Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A central European country covering an area of almost 357,000 sq km (138,000 sq miles). In the west it extends across the Rhine valley, in the south it includes the central Alps, and in the east it is partially bounded by the River Oder. Germany has borders with Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Physical

The whole of northern Germany is set in the North European Plain. The Rhine Basin encompasses some of the most beautiful landscape and best wine-growing regions in Europe. More than a quarter of Germany is covered with forest. In the west are the Ruhr coalfields, while in the east there are large lignite deposits. Southward the ground gradually rises to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), and the Swabian Jura, with dense pine forests and moorland, and potash, salt, and other minerals. In Bavaria, further south, the land becomes rugged. Here are patches of mountain pasture and lakes; to the east is the deep Danube valley.

Economy

Germany has a highly successful industrial economy which continues to be the dominant economic force in Europe. It also enjoys excellent labour relations and a high degree of worker participation in management. Industry includes iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and drink, shipbuilding, and textiles, with vehicles, machinery, chemicals, and computer and electronic products as the principal exports. Mineral resources include coal, lignite, salt, and some natural gas. Nuclear power formerly generated around one-quarter of Germany’s electricity, but government policy is to phase it out in favour of renewable sources. The main agricultural crops are potatoes, sugar beet, wheat, and barley. Viticulture is most extensive in the Rhine and Mosel valleys in west Germany.

History

Germany was originally occupied by Teutonic tribes who were driven back across the Rhine by Julius Caesar in 58 bc. When the Roman empire collapsed, eight Germanic kingdoms were created, but in the 8th century Charlemagne consolidated these kingdoms under the Franks. The region became part of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, and almost 200 years later was invaded by the Mongols. A period of unrest followed until 1438 when the long rule of the Habsburgs began. The kingdom, now made up of hundreds of states, was torn apart during the Thirty Years War; when this ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia emerged as a force ready to challenge Austrian supremacy. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the alliance of 400 separate German states that had existed within the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) had been reduced to 38. At the Congress of Vienna these were formed into a loose grouping, the German Confederation, under Austrian leadership. The Confederation was dissolved as a result of the Austro-Prussian War (1866), and in 1867 all northern Germany formed a new North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. This was in turn dissolved in 1871, and the new German Second empire proclaimed. After Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Weimar Republic was instituted, to be replaced in 1933 by the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. After the end of World War II the country divided into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

The Federal Republic was created in 1949 from the British, French, and US zones of occupation. It became a sovereign state in 1955, when ambassadors were exchanged with world powers, including the Soviet Union. Konrad Adenauer, as Chancellor (1949–63), was determined to see eventual reunification of Germany and refused to recognize the legal existence of the German Democratic Republic. A crisis developed over Berlin in 1958, when the Soviet Union demanded the withdrawal of Western troops and, in 1961, when it authorized the erection of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin situation began to ease in 1971, during the chancellorship of the social democrat Willy Brandt (1969–74) with his policy of Ostpolitik. This resulted in treaties with the Soviet Union (1970), Poland (1970), Czechoslovakia (1973), and one of mutual recognition and cooperation with the German Democratic Republic (1972), with membership of the UN following in 1973. Economic recovery was assisted after the war by the Marshall Plan. The challenge of rebuilding shattered cities and of absorbing many millions of refugees from eastern Europe was successfully met, as was that of recreating systems of social welfare and health provision. The Federal Republic joined NATO in 1955, when both army and air force were reconstituted; large numbers of US and British troops remained stationed there. In 1957 it signed the Treaty of Rome, becoming a founder-member of the European Economic Community in 1958. Although the pace of economic growth slackened, the economy remained one of the strongest in the world, under a stable democratic regime. In 1982 the social democrat coalition of Helmut Schmidt collapsed and was replaced by the centre-right coalition under Helmut Kohl.

Following economic and monetary union with the Democratic Republic in June 1990, a Treaty of Unification was signed in August and unification took place in October. Since then, the country has consisted of 16 Länder or states, each of which has wide powers over its domestic affairs. However, the economic problems of the five new eastern Länder were soon to produce a sense of disillusion, with unemployment rising to 17% and a resurgence of support for the former communists. The cost of restructuring the economy of the former GDR proved far higher than expected. Against a background of recession and political disillusionment in western Germany, further measures were taken in 1993 to fund the restructuring of the eastern German economy. Germany’s liberal policies on asylum resulted in a large influx of migrants, with accompanying social problems. A resurgence of right-wing extremism in the form of attacks on Jews and foreigners led the government to ban four far-right organizations in 1992 and more in 1995. The ruling coalition under Helmut Kohl was defeated in elections in 1998 by the Social Democrats, led by Gerhard Schröder. The federal government moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1999. Germany adopted the euro as its currency in 2002. In 2005, an indecisive election led to the formation of a ‘grand coalition’ of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats under Angela Merkel. She remained in power after the 2009 election at the head of a coalition with the Free Democrat Party, and led another ‘grand coalition’ after 2013. Germany’s pivotal role in the EU was enhanced from 2011 by the Eurozone Crisis, in which Germany’s wealth underpinned the emergency loans made to other EU member states. However, Merkel incurred wide criticism for being too generous in the 2015 support given to Greece. By the end of that year, following a warm invitation issued by Merkel, over 1.1 million migrants, many from Syria, had arrived. The strains of providing for this number soon began to show and were exploited by the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). In December 2016 a Tunisian migrant drove a lorry into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people, ensuring immigration remained a key topic in the September 2017 federal elections. The Christian Democrats lost support but remained the largest party and formed another ‘grand coalition’.