Editing Frankfurt (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Frankfurt am Main}}
{{For timeline}}

{{Quote box
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| title = Timeline of Frankfurt am Main<br /><small>historical affiliations</small>
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| quote = {{Noflag|[[Roman Empire]]}}, pre 475<br />
{{Noflag|[[Francia]]}}, ca. 475–843<br />
{{Noflag|[[East Francia]]}}, 843–962<br />
{{flagicon image|Heiliges Römisches Reich - Reichssturmfahne vor 1433 (Nimbierter Adler).svg}} [[Holy Roman Empire]], 962–1806<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Free City of Frankfurt.svg}} [[Free City of Frankfurt]], 1372–1806<br />
{{flagicon image|Banner of the Electorate of Mainz.svg}} [[Grand Duchy of Frankfurt]], 1806–1813 <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Free City of Frankfurt.svg}} [[Free City of Frankfurt]], 1813–1866<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg}} [[Kingdom of Prussia]], 1866–1918<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Germany (1867–1918).svg}} [[German Empire]], 1871–1918 <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg}} [[Weimar Republic]], 1918–1933 <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg}} [[Nazi Germany|German Reich]], 1933–1945<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg}} [[American occupation zone in Germany|American occupation zone]], 1945–1949<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg}} [[West Germany]], 1949–1990 <br />
{{flag|Germany}}, 1990–present
}}

===Early history and Holy Roman Empire===
At the western borders of Frankfurt lies the [[Michelsberg culture#Settlements|Kapellenberg]] as part of the Taunus with one of the first Stone Age cities in Europe.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.leiza.de/en/research/project-4/the-onset-of-urbanisation-in-the-rhine-main-region-6000-years-ago | title=LEIZA: The onset of urbanisation in the Rhine-Main region 6,000 years ago | access-date=17 December 2023 | archive-date=13 March 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313223529/https://www.leiza.de/en/research/project-4/the-onset-of-urbanisation-in-the-rhine-main-region-6000-years-ago | url-status=live }}</ref> The Celts had different settlements in the Taunus mountains north of Frankfurt, the biggest one the [[Heidetrank Oppidum]]. The first traces of [[Germania|Roman settlements]] established in the area of the [[Nidda River|river Nidda]] date to the reign of Emperor [[Vespasian]] in the years 69 to 79 AD. [[Nida (Roman town)|Nida]] (modern [[Heddernheim]], [[Praunheim]]) was a Roman [[civitas]] capital (''Civitas Taunensium'').

[[Alemanni]] and Franks [[Francia|lived there]], and by 794, [[Charlemagne]] presided over an [[Council of Frankfurt|imperial assembly]] and church synod, at which ''Franconofurd'' (alternative spellings end with -furt and -{{Not a typo|vurd}}) was first mentioned. It was one of the two capitals of Charlemagne's grandson [[Louis the German]], together with [[Regensburg]]. Louis founded the [[collegiate church]], rededicated in 1239 to [[Bartholomew the Apostle]] and now [[Frankfurt Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Rolf Grosse |title=Du royaume franc aux origines de la France et de l'Allemagne 800–1214 |publisher=Presses Universitaires du Septentrion |date=2014 |page=47}}</ref>

Frankfurt was one of the most important cities in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. From 855, the [[German kings]] were elected and crowned in [[Aachen]]. From 1562, the kings and [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|emperors were crowned]] and [[Imperial election|elected]] in Frankfurt, initiated for [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian II]]. This tradition ended in 1792, when [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] was elected. His coronation was deliberately held on [[Bastille Day]], 14 July, the anniversary of the [[storming of the Bastille]]. The elections and coronations took place in [[Frankfurt Cathedral|St. Bartholomäus Cathedral]], known as the {{lang|de|Kaiserdom}} (Emperor's Cathedral), or its predecessors.

The {{lang|de|[[Messe Frankfurt|Frankfurter Messe]]}} ('Frankfurt Trade Fair') was first mentioned in 1150. In 1240, [[Emperor Frederick II]] granted an imperial privilege to its visitors, meaning they would be protected by the empire. The fair became particularly important when similar fairs in French Beaucaire lost attraction around 1380. [[Frankfurt Book Fair|Book trade fairs]] began in 1478.

In 1372, Frankfurt became a {{lang|de|Reichsstadt}} ([[Imperial Free City]]), i.e., directly subordinate to the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman.

In 1585, Frankfurt traders established a system of [[exchange rate]]s for the various currencies that were circulating to prevent cheating and extortion. Therein lay the early roots for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Frankfurt managed to remain neutral during the [[Thirty Years' War]], but suffered from the [[bubonic plague]] that refugees brought to the city. After the war, Frankfurt regained its wealth. In the late 1770s the theater principal [[Abel Seyler]] was based in Frankfurt, and established the city's theatrical life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mohr |first=Albert Richard |author-link=Albert Richard Mohr |year=1967 |chapter=Abel Seyler und seine Verdienste um das Frankfurter Theaterleben |title=Frankfurter Theater von der Wandertruppe zum Komödienhaus: ein Beitrag zur Theatergeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts |location=Frankfurt am Main |publisher=Kramer |pages=66–81}}</ref>
<gallery mode=packed heights="200px">
Mk Frankfurt Merian Stadtansicht.jpg|Frankfurt in 1612
Frankfurt Am Main-Peter Becker-BAAF-032-Aussicht vom Steinernen Haus in der Judengasse nach Westen-1872.jpg|Frankfurt in 1872
Hertel Kaiserplatz von Osten um 1880.jpg|Kaiserplatz, {{circa|1880}}
</gallery>

===Impact of French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars===
Following the [[French Revolution]], Frankfurt was occupied or bombarded several times by French troops. It remained a [[Free imperial city|Free city]] until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805/6. In 1806, it became part of the [[principality of Aschaffenburg]] under the {{lang|de|Fürstprimas}} ([[Prince-Primate]]), [[Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg]]. This meant that Frankfurt was incorporated into the [[Confederation of the Rhine]]. In 1810, Dalberg adopted the title of a [[Grand Duchy of Frankfurt|Grand Duke of Frankfurt]]. [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] intended to make his adopted son [[Eugène de Beauharnais]], already {{lang|fr|Prince de Venise}} ("[[prince of Venice]]", a newly established primogeniture in Italy), Grand Duke of Frankfurt after Dalberg's death (since the latter as a Catholic bishop had no legitimate heirs). The Grand Duchy remained a short episode lasting from 1810 to 1813 when the military tide turned in favor of the Anglo-Prussian-led allies that overturned the Napoleonic order. Dalberg abdicated in favor of Eugène de Beauharnais, which of course was only a symbolic action, as the latter effectively never ruled after the ruin of the French armies and Frankfurt's takeover by the allies.

===Frankfurt as a fully sovereign state===
After Napoleon's final defeat and abdication, the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814–1815) dissolved the grand-duchy and Frankfurt became a fully sovereign city-state with a republican form of government. Frankfurt entered the newly founded [[German Confederation]] (till 1866) as a free city, becoming the seat of its {{lang|de|Bundestag}}, the confederal parliament where the nominally presiding [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Emperor of Austria]] was represented by an Austrian "presidential envoy".

After the ill-fated [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|revolution of 1848]], Frankfurt was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, the [[Frankfurt Parliament]], which met in the {{lang|de|[[Frankfurter Paulskirche]]}} (St. Paul's Church) and was opened on 18 May 1848. In the year of its existence, the assembly developed a common constitution for a unified Germany, with the Prussian king as its monarch. The institution failed in 1849 when the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] king, [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]], declared that he would not accept "a crown from the gutter".

===Frankfurt after the loss of sovereignty===
[[File:Courbet Frankfurt.jpg|thumb|''View of Frankfurt am Main'', including the [[Alte Brücke (Frankfurt)|Alte Brücke]] (Old Bridge), by [[Gustave Courbet]] (1858)]]
Frankfurt lost its independence following the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866, when Prussia annexed several smaller states, including the [[Free City of Frankfurt]]. The city was subsequently incorporated into the Prussian province of [[Hesse-Nassau]]. The occupation and annexation were widely regarded in Frankfurt as a grave injustice, yet the city retained its distinctly Western European, urban, and cosmopolitan character. The formerly independent towns of [[Bornheim (Frankfurt am Main)|Bornheim]] and [[Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)|Bockenheim]] were incorporated in 1890.

In 1914, the citizens founded the University of Frankfurt, later named [[Goethe University Frankfurt]]. This marked the only civic foundation of a university in Germany; today it is one of Germany's largest.

From 6 April to 17 May 1920, following military intervention to put down the [[Ruhr uprising]], [[French occupation of Frankfurt|Frankfurt was occupied by French troops]].<ref>[http://www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de/service/chronik/chronik_5_2_e.html Chronology: Emergence of a Modern City 1866–1945] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085810/http://www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de/service/chronik/chronik_5_2_e.html |date=19 July 2011 }}. Retrieved 10 June 2010.</ref> The French claimed that Articles 42 to 44 of the [[Treaty of Versailles (1919)|peace treaty of Versailles]] concerning the demilitarization of the [[Rhine Province|Rhineland]] had been broken.<ref>{{cite news |title=French march into Germany |date=7 April 1920 |work=The Times |page=10}} "The French commander issued a notice to the public informing them that the occupation was consequent upon the German advance in the Ruhr contrary to the Peace Treaty."</ref> In 1924, [[Ludwig Landmann]] became the first Jewish mayor of the city, and led a significant expansion during the following years. During the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi era]], the synagogues of the city were destroyed and the vast majority of the Jewish population fled or was killed.<ref name="frankfurt-tourismus.de">{{cite web |title=Jüdische Geschichte |url=https://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/Entdecken-und-Erleben/Sehenswertes/Juedisches-Frankfurt/Juedische-Geschichte |website=frankfurt-tourismus.de |access-date=17 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171238/https://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/Entdecken-und-Erleben/Sehenswertes/Juedisches-Frankfurt/Juedische-Geschichte |url-status=live }}</ref>

During [[World War II]], Frankfurt was the location of a Nazi prison for underage girls with several [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camps,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1478|title=Frauenjugendgefängnis Frankfurt-Preungesheim|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=24 November 2023|language=de|archive-date=19 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819053746/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1478|url-status=live}}</ref> a camp for [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people]] (see ''[[Romani Holocaust]]''),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1473|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma Frankfurt am Main|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=24 November 2023|language=de|archive-date=19 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819053659/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1473|url-status=live}}</ref> the Dulag Luft West transit camp for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] prisoners of war,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=129|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> and a subcamp of the [[Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bundesrecht.juris.de/begdv_6/anlage_6.html|title=Anlage zu § 1. Verzeichnis der Konzentrationslager und ihrer Außenkommandos gemäß § 42 Abs. 2 BEG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423004151/http://bundesrecht.juris.de/begdv_6/anlage_6.html|language=de|access-date=24 November 2023|archive-date=23 April 2009}}</ref>

Frankfurt was severely [[Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II|bombed in World War II]] (1939–1945). About 5,500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once-famous [[Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)|medieval city center]], by that time one of the largest in Germany, was almost completely destroyed. It became a [[Battle of Frankfurt|ground battlefield]] on 26 March 1945, when the Allied advance into Germany was forced to take the city in contested urban combat that included a river assault. The [[5th Infantry Division (United States)|5th Infantry Division]] and the [[6th Armored Division (United States)|6th Armored Division]] of the [[United States Army]] captured Frankfurt after several days of intense fighting, and it was declared largely secure on 29 March 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946 |last=Stanton |first=Shelby |edition=2nd |year=2006 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=9780811701570 |pages=57, 84}}</ref> Frankfurt consists to over 40% of buildings from before World War II, besides all destruction.<ref name="zensus2011.de">{{Cite web |url=https://zensus2011.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Aufsaetze_Archiv/2015_12_NI_GWZ_endgueltig.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |title=Gebäude- und Wohnungsbestand in Deutschland |publisher=Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329165923/https://zensus2011.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Aufsaetze_Archiv/2015_12_NI_GWZ_endgueltig.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |archive-date=29 March 2024}}</ref>

After the end of the war, Frankfurt became a part of the newly founded state of Hesse, consisting of the old [[People's State of Hesse|Hesse-(Darmstadt)]] and the [[Province of Kurhessen|Prussian Hesse]] provinces. The city was part of the [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany#American Zone of Occupation|American Zone of Occupation]] of Germany. The Military Governor for the United States Zone (1945–1949) and the United States High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG) (1949–1952) had their headquarters in the [[IG Farben Building]], intentionally left undamaged by the Allies' wartime bombardment.

Frankfurt was the original choice for the provisional capital city of the newly founded state of [[West Germany]] in 1949. The city constructed a parliament building that was never used for its intended purpose (it housed the radio studios of [[Hessischer Rundfunk]]). In the end, [[Konrad Adenauer]], the first postwar [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor]], preferred the town of [[Bonn]], for the most part because it was close to his hometown, but also because many other prominent politicians opposed the choice of Frankfurt out of concern that Frankfurt would be accepted as the permanent capital, thereby weakening the West German population's support for a [[German reunification|reunification]] with [[East Germany]] and the eventual return of the capital to [[Berlin]].

Postwar reconstruction took place in a sometimes simple modern style, thus changing Frankfurt's architectural face. A few landmark buildings were reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner (e.g., [[Römer]], [[St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main|St. Paul's Church]], and [[Goethe House]]). The collection of historically significant [[Cairo Genizah]] documents of the Municipal Library was destroyed by the bombing. According to [[Arabist]] and Genizah scholar [[S.D. Goitein]], "not even handlists indicating its contents have survived."<ref>Goitein, S.D. ''A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. I – Economic Foundations''. University of California Press, 2000, p. 5</ref>
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Frankfurt Nationalversammlung 1848.jpg
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| caption1          = The Frankfurt Parliament at St. Paul's Church in 1848
| image2            = Frankfurt Am Main-Altstadt-Zerstoerung-Luftbild 1944.jpg
| width2            = 305
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| caption2          = Aerial view of the cathedral in May 1945
| image3            = Frankfurt Am Main-Samstagsberg-20070607.jpg
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| caption3          = Reconstruction (1981–1984) of six houses at the east side of the Römerberg which were destroyed in World War II
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The end of the war marked Frankfurt's comeback as Germany's leading financial hub, mainly because Berlin, now a city divided into [[History of Berlin#The divided city|four sectors]], could no longer rival it. In 1948, the Allies founded the [[Bank deutscher Länder]], the forerunner of {{lang|de|[[Deutsche Bundesbank]]|italic=no}}. Following this decision, more financial institutions were re-established, e.g. [[Deutsche Bank]] and [[Dresdner Bank]]. In the 1950s, Frankfurt Stock Exchange regained its position as the country's leading stock exchange.

Frankfurt also reemerged as Germany's transportation hub and [[Frankfurt Airport]] became Europe's second-busiest airport behind [[London Heathrow Airport]] in 1961.

During the 1970s, the city created one of Europe's most efficient underground transportation systems.<ref>{{cite web |title=Port of Frankfurt |url=http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/DEU_Port_of_Frankfurt_2769.php |website=World Port Source |access-date=29 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329121635/http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/DEU_Port_of_Frankfurt_2769.php |archive-date=29 March 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> That system includes a suburban rail system ([[Frankfurt S-Bahn|S-Bahn]]) linking outlying communities with the city center, and a deep underground light rail system with smaller coaches ([[Frankfurt U-Bahn|U-Bahn]]) also capable of travelling above ground on rails.

In 1998, the [[European Central Bank]] was founded in Frankfurt, followed by the [[European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority]] and [[European Systemic Risk Board]] in 2011.