Introduction

Germany

Background:

As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.

Geography

Germany

Location:	Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
Geographic coordinates:	51 00 N, 9 00 E
Map references:	Europe
Area:	total: 357,021 sq km land: 349,223 sq km water: 7,798 sq km
Area - comparative:	slightly smaller than Montana
Land boundaries:	total: 3,621 km border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km
Coastline:	2,389 km
Maritime claims:	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:	temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind
Terrain:	lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south
Elevation extremes:	lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.54 m highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m
Natural resources:	coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land
Land use:	arable land: 33.13% permanent crops: 0.6% other: 66.27% (2005)
Irrigated land:	4,850 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:	188 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):	total: 38.01 cu km/yr (12%/68%/20%) per capita: 460 cu m/yr (2001)
Natural hazards:	flooding
Environment - current issues:	emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive
Environment - international agreements:	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:	strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea

People

Germany

Population:	82,400,996 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 13.9% (male 5,894,724/female 5,590,373) 15-64 years: 66.3% (male 27,811,357/female 26,790,222) 65 years and over: 19.8% (male 6,771,972/female 9,542,348) (2007 est.)
Median age:	total: 43 years male: 41.8 years female: 44.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:	-0.033% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:	8.2 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:	10.71 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate:	2.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.054 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.038 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female total population: 0.966 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 4.08 deaths/1,000 live births male: 4.51 deaths/1,000 live births female: 3.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 78.95 years male: 75.96 years female: 82.11 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate:	1.4 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:	0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:	43,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:	less than 1,000 (2003 est.)
Nationality:	noun: German(s) adjective: German
Ethnic groups:	German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish)
Religions:	Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%
Languages:	German
Literacy:	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2003 est.)
People - note:	second most populous country in Europe after Russia

Government

Germany

Country name:	conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany conventional short form: Germany local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland local short form: Deutschland former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich
Government type:	federal republic
Capital:	name: Berlin geographic coordinates: 52 31 N, 13 24 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:	16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern (Bavaria), Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Saarland, Sachsen (Saxony), Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt), Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen (Thuringia); note - Bayern, Sachsen, and Thueringen refer to themselves as free states (Freistaaten, singular - Freistaat)
Independence:	18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991
National holiday:	Unity Day, 3 October (1990)
Constitution:	23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united Germany 3 October 1990
Legal system:	civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:	18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:	chief of state: President Horst KOEHLER (since 1 July 2004) head of government: Chancellor Angela MERKEL (since 22 November 2005) cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor elections: president elected for a five-year term (eligible for a second term) by a Federal Convention, including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the state parliaments; election last held 23 May 2004 (next scheduled for 23 May 2009); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly for a four-year term; Bundestag vote for Chancellor last held 22 November 2005 (next will follow the national elections to be held by autumn 2009) election results: Horst KOEHLER elected president; received 604 votes of the Federal Convention against 589 for Gesine SCHWAN; Angela MERKEL elected chancellor; vote by Federal Assembly 397 to 202 with 12 abstentions
Legislative branch:	bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly or Bundestag (614 seats; elected by popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain proportional representation and caucus recognition; to serve four-year terms) and the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes; state governments are directly represented by votes; each has three to six votes depending on population and are required to vote as a block) elections: Bundestag - last held on 18 September 2005 (next to be held no later than autumn 2009); note - there are no elections for the Bundesrat; composition is determined by the composition of the state-level governments; the composition of the Bundesrat has the potential to change any time one of the 16 states holds an election election results: Bundestag - percent of vote by party - CDU/CSU 35.2%, SPD 34.3%, FDP 9.8%, Left 8.7%, Greens 8.1%, other 3.9%; seats by party - CDU/CSU 225, SPD 222, FDP 61, Left 53, Greens 51, and independents 2
Judicial branch:	Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat)
Political parties and leaders:	Alliance '90/Greens [Claudia ROTH and Reinhard BUETIKOFER]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Erwin HUBER]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Guido WESTERWELLE]; Left Party or Die Linke [Lothar BISKY and Oskar LAFONTAINE]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Kurt BECK]
Political pressure groups and leaders:	business associations and employers' organizations; religious, trade unions, immigrant, expellee, and veterans groups
International organization participation:	ADB (nonregional members), AfDB, Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Klaus SCHARIOTH chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-4000 FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador William R. TIMKEN, Jr. embassy: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, 10117 Berlin; note - a new embassy is being built near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; ground was broken in October 2004 and completion is scheduled for 2008 mailing address: PSC 120, Box 1000, APO AE 09265 telephone: [49] (030) 2375174 FAX: [49] (030) 8305-1215 consulate(s) general: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich
Flag description:	three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold

Economy

Germany

Economy - overview:	Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world in PPP terms - showed considerable improvement in 2007 with 2.6% growth. After a long period of stagnation with an average growth rate of 0.7% between 2001-05 and chronically high unemployment, stronger growth led to a considerable fall in unemployment to about 8% near the end of 2007. Among the most important reasons for Germany's high unemployment during the past decade were macroeconomic stagnation, the declining level of investment in plant and equipment, company restructuring, flat domestic consumption, structural rigidities in the labor market, lack of competition in the service sector, and high interest rates. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a costly long-term process, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $80 billion. The former government of Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER launched a comprehensive set of reforms of labor market and welfare-related institutions. The current government of Chancellor Angela MERKEL has initiated other reform measures, such as a gradual increase in the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 67 and measures to increase female participation in the labor market. Germany's aging population, combined with high chronic unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions, but higher government revenues from the cyclical upturn in 2006-07 and a 3% rise in the value-added tax pushed Germany's budget deficit well below the EU's 3% debt limit. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are setting the foundations that could help Germany meet the long-term challenges of European economic integration and globalization, although some economists continue to argue the need for change in inflexible labor and services markets. Growth may fall below 2% in 2008 as the strong euro, high oil prices, tighter credit markets, and slowing growth abroad take their toll.
GDP (purchasing power parity):	$2.833 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):	$3.259 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	2.6% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):	$34,400 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 0.9% industry: 29.6% services: 69.5% (2007 est.)
Labor force:	43.63 million (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 2.8% industry: 33.4% services: 63.8% (1999)
Unemployment rate:	9.1% note: this is the International Labor Organization's estimated rate for international comparisons; Germany's Federal Employment Office estimated a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.8% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line:	11% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:	lowest 10%: 3.2% highest 10%: 22.1% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:	28 (2005)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):	2% (2007 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):	18.4% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $1.465 trillion expenditures: $1.477 trillion (2007 est.)
Public debt:	65.3% of GDP (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products:	potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry
Industries:	among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles
Industrial production growth rate:	2.1% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production:	579.4 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - production by source:	fossil fuel: 61.8% hydro: 4.2% nuclear: 29.9% other: 4.1% (2001)
Electricity - consumption:	545.5 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports:	61.43 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports:	56.86 billion kWh (2005)
Oil - production:	141,700 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - consumption:	2.618 million bbl/day (2005)
Oil - exports:	518,700 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:	2.953 million bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves:	367.2 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas - production:	19.9 billion cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:	96.84 billion cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports:	9.42 billion cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports:	86.99 billion cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves:	246.5 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance:	$185.1 billion (2007 est.)
Exports:	$1.361 trillion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities:	machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles
Exports - partners:	France 9.5%, US 8.7%, UK 7.3%, Italy 6.7%, Netherlands 6.3%, Austria 5.6%, Belgium 5.2%, Spain 4.7% (2006)
Imports:	$1.121 trillion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities:	machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals
Imports - partners:	Netherlands 11.8%, France 8.5%, Belgium 7.2%, China 5.9%, UK 5.7%, Italy 5.6%, US 5.3%, Austria 4.3% (2006)
Economic aid - donor:	ODA, $5.6 billion (1998)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:	$111.6 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external:	$4.489 trillion (30 June 2007)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:	$763.9 billion (2006 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:	$941.4 billion (2006 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares:	$1.221 trillion (2005)
Currency (code):	euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries
Currency code:	EUR
Exchange rates:	euros per US dollar - 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003)
Fiscal year:	calendar year

Communications

Germany

Telephones - main lines in use:	54.2 million (2006)
Telephones - mobile cellular:	84.3 million (2006)
Telephone system:	general assessment: Germany has one of the world's most technologically advanced telecommunications systems; as a result of intensive capital expenditures since reunification, the formerly backward system of the eastern part of the country, dating back to World War II, has been modernized and integrated with that of the western part domestic: Germany is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available, expanding rapidly, and includes roaming service to many foreign countries international: country code - 49; Germany's international service is excellent worldwide, consisting of extensive land and undersea cable facilities as well as earth stations in the Inmarsat, Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik satellite systems (2001)
Radio broadcast stations:	AM 51, FM 787, shortwave 4 (1998)
Radios:	77.8 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:	373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions:	51.4 million (1998)
Internet country code:	.de
Internet hosts:	16.494 million (2007)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):	200 (2001)
Internet users:	38.6 million (2006)

Transportation

Germany

Airports:	550 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:	total: 331 over 3,047 m: 14 2,438 to 3,047 m: 52 1,524 to 2,437 m: 58 914 to 1,523 m: 72 under 914 m: 135 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:	total: 219 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 34 under 914 m: 181 (2007)
Heliports:	28 (2007)
Pipelines:	condensate 37 km; gas 25,094 km; oil 3,546 km; refined products 3,828 km (2007)
Railways:	total: 48,215 km standard gauge: 47,962 km 1.435-m gauge (20,278 km electrified) narrow gauge: 229 km 1.000-m gauge (16 km electrified); 24 km 0.750-m gauge (2006)
Roadways:	total: 231,581 km paved: 231,581 km (includes 12,200 km of expressways) (2005)
Waterways:	7,467 km note: Rhine River carries most goods; Main-Danube Canal links North Sea and Black Sea (2006)
Merchant marine:	total: 382 ships (1000 GRT or over) 12,085,484 GRT/14,261,476 DWT by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 50, chemical tanker 11, container 269, liquefied gas 5, passenger 5, passenger/cargo 26, petroleum tanker 12, roll on/roll off 3 foreign-owned: 7 (China 2, Finland 4, Ireland 1) registered in other countries: 2,716 (Antigua and Barbuda 891, Australia 2, Bahamas 40, Belgium 1, Bermuda 21, Brazil 7, Bulgaria 1, Burma 5, Canada 3, Cayman Islands 17, Cyprus 197, Denmark 12, Faroe Islands 1, Finland 2, France 1, Georgia 2, Gibraltar 117, Hong Kong 10, Isle of Man 61, Italy 1, Jamaica 1, Liberia 728, Luxembourg 10, Malaysia 2, Malta 67, Marshall Islands 214, Morocco 1, Netherlands 70, Netherlands Antilles 48, Norway 2, NZ 1, Panama 38, Portugal 22, Russia 2, Singapore 18, Spain 9, Sri Lanka 6, St Vincent and The Grenadines 3, Sweden 4, Turkey 1, UK 71, US 6) (2007)
Ports and terminals:	Bremen, Bremerhaven, Duisburg, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Lubeck, Rostock, Wilhemshaven

Military

Germany

Military branches:	Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr): Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine, includes naval air arm), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Joint Service Support Command (Streitkraeftebasis), Central Medical Service (Zentraler Sanitaetsdienst) (2006)
Military service age and obligation:	18 years of age (conscripts serve a 9-month tour of compulsory military service) (2004)
Manpower available for military service:	males age 18-49: 18,917,537 females age 18-49: 17,913,113 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:	males age 18-49: 15,258,931 females age 18-49: 14,443,412 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:	males age 18-49: 497,048 females age 18-49: 470,537 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:	1.5% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues

Germany

Disputes - international:	none
Illicit drugs:	source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs; major financial center

History of Germany

The state now known as Germany was unified as a modern nation-state only in 1871, when the German Empire, dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia, was forged. This began the German Reich, usually translated as "empire", but also meaning "kingdom", "domain" or "realm."

Early history of the Germanic tribes (100 BC–AD 300)
The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the Pre-Roman Iron Age in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, from the first century BC expanding south, east and west, coming into contact with Celtic tribes of Gaul and Iranian, Baltic and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their interactions with the Roman Empire and archaeological finds.

Under Augustus, the Roman General Drusus began to invade Germany, and it was from this period that the German tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare whilst maintaining their national identity. In AD 9 three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were crushed by the Cheruscan leader Arminius (Hermann) in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Germany as far as the Rhine and the Danube therefore remained outside the Roman Empire. By AD 100, the time of Tacitus' Germania, Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany. The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes — Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians. Around 260, the Germanic peoples finally broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier.

Migration Period and Franks (300-843)
The migration included the Goths, Vandals, and Franks, among other Germanic and Slavic tribes. The migration may have been triggered by the incursions of the Huns, population pressures, or climate changes. Several Germanic peoples, such as the Franks and Burgundians invaded the Roman Empire and formed kingdoms.

The conversion to Roman Catholicism of the pagan Frankish king Clovis to better appeal to his conquered Roman subjects was a crucial event in the history of Europe. It resulted in more support from Rome, further solidification of power during the slow, often bloody conversion process, the eventual end to the ancient tribalism of Germany and secured domination over the rival Christian conversion attempts by Arianism. Under the Merovingian and Carolingian kings the Franks formed a new Germanic empire,replacing the Roman Empire in Western Europe.

The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (843–1806)
The medieval empire—since 1448 officially called the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ("Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae") but often referred to as the Holy Roman Empire (or the Old Empire) —stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on December 25, 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806, its territory stretching from the river Eider in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south.

Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919-1024), the Holy Roman Empire absorbed the duchies of Lorraine, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia and Bavaria. Under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024-1125), the Holy Roman Empire absorbed Italy and Burgundy. Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138-1254) the German princes were increasing their influence further east.

The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire up to its dissolution. For three hundred years starting in 1438, the Emperors were elected exclusively from the Austrian Habsburg family.

In 1530, a separate Protestant church was acknowledged as the new state religion in many states of Germany. This led to inter-German strife, the Thirty Years' War (1618-48). From 1740 onwards the dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the Empire's history. In 1806 the Imperium was overrun and dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.

Restoration and revolution (1814–1871)
Following Napoleon's fall and the end of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 in order to restructure Europe. In Germany, the German Confederation was founded, a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Disagreement with the restoration politics partly led to the lifestyle called Biedermeier and to intellectual liberal movements, which demanded unity and freedom during the Vormärz epoch, each followed by a measure of Metternich's repression of liberal agitation. The Zollverein, a tariff union, profoundly furthered economic unity in the German states.

The German people had been stirred by the ideals of the French revolution. On October 18, 1817, students held a gathering to exchange ideas, the high point of which was the burning of works by authors like August von Kotzebue, who were against a united German state. A second such meeting attracted 30,000 people from all social classes and from all regions to the Hambacher celebration. There for the first time, the colours of black, red and gold were chosen to represent the movement, which later became the national colours.

The states were also shaped by the Industrial Revolution, which was the initial step of the growing industrialisation in Europe and contributed to a wave of poverty, causing social uprisings. In light of a series of revolutionary movements in Europe, which in France successfully established a republic, intellectuals and common people started the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. The monarchs initially yielded to the revolutionaries' liberal demands, and an intellectual National Assembly was elected to draw up a constitution for the new Germany, completed in 1849. However, the Prussian king Frederick William IV, who was offered the title of Emperor but with a loss of power, rejected the crown and the constitution. This prompted the demise of the national assembly along with most of the changes from the revolution.

In 1862, conflict between the Prussian King Wilhelm I and the increasingly liberal parliament erupted over military reforms. The king appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck solved the conflict with difficulty and used the desire for national unification to further the interests of the Prussian monarchy. In 1864 he successfully waged war on Denmark. Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation and divide Austria, formerly the leading state of Germany, from the more western and northern parts.

German Empire (1871–1918)
After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18, 1871. As a result, the new empire was a unification of all the scattered parts of Germany but without Austria—Kleindeutschland. Beginning in 1884 Germany established several colonies. The young emperor's foreign policy was opposed to that of Bismarck, who had established a system of alliances in the era called Gründerzeit, securing Germany's position as a great nation, isolating France with diplomatic means and avoiding war for decades. Under Wilhelm II, however, Germany took an imperialistic course, not unlike other powers, but it led to friction with neighbouring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had been previously involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country. Specifically, France established new relations by signing the Entente Cordiale with England, and got ties with Russia. Austria-Hungary and Germany became increasingly isolated.

Although not one of the main causes, the assassination of Austria's crown prince triggered World War I on July 28, 1914, which saw Germany as part of the unsuccessful Central Powers in the second-bloodiest conflict of all time against the Allied Powers. In November 1918, the second German Revolution broke out, and Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. An armistice was signed on November 11, putting an end to the war. Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, whose unexpectedly high demands were perceived as humiliating in Germany, as a continuation of the war by other means and a breaking of traditional post-war diplomacy that included negotiations between the victors and vanquished.

Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
After the German Revolution in November 1918, a Republic was proclaimed. That year, the German Communist Party was established by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and in January 1919 the German Workers Party, later known as the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, "Nazis"). On August 11, 1919, the Weimar Constitution came into effect. 1920s Berlin was a vibrant and exciting city that flourished with the activity of artists, intellectuals and scientists. During the Weimar Republic, many considered it to be the cultural capital of the world.

In a climate of economic hardship due to both the world wide Great Depression and the harsh peace conditions dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, and growing tired with a long succession of more or less unstable governments and continuous coalition changes, the political masses in Germany increasingly lacked identification with their political system of parliamentary democracy. This was exacerbated by a wide-spread right-wing (monarchist, völkische, and Nazi) Dolchstoßlegende, a political myth which claimed the German Revolution was the main reason why Germany had lost the war, decried the Revolutionists as traitors (Novemberverbrecher = November criminals) and the political system born of the Revolution as illegitimate. On the other hand, radical left-wing communists such as the Spartacist League had wanted to abolish what they perceived as a "capitalist rule" in favour of a "Räterepublik" and were thus also in opposition to the existing form of government.

During the years following the Revolution, German voters increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both right- (monarchists, Nazis) and left-wing (Communists). In the two extraordinary elections of 1932, the Nazis achieved 37.2% and 33.0%, while the Communists achieved 17% in the latter election - half of the parliament was actually anti-democratic, not including smaller parties with questionable credentials in this respect. As a result, democratic moderate parties like the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) were left with a minority.

At the beginning of the 1930s, Germany was not far from a civil war. Paramilitary troops were set up by several parties. They intimidated voters and seeded violence and anger among the public, who suffered from high unemployment and poverty. Meanwhile, elitists in influential positions, alarmed by the rise of anti-governmental parties, fought amongst themselves and exploited the emergency authority provided in the Weimar Constitution to rule undemocratically by presidential decree.

After a succession of unsuccessful cabinets, on January 29, 1933, President von Hindenburg, seeing little alternative and pushed by advisors, appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

Third Reich (1933–1945)
On 27 February, the Reichstag was set on fire. Basic rights were quickly abrogated afterwards under an emergency decree. An Enabling Act gave Hitler's government full legislative power. A centralised totalitarian state was established by a series of moves, decrees and the death of president Paul von Hindenburg. Germany was no longer based on the rule of democratic law, a policy that Hitler had outlined in his biography 'Mein Kampf.' The new regime made Germany a single-party state by outlawing all oppositional parties and repressing the different-minded parts of the public with the party's own organisations SA and SS, as well as the newly founded state security police Gestapo.

Industry was closely regulated with quotas and requirements in order to shift the economy towards a war production base. Massive public work projects and extensive deficit spending by the state helped to significantly lower the high unemployment rate. This and large welfare programmes are said to be the main factors that kept support of the public even late in the war.

In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland in an attempt to rebuild national self-esteem. Emboldened, Hitler followed from 1938 onwards a policy of expansionism to establish Greater Germany, that is, one German nation state, starting with the forced unification with Austria (called "Anschluss") and the annexation of the Sudetes region in Bohemia from Czechoslovakia. The British Prime Minister realised that his policies of appeasement towards Germany were being taken advantage of. To avoid a two-front war, Hitler concluded the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union.

In 1939 the growing tensions from nationalism, militarism and territorial issues led to hostilities between Germany and Poland, the Germans launching a blitzkrieg on September 1st against Poland. Two days later, British and French war declarations were made, and World War II began in Europe.

Germany quickly gained direct or indirect control of the majority of Europe. On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke the pact with the Soviet Union by opening the Eastern Front and invading the Soviet Union. On December 7, 1941, Japanese naval forces attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Shortly thereafter, Germany and Japan declared war on the United States which caused the USA to enter the war against Germany.

Germany quickly gained ground into the surprised Soviet Union, advancing deep into the country and dealing heavy losses to Soviet forces. Germany reached and invaded Stalingrad in late 1942. Germany found Soviet forces prepared to defend Stalingrad and the culminating battle, the Battle of Stalingrad, has since become known as the bloodiest battle in human history.

The German army retreated on the Eastern front, followed by the eventual defeat of Germany. On 8 May 1945, Germany surrendered after the Red Army occupied Berlin, where Hitler had committed suicide a week earlier and much of his cabinet had fled.

The Third Reich regime enacted governmental policies directly subjugating many parts of society: Jews, Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, freemasons, political dissidents, the disabled, amongst others, labelling them as sub-humans. Consequently, these groups were discriminated against, stripped of their jobs and possessions, jailed, forced to move into ghettos and killed. This eventually led during WWII to a systematic extermination performed on an industrial scale, which was carried out in ghettos, concentration camps, extermination camps and massacres. During the Nazi era about 11 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, including nearly 6 million Jews.

Division and reunification (1945–1990)
The war resulted in the death of several million German soldiers with a disputed estimate of as many as 12 million people in all, large territorial losses and the ethnic cleansing of approximately 12 to 18 million Germans from Eastern Germany (East Prussia, Silesia, Eastern parts of Pomerania and Brandenburg, Sudetenland) and other parts of Eastern Europe. Two million Germans died as a result of these post-war expulsions. German territory was occupied and annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union, and this reduced Germany's land territory drastically. All major and many smaller German cities lay in ruins. Germany and Berlin were occupied and partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones – French in the south-west, British in the north-west, American in the south-east, and Soviet in the north-east. According to amongst others historian Antony Beevor in his book Berlin - The Downfall 1945 the advancing Red Army had left a massive trail of raped women and girls of all ages behind them. More than 2,000,000 were victims of rape, often repeatedly. As a result of this trauma East German women's attitude towards sex was affected for many years and it caused tremendous social problems between men and women.

On May 23, 1949, the U.S, Britain and France united their individual sectors to form the democratic nation of the Federal Republic of Germany on the territory of the Western occupied zones, with Bonn as its provisional capital. On October 7, 1949 the Soviet Zone established the German Democratic Republic (DDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik), under communist rule with East Berlin as its capital. In English the two states were known informally as "West Germany" and "East Germany" respectively. The Federal Republic of Germany declared itself to be identical as a state with the German Empire (Deutsches Reich), and the only legitimate German state. The former German capital, Berlin, a special case, was divided into East Berlin and West Berlin, with West Berlin being completely surrounded by East German territory and yet West Berlin eventually politically integrated with the distant West Germany. The Western occupying powers recognised West Germany as "fully sovereign" on May 5, 1955.

West Germany was allied with the United States, the UK and France. Established as a liberal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy," the country enjoyed prolonged economic growth (Wirtschaftswunder) following the currency reform of June 1948 and US assistance through the Marshall Plan aid (1948-1951). This was a radical change from the situation in the two years while the Joint Chiefs of Staff Directive 1067 was in effect (April 1945 - July 1947).

East Germany was at first occupied by and later (May 1955) allied with the USSR. An authoritarian country with a Soviet-style Planned economy, East Germany soon became the richest, most advanced country in the Eastern bloc, but many of its citizens looked to the West for political freedoms and economic prosperity. The flight of growing numbers of East Germans to the West led to the erection of a fortified border with West Germany and culminated with the construction of the Berlin Wall beginning on August 13, 1961.

Relations between East Germany and West Germany remained icy until the Western Chancellor Willy Brandt launched a highly controversial approchement with the East European communist states (Ostpolitik) in the early 1970s. This led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. The Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (December 1972) helped to normalise relations between East and West Germany and led to both Germanies joining the United Nations, in September 1973. The two Germanies exchanged permanent representatives in 1974, and, in 1987, East German head of state Erich Honecker paid an official visit to West Germany.

During the summer of 1989, rapid changes took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to German reunification. Growing numbers of East Germans migrated to West Germany via Hungary after Hungary's reformist government opened its borders to Austria. Thousands of East Germans also tried to reach the West by staging sit-ins at West German diplomatic facilities in other East European capitals, especially in Warsaw and Prague. The exodus generated demands within East Germany for political change, and mass demonstrations with eventually hundreds of thousands of people in several cities – particularly in Leipzig – continued to grow.

Faced with civil unrest, East German head of state Erich Honecker was forced to resign on October 18, and on November 9, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to travel to West Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity; new crossing points were opened in the Berlin Wall and along the border with West Germany. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that ended with German reunification on October 3, 1990.

Under the terms of the treaty between West and East Germany, Berlin became the capital of a unified Germany. The Bundestag voted in June 1991 to make Berlin the seat of government. Government offices have been moving progressively to Berlin, and it became the formal seat of the federal government in 1999.

Last update on 7 March 2008