[edit]
Nikolaikirche (left) and Nikolaitor (right)
Middle Ages[edit]
Eisenach's origin and early history is unknown. An 8th-century Frankish settlement near Petersberg hill is regarded as the nucleus of Eisenach; but there are no written sources about that early period. According to legend, Louis the Springer began in 1067 to establish Wartburg castle above the settlement.: 139 
In 1080 the castle was first mentioned in a Saxon chronicle. Eisenach itself followed in a document dating to 1150, where it was referred to as "Isinacha".: 139  During the 1180s the town was established by the construction of three independent market settlements around the Saturday market (today's Karlsplatz), the Wednesday market (today's Frauenplan), and the Monday market (today's Marktplatz). Due to its convenient location at a cross-roads between the Thuringian Forest in the south and the Hainich mountains in the north, Eisenach benefited from substantial east–west trade along Via Regia from Frankfurt to Erfurt and Leipzig, and became a rich merchant town. During the second half of the 12th century, the town walls were erected (the Nikolaitor is an important relict of this wall) and Eisenach got a planned grid of streets and alleys. In the late 12th century the Wartburg became the main residence of the Ludowingians, making Eisenach a leading place in today's western Thuringia and northern Hesse, which also belonged to the Ludowingian landgraviate. In 1207 the legendary Sängerkrieg supposedly took place at Wartburg castle.[citation needed]
In 1221 St Elizabeth married Landgrave Louis' IV and lived in Eisenach or at Wartburg castle until 1228.: 139  Later she became the patroness of Thuringia and Hesse.
In 1247 the Ludowingians died out, which led to the War of the Thuringian Succession between the Wettins and Duchess Sophie of Brabant. As a consequence the landgraviate was divided. Eisenach and the eastern parts went to the Wettins (later becoming Thuringia) and Kassel, Marburg, and the western parts went to Sophie (later becoming Hesse). Eisenach kept a leading position among the Wettin's Thuringian cities by becoming their Oberhof (leading court), so that their law had to be derived from Eisenach's municipal law and disputes had to be resolved here. The confident citizens of Eisenach fought against the Wettin's rule to become a free imperial city between 1306 and 1308, but lost. In the 14th century various crises followed: in 1342 a big fire destroyed nearly all the buildings, and the Black Death killed many inhabitants in 1349 and 1393. Since 1406 Eisenach was no longer a Wettin residence, which led to a decline in urban development. In 1485, in the "division of Leipzig", the town fell to the Ernestine line of the Wettins.
Early-modern period[edit]
Eisenach in 1647
Between 1498 and 1501, the young Martin Luther attended the St. George's Latin school in Eisenach in preparation for his following studies at the University of Erfurt. In 1521/22 he was hidden by Frederick the Wise at Wartburg castle to protect him from the Imperial ban. During that time Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German, in what was an important step both for the German Reformation and the development of a consistent German standard language.
Luther referred to Eisenach as ein Pfaffennest ("a clerical backwater"), since during his time there were 300 monks and nuns per 1,000 inhabitants.: 139 
In 1525 there was heavy fighting in the area during the Bauernkrieg.: 139 
In 1528 the Lutheran Reformation was implemented in Eisenach. In 1596 Eisenach became a ducal residence again for the house of Saxe-Eisenach.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685, when it was a part of the Holy Roman Empire. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, worked there as a musician at that time. Other famous composers and musicians associated with Eisenach during that period were Johann Pachelbel, Johann Christoph Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. As the Eisenach dukes died out in 1741, the town and the state became part of Saxe-Weimar.: 139  Nevertheless, the cultural life remained unimpaired. The coterie around the poet Julie von Bechtolsheim [de] met up with famous personalities like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Christoph Martin Wieland in Eisenach.: 37 
From 1809 to 1918 Eisenach was part of the Duchy (after 1815 Grand Duchy) of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
After 1815[edit]
Car, produced in Automobilwerk Eisenach in 1898
Demolition of historic buildings during the 1970s and 1980s
In 1817 the Wartburg Festival took place in Eisenach, a meeting of students advocating moves toward a more liberal, constitutional state and a unification of Germany. The industrial revolution started relatively early in Eisenach. As early as the first half of the 19th century the first factories were founded. In 1847 Eisenach was connected by the Thuringian Railway to Erfurt and Halle/Leipzig in the east and in 1849 to Kassel and Frankfurt in the west. In 1858 the Werra Railway to Lichtenfels (and further to Nuremberg) was opened.
In August 1869 the leading socialists August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht founded the SDAP, one of the two predecessors of today's SPD in Eisenach.: 147  The Eisenach Program remained the party's main manifesto for the following years. The late 19th and early 20th century was the period with the fastest urban growth in Eisenach. The Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach (FFE), later Automobilwerk Eisenach, the basis of car production in Eisenach, was founded in 1896, the first trams ran in 1897, the Burschenschaftsdenkmal [de] ("fraternity monument") was erected in 1902, and the J. S. Bach museum opened in 1907. Tourists also started to arrive in this period, drawn by the pleasing landscape and the various sights within the town.
Between the 1860s and 1938 Eisenach was the home of one of the largest Jewish communities in Thuringia, with nearly 500 members at the beginning of the 20th century. Many Jews migrated from the Rhön area around Stadtlengsfeld to Eisenach after their emancipation in the early 19th century. The new synagogue was built in 1885 and destroyed by the Nazis during Kristallnacht in November 1938. Most Jews emigrated at that time; others were deported to concentration camps and murdered. During Nazi Germany the Institute for the Study and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German Church Life, an antisemitic propaganda institute, was set up in Eisenach by 11 German Protestant churches, founded at the instigation of the German Christian movement.
Before the Second World War, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG had produced motorcycles in the town. In preparation for World War II, new barracks were established in Eisenach and the car industry started the production of military equipment. After 1940 some 4000 forced labourers (most of them from the Soviet Union) were pressed to work in the town's factories, where some of them died due to the bad working conditions. Postwar, the managing director of the BMW aircraft engine works, Dr Schaaf, told the Fedden Mission there were as many as 11,000 working in the town, 4,500 in a plant inside a hillside turning out BMW 132 engines and parts for the 801, the rest in town. The bombings during the war destroyed about 2,000 housing units and big parts of the car factories, as well as some historic buildings in the town centre, which were rebuilt soon after the war. The US Army arrived in Eisenach on 6 April 1945, but the Soviets took over control of the town on 1 July 1945, making it Communism's westernmost major town.
Eisenach was part of the GDR after 1949. The Inner German border ran only ten kilometres west of Eisenach and was closed in 1952, cutting off parts of Eisenach's traditional hinterland. The location near the border inhibited the further development during the next 40 years and the population declined through that period. Nevertheless, Eisenach remained an important industrial location. The BMW car factory was socialized and under the new name EMW produced the Wartburg, the so-called "Mercedes of the East". The deteriorating condition of many historic houses led to a housing shortage during the 1970s. The government fought this by demolishing some historic quarters (e.g. at Jakobstraße) and rebuilding them with Plattenbau settlements. The biggest Plattenbau district was built at the northern periphery of Eisenach between 1978 and 1985, with nearly 4,000 housing units. In 1975 the tramway system was discontinued.
After German reunification in 1990 the economic situation changed. The car factory was taken over by Opel, whereas many other factories were closed. On the other hand Eisenach moved from the inner German border to the centre of the reunified country. Tourism saw significant growth and the Wartburg castle was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Nevertheless the financial situation of Eisenach remained difficult, unemployment stayed above average, and car production suffered from the business problems of Opel.
