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The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the world's leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. Due to its central location, Germany has more neighbours than any other country which is located with all its territory in Europe: Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France and Luxembourg to the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands to the north-west. Germany has coastlines in the north-west on the North Sea and in the north-east on the Baltic.

Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Flag of Germany Germany: Coat of Arms (Flag) (Coat of Arms)
National motto: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (German: Unity and Justice and Freedom)
National anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen 3rd stanza (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit)
Official language	German
Capital	Berlin
Largest City	Berlin
Chancellor	Gerhard Schröder
President	Horst Köhler
Area - Total - % water	Ranked 61st 349,223 km² 2.416%
Population - April 2005 est - Density	Ranked 14th 82,468,000 242/km²
Formation Unification/reunification	Treaty of Verdun (843) January 18 1871 May 23 1949 October 3 1990
GDP - Total (2003) - GDP/capita	Ranked 3rd $2.271 trillion $27,600
Currency	Euro (€)
Time zone - in summer	CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD	.de
Calling Code	+49
Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany and Frisian are officially recognised and protected as minority languages per the ECRML. Prior to 1999: Deutsche Mark.

Germany is a democratic federal parliamentary state, made up of 16 federal states (Länder), which in certain spheres act independently of the Federation. It is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 nations and a founding member of what is now the European Union.

History

While the German language and the feeling of "Germanhood" go back more than a thousand years, 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 was the second German Reich, usually translated as "empire", but also meaning "realm".

Holy Roman Empire

The medieval empire – known for much of its existence as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation – stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on December 25th, 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806. During these almost thousand years, the Germans expanded their influence with the help of the Catholic Church, Northern Crusades and the Hanseatic League. In 1530, the Protestant Reformation of Catholicism failed, and a separate Protestant church was acknowledged as a new state religion in many German states. The resulting domestic strife, the Thirty Years War (1618) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648) drastically enfeebled and politically divided Germany, and thus the imperium was overrun and dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars. Austria soon proclaimed its own empire, and the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) coalesced.

German Empire

The Kaiserreich, the German Empire, was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18th, 1871, after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. This was mainly due to the work of Otto von Bismarck, Germany's most prominent statesman of the 19th century. Bismarck's domestic policies as Chancellor were characterised by fights his tryiing to limit the influence of the Catholic Church (Kulturkampf) and his fight against Social Democracy by outlawing the Social Democratic and reforms improving the social conditions of the working classes. Bismarck also aimed at protecting Germany through a system of alliances which isolated France and kept peace in Europe. Also, a number of German colonies were established overseas, such as South-West Africa, the Cameroons, Togo, East Africa.

In 1890 Bismarck was dismissed by the new Emperor William II due to the prudent foreign policy and personal differences. Soon an imperialistic course in foreign policy was taken, which led to frictions with the other major powers. From 1898, negotiations for an alliance between Germany and Britain broke down as a result of Admiral Tirpitz's programme of warship construction. Germany became increasingly isolated.

Imperialist power politics and the determined pursuit of national interests were the main reasons for World War I. After the assassination of the Austrian heir apparent and his wife at Sarajevo, on July 28th 1914, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st, and on France on the 3rd; Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th. There was fighting in western, southern, central and eastern Europe, in the Middle East and the German colonies. In the west, Germany fought a war of position with bloody battles, while in the east no decisive victories were won. The British Naval Blockade in the North Sea seriously crippled Germany's supplies of raw materials and foodstuffs. After the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, Russia withdrew from the war under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, with terms highly favourable to Germany and its allies. The entry of the United States into the war, in 1917, marked a decisive turning-point. On November 4th 1918, the German Revolution broke out, and five days later Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. On November 11th, an armistice was signed at Compiègne. The first world war was over.

Weimar Republic

Following the abdication of Wilhelm II, Social Democrats proclaimed a republic (see Weimar Republic). That same evening, the Spartacist League, a militant left-wing offshoot of the Social Democrats, proclaimed a Socialist Republic, beginning several months of struggle in Germany between republican, communist, and authoritarian groups. By January of 1919, however, the fledgling Weimar Republic, with the help of the nationalist freebooter Freikorps and the army, had crushed the Spartacists and associated movements throughout Germany. On August 11, 1919, the federal Weimar Constitution came into effect. At this time both the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) and the German Communist Party were founded, although the former was but one of many small ultra-nationalist parties.

The 1920s were more characterised by hyperinflation brought on by the post-war economic hardship, which may have been aggravated by the conditions and reparations required by the Treaty of Versailles. There was considerable unrest, the German people's being unused to democracy and lacking confidence in the new state; German voters increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both right- and left-wing. Anti-modernism and political reaction appealed to the voters. The situation deteriorated further after the world wide Great Depression, and in two extraordinary elections of 1932, the most aggressive anti-parliamentarian parties together got more than the half of the seats, with 37% and then 33% of the votes to the National Socialist Party, and about 16% of the votes to the Communists.

The end of the Weimar Republic came when on 30 January, 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany with support from the centre-right parties. A Reichstag fire was used as an excuse for abolishing civil and political rights, and with the Enabling Act, March 23, full legislative power was transferred to Hitler's government, establishing a centralised totalitarian state in which the remaining checks and balances were quickly abolished.

Third Reich

The new regime quickly dissolved all trade unions, made Germany a one-party state, and repressed all opposition. From 1933 onwards, 412 concentration camps were set up for groups and people perceived as threats. Open persecution of Jews began. In 1934, the Nazi Party was purged of internal left-wing opposition, concentrated to the SA, in the Night of the Long Knives, ostensibly to end homosexual vices. In 1935 the Nuremberg race laws came into force: Jews were deprived of their German citizenship, were banned from marrying Germans, and locked out from most of society.

In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland, violating the Versailles Treaty, but rebuilding national self-esteem. Emboldened, Hitler from 1938 onwards executed a policy of expansionism. It started with the annexation of Austria, followed by the Sudetes region in Czechoslovakia. In 1939, Bohemia and Moravia was annexed and a Slovakian independent state was created. To avoid a two-front war, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was concluded with the Soviet Union. Then Germany led a Blitzkrieg against Poland, which led to the beginning of World War II.

In 1940, most of Western Europe was occupied, and Luftwaffe was ordered in the Battle of Britain to break the resolve of the British bombing London, which resulting in many deaths. The British, however, slowly nullified the Luftwaffe's effectiveness. In 1941, Yugoslavia and Greece were conquered and the Soviet Union invaded, driving the attack to Stalingrad. When war was also declared on the United States, Hitler had engaged too many enemies. The reversal of fortune became obvious at the Battle of Stalingrad (1943). Russia started to push Germany back. German cities increasingly became targets of Allied air attacks. On 8 May, 1945, Germany surrendered after the Red Army had occupied Berlin where Hitler had committed suicide. Under his leadership, Nazi-Germany from 1941 to 1945 industrially murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust and six million more Roma, Slavs, homosexuals, communists, Roman-Catholics and mentally and otherwise disabled individuals.

Division and Reunification

The war resulted in large losses of territory and the expulsion of millions of Germans from Eastern Germany and the deaths of around 3 million German civilians, as well as millions of soldiers. The remaining German territory was occupied by the victors. The city of Berlin, though lying in the Soviet zone, was partitioned among the four Allies as well, with West Berlin being controlled by the Western allies.

In 1949, during the Berlin Blockade, Western forces airlifted food and supplies into West Berlin, after it had been cut off from Soviet-controlled East Berlin. West Germany benefitted from the American Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after the war and was a founding state of the European Union. The reconstructed West Germany once again became one of the world's major economies. Rule of law and democracy were restored and stabilised by successive governments in Bonn to prevent a second Weimar Republic.

The Soviet-supported East Germany, by contrast, became one of the most repressive of the communist satellite states of the Warsaw Pact under the governments of Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker in East Berlin. The flight of growing numbers of East Germans via West Berlin led on August 13, 1961, to East Germany erecting the Berlin Wall and a fortified border to West Germany.

During the summer of 1989, following growing unrest, large numbers of East German citizens took refuge in West German embassies in Central and Eastern European countries in the hope of emigrating to the West. The East German government's confusion grew and on November 9th, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to enter West Berlin and 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 marked the de facto end of the German Democratic Republic. The reunification came into force on October 3rd, which was declared a national public holiday (German Unity Day).

Politics

Main article: Politics of Germany

Federal Government

Germany is a constitutional federal republic, whose political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution called Grundgesetz (Basic Law). It has a parliamentary system in which the head of government, the Bundeskanzler (Chancellor), is elected by the parliament.

Head of state. The function of head of state is performed by the Federal President (Bundespräsident). He is elected every five years by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung), which is made up by the members of the Bundestag plus the corresponding number of Länder (states) representatives. The powers of the Federal President are limited mostly to ceremonial and representative duties.

Parliament. German Parliament is made up of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. The supreme legislative body is the Bundestag (Federal Diet), the lower house of Parliament, which is elected every four years. It in turn elects the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The Bundesrat (Federal Council), the upper house of Parliament, represents the 16 federal states (Bundesländer) and cooperates in law-making and administering the federation. Its members are appointed by the individual Länder, or states. Lately, there has been much concern about the Bundestag and the Bundesrat blocking each other, making effective government very difficult.

Federal Constitutional Court. The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), located in Karlsruhe, acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms with the Basic Law, the German constitution. It acts independently of the other state bodies but cannot act on its own behalf.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Germany

Together with France, the united Germany is playing a leading role in the European Union. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus.

Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany had kept a notably low profile in international relations. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the Kosovo War, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government broke tradition by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.

Germany and France were protagonists in the coalition of nations opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nevertheless, the German government has offered help to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, but only outside of the war-torn country. Last year, German troops stationed in the United Arab Emirates trained 122 Iraqi soldiers to drive and maintain military trucks. In April this year, the German military sent around 50 German soldiers and 19 translators to Abu Dhabi to show 85 Iraqis how to build bridges and streets.

Together with Japan, India and Brazil, Germany is currently seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Military

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is a federal defence force with Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitätsdienst) and Joint Service Support Command (Streitkräftebasis) branches. It employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18-30-year-old men on national duty for currently at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Peter Struck (since 2002). If Germany is in a state of defence, the chancellor becomes commander in chief of the Bundeswehr.

Since 1990 the German military has undergone a constant process of change. In this evolution, the mission of the military has changed from repelling a potential invasion of armoured Soviet-led divisions to policing the world's hot spots. In the process, German military spending has fallen from about 3.5 per cent of gross national product in the early 1990s to about 1.4 per cent.

Currently, the German military has about 7,200 troops serving abroad in such places as Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia. They are also assisting the US anti-terrorism operation called Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa.

States

Main article: States of Germany

Germany is divided into sixteen states (in German called Bundesländer, singular Bundesland). It is further subdivided into 439 Kreise (districts) and cities (kreisfreie Städte) (2004).

Geography

Main article: Geography of Germany

The land. The territory of Germany stretches from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m) in the south to the shores of the North Sea in the north-west and the Baltic in the north-east. In between are found the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/Wilstermarsch at 3.54 meters below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.

Thanks to its central situation Germany has more neighbours than any other European country; these are Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west.

Climate. The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. In the north-west and the north the climate is extremely oceanic and rain falls all the year round. Winters there are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool. In the east the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Here, too, long dry periods are often recorded. In the centre and the south there is a transitional climate which may be predominantly oceanic or continental, according to the general weather situation.

There have been several large-scale river floodings in the last few years; while floods of such severity are quite rare in the long term, their frequency has been increasing lately, partly due to changes in land use in the flood plains.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Germany

Germany is the world's third largest economy measured by gross domestic product, placed behind the United States and Japan. According to the World Trade Organisation, Germany is also the world's top exporter, ahead of the United States and China. Its major trading partners include France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands. A major issue of concern remains the persistently high unemployment rate - especially in the eastern Länder -, and partly as a result of it, weak domestic demand which slows down economic growth. However, according to the head of Germany's Council of Economic Advisers, Unification is to blame for two-thirds of Germany's growth lag compared to its EU neighbours. In particular, eastern Germany lacks a solid base of small and medium-sized companies, which provided the foundation for West Germany's economic prosperity.

Agriculture. For many years now agriculture in Germany has been in a state of decline. Poor earnings and lack of profitability are counted to the main reasons for the failure of many medium and small concerns. The main crops grown are potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beet and cabbage. Germany ranks among the world's largest producers of milk, milk products and meat.

Industrial sector. As in most other large economic nations, Germany's industrial sector has declined in favour of the service sector. Germany is among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, cement, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, machine tools and electronics, as well as a world leader in the shipbuilding industry. Major automakers like DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen, and huge international corporations like Siemens rank among the world's largest firms.

Service sector. The service sector has grown steadily in recent years and now contributes the largest share of GDP. This sector includes tourism. As of 2004, the largest numbers of foreign visitors to Germany came from the Netherlands, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom.

Natural resources. Germany is lacking in natural raw materials, if one disregards the hard coal deposits in the Ruhr area, in the Aachen district and in the Saarland, where mining is profitable only thanks to state subsidies. Brown coal from mines in the Leipziger Bucht and the Niederlausitz is still the major energy source in the eastern Länder, while mineral oil enjoys this position in the western Länder. The current red-Green coalition government is pursuing a long-term strategy of phasing out nuclear power in favour of renewable sources of energy.

Population

Germany has many large cities but only three with a population of one million or more (Berlin: 3 million, Hamburg: 1.8 million, Munich: 1.2 million); the population is thus much less centralised and oriented towards a single large capital than in most other European countries. The largest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Dortmund, Essen, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Duisburg and Hanover. By far the largest urban conurbation is the Rhine–Ruhr region including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Germany

On 31 December 2004, about 6.7 million non-citizen residents were living in Germany. By far the largest number came from Turkey, followed by Italy, Greece, Croatia, the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Portugal, Vietnam, Morocco, Poland, Macedonia, Lebanon and France. . About 2/3s of these have been in the country for 8 years or more, and are therefore eligible for naturalization.

Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic refugees from many developing countries, but the number of asylum seekers has been dropping in recent years, reaching about 50,000 in 2003. A new immigration law recently took effect (1 January 2005), which provides a more systematic treatment of immigration issues as well as increased support for German language classes for immigrants.

An ethnic Danish minority of about 50,000 people lives in Schleswig, mostly close to the Danish border, in the north; a small number of Slavic people known as the Sorbs lives in the states of Saxony (about 40,000) and Brandenburg (about 20.000). The Frisian language is mother tongue to about 12,000 speakers in Germany. In rural areas of Northern Germany Low Saxon is widely spoken.

There are also a large number of ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union area (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million) and Romania (0.3 million) (1980–1999 totals), who are automatically granted German citizenship, and thus do not show up in foreign resident statistics; unlike the foreigners they have been settled by the government almost evenly spread throughout Germany.

Germany now has Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total inflow to more than 200,000 since 1991.

Education

Main article: Education in Germany

Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education. The most important foreign languages taught at school are English, Latin, French, Russian, Greek and Spanish. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering universities has more than tripled, but university attendance still lags behind many other European nations. In the annual league of top-ranking universities compiled by Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2004, Germany came 4th overall, but with only 7 universities in the top 100 (USA: 51). The highest ranking university, at no. 45, was the TU Munich.

For Germany, the results of the PISA student assessments were some kind of nationwide shock. The comparatively low scores brought on heated debate about how the school system should be changed. Furthermore it was revealed that more than in other countries students with higher-earning parents are better-educated and tend to achieve higher results.

Social issues

Main article: Social issues in Germany

The German Social Market economy helped bring about the "economic miracle" that rebuilt Germany from ashes after World War II to one of the most impressive economies in Europe. Still, Germany continues to struggle with a number of social issues. Issues created by the German Reunification of 1990 have begun to narrow. While the standard of living is higher in the western half of the country, easterners now share a reasonably high standard of living.

Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment; however, they are generally unwilling to conceed to labour concessions such as longer working hours. Immigrants are often viewed as contributing to the problem. Germany has continued to struggle with "far-right violence" or "neo-nazis" which are presently on the rise. Germany has one of the lowest birthrates in Europe and it is in continued decline. Immigrants in Germany face undue police inquiries (such as repeat targeted requests for identification), violence from right-wing hate groups, higher rates of delinquency and more general integration problems.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Germany

Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as The Land of Poets and Thinkers (das Land der Dichter und Denker). Germany was the birthplace of composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann and Wagner; the poets Goethe, Schiller and Heine; the philosophers Kant, Marx, Hegel and Nietzsche; theologian Luther; authors Hesse, Mann, and Grass; scientists Fahrenheit, Kepler, Einstein, Hertz, Koch, Kopernikus; and inventors and engineers Gutenberg, Otto, Siemens, Braun, Daimler, Benzand Diesel; and artists Dürer, Ernst, Marc, Beuys and Baselitz.

The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and in Europe it is the second most popular language after English. As a foreign language, German is the third most taught worldwide . It is also the second most used language on the Internet. German has its origin in Old High German. Germany had two languages: High German and Low German, which—from a linguistic standpoint—were two different languages. Today's standard language is based on High German rather than Low German; the latter has been given the status of a minority language by the European Union, although it is less used today in the traditionally Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany.

Since about 1970 Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly being led by its new old capital Berlin, and a self-confident music and art culture. Germany is also well known for its many opera houses.

Religion

Main article:Religion in Germany

Germany is the home of the Reformation launched by Martin Luther in the early 16th century. Today, Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprise about 33% of the population and Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Free churches exist in all larger towns and many smaller ones, but most such churches are small.

Besides this there are several hundred thousand Orthodox Christians (mostly Greeks and Serbs), 400,000 New Apostolic Christians, 150,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and numerous other small groups.

In the territory of the former East Germany, there is much less religious feeling—probably the result of forty years of Communism—than in the West. Only 5% attend at least once per week, compared with 14% in the West according to a recent study. About 30% of the total population are officially religiously unaffiliated. In the East this number is also considerably higher.

Approximately 3.7 million Muslims (mostly of Turkish descent) live in Germany. Some states introduced legislation banning for religious teachers to wear head-scarves.

Miscellaneous topics

• List of German towns
• List of German districts
• List of universities in Germany
• Historical Eastern Germany
• Communications in Germany
• Transportation in Germany
• Tourism in Germany
• Tax in Germany
• List of famous Germans
• List of English exonyms for German toponyms

External links

• Facts about Germany — Official site published by the German Federal Foreign Office
• Deutschland.de — Official German portal
• campus-germany.de — Study and Research in Germany (multilingual)
• Deutsche Welle Germany's international broadcaster, 30 language website
• Destatis.de — Federal Statistical Office Germany (in English)
• Statistikportal.de — More official statistical data
• Bundesregierung Deutschland — Official site of the German Federal Government
• Bundespräsident — Official site of the German Federal President

v t e Member states of the European Union
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See also: Potential enlargement and Former members

• Germany
• European Union member states