World War I
World War I known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history, it is one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide. On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis. In response, on 23 July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia's reply failed to satisfy the Austrians, the two moved to a war footing. A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe.
By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions: the Triple Entente—consisting of France and Britain—and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia and, after Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade on the 28th, partial mobilisation was approved. General Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30 July; when Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on 1 August in support of Austria-Hungary, with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6th. German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within four weeks shift forces to the East before Russia could mobilise. On 2 August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick victory over France; when this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3 August and declared war on France the same day. On 12 August and France declared war on Austria-Hungary.
In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Alliance, opening fronts in the Caucasus and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in and drew upon each power's colonial empire as well, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe; the Entente and its allies would become known as the Allied Powers, while the grouping of Austria-Hungary and their allies would become known as the Central Powers. The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914, the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines that changed little until 1917. In 1915, Italy opened a front in the Alps. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915 and Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the Balkans; the United States remained neutral, although by doing nothing to prevent the Allies from procuring American supplies whilst the Allied blockade prevented the Germans from doing the same the U. S. became an important supplier of war material to the Allies.
After the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, the revelation that the Germans were trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U. S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces would not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but the American Expeditionary Force would reach some two million troops. Though Serbia was defeated in 1915, Romania joined the Allied Powers in 1916 only to be defeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918; the 1917 February Revolution in Russia replaced the Tsarist autocracy with the Provisional Government, but continuing discontent at the cost of the war led to the October Revolution, the creation of the Soviet Socialist Republic, the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in March 1918, ending Russia's involvement in the war. This allowed the transfer of large numbers of German troops from the East to the Western Front, resulting in the German March 1918 Offensive.
This offensive was successful, but the Allies rallied and drove the Germans back in their Hundred Days Offensive. Bulgaria was the first Central Power to sign an armistice—the Armistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated. On 4 November, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to the Armistice of Villa Giusti after being decisively defeated by Italy in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. With its allies defeated, revolution at home, the military no longer willing to fight, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed an armistice on 11 November 1918. World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural and social climate of the world; the war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous uprisings. The Big Four (Britain, the United States, It
Alfred Grenander
Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander, was a Swedish architect, who became one of the most prominent engineers during the first building period of the Berlin U-Bahn network in the early twentieth century. Born in Skövde, Grenander was raised in Stockholm and began studying at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in 1881, he changed to the Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg in 1885. After his final degree in 1890 he became a site engineer at the construction of the new Reichstag building under the direction of Paul Wallot and continued his career in the architectural office of Alfred Messel. In 1896 Grenander set up his own business and worked as a designer of the Hochbahngesellschaft, an affiliate of Siemens & Halske established in 1897 to build the first U-Bahn elevated railway of Berlin, opened in 1902. Up to 1931, he constructed about 70 U-Bahn stations. While the first stations were designed in an Art Nouveau or Neoclassical style, he preferred a Modern architecture. Alfred Grenander died in Berlin.
In 2009 the front yard of Krumme Lanke station in Berlin-Zehlendorf was named in his honour. 1902: Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1906: Deutsche Oper, Wilhelmplatz - demolished 1907: Potsdamer Platz 1908: Sophie-Charlotte-Platz, Theodor-Heuss-Platz.
U1 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U1 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn, 8.8 kilometres long and has 13 stations. Its traditional line designation was BII, it runs east-west and its eastern end is south of the route of the historical Schlesischen Bahn at the Warschauer Straße S-Bahn station and runs through Kreuzberg, Wittenbergplatz on to the Kurfürstendamm. The eastern section of the line is the oldest part of the Berlin U-Bahn, although it is above ground; the U1 route was part of BII until 1957, where it was renamed to BIV until 1 March 1966. While the main section between Wittenbergplatz and Schlesisches Tor has been designated as line 1 since 1966, the western end of the line has changed twice, it was renumbered to Line "3" and "U3" in 1993, before being renamed U15 until 2004. The increasing traffic problems in Berlin at the end of the 19th century led to a search for new efficient means of transport. Inspired by Werner von Siemens, numerous suggestions were made for overhead conveyors, such as a suspension railway, as was built in Wuppertal, or a tube railway as was built in London.
Siemens and some prominent Berliners submitted a plan for an elevated railway on the model of New York. These people opposed Siemens' suggestion of building an overhead railway in the major street of Friedrichstrasse, but the city of Berlin opposed underground railways, since it feared damage to one of its new sewers. After many years and negotiations, Siemens proposal for an elevated railway line from Warschauer Brücke via Hallesches Tor to Bülowstraße was approved; this was only possible, because it passed through poor areas. The richer residents of Leipziger Straße pressed the city administration to prevent the line using their street. Siemens & Halske carried out all construction work and owned the line; the first sod was turned on 10 September 1896 in Gitschiner Straße. The construction work had to be carried out because the contract with the city of Berlin, signed with the granting of the concession, specified that the line had to be finished within two years, or a penalty of 50,000 marks would be payable.
The railway engineers developed a design for the supporting columns for the elevated railway, but it was unpopular and the architect Alfred Grenander was asked to submit an artistic solution for this problem. For the next 30 years Grenander was the house architect for the underground railway. After tough negotiations with the city of Charlottenburg it was decided to extend the line to Knie along the Tauentzienstrasse, but instead of being elevated it would be a subsurface railway; the management of the city of Berlin board of works regarded the idea of an underground railway sympathetically. Since the underground caused no apparent damage to the new sewer, an underground branch could be built from a junction at Gleisdreieck to Potsdamer Platz, Berlin’s city centre; the national government granted permission for the planning changes on 1 November 1900. The total length of the elevated and underground railway was now 10.1 kilometres. The largest part of the route 8 kilometres, would be established on viaducts and connect eleven elevated stations.
In addition there would be 2 kilometres of underground line with three underground stations. The planners believed that 8-carriage trains would not be needed and therefore designed it with 80 m-long platforms, sufficient only for 6-carriage trains; the first 6 kilometres of the line was finished in 1901 and on 15 February 1902 the first train ran on the line from Potsdamer Platz to Zoologischer Garten to Stralauer Tor and back to Potsdamer Platz. This allowed many prominent Berliners to participate in the opening trip, including the Prussian minister for public works, Karl von Thielen. On 18 February 1902 the first stage of the Berlin U-Bahn was opened. In March the line was extended to Zoologischer Garten and on 17 August it was extended by 380 m from Stralauer Tor to Warschauer Brücke. There were at that time only two lines: From Warschauer Brücke to Zoologischer Garten via Potsdamer Platz. From Warschauer Brücke directly to Zoologischer Garten. On 14 December the line was extended to Knie; the section between Gleisdreieck and Knie is now part of U2.
In the summer of 1907, the elevated railway company of the new city of Wilmersdorf suggested the building of an underground line to the Wilmersdorf area. It suggested a line to Nürnberger Platz and, if Wilmersdorf would pay to Breitenbachplatz. Since Wilmersdorf municipality had poor transport connections, the Wilmersdorf city fathers were pleased to take up this suggestion; the royal domain of Dahlem, south of Wilmersdorf and was still undeveloped supported a U-bahn connection and wanted it extended from Breitenbachplatz to Thielplatz. However, the future line would run through the city of Charlottenburg, which saw the city of Wilmersdorf as a major competitor for the settlement of wealthy ratepayers. Long negotiations ensued, until in the summer 1910 a solution was found: an additional line would be built under the Kurfürstendamm to Uhlandstraße. Work began on these lines in the same summer; the double-track Wittenbergplatz station, which only had two side platforms, had to be rebuilt. The new station required five platforms with a sixth prepared for an entrance hall.
The cities of Wilmersdorf and Charlottenburg submitted many suggestions for its design. The house architect of the elevated railway company, Alfred Grenander, was appointed to design the station on the recommendation of the royal police chief; the add
Wittenbergplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)
Wittenbergplatz is a Berlin U-Bahn station on the U 1, the U 2, U 3 lines. The station is located on Wittenbergplatz square in Berlin's City West area, in the northwestern corner of Schöneberg neighbourhood, it is the only U-Bahn station in the city with five adjacent tracks on three platforms. The station building, erected in 1911–1913 according to plans designed by Alfred Grenander, is listed as an architectural monument. Wittenbergplatz is one of the oldest U-Bahn stations in Berlin, opened on 11 March 1902 with the first Stammstrecke line running under the eponymous square and adjacent Tauentzienstraße, today one of the major shopping streets in Berlin. A common underground station with two tracks on two side platforms, it was refurbished as an interchange from 1910 onwards; the new station serving three U-Bahn lines opened on 1 December 1912 with two island platforms and one side platform, serving five tracks at one below ground level and under a single roof. The remarkable entrance hall in the centre of Wittenbergplatz square, designed in an Art Nouveau style by Alfred Grenander, was finished in 1913.
The station building was badly damaged during the bombing of Berlin in World War II and reconstructed afterwards. Wittenbergplatz became one of the most frequented stations of the West Berlin urban traffic network, though after the building of the Berlin Wall the present-day U2 line to Nollendorfplatz was closed in 1972 and not re-opened until 1993. From 1980 to 1983 the station was renovated in line with the precepts of monument perception by architect Borchardt, he won the prize of the Ministry of Architecture in 1986. Platform No. 1 features a sign donated by the London Transport Executive in 1952 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Berlin U-Bahn. It features the station's name in the distinctive red-and-blue roundel used on the London Underground
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin U-Bahn is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train lines, a tram network that operates in the eastern parts of the city, it serves as the main means of transport in the capital. Opened in 1902, the U-Bahn serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of 151.7 kilometres, about 80% of, underground. Trains run every two to five minutes during peak hours, every five minutes for the rest of the day and every ten minutes in the evening. Over the course of a year, U-Bahn trains travel 132 million km, carry over 400 million passengers. In 2017, 553.1 million passengers rode the U-Bahn. The entire system is maintained and operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe known as the BVG. Designed to alleviate traffic flowing into and out of central Berlin, the U-Bahn was expanded until the city was divided into East and West Berlin at the end of World War II.
Although the system remained open to residents of both sides at first, the construction of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent restrictions imposed by the Government of East Germany limited travel across the border. The East Berlin U-Bahn lines from West Berlin were severed, except for two West Berlin lines that ran through East Berlin; these were allowed to pass through East Berlin without stopping at any of the stations, which were closed. Friedrichstraße was the exception because it was used as a transfer point between U6 and the West Berlin S-Bahn system, a border crossing into East Berlin; the system was reopened following the fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification. The Berlin U-Bahn is the most extensive underground network in Germany. In 2006, travel on the U-Bahn was equivalent to 122.2 million km of car journeys. The Berlin U-Bahn was built in three major phases: Up to 1913: the construction of the Kleinprofil network in Berlin, Schöneberg, Wilmersdorf. At the end of the 19th century, city planners in Berlin were looking for solutions to the increasing traffic problems facing the city.
As potential solutions and inventor Ernst Werner von Siemens suggested the construction of elevated railways, while AEG proposed an underground system. Berlin city administrators feared that an underground would damage the sewers, favouring an elevated railway following the path of the former city walls. Years of negotiations followed until, on 10 September 1896, work began on a elevated railway to run between Stralauer Tor and Zoologischer Garten, with a short spur to Potsdamer Platz. Known as the "Stammstrecke", the route was inaugurated on 15 February 1902, was popular. Before the year ended, the railway had been extended: by 17 August, east to Warschauer Brücke. In a bid to secure its own improvement, Schöneberg wanted a connection to Berlin; the elevated railway company did not believe such a line would be profitable, so the city built the first locally financed underground in Germany. It was opened on 1 December 1910. Just a few months earlier, work began on a fourth line to link Wilmersdorf in the south-west to the growing Berlin U-Bahn.
The early network ran east to west, connecting the richer areas in and around Berlin, as these routes had been deemed the most profitable. In order to open up the network to more of the workers of Berlin, the city wanted north-south lines to be established. In 1920, the surrounding areas were annexed to form Groß-Berlin, removing the need for many negotiations, giving the city much greater bargaining power over the private Hochbahngesellschaft; the city mandated that new lines would use wider carriages—running on the same, standard-gauge track—to provide greater passenger capacity. Construction of the Nord-Süd-Bahn connecting Wedding in the north to Tempelhof and Neukölln in the south had started in December 1912, but halted for the First World War. Work resumed in 1919, although the money shortage caused by hyperinflation slowed progress considerably. On 30 January 1923, the first section opened between Hallesches Tor and Stettiner Bahnhof, with a continuation to Seestraße following two months later.
Underfunded, the new line had to use trains from the old Kleinprofil network. The line branched at Belle-Alliance-Straße, now. In 1912, plans were approved for AEG to build its own north-south underground line, named the GN-Bahn after its termini and Neukölln, via Alexanderplatz. Financial difficulties stopped the construction in 1919; the first section opened on 17 July 1927 between Boddinstraße and Schönleinstraße, with the intermediate Hermannplatz becoming the first
East Berlin
East Berlin was the de facto capital city of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945; the American and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall; the Western Allied powers did not recognise East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor the GDR's authority to govern East Berlin. With the London Protocol of 1944 signed on September 12, 1944, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into three occupation zones and to establish a special area of Berlin, occupied by the three Allied Forces together. In May 1945, the Soviet Union installed a city government for the whole city, called "Magistrate of Greater Berlin", which existed until 1947. After the war, the Allied Forces administered the city together within the Allied Kommandatura, which served as the governing body of the city. However, in 1948 the Soviet representative left the Kommandatura and the common administration broke apart during the following months.
In the Soviet sector, a separate city government was established, which continued to call itself "Magistrate of Greater Berlin". When the German Democratic Republic was established in 1949, it claimed East Berlin as its capital - a claim, recognised by all Communist countries, its representatives to the People's Chamber were not directly elected and did not have full voting rights until 1981. In June 1948, all railways and roads leading to West Berlin were blocked, East Berliners were not allowed to emigrate. More than 1,000 East Germans were escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960, caused by the strains on the East German economy from war reparations owed to the Soviet Union, massive destruction of industry, lack of assistance from the Marshall Plan. In August 1961, the East German Government tried to stop the population exodus by enclosing West Berlin within the Berlin Wall, it was dangerous for fleeing residents to cross because armed soldiers were trained to shoot illegal migrants. East Germany was a socialist republic.
Privileges such as prestigious apartments and good schooling were given to members of the ruling party and their family. Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities. In the 1970s, wages of East Berliners rose and working hours fell; the Western Allies never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin. The United States Command Berlin, for example, published detailed instructions for U. S. military and civilian personnel wishing to visit East Berlin. In fact, the three Western commandants protested against the presence of the East German National People's Army in East Berlin on the occasion of military parades; the three Western Allies established embassies in East Berlin in the 1970s, although they never recognised it as the capital of East Germany. Treaties instead used terms such as "seat of government."On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany and East and West Berlin were reunited, thus formally ending the existence of East Berlin.
Since reunification, the German government has spent vast amounts of money on reintegrating the two halves of the city and bringing services and infrastructure in the former East Berlin up to the standard established in West Berlin. After reunification, the East German economy suffered significantly. Many East German factories were shut down due to inability to comply with West German pollution and safety standards, as well as inability to compete with West German factories; because of this, a massive amount of West German economic aid was poured into East Germany to revitalize it. This stimulus was part-funded through a 7.5% tax on income, which led to a great deal of resentment toward the East Germans. Despite the large sums of economic aid poured into East Berlin, there still remain obvious differences between the former East and West Berlin. East Berlin has a distinct visual style; the unique look of Stalinist architecture, used in East Berlin contrasts markedly with the urban development styles employed in the former West Berlin.
Additionally, the former East Berlin retains a small number of its GDR-era street and place names commemorating German socialist heroes, such as Karl-Marx-Allee, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße. Many such names, were deemed inappropriate and changed after a long process of review. Another popular symbolic icon of the former East Berlin is the "Ampelmännchen", a stylized version of a fedora-wearing man crossing the street, found on traffic lights at many pedestrian crosswalks throughout the former East; these days they are visible in parts of the former West Berlin. Following a civic debate about whether the Ampelmännchen should be abolished or disseminated more several crosswalks in some parts of the former West Berlin employ the Ampelmännchen. Twenty-five years after the two cities were reunified, the people of East and West Berlin still had noticeable differences between each other, which become more apparent amo
Berlin Schönhauser Allee station
Berlin Schönhauser Allee is a railway station in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. It is located on the Berlin U-Bahn line U 2 and on the Ringbahn. Built in 1913 by A. Grenander opened as "Bahnhof Nordring"; as the station was well accepted the roof was elongated in 1925 and a new entrance build. In 1936 the station was named "Schönhauser Allee". On an average day 500 trains and more than 26000 people cross this station. At this station, the Elevated U2 crosses the below-ground S-bahn, while at the other crossing of the U2 and the ringbahn, messe-nord/Icc S-bahn station and kaiserdamm U2 station, the U2 crosses above the below-ground s-bahn on the bottom deck of a road bridge
