Difference between revisions of "Germany"

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Germany has a President as [[Head of State]]. However, his political power is small. The actual political power and head of government is the Chancellor ("Bundeskanzler"). The current Chancellor is [[Angela Merkel|Dr. Angela Merkel]]. The current government [http://www.bundesregierung.de] is a coalition between the two largest parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD).
 
Germany has a President as [[Head of State]]. However, his political power is small. The actual political power and head of government is the Chancellor ("Bundeskanzler"). The current Chancellor is [[Angela Merkel|Dr. Angela Merkel]]. The current government [http://www.bundesregierung.de] is a coalition between the two largest parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD).
  
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==Famous Germans==
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==Famous Germans==  
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*[[Joseph Goebbles]]
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*[[Hermann Göring]]
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*[[Heinrich Himmler]]
 
*[[Johann Sebastian Bach]]
 
*[[Johann Sebastian Bach]]
 
*[[Pope Benedict XVI]]
 
*[[Pope Benedict XVI]]

Revision as of 21:12, September 10, 2007

Germany
200px
Flag of Germany.JPG
Flag
Capital Berlin
Government Federal republic (parliamentary)
Language German (official)
President Horst Köhler
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Area 137,858 sq. miles
Population (2006) 82,310,000
GDP (2006) $3.045 trillion
GDP per capita $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 city and seat of government is Berlin.

As Europe's largest economy and the most populous nation wholly within Europe, 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] The Roman Empire had plans to expand its borders into the wild lands of Germania, but with their defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a decision was made by the Roman Emperor Augustus to consolidate the boundaries along the Rhine River, leaving most of Germania free, wild, and untamed. Migrating pressures over the following centuries saw frequent efforts of Germanic tribes trying to enter the Roman Empire. While sometimes these efforts gained temporary success, Rome would invariably defeat these efforts. Some tribes were allowed to settle in the Empire, especially during times of depopulation during plague. During the time of the later Empire, the Germans were both buffers against outside invasions and oftentimes allies, enemies, or both - with some tribes aiding Rome and some tribes invading. In 410 AD, some Germanic tribes assisted the Visigoths under Alaric I in sacking the city of Rome.[2] It was a blow to the Western Empire, but didn't have the importance that it once would have 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. By that time Rome was being attacked or saved almost exclusively by barbarian armies. 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 heir-less Kingdom of 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.

1806 - 1871

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.

Imperial Germany

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth, Germany moved far ahead in both the theory and the practice of socialism. The Germans, long before the Nazis, were attacking classical liberalism and democracy, capitalism, and individualism. Long before the Nazis the German and Italian socialists were using techniques of which the Nazis and fascists later made effective use. The idea of a political party which embraces all activities of the individual from the cradle to the grave, which claims to guide his views on everything, was first put into practice by the socialists. It was not the fascists but the socialists who began to collect children at the tenderest age into political organization to direct their thinking. [4]

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.

Post WWII History

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 infra structure up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European currency, the euro.

The states (Bundesländer) and their capitals

(in alphabetical order)

Baden-Württemberg - Stuttgart

Bayern - München

Berlin - Berlin

Brandenburg - Potsdam

Bremen - Bremen

Hamburg - Hamburg

Hessen - Wiesbaden

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - Schwerin

Niedersachsen - Hannover

Nordrhein-Westfalen - Düsseldorf

Rheinland-Pfalz - Mainz

Saarland - Saarbrücken

Sachsen - Dresden

Sachsen-Anhalt - Magdeburg

Schleswig-Holstein - Kiel

Thüringen - Erfurt

Tourism

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.[5]

Politics

Political Parties

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

  • Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) - center-right
  • Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) - conservative
  • Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) - center-left
  • Free Democratic Party (FDP) - liberal, centrist
  • Alliance '90 / The Greens (Grüne) - left, green
  • The Left Party - far left, heir to the Socialist Unity Party of the former East Germany


Note: CDU and CSU traditionally form a common parliamentary faction. The CSU only acts in Bavaria, the CDU in the other states.

Government

Executive Branch

Germany has a President as Head of State. However, his political power is small. The actual political power and head of government is the Chancellor ("Bundeskanzler"). The current Chancellor is Dr. Angela Merkel. The current government [3] is a coalition between the two largest parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Famous Germans

War on Terror

Germany currently contributes troops to the NATO-led ISAF 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. ↑ Road to Serfdom, Friedrich A. Hayek, Reader's Digest Condensed Version, April 1945, pg. 35-36.
  5. ↑ [2] CIA World Factbook
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