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143-952: Beginning in 1709 the Berlin -based Hohenzollern dynasty ruled the Principality of Neuchâtel in personal union with the Kingdom of Prussia . They were deposed by Napoléon Bonaparte , and in 1806 he made the French Marshall Louis-Alexandre Berthier prince of Neuchâtel. In the course of the Napoleonic Wars the principality provided for a rangers battalion as part of the Swiss Guards within Napoléon's Grande Armée since 1807. The rangers were nicknamed Canaris (i.e. canaries ) because of their yellow uniforms. After in 1814 Neuchâtel

286-735: A 2016 terrorist attack linked to ISIL , a truck was deliberately driven into a Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church , leaving 13 people dead and 55 others injured. In 2018, more than 200,000 protestors took to the streets in Berlin with demonstrations of solidarity against racism, in response to the emergence of far-right politics in Germany . Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opened in 2020, nine years later than planned, with Terminal 1 coming into service at

429-746: A battle painting . During the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871 the battalion distinguished themselves in the Battles of Gravelotte , Sedan , Le Bourget and during the Siege of Paris . In the First World War the battalion was one of the first units advancing the western front . The battalion participated in the attack on Belgium and northern France. After fighting near the Aire on 13 September 1914 only 213 men, out of an original 1,250, remained fit for action,

572-461: A strategic railway line from Berlin to Metz in order to integrate the new Imperial Territory militarily and strategically. The "cannon railway" was completed in the 1870s. The railways of the private French Eastern Railway Company ( Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'Est ) – a total of 740 km of lines – were bought by the French state and then sold to Germany for 260 million gold marks. The purchase price

715-618: A French-language motion in the Reichstag requesting that a plebiscite be held on the Imperial Territory's state affiliation: "May it please the Reichstag to decide that the population of Alsace–Lorraine, which has been incorporated into the German Empire by the Treaty of Frankfurt without having been consulted, be called upon to express its opinion on this annexation." The motion was rejected by

858-501: A Slavic-derived name: Pankow , Steglitz-Zehlendorf , Marzahn-Hellersdorf , Treptow-Köpenick , and Spandau . Of Berlin's ninety-six neighborhoods, twenty-two bear a Slavic-derived name: Altglienicke , Alt-Treptow , Britz , Buch , Buckow , Gatow , Karow , Kladow , Köpenick , Lankwitz , Lübars , Malchow , Marzahn , Pankow , Prenzlauer Berg , Rudow , Schmöckwitz , Spandau , Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow , Steglitz , Tegel and Zehlendorf . The earliest human settlements in

1001-578: A budget. From 1879 it was allowed to initiate legislation, although the Bundesrat in Berlin had to approve the laws before they were formally enacted by the emperor. Also in 1879, the office of imperial governor in Alsace–Lorraine ( Reichsstatthalter ) was introduced. He represented the Imperial Territory on behalf of the emperor. The state secretary of the Imperial Office for Alsace–Lorraine headed

1144-475: A camp for Sinti and Romani people (see Romani Holocaust ), and the Stalag III-D prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs of various nationalities. During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed during 1943–45 Allied air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin . The Allies dropped 67,607 tons of bombs on the city, destroying 6,427 acres of the built-up area. Around 125,000 civilians were killed. After

1287-662: A center of the Enlightenment , but also, was briefly occupied during the Seven Years' War by the Russian army. Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition , Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806 , but granted self-government to the city. In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg . The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during

1430-696: A city district separate from Brandenburg. In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement. In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of the First World War in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building . In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased

1573-503: A climax when, on 3 August 1873, a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Nancy-Toul calling for prayers for the reunification of Alsace–Lorraine with France was read in the Alsace–Lorraine districts of Château-Salins and Saarburg, which still belonged to his diocese. The German authorities reacted with police measures, arrests and disciplinary proceedings as well as a ban on the Catholic press. After

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1716-507: A combined state of Berlin and Brandenburg is different from other state fusion proposals. Normally, Article 29 of the Basic Law stipulates that a state fusion requires a federal law. However, a clause added to the Basic Law in 1994, Article 118a, allows Berlin and Brandenburg to unify without federal approval, requiring a referendum and a ratification by both state parliaments. In 1996, there

1859-698: A comfortable new barracks compound in Lichterfelde West between 1881 and 1884. On 27 September 1884 the battalion celebrated its farewell to the Pfuel Barracks in the Karlsgarten restaurant in the Hares' Heath. Then the battalion moved into the new barracks on Gardeschützenweg. After the formation of the Reichswehr in 1919 the new 29th Reichswehr rifles battalion (Reichswehr-Schützen-Bataillon Nr. 29), part of

2002-410: A defensible border with their long-standing enemy. Any additional hostility earned from territorial concessions was downplayed as marginal and insignificant in the scheme. The annexed area consisted of the northern part of Lorraine and Alsace . This area corresponded to the present French départements of Bas-Rhin (in its entirety), Haut-Rhin (except the area of Belfort and Montbéliard), and

2145-473: A hoped-for united Germany in the future, despite what the French parts of their population wanted. We Germans who know Germany and France know better what suits the Alsatians than the unfortunates themselves. In the perversion of their French life, they have no exact idea of what concerns Germany. In 1871, the newly created German Empire's demand for Alsace from France after its victory in the Franco-Prussian War

2288-651: A large majority in the Reichstag. The population was also not asked for its opinion on state affiliation in 1918 when it returned to France. The Protesters rejected both cooperation with the German authorities and constructive political work in the Reichstag. They did not attend its sessions after their election (some Lorraine deputies were not able to do so because of their lack of command of German). There were also people in political life who, for various motives, pleaded for an "attitude of reason". The so-called Autonomists were more or less either pro-German or pro-French and strove for

2431-619: A local autonomy of the Imperial Territory that was as far-reaching as possible. The Protestant minority population voted predominantly for the Autonomists from the 1877 Reichstag election onwards. Over time, however, the population of Alsace–Lorraine turned more and more to the German parties, such as Catholics to the Centre Party , the Protestant bourgeoisie to the Liberals and Conservatives, and

2574-428: A majority. The introduction of an upper house in parliament was criticized across party lines in Alsace–Lorraine. While upper houses had historical reasons in the other parts of Germany, there was no noble class in Alsace–Lorraine to be integrated in an upper house. It was thus a purely honorary body. The emperor's right to appoint members was particularly criticised. The upper house was composed of representatives of

2717-417: A microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings and pavement . Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas. Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March. The hottest month in Berlin was July 1834, with a mean temperature of 23.0 °C (73.4 °F) and

2860-424: A monumental ensemble. The National Socialist regime embarked on monumental construction projects in Berlin as a way to express their power and authority through architecture . Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer developed architectural concepts for the conversion of the city into World Capital Germania ; these were never implemented. NSDAP rule diminished Berlin's Jewish community from 160,000 (one-third of all Jews in

3003-528: A rapid population increase in Berlin. 1920s Berlin was the third-largest city in the world by population. After World War II and following Berlin's occupation, the city was split into West Berlin and East Berlin , divided by the Berlin Wall . East Berlin was declared the capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became

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3146-413: A small margin, largely based on support in former West Berlin , Brandenburg voters disapproved of the fusion by a large margin. It failed largely due to Brandenburg voters not wanting to take on Berlin's large and growing public debt and fearing losing identity and influence to the capital. Berlin is in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography , part of

3289-463: A small northeast section of the Vosges département , all of which made up Alsace , and most of the départements of Moselle (four-fifths of Moselle) and the northeast of Meurthe (one-third of Meurthe), which were the eastern part of Lorraine . The remaining two-thirds of the département of Meurthe and the westernmost one-fifth of Moselle , which had escaped German annexation, were joined to form

3432-412: A term of three years by majority vote in the 60 electoral districts. It was called the "People's Parliament" ( Volksparlament ) in distinction to the upper house, which consisted of notables. The minimum age for eligibility was 25. Male citizens aged 25 and over had the right to vote. For the late nineteenth century, the constitution was both conservative in defining the first chamber and progressive in

3575-467: A volunteer third year of service after two years of regular duty, allowing them to choose the military units they want to join. After in 1845 all other rifles battalions had been renamed ranger battalions the guards rifles battalion was the only using this expression in the Prussian army. After 1848 all new recruits were Prussians, after 1871 also Alsace-Lorrainians were accepted. Since the mid-19th century

3718-424: A westward shift in the French border was necessary for strategic military and ethnographic reasons. From a linguistic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. At the time, ethnic identity was often based primarily on language, unlike today's more multifaceted approach focusing on self-identification. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting

3861-459: Is Germany's capital and largest city by area and by population . With over 3.85 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union . The city is also one of the states of Germany , and is the third smallest state in the country in terms of area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg , and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam

4004-460: Is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany; it stands as a symbol of eventful European history and of unity and peace. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament. It was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of

4147-461: Is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.5 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region, and the fifth-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union . Berlin was built along the banks of

4290-643: Is the most visited zoo in Europe. Babelsberg Studio is the world's first large-scale movie studio complex and the list of films set in Berlin is long. Berlin is also home to three World Heritage Sites : Museum Island , the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin , and the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates . Other landmarks include the Brandenburg Gate , the Reichstag building , Potsdamer Platz ,

4433-640: The Forum Fridericianum along with, the Berlin State Opera , Charlottenburg Palace , Gendarmenmarkt , Alte Kommandantur , as well as the City Palace . The tallest buildings in Berlin are spread across the urban area, with clusters at Potsdamer Platz , City West , and Alexanderplatz . Over one-third of the city's area consists of green and open-space, with the Großer Tiergarten , one of

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4576-564: The Baltic states as well as in West Prussia . At the beginning of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states the battalion, among other units, fought the riots in Berlin on 18 March 1848. While Karl August Varnhagen von Ense reported about fraternisations between riflemen and revolutionaries in his Journal der Märzrevolution , there is no other evidence for this. After that day the battalion

4719-604: The Bataillon des Tirailleurs de la Garde following the same principals as with the Neuchâtel battalion within the Grande Armée. To this end 400 men of 1.68 metres (5.5 ft) minimum height were to be recruited. A number of demobilised Canaries and newly enlisted men were thus recruited. Major Baron Charles-Gustave de Meuron (1779–1830) became their first commander. On 5 January 1815 the battalion arrived in Berlin, having marched

4862-506: The Berlin Wall around West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie . West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his " Ich bin ein Berliner " speech on 26 June 1963, in front of the Schöneberg city hall, located in the city's western part, underlining

5005-676: The Burgundians followed. In the 7th century Slavic tribes, the later known Hevelli and Sprevane , reached the region. In the 12th century the region came under German rule as part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg , founded by Albert the Bear in 1157. Early evidence of middle age settlements in the area of today's Berlin are remnants of a house foundation dated 1270 to 1290, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte . The first written records of towns in

5148-527: The German Empire , located in modern-day France. It was established in 1871 by the German Empire after it had occupied the region during the Franco-Prussian War . The region was officially ceded to the German Empire in the Treaty of Frankfurt . French resentment about the loss of the territory was one of the contributing factors to World War I . Alsace–Lorraine was formally ceded back to France in 1920 as part of

5291-679: The Infantry Regiment 9 Potsdam , moved into the barracks. After the Second World War the barracks happened to be in what had become the American sector of divided Berlin and thus the well preserved barracks, renamed Roosevelt Barracks , were taken over by the US Army in 1945. Between 1950 and 1958 the 6941st Guard Battalion was domiciled in the Roosevelt Barracks . After the redeployment of

5434-664: The Karl-Marx-Allee heads east, an avenue lined by monumental residential buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism style. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), with its distinctive red-brick architecture. In front of it is the Neptunbrunnen , a fountain featuring a mythological group of Tritons , personifications of the four main Prussian rivers, and Neptune on top of it. The Brandenburg Gate

5577-567: The Luisenstadt quarter of Berlin. The barracks building was destroyed in the bombing of Berlin in World War II . The real estate developer Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carstenn pushed the battalion's move to then Groß-Lichterfelde , a newly developed suburb of Berlin, also financing part of the necessary utilities. Following a design of Construction Councillor Ferdinand Schönhals the government-employed architect Ernst August Roßteuscher laid out

5720-928: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe , and the Berlin Wall Memorial . Berlin has numerous museums , galleries, and libraries. [REDACTED] Margraviate of Brandenburg 1237–1618 [REDACTED] Brandenburg-Prussia 1618–1701 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1701–1867 [REDACTED] North German Confederation 1867–1871 [REDACTED]   German Empire 1871–1918 [REDACTED]   Weimar Republic 1918–1933 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1933–1945 [REDACTED]   Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949 [REDACTED]   West Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   East Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   Germany 1990–present Berlin lies in northeastern Germany. Most of

5863-503: The Spree river, which flows into the Havel in the western borough of Spandau . The city incorporates lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs, the largest of which is Müggelsee . About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks and gardens , rivers, canals, and lakes. First documented in the 13th century and at the crossing of two important historic trade routes , Berlin

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6006-778: The Spreewald . Between 1856 and 1858 always one of the battalion's four companies was stationed on Hohenzollern Castle . Some of its officers, among them de Gélieu, were involved in the Neuchâtel Crisis in 1856. In 1866 the battalion fought for Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War in the Battle of Königgrätz . The 4th Company of the Guards Rifles, under Captain de Gélieu, conquered Austrian batteries near Lipa between Sadová and Königgrätz , as displayed by Christian Sell in

6149-684: The Treaty of Versailles following Germany's defeat in the war, but already annexed in practice at the war's end in 1918. Geographically, Alsace–Lorraine encompassed most of Alsace and the Moselle department of Lorraine . The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River , east of the Vosges Mountains ; the section initially in Lorraine was in the upper Moselle valley to

6292-439: The University of Strassburg was re-founded and in 1877 given the name "Emperor Wilhelm University" (after Emperor Wilhelm I ). Through generous expansion measures, it developed into one of the largest universities in the Empire. Professional training in Alsace developed as a result of stimuli from Germany. The German administration promoted the education of young Alsatian artists at German universities and academies, giving rise to

6435-441: The Wayback Machine and still impacts urban planning decisions. Walter Momper, the mayor of West Berlin, became the first mayor of the reunified city in the interim. City-wide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with the separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring by that time, and Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became

6578-523: The XXI Army Corps . The recruiting districts of the corps were outside Alsace–Lorraine, as was the case with the Upper and Lower Alsatian and Lorraine regiments that were established later within the corps as part of army enlargements. The corps were not always stationed in the Imperial Territory. Alsatians and Lorrainers who were called up for military service were distributed among all Prussian Army units, as were active and passive social democrats , who were also considered to be politically unreliable. It

6721-489: The end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to Allied-occupied Germany the sectors of the Allies of World War II (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin , while the Soviet Union formed East Berlin . All four Allies of World War II shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when

6864-443: The 17th century, while Lorraine was incorporated from the 16th century under Henry II to the 18th century under Louis XV (in the case of the Three Bishoprics , as early as 1552). These border changes at the time meant more or less that one ruler (the local princes and city governments, with some remaining power of the Holy Roman Emperor ) was exchanged for another (the King of France). German nationalism, on

7007-423: The 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding , Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire . In 1881, it became

7150-441: The 20th century. 17% of Berlin's buildings are Gründerzeit or earlier and nearly 25% are of the 1920s and 1930s, when Berlin played a part in the origin of modern architecture . Devastated by the bombing of Berlin in World War II many of the buildings that had survived in both East and West were demolished during the postwar period. After the reunification, many important heritage structures have been reconstructed , including

7293-428: The Alsatian population in a speech to soldiers and called for rebellious Alsatians to be stabbed. In what came to be known as the Zabern Affair , the military reacted to the protests with arbitrary acts that were not covered by law. The assaults led to a Reichstag debate on the militaristic structures of German society and strained the relations between Alsace–Lorraine and the rest of Germany. Planning began in 1871 for

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7436-413: The Catholics frequently identified with the French Catholic state and feared disadvantage in Prussian hands, the local Protestants were in favour of becoming part of Germany. The Evangelical Lutheran Church professed allegiance to Germany, hoping to reduce French-influenced Catholic "paternalism". The rural population in particular supported their efforts, while quite a few critics of unification spoke out in

7579-410: The Cercle de Saint-Léonard, an artists' association that sought to combine German and Alsatian art. Although the proportion of native speakers of German dialects in the new Imperial Territory was around 90%, Catholics in Alsace–Lorraine tended initially to be sceptical about the ethnographic unification with Germany, which had come about under the leadership of predominately Protestant Prussia . While

7722-410: The Empire (Social Democrats, Centre, National Liberals , Left Liberals and Conservatives) found more and more supporters. In the countryside and the predominantly French-speaking electoral districts of Lorraine, the Autonomists remained strong, while in the cities, especially Strassburg, they increasingly played only a subordinate role, with the Social Democrats dominating. The election results, showing

7865-467: The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist–Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany . West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin

8008-470: The Franco-Prussian War, the French had maintained a long-standing desire to establish their entire eastern frontier on the Rhine. Thus, most 19th-century Germans viewed them as aggressive and acquisitive people. In the years before 1870, the Germans feared the French more than the French feared the Germans. Many Germans at the time thought that the unification of Germany as the new Empire would in itself be enough to earn permanent French enmity and thus desired

8151-433: The French Army is the rank equivalent to a Major, by this time the usual rank of a battalion commander. The composition of the battalion and the behaviour of many a rifleman earned it an ambiguous reputation. While women of Berlin considered the French-speaking riflemen as charming celibates and good dancers with an attracting Franco-German jargon, their less reputated comrades were also suspected of theft and worse crimes. So

8294-414: The German annexation. In the decades after 1871, the fortress of Metz was expanded under German rule to become the largest fortification in the world, with a ring of outworks, some of which were located far in advance of the fortifications themselves. Metz became a majority German-speaking city due to the influx of military personnel and other immigrants from the rest of Germany. When the German Army

8437-426: The Huguenot immigration. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia , Poland , and Salzburg . Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia . In 1701, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia , as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg , crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia . Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom, replacing Königsberg . This

8580-415: The Infantry). He was a royalist Neuchâtelois, later distinguishing himself in the Neuchâtel Crisis, but earlier proposed by the Conseil d'Etat of Neuchâtel in 1847, which had the right of nomination for the battalion's officers, only the commander to be chosen by the monarch. Since 1841 the guards rifles were allowed to also recruit three-year volunteers (Dreijährig-Freiwillige), ordinary conscripts who did

8723-481: The Museumsinsel U-Bahn station opened in 2021, which completed all new works on the U5. A partial opening by the end of 2020 of the Humboldt Forum museum, housed in the reconstructed Berlin Palace , was postponed until March 2021. On 16 September 2022, the opening of the eastern wing, the last section of the Humboldt Forum museum, meant the Humboldt Forum museum was finally completed. It became Germany's currently most expensive cultural project. The legal basis for

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8866-458: The Prussian Royal Colonel of the guards rifles, which was received with lack of understanding by many Swiss. After the First World War the guards rifles battalion was disbanded. After the November Revolution some demobilised riflemen joined the guards cavalry rifles division (Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen-Division), among them Robert Kempner . In January 1919 the Freikorps Garde-Schützen was founded, which existed until early 1920 and operated in

9009-438: The Recruit Depot of the Guards Rifle Battalion on 1 September 1914. On 11 October 1914 the battalion was sent to the western front in Flanders , where it was attached to the 44th Reserve Division. Many of the men were volunteers, with a third being a cadre of experienced Guards riflemen. Many of the volunteers came from the Wandervogel movement, which at the time was centered in Steglitz near Groß-Lichterfelde . The battalion

9152-463: The Separation of the Churches and the State ) also led to alienation from France in Catholic circles. Germany had granted the region significantly more freedom, and the region's economic situation had developed positively. Especially the younger inhabitants who no longer had any contact with France saw themselves as Germans as a matter of course. In French foreign policy, the demand for the return of Alsace and Lorraine faded in importance after 1880 with

9295-407: The Territorial Committee was enlarged to 58 members who were indirectly elected by the district assemblies (Lorraine 11, Upper Alsace 10, Lower Alsace 13), the autonomous cities (1 member each from Strassburg, Mülhausen, Metz and Colmar) and the counties (20 members). Initially the Territorial Committee had only an advisory function. In 1877 it was granted a legislative function and the right to create

9438-410: The US support for West Berlin. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited by the government of East Germany. In 1971, a Four-Power Agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany. In 1989, with

9581-411: The US troops from Berlin in 1992 the Bundeswehr Berlin command (Standortkommando Berlin) intermittently used the barracks, now lodging departments of the Bundesnachrichtendienst . Besides the Gardeschützenweg (literally guards riflemen way) in the area Fabeckstraße and Gélieustraße commemorate officers of the guards rifles, whereas Lipaer Straße and Neuchâteller Straße recall one of their battles and

9724-440: The Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift , conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949. In 1949,

9867-436: The area of Berlin from 66 to 883 km (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled, and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era , Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties . The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, arts,

10010-403: The area of modern Berlin are dated around 60,000 BC. A deer mask, dated to 9,000 BC, is attributed to the Maglemosian culture . In 2,000 BC dense human settlements along the Spree and Havel rivers gave rise to the Lusatian culture . Starting around 500 BC Germanic tribes settled in a number of villages in the higher situated areas of today's Berlin. After the Semnones left around 200 AD,

10153-419: The area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209. 1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes , one was known as Via Imperii , and the other trade route reached from Bruges to Novgorod . In 1307

10296-485: The battalion mostly recruited commoners and employees of forestry and proven hunters. After twelve years of service as ordinary soldier, or nine years as a noncommissioned officer, the respective rifleman received a guarantee writ (Forstversorgungsschein) to be afterwards employed in the Prussian state forestry. The higher officers were mostly of noble descent. On 1 October 1902 the newly created guards machine gun detachment No. 2 (Garde-Maschinengewehr-Abteilung Nr. 2)

10439-654: The battalion was back again in Galicia, only to be redeployed again to Flanders, where, among other battles, they participated in the Battle of Passchendaele . The battalion remained in France until the Armistice. On 31 December 1918 they arrived in Lübben and were demobilized. The battalion was originally stationed in infantry barracks (the Pfuel Barracks) on Köpenicker Straße 13–15 in

10582-605: The beginning of the 20th century, opposition to German authorities played hardly any role. There were no longer major social groups that advocated a return to France. The Protestants traditionally had a positive image of Germany, while after the Dreyfus affair , the Jewish population regarded France with extreme suspicion. Catholics also turned away from France. The rise of socialism there permanently unsettled Catholic sentiments in Alsace–Lorraine. France's laicist policy from 1905 onwards ( Law on

10725-459: The capital of all of Germany. Due to its geographic location and history, Berlin has been called "the heart of Europe". The economy of Berlin is based on high tech and the service sector , encompassing a diverse range of creative industries , startup companies , research facilities, and media corporations. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a complex public transportation network . Tourism in Berlin makes

10868-671: The ceasefire. The guards rifles were one of the ten front units marching through the Brandenburg Gate in December 1918, as stipulated between Friedrich Ebert , the head of the provisional German government, and the Oberste Heeresleitung , welcomed also by the government. The Guards reserve rifles battalion was first operating near Namur , but soon redeployed to East Prussia after the Russian invasion there ( Battle of Tannenberg ) and subsequently stationed in Upper Silesia . Between

11011-555: The cities and villages in northeastern Germany bear Slavic languages -derived names. Typical Germanization for place name suffixes of Slavic origin are -ow, -itz, -vitz, -witz, -itzsch and -in , prefixes are Windisch and Wendisch . The name Berlin has its roots in the language of the West Slavs , and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp"). Of Berlin's twelve boroughs , five bear

11154-551: The cities of Strassburg and Mülhausen. After the Kulturkampf – the conflict between the state and the Catholic Church driven by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck – reached Alsace–Lorraine in 1872/73, the Catholic Church became a vehicle of resistance against the German authorities. In all of the Reichstag elections from 1874 to 1912, between three and seven of the 15 Alsace–Lorraine deputies were Catholic priests. The dispute reached

11297-716: The city a popular global destination. Significant industries include information technology, the healthcare industry , biomedical engineering , biotechnology , the automotive industry , and electronics . Berlin is home to several universities such as the Humboldt University of Berlin , Technische Universität Berlin , the Berlin University of the Arts and the Free University of Berlin . The Berlin Zoological Garden

11440-509: The city lost half of its population. Frederick William , known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots . By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of

11583-515: The city. The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division. Alsace-Lorraine Alsace–Lorraine ( German : Elsaß–Lothringen ), officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine (German: Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen ), was a territory of

11726-512: The coldest was January 1709 , with a mean temperature of −13.2 °C (8.2 °F). The wettest month on record was July 1907, with 230 millimeters (9.1 in) of rainfall, whereas the driest were October 1866, November 1902, October 1908 and September 1928, all with 1 millimeter (0.039 in) of rainfall. Berlin's history has left the city with a polycentric metropolitan area and an eclectic mix of architecture. The city's appearance today has been predominantly shaped by German history during

11869-458: The country) to about 80,000 due to emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Starting in early 1943, many were deported to ghettos like Łódź , and to concentration and extermination camps such as Auschwitz . Berlin hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics for which the Olympic stadium

12012-452: The crowned escutcheon of Alsace–Lorraine in the upper left corner. On 25 June 1912, the parliament of the Imperial Territory unanimously approved the proposal for a state flag consisting of the red and white striped flag of Alsace bearing a yellow Lorraine cross in the upper left corner. The decision to adopt the flag was never implemented by government authorities in Berlin. The flag was often raised privately and on semi-official occasions. It

12155-410: The decline of the monarchist element. When World War I broke out in 1914, recovery of the two lost provinces became the top French war goal. The increased militarization of Europe and the lack of negotiations between major powers led to harsh and rash actions taken by both sides in respect to Alsace–Lorraine during World War I . As soon as war was declared, both the French and German authorities used

12298-472: The emerging working class to the Social Democrats. The Protesters no longer played a significant role after the election of 1890. The majority of Alsace–Lorraine's inhabitants were sceptical of the German Empire during the first two decades and voted for regional parties (Alsace–Lorraine Protesters and Autonomists). After Chancellor Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, the party landscape loosened, and parties of

12441-716: The end of May 1915 and early 1917 the reserve rifles were redeployed to the Russian Baltic governorates . As of July 1917 the reserve rifles operated in Galicia , only to advance the Italian front near Udine in October of that year. In April 1918 redeployed to the western front, the reserve rifles were employed at the Hermann Line and the Siegfried Line . The battalion was established at

12584-579: The end of October, and flights to and from Tegel Airport ending in November. Due to the fall in passenger numbers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic , plans were announced to close BER's Terminal 5, the former Schönefeld Airport , beginning in March 2021. The connecting link of U-Bahn line U5 from Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof, along with the new stations Rotes Rathaus and Unter den Linden, opened on 4 December 2020,

12727-697: The end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became a reunified city. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city experienced significant urban development Archived 16 December 2023 at

12870-550: The first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin. On 18 June 1994, soldiers from the United States, France and Britain marched in a parade which was part of the ceremonies to mark the withdrawal of allied occupation troops allowing a reunified Berlin (the last Russian troops departed on 31 August, while the final departure of Western Allies forces was on 8 September 1994). On 20 June 1991, the Bundestag (German Parliament) voted to move

13013-586: The frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks. Due to the annexation, the Germans gained control of the fortifications of Metz and Strasbourg (Strassburg) on the left bank of the Rhine and most of the iron resources of Lorraine. The possibility of granting Alsace–Lorraine the status of a constituent state of the German Empire with its own sovereign and constitution

13156-542: The government of the Territory. On 22 June 1877, Eduard von Moeller, the first governor of Alsace–Lorraine, decreed that 90 place names in the district of Lorraine were to be changed from their French to the German forms. When the constitution of the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine of 31 May 1911 was enacted, a directly elected state parliament ( Landtag ) replaced the Territorial Committee. Alsace–Lorraine

13299-683: The green police, received shakos like those of the guards rifles. These kind of shakos remained in use by the police of the West German states until the 1960s. Also the green colour remained. In the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht the Infantry Regiment 9 carried on the tradition of the guards rifles. According to the tradition decree of the Bundeswehr first the 1st Panzergrenadier Battalion (reorganised as 521st ranger battalion as of 1980) in Northeim maintained

13442-502: The historical territory has been part of the French administrative region of Grand Est . Alsace–Lorraine had a land area of 14,496 km (5,597 sq mi). Its capital was Straßburg . It was divided into three districts ( Bezirke in German): The largest urban areas in Alsace–Lorraine at the 1910 census were: The modern history of Alsace–Lorraine was primarily influenced by

13585-561: The humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power . Hitler was inspired by the architecture he had experienced in Vienna , and he wished for a German Empire with a capital city that had

13728-507: The largest and most popular parks in Berlin, located in the centre of the city. The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz in Mitte is among the tallest structures in the European Union at 368 m (1,207 ft). Built in 1969, it is visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin. The city can be viewed from its 204-meter-high (669 ft) observation floor. Starting here,

13871-691: The low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf , Steglitz-Zehlendorf , Tempelhof-Schöneberg , and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau. The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to

14014-911: The lowest is the Spektesee in Spandau, at 28.1 meters (92 ft) elevation. Berlin has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ) bordering on a humid continental climate ( Dfb ). This type of climate features mild to very warm summer temperatures and cold, though not very severe, winters. Annual precipitation is modest. Frosts are common in winter, and there are larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates . Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cold with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates

14157-509: The major religious communities (Catholics, Lutherans, Protestant Reformed and Jews), the chambers of agriculture and commerce, the trade unions, the judiciary, the cities of Strassburg, Metz, Mülhausen and Colmar, and the University of Strassburg. There were also 18 members appointed by the emperor at the recommendation of the Bundesrat. The lower house consisted of 60 deputies who were elected for

14300-555: The new French département of Meurthe-et-Moselle . The new border between France and Germany mainly followed the geo-linguistic divide between French and German dialects, except in a few valleys of the Alsatian side of the Vosges mountains , the city of Metz and its region and in the area of Château-Salins (formerly in the Meurthe département ), which were annexed by Germany although most people there spoke French. In 1900, 11.6% of

14443-648: The north of the Vosges. The territory encompassed almost all of Alsace (93%) and over a quarter of Lorraine (26%), while the rest of these regions remained parts of France. For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in the form of a " local law in Alsace–Moselle ". Due to its special legal status since reversion to France, the territory has been referred to administratively as Alsace–Moselle . ( Alsatian : 's Elsàss–Mosel ; German : Elsaß–Mosel or Elsass–Mosel ). Since 2016,

14586-528: The original homeland of the riflemen. The first uniforms had been designed by a Parisian tailor and consisted of a green coat and grey trousers, similar to that of the Silesian rifles, but distinguished from them by the black facing colour , red pipings at collar, cuffs and pane, and French-style cuffs . The soldiers wore black felt shakos . In 1843 the open coats were replaced by green closed ones. The shakos were replaced by Prussian Pickelhauben . On parades

14729-513: The other hand, which in its 19th century form originated as a reaction against the French occupation of large areas of Germany under Napoleon , sought to unify all the German-speaking populations of the former Holy Roman Empire into a single nation-state . As various German dialects were spoken by most of the population of Alsace and Moselle (northern Lorraine), these regions were viewed by German nationalists to be rightfully part of

14872-693: The others wounded or dead. The battalion was then replenished with reservists and volunteers. After operating in Champagne the battalion was fighting at the Hartmannswillerkopf in Alsace between April 1915 and November 1915. Then it was redeployed to the Serbian front in Macedonia , where it stayed until end of February 1918. In March 1918 the battalion returned to Alsace, not participating any more in major fights until

15015-460: The percentage of votes and the number of seats won (in parentheses), were as follows: The flag used officially in the Imperial Territory was the black-white-red flag of the German Empire . A modified imperial service flag of the Foreign Office was adopted on 29 December 1892 for use at state institutions in Alsace–Lorraine. It was the imperial tri-colour with the imperial eagle in the centre and

15158-525: The population of Alsace–Lorraine spoke French as their first language (11.0% in 1905, 10.9% in 1910). That small francophone areas were affected was used in France to denounce the new border, since Germany had justified the annexation on linguistic grounds. The German administration was tolerant of the use of the French language (in sharp contrast to the use of the Polish language in the Province of Posen ), and French

15301-490: The population of Alsace–Lorraine. The approximately 110,000 optants who had not emigrated by 1 October 1872 lost their option of French citizenship, although they were not expelled by the German authorities but retained German citizenship. Some estimates of the total number of optants, however, are as high as 280,000, with the number who left for France set at about 130,000. After the Franco-Prussian War, Alsace–Lorraine

15444-521: The riflemen wore white trousers. Since 1854 the guards rifles wore again shakos, but this time made from leather and showing the star of the Prussian royal guard and a cockade . Only slight variations appeared until 1918. The trousers of the field uniform were first green. During the First World War the battalion used field grey uniforms, the shakos were covered with grey textil coating. The Prussian Schutzpolizei , newly formed after 1918, nicknamed

15587-713: The rifles' tradition. After the 521st ranger battalion (Jägerbataillon 521) had been disbanded the rifles' memorial collection moved from Northeim to the Julius Leber Barracks of the Berlin Command (Standortkommando Berlin). The battalion's flag is preserved in the Military History Museum in Rastatt . Berlin Berlin ( / b ɜːr ˈ l ɪ n / , bur- LIN ; German: [bɛʁˈliːn] )

15730-633: The rivalry between French and German nationalism . France long sought to attain and then preserve what it considered to be its "natural boundaries" , which is regarded as the Pyrenees to the southwest, the Alps to the southeast, and the Rhine to the northeast. These strategic claims led to annexing territories west of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire . What is now known as Alsace was progressively conquered by France under Louis XIII and Louis XIV in

15873-478: The saying goes, that once at the royal table a guest reported that a corpse, dressed with nothing but a shirt, had been discovered in the Schlesischer Busch  [ de ] , a bush south of Köpenicker Straße in Berlin. The king then carefully asked the also present commander of the guards rifles: "It was not one of your men, commander, was it?" And the commander, possibly Major von Tilly, replied that this

16016-516: The seat of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999, during the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder . Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several boroughs, reducing their number from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin. Construction of the "Berlin Wall Trail" (Berliner Mauerweg) began in 2002 and was completed in 2006. In

16159-605: The sizeable industry in Mulhouse. Karl Marx also warned his fellow Germans: Bismarck and the South German industrialists proposed to have Alsace ceded to Switzerland, while Switzerland would compensate Germany with another territory. The Swiss rejected the proposal, preferring to remain neutral between the French and Germans. The German Emperor , Wilhelm I , eventually sided with army commander Helmuth von Moltke , other Prussian generals and other officials who argued that

16302-601: The total population, took the option. The proportion was particularly high in Upper Alsace, where 93,109 people (20.3%) declared that they wished to retain French citizenship, and much lower in Lower Alsace (6.5%) and Lorraine (5.8%). Originally it was envisaged that those who chose French citizenship would have to leave Alsace–Lorraine. They were allowed to either take their property with them or sell it. Ultimately only about 50,000 people left for France, corresponding to 3.2% of

16445-758: The town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille"). Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power. Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic League city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran . The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and

16588-414: The two towns formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated. Members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia , and eventually as German emperors . In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of

16731-430: The universal and equal manhood suffrage for electing the second chamber. The representation of trade unions in the first chamber was also remarkable since they were not yet legally recognized as workers' representatives. The first and only elections to the parliament of the Imperial Territory took place on 22 and 29 October 1911. The strongest parties were the Alsatian Centre and the Social Democrats with 31.0% and 23.8% of

16874-403: The vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley ), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation . The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, a borough in

17017-410: The vote respectively, followed by the Lorraine Autonomists with 16.3%. In 1874, Alsace–Lorraine was granted 15 seats in the German Reichstag . Between 6 and 10 of the 15 Alsatian–Lorraine deputies elected in each of the Reichstag elections from 1874 through 1887 were counted as "Protest Deputies" because of their opposition to the annexation. Shortly after the 1874 election , the Protesters introduced

17160-470: The way from Paris. The guards rifles battalion was different from all other units serving the monarch since none of its soldiers were conscripts, but all volunteer Neuchâtelois, other Swiss, and Prussians. The guards rifles, rather lacking men, were one of the units accepting one-year volunteers (Einjährig-Freiwillige). The battalion was to consist by two thirds of native Neuchâtelois and by one third of nationals of other Swiss cantons. However, this composition

17303-400: The west of Berlin, the Spree empties into the river Havel , which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and the Großer Wannsee . A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin. Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto

17446-411: The west of Berlin. Since 2015, the Arkenberge hills in Pankow at 122 meters (400 ft) elevation, have been the highest point in Berlin. Through the disposal of construction debris they surpassed Teufelsberg (120.1 m or 394 ft), which itself was made up of rubble from the ruins of the Second World War. The Müggelberge at 114.7 meters (376 ft) elevation is the highest natural point and

17589-425: Was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very far-flung state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709, Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin". In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power. Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became

17732-411: Was an unsuccessful attempt of unifying the states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Both share a common history, dialect and culture and in 2020, there are over 225,000 residents of Brandenburg that commute to Berlin. The fusion had the near-unanimous support by a broad coalition of both state governments, political parties, media, business associations, trade unions and churches. Though Berlin voted in favor by

17875-478: Was assigned to the guards rifles, but redeployed to the 4th Queen Augusta Guards Grenadiers in 1913, when a bicycle company and a new machine gun company became part of the battalion. Its reserve force were the guards reserve rifles battalion (Garde-Reserve-Schützen-Bataillon) and the 16th guards reserve ranger battalion (Reserve-Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 16). In 1912, on the occasion of his state visit to Switzerland, German Emperor William II wore his uniform as

18018-425: Was built. During World War II , Berlin was the location of multiple Nazi prisons, forced labour camps, 17 subcamps of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for men and women, including teenagers, of various nationalities, including Polish, Jewish, French, Belgian, Czechoslovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Romani, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Spanish, Luxembourgish, German, Austrian, Italian, Yugoslavian, Bulgarian, Hungarian,

18161-454: Was deployed for the first time north of Dixmuiden at the beginning of the Battle on the Yser and suffered very high casualties. During the first months of the war it lost 145 dead and until November 1914 all of its officers. The battalion was sent to Galicia in 1915 and thereafter to the Serbian front. The battalion returned to the western front and from May 1916 onward was involved in the Battle of Verdun . Between September 1916 and early 1917

18304-440: Was designated the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), German Empire (1871–1918), Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). Berlin served as a scientific, artistic, and philosophical hub during the Age of Enlightenment , Neoclassicism , and the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . During the Gründerzeit , an industrialization-induced economic boom triggered

18447-514: Was directly annexed to the German Empire as an imperial territory and was not a state in its own right. It was not until the decree of Emperor Wilhelm I on 29 October 1874 that a popular representation was established, the Territorial Committee ( Landesausschuss ). The members of the Territorial Committee were not elected by the people but appointed by the district assemblies ( Bezirkstagen ). The three district assemblies for Lorraine, Upper Alsace and Lower Alsace each appointed ten members. In 1879

18590-433: Was formed after the foundation of the Empire, the XV Prussian Army Corps was created from existing troops. The corps' district was the new "Border Region" Alsace–Lorraine, as was that of the XVI Army Corps , which was formed in 1890. The southern regions of the Imperial Territory belonged to the districts of the XIV Army Corps , which was made up in 1871 of troops from Baden . From 1912, the northeastern regions belonged to

18733-424: Was granted its own constitution, a freely elected parliament and three representatives in the Bundesrat, the German federal council. Since the Bundesrat represented the interests of the states in Berlin, the members from each state were required to vote as a bloc. In Alsace–Lorraine, the governor determined how its three representatives voted. The votes were not counted if they gave an otherwise defeated Prussian motion

18876-440: Was granted only to American, British and French airlines. The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move the western powers did not recognize. East Berlin included most of the city's historic center. The West German government established itself in Bonn . In 1961, East Germany began to build

19019-485: Was indeed never realised. The required volunteer Neuchâtelois were usually hard to win so that many men of doubtful reputation and adventurers enlisted too. So French, originally the vernacular and the command language, was soon replaced. Since 1816 all oral and written orders had to be in German only. However, unlike other Prussian military units the guards rifles did not address their commander by his eventual military rank, but as "Herr Kommandant" (M. le commandant), which in

19162-425: Was not considered, in part because Prussia was convinced that the population of the territory would first have to be Germanized, i.e., accustomed to the new German-Prussian form of government. The Imperial Territory ( Reichsland ) created on 28 June 1871 was therefore treated initially as an occupied territory and administered directly by an imperial governor ( Oberpräsident ) appointed by Wilhelm I. Although it

19305-496: Was not likely, since a guards rifleman would have taken the shirt too. When in 1848 Neuchâtel proclaimed to be a republic, thus abolishing monarchy, the recruitment in Switzerland ended. After the Neuchâtel Crisis the Hohenzollern accepted their dethronement there in 1857 and left it up to the Swiss riflemen to quit the service. However, many stayed, and one of the last Swiss serving was Captain Bernard de Gélieu ( Neuchâtel , *28 September 1828 – 20 April 1907, Potsdam , as General of

19448-405: Was not simply a punitive measure. The transfer was controversial even among the Germans: The German chancellor , Otto von Bismarck , was initially opposed to it, as he thought (correctly) that it would engender permanent French hostility toward Germany. Some German industrialists did not want the competition from Alsatian industries, such as the cloth makers who would be exposed to competition from

19591-415: Was not technically part of the Kingdom of Prussia , in practical terms, it amounted to the same thing since the emperor was also king of Prussia and the chancellor its minister-president . Memory of the Napoleonic Wars was still fresh in the 1870s. Wilhelm I himself had had to flee with the Prussian royal family to East Prussia as a nine-year-old in 1806 and had served in the Battle of Waterloo . Until

19734-475: Was not until 1903 that a quarter of Alsatian recruits were assigned on a trial basis to troops stationed in their native region. In 1910, 4.3% of the local population – about 80,000 men – were military personnel, which made Alsace–Lorraine the region in Germany with the highest concentration of troops. At the end of 1913, protests broke out in the Alsatian town of Zabern , where two battalions of Prussian infantry were stationed. A young German lieutenant insulted

19877-418: Was not welcomed by German authorities and the military but was tolerated in part even in wartime. It was also used as the flag of the independent Republic of Alsace–Lorraine of 12 November 1918 to 21 November 1918. Unofficially, the traditional red and white territorial flag was popular in Alsace and was often used decoratively and as a postcard motif. It was also sometimes taken as a sign of protest against

20020-412: Was offset against the war compensation to be paid by France. The Imperial Railways in Alsace–Lorraine was the first railway owned by the German Reich. Until the First World War, the Imperial Territory experienced a great economic boom, and many new socio-political benefits such as social security and health insurance were introduced in line with developments in the rest of the German Empire. In 1872,

20163-450: Was permitted as an official language and school language in those areas where it was spoken by a majority. This changed in 1914 with the First World War . Under the provisions of the Treaty of Frankfurt , the inhabitants of the annexed areas received Alsace–Lorraine citizenship unless they had migrated directly from France. Until 1 October 1872, they had the option of retaining French citizenship. A total of 160,878 people, or about 10.4% of

20306-496: Was restituted to the Hohenzollern, Frederick William III of Prussia reassumed office as prince of Neuchâtel. After the Liberation Wars the Conseil d’Etat (state council, i.e. government of Neuchâtel) addressed him in May 1814 requesting the permission to establish a special battalion, a Bataillon de Chasseurs , for the service of his majesty. Frederick William III then established by his most-supreme cabinet order (allerhöchste Cabinets-Ordre), issued in Paris on 19 May 1814,

20449-400: Was withdrawn from the city. During the First Schleswig War 1848–1849 the battalion fought for the German Confederation near Schleswig (23 April), during the bombardment of Fredericia (8 May) and near Vester Sottrup/ Horsens (5 June). In the course of the reactionary suppression of the revolution the battalion supported the gendarmerie arresting revolutionaries hiding in

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