The Bundesstraße 1 (abbr. B1) is a German federal highway running in an east-west direction from the Dutch border near

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

to the Polish border at Küstrin-Kietz on the Oder River.

History

The road developed from an ancient east-western trade route connecting the shore of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

with the area of

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

. A trade and military road was already mentioned in Ptolemy's ''

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

'' about 150 AD, parts of it formed the medieval Westphalian Hellweg trade route, vital for the transport of salt and crops, and the course of the Via Regia, the Ottonian "royal road" through the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

from Aachen to

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

. From the late 18th century onwards, parts of the route were rebuilt as a chaussee, mainly in the area between Aachen and Jülich as well as on the nearby territory of the

County of Mark The County of Mark (, colloquially known as ) was a county and Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay south of Lippe (river), Lippe river on both sides of the Ruhr river along the Volme a ...

, promoted by the Brandenburg-Prussian administration under Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein. Stein also concluded an agreement to extend the road via the territory of Imperial Essen Abbey for the accessibility of the coal deposits in Cleves. The road from the Prussian capital Berlin to the royal castles in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

was rebuilt in 1792 and extended to

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel (; ) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

until 1799. After

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and the Empire's dissolution in 1806, the Prussian monarchs systematically expanded the road network, completing the chaussee between Berlin and Magdeburg in 1824, and between Berlin and

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

in 1828, reaching the East Prussian terminus at Gumbinnen (present-day Gusev, Russia) in 1835. In 1932 the major highways of the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

were numbered and two years later the ''Fernverkehrsstraße 1'' was incorporated into the '' Reichsstraßen'' system. After 1945 the former ''Reichstraße 1'' was split into ''Bundesstraße 1'' in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and ''Fernverkehrsstraße 1'' in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

until 1990. The part east of the Oder became part of different polish ''Droga krajowa''.

Route description

The road's western terminus is in

, where it connects with the N278 in the Netherlands. The road heads eastward through the Ruhr Area in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. Here it is identical with A 40. Leaving the Ruhr Area east of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, the B1 travels the more scenic route that shadows the A 2. Here it follows the old trading route Hellweg, crossing cities like Unna,

Werl The pilgrimage town Werl (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia and belongs to the Soest, Germany, Soest district in the Arnsberg administrative district. The official name of pilgrimage town has been ...

, Soest,

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

Hamelin Hameln ( ; ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. History Hameln ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

and Brunswick. It then continues to

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The road reaches Berlin's city limits at Glienicke Bridge and heads towards the inner city via Potsdamer Platz, Leipziger Platz and Leipziger Straße to Alexanderplatz. It leaves Berlin to the eastern side via Karl-Marx-Allee, Frankfurter Tor and Frankfurter Allee, joined by the Bundesstraße 5 for around 20 km up to Müncheberg, before reaching the Polish border. The road's eastern terminus in Küstrin-Kietz is with Polish national road DK22 which crosses the country in an easterly direction. File:B1 Anfang Aachen 01.jpg,

File:Westfalendamm Allee Dortmund.jpg,

File:Bundesstraße 1.jpg, near Schlangen File:Kaiserstraße, 1, Hildesheim, Landkreis Hildesheim.jpg,

File:Grenzöffnung Bundesstrasse1 (G. Mach).jpg, Opening of the border on Highway B1/F1 between Helmstedt (West Germany) and Morsleben (East Germany) on November 18, 1989. File:B1 Unterwegs 01.jpg, Near Erxleben File:Magdeburg b1 jerichower str 20060514.jpg,

B1 Brandenburg-Altstadt.jpg, Interruption by a demolished bridge in

File:Glienicker Brücke1.JPG, Glienicke Bridge,

File:Berlin karlmarxallee kl.jpg, Karl-Marx-Allee,

File:B1 Oderbruch 01.jpg, Seelow ( Oderbruch) File:Bridge Kostrzyn - Küstrin-Kietz - panoramio (120).jpg, Kostrzyn Bypasses and upgrades Küstrin-Kietz Seelow Müncheberg Herzfelde Dahlwitz Freidrichsfelde

( Alexanderplatz, Mulhemdamm)

Steglitz Steglitz () is a boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is derived from the Slavic languages, Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German . ...

( A103)

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Plaue Genthin Burg Schermen

Bornstedt Helmstedt

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

Vechelde

Emmerke Elze Mehle Coppenbrügge - Behrensen ''Hameln'' Aerzen Bad Meinburg - Horn Horn -

Expressway Paderborn - L776 expressway section Routed onto A44 from Erwitte to

Soest (L969)

(L969) Unna -

- Bochum -

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is ho ...

( Ruhrschnellweg) Ratingen ( A52)

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

( Rheinufer Tunnel)

Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...

( A57) Neuss -

( A46, A44, A544)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundesstrasse 1 Roads in Brandenburg Roads in Berlin Roads in Lower Saxony Roads in North Rhine-Westphalia Roads in Saxony-Anhalt 001

History

Route description

See also

References

External links