Timeline of Key Events in Germany

Instead of focusing on everything that’s ever happened in Germany, I thought that I’d just touch on the most recent key events that have shaped Germany to be what it is today. 

1848 - 1849 The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states  

1848 Frankfurt Parliament convenes

1848 - 1851 First Schleswig War

1863 Social Democratic Party of Germany formed

1867 North German Confederation formed after collapse of German Confederation

1871 German Empire proclaimed from North German Confederation.

1882 Triple Alliance

1884 Berlin Conference

1889 Hitler born

1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

1914 - 1918 World War I

1918 End of Dreiklassenwahlrecht; universal suffrage introduced (women get the vote for the first time)

1919 Treaty of Versailles

1919–1933 Weimar Republic

1920 Kapp Putsch

1923 Munich Putsch

        Ruhr Crisis

1924 Dawes Plan

1925 Locarno Treaties

1925 - Joins the League of Nations

1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany; Gleichschaltung

1933 - 1945 Nazi Germany (Third Reich)

1939 - 1945 World War II (see also Timeline of World War II)

1945 Potsdam Conference

1946 U.S. Restatement of Policy on Germany

1946 Party of Democratic Socialism formed

1948 Deutsche Mark introduced Free Democratic Party formed

1948 - 1949 Berlin Blockade

1949 German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany formed

1953 Uprising of 1953 in East Germany                                                       

1955 Federal Republic joins NATO; GDR joins Warsaw Pact

1961 Berlin Wall is built                                    

1964 National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) formed

1967 - 1968 German student movement

1970s - 1998 Red Army Faction operates

1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin 

1972 Basic Treaty between West and East Germany

1972 Palestinian terrorists cause Munich Massacre

1973 East and West Germany join United Nations

1989 Berlin Wall falls

1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany 

1991 Berlin named new capital

1993 Germany signs Maastricht Treaty leading to the creation of the European Union

2002 Euro notes and coins introduced and replace Deutsche Mark as everyday currency

All links will directly lead you to the corresponding Wikipedia page that discusses the  particular event.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_German_history, http://countryreports.org/history/timeline.aspx?countryId=91