West Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany or FRG (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland or BRD), informally known as West Germany, was a capitalist federal parliamentary democracy that existed from 1949 until 1990. It was proclaimed May 23, 1949 and included the post-World War II UK, US, and French occupation zones. West Germany was declared fully sovereign May 5th 1955, with Bonn as its capital, but US troops remained on the ground. It joined NATO on May 9th. The nation thus became a focus of the Cold War with its juxtaposition to Warsaw Pact member German Democratic Republic (GDR). The former capital, Berlin, was also divided but was completely within the GDR.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, the unification of the two Germanies was quickly arranged: formally, the FRG grew by absorbing the territory of the GDR ("East Germany"), and is now known simply as Germany. This took place on October 3, 1990, and the four occupying powers officially withdrew on March 15, 1991.
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