Documents for "German History: Biographies":

• Adelaide or Adelheid , c.931-999, empress consort of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, daughter of King Rudolf II of Arles. After the death (950) of her first husband, King Lothair of Italy, she was about to be forced into a...

• Adelheid see Adelaide , empress.

• Adenauer, Konrad 1876-1967, West German chancellor. A lawyer and a member of the Catholic Center party, he was lord mayor of Cologne and a member of the provincial diet of Rhine prov. from 1917 until 1933, when he...

• Adolf of Nassau d. 1298, duke of Luxembourg, German king (1292-98). He owed his election to the ecclesiastical electors , who, fearing the growing power and ambition of the Hapsburgs , chose him rather than Albert of Austria (later King Albert I ), son of Rudolf I of Hapsburg. Seeking to strengthen his rule by establishing a territorial power of his own, Adolf seized Meissen and Thuringia. He entered into an alliance with Edward I of...

• Albert Achilles 1414-86, elector of Brandenburg (1470-86); third son of Elector Frederick I. He succeeded his brother in 1470. Anxious to consolidate Hohenzollern power in Brandenburg, he issued (1473) the Dispositio...

• Albert I c.1250-1308, Holy Roman Emperor (1298-1308), son of Rudolf I. Albert was invested with Austria and Styria in 1282 by his father, who also hoped to secure the succession as king of the Germans for Albert. However, on Rudolf's death (1291) the electors rejected Albert's candidacy in order to check the growing power of the Hapsburgs and to prevent the crown from becoming hereditary within the Hapsburg dynasty. They chose Adolf of Nassau as king. Albert later engineered Adolf's deposition and replaced him. As king, Albert attempted to strengthen Hapsburg claims for a hereditary dynasty by allying (1299) with Philip IV of France, by...

• Albert II 1397-1439, Holy Roman Emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia (1438-39), duke of Austria (1404-38). He was the son-in-law of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, whom he aided against the Hussites of...

• Albert of Brandenburg 1490-1568, grand master of the Teutonic Knights (1511-25), first duke of Prussia (1525-68); grandson of Elector Albert Achilles of Brandenburg. In 1525 he became a Protestant, and on the advice of Martin Luther he secularized the dominions of the Teutonic Knights and became duke of the hereditary duchy of Prussia. The knights' lands had been held as a fief from the king of Poland, and the new duchy remained under Polish suzerainty. On the extinction of Albert's line (1618), Prussia passed to the senior line...

• Albert the Bear c.1100-1170, first margrave of Brandenburg (1150-70). He was a loyal vassal of Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II, who, as duke of Saxony, helped him take (1123) Lower Lusatia and the eastern march of...

• Arndt, Ernst Moritz 1769-1860, German poet and historian. An ardent nationalist and opponent of Napoleon I, he was forced to flee to Sweden and Russia because of his patriotic and martial verse and his book, Geist der Zeit [spirit of the times] (4 vol., 1806-18), which influenced German feelings against the French. He was (1818-20) a professor of history at the Univ. of Bonn but was dismissed because of his liberal...

• Arnulf c.850-899, Carolingian emperor (896-99), king of the East Franks (887-99), illegitimate son of Carloman of Bavaria. In 887 he led the rebellion of the kingdom of the East Franks (Germany) against his uncle, Carolingian Emperor Charles III , and was proclaimed their king. He repulsed the Norse invasions in 891 but campaigned less successfully against the Moravians, with whom he finally negotiated (894) a peace. At the request of Pope...

• Augustenburg, Christian Augustus, Herzog von see Schleswig-Holstein.

• Bülow, Bernhard Heinrich Martin, Fürst von 1849-1929, German chancellor. He held many diplomatic posts before he became, through the influence of Friedrich von Holstein , foreign secretary in 1897 and succeeded Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst as chancellor in 1900. He inadvertently increased German isolation by his failure to gain the friendship of England and by his...

• Bülow, Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von 1755-1816, Prussian general in the Napoleonic Wars. After his victories (1813) over the French at Gross Beeren and at Dennewitz he was created count of Dennewitz. In 1815 he played a conspicuous...

• Barbarossa, Frederick see Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor.

• Beck, Ludwig 1880-1944, German general, leader of resistance to Hitler. A highly cultivated career soldier, he served on the general staff during World War I and by 1933 had become in effect head of the army...

• Bennigsen, Rudolf von 1824-1902, German political leader. A liberal nationalist from Hanover, he favored German unification under a democratic Prussian state. After Bismarck's initial successes in unifying Germany,...

• Berlichingen, Götz von 1480-1562, German knight and adventurer. The head of a band of free soldiers, he lost (1504) his right hand in the battle of Landshut and wore an iron one in its place. His forays against various...

• Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar 1604-39, Protestant general in the Thirty Years War , duke of Weimar. Under Ernst von Mansfeld and the margrave of Baden, Bernhard fought against the imperial forces in defense (1622) of the Palatinate. He served in the Netherlands and later allied himself (1631) with King Gustavus Adolphus...

• Bernhardi, Friedrich von 1849-1930, German general and military writer. His book Germany and the Next War (1912, tr. 1912) was widely publicized by the Allies as an example of Pan-Germanism and German ambition.

• Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst 1712-72, Danish politician, of German (Hanoverian) origin. As minister of foreign affairs (1751-70) under Frederick V and Christian VII, he successfully kept Denmark at peace. In 1767 he negotiated...

• Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald von 1856-1921, German chancellor. A career civil servant, he became minister of the interior (1905) and secretary of state (1907), and in 1909 succeeded Bernhard von Bülow as chancellor. He favored some reform and worked for a comprehensive insurance law, extension of the franchise, and greater autonomy for Alsace-Lorraine; his legislative efforts were supported in...

• Bismarck, Otto von 1815-98, German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor.

• Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von 1742-1819, Prussian field marshal, an outstanding military opponent of Napoleon I. An officer in the army of King Frederick II from 1760, he incurred royal displeasure when, believing himself...

• Blind, Karl 1826-1907, German revolutionary and German-English writer. Arrested for his part in the German uprisings of 1848-49, he was later freed and from 1852 lived in England. There he became a...

• Bock, Fedor von 1880-1945, German field marshal. During World War II he led German armies in Poland, the Low Countries, France, and Russia. In 1941 he failed to take Moscow and was relieved of his command. In...

• Bormann, Martin 1900-1945, German National Socialist (Nazi) leader. He met Adolf Hitler in 1924 and soon became an important figure in the Nazi party hierarchy. He succeeded Rudolf Hess in Hitler's inner circle...

• Boyen, Hermann von 1771-1848, Prussian field marshal. After the Prussian defeat by Emperor Napoleon I and the disastrous treaties of Tilsit in 1807 (see Sovetsk ), he assisted Scharnhorst in the reorganization of the Prussian army. As chief of staff to F. W. von Bülow , he fought (1813-14) against the French in the War of Liberation, and as minister of war (1814-19) he completed the reforms that were initiated earlier. His measures, including the introduction of...

• Brühl, Heinrich, Graf von 1700-1763, Saxon statesman. He was adviser to Augustus II, king of Poland and elector of Saxony, and gained control of both governments after the accession (1733) of Augustus III. Brühl advanced the economic and cultural development of Saxony but did not succeed in making the Polish crown hereditary with the Saxon rulers. An able diplomat, he neglected Saxon military...

• Brüning, Heinrich 1885-1970, German chancellor. Elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he was a leader of the Catholic Center party and a fiscal expert. In 1930 he was appointed chancellor of the Reich to put German...

• Brandt, Willy 1913-92, German political leader. His name originally was Karl Herbert Frahm. Active in his youth in the Social Democratic party, after Adolf Hitler came to power (1933) he fled to Norway and...

• Braun, Eva 1912-45, mistress and later wife of the German dictator Adolf Hitler. She was a shop assistant to a Nazi photographer, through whom she met Hitler. She entered his household in 1936, although...

• Brunswick, dukes of see Charles William Ferdinand ; Ferdinand ; Frederick William.

• Bunsen, Christian Karl Josias, Freiherr von 1791-1860, Prussian diplomat and scholar. He studied theology at the Univ. of Göttingen. He was a friend of King Frederick William IV and urged him to accept liberal ideas. Bunsen was minister to...

• Camphausen, Ludolf 1803-90, Prussian statesman and businessman. A leading merchant in Cologne, he headed the liberal ministry appointed by King Frederick William IV of Prussia after the revolutionary outburst of...

• Canaris, Wilhelm 1887-1945, German admiral. He occupied various positions in the German navy during and after World War I. In 1935 he was made chief of the Abwehr [military intelligence]. A conservative, Canaris at first welcomed Hitler, but Hitler's methods and the fear that a new war would destroy Germany drove him into the opposition. The Abwehr became a center of conspiracy against the regime. Under Canaris's protection, one of his subordinates, Hans Oster, helped organize opposition to the Nazi regime. In Apr., 1943, many of Oster's...

• Capelle, Eduard von 1855-1931, German admiral. As secretary for the navy (1916-18) he reinstituted (1917) unrestricted submarine warfare in World War I.

• Caprivi, Leo, Graf von 1831-99, German chancellor, whose full name was Georg Leo, Graf von Caprivi de Caprara de Montecuculi. A former army officer and head of the admiralty, he succeeded (1890) Bismarck as chancellor. Under him the antisocialist law was abrogated and military service was shortened from three to two years. Favoring industrial over agrarian interests, he negotiated (1892-94) a...

• Carloman d. 880, king of Bavaria, Carinthia, Pannonia, and Moravia (876-80) and of Italy (877-80), son of Louis the German and father of Arnulf, emperor of the West. He failed (875) to prevent the assumption of the imperial crown by his uncle, Charles II (Charles the Bald). In 879 he was incapacitated by a paralytic...

• Charles Augustus 1757-1828, duke and, after 1815, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; friend and patron of Goethe, Schiller, and Herder. Though his duchy was small, he was important in German politics. He helped Frederick...

• Charles IV 1316-78, Holy Roman emperor (1355-78), German king (1347-78), and king of Bohemia (1346-78). The son of John of Luxemburg , Charles was educated at the French court and fought the English at Crécy , where his father's heroic death made him king of Bohemia. Pope Clement VI , to whom he had promised far-reaching concessions, helped secure his election (1346) by the imperial electors as antiking to Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV. Louis's death (1347), the popular desire for peace, which was fostered by the ravages of the Black Death (bubonic plague), and the absence of a strong leader to unite the opposition enabled...

• Charles V 1500-1558, Holy Roman emperor (1519-58) and, as Charles I, king of Spain (1516-56); son of Philip I and Joanna of Castile, grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragón, Isabella of Castile, Holy Roman...

• Charles VI 1685-1740, Holy Roman emperor (1711-40), king of Bohemia (1711-40) and, as Charles III, king of Hungary (1712-40); brother and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Charles was the last Holy Roman emperor of the direct Hapsburg line. In 1700 he was designated successor in Spain to King Charles II, who was childless. On his deathbed, however, Charles II left...

• Charles VII 1697-1745, Holy Roman emperor (1742-45) and, as Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria (1726-45). Having married a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, he refused to recognize the pragmatic sanction of 1713 by which Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (his wife's uncle) reserved the succession to the Hapsburg lands for his daughter, Maria Theresa. On Charles VI's death (1740) he advanced his own claim and joined with Frederick II (of Prussia), France, Spain, and Saxony to attack Maria Theresa (see Austrian Succession, War of the ). In 1742 he was elected Holy Roman emperor, but Bavaria was overrun by Austrian troops. Shortly before his death he regained his territories. Francis I, husband of Maria Theresa, was elected...

• Charles William Ferdinand 1735-1806, duke of Brunswick (1780-1806), Prussian field marshal. He had great success in the Seven Years War (1756-63) and was commander in chief (1792-94) of the Austro-Prussian armies in the French Revolutionary Wars. Although he sympathized with some of the goals of the Revolution, he led the German army in its ill-fated march into France in 1792 and issued a manifesto threatening severe reprisals against the...

• Christian of Anhalt 1568-1630, prince of Anhalt (1603-30). He was a firm Calvinist and a skilled diplomat. As adviser to Frederick IV, elector palatine, he sought to build a strong Protestant alliance against the Catholic states and achieved...

• Christian of Brunswick or Christian of Halberstadt, 1599-1626, Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years War , titular bishop of Halberstadt (1616-23). One of the first allies of Frederick the Winter King, elector palatine of the Rhine, he took up arms in defense of the Palatinate in 1621. Defeated (1622)...

• Conrad I d. 918, German king (911-18). As duke of Franconia he distinguished himself by military exploits and in 911 was elected successor to Louis the Child by the Franconian, Saxon, Bavarian, and Swabian lords. Although supported by the bishops, he was unable to maintain strong central government. His reign was plagued by feuds and rebellions by the...

• Conrad II c.990-1039, Holy Roman emperor (1027-39) and German king (1024-39), first of the Salian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. With the end of the Saxon line on the death of Henry II , the succession passed to the matrilineal descendants of Otto I , and Conrad, a Franconian noble, was elected (1024) as German king. Although the hereditary principle in Germany was strong enough to secure his election, it did not ensure Conrad support...

• Conrad III c.1093-1152, German king (1138-52), son of Frederick, duke of Swabia, and Agnes, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV; first of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He joined his brother Frederick, who had been defeated in the imperial election of 1125 by Lothair of Saxony (Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II ), in rebelling against Lothair. Set up as antiking to Lothair in 1127, he went to Italy (1128) and, despite excommunication by Pope Honorius II, was crowned king at Milan. He subsequently failed to...

• Conrad IV 1228-54, German king (1237-54), king of Sicily and of Jerusalem (1250-54), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He was elected (1237) king of the Romans at his father's instigation after Frederick had deposed Conrad's older brother Henry in Germany. Archbishop Siegfried II of Mainz was regent for Conrad...

• Constance 1154-98, Holy Roman empress, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI ; daughter of King Roger II of Sicily. She was named heiress of Sicily by her nephew King William II. On his death, however (1189), the Sicilian nobles, wishing to prevent German rule in Sicily,...

• Cuno, Wilhelm 1876-1933, German chancellor (Nov., 1922-Aug., 1923). A businessman, he headed a nonpartisan conservative ministry. His attempt to establish a moratorium on German reparations payments and his...

• Dagobert I c.612-c.639, Frankish king, son and successor of King Clotaire II. His father was forced to appoint Dagobert king of the East Frankish kingdom of Austrasia at the request of Pepin of Landen , mayor of the palace, and Arnulf, bishop of Metz, who effectively ruled in Austrasia. After Clotaire's death (629) Dagobert reunited Aquitaine with Austrasia and Neustria and became king of all the...

• Dalberg, Karl Theodor, Freiherr von 1744-1817, German statesman, of an ancient noble family prominent in imperial service. He was archbishop-elector of Mainz (1802-3) and, as such, archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1803...

• De Maizière, Lothar 1940-, the first and last freely elected prime minister of the (East) German Democratic Republic. He joined the puppet Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1957 and the federal Synod of Protestant...

• Delbrück, Rudolf von 1817-1903, German statesman. He served (1857-76) under Bismarck as president of the chancellery of the North German Confederation (1866-71) and, after 1871, of the German Empire. A protagonist of free trade and liberal economics, he opposed Bismarck's adoption...

• Dernburg, Bernhard 1865-1937, German financier and public official. As colonial director (1906) and colonial secretary (1907-10), he was responsible for reforms improving the economy, educational system, and...

• Doenitz, Karl 1891-1980, German admiral. He secretly planned a German submarine fleet in the years following the Treaty of Versailles, was given command of submarine operations by Adolf Hitler in 1935, and...

• Eberhard d. 939, duke of Franconia; brother of the German king, Conrad I, whom he succeeded as duke. The first to rebel against the centralizing policy of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I , he was an important member...

• Ebert, Friedrich 1871-1925, first president (1919-25) of the German republic. A Social Democratic deputy in the Reichstag, in 1913 he became party leader, succeeding Bebel ; a gradualist, or moderate, he was seen as pragmatic and non-ideological. Ebert supported the war effort during World War I. In 1917, leftists split from the party over the war budget and called...

• Eichmann, Adolf 1906-62, German National Socialist official. A member of the Austrian Nazi party, he headed the Austrian office for Jewish emigration (1938). His zeal in deporting Jews brought him promotion...

• Eisner, Kurt 1867-1919, German socialist. He studied at the Friedrich Wilhelm Univ. in Berlin and edited several leading socialist newspapers. In 1917 he joined the newly formed Independent Social Democratic...

• Erhard, Ludwig 1897-1977, German political leader and economist. In Nuremberg he rose to be director of the institute for economic research. Dismissed (1942) by the Nazi regime, he then headed the institute for...

• Ernest Augustus 1771-1851, king of Hanover (1837-51) and duke of Cumberland, fifth son of George III of England. At the accession of his niece Queen Victoria, the crowns of England and Hanover were separated,...

• Ernest I 1784-1844, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (see under Saxe-Coburg ); brother of Leopold I of Belgium, uncle of Queen Victoria of England, and father of Victoria's consort, Prince Albert. He succeeded to the...

• Erzberger, Matthias 1875-1921, German public official. He was a leader of the left wing of the Catholic Center party in the Reichstag from 1903. Early in World War I, he supported an annexationist policy, but in 1917...

• Eugene of Savoy 1663-1736, prince of the house of Savoy, general in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. Born in Paris, he was the son of Eugène, comte de Soissons of the line of Savoy-Carignano, and Olympe...

• Eulenburg, Philipp, Fürst zu 1847-1921, German diplomat, friend and confidential adviser of Emperor William II. He served (1894-1902) as ambassador to Austria-Hungary, but it was his role as intermediary between the emperor and his government that made him important. In 1906 a scandal seriously damaged his...

• Falkenhayn, Erich von 1861-1922, German military officer. Minister of war from 1906 to 1915, he succeeded (1914) Moltke as chief of the German general staff. He was successful on the Eastern front during World War I, but...

• Ferdinand 1721-92, Prussian field marshal, a prince of the house of Brunswick, known as Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick. He served King Frederick II of Prussia brilliantly in the Seven Years War , notably by his...

• Ferdinand I 1503-64, Holy Roman emperor (1558-64), king of Bohemia (1526-64) and of Hungary (1526-64), younger brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Brought up in Spain, he was expected to succeed his grandfather, Ferdinand II of Aragón, who, instead, made Charles his heir. In 1521, Charles gave him the Austrian duchies of the Hapsburgs. In...

• Ferdinand II 1578-1637, Holy Roman emperor (1619-37), king of Bohemia (1617-37) and of Hungary (1618-37); successor of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias.

• Ferdinand III 1608-57, Holy Roman emperor (1637-57), king of Hungary (1626-57) and of Bohemia (1627-57), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. After the dismissal and assassination (1634) of the...

• Francis I 1708-65, Holy Roman emperor (1745-65), duke of Lorraine (1729-37) as Francis Stephen, grand duke of Tuscany (1737-65), husband of Archduchess Maria Theresa. He succeeded his father in Lorraine, but agreed (1735) to cede his duchy to Stanislaus I of Poland to end the War of the Polish Succession (see Polish Succession, War of the ); in exchange he received the right of succession to Tuscany. In 1736 he married Maria Theresa, heiress to all Hapsburg lands. Francis succeeded (1737) the last Medici ruler of Tuscany and carried...

• Francis II 1768-1835, last Holy Roman emperor (1792-1806), first emperor of Austria as Francis I (1804-35), king of Bohemia and of Hungary (1792-1835). He succeeded his father, Leopold II, shortly before the...

• Frederick Augustus I 1750-1827, king (1806-27) and elector (1763-1806) of Saxony, grand duke of Warsaw (1807-14). He sided with the allies in the French Revolutionary Wars and joined Prussia in the campaign of 1806...

• Frederick Augustus I elector of Saxony: see Augustus II , king of Poland.

• Frederick Augustus II elector of Saxony: see Augustus III , king of Poland.

• Frederick Barbarossa see Frederick I , Holy Roman emperor.

• Frederick I or Frederick Barbarossa [Ital.,=red beard], c.1125-90, Holy Roman emperor (1155-90) and German king (1152-90), son of Frederick of Hohenstaufen , duke of Swabia, nephew and successor of Holy Roman...

• Frederick I 1657-1713, first king of Prussia (1701-13), elector of Brandenburg (1688-1713) as Frederick III. He succeeded his father, Frederick William the Great Elector, in Brandenburg. Through a renewed...

• Frederick I 1371-1440, elector of Brandenburg (1415-40), first of the Hohenzollerns (see Hohenzollern , family) to rule Brandenburg. As Frederick VI, burgrave of Nuremburg, he served under King Sigismund of Hungary (later Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund ) against the Ottomans in E Europe and took part in the battle of Nikopol (1396), in which the crusaders were defeated. As a reward for aiding Sigismund's election as emperor (1410), Sigismund...

• Frederick I or Frederick the Warlike, 1370-1428, elector of Saxony (1423-28). As margrave of Meissen he was involved in disputes with his brothers and his uncles over the division of his father's territory. He founded (1409) the...

• Frederick II 1194-1250, Holy Roman emperor (1220-50) and German king (1212-20), king of Sicily (1197-1250), and king of Jerusalem (1229-50), son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and of Constance , heiress of Sicily. ...

• Frederick II or Frederick the Great, 1712-86, king of Prussia (1740-86), son and successor of Frederick William I.

• Frederick III 1415-93, Holy Roman emperor (1452-93) and German king (1440-93). With his brother Albert VI he inherited the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. He became head of the house of Hapsburg at the death (1439) of his distant cousin Albert II, whom he was elected (1440) to succeed as German king. Although Frederick was generally a weak ruler, he made considerable progress toward...

• Frederick III 1831-88, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia (Mar.-June, 1888), son and successor of William I. In 1858 he married Victoria , the princess royal of England, who exerted considerable influence over him. Frederick was a liberal and a patron of art and learning. In the Franco-Prussian War he distinguished himself as a...

• Frederick III king of Prussia: see Frederick III , 1831-88, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia.

• Frederick III (Frederick the Pious), 1515-76, elector palatine (1559-76). The first German prince to accept Calvinism, he ordered the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) drawn up (see under Heidelberg ). He aided the Calvinists...

• Frederick III or Frederick the Wise, 1463-1525, elector of Saxony (1486-1525). At Wittenberg he founded (1502) the university where Martin Luther and Melanchthon taught. At a crucial period for the early Reformation, Frederick protected Luther from the pope and the emperor, and took him into custody at the Wartburg castle after the Diet of Worms (1521),...

• Frederick of Austria see Frederick the Fair , German antiking.

• Frederick the Fair c.1286-1330, German antiking (1314-26), duke of Austria, son of Albert I, German king. On the death of Henry VII, Holy Roman emperor and German king, the split between the supporters of the houses...

• Frederick the Great see Frederick II , king of Prussia.

• Frederick the Warlike see Frederick I , elector of Saxony.

• Frederick the Wise see Frederick III , elector of Saxony.

• Frederick V elector palatine: see Frederick the Winter King.

• Frederick William crown prince of Germany: see William.

• Frederick William known as the Great Elector, 1620-88, elector of Brandenburg (1640-88), son and successor of George William. At his accession the scattered lands of the Hohenzollern were devastated and depopulated by the Thirty Years War and occupied by Swedish troops. Frederick William immediately negotiated an armistice with Sweden and then turned to building his military strength. Beginning with few resources and no dependable...

• Frederick William 1771-1815, duke of Brunswick, German military hero. On the death (1806) of his father, Charles William Ferdinand , his duchy was seized by Napoleon I and added to the kingdom of Westphalia. He attempted to liberate his duchy from French control in 1809, when Austria reopened war against France. Frederick William formed a free corps, the "Black Brunswickers," and in a dashing foray advanced through Germany and captured Brunswick. He soon was driven out but succeeded in fleeing with his troops to England. Returning in 1813, he took possession of...

• Frederick William I 1688-1740, king of Prussia (1713-40), son and successor of Frederick I. He continued the administrative reforms and the process of centralization begun by Frederick William, the Great Elector,...

• Frederick William II 1744-97, king of Prussia (1786-97), nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great). He had the power but lacked the ability of his distinguished predecessors. He joined the European coalition in support of Louis XVI and fought in the early campaigns of the...

• Frederick William III 1770-1840, king of Prussia (1797-1840), son and successor of Frederick William II. Well-intentioned but weak and vacillating, he endeavored to maintain neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806,...

• Frederick William IV 1795-1861, king of Prussia (1840-61), son and successor of Frederick William III. A romanticist and a mystic, he conceived vague schemes of reform based on a revival of the medieval structure, with...

• Frundsberg, Georg von 1473-1528, German commander in the service of Holy Roman emperors Maximilian I and Charles V. He was the principal organizer and commander of the imperial Landsknechte, a mercenary infantry. In the Italian Wars , Frundsberg contributed to the victories of La Bicocca (1522) and Pavia (1525) over the French. He then helped to end the Peasants' War in Germany, but in 1526 returned to Italy to aid Charles de Bourbon against the anti-imperial League of Cognac. While trying to pacify a mutiny caused by rumors of a truce (the troops had not been paid), Frundsberg suffered a stroke and died. The troops continued...

• Fugger German family of merchant princes. The foundation of their wealth was laid by Hans Fugger, allegedly a weaver, who moved to Augsburg in 1367. His descendants built up the family fortune by trade and banking. With Jacob Fugger II, 1459-1525, called Jacob the Rich, the house entered its zenith. It owned extensive real estate, merchant fleets, and palatial establishments throughout Europe. Jacob's fortune was largely built on...

• Göring, Hermann Wilhelm see Goering, Hermann Wilhelm.

• Götz von Berlichingen see Berlichingen, Götz von.

• Gagern, Heinrich, Freiherr von 1799-1880, German statesman. A Hessian parliamentary leader and leading advocate of German unity, he became (1848) president of the Frankfurt Parliament. He at first favored Prussian leadership and...

• Gallas, Matthias, Graf von 1584-1647, imperial general in the Thirty Years War. He served under Tilly , commander of the Catholic League, in Germany until 1629, and then entered Italy, helping to take Mantua (1630). He served as field marshal under Wallenstein , chief of the imperial forces, but later participated in the conspiracy that brought about Wallenstein's removal by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and his subsequent assassination (1634). Gallas...

• Genscher, Hans Dietrich 1927-, German politician; foreign minister (1974-92). A Liberal party member in East Germany, he left the East in 1952, joining the Free Democrats (FDP) in West Germany. Elected to the Bundestag...

• George V 1819-78, last king of Hanover (1851-66), son and successor of Ernest Augustus. He was blind after 1833. Fearing Hanover's absorption by Prussia, he sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War...

• George William 1597-1640, elector of Brandenburg (1619-40). Mild and irresolute, he was a Calvinist, yet he ruled a Lutheran people. He failed to turn the strategic position of Brandenburg to advantage in the Thirty Years War , and his possessions were devastated by the armies of both sides. After a long neutrality, he was in 1631 forced into a Swedish alliance by his brother-in-law, Gustavus Adolphus. After the Swedish...

• Gneisenau, August, Graf Neithardt von 1760-1831, Prussian field marshal. In the Napoleonic Wars he fought at Jena (1806) and, as a major, won fame for his valiant defense of Kolberg. After Prussia's capitulation to Napoleon I (1807),...

• Goebbels, Joseph (Paul Joseph Goebbels) , 1897-1945, German National Socialist propagandist. He was kept out of the service in World War I by a clubfoot. After graduating from the Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1921), be began a journalistic...

• Goerdeler, Carl Friedrich 1884-1945, German civil servant, leader of resistance to Hitler. Lord mayor of Leipzig (1930-37) and price commissioner (1931-32, 1934-35), he resigned after continuously protesting measures taken...

• Goering, Hermann Wilhelm 1893-1946, German National Socialist leader. In World War I he was a hero of the German air force. An early member of the Nazi party, he participated (1923) with Hitler in the Munich "beer-hall putsch" and after its failure escaped eventually to Sweden, where he stayed until 1927. On his return he reestablished contact with Hitler and was elected (1928) to the Reichstag, of which he became...

• Goltz, Colmar, Freiherr von der 1843-1916, Prussian field marshal and military historian. A soldier, he served in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). He later gained renown as a professor of...

• Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de 1517-86, statesman in the service of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and of King Philip II of Spain; cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born at Besançon (then an imperial city), the son of...

• Great Elector, the see Frederick William.

• Guelphs European dynasty tracing its descent from the Swabian count Guelph or Welf (9th cent.), whose daughter Judith married the Frankish emperor Louis I. Guelph III (d. 1055) was made (1047) duke of...

• Haase, Hugo 1863-1919, German Socialist leader. A Social Democratic member of the Reichstag, he opposed World War I, but initially followed his party's position in supporting the war. In Dec., 1915, he split...

• Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von 1750-1822, Prussian administrator and diplomat, b. Hanover. After service for Hanover and Brunswick, he entered the Prussian service. As Prussian delegate he signed the Treaty of Basel (1795) with...

• Haugwitz, Christian August Heinrich, Graf von 1752-1832, Prussian foreign minister (1802-4, 1805-6). In 1805, after the French victory at Austerlitz, Haugwitz tried to appease Napoleon I by concluding treaties with France that involved...

• Hauser, Kaspar 1812?-1833, mysterious German foundling. He appeared in Nuremberg in 1828 in a state of semi-idiocy, producing dubious documents and giving an incoherent account of his past, which, he said, he...

• Hecker, Friedrich Franz Karl 1811-81, German revolutionary. A lawyer, he was a leader of the radical republicans in the grand duchy of Baden and during the revolutionary agitation of 1847-49 in Germany, he helped organize the...

• Heinemann, Gustav 1899-1976, West German political leader. A corporation lawyer and wartime leader of the Confessing Church , he helped found the Christian Democratic Party, although he quit its first cabinet to establish a splinter party advocating a unified, disarmed, and neutral Germany. In 1957 he joined the Social...

• Henry I or Henry the Fowler, 876?-936, German king (919-36), first of the Saxon line and father of Otto I , the first of the Holy Roman emperors. Henry succeeded his father as duke of Saxony in 912. A foe of King Conrad I , who futilely tried to subdue the rebellious Henry, he was nevertheless named (918) by Conrad as his successor. Designated king by Saxon and Franconian nobles in 919, Henry refused to be crowned by...

• Henry II 973-1024, Holy Roman emperor (1014-24) and German king (1002-24), last of the Saxon line. He succeeded his father as duke of Bavaria. When Otto III died without an heir, Henry, who was Otto's...

• Henry III 1017-56, Holy Roman emperor (1046-56) and German king (1039-56), son and successor of Conrad II. He was crowned joint king with his father in 1028, and acceded on Conrad's death in 1039. Under...

• Henry IV 1050-1106, Holy Roman emperor (1084-1105) and German king (1056-1105), son and successor of Henry III. He was the central figure in the opening stages of the long struggle between the Holy Roman Empire...

• Henry the Fowler see Henry I , German king.

• Henry the Lion 1129-95, duke of Saxony (1142-80) and of Bavaria (1156-80); son of Henry the Proud. His father died (1139) while engaged in a war to regain his duchies, and it was not until 1142 that Henry the Lion became duke of Saxony. Bavaria was restored to him after the accession of his...

• Henry the Proud c.1108-1139, duke of Bavaria (1126-38) and of Saxony (1137-38). A member of the Guelph family, he inherited the duchy of Bavaria and enormous private wealth. By his marriage (1127) with Gertrude, only child of German King Lothair II (later Holy Roman emperor), he became the most powerful German noble. He fought with Lothair against the Hohenstaufen dukes, Frederick of Swabia and his brother Conrad, who refused to recognize Lothair's election. In 1136 he accompanied Lothair to Italy, where the pope invested Henry with lands in Tuscany...

• Henry V 1081-1125, Holy Roman emperor (1111-25) and German king (1105-25), son of Henry IV. Crowned joint king with his father in 1099, he put himself at the head of the party desiring reconciliation with...

• Henry VI 1165-97, Holy Roman emperor (1191-97) and German king (1190-97), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa). He was crowned German king at Aachen in 1169 and king of...

• Henry VII c.1275-1313, Holy Roman emperor (1312-13) and German king (1308-13). A minor count of the house of Luxembourg, Henry was elected German king on the death of King Albert I after the electors had set aside the two main contenders, Albert's eldest son, Frederick of Austria, and the French prince Charles of Valois. By accepting Elizabeth of Bohemia's offer (1310) to marry his son, John of Luxembourg, he gained Bohemia for his house and made it the main rival to the house of Hapsburg. He secured the German...

• Hertling, Georg, Graf von 1843-1919, German statesman and philosopher, imperial chancellor (Nov., 1917-Sept., 1918). He was professor of philosophy and a right-wing leader of the Catholic Center party in the Reichstag...

• Hess, Rudolf 1894-1987, German National Socialist leader, b. Alexandria, Egypt; son of a German merchant. In 1920 he became an ardent follower of Adolf Hitler and after the Munich "beer-hall putsch" (1923) shared Hitler's imprisonment. Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to him. In 1933 he became deputy Führer and minister without portfolio. In 1939, Hitler named him second in line of succession after Hermann Goering. Hess created a worldwide sensation when he stole an airplane and flew (May, 1941) from Augsburg to Scotland (where he was arrested), apparently in an attempt to negotiate a peace agreement with...

• Hesse, Philip of see Philip of Hesse.

• Heydrich, Reinhard 1904-42, German police official under the Nazi regime. Forced to resign (1931) from the navy for misconduct, Heydrich joined the SS (see National Socialism ). He soon won Heinrich Himmler's confidence and in 1934 was appointed deputy chief of the Gestapo (see secret police ). He was deeply involved in planning the extermination of the Jews. In 1941, Heydrich was appointed protector of Bohemia and Moravia. His ruthless methods there and elsewhere and his numerous...

• Himmler, Heinrich 1900-1945, German Nazi leader. An early member of the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) party, Himmler took part in Adolf Hitler's "beer-hall putsch" of 1923, and in 1929 Hitler appointed him head of the SS, or Schutzstaffel, the party's black-shirted elite corps. When Hitler came to power he made Himmler head of police in Munich and then chief of the political police throughout Bavaria. After the party purge of June,...

• Hindenburg, Paul von 1847-1934, German field marshal and president (1925-34), b. Poznan (then in Prussia). His full name was Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Hindenburg und Beneckendorff. He fought in the Austro-Prussian...

• Hitler, Adolf 1889-1945, founder and leader of National Socialism (Nazism), and German dictator, b. Braunau in Upper Austria.

• Hoffmann, Max 1869-1927, German general in World War I. A brilliant strategist, he contributed to the German victory over the Russians at Tannenberg and in 1916 became chief of staff of the eastern armies. As...

• Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Chlodwig Karl Viktor, Fürst zu 1819-1901, German chancellor (1894-1900). As premier of Bavaria (1866-70), he favored German unification, and in 1871 he entered the service of the German Empire and became one of Bismarck's...

• Hohenstaufen German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and...

• Hohenzollern German princely family that ruled Brandenburg (1415-1918), Prussia (1525-1918), and Germany (1871-1918).

• Holstein, Friedrich von 1837-1909, German diplomat. After the Congress of Berlin (1878) he became a powerful figure in shaping German foreign policy. His official position was (1878-1906) political counselor in the...

• Honecker, Erich 1912-94, East German political leader. From a Communist family, Honecker was imprisoned by the Nazis for 10 years for party activities. After the war he joined Walter Ulbricht's Socialist Unity...

• Hugenberg, Alfred 1865-1951, German financier and politician. He was president of the directorate of the Krupp firm (1909-18), entered the Reichstag in 1919, and was chairman (1928-33) of the conservative German...

• Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig 1778-1852, German patriot. A high school teacher in Berlin, he was active in efforts to free Germany from Napoleonic rule. He organized the Turnverein , a gymnastic association, to build strength and fellowship among young people of all classes. The gymnastic groups Jahn fostered became centers for nationalism and for the movement to unify...

• John Frederick I 1503-54, elector (1532-47) and duke (1547-54) of Saxony; last elector of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin. Like his father, John the Steadfast, whom he succeeded, John Frederick was a devout Lutheran. A leader of the Schmalkaldic League , he vacillated in loyalty to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V , but he was thrown into opposition when Charles undertook the Schmalkaldic War to crush the independence of the imperial states in Germany and to restore Christian unity. Captured (1547) in the...

• John George 1585-1656, elector of Saxony (1611-56). A drunkard, he nonetheless ruled the leading German Protestant state during the Thirty Years War. He vacillated in his policy between support of the Holy Roman Empire against the Lutheran princes and aid to his fellow Lutherans. He backed (1620) Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II against Protestant rebels in Bohemia under Frederick the Winter King , and in return was promised Lusatia. After Frederick's defeat, however, he opposed the transfer (1623) of the Palatinate to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria. The Edict of Restitution (1629), abrogating Protestant rights, increased his opposition to imperial policy. John George joined the Swedes against the emperor, and the Saxon army invaded...

• Joseph I 1678-1711, Holy Roman emperor (1705-11), king of Hungary (1687-1711) and of Bohemia (1705-11), son and successor of Leopold I. Joseph became Holy Roman emperor in the midst of the War of the Spanish...

• Joseph II 1741-90, Holy Roman emperor (1765-90), king of Bohemia and Hungary (1780-90), son of Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I , whom he succeeded. He was the first emperor of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine...

• Königsmark, Countess Maria Aurora 1666-1728, Swedish noblewoman; sister of Count Philipp Christoph Königsmark. She went to Dresden in search of her missing brother and there became the mistress of Augustus II of Poland and Saxony...

• Kühlmann, Richard von 1873-1948, German diplomat. Appointed foreign secretary in Aug., 1917, he led the delegation that negotiated (Mar., 1918) the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which removed Russia from World War I. In...

• Kapp, Wolfgang 1858-1922, German right-wing politician. In 1920 he led the uprising known as the Kapp putsch, an armed revolt in Berlin aimed at restoring the German monarchy. He seized the Berlin government,...

• Keitel, Wilhelm 1882-1946, German general. A supporter of Hitler, he became (1938) chief of staff of the supreme command of the armed forces, a new post that marked the German army's subjection to Hitler. On May...

• Kesselring, Albert 1885-1960, German field marshal. An artillery staff officer in World War I, he later joined the air force and rapidly rose in rank during the Hitler regime. In World War II, he commanded air...

• Kohl, Helmut 1930-, German politician, chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and reunified Germany (1990-98). He was named chairman of the Rhine-Palatinate Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1966 and was...

• Kunigunde, Saint see Henry II , Holy Roman emperor.