Duchy of Bavaria

State · 1260–1805 CE · at its largest around 1352 CE

Duchy in southern Germany ruled by the Wittelsbach dynasty from 1180, which was raised to an electorate in 1623 and to a kingdom in 1806.

Its battles, in Battle View

Battle of Blenheim (1704 CE)

On its lands while it lasted

Graz (c. 1260 CE): Capital of Duchy of Styria (1260–1501).
Brandenburg an der Havel (c. 1260 CE): Capital of Margraviate of Brandenburg (1260–1414), Electorate of Brandenburg (1422–1618).
Legnica (1264 CE): Capital of Duchy of Legnica (1279–1313).
Hanseatic League (1356 CE): Confederation of merchant guilds and market towns that dominated Baltic and North Sea trade; its first general diet met in Lübeck in 1356.
Hanseatic trade route (1356–1669 CE): The Hanseatic League of north German merchant towns, led by Lübeck, dominated Baltic and North Sea trade from London and Bruges to Novgorod, exchanging furs, wax, grain, fish and timber for cloth and salt.
Lutherstadt Wittenberg (c. 1363 CE): Capital of Electorate of Saxony (1363–1547).
Jan Hus (c. 1370 CE – 1415 CE): Czech priest and reformer whose execution at Constance sparked the Hussite movement, a forerunner of the Protestant Reformation.
Ninety-five Theses (1517 CE): In 1517 Martin Luther circulated his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg. The dispute that followed launched the Protestant Reformation.
German Peasants' War (1524–1525 CE): A widespread revolt of peasants in German-speaking central Europe in 1524–1525, partly inspired by Reformation ideas. It was crushed by the princes, notably at Frankenhausen in 1525.
Johannes Kepler (1571 CE – 1630 CE): German astronomer and mathematician who, working in Prague with Tycho Brahe’s observations, found that planets move in ellipses and formulated his three laws of planetary motion.
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648 CE): A series of wars fought mainly in the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 to 1648, involving most European powers. It devastated Germany, where millions died from fighting, famine and disease.
Battle of Vienna (1683 CE): In September 1683 a relief army under King John III Sobieski of Poland defeated the Ottomans besieging Vienna. It began the Habsburg reconquest of Hungary.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 CE – 1750 CE): German composer and organist, cantor of St Thomas Church in Leipzig from 1723. His works, including the Brandenburg Concertos and St Matthew Passion, are summits of Baroque music.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 CE – 1791 CE): Prolific composer from Salzburg who worked in Vienna from 1781. His operas, symphonies and concertos are central to the Classical style.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 CE – 1827 CE): Composer born in Bonn who worked in Vienna from 1792. Despite growing deafness he wrote works bridging the Classical and Romantic eras.