Difference between revisions of "Germany"

Revision as of 20:59, May 18, 2007

250px
Bundesrepublik Deutschland Federal Republic of Germany
Flag of Germany
Capital	Berlin
Government	Federal Republic (parliamentary)
Official Language	German
President	Horst Köhler
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Area	137,858 sq. miles
Population (2006)	82,310,000
GDP (2006)	$3.045 trillion
GDP per capita (2006)	$36,975

Germany (official name: Federal Republic of Germany) is a federally organized Democracy in Western Europe with a population of about 82.4 million. The capital is Berlin.

As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. The central German bank, the Bundesbank, has historically been the most influential force within the financial markets of the European Union.

History

The emergence of Germany as a nation in its own right came later than for most European powers. The German-speaking areas of Europe had historically been parts of diverse other nations, among them Prussia, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire, along with numerous smaller principiates.

Early Germanic Tribes

The first distinct Germanic tribes emerged around 100BC in northern Germany, and are usually thought to have migrated south from Scandinavia. From there, the tribes continued to expand, coming in contact with the Celts of Gaul in the west, and Slavic tribes to the east. However, not much is known about the early Germanic people due to the lack of a written language. Most of what is known is due to contact with the Roman Empire and archaeological digs. To the rest of the world, the Germanic tribes inhabited a region known as Germania, Latin for "Land of the Germans".^[1] Soon, the Germanic people began low-intensity coflict with the Roman Empire, climaxing at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. From this point, the Germanic tribes began winning battles against the Romans. In 410AD, The Germanic tribes assisted the Visigoths under Alaric I in sacking the city of Rome.^[2] This was a blow to the Western Empire, but not a killing one as the capital had moved to Ravenna in 402 AD. But in 476 AD, dissatisfied German mercanaries led by Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus. Since Odoacer refused to assume the title of Emperor, this date is generally considered to be the official end of the Western Roman Empire.^[3]

The Holy Roman Empire (843–1806)

The medieval German empire originated from the division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, and was known as the Holy Roman Empire. It gradually expanded through the addition of Lorraine, Saxony, Franconia, Thuringia, and Bavaria, 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. The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the constitution of the empire; it established the election of the emperor by seven Prince-Electors, each of whom ruled one of the more powerful principalities or archbishoprics. Notably, one of these Electors, George Louis the Elector of Hanover (1660-1727), was recruited by the heirless Great Britain in 1714 to become its king, taking the name George I.

The Reformation

In 1517, Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses questioning the Roman Catholic Church, an act which began the Protestant Reformation. A separate Lutheran church was acknowledged as the new sanctioned religion in many states of Germany in 1530. Religious conflicts known as the 30 Years War pitted Protestant German states against Catholic one, and devastated the former Empire. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended religious warfare in Germany, but the empire broke down 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.

Nationalism

It was not until after the fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814 that the German Confederation, a loosely-organized league of 39 states, began to lay the ground for nationhood. Numerous conflicts between these sates marked the first half of the nineteenth century, and it was not until Otto von Bismarck's ascension as Prime Minister of Prussia in mid-century that something resembling the modern sense of "Germany" came into being. Austria was, however, not a part of this new North German Confederation. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871, the German Empire was formally proclaimed, under Wilhelm I, with its capital in Berlin.

Aggressive nationalism fostered under the second empire of 1871, given greater impetus by the hubris of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and perverted into Nazism by the shock of defeat and the economic travails of the 1920s 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 USA, 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 European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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.

Neuschwanstein Castle, a popular tourist destination.

Economic Overview

Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world in PPP terms - showed considerable improvement in 2006 with 2.7% growth. After a long period of stagnation with an average growth rate of 0.7% between 2001-05 and chronically high unemployment, stronger growth has led to a considerable fall in unemployment to about 8% at the end of 2006. 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 reduced Germany's budget deficit to within 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.^[4]

Politics

Political Parties

The political parties represented in the German parliament (Bundestag) are:

• Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) - censtrist
• Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) - conservative
• Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) - center-left
• Free Democratic Party (FDP) - liberal, centrist
• The Left Party - far left, partly communist

Note: CDU and CSU traditionally form a common parliamentary faction. The CSU only exists in Bavaria.

Government

Executive Branch

Germany has a President as Head of State. However real power is exercised by a Chancellor. The current Chancellor is Dr. Angela Merkel.

Famous Germans

• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Pope Benedict XVI
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Albert Einstein
• Friedrich Engels
• Georg Friedrich Händel
• Dietrich Buxtehude
• Ernst August von Hannover
• Daniel Fahrenheit
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Henry Kissinger
• Martin Luther
• Karl Marx
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Friedrich Schiller
• Richard Wagner
• Otto von Bismarck
• Wernher von Braun
• Thomas Mann
• Hannah Arendt
• Rosa Luxemburg
• Marlene Dietrich
• Käthe Kollwitz
• Anne Frank
• Angela Merkel
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Franz Beckenbauer
• Boris Becker
• Michael Schumacher
• Günter Grass
• Heinrich Böll
• Wim Wenders
• Roland Emmerich
• Rainer Werner Fassbinder
• Bertolt Brecht
• Loriot
• Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
• Konrad Adenauer
• Friedrich Händel
• Joseph Haydn
• Otto Hahn
• Liese Meitner
• Werner Heisenberg
• Heinrich Hesse
• Albrecht Dürer
• Tillman Bitterberg

War on Terror

Germany currently contributes troops to the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan, but did not support the invasion of Iraq. German military participates in NATO Force Protection Program, protecting US military bases located in Germany.

References

1. ↑ Medieval Sourcebook Tacitus: Germania
2. ↑ The Sack of Rome
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2] CIA World Factbook