Aschaffenburg, Germany

In the Middle Ages the town was known as Ascaffaburc, Ascapha or Ascaphaburg. A stone bridge over the Main was reportedly built by Archbishop Willigis in 989, who also made the town his second residence. The town (referred to in 975 as a civitas) was part of the Archbishopric of Mainz from 982, when Duke Otto died. A Vizedom is mentioned for the first time in 1122 as the top local representative of the Archbishop. In 1292 a synod was held here, and in 1447 an imperial diet, preliminary to that of Vienna, approved a concordat (sometimes called the Aschaffenburg Concordat). In the German Peasants' War (1525), the town backed the losing side.

In 1552, the late-Gothic castle of Johannisburg was destroyed. It was replaced in 1605-14 by the Renaissance Schloss Johannisburg. The town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War, being held in turn by the various belligerents. During the Battle of Dettingen (1743), which took place to the north, the town was occupied by French troops. It formed part of the electorate of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1803 was made over to Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg as the Principality of Aschaffenburg.

Aschaffenburg was the site of the "Forstliche Hochschule Aschaffenburg" (Königlich Bayerische Centralforstlehranstalt), established in 1807, "made famous by the researches of Professor Dr Ernst Ebermayer." The academy was "dissolved in 1832, but re-organized under the Ministry of Finance in 1874"; and, as "of 30th March, 1874, united to the University of Munich (now LMU Munich)."

In 1810, the Principality of Aschaffenburg was merged into the new Grand Duchy of Frankfurt although Dalberg retained Aschaffenburg as his residence. In 1814, the town was transferred to the Kingdom of Bavaria by an Austrian-Bavarian treaty. In 1817 it was included within Bavarian Lower Franconia. From 1840 to 1848, King Ludwig I of Bavaria had a Roman villa built to the west of town. It was named Pompejanum after its model, the house of Castor and Pollux at Pompeii.

During the Austro-Prussian War, the Prussian Army inflicted a severe defeat on the Grand Duchy of Hesse near Aschaffenburg in the Battle of Frohnhofen on 13 July 1866.

In World War II, Aschaffenburg was heavily damaged by Allied area bombing, including Schloss Johannisburg, which was completely restored several years later. The German military chose to defend Aschaffenburg strongly during the last weeks of the war, which resulted in the Battle of Aschaffenburg fought 28 March – 3 April 1945. The U.S. 45th Infantry Division was forced to take the fortified town against stiff German resistance in a series of frontal assaults that involved house-to-house fighting and vicious close combat. The resulting widespread urban destruction was quite severe, as cannon fire was used point-blank to blast through structures.

At the end of World War II, the United States Army occupied military facilities that had been used and controlled by the Wehrmacht. These were converted for use by U.S. military personnel as processing centres for displaced persons at the end of the war. From 1945, 7,000 Ukrainians were accommodated in four displaced persons camps:

Two other camps, Alte (old) Kaserne and Jäger Kaserne housed mainly Poles and Lithuanians.

In the decades following the war, Aschaffenburg and the surrounding region experienced robust economic prosperity, partially due to its close proximity to Frankfurt am Main.

According to an online 2002 survey in Stern magazine, [Stern 14/2002], 82 percent of residents living in the Bayerischer Untermain region where Aschaffenburg is located were satisfied with the place where they lived. This was the highest level recorded in the survey, making the region the #1 place to live in Germany, based on several factors including employment opportunities in the region, educational facilities, public services, transportation, recreational options, shopping, cultural facilities/events, climate, etc.

Another survey taken in 2006 by McKinsey, Stern magazine, ZDF, and web.de again showed that Aschaffenburg has one of the highest ratings for quality of life in Germany.

In January 2025, two people were killed in the 2025 Aschaffenburg stabbing, a knife attack by an Afghan asylum seeker in the Schöntal park.