Timeline: events in West Germany 1945-1991

Question 1

Licensing of official parties for the western zones of occupation begins

Answer 1

August 1945

Question 2

Washington Treaty on the economic unification of the British and American zones

Answer 2

December 1946

Question 3

Economic Council of the Bizone set up

Answer 3

June 1947

Question 4

Currency reform in the Western zones

Answer 4

June 1948

Question 5

West German constitutional conference

Answer 5

August 1948

Question 6

Setting up of the Parlimentary council in Bonn

Answer 6

September 1948

Question 7

Promulgation (declaration) of the Basic Law for the FRG

Answer 7

May 1949

Question 8

Election of the first German Bundestag

Answer 8

August 1949

Question 9

Election of Konrad Adenaur (CDU) as Federal Chancellor

Answer 9

September 1949

Question 10

End of food rationing in the FRG

Answer 10

January 1950

Question 11

Bundestag passes law on co-determination in the steel and coalmining industries

Answer 11

April 1951

Question 12

Treaty of Paris allows the FRG to join NATO and permit West German rearmament

Answer 12

October 1954

Question 13

Bundestag election, absolute majority for CDU/CSU

Answer 13

September 1957

Question 14

Spiegel Affair, leads to resignation of the Federal Defense Minister Franz-Josef Strauss

Answer 14

October 1962

Question 15

Resignation of Chancellor Konrad Adenaur, election of Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard as his successor

Answer 15

October 1963

Question 16

Formation of grand coalition between CDU/CSU and SPD under Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger

Answer 16

December 1966

Question 17

Murder of the student leader Rudi Dutschke, ‘Easter Riots’ in Berlin and other West German cities

Answer 17

April 1968

Question 18

Bundestag elections, considerable gains made by the SPD

Answer 18

September 1969

Question 19

SPD Chairman Willy Brandt elected Chancellor; formation of an SPD/FDP federal government

Answer 19

October 1969

Question 20

Signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in Moscow

Answer 20

August 1970

Question 21

Signing of the German-Polish Treaty in Warsaw

Answer 21

December 1970

Question 22

Chancellor Willy Brandt receives the Nobel Peace Prize

Answer 22

December 1971

Question 23

Ratification (approval) of the Moscow and Warsaw treaties by the Bundestag

Answer 23

May 1972

Question 24

Bundestag elections: SPD and the FDP gain a clear majority

Answer 24

November 1972

Question 25

Resignation of Chancellor Willy Brandt

Answer 25

May 1974

Question 26

Election of Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt (SPD) as Chancellor; renewal of the SPD/FDP Coalition

Answer 26

May 1974

Question 27

Kidnap/murder of the president of the employer's federation, Hanns-Martin Schleyer; hijack of the Luftthansa plane; liberation of the hostages in Mogadishu; suicide of the terrorists Baader, Ensslin and Raspe

Answer 27

September/October 1977

Question 28

Visit by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to Moscow

Answer 28

June 1980

Question 29

Replacement of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and the SPD minority government by a CDU/CSU/FDP coalition under chancellor Helmut Kohl

Answer 29

October 1982

Question 30

Bundestag elections: CDU/CSU and FDP gain absolute majority; The Greens represented in the Bundestag

Answer 30

March 1983

Question 31

The German Budestag re-elects Helmut Kohl as the Federal Chancellor

Answer 31

March 1983