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Germany: A Brief History

• Germany is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

• It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia and the most populous member state of the European Union.

• Germany has 16 constituent states and its capital and most populous city is Berlin.

• Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity and a region named Germania was documented before AD 100.

• The Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire in 962 and during the 16th century, northern German regions became the center of the Protestant Reformation.

• After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was transformed into the semi-presidential Weimar Republic.

• The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust.

• After the end of World War II, Germany was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

• German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990—becoming a federal parliamentary republic.

• Germany has the largest economy in Europe, the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fifth-largest by PPP.

• As a developed country, it offers social security, a universal health care system, and a tuition-free university education.

• Germany is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20, and the OECD.Germany: A Summary

• Germany was involved in World War II, which resulted in the fall of Nazi Germany and the trial of Nazi officials for war crimes.

• The Holocaust, in which 17 million people were systematically murdered, including 6 million Jews, occurred during World War II.

• After World War II, Germany was divided into East and West Germany, which were informally known as East Germany and West Germany respectively.

• West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy" and enjoyed prolonged economic growth.

• East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the Soviet Union via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact.

• Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik.

• German reunification occurred on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR.

• Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union, signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, and co-founding the Eurozone.

• Germany is the seventh-largest country in Europe and has a temperate climate.

• Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic and is divided into sixteen constituent states.

• Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law.

• Germany has a low murder rate and a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad.Overview of Germany

• Germany is the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States, and sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community.

• Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is organised into various branches and has a strength of 184,001 active soldiers and 80,947 civilians. Germany is the fourth-largest exporter of major arms in the world from 2014 to 2018.

• Germany has the largest economy in Europe, the world's third-largest exporter and importer, and a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, low corruption, and high innovation.

• The service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%, and agriculture 1% as of 2017. Germany is part of the European single market and introduced the euro in 2002.

• Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised small and medium enterprises, known as the Mittelstand model. Research and development efforts form an integral part of the German economy, with institutions such as the Max Planck Society and the Fraunhofer Society.

• Germany is a transport hub for the continent, with a dense road network, high-speed ICE train network, and large airports and ports.

• Germany is committed to the Paris Agreement and several other treaties promoting low emission standards, biodiversity, and water management. The German energy transition (Energiewende) is the recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

• Germany is the ninth-most visited country in the world with 37.4 million visits, and domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contribute over €105.3 billion to German GDP.

• Germany has a population of 83.7 million as of 2022, the most populous country in the European Union, with a low fertility rate and an ageing population.

• Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with 66.8% of respondents identifying as Christian, and Islam is the second-largest religion in the country.

• German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany, with recognised native minority languages and immigrant languages.

• Education in Germany is primarily organised within the individual states, with compulsory school attendance for at least nine years. Germany has a system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung, and most universities are public institutions with students traditionally studying without fee payment.

• Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating from Bismarck's social legislation of the 1880s, and the population is covered by a health insurance plan provided by statute. In 2014, Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP on health care.

• Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Germany is well known for such folk festival traditions as the Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets, and has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker ('the land of poets and thinkers').Culture of Germany

• Germany has a rich cultural heritage, including customs such as Oktoberfest and Christmas traditions.

• UNESCO has inscribed 41 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.

• German classical music includes works by some of the most well-known composers, and Germany was the second-largest music market in Europe as of 2013.

• German painters have influenced Western art, and German designers became early leaders of modern product design.

• German architecture includes the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, Brick Gothic, Weser Renaissance, and classicism and historicism.

• German literature dates back to the Middle Ages, and the German book market is the third-largest in the world.

• German philosophy has made significant contributions to rationalism, idealism, and communism, among others.

• Germany has a large media industry, including the largest TV market in Europe and the largest print market in Europe.

• German cinema has made major contributions to film, and the Berlin International Film Festival is one of the world's leading film festivals.

• German cuisine is varied and includes bread, cheese, sausages, beer, and wine.

• Football is the most popular sport in Germany, and Germany is one of the leading motor sports countries in the world.

• German athletes have historically been successful in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count.