Germany

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This article is about the country. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see Germany
(disambiguation) and Deutschland (disambiguation).

officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland,

pronounced )),[4] is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North
Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the
south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and
the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers an area of 357.021 km2 and is
influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most
populous member state of the European Union,[5] and home to the third-largest number of
international migrants worldwide.[6]

A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented

before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of
the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern
Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the
country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. After World War II, in
1949, Germany was divided into the states of East Germany and West Germany, along
the lines of Allied occupation. Germany was reunified in 1990. West Germany was a
founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the EU in 1993. It
is part of the Schengen Area and adopted the euro in 1999.[7][8][9]

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states. The capital and largest city
is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the
OECD. It is a major power with the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and
the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third
largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the third biggest annual
development aid budget in the world,[10] while its military expenditure ranked seventh.[11]
The country has developed a high standard of living and a comprehensive system of
social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of
close partnerships on a global level.[12] Germany is recognised as a scientific and
technological leader in several fields.[13]

Main article: History of Germany

Etymology

Main articles: Names of Germany and List of country name etymologies

The English word "Germany" derives from the Latin word Germania. The name
"Germania" came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it from a Gallic term for the
peoples east of the Rhine that could possibly have meant "neighbour", or "men of
forests", or even "men with spears".[14][15][16]

Germanic tribes 750BC-260

Main articles: Germanic peoples and Germania

Expansion of the Germanic tribes 750 BC – AD 1

The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the Nordic
Bronze Age, or at the latest during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia
and northern Germany, the tribes began expanding south, east and west in the 1st
century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic,
and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except
through their recorded interactions with the Roman Empire, etymological research and
archaeological finds.[17]

Under Augustus, the Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus began to invade
Germania (a term used by the Romans to define a territory running roughly from the
Rhine to the Ural Mountains), and it was in this period that the Germanic tribes became
familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their tribal identity. In AD 9,
three Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Modern Germany, as far as the Rhine and the Danube,
thus 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; Austria, southern Bavaria and the
western Rhineland, however, were Roman provinces. The 3rd century saw the emergence
of a number of large West Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians,
Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and
the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.[18]

Holy Roman Empire 962–1806

Main article: Holy Roman Empire

See also: Medieval demography and Ostsiedlung

The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, created around AD 1000

On 25 December 800, Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire, which was divided
in 843. The medieval empire resulted from the eastern portion of this division and existed
in varying forms from 962 until 1806. Its territory stretched from the Eider River in the
north to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Often referred to as the Holy Roman
Empire (or the Old Empire), it was officially called the Sacrum Romanum Imperium
Nationis Germanicæ (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) starting in 1448, to
adjust the title to its then reduced territory.
Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation.

Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919–1024), the duchies of Lorraine, Saxony,
Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia, and Bavaria were consolidated, and the German king was
crowned Holy Roman Emperor of these regions in 962. Under the reign of the Salian
emperors (1024–1125), the Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy,
although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy. Under the
Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), the German princes increased their influence
further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs, preceding German settlement in
these areas and further east (Ostsiedlung). Northern German towns grew prosperous as
members of the Hanseatic League. Starting with the Great Famine in 1315, then the
Black Death of 1348–50, the population of Germany plummeted.[19]

The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire that
lasted until its dissolution. It codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors
who ruled some of the most powerful principalities and archbishoprics. Beginning in the
15th century, the emperors were elected nearly exclusively from the Habsburg dynasty of
Austria.

The monk Martin Luther publicised his 95 Theses in 1517, challenging practices of the
Roman Catholic Church, initiating the Protestant Reformation. A separate Lutheran
church became the official religion in many German states after 1530. Religious conflict
led to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated German lands.[20] The
population of the German states was reduced by about 30%.[21] The Peace of Westphalia
(1648) ended religious warfare among the German states, but the empire was de facto
divided into numerous independent principalities. From 1740 onwards, the dualism
between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated
German history. In 1806, the Imperium was overrun and dissolved as a result of the
Napoleonic Wars.[22]

Restoration and revolution 1814–1871

Main article: German Confederation

Frankfurt parliament in 1848

Following the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 and
founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign
states. Disagreement with restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements,
demanding unity and freedom. These, however, were followed by new measures of