Germany - Overview
1849 - 1872.
| 1849 | |
| November 1 | Bavaria (Bayern) |
| 1850 | |
| June 29 | Saxony (Sachsen) |
| November 15 | Prussia (Preußen) |
| November 15 | Schleswig-Holstein |
| December 1 | Hanover (Hannover) |
| 1851 | |
| May 1 | Baden |
| October 15 | Wurttemberg (Württemberg) |
| 1852 | |
| January 1 | Brunswick (Braunschweig) |
| January 5 | Oldenburg |
| January 29 | Thurn & Taxis |
| 1855 | |
| April 10 | Bremen |
| 1856 | |
| July 1 | Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
| 1859 | |
| January 1 | Hamburg |
| January 1 | Lubeck (Lübeck) |
| 1861 | |
| November 1 | Bergedorf |
| 1864 | |
| March 1 | Holstein |
| March 10 | Schleswig |
| October 1 | Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
| 1867 | |
| March 1 | Heligoland (Helgoland) |
| 1868 | |
| March 1 | North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Postbezirk) |
| 1872 | |
| January 1 | Germany (Deutsches Reich) |
The German States mentioned above were effectively formed when the Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved on August 6, 1806.
The German Confederation was a loose association of German states formed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Confederation collapsed when Prussia and Austria went to war in 1866. They all became a part of the German Empire in January 1871.
Before issuing stamps most of these states were using the services of the Thurn & Taxis postal network. Founded around 1290, the Thurn & Taxis postal service covered most of Europe, until their demise in 1867, when the last piece of the company was bought out by the Prussian postal service. It is dificult to imagine that this service began about 200 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America, and lasted for almost 400 years.
This page was last modified on Monday, 03-Nov-2003 13:57:40 PST