainz

1461 Pfister's illustrated book
Albrecht Pfister publishes the first book with printed illustrations - Der Ackermann aus Böhmen ('The farmer of Bohemia')

1466 Prussia annexed by Poland
In the treaty of Torun the Teutonic knights finally cede Prussia to Poland

1470 Venetian printing rivals German
The first Italian printing press is set up in Venice, which soon rivals Germany for the quality of its printing

1492 World's first globe lacks America
The world's first globe is published by Martin Behaim without showing America, in the very year of Columbus' voyage

1493 Nuremberg Chronicle
The Nuremberg Chronicle integrates text and pictures in an ambitious history of the world

1495 Dürer master printmaker
Dürer, the first great artist to tackle the complexities of printing, becomes a master of woodcut and engraving

1500 First etchings
The first etchings are printed in Augsburg, from iron plates

1500 Watches worn on ribbon
The first watches, made in Nuremberg, are spherical clocks about three inches in diameter, worn usually on a ribbon round the neck

1517 Luther outraged by sale of indulgences
The local sale of indulgences by Johann Tetzel outrages a friar teaching in Wittenberg, Martin Luther

1517 Luther nails document to church door
Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg

1518 Melanchthon inspires Luther's New Testament
Philipp Melanchthon joins the Wittenberg university to teach Greek and inspires Luther to translate the New Testament

1520 Luther's writings burnt
Luther's writings are burnt in Rome by order of the pope

1521 Luther excommunicated
Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther after he has refused to recant

1521 Diet of Worms
Luther travels to the German city of Worms to present his case to an imperial diet

1521 Here I stand, says Luther
Luther bears witness to a Protestant conscience, stating at Worms: 'Here I stand, I can not do otherwise.'

1522 Luther in disguise as Junker Georg
Outlawed by the Edict of Worms, Luther lives secretly in the Wartburg as Junker Georg

1523 Hans Sachs calls Luther a nightingale
Hans Sachs, popular poet and master singer, describes Luther as the Wittenberg nightingale

1524 Tyndale at Wittenberg
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English

1525 Friar marries nun
Luther, a former friar, marries Catherine von Bora, a former nun who has just emerged from her convent

1525 Peasant War appals Luther
Thomas Müntzer leads the rebels in the Peasant War, to the profound displeasure of Luther

1525 Nudes from Cranach's studio
Lucas Cranach's studio in Wittenberg has a profitable line in naked female figures from mythology

1529 Protestants acquire their name
The 'Protestation' of various princes and imperial cities at Speyer identifies them as Protestants

1529 Luther and Zwingli clash on Eucharist
Protestant reformers Luther and Zwingli disagree at Marburg on the nature of the Eucharist

1530 Lutheran confession at Augsburg
The Augsburg Confession, presented by Melanchthon to the imperial diet, defines the Lutheran faith

1530 Printed illustrations of botany
German botanist Otto Brunfels publishes Living images of plants, the first serious work of natural history with printed illustrations

1531 Protestant princes form league
The Protestant princes of Germany form the defensive League of Schmalkalden

1555 Religious compromise at Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg achieves a compromise which for a while solves the religious tensions deriving from the Reformation

1609 First newspapers on sale in Germany
News sheets published in Augsburg and Strasbourg become the first known newspapers

1617 Wallenstein's private army
Albrecht von Wallenstein uses his wife's fortune to mobilize a private army in support of the emperor Ferdinand II

1621 First English newspaper
The first English newspaper (Corante) appears, promising reports 'from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France'

1631 Swedes victorious at Breitenfeld
Gustavus II and the Swedish army win a conclusive victory over the imperial forces at Breitenfeld

1632 Swedish king dies in cavalry charge
The Swedish army wins another convincing victory at Lützen, but Gustavus II dies leading a cavalry charge

1634 Passion play in Oberammergau
A Passion play is performed for the first time at Oberammergau, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation

1648 End of Thirty Years' War
The Peace of Westphalia finally brings to an end the Thirty Years' War

1650 Von Guericke devises air pump
A German burgomaster, Otto von Guericke, devises an air pump capable of creating a vacuum

1654 Sixteen horses foiled by vacuum
Otto von Guericke uses sixteen horses to demonstrate in Regensburg the power of a vacuum

1660 Berlin carriage all the rage
The berlin, developed in Berlin, becomes the most successful carriage of the seventeenth century

1683 Mennonites settle in Pennsylvania
Mennonites and other from Germany (later known as the Pennsylvania Dutch) begin to settle in Penn's liberal colony

1690 Steam engine with piston
The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

1702 Mystery substance named phlogiston
German chemist Georg Stahl coins the name phlogiston for the substance believed to be released in the process of burning

1704 Marlborough wins at Blenheim
The duke of Marlborough wins a major victory over the French at Blenheim, capturing twenty-four battalions and four regiments

1708 Secret of porcelain found in Dresden
The secret of true porcelain is at last discovered in the west, at Dresden, by Johann Friedrich Böttger

1714
Cosmas Damian Asam begins work on a highly theatrical creation, the Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg (1714-1735), joined by his younger brother Egid Quirin from 1721

1714 Fahrenheit takes temperature
Fahrenheit perfects the mercury thermometer and decides on a 180-degree interval between the freezing and boiling points of water

1714 Leibniz discusses monads
In his Monadology Leibniz describes a universe consisting of forceful interactive parts that he calls 'monads'

1720 Bach's Little Keyboard Book
Johann Sebastian Bach compiles the Little Keyboard Book a set of pieces to teach his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

1721 Bach writes Brandenburg Concertos
Johann Sebastian Bach writes the six Brandenburg Concertos for his employer at the court of Köthen

1722 The Well-Tempered Clavier
J.S. Bach publishes The Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues

1727 St Matthew Passion
J.S. Bach conducts the first performance of his St Matthew Passion in the St Thomas's church in Leipzig

173538
The Asam brothers build at their own expense the tiny and brilliant baroque church of St John Nepomuk, attached to their own house in Munich

1740 Cultured Frederick on Prussian throne
Frederick II, inheriting the throne in Prussia, establishes a cultured and musical court

1740 Frederick invades Silesia
Frederick II, the king of Prussia, invades the neighbouring Habsburg province of Silesia, launching the War of the Austrian Succession

1741 Goldberg Variations
J.S. Bach publishes his set of Goldberg Variations, supposedly written for performance by the young harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg

1742 Austrians capture Munich
An Austrian army captures the Bavarian capital city, Munich

1743 Battle of Dettingen
George II leads a British army to victory over the French at Dettingen

1744 2nd part of Well-Tempered Clavier
J.S. Bach publishes another set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, as an addition to his previous Well-Tempered Clavier

1745 The dean and the Leyden jar
The principle of the Leyden jar is discovered by an amateur German physicist, Ewald Georg von Kleist, dean of the cathedral in Kamin

1745 Discipline behind Prussian success
Frederick the Great's Prussian soldiers, advancing in shallow disciplined formation, outclass other armies of the time

1745 Frederick's three victories in a year
Frederick II's three victories in 1745 cause him to be known by his contemporaries as Frederick the Great

1746 Frederick begins Sans Souci
Frederick the Great begins to build the summer palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam

1749 Mass in B Minor
Shortly before his death (in 1750) J.S. Bach completes his Mass in B Minor, worked on over many years

1751 Tiepolo paints bishop's walls
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo begins a series of frescoes to decorate the prince bishop's residence in Würzburg

1755 Winckelmann goes neoclassical
Johann Joachim Winckelmann publishes a book on Greek painting and sculpture which introduces a new strand of neoclassicism

1756 Frederick starts Seven Years' War
Frederick the Great again precipitates a European conflict, marching without warning into Saxony and launching the Seven Years' War

1759 Frederick the Great not invincible
Frederick the Great suffers his first major defeat, by a Russian and Austrian army at Kunersdorf

1760 Zoffany moves to England
German painter Johann Zoffany moves to England to find work as a painter of conversation pieces and portraits

1762 England has its own Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian, moves to London and becomes known as the English Bach

1763 Prussia gains at Austria's expense
The Treaty of Hubertusburg, between Prussia and Austria, increases the power of Prussia among the many separate states of Germany

1772 First slices of Poland
Russia, Prussia and Austria agree a treaty enabling them to divide the spoils in the first partition of Poland

1774 Goethe wins with weepy novel
Goethe's romantic novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, brings him an immediate European reputation

1774 Storm and stress
Goethe's play Götz von Berlichingen, a definitive work of Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), has its premiere in Berlin

1780 Mendelssohn leads the Jewish Enlightenment
In developing the Haskalah, the German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn reconciles Judaism and the Enlightenment

1781 Kant on pure reason
German philosopher Immanuel Kant publishes the first of his three 'critiques', The Critique of Pure Reason

1782 Schiller sensation
Friedrich von Schiller's youthful and anarchic play The Robbers causes a sensation when performed in Mannheim

1782 Beethoven's Dressler Variations
12-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven publishes his first composition, Piano Variations on a March by Dressler

1783 Astor emigrates to USA
20-year-old John Jacob Astor emigrates from Germany to America and sets up in the fur trade

1787 Don Giovanni in Prague
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has its premiere in Prague

1792 Beethoven to study with Haydn
Beethoven leaves Bonn and goes to Vienna to study composition with Haydn

1793 Second slices of Poland
Russia and Prussia agree on a second partition of Poland

1794 Goethe and Schiller in Weimar
Goethe and Schiller become friends, and together create the movement known as Weimar classicism

1794 Fichte analyzes knowledge
In his Science of Knowledge Johann Gottlieb Fichte contrasts the I, or Ego, and its opposing non-I, or non-Ego

1795 Mungo Park reaches Niger river
Mungo Park sets off on his first expedition to explore the Niger on behalf of the African Association

1796 Samuel Hahnemann invents homeopathy
German physician Samuel Hahnemann coins the term 'homeopathy' and describes this new approach to medicine

1798 Friedrich settles in Dresden
After four years in Copenhagen, German artist Caspar David Friedrich makes his life-long home in Dresden

1803 Rothschild lends millions to Danes
The Frankfurt banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild lends 20 million francs to the Danish government

1804 Beethoven disgusted with Napoleon
Beethoven changes the dedication of his third symphony on hearing that his hero, Napoleon, has made himself an emperor

1806 Napoleon offers protection to Germans
Napoleon merges the majority of the German states into a Confederation of the Rhine with himself as its protector

1807 Warsaw becomes grand duchy
Part of Poland is recovered from Prussia to become the grand duchy of Warsaw, a small state dependent upon Napoleon

1807 Hegel charts development of mind
In Phenomenology of Spirit Friedrich Hegel interprets history as the advance of the human mind, often through thesis, antithesis and synthesis

1809 Fulani capital at Sokoto
The Fulani establish a capital at Sokoto, from which they dominate the Hausa kingdoms of northern Nigeria

1813 Prussia changes sides
The king of Prussia, Frederick William III, changes sides and declares war on France

1813 Napoleon defeated at Leipzig
The allies inflict a heavy defeat on Napoleon at Leipzig, in the so-called Battle of the Nations

1815 Holy Alliance of autocrats
The rulers of Russia, Prussia and Austria form a Holy Alliance to preserve their concept of a Christian Europe

1817 Fraunhofer studies solar spectrum
German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer observes and draws dark lines in the solar spectrum

1818 Reform movement in Judaism
The first Reform congregation within Judaism is established in Germany, in the Hamburg Temple

1818 Prussia creates custom-free zone
The king of Prussia, Frederick William III, makes a bid for German leadership by turning his extensive lands into a custom-free zone (Zollverein)

1818 Schopenhauer is pessimistic
In The World as Will and Idea Schopenhauer develops the bleakest possible view of the effects of the human will

1821 Der Freischutz
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischutz has its premiere in Berlin

1826 Mendelsohn's first Midsummer Night's Dream
17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composes an overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, amplifed with huge success eighteen years later

1826 Weber's Oberon
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Oberon has its premiere (in London, at Covent Garden)

1827 Ohm publishes his law
German physicist Georg Simon Ohm formulates his law about the proportionality of current flowing in an electric conductor

1829 Mendelssohn revives St Matthew's Passion
After a century of neglect, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducts an influential revival in Berlin of J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion

1829 Mendelssohn visits Hebrides
German composer Felix Mendelssohn visits the Hebrides and see's Fingal's Cave, later the theme of his Hebrides Overture

1830 Lander brothers explore Niger
Richard Lander and his brother John explore the lower reaches of the Niger, proving that the great river is navigable

1832 Full but posthumous Faust
The full text of Goethe's Faust, Parts 1 and 2, is published a few months after the poet's death

1832 Schumann's Papillons
Robert Schumann's first published composition is Papillons ('Butterflies'), twelve short dance pieces for piano

1832 Iron ship steams to Africa
The paddle steamer Alburkah becomes the first ocean-going iron ship, completing the journey from England to the Niger

1840 Schumann's Frauenliebe und -Leben
Robert Schumann composes the song cycle Frauenliebe und -Leben ('Woman's Love and Life')

1840 Schumann marries Clara
Robert Schumann marries the pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his first teacher

1841 British campaign against slave trade in west Africa
Britain sends four naval ships up the river Niger to make anti-slavery treaties with local kings

1842 Engels in charge of Manchester mill
The young Friedrich Engels is sent from Germany to manage the family cotton-spinning factory in Manchester

1843 The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman is the first of Richard Wagner's major operas to be staged, with its premiere in Dresden

1843 Mendelssohn's final Midsummer Night's Dream
Mendelssohn's overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, amplified now with incidental music, is greeted as a masterpiece at a performance of the play in Potsdam

1848 Prussians adopt needle-gun
The Prussian army is the first to adopt a breech-loading rifle, the 'needle-gun' developed by gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse

1849 Prussian king declines German crown
Delegates of the German states offer the imperial crown of a united Germany to Frederick William IV, the king of Prussia, who rejects it

1849 Marx settles in London
Expelled from Germany after the year of revolutions, Marx makes his home in tolerant London

1851 Rabbi Hirsch becomes neo-Orthodox
Samson Raphael Hirsch becomes rabbi of a synagogue in Frankfurt, where he develops the theme of neo-Orthodoxy

1851 Helmholtz invents ophthalmoscope
German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz invents the ophthalmoscope, making it possible for a doctor to examine the inside of a patient's eye

1851 Wagner writes anti-semitic tract
Richard Wagner writes an anti-semitic tract, Jewishness in Music

1854 Schumann attempts suicide
Robert Schumann throws himself into the Rhine, in an attempt to commit suicide, and spends the last two years of his life in an asylum

1854 Eliot and Lewes travel openly as a pair
Marian Evans and G.H. Lewes flout British convential morality by travelling openly to Germany together

1854 Quinine proves effective against malaria
William Baikie, on an expedition up the Niger, protects his men from malaria by administering quinine

1856 Neanderthal man found in quarry
The first Neanderthal man to be discovered is unearthed by quarry workers in the Neander valley, near Düsseldorf

1860 Bunsen Burner
German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and technician Peter Desdega perfect the non-luminous gas burner for use in the laboratory

1861 Lagos a British colony
Lagos, on the coast of Nigeria, is annexed as a British colony when the royal family prove unable or unwilling to end the slave trade

1862 'Blood and Iron'
Otto von Bismarck declares Blut und Eisen (blood and iron) to be the only policy by which Prussia can become strong

1864 Quarrels over Schleswig-Holstein
Prussia and Austria combine forces to seize Schleswig-Holstein, but soon fall out

1865 Tristan and Isolde
Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde has its premiere in the Munich court theatre

1866 Prussia launches Seven Weeks' War
Prussia invades its neighbouring German states and launches the Seven Weeks' War

1866 Seven Week War
The Prussians achieve the first blitzkrieg in their Seven Weeks' War defeat of the Austrians

1866 Prussia upstages Austria in treaty
The terms of the treaty of Prague, ending the Seven Weeks War, make plain the transfer of German leadership from Austria to Prussia

1867 Kapital hits bookstalls
The first volume of Das Kapital is completed by Marx in London and is published in Hamburg

1867 Prussia excludes Austria
A revival of the Prussian Zollverein, or customs union, includes all the German states except Austria

1868 Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Richard Wagner's opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg has its premiere in Munich

1869 Brahms' German Requiem
Johannes Brahms' German Requiem, setting passages from Luther's translation of the Bible, has its first complete performance in Leipzig

1869 Das Rheingold launches Ring cycle
Das Rheingold, with its premiere in Munich, is the first part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle to be staged

1870 Telegram from Ems tampered with
Otto von Bismarck adjusts the Prussian king's telegram from Ems in a way calculated to provoke the French

1870 France declares war on Prussia
With public opinion in France outraged by the Ems telegram, the French government declares war on Prussia

1870 Wagner marries Liszt's daughter
Richard Wagner marries Cosima, the daughter of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt

1871 German emperor proclaimed in France
The Prussian king, William I, is proclaimed emperor of a united Germany in the palace at Versailles

1876 The Ring of the Nibelungen
Richard Wagner's sequence of four operas, The Ring of the Nibelungen, has its first complete performance at Bayreuth

1876 Brahms's first symphony
Johannes Brahms' first symphony has its premiere in Karlsruhe

1878 Austria to rule Bosnia
A congress in Berlin agrees that Austria may administer the Turkish province of Bosnia-Herzegovina

1879 British traders unite to control Niger
George Goldie and British traders on the Niger form the United African Company (later the Royal Niger Company) to consolidate their interests

1880 Academic Festival Overture
Johannes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture is performed first at Breslau university, which has conferred on him an honorary Ph.D.

1882 Koch discovers TB bacillus
German bacteriologist Robert Koch announces his discovery of the bacillus that causes tuberculosis

1882 New alignment for Italy
Italy, previously non-aligned, signs a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary

1883 Nietzsche and 'superman'
In Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche envisages the Übermensch ('superman') enhancing human existence

1884 Bismarck launches scramble for Africa
Bismarck launches the colonial scramble for Africa by suddenly annexing three territories for Germany (Togo, Cameroon and Angria Pequena)

1884 Frege's Foundations of Arithmetic
German mathematician Gottlob Frege publishes Grundlagen der Arithmetik ('Foundations of Arithmetic'), linking mathematics and logic

1884 Bismarck hosts conference on Africa
Bismarck invites the European powers to a West Africa Conference in Berlin

1885 Benz builds first petrol-driven car
German engineer Karl Friedrich Benz builds the Tri-Star, a three-wheeled vehicle with an internal combustion that is considered the first commercial automobile

1885 Germany pioneers state welfare
Bismarck pioneers in Germany state welfare policies such as sickness benefits and old-age pensions

1886 Carve up in east Africa
Germany and Britain define neighbouring spheres of interest in east Africa

1886 Daimler builds 4-wheel car
German engineer Gottlied Wilhelm Daimler builds the first successful 4-wheel vehicle with an internal combustion engine

1887 First contact lenses
A German physiologist, Adolf Fick, grinds a pair of lenses to fit snugly in contact with a patient's eyeballs

1889 Strauss's Don Juan
The tone poem Don Juan, by the 25-year-old Richard Strauss, has a passionately mixed response at its premiere in Weimar

1890 Kaiser dismisses Bismarck
The new young German emperor, Wilhelm II, dismisses the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck

1890 Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen publishes his play Hedda Gabler, with its powerfully manipulative central character, a year before it is first produced (in Germany)

1891 German East Africa is protectorate
Germany takes direct control of German East Africa as a protectorate

1891 Heligoland in African trade-off
Britain cedes the tiny island of Heligoland to Germany in return for vast areas of Africa

1891 Lilienthal makes first guided flight in glider
German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal achieves the first of many guided flights in a glider, from a hill near Potsdam

1893 Hansel and Gretl
Hansel and Gretl, an opera by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck, has its premiere in Weimar

1894 Franco-Russian alliance
France and Russia, alarmed by Germany's ambitions, sign a defensive Franco-Russian alliance

1895 Schlieffen Plan targets France and Russia
General Alfred von Schlieffen devises plans for a potential two-pronged attack against France and Russia in a swift war

1895 Roentgen discovers X-rays
German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers rays that can penetrate light-proof barriers, and names them x-rays because their nature is as yet unknown

1896 Lilienthal dies in air crash
Otto Lilienthal dies when a wing fractures on his glider and he crashes from a height of 17 metres

1897 Germany claims Ruanda-Urundi
Germany claims Ruanda and Urundi as a joint colony adjacent to German East Africa

1898 Expansion planned for German fleet
Germany passes the first of four Fleet Acts, reflecting the determination of Alfred von Tirpitz to build a navy equal to that of Britain

1900 Water-soluble aspirins
The Bayer company in Germany sells aspirin in the form of water-soluble tablets, the first medication of its kind

1900 Successful flight by Zeppelin
Ferdinand Zeppelin's first dirigible makes its test flight from a floating hangar on the Lake of Constance

1900 Nigeria becomes British crown colony
The British government assumes direct responsibility for the entire region of Nigeria, previously entrusted to a commercial company

1900 Planck proposes quantum theory
German physicist Max Planck proposes the revolutionary concept of the quantum theory

1901 Mercedes car named after investor's daughter
Daimler cars launch a new brand, the Mercedes 35 hp, named after the ten-year-old daughter of the investor and distributor Emil Jellinek

1901 Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann's first novel, Buddenbrooks, brings him immediate success

1903 Radiation therapy for cancer
German surgeon Georg Clemens Perthes discovers, in Leipzig, that X-rays can inhibit cancer

1905 Electromagnetic radiation of light
Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect as a flow of discreet particles (quanta) of electromagnetic radiation

1905 Micro-organism causing syphilis is identified
German biologists Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann discover the micro-organism Treponema pallidum which causes syphilis

1905 Einstein's special theory of relativity
In his special theory of relativity Albert Einstein reconciles the apparent clash between relativity and electromagnetic theory

1905 Die Brücke
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and other Dresden students form the Expressionist group Die Brücke

1905 First U-boat
The first German submarine, or U-boat, is constructed in a programme to catch up with Britain and France in this area

1905 e = mc²
Albert Einstein relates mass and energy in the equation e = mc²

1905 Richard Strauss's Salome
Richard Strauss's Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's play, has wide success in spite of censorship difficulties

1906 Wasserman devises test for syphilis
German immunologist August von Wasserman develops a diagnostic test to reveal the presence of the syphilis spirochaete in the blood

1906 Germany to build more battleships
In direct response to Britain's new Dreadnought, Germany increases the production of battleships

1906 Third Law of Thermodynamics is fornulated
German physicist Walther Nernst establishes the Third Law of Thermodynamics, dealing with temperatures close to absolute zero

1906 Alzheimer describes a mental condition
The German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer identifies physical symptoms in the brain of a dead woman who had presenile dementia

1907 Persil launched in Germany
Henkel & Cie launches in Düsseldorf the first domestic washing powder, Persil