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Bavaria "Bayern"
The Free State of Bavaria forms the southernmost state of Germany and Its capital is Munich. Bavaria's history dates back to the 6th century. The region north of the Alps was inhabited by Celts and was part of the Roman Empire until Slavonic tribes from the East, the so-called 'Bayuvaren' or "Baiuoarii" invaded it in the 6th century A.D. and set up the duchy to which they gave their name. Saint Boniface converted the people to Christianity in the early 8th century and later Bavaria resisted the Protestant Reformation, and remained strongly Roman Catholic. From about 550 to 788, Bavaria was one of the five basic duchies of medieval Germany. In 788, Charlemagne added Bavaria to his empire when he deposed Tassilo III who was then the duke of Bavaria. From 817 to 911, Bavaria was ruled by the Carolingians. In 911 the duchy was comprised of Bavaria proper, present-day Austria, and part of the Upper Palatinate. Emperor Otto I in 947 gave Bavaria to his brother Henry. In 1002 Henry's grandson, who was the duke of Bavaria, was elected a German king as Henry II. After his accession to the throne Bavaria was ruled by various houses, but in 1070 Emperor Henry IV gave the fief to Guelph, who began the dynasty of the Guelphs. One of the most important dukes to hold the duchyof Bavaria was Henry "the Lion" of the house of Welf, who was the founder of Munich. But then, in 1180 When Henry "the Lion" was deposed as duke of Bavaria and Saxony by his cousin, Frederick I, the Holy Roman Emperor awarded Bavaria as fief to the Wittelsbach family, which ruled from 1180 to 1918. The Wittelsbach fiefs, including the Rhenish Palatinate acquired in 1214, were almost always divided among the numerous branches of the dynasty. The first of several divisions of the duchy occurred in 1255. Under the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV who reigned from 1328 to 1347, Bavaria was briefly reunited. but in 1506 Bavaria was reunited and Munich became the sole capital. Duke Albert IV who reigned from 1467 to1508, again united Bavaria, except the Rhenish Palatinate, introduced the law of primogeniture, thus Bavaria entered the Reformation period much strengthened. This law is the common tradition of inheritance by the first-born of the entirety of a parent's wealth, estate or office or in the absence of children, by collateral relatives, in order of seniority. Catholicism in Bavaria proper was crucial for its later history. Duke Maximilian I, who reigned from 1597 to 1651, headed the Catholic League in the Thirty Years War and was rewarded with the Upper Palatinate and the rank of elector. In 1623 the dukes replaced their relative, the Count Palatine of the Rhine in the early days of the Thirty Years War and acquired the powerful prince-electoral dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws.
After the rise of Prussia to prominence, Bavaria managed to preserve its independence by playing off the rivalries of Prussia and Austria. Then in 1866 the Austro-Prussian War, also called the Seven Weeks' War, the Unification War, or the German Civil War, broke out. This was a war fought between the Austrian Empire and its German allies and Prussia with its German and Italian allies.
Most of the German states sided with Austria against Prussia, which was perceived as the aggressor. These included Saxony, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hanover, Hesse and Nassau.
Some of the northern German states joined Prussia, in particular Oldenburg, Mecklenburg and Brunswick. Also, Italy joined with Prussia, because Austria still ruled the territory of Venetia that the Kingdom of Italy wanted in order to complete Italian unification.
However, In order to forestall intervention by France or Russia, Bismarck persuaded the king of Prussia to make peace with the Austrians, rather than continue the war in hopes of further gains. The Austrians agreed to making peace and accepted mediation from France's Napoleon III. The Treaty of Prague on August 23, 1866 resulted in the dissolution of the German Confederation and the permanent exclusion of Austria from German affairs. This left Prussia free to form the North German Confederation the next year, incorporated all the German states north of the Main river. Prussia chose not to seek Austrian territory for itself, and this made it possible for Prussia and Austria to ally in the future, since Austria was threatened more by Italy than by Prussia.
The war left Prussia dominant in Germany, and German nationalism would compel the remaining independent states to ally with Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. This led to the German Empire, which was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18, 1871 and to Wilhelm I, the king of Prussia to become the German Emperor as Kaiser Wilhelm I. The new united Germany would become one of the most powerful of the European countries.
 Beginning in 1884 Germany established several colonies. The young emperor's foreign policy was opposed to that of Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, who had established a system of alliances securing Germany's position as a great nation, isolating France with diplomatic means, and avoiding war since 1871. Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling both the German Empire and Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. Under Wilhelm II Germany took an imperialistic course leading to friction with neighbouring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had been previously involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country. France established new relations with the United Kingdom, and made ties with Russia while Austria-Hungary and Germany became increasingly isolated. Ludwig III, King of Bavaria, was the last King of Bavaria from 1913 to 1918. He joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, at the height of World War I, and was convicted of treason in 1918 for his role in inciting a strike of munitions workers. After his release from prison, he organized the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria. He declared Bavaria to be a free state and republic on November 9, 1918, becoming the first republican premier of Bavaria. He was defeated in the February 1919 election, and was assassinated in Munich when Count Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot at him on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament. In 1919 the socialist premier, Kurt Eisner, who deposed King Ludwig III, was assassinated in 1919 leading to a communist revolt. In 1923 right wing extremist activity increased and Munich and Nuremberg became Nazi strongholds under the Third Reich. As a manufacturing center, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and occupied by U.S. troops. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, a German-Army officer who was the central figure in the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944, was born in Jettingen, Bavaria. Since World War II, Bavaria has been rehabilitated into a prosperous industrial hub. A massive reconstruction effort restored much of Munich's historic core. More recently, state minister-president Edmund Stoiber was the candidate for chancellor in the 2002 federal election, and native son Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Bavaria shares international borders with Austria and the Czech Republic as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance). Neighbouring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state, the Danube (Donau) and the Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria, and within the range is the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze. The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth and Erlangen.
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