"The 90's" sounds rather vague, and I am not even European. If we're talking history of the euro, it came into being on Jan. 1, 1999, under the Treaty of Maastricht (1992), which had created the EU (European Union). 1999-2001 was a transitional stage from the national currencies to the euro.
The euro replaced the ECU (European Currency Unit) at 1:1 ratio. ECU, in turn, existed since 1979, under the EMS (European Monetary System).
As to the euro being "pegged / referred to the old German currency", afraid that's a myth. The euro's conversion rate against each national currency was fixed on Jan. 1, 1999. In particular, it was set to be equal to just under 2 (1.95583) German Marks.