FRANKFURT: A BRIEF HISTORY

After the Saxons defeated Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, at the start of the 8th century, he left west with his remaining troops, and when he came to the river Main, he found it impassable until he saw a deer crossing the river by a ford (furt). The Franks (Franken) did what the deer had done and crossed the river and so escaped capture from the Saxons. Because they were so delighted to escape with their lives, Charlemagne decided to build a fortress to defend the ford. This town he built was called Frankenfurt.

This area was also taken by the Romans way before this and later by the Alemanians and then by Charlemagne’s Franks.

Frankfurt was always noted as being a very important market and trading center since biblical times. It had its first annual trade fair in 1240 and its first book fair was held in 1480. Frankfurt was also the place for the determination of the next King of Germany. The first King of Germany was elected in Frankfurt in 1148. It was a free town in 1370 and 10 Kings were crowned in the Dom after 1561. In around 1320 the population was about 10,000 and it was too populated, so they built a new city wall complete with protection moats, fortresses in 1334.

In 1749 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt and studied law here in the city. You can visit his house here in Frankfurt.

During the French Revolution in and around 1790, Frankfurt decided to support the Royalists and because of this, the city was brutally savaged by the Napoleonic soldiers in the following years. After The Napoleonic Empire collapsed in 1814, Frankfurt became the permanent seat of the Council of German Federation. The first German National Assembly gathered together in the district area of Pauls Kirche.

In 1867 while during the Prussian/ Austrian war, the Prussian troops took over neutral Frankfurt and burnt the Cathedral to the ground. The German second Reich was founded in 1871 and this led to an economic book in Frankfurt, with the building of bridges, water and sewage systems built and installed, and enterprises founded. The Alte Oper was built in all its glory as well as the Hauptbahnhof. Many of the surrounding villages in the area were gobbled up in Frankfurt’s need for expansion.

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