This post is gonna be pretty long. For those uninterested in a bit of history, you can skip to the pictures. But I’ll still type out the facts because Germany is a really interesting country in terms of history. Twice, they were instigators of the World Wars, so there is quite a bit of history with them.
Geography:
Borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Belgium and Denmark. Easy to see why they have such a strong army.
History:
A long time ago around 100 A.D, Germany was ruled by 2 factions; the Romans (South) and the Germanic Tribes (North). Several battles were fought and the Roman Empire back then succeeded in pushing their borders all the way into the UK. The roman rule brought about lots of infrastructure, which was a good thing to most of Europe. Romans had the technology to build roads, to build viaducts which could channel water from the river into the city centre, which meant that people did not need to go out to carry water back.
But, the Roman Empire didn’t last, and in 472 A.D, the empire crumbled and most of Europe fell into what was known as the Dark Ages. Not that everything became dark, but when the Romans retreated back into Rome, the technology to build these infrastructures was brought back. People were not educated back then and the Dark Ages made people feel lost. At the same time, the Germanic tribes fought back and took over the lands in Germany.
The next big era was the 16th century reformation led by a German monk Martin Luther. He nailed his 95 theses on the doors of the church, protesting against the church and the sale of its “indulgences”. The Catholic Church back then was facing lot of corruption. It was said that people who committed a sin, or a crime could be given full or partial remission of their sins by “purchasing an indulgence” – essentially paying the church some money. The Catholic Church was preaching the fact that the POPE COULD forgive the sins of the people, which was utterly FALSE. It was so corrupt that a man who was a criminal could buy a seat in the highest council within the Catholic Church and he finally went on to be the pope himself.
By God’s timing, the printing press was made available through technological advances and, through the help of the printing press, Luther was able to mass print his theses as well as make copies of the bible. With the printing of the bible, it helped people see the fact that the Catholic Church was not following the bible and it divided the people into two, the protestant and catholic. What followed was a series of reformation wars which had a lot of bloodshed. It was finally settled with a treaty that stated people cannot be discriminated for their faith.
The next big phase was the French Revolution, led by Napolean himself. The Napoleanic period was said to be as strong as the Roman Empire centuries before, where Napolean extended the borders of France to the Rhine, all the way to Egypt. They took control of Germany and split them into 30 different provinces (i.e. Bavaria being the biggest)
What happened in the French Revolution was that Napolean over extended himself when he tried to take on Russia (or Prussia as they were known back then). Prussia pushed them back and the other countries started revolting and finally it ended the French control of Germany.
Prussia unified the 30 provinces in 1871, and for the first time, they were known as Germany. Otto van William was the first King of Germany.
1899 was the industrialization period for the whole of Europe, starting in the UK. Germany started acquiring large amounts of armoury, guns, cannons as well as warships.
World War 1 (1914 – 1918)
Started with little skirmishes of the major powers who wanted to expand their borders.
It was triggered by the Serbian assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria and heir to the throne. Germany, who were increasingly isolated by the lack of allies around them decided to fight for their one of few allies, Austria. Germany decided to declare war on Serbia together with Austria-Hungary. Russia then took sides with Austria, so Germany had to take on Russia. And Russia was allies with France and UK, and so that’s how the whole of Europe got sucked into the world war.
The war ended with Germany trying to take on the rest of the world, including Canada, USA, as well as the allied forces. The Naval Superiority of UK was the decisive factor in winning the war. In the end, it was too many fronts and too few soldiers that did Germany in. They lost close to 1/3 of their male population due to the war.
In June 1919, the war was officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles. Germany and Austria-Hungary was made to pay for the damages for the war. This sank the whole country into deep poverty.
Adolf Hitler
Germany faced much oppression for their role in World War 1, coupled with the Great Depression; the whole country was in tatters. Then arose a man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was Austrian by birth and he was part of the army that fought in World War 1. Before joining the army in Munich when he was 18, he was actually a painter (not many people knew this huh). After a relatively unsuccessful spell being in the army, he took to politics.
He rose to power with his Nazi Party, and with his eloquence, he charmed the impoverished German people into voting him into power. He abolished the monarchy and took the role of Chancellor (i.e. Prime Minister). He also set in place laws which gave him absolute rule over everything.
Then he started to build up firepower. France and UK were too engrossed in getting their countries out of the Great Depression and they let the fact that Germany was rebuilding again.
He wooed the people of Germany with his vision of the Arian Race. Simply put, that all the people in the world should be tall, white haired and able bodied. Those who did not fit the criteria should be exterminated.
He was a weird man, who probably had some kind of a mental illness. He had 3 loves in his life, one of them being his niece. Also, he enjoyed “golden showers”. Golden shower is to have a partner pee on him. Yup, that’s Hitler for you.
World War 2
(1937) – Hitler moved to take over the Czech Republic. There was no bloodshed involved. Ironically, Hitler was named Man of the Year by Times Magazine for the peaceful way he took over Czech.
(1939) – He quickly attacked Poland and swiftly took control of most of Europe, including France, Netherlands and most of Eastern Europe.
(1940) – Hitler tried to conquer UK and thus started the Battle of Britain. It was a race for air superiority that was ultimately won by UK after a long tussle. Scholars believe that had UK lost this battle, the whole world might be speaking German now.
(1943-44) – USA joined the war. And Germany declared war on Russia, which proved fatal. Russians had a practice of burning everything when they retreated. So even though Germany was gaining ground, they were forced to draw resources from a long distance to continue the battle. Coupled with the treacherous conditions in Russia, the germans were slowly draining their resources.
(1944) – D-day: USA and Britain combined to attack Germany, quickly pushing them backwards and gaining back France. Hitler’s army was dwindling and he started recruiting kids as young as 12 and men as old as 60.
(1945) – When the war was going to end, Hitler killed his wife the day after she married him, his dog and then finally himself.
Berlin Wall
Germany was divided into 4 quarters: US, France, UK and Russia each getting one quarter.
The Russia quarter was combined with the eastern European nations to form the Iron Curtain. They were communist countries
Berlin was inside East Germany and it was split into quarters as well. What gave rise to the Berlin Wall was that everyone was trying to escape to West Germany. Communist ideals were good in the sense that everyone lived equally. But that meant a very low standard of living for everyone. People were trying to escape to West Germany where they could increase their standard of living. This led to a Brain Drain. The educated people were leaving for West Germany in search for better jobs with better pay. In just one night in 1961, the wall just appeared. It started with barricades guarded by soldiers. The full wall was then built. Families were split up and cannot be re-united for more than 30 years until the wall came down in 1989.
In 1989, Russian President Gorbachov was interviewed over national television and he was mis-interpreted as saying that the wall could come down anytime. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets with sledge hammers and started hammering the wall down.
Yup, so that’s German history for you. Most of the details are given by my tour guide and some parts are beefed up from a pedia called Wiki.
Munich
Munich is a city with lots of history behind it. It was the capital of Bavaria. It was also the place where Hitler built his first concentration camp, Dachau (pronounced as Da-Ka). We actually visited that concentration camp. It was very intense after visiting that camp. Approximately 1.5 – 2 million people died in that camp. It was known as the death camp and Dachau was a word that struck fear into many people back then. People who were sent there had little hope of returning back. It was liberated by the Americans in 1945.
On the brighter side of things, Munich held the Olympics in 1972. It was supposed to be a significant landmark as the nation tried to wash away memories and atrocities of the world war. However, it was overshadowed by the Palestinian Terrorists who took 11 hostages, including 9 Israeli athletes. The German authorities refused to give in to the demands of the terrorists and ultimately all 11 hostages were murdered. It was a tragic end to a symbolic event for the country of Germany.
The Glockenspiel. One of the most overrated sights in Europe. The Glockenspiel will "play" at 11am everyday. At the stroke of 11am, the Red Knight - representing the warriors of Bavaria (in the middle portion) - will go in circles with the Blue Knight -representing the enemies of Bavaria - and finally the Red Knight will knock the Blue Knight off his horse. Then the Barrelmakers (in the lower portion) will dance with the vine. and the Cuckoo Clock at the top will cuckoo. Thats it. Can you believe its that dumb?
The New Town Hall. Also known as the Rathaus, which means the council house.
The Old Rathaus. It looks newer because it was bombed in the second world war. A lot of buildings required refurbishment because Munich was heavily bombed.
The main shopping street, KaufingerstraBe.
Main Square in the city centre called Marienplatz. German is pretty easy, just add a "z" or a "ke" to the end of every word and its german. (:
Frauenkirche. Kirche simply means church. Frauenkirche is the largest in Munich and it is famed for the "devil's footprint".
The story behind the devil's footprint is this: The devil made a pact with the builder, challenging him to build a church with no windows. But the builder made the columns of the church such that it blocks the view at a certain angle from the front door of the church. When the devil came and saw that the builder had "succeeded", he madly stomped his foot and left.
Us standing at Max-Joseph-Platz. Behind us is the national theater.
Residenz Museum. The largest in Munich.
The Obelisk of Maximillian the II.
After a long day of running around Munich, its time to eat some traditional Bavarian Crusine! But, the menu is all in German.
Wenqi got a really good steak. Their steaks are really good. its funny how they managed to make their steak so tender.
And eugene's Pork Knuckle. Its a must try in Germany. The skin is crispy on the outside, like roasted pig skin, and tender on the inside. Superb.
The restaurant we ate at, recommended by the guide. 
The Glockenspiel by night.
this was funny. While taking our night stroll after dinner, we bumped into a protest on the streets. I think it was the Pakistanis on the streets, they were chanting some slogan and waving flags. and about 300 policemen were all over the vicinity. What was funny was wenqi and myself were so engrossed in taking pictures, then i suddenly dragged wenqi away quickly. I thought maybe they could be terrorists trying to bomb the place. haha.
Hofbrauhaus is a beer hall. Its not a pub, nor a club, its a beer hall. Germans love their beers and so its like an activity you have after dinner. Its like sitting down at Starbucks drinking your coffee after dinner. They Germans just sit in their beer halls and drink their beer. In Munich, they drink beer by the Beer Steins, minimum 1 litre of beer. Thats the way they love to drink.
Isatorplatz. One of the medevial watchtowers they have in Munich.
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