Berlin
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London; the city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, contiguous with its capital, Potsdam; the two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree and Dahme rivers. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, gardens, rivers and lakes; the city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany. Berlin is a world city of culture, politics and science, its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a complex public transportation network; the metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries include IT, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology and electronics.
Berlin is home to world-renowned universities, orchestras and entertainment venues, is host to many sporting events. Its Zoological Garden is one of the most popular worldwide. With the world's oldest large-scale movie studio complex, Berlin is an popular location for international film productions; the city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Since the 2000s Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene. Berlin lies in northeastern Germany, east of the River Saale, that once constituted, together with the River Elbe, the eastern border of the Frankish Realm. While the Frankish Realm was inhabited by Germanic tribes like the Franks and the Saxons, the regions east of the border rivers were inhabited by Slavic tribes; this is why most of the villages in northeastern Germany bear Slavic-derived names. Typical Germanised place name suffixes of Slavic origin are -ow, -itz, -vitz, -witz, -itzsch and -in, prefixes are Windisch and Wendisch.
The name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. Since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city, it is therefore a canting arm. Of Berlin's twelve boroughs, five bear a Slavic-derived name: Pankow, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick and Spandau. Of its ninety-six neighborhoods, twenty-two bear a Slavic-derived name: Altglienicke, Alt-Treptow, Buch, Gatow, Kladow, Köpenick, Lankwitz, Lübars, Marzahn, Prenzlauer Berg, Schmöckwitz, Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow, Steglitz and Zehlendorf; the neighborhood of Moabit bears a French-derived name, Französisch Buchholz is named after the Huguenots. The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden beam dated from 1192, remnants of a house foundation dated to 1174, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte; the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century.
Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244. 1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated. In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. During the 15th century, his successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, subsequent members of the Hohenzol
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
Ministry of the Reichswehr
The Ministry of the Reichswehr or Reich Ministry of Defence was the defence ministry of the Weimar Republic and the early Third Reich. The 1919 Weimar Constitution provided for a unified, national ministry of defence to coordinate the new Reichswehr, that ministry was set up in October 1919, from the existing Prussian War Ministry and Reichsmarineamt, it was based in the Bendlerblock building. The Wehrgesetz of 21 May 1935 renamed it the Reich Ministry of War, abolished in 1938 and replaced with the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. Within the framework of the Gesetz über die Bildung einer vorläufigen Reichswehr of March 1919, the Reichspräsident was commander-in-chief of the armed forces, with the Reichswehrminister exercising command; these arrangements left out the Prussian armed forces, which remained under the command of the Prussian Minister of War. After the Weimar Constitution came into force, the war ministries of Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg and Prussia were dissolved and command authority was concentrated in the hand of the national Reichswehrminister.
Power of command for each branch was given to the head of the Army Command and the head of the Navy Command. The Ministeramt was established as a third office within the ministry in 1929, with the Ministeramt′s head acting as the Reichswehrminister′s political deputy; the innocuous Troop Office functioned as a covert general staff, banned by the Treaty of Versailles. The "Verkündung der Wehrhoheit" of 1935 created a new Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, under the Air Ministry, turned the Heeresleitung into the Oberkommando des Heeres and the Marineleitung into the Oberkommando der Marine; the Ministeramt was renamed the Wehrmachtsamt. As a result of the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair in 1938, the Reichskriegsminister and Wehrmachtsamt were abolished by Adolf Hitler and their duties transferred to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. Minister of DefenceMinister of War Heads of the Ministeramt Heads of the Wehrmachtamt Heads of the Army Command Commander-in-chief of the Army Chief of the Admiralty Heads of the Naval Command Commander-in-chief of the Navy Article on adlexikon.de
German cruiser Deutschland
Deutschland was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine, she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Classified as an armored ship by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. In 1940, she was renamed Lützow, after the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Lützow was handed over to the Soviet Union; the ship saw significant action with the Kriegsmarine, including several non-intervention patrols in the Spanish Civil War, during which she was attacked by Republican bombers. At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic. Bad weather hampered her efforts, she only sank or captured a handful of vessels before returning to Germany, she participated in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway.
Damaged at the Battle of Drøbak Sound, she was recalled to Germany for repairs. While en route, she was torpedoed and damaged by a British submarine. Repairs were completed by March 1941, Lützow returned to Norway to join the forces arrayed against Allied shipping to the Soviet Union, she ran aground during a planned attack on convoy PQ 17, which necessitated another return to Germany for repairs. She next saw action at the Battle of the Barents Sea with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which ended with a failure to destroy the convoy JW 51B. Engine problems forced a series of repairs culminating in a complete overhaul at the end of 1943, after which the ship remained in the Baltic. Sunk in shallow waters in the Kaiserfahrt in April 1945 by Royal Air Force bombers, Lützow was used as a gun battery to support German troops fighting the Soviet Army until 4 May 1945, when she was disabled by her crew. Raised by the Soviet Navy in 1947, she was subsequently sunk as a target in the Baltic. Deutschland was 186 meters long overall and had a beam of 20.69 m and a maximum draft of 7.25 m.
The ship had a design displacement of 12,630 t and a full load displacement of 14,290 long tons, though the ship was stated to be within the 10,000 long tons limit of the Treaty of Versailles. Deutschland was powered by four sets of MAN 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines; the ship's top speed was 28 knots, at 54,000 shaft horsepower. At a cruising speed of 20 knots, the ship could steam for 10,000 nautical miles; as designed, her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men, though after 1935 this was increased to 30 officers and 921–1,040 sailors. Deutschland's primary armament was six 28 cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure; the ship carried a secondary battery of eight 15 cm SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Her anti-aircraft battery consisted of three 8.8 cm L/45 guns, though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8.8 cm L/78 guns. In 1940, the 8.8 cm guns were removed, six 10.5 cm L/65 guns, four 3.7 cm guns, ten 2 cm guns were installed in their place.
By the end of the war, her anti-aircraft battery had again been reorganized, consisting of six 4 cm guns, ten 3.7 cm guns, twenty-eight 2 cm guns. The ship carried a pair of quadruple 53.3 cm deck-mounted torpedo launchers placed on her stern. The ship was equipped with one catapult. Deutschland's armored belt was 60 to 80 mm thick; the main battery turrets had 80 mm thick sides. Radar consisted of a FMG G "Seetakt" set. Deutschland was ordered by the Reichsmarine from the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel as Ersatz Preussen, a replacement for the old battleship Preussen, her keel was laid on 5 February 1929, under construction number 219. The ship was launched on 19 May 1931; the ship accidentally started sliding down the slipway while Brüning was giving his christening speech. After the completion of fitting out work, initial sea trials began in November 1932; the ship was commissioned into the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1933. Deutschland spent the majority of 1934 conducting training maneuvers. Trials were completed by December 1933, the ship was ready for active service with the fleet.
The ship made a series of goodwill visits to foreign ports, including visits to Gothenburg, in October 1934, a formal state visit to Edinburgh, Scotland. In April 1934, Adolf Hitler visited the ship; the ship conducted a series of long-distance training voyages into the Atlantic in 1935. In March 1935, she sailed as far as the South American waters. After returning to Germany, she went into dock for routine maintenance work, as well as installation of additional equipment, she had her aircraft catapult installed in this period, was provided with two Heinkel He 60 floatplanes. Deutschland participated in fleet maneuvers in German waters in early 1936, she was joined by her newly
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of a bay of the North Sea. Wilhelmshaven is the centre of the "JadeBay" business region; the adjacent Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park provides the basis for the major tourism industry in the region. The Siebethsburg castle, built before 1383, operated as a pirate stronghold. Four centuries the Kingdom of Prussia planned a fleet and a harbour on the North Sea. In 1853, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, a cousin of the Prussian King Frederick William IV, arranged the Jade Treaty with the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, in which Prussia and the Grand Duchy entered into a contract whereby Oldenburg ceded 3.13 square kilometres of its territory at the Jade Bight to Prussia. In 1869 King William I of Prussia founded the town as an exclave of the Province of Hanover and a naval base for Prussia's developing fleet. All the hinterland of the city remained as part of the Duchy of Oldenburg. A shipbuilding yard developed at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven.
On 30 June 1934 the "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee was launched at Wilhelmshaven. In 1937 Wilhelmshaven and Rüstringen merged and the united city, named Wilhelmshaven, became a part of the Free State of Oldenburg. In World War II, Allied bombing destroyed two thirds of the town's buildings while the main target Naval Shipyard Wilhelmshaven remained operational despite serious damage. On 28 April 1945, the Canadian First Army captured Emden and Wilhelmshaven and took the surrender of the entire garrison, including some 200 ships of the Kriegsmarine; the Poles remained as part of the allied occupation forces until 1947. During World War II Alter Banter Weg functioned as a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. In 1947 the city council decided to seek a new emblem for the city. After the Control Commission for Germany - British Element had rejected several designs, Wilhelmshaven selected the image of a Frisian warrior, designed after a nail man erected in the city during the First World War to collect war donations.
Between 1947 and 1972 Wilhelmshaven was the home of PRINCE RUPERT SCHOOL, a comprehensive boarding school for children of British Army and RAF personnel serving with BAOR. The school relocated to Rinteln in 1972. There is an active association of former Wilhelmshaven pupils called The Wilhelmshaven Association. After World War II the shipyard was disarmed under the British Commander in Chief, of course many military buildings were damaged or vacant. While it was prohibited to develop any kind of military linked business Wilhelmshaven took the chance to establish a convenient location for the Olympia Werke which become one of the most popular and quality typewriter factories in the world. In 1953 7000 worker were employed. Largest groups of foreign residents Wilhelmshaven is Germany's only deep-water port, its largest naval base. Concerning the new plans for the Bundeswehr which took shape in 2011 it has become the largest military base in Germany as well; the benefits of the deep shipping channel were recognised at the end of the 1950s with the construction of the first oil tanker jetty.
Wilhelmshaven has been the most important German import terminal for crude oil since. Pipelines from here supply refineries in Hamburg. Other major business operations followed, constructed jetties for crude oil and oil products and chemical products. One of the main industrial sectors in Wilhelmshaven is the port industry with its wharves, sea port service companies, service providers and repair businesses and handling businesses, agencies, etc; the "JadeWeserPort" – Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven, operational since 2012 and the development of the neighbouring Freight Village provide prospects for employment in areas such as logistics and distribution. In 2016 Eurogate increased transhipment volume up to 480.000 Container. And since Volkswagen is interested in using the deep-water facilities the number of employed workers is assumed to rise from 400 to 600. Another element of the "Wilhelmshaven energy hub" programme is the chemical industry, as well as power generation; the German defence forces together with the public sector, are the main pillars of the local employment market.
The Jadestadion, the stadium of Regionalliga Nord club SV Wilhelmshaven Aquarium Wilhelmshaven, located on the Helgolandkai – a view of the oceans and underwater habitats around the world. The Botanischer Garten der Stadt Wilhelmshaven, a municipal botanical garden; the Deutsches Marinemuseum, whose main exhibits are the former German Navy destroyer Mölders, a submarine, some smaller warships as well as an exhibition of German naval history from the 19th century onwards. UNESCO World Heritage Site Wadden Sea Visitor center; the large permanent interactive exhibition provides insight into the wadden sea environment. One of the special displays is the 14-metre-long skeleton of a sperm whale which beached on the island of Baltrum in 1994 and weighed 39 tonnes when alive; the whale's organs were plastinized by Gunther von Hagens. The Küstenmuseum; the exhibition displays a broad spectrum of the past and future of the coast. The Bontekai, city harbor jetty, featuring the former light v
M-class minesweeper (Germany)
The M class were the standard minesweeper of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The vessels were the primary force in Germany's harbor defense command and were organized administratively into minesweeper flotillas. A total of 36 old units from World War I served in World War II; some of these were converted to experimental ships, artillery school ships, fleet tenders or R-boat tenders, 1 was converted into a survey ship. In 1940, most of these converted vessels were re-designated as minesweepers again; the first series. These ships proved seaworthy; the vessels could undertake convoy escort, anti-submarine warfare and minelaying tasks as well as minesweeping. However, the ships were expensive and complicated to build, their oil-fired boilers meant they suffered from the fuel shortages in the years of the war. A total of 69 ships were built in eight different shipyards, between 1937 and 1941. 34 were lost during the war. Although the M1935 was a satisfactory vessel, it was complex and expensive to build and a simplified design was put into production in 1941.
These ships had coal-fired boilers because of oil shortages. A total of 127 ships were built between 1941 and 1944, 63 M1940 class ships were sunk during the war. Four vessels of this type were launched for the Romanian Navy in 1943 as the Democrația class, they were built locally from German materials. These Romanian warships had a standard displacement of 543 tons and a full load displacement of 775 tons, they measured 62 meters with a beam of 8.5 meters and a draught of 2.3 meters. Armament consisted of two 88 mm guns plus one twin 37 mm and three single 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as two depth charge throwers. Two-shaft triple-expansion coal engines generated an output of 2,400 hp resulting in a top speed of 17 knots and a range 1,043 nautical miles at that speed; each of the four vessels had a crew of 80. In 1951, their power plants were converted to oil; the four ships were commissioned post-war, between 1953 and 1955. This was a further simplified and enlarged version of the M1940; these ships were designed for pre-fabrication and were produced in four versions: Minesweeper Anti-submarine vessel with extra depth charges Torpedo boat, with two 533 mm torpedo tubes Torpedo training vesselOnly 18 vessels were completed by the time the war ended.
After the end of the war the surviving ships allocated to the United States and the Soviet Union. Many were assigned to the German Mine Sweeping Administration under British control to clear the coast of Northern Europe of mines. Several were also given to France and Norway, two to Italy. Eleven of the ships were returned to Germany in 1956/57 and were recommissioned into the Bundesmarine. Fourteen M1940-type minesweepers were built for the Spanish Navy in Spanish shipyards. Seven of them were modernised with some help from the US Navy and served in the Spanish Navy for more than thirty years. R boat, for smaller German minesweepers Sperrbrecher for another type of German World War 2 minesweeper Notes Bibliography Online sourcesMine hunter M1935, at German Navy website Mine hunter M1940, at German Navy website Mine hunter M1943, at German Navy website Groener, Erich. German Warships, 1815-1945: U-Boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-301-5. Retrieved May 6, 2014
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