Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany is a country in the middle of Europe. It is an important country in world affairs. To the north of Germany are the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the country Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union.
|
||||
|
National motto: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (German: Unity and Justice and Freedom)'' |
||||
 | ||||
| Official language | German¹ | |||
| Capital | Berlin | |||
| Largest City | Berlin | |||
| President: | Johannes Rau | |||
| Chancellor: | Gerhard SchrÃÂÃÂÃÂöder | |||
| Area - Total - % water |
Listed 61st 357,022.90 km2 2.18% |
|||
| Number of people - Total (2002) - Density |
Listed 13th 83,251,851 231/km² |
|||
| When it was made or brought together |
Treaty of Verdun (843), January 18, 1871, May 23, 1949 October 3, 1990 |
|||
| Currency (form of money) | Euro², German euro coins | |||
| Time zone | UTC +1 | |||
| National anthem (the country's song) | Das Lied der Deutschen (third verse only) |
|||
| Internet TLD | .DE | |||
| Calling Code | 49 | |||
| (1) The German government lists Danish, Sorbian and Frisian as minority languages and protects them. Low Saxon is protected by the European Union. (2) Before 1999: Deutsche Mark/Deutschmark |
||||
| Table of contents |
|
2 Politics 3 States 4 Geography 5 Economy 6 People 7 Culture 8 Religion 9 International listings 10 Miscellaneous topics 11 External links |
The German language and the feeling of "Germanhood" are more than a thousand years old, but the country now known as Germany was brought together only in 1871 in Versailles, when the German Empire, which was ruled by Prussia, was made, but without Austria. Germany stayed an empire with people from different national backgrounds for another 50 years. This was the second German Reich, which is usually translated as "empire" but can also mean "realm".
The first Reich – known for most of the time it existed as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation – came about when the Carolingian Empire split apart in 843, and existed in different forms until it was broken apart in 1806 because of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Third Reich was that of the Nazis, which lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945.
After losing to France in the Napoleonic Wars, Germany saw France as their biggest enemy in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 (which Germany won) and in World War I. Germany invaded France in World War I. After early attacks and winnings, the war turned into a slow war in the trenches (ditches), killing many on both sides. The war ended in 1918, Germany's emperor had to give up his rule, and after a revolution the Second Reich gave way to the democratic Weimar Republic.
In the Peace Treaty of Versailles after the war, Germany was blamed for the war. Bad money problems caused by both the peace treaty and by the worldwide Great Depression are usually said to be the main reasons why anti-democratic parties, both right-wing and left-wing, were supported by German opinion leaders and voters. In the elections of July and November 1932, the Nazis got 37,2% (in July) and 33,0% (in November). On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was made the Head of Government, and by the Enabling Act on March 23, 1933, most of the parliament said the constitution of the Weimar Republic was no longer any good.
The next year, Hitler got total control of the country and the government. He claimed nearby countries to be part of Germany, which after a while started World War II in Europe on September 1, 1939. In the beginning, Germany had many military successes (wins), and got control of most of Europe, part of which was a large part of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war, the war started going the other way. On 8 May 1945, Germany gave up after Hitler killed himself. The war caused large losses of land, 15 million Germans being sent out of other lands, and 45 years of Germany being split into West and East Germany.
After the fall of Communism in Europe, Germany was brought back together in 1990; the new Germany is very important in the European Union. Germany and France are a large part of a group of European countries that want to bring all the European countries together for reasons of politics, defense, and security.
Germany is a constitutional federal democracy, whose political rules and guides are laid out in the 1949 'constitution' called Grundgesetz (Basic Law). It has a parliamentary system in which the head of government, the Bundeskanzler (Chancellor), is elected by the parliament.
The parliament, called Bundestag (Federal Assembly), is voted into office every four years by the people of Germany. Government members of the 16 BundeslÃÂÃÂÃÂänder work in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), which—depending on what a law is about—may have a say in the law-making process. Lately, there has been a lot of talking and worry about the Bundestag and the Bundesrat blocking each other, making it very hard to run the government well.
The head of state is performed by the BundesprÃÂÃÂÃÂäsident (Federal President), whose powers are mostly just for show.
The judiciary branch (the part of the government that deals with courts) has a Constitutional Court called Bundesverfassungsgericht, which can overturn all acts by the law-makers or other leaders if the judiciary branch feels that the acts go against Germany's constitution.
Germany is made up of sixteen BundeslÃÂÃÂÃÂänder (singular Bundesland), or states:
Germany is very big. It goes from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m) in the south to the shores of the North and Baltic Seas in the north. Between the mountains and the shores are the large forests and woods of the middle part of Germany and the very low and flat parts of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/Wilstermarsch at -3.54 m). Germany also has parts of Europe's biggest and most important rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.
Germany has the world's third-most powerful economy when it comes to technology (only the United States and Japan are more powerful), but its economy is starting to have problems because of the way it gives money to the German people. The way things are set up — like high taxes to pay for things like welfare and social security — have made having no job a problem that lasts a long time rather than happening every now and then. Germany's people are getting older, too, and this is making a problem where Social Security is giving out more money than it takes in. Bringing West and East Germany together and making their economy work is still a problem that is taking a long time and costing a lot of money; the west gives about $100 billion to the east a year. Germans hope that the new form of money, the Euro (which is used in most countries in Europe), and the fact that Europe is being brought closer together, will help Germany's economy in the early 21st century.
There are at least seven million people living in Germany who are from other countries, including people who have political asylum, guest workers (Gastarbeiter), and people who need money from these two groups. Germany is a major place to go for people from poor or dangerous countries who need to run away to a different place.
Many Danish people live in the north. A group of Slavic people known as the Sorbs lives in Germany, too, mostly in Saxony. The Frisian language, which is said to be the closest living language to English, is the mother tongue for about 12,000 people in Germany. In places far from cities in of northern Germany, a language called Low Saxon is spoken.
Many Turkish people have come to Germany from Turkey, and other small groups of people in Germany are Croats, Italians, Russians, and Poles.
Christianity is the biggest religion; Protestants are 38% of the people and Catholics are 34% of the people (most of the Protestants are in the north, and most of the Catholics are in the south). There is also many Islamic people (who are 1.7% of Germans), while the rest (26.3%) is either not religious or belong to smaller religious groups.
Germany has one of the world's highest levels of schooling, technology, and businesses. The number of young people who start going to universities is now more than three times as big as it was after the end of World War II, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are some of the best in the world. Germans make about $25,000 a year each, making Germany a very middle class society. A large social welfare system gives people health care, money for when they can't find a job, and other things the people need. Millions of Germans travel outside their country each year.
Germany has given a lot to the culture of the World. Germany was where many important people in culture were born: composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, and Wagner; poets such as Goethe and Schiller; philosophers including Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche; and scientists including Einstein, Born and Planck. It was also where the Bauhaus movement started.
German was once the language that many people from different countries in Europe spoke in order to understand each other when they didn't know each other's language. Many important people in history were a large part of German culture, although they did not live in places that are part of Germany today. Some of these people were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka and Copernicus.
Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-third wer Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, Protestants were much larger in number than Catholics.
The Grundgesetz, Germany's constitution, says that anyone can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to deny anyone any rights because of the person's religion.
Today Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. A large number of these are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews from countries that used to be ruled by the Soviet Union have moved to Germany since the Berlin wall was destroyed. The horrible things that happened during the time when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching in schools against the ideas that the Nazis believed, has helped make Germany be very tolerant towards other people and cultures, which encourages people to move there from countries which may not have this same feeling.
Right now about two thirds of the German population (more than 55 million people) belong to a Christian church, although most of them take no part in church life. About half of them are Protestants and about half of them Roman Catholics. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. About three million Muslims and 160,000 Jews live in Germany.
Countries that will become members on May 1, 2004:
History
Main article: History of GermanyPolitics
Main article: Politics of GermanyStates
Main article: States of Germany
These states are made up of 438 Kreise (districts).Geography
Main article: Geography of GermanyEconomy
Main article: Economy of GermanyPeople
Main article: People of GermanyCulture
Main article: Culture of GermanyReligion
Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany in the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this a great deal. In 1517 Martin Luther said that the Catholic church was greedy and that it used religion to make money. Because of what he said, European and world history were changed and he started Protestantism, the biggest religion in Germany today.International listings
Miscellaneous topics
External links
Austria | Belgium | Denmark | Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Ireland
Italy | Luxembourg | Netherlands | Portugal | Spain | Sweden | United Kingdom
Cyprus | Czech Republic | Estonia | Hungary | Latvia | Lithuania | Malta | Poland | Slovakia | Slovenia