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March 31 in German History
--------------------------------- March 31, 1567
Death of Philip, Landgraf of Hesse, in
Kassel, Germany. Philip became convinced that freedom for
Protestantism could also be linked to greater independence
for rulers such as he. He also realized that alliances would
be needed. He formed the first alliance in 1526 with the
Elector of Saxony and others followed. Philip thus became the
leader of the Protestant princes against the Emperor, Karl V.
By 1531 6 princes and 10 towns had come into the
"Schmalkaldic League" which became a magnet for
enemies of the Habsburgs. By 1534 he had broken Austria's
power in southern Germany. In 1546, however, the Emperor
attacked successfully. Philip gave himself over to the mercy
of the emperor and was imprisoned. Others, however, rose up
and the struggle went on. Finally the Peace of Augusburg of
1555 ended the conflicts for a time and Protestants gained
legal rights in the empire.
March 31, 1732
Birth of Franz Joseph Haydn in Rohrau,
Austria. Haydn was the first of the great Viennese
Classicists. He was one of the musicians who established the
forms of the string quartet and the symphony. His first
appointment was as musical director for the Bohemian count
Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin. In that position he wrote
his first symphony. In 1761 he was appointed at the castle of
Prince Pal Antal Esterhazy in Eisenstadt, Austria. In 1766 he
became the musical director at the Esterhazy court. It was in
that capacity that he befriended Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In
1791 Haydn accepted a commission and moved to London. In 1792
he moved on to Germany. In Bonn he met a young Ludwig van
Beethoven and arranged for Beethoven to move to Vienna to
study with Haydn. Later in 1792 he returned to Vienna. Haydn
died in Vienna in 1809.
March 31, 1819
Birth of Chlodwig Karl Viktor Fürst zu
Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in Rotenburg an der Fulda,
Germany. He was the chancellor of the German Empire from 1894
to 1900 during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was
replaced by Bernhard von Bülow in October 1900.
March 31, 1860
Birth of Isidor Traube in Hildesheim,
Germany. Traube was a physical chemist at the Technische
Hochschule, Berlin until 1939 when he immigrated to Great
Britain and took a post at the University of Edinburgh. He
founded capillary chemistry and did extensive work on
Liquids.
March 31, 1895
Death of Georg von Dollmann in Munich,
Germany. Dollmann was the architect employed by Ludwig II of
Bavaria to build his (now very popular tourist attractions)
palaces, Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof.
March 31, 1811
Birth of Robert Bunsen in Göttingen,
Germany. Bunsen gave his name to the Bunsen burner, developed
spectroanalysis, and discovered the elements rubidium and
cesium. He invented the filter pump, the ice calorimeter and
the vapor calorimeter. He was a professor of chemistry at the
University of Heidelberg.
March 31, 1895
Death of Georg von Dollmann in Munich,
Germany. Dollmann was the architect employed by Ludwig II of
Bavaria to build his (now very popular tourist attractions)
palaces, Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof.
March 31, 1917
Death of Emil von Behring in Marburg,
Germany. Behring, is the founder of the modern science of
immunology. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize for
Physiology of Medicine for his work on serum therapy. Behring
did research at the Robert Koch institute in Berlin and
taught at the universities of Halle and Marburg. While at the
Koch institute he discovered a method of providing immunity
to tetanus with a serum. He also discovered a method of
treating diphtheria.
March 31, 1939
Formal French and British guarantees
presented to Poland. German's subsequent attack on Poland
brought France and Britain into war against Germany and
initiated World War II.
March 31, 1939
Birth of Volker Schlöndorff in Wiesbaden,
Germany. Schlöndorff is one of the leading film directors in
Germany. Significant films by Schlöndorff are Der junge
Törless (1966), Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum
(1973), Die Fälschung (1981) and Swann in Love
(1984). His Die Blechtrommel of 1979 won the
Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival and in the U.
S. the Academy Award for the best foreign film.
March 31, 1945
Death in Munich, Germany of Hans Fischer,
physician and professor of medical chemistry at the
University of Munich. Fischer won the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry in 1930 for research on hemin in blood and
chlorophyll in plants.
March 31, 2000
The German ministry of justice has
determined that drunkenness will no longer be an excuse. It
had been a tradition that crimes committed while under the
influence of alcohol were sentenced more mildly than in other
circumstances.
March 31, 2000
At its annual meeting the jury of the
German Academy of Language and Literature designated the 2000
Büchner Prize winner as Volker Braun. Braun was a writer of
the earlier East Germany who is noted for such works as Die
Kipper, Übergangsgesellschaft, Transit Europa, Lenins Tod,
Hinze-Kunze-Roman, Lustgarten Preußen and Tumulus. After
the reunification he had success with the novel Der
Wendehals.
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