How was Germany's border decided?
score:9
Germany's borders were defined by three wars.
After its victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 Germany took Alsace, and a quarter of Lorraine from France, defining its Western border.
After the Allied victory in World War I in 1918, France took back Alsace-Lorraine, some adjustments were made in Belgium's favor further north, and a 60-mile wide "Polish Corridor" was cut across Germany's holdings in the northern part of modern Poland to give that country access to the sea.
After the Allied victory in World War II in 1945, six (or rather five and a half) provinces of modern Poland east of the Oder River was carved off Germany's eastern flank and given to Poland. The remaining "half" province was the area around Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad), and given to Russia, along with the city itself.
Upvote:2
To add to Tom Au's and Wladimir Palant's answers: On the eastern side, many of the land belonging to Poland were annexed over the 18th and 19th centuries between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. These defined some of the borders used later.
Upvote:2
Germany's current geographic shape was largely formed in wars. One can go arbitrarily far into the past here but it will get very messy - unification of Germany is probably a good start, there were relatively few changes after that.
- Germany's unification in 1871 was preceded by the Franco-Prussian War in which Prussia (and the German Empire) got Alsace and Lorraine. Other unification wars that formed the shape of the German Empire were the Second Schleswig War and Austro-Prussian War.
- After World War I Germany had to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Germany lost much of its territory, Wikipedia sums it up nicely. In short: France took back Alsace and Lorraine, Denmark got Nothern Schleswig back, some territories went to the newly created Poland. Rhineland was temporarily occupied by Allied troops.
- Next "milestone" is the Potsdam Conference after World War 2. Here Germany lost all its territories to the east of the Oder-Neisse line to Poland and Soviet Union. Poland effectively shifted westwards as a "compensation" for its territories in the east that were occupied by Soviet Union in 1939 (and never given back). Saarland was occupied by France and was only allowed to join Germany again in 1957. And, obviously, Germany was split into two parts - until 1990.
Upvote:30
Germany–Poland
The initial border was drawn during the Potsdam Conference in the aftermath of the second world war, on 1945-08-02. The border was finalised by a joint East German-Polish commission in the aftermath of the Treaty of Zgorzelec on 1951-01-27. The last change happened on 1989-05-22 with redrawing of the sea border north of Usedom, gaining (then) Eastern Germany about 158 km². It became a border of Germany on the day of German reunification of 1990-10-03, and formally through the German–Polish Border Treaty of 1990 on 1992-01-16. Since the border follows two significant rivers for almost all of its length, there was no significant changes in its course since then.
Germany–Czech Republic
The border is based on the borders of the kingdom of Bohemia and didn't change much since the 19th century. Germany shortly moved it eastward following the Munich Agreement on 1938-09-30; this was undone in the wake of the second world war. The border was finally set in stone and all territorial claims from both sides declared null and void in the Treaty of Prague on 1973-12-11.
Germany–Austria
Again, the border is based on old borders of Austria, Bavaria and other German states, and didn't change much in the last century, aside from the short period during and shortly before WWII where it didn't exist.
Germany–Switzerland
The border is the oldest and most stable of all German borders, dating back to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
As a side note, the border between Germany, Austria and Switzerland over most of Lake Constance (Bodensee) is not defined.
Germany–France
The border is for the most part a result of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919-06-28, with Germany losing significant parts of its territory in the south-west to France. Smaller border corrections happened throughout all of the twentieth century. The most important of those was the reunification with Saarland on 1957-01-01. In 1986-05-01 the area of Mundatwald was given back to Germany,
Germany–Luxembourg
The rough course of the border was decided with the independence of Luxembourg at the end of the 19th century. In the case of the German part of it, it mostly followed the course as set in the Treaty of Aachen of 1816-06-26. This course was restored after WWII. The area of Kammerwald was taken temporary (1949-04-23 to 1959-07-11) from Germany. The final border course was last changed in a treaty in 1988-09-01, to account for changed river courses.
As a side note, this treaty created an area of the size of 700,92 ha (698,34 ha of it on water) which is under a joint sovereignty of both states.
Germany–Belgium
Similar to the other western borders, the original borders go back to the 19th century, and were restored at the end of WWII. The last treaty correcting the border, and giving Germany about 20 km² of territory around Losheim and Fringshaus, happened on 1956-09-24. The treaty came into force on 1958-08-28.
Germany–Netherlands
As above, only small border changes happened after WWII, and the borders were mostly a result of the Peace of Westphalia and following treaties. In the Treaty of Settlement of 1960-04-08, most of the territories annexed by the Netherlands following WWII (areas around Elten, Selfkant and Suderwick) were returned to Germany for the price of 280 million German marks; the treaty came into force on 1963-08-01.
Germany–Denmark
The current border was decided in a plebiscite following the First World War. In this, the area of Nordslesvig came under Danish control as of 1920-06-15.
Germany–Great Britain
The island of Heligoland was given back to Germany in 1952-03-01.
Other areas
The East Prussia area was lost to Poland and the Soviet Union following Second World War.
Colonial empire
The German colonial empire was dismantled after the First World War. To quote from the Wikipedia article, since I couldn't possibly write it better myself:
In Africa, Britain and France divided German Kamerun (Cameroons) and Togoland. Belgium gained Ruanda-Urundi in northwestern German East Africa, Great Britain obtained by far the greater landmass of this colony, thus gaining the ‘missing link’ in the chain of British possessions stretching from South Africa to Egypt (Cape to Cairo), Portugal received the Kionga Triangle, a sliver of German East Africa. German South West Africa was taken under mandate by the Union of South Africa.
In the Pacific, Japan gained Germany’s islands north of the equator (the Marshall Islands, the Carolines, the Marianas, the Palau Islands) and Kiautschou in China. German Samoa was assigned to New Zealand; German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Nauru to Australia as mandatory.
Further reading: Territorial evolution of Germany on the English Wikipedia
More post
- 📝 Was a Žaltys a real snake?
- 📝 How stable was the Middle East under Ottoman rule?
- 📝 What did women wear during the Rashidun era?
- 📝 What sort(s) of identification were used before driver's licenses were issued in the US?
- 📝 Why was the Soviet Union unable to stop the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh?
- 📝 Why did the Ottomans rebuild Byzantine gates to a smaller format?
- 📝 In ancient Rome, could free-born Romans become slaves?
- 📝 How did European monarchies become nation states?
- 📝 Why was Franklin D. Roosevelt pro-intervention?
- 📝 Sieges: Average Attacker to Defender Ratio in Middle Ages
- 📝 When and how did the Han ethnic group become by far the biggest ethnic group in China?
- 📝 What kind of US Army uniform is this?
- 📝 Why did only Anglo-Saxon kings wear helmets?
- 📝 Revolutions of communication
- 📝 Literacy in the classical world
- 📝 Was Frederick Douglass right that in his day 'religious slaveholders are the worst'? If so why would this be?
- 📝 Did ancient Germans take pride in leaving the land untouched?
- 📝 What is the average price, in silver, for a loaf of bread through history?
- 📝 What's inside the Arch of Constantine?
- 📝 Were death rates greater than birth rates in premodern urban populations?
- 📝 How and when was the Temple of Trajan destroyed?
- 📝 What were sandbags used for in medieval duels?
- 📝 Was there a plan from the USSR to invade Germany before Barbarossa?
- 📝 Was Swastika a universally-recognized symbol of fascism as early as 1925?
- 📝 What was the social and cultural role of a "country squire" in Victorian/Edwardian England?
- 📝 "America is the richest country in the history of the world" -- Would a historian consider this true?
- 📝 How did a nomadic minority group the Manchus come to rule over China?
- 📝 Has any U.S. Vice President cast a tie-breaking vote against their own administration?
- 📝 Did the ancient Greeks revere the Titans?
- 📝 How did they measure speed in the 19th century so they could issue the first speeding ticket?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 How was Germany's border decided?
- 📝 How was the border between Vichy and German Occupied France decided?
- 📝 How was the first official geographical border established in Europe?
- 📝 How was law enforcement handled in large US cities before professional police?
- 📝 How was Germany able to hold itself together, while Austria-Hungary could not?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 How long was a sea journey from England to East Africa 1868-1877?
- 📝 How did medieval manors handle population growth? Was there room for more fields to be ploughed?
- 📝 How prevalent was pork in Arabia before Arabs conversion to Islam?
- 📝 How popular was the Soviet Union?
- 📝 How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?
- 📝 How was titanium transported from Soviet Union to Area 51 for Oxcart?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
- 📝 How significant was the Fall of Constantinople as an event leading to the Age of Exploration?
- 📝 How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
- 📝 In which document was the exact course of the northern part of the German-Polish border decided?
- 📝 How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?
- 📝 How were diplomats and their staffs treated when World War II was declared?
- 📝 How was the Luftwaffe able to destroy nearly 4000 Soviet aircraft in 3 days of operation Barbarossa?
- 📝 How common was smoking in first half of the 20th century?
- 📝 How confusing was British currency compared to decimal currency circa 1850?
- 📝 How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
- 📝 How did the monks whose job was to copy books react to Gutenberg's printing press?
- 📝 How close was the Soviet Union to collapsing during WW2?
- 📝 How did people realize that America was a different continent?
- 📝 Before the Land Bridge Theory, how was human presence in the Americas explained?
