"munich, germany" a Munich Travel Page by doug48

the area around munich was orignally settled by the germanic tribe called the baiuvarri in the 5th century BC. in 17AD this area was the site of a roman army post. in the 8th century benedictine monks moved into the area and munich was called ze den munichen, (with the monks). that name has remained until today. in 1156 frederick barbarossa, the ruler of the holy roman empire gave the duchy of bavaria to his cousin heinrich der lowe, ( henry the lion) who ruled bavaria for the next 30 years. barbarossa later handed over the rule of bavaria to count otto von wittelsbach which began a 800 year wittelsbach dynasty. in 1400 the wittelsbachs built a fortress on the site of today's residenz in central munich. in 1517 the plague hit munich which inspired the schaffertanz, (plague dance) which is reinacted today by the figures in the glockenspiel at the neu rathaus.

during martin luther's protestant reformation the catholic bavarian duke wilhelm IV clamped down on the protestants. in 1522 a protestant was beheaded at the marienplatz and most of munich's protestants fled the city. in 1583 duke wilhelm V declared that only the catholic faith was permitted in bavaria and munich became the center of the counter-reformation. in 1632 bavaria was invaded by sweden. elector maximilian was forced to pay a ransom to the king of sweden to avoid a seige of munich. the mariensaule, (st. mary's column) was erected on the marienplatz to thank god for saving munich from the plague and the swedes. in 1800 napoleon laid seige to munich which forced elector max joseph to form an alliance with france against austria. this alliance brought about the end of the holy roman empire. to show his gratitude for the alliance napolean made max joseph the king of bavaria. bavaria's most interesting king was ludwig II or "mad king ludwig". ludwig built several fanciful castles, the most famous being neuschwanstein near fussen. these projects bankrupted the bavarian treasury and in 1886 ludwig was arrested. shortly thereafter ludwig drowned in lake starnberg which is still a mystery today. ironically ludwig's castles are bavaria's most popular tourist attractions today.

in the early 20th century the government of bavaria was in constant turmoil. the republic of bavaria had several presidents and munich became the center of communist activity in southern germany. lenin spent time in the schwabling district of munich prior to the russian revolution. this communist activity helped give rise to the nazi party. during WWI a group of right wing anti-semitics formed the thulegesellschaft, (the thule society) which met at the bar of the hotel jahreszeiten in munich. the founding members of the group were rudolph von sebottendorff, karl haushofer, and dietrich eckart. eckart would soon become adolf hitler's mentor and would introduce him to the german worker party. in 1923 a group of nazis led by adolf hitler tried to over throw the communist bavarian government led by gustav von kahr. the putsh failed but this debacle made hitler nationally famous. during the twelve years of the third reich munich was the unoffical capitol of germany.

a good gude book for munich is "munich" lonely planet guides. pub: lonely planet publications.
two definative works on nazi germany and adolf hitler are, william l. shirer, "rise and fall of the third reich" pub: simon & schuster. john toland, "adolf hitler" pub:doubleday.
an interesting site to visit to see before and after pictures of nazi munich is www.thirdreichruins.com