| German Empire Deutsches Reich Timeline: Sino-Soviet Split Never Happened | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Motto: "Gott mit uns" (God with us) |
||||||
| Anthem: "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" (Hail to Thee in the Victor's Crown) |
||||||
| Capital | Berlin | |||||
| Official languages | German | |||||
| Other languages | Czech, Dutch, French, Frisian, Danish, Kashubian, Lithuanian, Low German, Polish, Sorbian, Yiddish | |||||
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||
| - | Kaiser | Friedrich IV | ||||
| - | Chancellor | Alice Weidel | ||||
| Legislature | Imperial Assembly | |||||
| - | Upper house | Federal Council | ||||
| - | Lower house | Imperial Diet | ||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| - | Unification | 18 January 1871 | ||||
Germany, officially the German Empire, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Denmark to the north, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and Alsace–Lorraine to the west, Switzerland to the south, Austria to the south and Poland to the east. It is bounded by the North Sea on the northwest, the Baltic Sea on the northeast and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. Germany is the most populous country in Europe, 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. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main 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. 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. 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 establishing the Prussia-led North German Confederation later transformed in 1871 into the German Empire. After World War I 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, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, in 1949, Germany as a whole was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, generally known as West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, known as East Germany, while Berlin continued its de jure Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia had become president of Germany after winning the 1969 Presidential elections and his popularity as president and his not giving up his claim to the German throne resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. After the fall of communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the German Empire in 1990 reforming the German Empire.
Germany has been described as 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 developed country it offers social security, a universal health care system and a tuition-free university education. Germany is a member of the United Nations, European Union, NATO, Council of Europe, G7, G20, and OECD. It has the third-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History[]
Early 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. 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 Nebra sky disk, created during the European Bronze Age, has been attributed to a German site.
Age of Tribalism and Frankish Empire[]
The Germanic peoples are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age, early Iron Age, or the Jastorf culture. 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 by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania, and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history. By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote Germania, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), 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 tribes.
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 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 (Ostsiedlung). 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 1348–1350. The Golden 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 (cuius regio, eius religio). 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 Estates; their mostly German-speaking rulers were able to choose Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism as their official religion. The legal system initiated by a series of Imperial Reforms (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, agreed to the Partitions of Poland. During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the Imperium was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars.
Confederation and Empire[]
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 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 movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. The Zollverein, 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 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 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 Gründerzeit 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 in 1884, Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South West Africa, Togoland, and Kamerun. 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. 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 Pacific.
Republican Era and Nazi Era[]
On 11 August 1919, President Friedrich Ebert 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 Kapp Putsch. Street fighting in the major industrial centres, the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops, and a period of hyperinflation 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.
The worldwide Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning's government pursued a policy of fiscal austerity and deflation which caused unemployment of nearly 30% by 1932. The Nazi Party 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 Autobahn.
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. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people.
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 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 and the Soviet Union. 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, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of homosexuals, 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. German military casualties 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.
Divided Era[]
After Nazi Germany surrendered, the Allies de jure abolished German state and 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". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the American Marshall Plan. Konrad Adenauer was elected the first federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth (Wirtschaftswunder) beginning in the early 1950s. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community. On 1 January 1957, the Saarland joined West Germany.
East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the Soviet Union via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members (Politbüro) of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany, supported by the Stasi, 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.
East and West Germany's relations were tense since 1953 when Molotov as leader of the Soviet Union ordered that all of the protesters were to be deported to the gulags for their rebellious behavior and that Marshall law be declared on East Germany. Molotov's reason for doing this was because he was afraid that the "protests would cause trouble for West Berlin's city government". These tensions escalated further when the West German government allowed Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia to run in the 1969 presidential election and they allowed him to keep his titles and claim to the throne of Germany and tensions escalated even further when Louis Ferdinand's popularity as President for making West Germany prosperous with his domestic policies resulted in the restoration of the monarchy of Germany.
Era of Louis Ferdinand[]
Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia was a popular figure. In 1968 Der Spiegel reported that in a survey of their readers by Quick magazine about who would be the most honorable person to become President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Louis Ferdinand, the only one of twelve candidates who was not a politician, won with 39.8% before Carlo Schmid and Ludwig Erhard. In a similar survey by the tabloid Bild, readers chose Louis Ferdinand by 55.6%. Louis Ferdinand accepted the bid to become president, but he would not relinquish his claim to the imperial or Prussian crowns. The Prince won the presidential election of 1969 and he implemented a series of domestic reform policies that would make West Germany prosperous. Louis Ferdinand had forced the government of Germany to accept Israel's request to have security guards protect their athletes and this prevented the Black September movement from infiltrating Olympic village and causing a terrible hostage crisis and prevented West Germany's first Olympic games from turning into a tragedy. Louis Ferdinand had embraced positive relations with Israel and he apologized on the behalf of his nation for their brutality against the Jews. Louis Ferdinand like his great-grandfather had attended synagogue services and stated that the antisemitism in Germany was a shameful scar on Germany's past and that he as president will help Germany tend to the scars of it's past and kill the antisemitism infestation that plagues Germany.
Louis Ferdinand's popularity had resulted in the restoration of the German monarchy with Louis Ferdinand crowned King Ludwig I of West Germany. Louis Ferdinand as King had turned the German monarchy into a constitutional monarchy in which the office of chancellor, responsible to the emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers instead responsible to the Reichstag and government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet. Louis Ferdinand stated that he desired to implement the reforms that his great-grandfather was unable to implement due to him only ruling as Kaiser for 100 days as he believed it would be the perfect time to implement them as there would be no opposition against them. West Germany because of this had become a prosperous and liberal leaning nation because of the reformist policies and democratic policies of Louis Ferdinand. Louis Ferdinand called the East German government a "government that behaves no better than the Nazis" and treats the Germans living within their national borders as slaves.
Reunification[]
Molotov had died in 1986 and he was replaced by Lavrentiy Beria who was a big fan of Ludwig I's reformist policies and he decided to implement them as a means to democratize the Soviet Union and turn it into a democratic multi-party federation. Lavrentiy Beria supported the full reunification of Germany under the banner of the West German monarchy. Beria had even given East Germany it's pre-WWII borders (except for East Prussia) which was controversial as Beria had violated the Potsdam agreement and he lost the loyalty of the Communist government in Poland, but Beria wanted to have the displaced Germans and their descendants to have the right to re settle in the lands they lost because of the Potsdam agreement. In the year of 1990, East Germany had reunified with West Germany and the monarchy of West Germany became the official government of the newly reunified Germany.
After Reunification[]
Kaiser Ludwig I had implemented domestic policies to abolish the wealth gap between the East and West as a means to help the East Germans integrate into the economic and cultural society of Germany and to help them embrace democracy for the first time. The German government had reorganized its political system and constitution as a means to create the perfect political system for the newly reunified Germany. The constituent states of Germany were allowed to have referendums to choose if they either wanted to have a monarchical or republican form of government. The Free Cities had chosen republican forms of government whereas the rest of the country preferred to be ruled by a monarchy due to the monarchy of Germany's popularity.
Politics[]
Form of Government[]
Germany is a semi-federal semi-constitutional monarchy ruled by the German Kaiser (the king of Prussia in a permanent personal union). According to the Imperial Constitution of 1871, its Chancellor and Government are appointed by - and answer only to - the Kaiser, but legislation needs to be approved by the Reichstag, a chamber elected proportionally by universal male suffrage, and the Bundesrat, consisting of representatives from each of the states.
Political parties[]
Despite its rather authoritarian nature, the German political system is very much designed in favor of multi-party coalitions, who secure a majority for the Kaiser's Chancellor, thereby gaining a considerable amount of influence on the government's policies. The current coalition is composed out of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) - as the central partner, Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the German Imperial Party (DRP).
States[]
The German Empire, as a federal state, consists of 20 partly sovereign federated states (German: Land (state), plural Länder (states); commonly informally Bundesland / federated state, plural Bundesländer / federated states, formerly known as Staaten), most with their own Monarchs. There are many different types of states, though the differences are mostly cosmetic. The current states were formed following the Polish-German War, as smaller states were merged, exclaves and enclaves were smoothed out, and Prussia was divided. Rulers of abolished states were allowed to keep their titles as members of the German Peerage.
List of Constituent States[]
Kingdoms[]
A Kingdom is, of course, a monarchy ruled by a king. The official names for the Kingdoms in German is Königland, a portmanteau of Königreich, the German word for Kingdom, and Land.
| Flag | Coat of Arms/Emblem | Name | Head of State Portrait/Name | Head of Government Portrait/Name | Government | Founded | Capital | Largest City | Language | Religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Kingdom of Bavaria
Königreich Bayern |
 King Franz II |
 Prime Minister Markus Söder |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1805 | Munich | German | Roman Catholicism | |
|
|
Kingdom of Hanover
Königreich Hannover |
 King Ernst Augustus V |
 Prime Minister Stephan Weil |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1814 | Hanover | Low German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Kingdom of Prussia
Königreich Preußen |
 King Frederich IV |
 Prime Minister Alice Weidel |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1701 | Berlin | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Kingdom of Saxony
Königreich Sachsen |
 King Daniel I |
 Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1806 | Dresden | German | Roman Catholicism | |
|
|
Kingdom of Württemberg
Königreich Württemberg |
 King Wilhelm III |
 Prime Minister Frank Nopper |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1805 | Stuttgart | German | Roman Catholicism | |
Grand Duchy[]
A Grand Duchy is a state run by a Grand Duke. The name used in the context of the Federal Grand Duchies is Großherzogland, a portmanteau of Großherzogtum and Land.
| Flag | Coat of Arms/Emblem | Name | Head of State Portrait/Name | Head of Government Portrait/Name | Government | Founded | Capital | Largest City | Language | Religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Grand Duchy of Baden
Großherzogtum Baden |
 Grand Duke Bernhard IV |
 Prime Minister Frank Mentrup |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1806 | Karlsruhe | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Grand Duchy of Hesse
Großherzogtum Hessen |
 Grand Duke William III |
 Prime Minister Volker Bouffier |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1806 | Darmstadt | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg
Großherzogtum Mecklenburg |
 Grand Duke Borwin I |
 Prime Minister Rico Badenschier |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1815 | Schwerin | German Russian Polish Lithuanian Latvian Estonian |
Protestantism | |
|
|
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
Großherzogtum Oldenburg |
 Grand Duke Christian |
 Prime Minister Thomas de Maizière |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1815 | Oldenburg | Low German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Grand Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein
Großherzogtum Schleswig-Holstein |
 Grand Duke Friedrich Federinand |
 Prime Minister Daniel Günther |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1990 | Schleswig | Kiel | German
Danish |
Protestantism |
Duchy[]
A Duchy is a state run by a Duke. The name used in the context of the Federal Duchies is Herzogland, a portmanteau of Herzogtum and Land.
| Flag | Coat of Arms/Emblem | Name | Head of State Portrait/Name | Head of Government Portrait/Name | Government | Founded | Capital | Largest City | Language | Religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Duchy of Anhalt
Herzogtum Anhalt |
 Duke Julius Eduard |
 Prime Minister Klemens Koschig |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1806 | Dessau | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Duchy of Brunswick
Herzogtum Braunschweig |
 Duke Christian |
 Prime Minister Christian Wulff |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1815 | Brunswick | Low German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Duchy of Rhineland
Herzogtum Rheinland |
 Duke Fritz |
 Prime Minister Malu Dreyer |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1990 | Zweibrücken | Mainz | Palatine German | Roman Catholicism |
|
|
Duchy of Saxe-Altemburg
Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg |
 Duchess Donata |
 Prime Minister André Neumann |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1602 | Altenburg | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha |
 Duke Andreas I |
 Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1826 | Erfurt | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen
Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen |
 Duke Konrad I |
 Prime Minister Fabian Giesder |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1680 | Meiningen | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Herzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach |
 Duke Michael I |
 Prime Minister Peter Kleine |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1809 | Weimar | German | Protestanism | |
Principality[]
A Principality is a state run by a Sovereign Prince. The name used in the context of the federal Principalities is Fürstenland, a portmanteau of Fürstentum and Land.
| Flag | Coat of Arms/Emblem | Name | Head of State Portrait/Name | Head of Government Portrait/Name | Government | Founded | Capital | Largest City | Language | Religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Principality of Lippe-Westphalia
Fürstentum Lippe-Westfalen |
 Prince Stephan |
 Prime Minister Frank Hilker |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1123 | Detmold | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Principitality of Reuss-Gera
Fürstentum Reuss-Gera |
 Prince Heinrich XIII |
 Prime Minister Dieter Althaus |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1778 | Gera | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Principitality of Reuss-Greiz
Fürstentum Reuss-Greiz |
 Reuss-Gera Heinrich XIV |
 Prime Minister Julian Vonarb |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1806 | Greiz | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe |
 Prince Alexander |
 Prime Minister David McAllister |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1647 | Bückeburg | German | Protestanism | |
|
|
Principality of Schwarzburg
Fürstentum Schwarzburg |
 Prince Phillipp |
 Prime Minister Antje Hochwind |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1599 | Sondershausen | German | Protestantism | |
|
|
Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Fürstentum Waldeck und Pyrmont |
 Prince Wittekind |
 Prime Minister Jürgen van der Horst |
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | 1180 | Arolsen | German | Protestanism | |
Republic[]
The Republics of Germany are Non-Sovereign Republics that are constituent states within Germany.
| Flag | Coat of Arms/Emblem | Name | Head of State Portrait/Name | Head of Government Portrait/Name | Government | Founded | Capital | Largest City | Language | Religion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Socialist Federal Republic of Bremen
Sozialistische Bundesrepublik Bremen |
 General Secretary Martin Schirdewan |
 President Janine Wissler |
Federal Titoist One Party Republic | 1990 | Bremen | German | No Religion | |
|
|
Republic of Hamburg
Republik Hamburg |
 President Joachim Gauck |
 Prime Minister Angela Merkle |
Federal Republic | 1990 | Hamburg | German | No Religion | |
|
|
Republic of Saarland
Republik Saarland |
 President Reinhard Klimmt |
 Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger |
Federal Republic | 1990 | Saarbrücken | German
French |
No Religion | |
Military[]
The Bundeswehr (German: [ˈbʊndəsˌveːɐ̯] ⓘ, meaning literally: Federal Defence) is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Bundeswehr is divided into a military part (armed forces or Streitkräfte) and a civil part, the military part consisting of the German Army, the German Navy, the German Air Force, the Joint Support Service, the Joint Medical Service, and the Cyber and Information Domain Service.
As of 31 May 2023, the Bundeswehr had a strength of 181,596 active-duty military personnel and 80,890 civilians, placing it among the 30 largest military forces in the world, and making it the second largest in the European Union behind France. In addition, the Bundeswehr has approximately 30,050 reserve personnel (2020). With German military expenditures at $56.0 billion, the Bundeswehr is the seventh highest-funded military in the world, though military expenditures remain relatively average at 1.3% of national GDP, well below the non-binding NATO target of 2%. Germany is aiming to expand the Bundeswehr to around 203,000 soldiers by 2025 to better cope with increasing responsibilities.
Army[]
The German Army (German: Heer, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). As of January 2022, the German Army had a strength of 62,766 soldiers. The German Army is commanded by the Inspector of the Army (Inspekteur des Heeres) based at the Army Command (Kommando Heer) in Strausberg near Berlin. The training centers are supervised by the Army Training Command in Leipzig.
The combat units of the army now include two armoured divisions and the lighter rapid forces division. Unlike other European armies such as neighbouring France, regiments are not a common form of organization and are thus rare in the German army. Battalions and regiments are directly subordinate to brigades or to divisions as divisional troops. German infantry battalions field 1,000 men, considerably larger than most NATO armies. While some brigades are still designated as either Panzer (armour) or Panzergrenadier (mechanised infantry) formations, these names are by now traditional and no longer imply a different organisation, for example an armoured brigade would not be expected to contain more tanks than a mechanised one.
Units of the Army located in the constituent states are designated by the government as the royal armed brigade of the said constituent state and the brigade is under the command of the ruler of the said constituent state.
[]
The German Navy (German: Deutsche Marine, pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃə maˈʁiːnə] ⓘ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified Bundeswehr (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the Bundesmarine (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when Deutsche Marine (German Navy) became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German Volksmarine (People's Navy). It is deeply integrated into the NATO alliance. Its primary mission is protection of Germany's territorial waters and maritime infrastructure as well as sea lines of communication. Apart from this, the German Navy participates in peacekeeping operations, and renders humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. It also participates in anti-piracy operations. In total, there are about 65 commissioned ships in the German Navy, including; 11 frigates, 5 corvettes, 2 minesweepers, 10 minehunters, 6 submarines, 11 replenishment ships and 20 miscellaneous auxiliary vessels. The displacement of the navy is 220,000 tonnes.
In addition, the German Navy and the Royal Danish Navy are in cooperation in the "Ark Project". This agreement made the Ark Project responsible for the strategic sealift of German armed forces where the full-time charter of three roll-on-roll-off cargo and troop ships are ready for deployments. In addition, these ships are also kept available for the use of the other European NATO countries. The three vessels have a combined displacement of 60,000 tonnes. Including these ships, the total ships' displacement available to the Deutsche Marine is 280,000 tonnes.
Procurement of joint support ships (either two JSS800 for an amphibious group of 800 soldiers, or three smaller JSS400), was planned during the 1995–2010 period but the programme appears now to have been abandoned, not having been mentioned in two recent defence reviews. The larger ships would have been tasked for strategic troop transport and amphibious operations, and were to displace 27,000 to 30,000 tons for 800 soldiers.
Air Force[]
The German Air Force (German: Luftwaffe, lit. 'air weapon or air arm', German pronunciation: [ˈlʊftvafə] ⓘ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the Bundeswehr) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of then West Germany. After the reunification of West and East Germany in 1990, it integrated parts of the air force of the former German Democratic Republic, which itself had been founded in 1956 as part of the National People's Army. There is no organizational continuity between the current German Air Force and the former Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht founded in 1935, which was completely disbanded in 1945/46 after World War II. The term Luftwaffe that is used for both the historic and the current German air force is the German-language generic designation of any air force.
The commander of the German Air Force is Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. As of 2015, the German Air Force uses eleven air bases, two of which host no flying units. Furthermore, the Air Force has a presence at three civil airports. In 2012, the German Air Force had an authorized strength of 28,475 active airmen and 4,914 reservists. The current commander of the German Air Force is Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. The Inspector of the Air Force (Inspekteur der Luftwaffe) is the commander of Air Force Command (Kommando Luftwaffe), a body created in 2013 by the merger of the Air Force Office (Luftwaffenamt), German Air Staff (Führungsstab der Luftwaffe), and Air Force Forces Command (Luftwaffenführungskommando). Similar to the Air Staff of the United States Air Force, the German Air Force Command is a force-providing command, not an operational command. The Air Force Command is tasked with ensuring the combat readiness of the German Air Force combat units, which during operations would either be commanded by a NATO command or the Joint Operations Command of the Bundeswehr. The Air Force command directly controls three higher commands.
The creation of the Air Force Command was part of a reorganization of the Bundeswehr as a whole, announced by Thomas de Maizière in 2011, which also involved the Air Force shrinking to 23,000 soldiers and thus undergoing major restructuring at all levels. In addition to the higher command authorities, the three air divisions, the Air Force Training Command, and Air Force Weapon Systems Command were disbanded. The three surface-to-air missile units will merge into a single wing in Husum in Northern Germany. The wing fields 14 MIM-104 Patriot and 4 MANTIS systems. The three air transport wings will be merged into a single wing based at Wunstorf Air Base, which will field 40 A400M Atlas transport planes. The Luftwaffe will field three Multirole Eurofighter Wings, each with two squadrons for a total of 143 Eurofighter Typhoon. A fighter-bomber wing fielding Panavia Tornado IDS planes remains in service at Büchel Air Base. The Reconnaissance Wing 51 will remain in service at Schleswig Air Base and add one drone squadron to its Panavia Tornado ECR squadron.
Economy[]
Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, 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. The service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%, and agriculture 1% as of 2017. The unemployment rate published by Eurostat amounts to 3.2% as of January 2020, 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 is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world, and is the sixth-largest by production as of 2021. Germany is home to Volkswagen Group, the world's second-largest automotive manufacturer in 2022 by both vehicle production and sales, and is the third-largest exporter of cars as of 2023.
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, 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, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Porsche, Bosch and Deutsche Telekom. Berlin is a hub for startup companies 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 Mittelstand model. These companies represent 48% of the global market leaders in their segments, labelled hidden champions.
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, and the Fraunhofer Society and the Leibniz Association. Germany is the largest contributor to the European Space Agency. Germany was ranked 8th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023.
Demographics[]
With a population of 80.2 million according to the 2011 German Census, rising to 83.7 million as of 2022, 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 stands at 227 inhabitants per square kilometre (590 inhabitants/sq mi). The fertility rate 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 has exceeded its birth rate. 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.
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 minority in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein; the Sorbs, a Slavic population, are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg; the Roma and Sinti live throughout the country; and the Frisians are concentrated in Schleswig-Holstein's western coast and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony.
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 repatriates). In 2015, following the 2015 refugee crisis, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs listed Germany as host to the second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 12 million of all 244 million migrants. As of 2019, Germany ranks seventh among EU countries in terms of the percentage of migrants in the country's population, at 13.1%. Refugee crises have resulted in substantial population increases.
Culture[]
Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker ('the land of poets and thinkers'), because of the major role its scientists, writers and philosophers have played in the development of Western thought. A global opinion poll for the BBC 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 Oktoberfest and Christmas customs, which include Advent wreaths, Christmas pageants, Christmas trees, Stollen cakes, and other practices. As of 2016 UNESCO inscribed 41 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List. There are a number of public holidays in Germany determined by each state; 3 October has been a national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day).