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First, the limitations: I don't read German. This turned out to be a big deal during my Master's degree, since almost none of the historians dealing with medieval Germany have been translated into English, ditto the primary documents. English historians are generally not that interested in Germany qua German history. As a result, most of what I know comes from French and English historians working on Europe-wide issues or areas where Germany intersects with the history of other countries. Also, the main reference I was planning to use for details seems to be hiding.

I will actually start in Merovigian times. Basically, France and Germany were several states. The Visigoths still held most of S. France; the Aquitaine was an mostly independent state; Britainy was a Celtic kingdom; Burgundy was a state owned by Burgundians, etc. The Franks held two major kingdoms: Neustria and Austrasia, with shifting borders and various tributary states. Sometimes they were under one king, sometimes under two, but as the Merovingian bloodline slipped into alcoholism etc., the "Mayors of the Palace" got control of the government, basically by being competent and less inbred. They periodically attempted to unite both kingdoms under their rules with varying success (a premature attempt to seize both and depose the Merovingians led to civil war and executions all around). Eventually, Charles "Martel" managed to unite both and start conquering neighboring kingdoms. His middle son Peppin managed to get rid of his brothers (one killed the other abdicated) and was eventually secure enough to get rid of the last Merovingian king and have himself crowned, and then continued with the conquering.

This pattern is really important. Charles followed the Frankish custom of dividing his land between his sons. Carloman got Austrasia, Peppin got Neustria, and the youngest got the conquered areas, which were right between the other two, so his brothers could easily invade from both directions, kill him and split up the turf. It then became the job of the more ambitious brother to reunite the kingdom. Not a recipe for stability right? They would keep following this pattern for centuries. Hell, William the Conqueror did it this way with his three sons, a very entertaining story, but not pertinent here.