---
title: "Which came first, Big Ben or Germany?"
description: "Big Ben vs Germany: Big Ben came first, by 12 years — 1859 against 1871. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-germany/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Big Ben or Germany?

**Which came first, Big Ben or Germany?: Big Ben**

1859 — 12 years before Germany

Big Ben came first, by 12 years. The great bell rang for the first time.

## Side by side

|  | Big Ben | Germany |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1859 | 1871 |
| Date | 1859-07-11 | 1871-01-18 |
| Category | landmark | country |
| What happened | The great bell rang for the first time. | The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles. |

## Big Ben

Big Ben is the bell, not the tower and not the clock. It first rang in July 1859, cracked within two months, and has rung with that crack ever since — which is why it has its particular sound. The tower was called the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed Elizabeth Tower for the Diamond Jubilee.

## Germany

Germany as a unified state dates from 1871, which makes it younger than the United States, Canada, Italy and the bicycle. It then ceased to exist as a single state in 1949 and was reunified on 3 October 1990, so the current Federal Republic in its present borders is younger than the personal computer. Nintendo, founded in 1889, is older than most people's mental image of Germany allows.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Big Ben or Germany?

Big Ben, by 12 years — 1859 against 1871.

### When did Big Ben start?

1859. The great bell rang for the first time.

### When did Germany start?

1871. The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles.

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- [Germany or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-lightbulb/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]