Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in
Central Europe. It is the
second most populous country in Europe after
Russia, and the most populous
member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the
Baltic and
North seas to the north, and the
Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16
constituent states
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
. Germany borders
Denmark to the north,
Poland and the
Czech Republic to the east,
Austria and
Switzerland to the south, and
France,
Luxembourg,
Belgium, and the
Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and
most populous city is
Berlin and its financial centre is
Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the
Ruhr.
Various
Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
. A region named
Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the
Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the
Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century,
northern German regions became the centre of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
. Following the
Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the
German Confederation was formed in 1815.
Formal
unification of Germany into the modern nation-state was commenced on 18 August 1866 with the
North German Confederation Treaty
The North German Confederation Treaty (in German ''Augustbündnis'', or Alliance of August) (also called the North German Federation Treaty and the Treaty of 18 August 1866) was the treaty between the Kingdom of Prussia and other northern and centr ...
establishing the Prussia-led
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...
later transformed in 1871 into the
German Empire. After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was in turn 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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and
the Holocaust. After the
end of World War II in Europe and a period of
Allied occupation,
Germany as a whole was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignity: the Federal Republic of Germany, generally known as
West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic,
East Germany, while Berlin continued its
Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the
European Economic Community and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist
Eastern Bloc state and member of the
Warsaw Pact. After the
fall of communism
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...
,
German reunification saw the
former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on
3 October 1990—becoming a
federal parliamentary republic.
Germany is a
great power with
a strong economy; it has the
largest economy in Europe, the world's
fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the
fifth-largest by PPP. As a global power in industrial,
scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's
third-largest exporter and
importer. As a highly
developed country, which
ranks ninth on the
Human Development Index, it
offers social security and
a universal health care system, environmental protections,
a tuition-free university education, and it is ranked as
sixteenth-most peaceful country in the world. Germany is a member of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, the European Union,
NATO, the
Council of Europe, the
G7, the
G20
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...
and the
OECD. It has the
third-greatest number of
UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Etymology
The English word ''Germany'' derives from the Latin , which came into use after
Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the
Rhine. The
German term , originally ('the German lands') is derived from (
cf.
The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
''
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
''), descended from
Old High German 'of the people' (from or 'people'), originally used to distinguish the
language of the common people from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and its
Romance descendants. This in turn descends from
Proto-Germanic 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form ), derived from , descended from
Proto-Indo-European *' 'people', from which the word ''
Teutons'' also originates.
History
Pre-human ancestors, the
Danuvius guggenmosi, who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest ones to walk on two legs. Ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil (the
Neanderthal) was discovered in the
Neander Valley
The Neandertal (, also , ; sometimes called "the Neander Valley" in English) is a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about east of Düsseldorf, the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...
. Similarly dated evidence of modern humans has been found in the
Swabian Jura, including 42,000-year-old flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found, the 40,000-year-old
Lion Man, and the 35,000-year-old
Venus of Hohle Fels
The Venus of Hohle Fels (also known as the Venus of Schelklingen; in German variously ') is an Upper Paleolithic Venus figurine made of mammoth ivory that was unearthed in 2008 in Hohle Fels, a cave near Schelklingen, Germany. It is dated to be ...
. The
Nebra sky disk, created during the
European Bronze Age, has been attributed to a German site.
Germanic tribes and The Frankish Empire
The
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...
are
thought to date from the
Nordic Bronze Age
The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC.
The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...
, early
Iron Age, or the
Jastorf culture
The Jastorf culture was an Iron Age material culture in what is now northern Germany and southern Scandinavia spanning the 6th to 1st centuries BC, forming part of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and associating with Germanic peoples. The culture evo ...
.
From southern
Scandinavia and
northern Germany, they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the
Celtic,
Iranian,
Baltic, and
Slavic tribes.
Under
Augustus, the
Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of
Germania between the Rhine and
Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three
Roman legions were
defeated
Defeated may refer to:
* "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song)
* "Defeated" (Anastacia song)
*"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love''
*Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community
*''The Defeated
''The Defeated'', al ...
by
Arminius. By 100 AD, when
Tacitus wrote ''
Germania'', Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the
Limes Germanicus
The (Latin for ''Germanic frontier'') is the name given in modern times to a line of frontier () fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubd ...
), occupying most of modern Germany. However,
Baden-Württemberg, southern
Bavaria, southern
Hesse and the western
Rhineland had been
incorporated into
Roman provinces. Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the
Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest: the Franks established the
Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate
Saxony and
Bavaria, and areas of what is today eastern Germany were inhabited by
Western Slavic
The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic languages, Slavic language group. They include Polish language, Polish, Czech language, Czech, Slovak language, Slovak, Kashubian language, Kashubian, Upper Sorbian language, Upper Sorbia ...
tribes.
East Francia and The Holy Roman Empire
Charlemagne founded the
Carolingian Empire in 800; it was
divided in 843. The eastern successor kingdom of
East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe river in the east and from the North Sea to the Alps. Subsequently, the Holy Roman Empire emerged from it. The
Ottonian
The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...
rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major
duchies. In 996,
Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin
Otto III, whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and
Burgundy under the
Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the
Investiture Controversy.
Under the
Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes encouraged German settlement to the south and east (). Members of the
Hanseatic League, mostly north German towns, prospered in the expansion of trade. The population declined starting with the
Great Famine in 1315, followed by the
Black Death of 1348–50. The
Golden Bull
A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors and later by monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most notably by the Holy Roman Emperors. The term was originally coined for the golden seal (a ''bull ...
issued in 1356 provided the constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven
prince-electors.
Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type
printing to Europe, laying the basis for the
democratization of knowledge. In 1517,
Martin Luther incited the Protestant Reformation and his
translation of the Bible began the standardization of the language; the 1555
Peace of Augsburg tolerated the "Evangelical" faith (
Lutheranism), but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be the faith of his subjects (). From the
Cologne War through the
Thirty Years' Wars (1618–1648), religious conflict devastated German lands and significantly reduced the population.
The
Peace of Westphalia ended religious warfare among the
Imperial Estate
An Imperial State or Imperial Estate ( la, Status Imperii; german: Reichsstand, plural: ') was a part of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise si ...
s;
their mostly German-speaking rulers were able to choose
Roman Catholicism,
Lutheranism, or the Reformed faith as their official religion. The legal system initiated by a series of
Imperial Reform
Imperial Reform ( la, Reformatio imperii, german: Reichsreform) is the name given to repeated attempts in the 15th and 16th centuries to adapt the structure and the constitutional order () of the Holy Roman Empire to the requirements of the early ...
s (approximately 1495–1555) provided for considerable local autonomy and a stronger
Imperial Diet. The
House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of
Charles VI in 1740. Following the
War of the Austrian Succession and the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Charles VI's daughter
Maria Theresa ruled as
empress consort when her husband,
Francis I, became emperor.
From 1740,
dualism between the Austrian
Habsburg monarchy and the
Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, Prussia and Austria, along with the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, agreed to the
Partitions of Poland. During the period of the
French Revolutionary Wars, the
Napoleonic era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...
and the subsequent
final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the
Free Imperial Cities
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the
Napoleonic Wars.
German Confederation and Empire
![German Confederation (1815)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/German_Confederation_%281815%29.svg)
Following the fall of
Napoleon, the
Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation, a loose league of
39 sovereign states. The appointment of the
emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria (german: Kaiser von Österreich) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A hereditary imperial title and office proclaimed in 1804 by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the Hou ...
as the permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of
Prussia's rising influence. Disagreement within
restoration politics partly led to the rise of
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman
Klemens von Metternich. The , a tariff union, furthered economic unity. In light of
revolutionary movements in Europe, intellectuals and commoners started the
revolutions of 1848 in the German states, raising the German question. King
Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement.
King
William I appointed
Otto von Bismarck as the
minister president of Prussia
The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the All ...
in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the
war with Denmark in 1864; the subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the
Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...
which excluded
Austria. After the defeat of France in the
Franco-Prussian War, the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital.
In the period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as
chancellor of Germany secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war.
However, under
Wilhelm II, Germany took an
imperialistic course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries. A
dual alliance was created with the
multinational realm of
Austria-Hungary; the
Triple Alliance of 1882 included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France. At the
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergenc ...
in 1884, Germany claimed several
colonies including
German East Africa,
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
,
Togoland, and
Kamerun
Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern ...
. Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in the Pacific and China. The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day
Namibia), from 1904 to 1907, carried out the
annihilation of the local Herero and Namaqua peoples as punishment for an uprising;
this was the 20th century's first
genocide.
The
assassination of
Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed, a
general armistice ended the fighting. In the
German Revolution (November 1918), Emperor Wilhelm II and the ruling princes
abdicated their positions, and Germany was declared a
federal republic. Germany's new leadership signed the
Treaty of Versailles in 1919, accepting defeat by the
Allies. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of
Adolf Hitler. Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and the South Sea.
Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany
On 11 August 1919, President
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.
Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on t ...
signed the democratic
Weimar Constitution. In the subsequent struggle for power,
communists seized power in Bavaria, but conservative elements elsewhere attempted to overthrow the Republic in the . Street fighting in the major industrial centres, the
occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops, and a period of
hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
followed. A
debt restructuring plan and the creation of a
new currency in 1924 ushered in the
Golden Twenties, an era of artistic innovation and liberal cultural life.
![Hitler portrait crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Hitler_portrait_crop.jpg)
The worldwide
Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. Chancellor
Heinrich Brüning
Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932.
A political scienti ...
's government pursued a
policy of fiscal austerity and
deflation
In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate). Inflation reduces the value of currency over time, but sudden deflatio ...
which caused unemployment of nearly 30% by 1932.
The
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
led by
Adolf Hitler became the largest party in the Reichstag after
a special election in 1932 and Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. After the
Reichstag fire, a
decree abrogated basic
civil rights and the first
Nazi concentration camp opened.
On 23 March 1933, the
Enabling Act gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, overriding the constitution, and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany. His government established a centralised
totalitarian state,
withdrew from the League of Nations, and dramatically increased the country's
rearmament. A government-sponsored programme for economic renewal focused on public works, the most famous of which was the .
In 1935, the regime withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the
Nuremberg Laws which targeted
Jews and other minorities. Germany also reacquired control of the
Saarland in 1935,
remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936,
annexed Austria in 1938,
annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 with the
Munich Agreement, and in violation of the agreement
occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939. (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people.
![Europe under Nazi domination](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Europe_under_Nazi_domination.png)
In August 1939,
Hitler's government negotiated the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and
Soviet spheres of influence. On 1 September 1939, Germany
invaded Poland, beginning
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in Europe; Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. In the spring of 1940, Germany
conquered Denmark and Norway,
the Netherlands,
Belgium,
Luxembourg, and
France, forcing the French government to sign an
armistice. The British repelled German air attacks in the
Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops
invaded Yugoslavia,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. By 1942, Germany and its allies controlled most of
continental Europe and
North Africa, but following the Soviet victory at the
Battle of Stalingrad, the Allied
reconquest of North Africa and
invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In 1944, the Soviets
pushed into Eastern Europe; the Western allies
landed in France and entered Germany despite a
final German counteroffensive. Following
Hitler's suicide during the
Battle of Berlin,
Germany signed the surrender document on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe and Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, surviving Nazi officials were tried for
war crimes at the
Nuremberg trials.
In what later became known as
the Holocaust, the German government persecuted minorities, including interning them in concentration and
death camps across Europe. In total
17 million people were systematically murdered, including 6 million Jews, at least 130,000
Romani, 275,000
disabled people
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...
, thousands of
Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of
homosexuals
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
, and hundreds of thousands of
political and religious opponents.
Nazi policies in German-occupied countries resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2.7 million
Poles, 1.3 million
Ukrainians, 1 million
Belarusians and 3.5 million
Soviet prisoners of war The following articles deal with Soviet prisoners of war.
* Camps for Russian prisoners and internees in Poland (1919–24)
* Soviet prisoners of war in Finland during World War II (1939–45)
* Nazi crimes against Soviet prisoners of war during Wor ...
.
German military
casualties
A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.
In civilian usag ...
have been estimated at 5.3 million, and around 900,000 German civilians died. Around
12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from across Eastern Europe, and Germany lost roughly
one-quarter of its pre-war territory.
East and West Germany
![Map-Germany-1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Map-Germany-1945.svg)
After
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
surrendered, the
Allies partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the
Federal Republic of Germany (german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the
German Democratic Republic (GDR) (german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik; DDR). They were informally known as West Germany and East Germany. East Germany selected
East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose
Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was temporary.
West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "
social market economy
The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...
". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the United States'
Marshall Plan.
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...
was elected the first
federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth () beginning in the early 1950s. West Germany joined
NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the
European Economic Community.
East Germany was an
Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the USSR via occupation forces and the
Warsaw Pact. Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members () of the communist-controlled
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
, supported by the , an immense secret service. While
East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity.
The
Berlin Wall, built in 1961, prevented East German citizens from escaping to West Germany, becoming a symbol of the
Cold War.
Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor
Willy Brandt's . In 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the
Iron Curtain and
open its border with Austria, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular
mass demonstrations received increasing support. In an effort to help retain East Germany as a state, the East German authorities eased border restrictions, but this actually led to an acceleration of the reform process culminating in the ''
Two Plus Four Treaty'' under which Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted
German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the
five re-established states of the former GDR. The fall of the Wall in 1989 became a symbol of the
Fall of Communism
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...
, the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification and .
Reunified Germany and the European Union
![Thefalloftheberlinwall1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/West_and_East_Germans_at_the_Brandenburg_Gate_in_1989.jpg)
United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany so it retained its memberships in international organisations. Based on the
Berlin/Bonn Act
The Berlin/Bonn Act (german: Berlin/Bonn-Gesetz) regulated the move of the Bundestag and parts of the government of Germany from Bonn to Berlin. It also regulated the move of certain Federal agencies and other German federal facilities to Bonn. Th ...
(1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a (federal city) retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of the government was completed in 1999, and modernisation of the east German economy was scheduled to last until 2019.
Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, signing the
Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the
Lisbon Treaty
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...
in 2007, and co-founding the
Eurozone. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the
Balkans and sent
German troops to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
as part of a NATO effort to provide
security in that country after the ousting of the
Taliban.
In the
2005 elections,
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
became the first female chancellor. In 2009 the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of
European integration, the
energy transition () for a
sustainable energy supply, the
debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the
fertility rate (
pronatalism), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as
Industry 4.0
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, or Industry 4.0, conceptualizes rapid change to technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes in the 21st century due to increasing interconnectivity and smart automation. The term has bee ...
. During the
2015 European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the cont ...
, the country took in over a million refugees and migrants.
Geography
![Deutschland topo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Deutschland_topo.jpg)
Germany is the
seventh-largest country in Europe;
bordering
Denmark to the north,
Poland and the
Czech Republic to the east,
Austria to the southeast, and
Switzerland to the south-southwest.
France,
Luxembourg and
Belgium are situated to the west, with the
Netherlands to the northwest. Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. German territory covers , consisting of of land and of water.
Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the
Zugspitze
The Zugspitze (), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western su ...
at ) in the south to the shores of the North Sea () in the northwest and the
Baltic Sea () in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: in the municipality
Neuendorf-Sachsenbande,
Wilstermarsch
Wilstermarsch is an ''Amt'' ("collective municipality") in the county of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous ...
at below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine,
Danube and Elbe. Significant natural resources include iron ore, coal,
potash, timber,
lignite,
uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, and nickel.
Climate
Most of Germany has a
temperate climate, ranging from
oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
in the north to
continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' ( ...
in the east and southeast. Winters range from the cold in the Southern Alps to cool and are generally overcast with limited precipitation, while summers can vary from hot and dry to cool and rainy. The northern regions have prevailing westerly winds that bring in moist air from the North Sea, moderating the temperature and increasing precipitation. Conversely, the southeast regions have more extreme temperatures.
From February 2019–2020, average monthly temperatures in Germany ranged from a low of in January 2020 to a high of in June 2019. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 30 litres per square metre in February and April 2019 to 125 litres per square metre in February 2020. Average monthly hours of sunshine ranged from 45 in November 2019 to 300 in June 2019.
Biodiversity
![Herbst am Watzmann](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Herbst_am_Watzmann.jpg)
The territory of Germany can be divided into five terrestrial
ecoregions:
Atlantic mixed forests,
Baltic mixed forests,
Central European mixed forests
The Central European mixed forests ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0412) is a temperate hardwood forest covering much of northeastern Europe, from Germany to Russia. The area is only about one-third forested, with pressure from human agriculture leaving the r ...
,
Western European broadleaf forests
The Western European broadleaf forests is an ecoregion in Western Europe, and parts of the Alps. It comprises temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, that cover large areas of France, Germany and the Czech Republic and more moderately sized parts ...
, and
Alps conifer and mixed forests.
51% of Germany's land area is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure.
Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory,
beeches
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
,
oaks, and other
deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are
conifers, particularly
spruce and
pine. There are many species of
ferns,
flowers,
fungi, and
mosses. Wild animals include
roe deer,
wild boar,
mouflon
The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds.
Taxonomy
''Ovis gmelini'' was the sc ...
(a subspecies of wild sheep),
fox,
badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...
,
hare, and small numbers of the
Eurasian beaver
The Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber'') or European beaver is a beaver species that was once widespread in Eurasia, but was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum. At the turn of the 20th century, only about 1,200 beavers survi ...
. The blue
cornflower
''Centaurea cyanus'', commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to gr ...
was once a German
national symbol
A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an e ...
.
The 16
national parks in Germany include the
Jasmund National Park
The Jasmund National Park (German: ''Nationalpark Jasmund'') is a nature reserve on the Jasmund peninsula, in the northeast of Rügen island in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is famous for containing the largest chalk cliffs in Germany, the ...
, the
Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the
Müritz National Park, the
Wadden Sea National Parks
The Wadden Sea National Parks in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are located along the German Bight of the North Sea. In Germany and Denmark they also mark the area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea. Divided from each other ...
, the
Harz National Park
Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...
, the
Hainich National Park
Hainich National Park (german: Nationalpark Hainich), founded on December 31, 1997, is the 13th national park in Germany and the only one in Thuringia. One of the main objectives of the park is the protection of an ancient native beech forest. In ...
, the
Black Forest National Park
The Black Forest National Park (german: Nationalpark Schwarzwald) is a national park in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany.
It has an area of and is located on the main crest of the Northern Black Forest, mainly between ...
, the
Saxon Switzerland National Park
Saxon Switzerland National Park (german: Nationalpark Sächsische Schweiz), is a national park in the German Free State of Saxony, near the Saxon capital Dresden. It covers two areas of 93.5 km² (36.1 mi²) in the heart of the German ...
, the
Bavarian Forest National Park
The Bavarian Forest National Park (german: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park ...
and the
Berchtesgaden National Park
Berchtesgaden National Park is in the south of Germany, on its border with Austria, in the municipalities of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden and Schönau am Königsee, Berchtesgadener Land, Free State of Bavaria. The national park was established in 19 ...
. In addition, there are 17
Biosphere Reserves
Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.
MAB's work engag ...
, and 105
nature parks
A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes ...
. More than
400 zoos and animal parks operate in Germany. The
Berlin Zoo, which opened in 1844, is the oldest in Germany, and claims the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.
Politics
Germany is a
federal,
parliamentary,
representative democratic republic. Federal
legislative power
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known a ...
is vested in the parliament consisting of the (Federal Diet) and (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The is elected through
direct elections using the
mixed-member proportional representation system. The members of the represent and are appointed by the governments of the sixteen federated states.
The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitution known as the (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the and the ; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the
rule of law, are valid in perpetuity.
The
president, currently
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...
, is the
head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the and an equal number of state delegates.
The second-highest official in the
German order of precedence
The German order of precedence is a symbolic hierarchy of the five highest federal offices in Germany used to direct protocol. It has no official status, but has been established in practical use.
# The President of Germany, the head of state of ...
is the (
President of the Bundestag
The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German orde ...
), who is elected by the and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the
head of government is the chancellor, who is appointed by the after being elected by the party or coalition with the most seats in the .
The chancellor, currently
Olaf Scholz, is the head of government and exercises
executive power
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state.
In political systems b ...
through his
Cabinet.
Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the
Christian Democratic Union and the
Social Democratic Party of Germany. So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal
Free Democratic Party and the
Alliance '90/The Greens have also been junior partners in
coalition governments. Since 2007, the democratic socialist party
The Left has been a staple in the German , though they have never been part of the federal government. In the
2017 German federal election
Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter.
The Christian Democr ...
, the right-wing populist
Alternative for Germany gained enough votes to attain representation in the parliament for the first time.
Constituent states
Germany is a
federation and comprises
sixteen constituent states which are collectively referred to as .
Each state () has its own constitution, and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation.
Germany is divided into 401
districts () at a municipal level; these consist of 294
rural districts and 107
urban districts.
Law
Germany has a
civil law system
Civil law is a legal system originating in mainland Europe and adopted in much of the world. The civil law system is intellectualized within the framework of Roman law, and with core principles codified into a referable system, which serves as t ...
based on
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Ju ...
with some references to
Germanic law
Germanic law is a scholarly term used to described a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the ''Leges Barbarorum'', 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges) of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements ...
. The (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of
judicial review. Germany's supreme court system is specialised: for civil and criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the
inquisitorial
An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of an ...
Federal Court of Justice, and for other affairs the courts are the
Federal Labour Court
The Federal Labour Court (''Bundesarbeitsgericht'') is the court of the last resort for cases of labour law in Germany, both for individual labour law (mostly concerning contracts of employment) and collective labour law (e.g. cases concerning st ...
, the
Federal Social Court
The Federal Social Court (''Bundessozialgericht'') is the German federal court of appeals for social security cases, mainly cases concerning the public health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and occupational accident insu ...
, the
Federal Finance Court and the
Federal Administrative Court.
Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the and the respectively. The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the public. Except for petty crimes, which are tried before a single professional judge, and serious
political crimes, all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which
lay judge A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor, is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law jurisdictions. Lay judges are appointed volunteers and often require some legal instruction. However, they are not permane ...
s () sit side by side with professional judges.
Germany has a low murder rate with 1.18 murders per 100,000 . In 2018, the overall crime rate fell to its lowest since 1992.
Foreign relations
![Group photo of the G7 members at the Scholss Elmau summit (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Group_photo_of_the_G7_members_at_the_Scholss_Elmau_summit_%282%29.jpg)
Germany has a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad and maintains relations with more than 190 countries. Germany is a member of
NATO, the
OECD, the
G7, the
G20
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...
, the
World Bank and the
IMF. It has played an influential role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a
strong alliance with France and all neighbouring countries since 1990. Germany promotes the creation of a more unified European political, economic and security apparatus. The governments of Germany and the United States
are close political allies. Cultural ties and economic interests have crafted a bond between the two countries resulting in
Atlanticism
Atlanticism, also known as Transatlanticism, is the belief in or support for a close relationship between the peoples and governments in Northern America (the United States and Canada) and those in Europe (the countries of the European Union, ...
. After 1990,
Germany and Russia worked together to establish a "strategic partnership" in which
energy development became one of the most important factors. As a result of the cooperation, Germany imported most of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia.
The development policy of Germany is an independent area of foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It was the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States.
Military
![Spürpanzer Fuchs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Sp%C3%BCrpanzer_Fuchs.jpg)
Germany's military, the , is organised into the (Army and special forces
), (Navy), (Air Force), (Joint Medical Service), (Joint Support Service) and (Cyber and Information Domain Service) branches. In absolute terms, German military expenditure is the eighth-highest in the world. In 2018, military spending was at $49.5 billion, about 1.2% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. However, in response to the 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German military expenditure would be increased past the NATO target of 2%, along with a one-time 2022 infusion of 100 billion euros, representing almost double the 53 billion euro military budget for 2021.
, the has a strength of 184,001 active soldiers and 80,947 civilians.
Reservists are available to the armed forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad.
Until 2011,
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...
was compulsory for men at age 18, but this has been officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service. Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction. According to the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the fourth-largest exporter of major arms in the world from 2014 to 2018.
In peacetime, the is commanded by the Minister of Defence. In
state of defence
The state of defence (, ) is the constitutional state of emergency in Germany if the country is "under attack by armed force or imminently threatened with such an attack". Established by a constitutional amendment in 1968 during the Cold War, this ...
, the Chancellor would become commander-in-chief of the . The role of the is described in the
Constitution of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came i ...
as defensive only. But after a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994, the term "defence" has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the
security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...
of Germany anywhere in the world. the German military has about 3,600 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 1,200 supporting operations against
Daesh
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...
, 980 in the NATO-led
Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and 800 in
Kosovo.
Economy
![Frankfurter_Altstadt_mit_Skyline_2019_(100MP)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Frankfurter_Altstadt_mit_Skyline_2019_%28100MP%29.jpg)
Germany has a
social market economy
The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...
with a highly skilled
labour force
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...
, a low level of
corruption, and a high level of
innovation.
It is the world's
third-largest exporter and
third-largest importer,
and has the
largest economy in Europe, which is also the world's
fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP,
and the
fifth-largest by PPP. Its GDP per capita measured in purchasing power standards amounts to 121% of the EU27 average (100%). The
service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%, and agriculture 1% .
The unemployment rate published by
Eurostat amounts to 3.2% , which is the fourth-lowest in the EU.
Germany is part of the
European single market which represents more than 450 million consumers. In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the
Eurozone economy according to the
International Monetary Fund.
Germany introduced the common European currency, the
Euro, in 2002.
Its monetary policy is set by the
European Central Bank, which is headquartered in
Frankfurt.
Being home to the
modern car, the
automotive industry in Germany
The automotive industry in Germany is one of the largest employers in the world, with a labor force of over 857,336 (2016) working in the industry.
Being home to the modern car, the German automobile industry is regarded as the most competit ...
is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world, and is the
sixth-largest by production as of 2021. The top ten exports of Germany are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipments, pharmaceuticals, transport equipments, basic metals, food products, and rubber and plastics.
Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2019, the
Fortune Global 500
The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine.
Methodology
Until 1989, it listed onl ...
, 29 are headquartered in Germany. 30 major Germany-based companies are included in the
DAX, the German stock market index which is operated by
Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Well-known international brands include
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
,
BMW,
Volkswagen,
Audi,
Siemens,
Allianz,
Adidas,
Porsche,
Bosch and
Deutsche Telekom.
Berlin is a
hub for
startup companies
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
and has become the leading location for venture capital funded firms in the European Union. Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised
small and medium enterprises, known as the model. These companies represent 48% global market leaders in their segments, labelled
hidden champions Hidden champions are relatively small but highly successful companies that are concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility, and sometimes secrecy. The term was coined by Hermann Simon. He first used the term as a title of a public ...
.
Research and development efforts form an integral part of the German economy. In 2018 Germany
ranked fourth globally in terms of number of science and engineering research papers published. Research institutions in Germany include the
Max Planck Society, the
Helmholtz Association
The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. ...
, and the
Fraunhofer Society and the
Leibniz Association
The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines.
As of 2020, 96 non-university research insti ...
. Germany is the largest contributor to the
European Space Agency.
Infrastructure
![ICE 3 Oberhaider-Wald-Tunnel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/ICE_3_Oberhaider-Wald-Tunnel.jpg)
With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub for the continent. Its road network is among the densest in Europe. The motorway (
Autobahn) is widely known for having no general federally mandated
speed limit for some classes of vehicles.
The
Intercity Express or ''ICE'' train network serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries with speeds up to . The largest German airports are
Frankfurt Airport and
Munich Airport. The
Port of Hamburg is one of the top twenty
largest container ports in the world.
, Germany was the world's seventh-largest consumer of energy. The government and the
nuclear power industry agreed to phase out all
nuclear power plants by 2021. It meets the country's power demands using 40%
renewable sources, and it has been called an "early leader" in
solar and
offshore wind.
Germany is committed to the
Paris Agreement and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, and
water management. The country's household recycling rate is among the highest in the world—at around 65%. The country's
greenhouse gas emissions per capita were the ninth-highest in the EU , but these numbers have been trending downward. The
German energy transition () is the recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Tourism
![Castle_Neuschwanstein](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Castle_Neuschwanstein.jpg)
Germany is the ninth most visited country in the world , with 37.4 million visits. Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contribute over €105.3 billion to German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry supports 4.2 million jobs.
Germany's most visited and popular landmarks include
Cologne Cathedral, the
Brandenburg Gate, the
Reichstag, the
Dresden Frauenkirche
The Dresden Frauenkirche (german: Dresdner Frauenkirche, , ''Church of Our Lady'') is a Evangelical Church in Germany, Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. Destroyed during the Allied Bombing of Dresden in Wo ...
,
Neuschwanstein Castle,
Heidelberg Castle, the
Wartburg, and
Sanssouci Palace. The
Europa-Park
Europa-Park is the largest theme park in Germany, and the second most popular theme park in Europe, after Disneyland Paris. Europa-Park is located in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Rust, south-western Germany, between Freiburg im Breisgau and Strasbo ...
near
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
is Europe's second most popular theme park resort.
Demographics
With a population of 80.2 million according to the
2011 German Census,
rising to 83.7 million ,
Germany is the most populous country in the European Union, the
second most populous country in Europe after
Russia, and the
nineteenth most populous country in the world. Its
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
stands at 227 inhabitants per square kilometre (588 per square mile). The
fertility rate
The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if:
# she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime
# she were ...
of 1.57 children born per woman (2022 estimates) is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is one of the
lowest fertility rates in the world.
Since the 1970s, Germany's
death rate
Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...
has exceeded its
birth rate
The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
. However, Germany is witnessing increased birth rates and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. Germany has the
third oldest population in the world, with an average age of 47.4 years.
![Bilinguale Straßenbeschilderung Cottbus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Bilinguale_Stra%C3%9Fenbeschilderung_Cottbus.jpg)
Four sizeable groups of people are referred to as "national minorities" because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries:
There is a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
minority in the northernmost state of
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
;
the
Sorbs
Sorbs ( hsb, Serbja, dsb, Serby, german: Sorben; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Branden ...
, a
Slavic population, are in the
Lusatia
Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
region of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
; the
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
and
Sinti
The Sinti (also ''Sinta'' or ''Sinte''; masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintesa'') are a subgroup of Romani people mostly found in Germany and Central Europe that number around 200,000 people. They were traditionally itinerant, but today o ...
live throughout the country; and the
Frisians are concentrated in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
's western coast and in the north-western part of
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
.
After the United States, Germany is the second most popular
immigration destination in the world. The majority of migrants live in western Germany, in particular in urban areas. Of the country's residents, 18.6 million people (22.5%) were of immigrant or partially immigrant descent in 2016 (including persons descending or partially descending from
ethnic German
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
repatriates).
In 2015, the Population Division of the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Ec ...
listed Germany as host to the
second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 12 million of all 244 million migrants. , Germany ranks seventh amongst EU countries in terms of the percentage of migrants in the country's population, at 13.1%.
Germany has a number of large
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. There are 11 officially recognised
metropolitan regions. The country's largest city is
Berlin, while its largest urban area is the
Ruhr.
[Demographia: World Urban Areas](_blank)
. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
Religion
![500px photo (70560973)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/500px_photo_%2870560973%29.jpeg/1200px-500px_photo_%2870560973%29.jpeg)
According to the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion in Germany, with 66.8% of respondents identifying as Christian, of which 3.8% were not church members.
31.7% declared themselves as
Protestants, including members of the
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United (e.g. Prussian Union) Protestant regional churches and denominations in German ...
(which encompasses
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
,
Reformed, and administrative or confessional
unions of both traditions) and the
free churches
A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from ...
(); 31.2% declared themselves as
Roman Catholics, and
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
believers constituted 1.3%. According to data from 2016, the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church claimed 28.5% and 27.5%, respectively, of the population.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the country.
In the 2011 census, 1.9% of respondents (1.52 million people) gave their religion as Islam, but this figure is deemed unreliable because a disproportionate number of adherents of this faith (and other religions, such as Judaism) are likely to have made use of their right not to answer the question. Most of the Muslims are
Sunnis and
Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of
Shi'ites
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
,
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
s and other denominations. Other religions comprise less than one percent of Germany's population.
A study in 2018 estimated that 38% of the population are not members of any religious organization or
denomination,
though up to a third may still consider themselves religious.
Irreligion in Germany
Irreligion is prevalent in Germany. Following near universal adoption of Christianity, religious traditions in Germany were weakened by the rule of the Nazi Party during World War II and the subsequent rule of the Socialist Unity Party in East G ...
is strongest in the former East Germany, which used to be predominantly Protestant before the enforcement of state atheism, and in major metropolitan areas.
Languages
German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany.
It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union, and one of the three procedural languages of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
. German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, with around 100 million native speakers.
Recognised native minority languages in Germany are
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
,
Low German,
Low Rhenish,
Sorbian,
Romany,
North Frisian and
Saterland Frisian; they are officially protected by the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, th ...
. The most used immigrant languages are
Turkish,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
,
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
and other
Balkan languages
This is a list of languages spoken in regions ruled by Balkan countries. With the exception of several Turkic languages, all of them belong to the Indo-European family. A subset of these languages is notable for forming a well-studied '' sprachb ...
, as well as
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
. Germans are typically multilingual: 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two.
Education
![Heidelberg Universitätsbibliothek 2003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Heidelberg_Universit%C3%A4tsbibliothek_2003.jpg)
Responsibility for educational supervision in Germany is primarily organised within the individual
states. Optional
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which
school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years depending on the state. Primary education usually lasts for four to six years.
Secondary schooling is divided into tracks based on whether students pursue
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
or
vocational education
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...
. A system of apprenticeship called leads to a skilled qualification which is almost comparable to an academic degree. It allows students in
vocational training
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an in ...
to learn in a company as well as in a state-run trade school.
This model is well regarded and reproduced all around the world.
Most of the
German universities
This is a list of the universities in Germany, of which there are about seventy. The list also includes German ''Technische Universitäten'' ( universities of technology), which have official and full university status, but usually focus on engin ...
are public institutions, and students traditionally study without fee payment. The general requirement for attending university is the . According to an OECD report in 2014, Germany is the world's third leading destination for international study. The established universities in Germany include some of the
oldest in the world, with
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...
(established in 1386) being the oldest. The
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
, founded in 1810 by the liberal educational reformer
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named afte ...
, became the academic
model for many Western universities. In the contemporary era Germany has developed eleven
Universities of Excellence.
Health
![Heiligen-Geist-Hospital in Lübeck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Heiligen-Geist-Hospital_in_L%C3%BCbeck.JPG)
Germany's system of hospitals, called , dates from medieval times, and today, Germany has the world's oldest
universal health care
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...
system, dating from
Bismarck's social legislation of the 1880s. Since the 1880s, reforms and provisions have ensured a balanced health care system. The population is covered by a health insurance plan provided by statute, with criteria allowing some groups to opt for a private health insurance contract. According to the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
(WHO), Germany's
health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded .
In 2014, Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP on health care.
Germany ranked 21st in the world in 2019 in life expectancy with
78.7 years for men and 84.8 years for women according to the WHO, and it had a very low
infant mortality rate
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
(4 per 1,000
live births). , the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 37%.
Obesity in Germany has been increasingly cited as a major health issue. A 2014 study showed that 52 percent of the adult German population was overweight or obese.
Culture
![Striezelmarkt 2009 00950](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Striezelmarkt_2009_00950.jpg)
Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
. Historically, Germany has been called ('the land of poets and thinkers'), because of the major role its
scientists
A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...
,
writers and
philosophers
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
have played in the development of Western thought. A global opinion poll for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2013 and 2014.
Germany is well known for such folk festival traditions as the
cakes, and other practices.
. There are a number of
).
includes works by some of the world's most well-known composers.
.
eras.
were significant Romantic composers.
was known for his operas.
eras.
are important composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
As of 2013, Germany was the second-largest music market in Europe, and fourth-largest in the world. German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of
. German
pioneering in this genre. DJs and artists of the
scenes of Germany have become well known (e.g.
).
.
. Several German art groups formed in the 20th century; (The Bridge) and (The Blue Rider) influenced the development of
in Munich and Berlin. The
arose in response to expressionism during the Weimar Republic. After World War II, broad trends in German art include
.
.
is a distinctive medieval style that evolved in Germany. Also in
art, regional and typically German elements evolved (e.g.
).
() traditions and varies across regions, and among carpentry styles.
developed in Germany, sometimes referred to as ''style''.
and other modern styles. Germany was particularly important in the early
.
became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century; he conceived of the glass façade
. Renowned contemporary
. The
are held twice a year.
German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as
. Well-known German authors include
. The collections of folk tales published by the
on an international level.
The Grimms also gathered and codified regional variants of the German language, grounding their work in historical principles; their , or German Dictionary, sometimes called the Grimm dictionary, was begun in 1838 and the first volumes published in 1854.
. The German book market is the third-largest in the world, after the United States and China. The
is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years. The
also retains a major position in Europe.
German philosophy is historically significant:
has been particularly influential.
.
is the largest in Europe, with some 38 million TV households. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, with a variety of
channels.
is the main German radio and television broadcaster in foreign languages.
is the largest in Europe.
The papers with the highest circulation are , , and .
The largest magazines include and .
German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film. The first works of the
were shown to an audience in 1895. The renowned
was established in 1912, thus being the first large-scale film studio in the world. Early German cinema was particularly influential with
. Director
'' (1927) is referred to as the first major science-fiction film. After 1945, many of the films of the immediate post-war period can be characterised as (rubble film). East German film was dominated by state-owned film studio
, while the dominant genre in West Germany was the ("homeland film"). During the 1970s and 1980s,
brought West German auteur cinema to critical acclaim.
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ("Oscar") went to the German production ''The Tin Drum (film), The Tin Drum'' () in 1979, to ''Nowhere in Africa'' () in 2002, and to ''The Lives of Others'' () in 2007. List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees, Various Germans won an Oscar for their performances in other films. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every other year in Berlin, home of the European Film Academy. The Berlin International Film Festival, known as "Berlinale", awarding the "Golden Bear" and held annually since 1951, is one of the world's leading film festivals. The "Lolas" are annually awarded in Berlin, at the Deutscher Filmpreis, German Film Awards.
German cuisine varies from region to region and often neighbouring regions share some culinary similarities (e.g. the southern regions of Bavarian cuisine, Bavaria and Swabian cuisine, Swabia share some traditions with Switzerland and Austria). International varieties such as pizza, sushi, Chinese food, Greek cuisine, Greek food, Indian cuisine and doner kebab are also popular.
German cuisine#Bread, Bread is a significant part of German cuisine and German bakeries produce about 600 main types of bread and 1,200 types of pastries and rolls (). German List of German cheeses, cheeses account for about 22% of all cheese produced in Europe. In 2012 over 99% of all meat produced in Germany was either pork, chicken or beef. Germans produce their ubiquitous sausages in almost 1,500 varieties, including Bratwursts and Weisswursts. The national alcoholic drink is Beer in Germany, beer. German beer consumption per person stands at in 2013 and remains among the List of countries by beer consumption per capita, highest in the world. Reinheitsgebot, German beer purity regulations date back to the 16th century. German wine, Wine has become popular in many parts of the country, especially close to List of German wine regions, German wine regions. In 2019, Germany was the ninth-largest wine producer in the world.
The 2018 Michelin Guide awarded eleven restaurants in Germany List of Michelin starred restaurants#Germany, three stars, giving the country a cumulative total of 300 stars.
Football in Germany, Football is the most popular sport in Germany. With more than 7 million official members, the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund'') is the largest single-sport organisation worldwide, and the German top league, the Bundesliga, attracts the second-highest List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues, average attendance of all professional sports leagues in the world. The Germany national football team, German men's national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014, the UEFA European Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996, and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.
Germany is one of the leading Sport in Germany#Motorsport, motor sports countries in the world. Constructors like
and Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes are prominent manufacturers in motor sport.
13 times (). The driver Michael Schumacher has set many motor sport records during his career, having won seven List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, Formula One World Drivers' Championships. Sebastian Vettel is also among the most successful Formula One drivers of all time.
Historically, Germany at the Olympics, German athletes have been successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count (when combining East and West German medals). Germany was the last country to host both the summer and winter games in the same year, in 1936: the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics, Summer Games and the 1936 Winter Olympics, Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Munich hosted the Summer Games of 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972.
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
at the European Union, EU
*
{{Authority control
Germany,
Articles containing video clips
Central European countries
Countries in Europe
Federal republics
G7 nations
G20 nations
German-speaking countries and territories
Member states of NATO
Member states of the European Union
Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean
Member states of the United Nations
States and territories established in 1871
States and territories established in 1949
States and territories established in 1990
Member states of the Council of Europe
Western European countries
1990 establishments in Europe
OECD members