Difference between revisions of "Germany"

Revision as of 09:32, March 16, 2007

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-A country in central [[Europe]], home to 82.4 million people. It is a federal democracy. Germany is one of the worlds leading economies.
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-==Pre-Soviet era history==
-Prior to 1871, Germany was divided into a multitude of small principalities and the occasional large monarchy (such as [[Prussia]] and Austria). After a victory over France in the French-German war of 1870/71 Germany was unified under a single government on january 18th 1871. The country was devastated by a major defeat in [[World War I]], and it was further impaired by terms in the [[Treaty of Versailles]] that forced them to pay compensation to the [[Allies]] for damages related to the war. They were also forbidden from developing any substantial military. However, these terms made the treaty unpopular in Germany, and this led in part to the public discontent that allowed the [[Nazi Party]] to rise to power. Led by [[Adolf Hitler]], the Nazis promoted an agenda of virulent anti-Semitism and racism while hoping to avenge their loss in World War I. Germany invaded [[Poland]] in 1939, which touched off the European portion of [[World War II]]. Six extremely deadly years followed, as the Germans conquered much of Western Europe and started a program of genocide, killing six million Jews and millions of other people (such as disabled persons, homosexuals, and Communists) in massive death camps. Their war with the [[Soviet Union]] was particularly costly to both sides, as both armies suffered enormous casualties in the German attempt to capture Moscow and their subsequent withdrawal. Eventually, the Allies opened a second front by invading [[France]] in 1944. The Germans were unable to fight on two fronts, and they were beaten back until Soviet forces occupied [[Berlin]] in May 1945.
-From 1945 till today
-The war resulted in the death of several million German soldiers and civilians, in total nearly ten million; large territorial losses; the expulsion of about 15 million Germans from other countries; and the destruction of multiple major cities. Germany and Berlin were partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones. The sectors controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States were merged on May 23, 1949, to form the democratic nation of the Federal Republic of Germany; on October 7, 1949, the Soviet Zone established the German Democratic Republic. In English, the two states were known informally as "West Germany" and "East Germany".
-West Germany, established as a liberal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy", was allied with the United States, the UK and France. The country eventually came to enjoy prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s (Wirtschaftswunder). West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1958. Across the border, East Germany was at first occupied by, and later (May 1955) allied with, the USSR. An authoritarian country with a Soviet-style command economy, East Germany soon became the richest, most advanced country in the Warsaw Pact, but many of its citizens looked to the West for political freedoms and economic prosperity.[12] The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to stop East Germans from escaping to West Germany, became a symbol of the Cold War. However, tensions between East and West Germany were somewhat reduced in the early 1970s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, which included the de facto acceptance of Germany's territorial losses in World War II.
-The Berlin Wall that had partitioned Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate shortly after the opening of the wall
-The Berlin Wall that had partitioned Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate shortly after the opening of the wall
-During the summer of 1989, in the face of a growing migration of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and mass demonstrations, East German authorities unexpectedly eased the border restrictions in November 1989, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that concluded with German reunification on October 3, 1990. Under the terms of the treaty between West and East Germany, Berlin again became the capital of the reunited Germany.
-Since reunification, Germany has taken a leading role in the European Union and NATO. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent a force of Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.
-[[Category:Countries]]

Difference between revisions of "Germany"

Revision as of 09:32, March 16, 2007

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