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Berlin History
Berlin’s history started in Stone Age, and the history of modern Berlin started in the 13th century with the founding of the trading posts of Berlin and Cölln by itinerant merchants in the area of today's Nikolaiviertel, in the Mitte district. In the 1440s, Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg established the rule of the Hohenzollern dynasty, which was to last until Kaiser Wilhelm II's escape from Potsdam in 1918. Berlin's importance increased in 1470, when the elector moved his residence there from Brandenburg and built a palace near the present Marx-Engels-Platz. The Great Elector's son, Friedrich I, the first Prussian king, made the fast-growing Berlin his capital, and his daughter-in-law Sophie Charlotte encouraged the development of the arts and sciences and presided over a lively and intellectual court. Friedrich II sought greatness through building and was known for his political and military savvy. Berlin was an industrial giant before WWI and aftermath the revolt broke throughout Germany. In January 1919 the Berlin Spartacists Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were murdered by remnants of the old imperial army, which entered the city and brought the revolution to a bloody end. In August 1945 the Potsdam Conference sealed the fate of the city by finalising plans for each of the victorious powers - the USA, Britain, Germany and the Soviet Union - to occupy a separate zone. In June 1948 the city was split in two when the three western Allies introduced a western German currency and established a separate administration in their sectors. On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall opened, and on 1 July 1990 the Wall was being hacked to pieces. The Unification Treaty between the two Germanys designated Berlin the official capital of Germany, and in June 1991 the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin over the next decade.
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