Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
As the heart of the Prussian kingdom, cultural centre of the Weimar Republic,
headquarters of Hitler's Third Reich and a key Cold War flashpoint, Berlin has
long been a weather vane of European and even world history. But World War
II left the city devastated, with bombs razing 92 percent of all its shops, houses
and industry, so it's the latter half of the twentieth century that shaped much
of what's visible today. This was a period when the world's two most powerful
military systems stood, glaring face to face, over that most tangible object of
the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall. As the Wall fell in November 1989, Berlin was
again at the forefront of world events, ushering in a period of change as frantic,
confused and significant as any in the city's history.
All this historic turmoil provides a troubling fascination, and understanding it unlocks
the secrets of a cityscape that is only just beginning to settle down from the slew of
post-unification building work that once again made Berlin Germany's capital. In its
wake, the city has successfully cultivated a fashionable and cosmopolitan outlook, and
is now firmly established as a hothouse of contemporary trends and dilemmas, where
the hopes and challenges of not only eastern and western Europe, but also increasingly
the world, collide as Berlin again becomes a world city to be reckoned with.
Beginnings
Archeologists believe people have lived in the vicinity of modern-day Berlin for about
60,000 years. Traces of hunter-gatherer activity dating from about 8000 BC and more
substantial remains of Stone Age farming settlements from 4000 BC onwards have
been discovered. he Romans regarded this as barbarian territory and left no mark.
Although
Germanic tribes
first appeared during the fifth and sixth centuries AD, many
left during the great migrations of later centuries, and the vacated territories were
occupied by
Slavs
. Germanic ascendancy only began in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, when Saxon feudal barons of the Mark (border territory) of Brandenburg
expelled the Slavs. he
Saxons
also granted municipal charters to two humble riverside
towns - where the Berlin story really begins.
The twin towns
Sited on marshlands around an island (today's Spreeinsel) at the narrowest point on
the River Spree,
Berlin
and
Cölln
were on a major trade route to the east and began
to prosper as municipalities. Despite many links (including a joint town hall built in
1307), they retained separate identities throughout the fourteenth century.
Black Death struck the twin towns in 1348 - the first of many major devastations -
killing ten percent of the population and unleashing anti-Jewish pogroms as part of a
720
948
983
The region known today as
Berlin is settled by Slavic and
Germanic tribes.
Germans take control over the
area of present-day Berlin.
The Slavs rebel (successfully)
against German rule.
