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Germany
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The Anatomy of the German Empire
1648-1918
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| 1789 | Outbreak of the French revolution. |
| 1792 | France occupies Germany west of the Rhine and incorporates it into the French Empire (acknowledged by the German princes in 1797 and 1801). |
| 1803 | Final Recess
(Reichsdeputationshauptschluß): all ecclesiastical territories are waived
and incorporated to secular territories as a refund of the losses west of
the Rhine, the same is done with numerous small territories and most
Imperial Cities.
Prussia (for example) acquires the bishoprics of Münster, Hildesheim and Paderborn, Erfurt and the Eichsfeld area of Mainz. Hesse-Kassel, Baden, Württemberg and Salzburg are elevated to Electorates. |
| 1805 | Treaty of Schönbrunn: Prussia cedes Wesel, Neuchatel, Ansbach and Bayreuth and obtains Hanover as a refund. |
| 1805 | Treaty of Pressburg: Austria cedes Venetia to Italy, cedes Tyrolia, Vorarlberg, Eichstätt, Passau, Burgau, Brixen, Trient and the Imperial City of Augsburg to Bavaria, obtains Salzburg in reverse. Bavaria and Württemberg become kingdoms, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt become grandduchies. |
| 1806 | Confederation of the Rhine (with 39 member states by 1808). Emperor Franz II lays down the imperial crown - end of the HRE. |
| 1807 | Peace of Tilsit: Prussia looses almost half of its territory, including most of the Polish possessions and all lands east of the Elbe river to the newly-formed Duchy of Warsaw. Formation of the Kingdom of Westfalia under French sovereignty, covering extended lands in northern Germany. |
| 1809 | Peace of Vienna: Austria cedes Salzburg to Bavaria, western Galicia to the Grandduchy of Warsaw, the Adriatic Coast to France. |
| 1810 | Holland, Oldenburg, East Friesland and the cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck are incorporated into the French empire. |
| 1813 | Dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine. |
| 1814 | Reconquest of Germany west of the Rhine. |
| 1815 | The Congress of Vienna creates a
new political order in Central Europe which endured half a century and
longer: Austria cedes Belgium to the Netherlands and the Breisgau to Baden,
and Austria is given back Tyrolia, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Carniola, Trieste,
Galicia, Milan, Venetia, Salzburg and the Inn quarter.
Prussia cedes Ansbach and Bayreuth to Bavaria, East Frisia, Hildesheim, Goslar and Lingen to Hanover, the territories of the Third Polish Division to Russia; instead, Prussia obtains parts of Hither Pomerania from Denmark, the Rhine Province (formerly French), parts of Westfalia, almost half of Saxony (to form the Prussian province of Sachsen). Bavaria obtains Ansbach, Bayreuth and the cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg. Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg remain kingdoms, Hanover is elevated to become a kingdom. The rank of an emperor is not restored. The German Confederation consists of 35 soverein territories and 4 free cities. |
At its dissolution in 1866, the German Confederation consisted of the following states:
 | Empire of Austria. |
| Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Hanover, Württemberg, Saxony. |
| Grandduchies of Baden, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hesse, Oldenburg, Luxemburg with |
| Duchy of Limburg, Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Mecklenburg-Strelitz. |
| Electorate of Hesse. |
| Duchies of Nassau, Braunschweig, Sachsen-Meiningen-Hildburghausen, Anhalt, |
| Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, Sachsen-Altenburg. |
| Principalities of Lippe-Detmold, Waldeck, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, S.-Sondershausen, Reuß j. L., Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuß ä. L., Liechtenstein. |
| Free Cities of Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen and Frankfurt. |
Territorial changes 1815-1866:
| The Duchy of Limburg joins Belgium in 1839. |
| Schleswig is acquired from Denmark in 1864. |
| Prussia takes over the principalities of Sigmaringen and Hechingen in 1849. |
| Coburg cedes the principality of Lichtenberg to Prussia in 1834. |
| Several changes within Germany by the extinction of princely houses. |
Territorial changes 1866-1871:
| Prussia annects Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse, Nassau and Frankfurt, obtains a small part of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1866. |
| France cedes Alsace and Lorraine to the newly-founded German Empire in 1871. |
| Liechtenstein and Luxemburg left the German confederation in 1867. |
1871: Declaration of the German Empire with no territorial changes until 1918.
1914-1918 First world war.
1919 The northern part of Schleswig-Holstein is ceded to Denmark, Alsace-Lorraine is ceded to France, several eastern lands of Prussia become parts of the newly-founded Polish state.
Several books and maps show to which territory a given places belonged at a given time:
Encyclopedia Britannica 15th ed. vol. 8 pp. 92-115 (with maps).
Gerhard Köbler. Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder. (München: C.H.Beck 1988)(short and longer articles about the German territories, even the tiny ones).
Larry O. Jensen. A Genealogical Handbook of German Research. (Pleasant Grove, UT: Privately published by the author, 1978)(with a chapter on 19th-century gazetteers).
Erwin Hölzle. Der deutsche Südwesten am Ende des alten Reiches. (Stuttgart: Württ. Statistisches Landesamt 1938)(a list of the dominions in 1789 and what happened to them, with a detailed map).
Albert Krieger. Topographisches Wörterbuch des Großherzogtums Baden. 2 vols. (Heidelberg: Winter 1904, reprint Walluf: Sändig 1972) (very detailed information about all places in Baden).
Landesarchivdirektion Baden-Württemberg (ed.). Das Land Baden-Württemberg. Amtliche Beschreibung nach Gemeinden und Kreisen. 8 vols. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1977-1984) (general description of the state, statistical notes, detailed local history information).
Historischer Atlas von Baden-Württemberg. (Stuttgart: Landesvermessungsamt) (includes 120 maps, several of them how the historical territories).
Gertrud Diepolder (comp.), Max Spindler (ed.). Bayerischer Geschichtsatlas. (München: Bayerischer Schulbuchverlag 1969) (numerous maps, including one about the southern German territories in 1789, pp. 31-32).
Willi Alter (ed.). Pfalzatlas. (Speyer: Pfälzische Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften 1974)(maps 58, 59: the territories in 1750, 1789).
Wilhelm Fabricius. Erläuterungen zum geschichtlichen Atlas der Rheinprovinz. Band 2: Die Karte von 1789. Einteilung und Entwicklung der Territorien von 1600 bis 1794. (Bonn: Hermann Berendt 1898, reprint Bonn: Hanstein 1965) (very detailed!).
Franz Irsigler (ed.). Geschichtlicher Atlas der Rheinlande. Map V.1: Herrschaftsgebiete im Jahre 1789. (Brauweiler: Rheinland-Verlag). Westfalia:
Stephanie Reekers. Die Gebietsentwicklung der Kreise und Gemeinden Westfalens 1817-1967. Veröffentlichungen des Provinzialinstituts für westfälische Landes- und Volksforschung, Heft 18. (Münster: Aschendorff 1977).
Geographisch-landeskundlicher Atlas von Westfalen. (Münster: Aschendorff 1985 and continued) (the first delivery contains maps about the territories in 1590, 1804, 1809, 1811, 1818 and administration borders until 1967).
See Baden for the book by Hölzle, the Landesbeschreibung and the Historischer Atlas.
K. Statistisches Landesamt (ed.). Beschreibung des Oberamts ... (Aalen-Welzheim). (Stuttgart: first series 1824-1856, second series -1930) (descriptions of the general and local conditions in all former counties of Württemberg, with local history chapters).
Das Land Baden-Württemberg. Amtliche Beschreibung nach Kreisen und Gemeinden. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 8 vols. 1977-1984. (For every town, the former dominion and district are indicated).
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