When East Germans fled to the West by the thousands, paeans of joy rose from the throats of Western publicists.

When, in 1967, after his death at the age of 91, Germans were asked what they admired most about Adenauer, the majority responded that he had brought home the last German prisoners of war from the USSR, which had become known as the " Return of the 10, 000 ".

When the Germans threatened to overrun Paris in 1940, where she was then living, he arranged her escape to England.

When the Germans asked him to declare himself in favour of their desire for national unity, he replied that he would not as this would weaken the Habsburg state: “ Truly, if it were not that Austria had long existed, it would be necessary, in the interest of Europe, in the interest of humanity itself, to create it .”

When Almásy finally escaped, he knew it was too late to save Katharine, so he allowed himself to be captured by the Germans, helping their spy cross the desert into Cairo.

When the war broke out, European public opinion heavily favored the Germans.

When the National Liberals came to power in Denmark, in 1848, it provoked an uprising of ethnic Germans who supported Schleswig's ties with Holstein.

When the battle between the Germans and the Romans finally commences, there is fierce hand-to-hand combat.

When many were evidently taking the side of the Gauls and Germans, the time had come for him to act on public opinion.

When the Germans realised they had been tricked, they burned down an entire section of town, subsequently occupying the city.

When the village of Douaumont was finally captured by German infantry on 2 March 1916, the Germans had suffered 2, 000 casualties.

When Germans began a forced labor draft ( Service du travail obligatoire, STO ) in France in the beginning of 1943, thousands of young men fled and joined the Maquis.

When the Germans arrive, Liz and Simon are initially captured, but then escape and succeed in helping young Frank Skinner carry out Traynor's orders to destroy the secret apparatus – a prototype laser weapon – before the Germans can seize it.

When Germany subsequently invaded Belgium, King Albert, as prescribed by the Belgian constitution, took personal command of the Belgian army, and held the Germans off long enough for Britain and France to prepare for the Battle of the Marne ( 6 – 9 September 1914 ).

When France capitulated, one of the conditions agreed to by the Germans was that southern France would remain free of German occupation and self-governed from Vichy.

When the republics of Estonia and Latvia were founded in 1918 – 19, the Baltic German estate owners were largely expropriated in a land reform, although the Germans were given considerable cultural autonomy.

When Spain revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 with the intention of attracting non-Hispanics to settle in the island hundreds of French ( especially Corsicans ), Germans and Irish immigrants who were affected by Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s immigrated to Puerto Rico.

When he saw that he was headed west, through California, he knew he was headed to fight the Japanese rather than the Germans.

When war did break out, however, the Germans did not use gas for military purposes.

" When these troubles were finally at an end, the inducements offered to settlers by the lord of the Manor attracted many emigrants, not only Germans, but Dutch, English, Scotch, Irish and French as well.

When the French Army was discharged at the time of the surrender to the Germans, Kisling who was of Jewish origin went to the United States and, after exhibitions in New York and Washington, lived in California until 1946.

When news reached him of the Confederate victory at Bull Run in July 1861 he was very pleased, although 15 months later he wrote that " the American War ... has manifestly ceased to have any attainable object as far as the Northerns are concerned, except to get rid of some more thousand troublesome Irish and Germans.

When the school was again taken over by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, the children hid in the basement until the US Army liberated them.

When war broke out afresh with Thebes the king twice invaded Boeotia ( in 378 BC and 377 BC ), although he spent the next five years largely out of action due to an unspecified but apparently grave illness.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe this form of armoured warfare.

When Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in World War II, the status of the Estonian language changed to the first of two official languages ( Russian being the other one ).

When the French king Charles VIII invaded northern Italy, Piero II chose to resist his army.

When the Nazis invaded, the family fled, Singer leaving on a children's transport train with other Jewish children.

When the Franks invaded the Roman territories ( from the end of the 4th century and well into the 5th century ) they brought their language with them and Celtic and Latin were replaced by Old Dutch.

When Claudius successfully invaded in 43, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, this time Verica of the Atrebates.

When Belgium faced a food crisis after being invaded by Germany, Hoover undertook an unprecedented relief effort with the Commission for Relief in Belgium ( CRB ).

When they arrived, they were confronted with Chinese assertions that the Japanese had invaded unlawfully, while the Japanese claimed they were acting to keep peace in the area.

When Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Gallic tribes in Normandy.

When Denmark refused, Austria and Prussia invaded, commencing the Second war of Schleswig and Denmark was forced to cede both duchies.

When Rudolph III, King of Burgundy died on 2 February 1032, Conrad II successfully claimed also this Kingship on the basis of an inheritance Emperor Henry II had extorted from the former in 1006, after having invaded Burgundy to enforce his claim after Rudolph attempted to renounce it in 1016.

When King Aistulf of the Lombards availed himself of the Italian dissent and invaded the Exarchate of Ravenna in 751, one of his first acts was to institute a crushing poll tax of one gold solidus per head on every Roman citizen.

When in 1494 Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa grabbed the opportunity to reclaim its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

When word reached Philip that Richard had finished crusading and had been captured on his way back from Holy Land, he promptly invaded the Vexin.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades ( 4. 8 million soldiers ), including 166 divisions and 9 brigades ( 2. 9 million soldiers ) garrisoned in the western military districts.

When the Empress and Robert invaded in 1139, however, Stephen was unable to rapidly crush the revolt, which took hold in the south-west of England.

When negotiations failed, China invaded.

When later asked why he invaded Kuwait, Saddam first claimed that it was because Kuwait was rightfully Iraq's 19th province and then said " When I get something into my head I act.

When Wessex was invaded by the Danes in 871, Alfred was compelled to pay them to leave the kingdom.

When he was seven years old, Israel invaded southern Lebanon, a fact he referred to later in life.

When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in April 1982, Powell was given secret briefings on Privy Councillor terms on behalf of his party.

When World War I began, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg as part of the Schlieffen Plan, trying to take Paris quickly and catch the French off guard by invading through neutral countries.

When the Druk Desi invaded Sikkim in 1770, Cooch Behari forces joined their Bhutanese counterparts in the offensive.