Germany

Lore & Background

Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts, and Germanic tribes inhabiting the north. Romans named the area Germania. 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. Unification of Germany into the modern nation-state, led by Prussia, established the German Empire in 1871. After World War I and a revolution, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic. The Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. In 1949, after the war and Allied occupation, Germany was organised into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), or West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany. The FRG was a founding member of the European Economic Community, while the GDR was a communist Eastern Bloc state and a founding member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of the communist-led government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the FRG on 3 October 1990.

In Their Own Story

Morning mist rolls off the Spree in Berlin, blurring the steel-and-glass silhouette of the Reichstag against the grey sky. A commuter's boots click rhythmically on the pavement near the East Side Gallery, where faded murals still whisper the defiant slogans of a divided past. In Munich, the air inside a bustling café is thick with the scent of roasted beans and fresh pretzels, harmonizing with the distant hum of trams—a city that rose from ashes to become a global beacon of modernity. Here, the heavy weight of centuries is carried lightly, balanced by the steady pulse of daily life and the quiet, unyielding resilience of a people who have rebuilt their world, time and again.

Reader's Guide

Germany is a developed country with a strong economy, the largest in Europe by nominal GDP. As a major force in several industrial, scientific and technological sectors, Germany is both the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer. Widely considered a great power, Germany is part of multiple international organisations and forums. It has the third-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 55, of which 52 are cultural.

Did You Know?

• The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine.
• The German term Deutschland, originally diutisciu land ('the German lands'), is derived from deutsch, which descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people'.
• 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.
• In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.