Germany

This article is licensed under theGNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Germany" (click for full Wikipedia text)

 'Germany ' (German language:  Deutschland  IPA: ), officially the  'Federal Republic of Germany ' (, IPA: ), is a country in central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Within its borders are a portion of the Alps mountains, the famous Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Black Forest. Germany is a Constitutional democracy parliamentary Federation republic, made up of 16 States of Germany ( Länder ), which in certain spheres act independently of the federation. Historically consisting of several sovereign states with their own history, distinct German tribe dialects, culture and religious beliefs, Germany was Unification of Germany as a Nation-state during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/1871. The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It is the European Union's most populous and most economically powerful member state.

History

The state now known as Germany was political union as a modern nation-state only in 1871, when the German Empire, dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia, was forged. This began the German  Reich , usually translated as "empire", but also meaning "kingdom", "domain" or "realm".

Early history of the Germanic tribes (100 BC – AD 300)

The ethnogenesis of the Germanic peoples is assumed to have occurred during the Nordic Bronze Age, or at the latest, during the Pre-Roman Iron Age in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, from the first century BC expanding south, east and west, coming into contact with Celtic tribes of Gaul and Iranian peoples, Balts and Slavic peoples tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their interactions with the Roman Empire and archaeological finds. Under Augustus, the Roman General Nero Claudius Drusus began to invade Germany, and it was from this period that the German tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their national identity. In 9, three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were crushed by the Cheruscan leader Arminius (Hermann) in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Germany as far as the Rhine and the Danube therefore remained outside the Roman Empire. By 100, the time of Tacitus'  Germania (book) , Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany. The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes — Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier.

Migration Period and Franks (300-843)

The Migration Period included the Goths, Vandals and Franks, among other Germanic peoples and Slavic peoples. The migration may have been triggered by the incursions of the Huns, population pressures or climate changes. Several Germanic peoples, such as the Franks, Burgundians, Angles and Saxons invaded the Roman Empire and formed kingdoms. The conversion to Roman Catholic Church of the pagan Frankish king Clovis to better appeal to his conquered Roman subjects was a crucial event in the history of Europe. It resulted in more support from Rome, further solidification of power during the slow, often bloody conversion process, the eventual end to the ancient tribalism of Germany and secured domination over the rival Christian conversion attempts by Arianism. Under the Merovingian and Carolingian kings the Franks formed a new Germanic empire, replacing the Roman Empire in Western Europe.

The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (843 – 1806)

The medieval empire — since 1448 officially called the  'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ' ("Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae") but often referred to as the  'Holy Roman Empire ' (or the  Old Empire ) — stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on December 25 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806, its territory stretching from the river  Eider  in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919-1024), the duchies of Duchy of Lorraine, Duchy of Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia and Bavaria were consolidated and in 962 the German king was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024-1125), the Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy. Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138-1254) the German princes were increasing their influence further south and east. The edict of the Golden Bull of 1356 in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire up to its dissolution. For three hundred years starting in 1438, the Emperors were elected nearly exclusively from the Austrian Habsburg family. In 1530, a separate Protestant church was acknowledged as the new state religion in many states of Germany. This led to inter-German strife, the Thirty Years' War (1618-48). From 1740 onwards the dualism between Austria and Prussia (state) dominated the Empire's history. In 1806 the  Imperium  was overrun and dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.

Restoration and revolution (1814 – 1871)

Following Napoleon's fall and the end of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 in order to restructure Europe. In Germany, the German Confederation was founded, a loose league of List of German Confederation member states. Disagreement with the restoration politics partly led to the lifestyle called  Biedermeier  and to intellectual Liberalism in Germany movements, which demanded unity and freedom during the Vormärz epoch, each followed by a measure of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich's repression of liberal agitation. The  Zollverein , a tariff union, profoundly furthered economic unity in the List of German Confederation member states. The German people had been stirred by the ideals of the French Revolution. On October 18, 1817, students held a gathering to exchange ideas, the high point of which was the burning of works by authors like August von Kotzebue, who were against a united German state. A second such meeting attracted 30,000 people from all social classes and from all regions to the Hambacher Fest. There for the first time, the colours of black, red and gold were chosen to represent the movement, which later became the national colours. The states were also shaped by the Industrial Revolution, which was the initial step of the growing industrialisation in Europe and contributed to a wave of poverty, causing social uprisings. In light of a Revolutions of 1848, Revolutions of 1848 in France successfully established a republic, intellectuals and common people started Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. The monarchs initially yielded to the revolutionaries' liberal demands, and an intellectual Frankfurt Parliament was elected to draw up a constitution for the new Germany, completed in 1849. However, the Prussian king Frederick William IV of Prussia, who was offered the title of Emperor but with a loss of power, rejected the crown and the constitution. This prompted the demise of the national assembly along with most of the changes from the revolution. In 1862, conflict between the Prussian King Wilhelm I of Germany and the increasingly liberal parliament erupted over military reforms. The king appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck solved the conflict with difficulty and used the desire for national unification to further the interests of the Prussian monarchy. In 1864 he successfully waged Second War of Schleswig. Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation and divide Austria, formerly the leading state of Germany, from the more western and northern parts.

German Empire (1871 – 1918)

After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire ( Deutsches Kaiserreich ) was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18 1871. As a result, the new empire was a unification of all the scattered parts of Germany but without Austria —  Kleindeutsche Lösung . Beginning in 1884 Germany established List of former German colonies. The young emperor's foreign policy was opposed to that of Bismarck, who had established a system of alliances in the era called  Gründerzeit , securing Germany's position as a great nation, isolating France with diplomatic means and avoiding war for decades. Under Wilhelm II, however, Germany took an imperialism course, New Imperialism, but it led to friction with neighbouring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had been previously involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country. Specifically, France established new relations by signing the Entente Cordiale with the United Kingdom, and got ties with Russia. Austria-Hungary and Germany became increasingly isolated. Although not one of Causes of World War I, Assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria triggered World War I on July 28 1914, which saw Germany as part of the unsuccessful Central Powers in the World War I casualties conflict of all time against the Allies. In November 1918, the second German Revolution broke out, and Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. Armistice with Germany (Compiègne) on November 11, putting an end to the war. Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, whose unexpectedly high demands were perceived as humiliating in Germany, as a continuation of the war by other means and a breaking of traditional post-war diplomacy that included negotiations between the victors and vanquished.

Weimar Republic (1919 – 1933)

After the German Revolution in November 1918, a Republic was proclaimed. That year, the Communist Party of Germany was established by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and in January 1919 the German Workers Party, later known as the  Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei  (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, "Nazis"). On August 11 1919, the Weimar constitution came into effect, with the sign of the Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert. In a climate of economic hardship due to both the world wide Great Depression and the harsh peace conditions dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, and a long succession of more or less unstable governments, the political masses in Germany increasingly lacked identification with their political system of parliamentary democracy. This was exacerbated by a wide-spread right-wing (Monarchism, Völkisch movement, and National Socialist German Workers Party)  Dolchstoßlegende , a political myth which claimed the German Revolution was the main reason why Germany had lost the war. On the other hand, radical left-wing communists such as the Spartacist League had wanted to abolish what they perceived as a Capitalism in favour of a Council communism and were thus also in opposition to the existing form of government. During the years following the Revolution, German voters increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both Right-wing politics (German National People's Party, NSDAP) and left-wing (KPD). At the beginning of the 1930s, Germany was not far from a civil war. Paramilitary troops were set up by several parties. They intimidated voters and seeded violence and anger among the public, who suffered from high unemployment and poverty. After a succession of unsuccessful cabinets, on January 29 1933, President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, seeing little alternative and pushed by advisors, appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

Third Reich (1933 – 1945)

On 27 February, the Reichstag fire. Some basic democratic rights were quickly abrogated afterwards under an emergency decree. An Enabling Act gave Hitler's government full legislative power. A centralised totalitarian state was established by a series of moves and decrees making Germany a single-party state. Industry was closely regulated with quotas and requirements in order to shift the economy towards a war production base. In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policies proved inadequate. Emboldened, Hitler followed from 1938 onwards a policy of expansionism to establish Großdeutschland. To avoid a two-front war, Hitler concluded the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union. In 1939 the Causes of World War II led to the Germans launching a blitzkrieg on September 1st against Poland, followed two days later by war declarations against Britain and France, marking the beginning of World War II. Germany quickly gained direct or indirect control of the majority of Europe. On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke the pact with the Soviet Union by opening the Eastern Front (World War II) and Operation Barbarossa. Shortly after Japan Attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. Although initially the German army rapidly advanced into the surprised Soviet Union, the Battle of Stalingrad marked a major turning point in the war. Subsequently, the German army commenced retreating on the Eastern front, followed by the eventual defeat of Germany. On 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day after the Red Army occupied Berlin. In what later became known as the Holocaust, the Third Reich regime enacted governmental policies directly subjugating many parts of society: Jews, Slavic peoples, Roma people, homosexuality, Freemasonry, political dissidents, priests, preachers, religious opponents, and the disability, amongst others. During the Nazi era about 11 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, including more than 6 million Jews.

Division and reunification (1945 – 1990)

The war resulted in the death of several million German soldiers and civilians, in total nearly ten million, Oder-Neisse line and Expulsion of Germans after World War II in various parts of Eastern Europe. All major and many smaller German cities lay in ruins. Germany and Berlin were occupied and partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones controlled by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union. On May 23 1949, the U.S, Britain and France united their individual sectors to form the democratic nation of the Federal Republic of Germany and on October 7 1949 the Soviet Zone established the German Democratic Republic, In English the two states were known informally as "West Germany" and "East Germany" (with historical eastern Germany having fallen to People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union) respectively. West Germany, established as a liberal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy", was allied with the United States, the UK and France. After the ideological switch in U.S. occupation policy away from Morgenthau plan and towards reconstruction, which was heralded by the Restatement of Policy on Germany in September of 1946, the country eventually came to enjoy prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950's ( Wirtschaftswunder ). The recovery was largely due to the previously forbidden currency reform of June 1948 and U.S. assistance through the Marshall Plan aid. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1958. Across the border, East Germany was at first occupied by and later (May 1955) allied with the USSR. An authoritarian country with a Soviet-style command economy, East Germany soon became the richest, most advanced country in the Warsaw Pact, but many of its citizens looked to the West for political freedoms and economic prosperity. Relations between East Germany and West Germany remained icy until the Western Chancellor Willy Brandt launched a highly controversial approchement policy with the East European communist states ( Ostpolitik ) in the early 1970s. This led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. During the summer of 1989, rapid changes took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to German reunification. Growing numbers of East Germans migrated to West Germany via Hungary and clandestinely through the border separating East from West Germany. The exodus generated demands within East Germany for political change, and mass demonstrations with eventually hundreds of thousands of people in several cities continued to grow. In the face of these events, East German authorities unexpectedly eased the border restrictions in November 1989, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that ended with German reunification on October 3 1990. Under the terms of the treaty between West and East Germany, Berlin became the capital of a unified Germany.

Administrative Divisions

Germany is divided into 16 State (subnational) (in German called  Länder , singular  States of Germany ; commonly  Bundesländer , singular  Bundesland ). It is further subdivided into 439 districts ( Districts of Germany ) and cities ( kreisfreie Städte ) (2004). There is a list of all Administrative Divisions of Germany. The ten largest cities in Germany (population as of March 31 2005): # Berlin (capital of Germany) with 3,396,990 inhabitants # Hamburg with 1,744,215 inhabitants # Munich (in German: München) with 1,397,537 inhabitants # Cologne (Köln) with 975,907 inhabitants # Frankfurt with 660.289 inhabitants # Stuttgart with 591,548 inhabitants # Dortmund with 588,680 inhabitants # Essen with 588,084 inhabitants # Düsseldorf with 578.821 inhabitants # Bremen with 546,932 inhabitants The five largest metropolitan areas in Germany (population as of January 1 2005) are listed below. Metro area populations are always controversial, and these figures are based on a broad interpretation of the term. They are better seen as being for metropolitan regions than metropolitan cities. # Rhine-Ruhr with 11,785,196 inhabitants # Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region with 5,822,383 inhabitants # Berlin with 4,262,480 inhabitants # Hamburg with 3,278,635 inhabitants # Stuttgart with 2,344,989 inhabitants

Geography

Germany is located in Central Europe and shares borders with Denmark in the North, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in the West, Austria and Switzerland in the South and Poland and the Czech Republic in the East. The North Sea and the Baltic Sea represent additional National Borders in the North. Geographic coordinates:

Area

:

• Total: 1 E11 m² square kilometre (137,850 square mile) :
• Land: 349,223 km² (134,835 mi²) :
• Water: 7,798 km² (3,010 mi²)

Territory

Since German reunification Germany has resumed its role as a major centre between Scandinavia in the north and the Mediterranean Sea region in the south, as well as between the Atlantic Ocean west and the countries of Central Europe and Eastern Europe Europe. The territory of Germany stretches from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m / 9,718 Foot (unit of length)) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the north-west and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the north-east. In between are the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres (11.6 ft) below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Due to its central location, Germany shares borders with more European countries than any other country in Europe. Its neighbours are Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west.

Climate

( → see also  ) The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. The climate is affected among other things by the Gulf Stream, which promotes an unusually mild climate. In the  north-west  and the  north  the climate is oceanic and rain falls all year round. Winters there are relatively mild and summers tend to be comparatively cool, even though temperatures can reach above 30 degrees Celsius (86 °Fahrenheit) for prolonged periods of time.  Average temperatures: Hamburg: January 0.3 °C (33 °Fahrenheit) / July 17.1 °C (63°Fahrenheit); Essen: January 1.5 °C (35 °Fahrenheit) / July 17.5 °C (64 °Fahrenheit)  In the  east  the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Here, too, long dry periods are often recorded.  Average temperatures: Berlin: January −0.9 °C (30 °F) / July 18.6 °C (65 °F)  In the  central part  and the  south  there is a transitional climate which varies from moderately oceanic to continental, depending on the location. Hot summers with temperatures about 30 degrees Celsius (86 °F) are possible.  Average temperatures: Munich: January −2.2 °C (28 °F) / July 17.6 °C (64 °F); Freiburg: January 1.2 °C (34 °F) / July 19.4 °C (67 °F) 

Demographics

Due to the country's federal and decentralised structure Germany has a number of larger cities. The most populous are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Dortmund. By far the largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region, including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district and the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Bochum. The federal structure has kept the population oriented towards a number of large cities, and has precluded the growth of any single city that would rival such European capitals as London, Paris or Moscow for size. As of 2005, about 7.5 million foreign citizen residents were living in Germany. The majority came from Turkey, followed by Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Poland, Russia, Austria, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and France. http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab10.htm Thanks to reform of German nationality law, many of these immigrants are eligible for naturalisation (http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab8.htm). 8 million of German citizens are connected with another nationality. Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic immigrants from many developing country, especially Turkey and southern Europe/Balkans Europe, but the number of annual asylum seekers has been declining in recent years. According to a the microcensus conducted by the German federal office of statistics in 2005, 19% of the country's residents are of foreign or partially foreign descent.

Economy

Germany is the largest European economy and the third largest economy in the world in real terms, placed behind the United States and Japan, and fifth behind China and India counted by purchasing power parity. According to the World Trade Organization, Germany is also the world's top exporter, ahead of the United States and number two in the world in imports. It currently (2005) has the largest trade surplus of all countries in the world. While it has positive trade balances with most of its EU-partners and the United States, it runs trade deficits with China and Japan. A major issue of concern remains the persistently high unemployment rate and weak domestic demand which slows down economic growth. Eastern Germany in particular suffers from a lack of a solid base of small and medium-sized companies, which provided the foundation for the Federal Republic's economic prosperity and is responsible in great measure for Germany's lag in economic growth. Domestic demand has stagnated for many years due to wage stagnation and zealous cost-cutting by the federal state. Lack of consumer demand might have caused many of the prevalent economic problems. Germany's government runs a restrictive fiscal policy and has cut numerous regular jobs in the public sector. Since reunification there has been a net loss of estimated 1 million such jobs. But while regular employment in the public sector shrank, "irregular" government employment like so called 1-Euro-Jobs, government supported self-employment (ICH-AG) and job training increased. Despite the tense situation in eastern Germany, total government employment in Germany remains lower than in other states such as the United Kingdom or Canada. Economical and political discussion in Germany today concentrates on whether Germany needs more "market reforms" such as deregulation of the labour market, more low income jobs, lower social security feeds, lower taxes for enterprises and employers, etc., or already passed too many reforms. In view of shifting socio-economic trends, more and more people in Germany distrust the sense and direction of the reforms over the last years, although Conservatives insist that they are necessary to make Germany competitive on the global stage.

Science and technology

Germany is a leading nation in scientific research and the production of innovative technological products. Some of the most important industrial contributions include rocketry, material science, and chemical products. As in physics and chemistry, Germans are a leading nation in the Nobel Prizes for physiology or medicine.

Exports

As mentioned above the exporting of goods is an essential part of the German economic system and one of the most relevant reasons for Germany's wealth. Like many other export oriented countries, Germany itself does not have the climate or the natural resources necessary to support a standard of living. Overtaking the United States in 2003, Germany is now the world's largest exporter of goods with $1.016 trillion exported in 2005. It should be noted that Germany's exports to other euro zone countries are included in this total.

Politics

 'Politics of Germany ' takes place in a framework of a federation parliamentary democratic representative democracy republic, whereby the Chancellor of Germany is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag (Germany) and Bundesrat of Germany. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (Germany) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Smaller parties that have an important role are the liberal Free Democratic Party (Germany), that has been in the Bundestag since 1949, as well as the Alliance '90/The Greens that has had seats in the parliament since 1983. (See also List of German institutions.) The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitutional document, the  Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany  (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification.

Legal system

Germany has a civil law (legal system) based ultimately on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. Legislative power is divided between the Federation and the individual federated states. While criminal law and private law have seen codifications on the national level (in the  Strafgesetzbuch  and the  Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch  respectively), no such unifying codification exists in administrative law where a lot of the fundamental matters remain in the jurisdiction of the individual federated states. In 1976, with the  Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz  (VwVfG), the main form of actions of administration was codified. Most federated states have followed this codification. There are a series of specialist supreme courts; for civil and criminal cases the highest court of appeal is the  Federal Court of Justice of Germany  (Federal Court of Justice), located in Karlsruhe. The courtroom style is Inquisitorial system. The Federal Constitutional Court ( Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ), also located in Karlsruhe, is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. It acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. It acts independently of the other state bodies, but cannot act on its own behalf.

Foreign Relations

Germany plays a leading role in the European Union, having a strong alliance with France. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus. Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations, both because of its recent history as well as its occupied status. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the Kosovo War, Gerhard Schröder's government broke convention by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II. Germany and the United States have been close allies since the end of the Second World War. The Marshall Plan and continued US support during the rebuilding process after World War II, as well as the significant influence American culture has had on German culture, have crafted a strong bond between Germany and the US that lasts to this day. Not only do the United States and Germany share many cultural similarities but they are also deeply economically interdependent. 8.8% of all German exports are US bound, and US-German trade according to the United States Census Bureau totalled $108.2 billion for 2004. An illustration of the strong economic relations between the US and Germany may be the fact that 18.3% of all cars sold in the US were manufactured by German car manufacturers. Other signs of the close ties between Germany and the US are the fact that German-Americans remain the largest ethnic group in the US and the largest US community outside the US is the Ramstein Air Base, close to the city of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Armed Forces

Germany's military, the  Bundeswehr , is a defence force with  German Army  (German Army),  German Navy  (German Navy),  Luftwaffe  (German Air Force),  Central Medical Services  (Central Medical Services) and  Streitkräftebasis  (Joint Service Support Command) branches. It employs some 250,000 soldiers (including women in active fighting branches since 2001) and 120,000 civilians (will be reduced to 75,000). 40,000 of the soldiers are 18-23-year-old men on national duty, currently for at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Franz Josef Jung. If Germany goes to war, which is according to the Basic Law allowed only for defensive purposes, the Chancellor becomes commander in chief of the German  Bundeswehr . Currently, the German military has about 1,180 troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 2,650 Bundeswehr soldiers are serving in Kosovo; and 3,900 Bundeswehr troops are assisting the United States anti-terrorism operation called Operation Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa. 4,500 German troops currently make up the largest contingent of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force force in Afghanistan.

Energy policy

In 2000, the German Social Democratic Party of Germany-led government along with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance '90/The Greens), officially announced its intention to Nuclear power phase-out. Jürgen Trittin as the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, reached an agreement with energy companies on the gradual shut down of List of nuclear reactors#Germany and a cessation of civil usage of nuclear power by 2020. In 1999, electricity production in Germany was powered by coal (47%), nuclear power (30%), natural gas (14%), renewable energy (including hydroelectricity, wind and solar power) (6%), and petrol (2%) (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/germany.html). As for energy consumption, oil accounted for 41% of the total. At the World Climate Conference, the German government announced a carbon dioxide reduction target of 25% by the year 2005 as compared to 1990, to Greenhouse effect. (http://www.agores.org/Publications/EnR/GermanyREPolicy2000.pdf, pdf) Note however, that the 1990 numbers include industrial facilities in eastern germany, most of which were soon flattened in post-1990-Germany. In 2005, the German government reached a controversial agreement with Russia in building a gas pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea directly from Russia to Germany. Germany leads Europe by having the greatest solar and wind electricity generating capacity on the continent.http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/001791.html. This achievement was boosted by the Renewable Energies Act (EEG), introduced on April 1, 2000, aimed at achieving a minimum 12% market share for renewable energy by 2010 (compared to 3.4 % in 1990). By 2005 German Solar cell capacity had reached 794 MWp (78.6% of total European capacity) http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/res/sectors/photovoltaic_en.htm, while wind turbine capacity had reached 16,629 MWp (48.4% of European capacity) http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/res/sectors/wind_energy_en.htm. It is estimated that the renewable industries now employ, directly or indirectly, more than 120,000 people. Germany has committed to a 21% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. In terms of total installed capacity in windpower electricity Germany is the world's No.1 producer. 2005 18,427.5 MW were produced (in comparison: 2nd place Spain - 10,027 MW; 3rd place; USA - 9,141 MW). Germany's emphasis on renewable energy sources has also resulted in the founding of numerous high-tech companies developing such technologies. Germany is also the main exporter of wind turbines, the demand greatly exceeding capacity.Article in Financial Times Deutschland

Society

Religion

Germany is the home of the Protestant Reformation launched by Martin Luther in the early 16th century. Today, Protestantism (particularly in the north and east) comprise about 33% of the population and Catholicism (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. The Roman Catholic Pope, Benedict XVI, is Bavaria. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination. The third largest religious identity in Germany is that of non-religious people (including atheism and agnosticism (especially in former GDR)), who amount to a total of 28.5% of the population (23.5 million). Approximately 3 million Muslims http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/foreign1834142005820.asp (predominantly from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia) live in Germany. Most are Sunni Islam and Alevites from Turkey but there are a small number of Shiites. Today's Germany has Western Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet Union republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total influx to more than 200,000 since 1991. About half joined a settled Jewish community, of which there are now more than 100, with a total of 100,000 members — up from 30,000 before reunification. Some German cities have seen a revival of Jewish culture, particularly in Berlin, where there are also 3,000 Israelis. Jews have a voice in German public life through the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (Central Council of Jews in Germany). Other cities with significant Jewish populations are Frankfurt and Munich.

Social issues

The German social market economy (German language:  soziale Marktwirtschaft ) helped bring about the "economic miracle" (the German " Wirtschaftswunder ") that rebuilt Germany from ashes after World War II to one of the most impressive economies in Europe. Still today, Ludwig Erhard, minister of economics in the Konrad Adenauer administration (1949-1963) and later chancellor (1963-1966), is widely recognised as having been the "father" of this profound rise in the country's economic and social wealth. Germany continues to struggle with a number of social issues, although problems created by the German reunification of 1990 have begun to diminish. The standard of living is higher in the western half of the country, but easterners now share a reasonably high standard of living. Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment, especially in the former East German states. The country has passed several reforms to curb unemployment. For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder (children), Küche (kitchen), and Kirche (church) - Kinder, Küche, Kirche. Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights. Despite significant gains, discrimination remains in united Germany. Women are noticeably absent in the top tiers of German business. They only hold 9.2% of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positionsHoppenstedt business databank 2002. Until 2001 women were barred from serving in combat units in the Bundeswehr, being restricted to the medical service and the administration. The first woman to become chancellor is Angela Merkel, who was elected in 2005. Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various groups. In the 1970s leftist terrorist organisations like the Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures and there has been a recent surge in right-wing nationalist crimes. According to former Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazism symbols being reported more frequently. Germany is also burdened with an extremely low fertility/birthrate. In recent times Germany's birth rate has plunged to the lowest level ever recorded, prompting lawmakers to ask what the state can do to encourage women to have more children. According to provisional figures from the Federal Statistics Office, 680,000 babies were born in Germany in 2005, down from a peak of 1.36 million in 1964 and fewer even than in 1945, when nearly all the country lay in rubble. Germany has failed to implement EU laws prohibiting racial discrimination. The European Court of Justice ruled on April 29 2005, that Germany had breached EU law by failing to transpose fully the 'Racial Equality Directive' prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC). Immigrants to Germany may generally face integration issues and other difficulties. In addition to the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, they may be subject to security-related police inquiries and violence from right-wing nationalist groups. Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarf in class and all except Bavaria have from the classroom as well, generally by prohibiting the use of all religious symbols by teachers. This is legitimate by combining the German states' privilege of educational laws with the principle of separation of church and state, both provided for in the German federal constitution: According to this legal view, teachers in their vocational function within a state administered educational system are obliged to maintain and publicly exhibit religious neutrality when on duty. As this status of employment does not hold for pupils, whose constitutional right to religious freedom thus remains unencumbered by these provisions, this ban cannot legally be extended to them as it is in France.

Education

Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education and many famous universities. The most important foreign languages taught at school are English language, French language, Latin, Italian language and Ancient Greek. Some languages, such as Russian language, Turkish language, Spanish language, Chinese language, Japanese language, Polish language and Arabic language are taught less widely. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering university has more than tripled, but university attendance still lags behind many other European nations because of its very high standards. In the annual league of top-ranking universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2004, Germany came 4th overall, but with only 7 universities in the top 100 (to compare, the United States had 51). The highest ranking university, at #45, was the Technical University of Munich. Most German universities are state-owned and were free of charge, however a recently passed education reform calls for fees between €300 and €500 per semester from each student, starting in 2007. Additionally university students are often supported by the so called BAföG, a federal subsidy, running as high as €290 per month as interest free credit plus €290 as direct payment. German educational ideals differ considerably from Anglo-Saxon educational ideals, emphasising socialisation, debate, vocal participation in class and critical faculties. Consequently the results of the PISA (student assessment), that revealed comprehension of the respective subject matters only, were a shock to the German public but no surprise to many educational experts. Participation in the official school system is compulsory; however, home-schooling is still practised by a number of people. There has been some publicity to government prosecution of this practice.

Culture

Berlin is sometimes called the "culture-capital of Europe". After Paris, it's the second most popular touristic site among Europeans. Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as  das Land der Dichter und Denker  (the land of poets and thinkers). German  'literature ' can be traced back to the Middle Ages, in particular to such authors as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach, considered some of the most important poets of medieval Europe. The fairy tales by Brothers Grimm are world famous and the Nibelungenlied, whose author is not known, is also a major contribution to German literature. Theologian Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for modern "High German" language. The most admired German poets and authors are Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich von Kleist and E.T.A. Hoffmann. Other poets include Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich Heine, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Theodor Fontane, Rainer Maria Rilke and authors of the 20th century include Nobel Prize winners Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass. Other famous authors are Bertolt Brecht and Arno Schmidt. Germany's influence on world  'philosophy ' was significant as well, as exemplified by Albertus Magnus, Gottfried Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottfried Herder, Moses Mendelssohn, Novalis, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach, Arthur Schopenhauer, Albert Schweitzer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, Eduard von Hartmann, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Rudolf Steiner, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jürgen Habermas. In the field of  'sociology ' influential German thinkers were Ferdinand Tönnies, Georg Simmel, Max Weber, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno and Niklas Luhmann. Many historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were important and influential figures in German culture, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig.

German language

The  'German language ' was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe. Within the European Union, German is the language with the most native speakers, with more than English, French, Spanish and Italian, because the borders of the German language reach through Austria, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and into Switzerland. As a foreign language, German is the third most taught worldwide.http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/Aussenpolitik/Kulturpolitik/Sprache/DeutscheSprache.html It is also the second most used language on the Internet after English language. The language has its origin in Old High German which is related to old English. There are numerous dialects of German, many of which are not intelligible to speakers of standard German or a different dialect. Some consider Low German to be a different language from German; Low German has been given the status of a minority language by the European Union, although it is less used today in the traditionally Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany. Other dialects, which are very different from standard German are spoken in Saxony, Bavaria and near Stuttgart.

Music

In the field of  'music ', Germany's influence is noted through the works of, among others, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Georg Philipp Telemann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Carl Orff.

Science and technology

Germany has been the homeland of many great  'scientists ' like Hermann von Helmholtz, Joseph von Fraunhofer, Gabriel Fahrenheit, Johannes Kepler, Ernst Haeckel, Wilhelm Wundt, Rudolf Virchow, Paul Ehrlich, Alexander von Humboldt, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Albert Einstein, Max Born, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Robert Koch, Otto Hahn, Gottfried Leibniz, Justus von Liebig, Ernst Mayr and Robert Bunsen. It has been the home of many  'inventors ' and  'engineers ' such as Johann Gutenberg, Nikolaus Otto, Hans Geiger, Adolf Eugen Fick, Otto Lilienthal, Robert Bosch, Ernst Werner von Siemens, Wernher von Braun, Ferdinand Porsche, Wilhelm Maybach, Gottlieb Daimler, Konrad Zuse, Rudolf Diesel and Karl Benz. Important  'mathematicians ' were born in Germany such as Richard Dedekind, Friedrich Bessel, Carl Friedrich Gauss, David Hilbert, Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, Bernhard Riemann, Adam Ries, Felix Klein, Albert Einstein, Georg Cantor, Karl Weierstrass and Hermann Weyl. Alongside other heavy industries, Germany is also a base for several major weapons manufacturers with worldwide trade of submarines, helicopters, armoured vehicles, and other military equipment. Examples include Heckler & Koch, small arms manufacturer; Rheinmetall, defence company developing and manufacturing numerous tanks and turrets, air defence systems, weapons, munitions and projectiles; EADS, developer of Eurofighter and Eurocopter air vehicles, as well as other weapon systems; Howaldtswerke, developer and manufacturer of the Type 212 submarine and Krauss-Maffei, developer and manufacturer of the Leopard 2 main battle tank.

Transport

Due to its central situation in Europe, the volume of traffic, especially goods transit, in Germany is very high. In the past decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road transport, which led the Federal Government to introduce a motor toll for lorries in 2005. In addition, individual traffic increased to an extent that on German roads, traffic densities are very high by international comparison. For the future, a further strong increase of traffic is expected. High speed vehicular traffic has a long tradition in Germany, not only owing to the automobile industry, but also, because the first Autobahn in the world, the AVUS, and the world's first automobile were built in Germany. Germany possesses one of the densest road systems of the world. It covers 12,037 kilometres (7,479 mile) of federal "Autobahn" motorways and 41,386 kilometres (25,716 mi) of federal highways. In contrast to other European countries, German motorways partially have no blanket speed limit. However, signposted limits are in place on many dangerous or congested stretches, and where traffic noise or pollution poses a nuisance; some of these limits apply only at night or only in wet conditions. Another way to travel is via rail. Deutsche Bahn AG (German Rail) is the major German railway infrastructure and service operator. For commuter and regional services, franchises of various sizes are granted by the individual states, though largely financed from the federal budget. Unsubsidised long-range service operators can compete freely all over the country, at least in theory. Actually, Deutsche Bahn holds a de facto monopoly on long-range services. The InterCity Express or ICE is a type of high-speed train operated by Deutsche Bahn in Germany and neighbouring countries, for example to Zürich, Switzerland or Vienna, Austria. ICE trains also serve Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as well as Liège and Brussels (Belgium). In spite of branch lines progressively being closed for at least the last seven decades, the rail network throughout Germany is still very extensive and provides excellent services in most areas. On regular lines, at least one train every two hours will call even in the smallest of villages. Nearly all larger metropolitan areas are being served by an S-Bahn heavy rail metro system. A large proportion of towns feature underground and/or tram systems. Good urban and overland bus services are ubiquitous. Frankfurt International Airport is a major international airport and European transportation hub. Frankfurt Airport ranks among the world's top ten airports and serves 304 flight destinations in 110 countries. Depending whether total passengers, flights or cargo traffic are used to measure, it ranks as the busiest, second busiest and third busiest in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris' Charles de Gaulle.

International rankings

 For an explanation of the ratings, see the corresponding article. 

Political and economic rankings

• Freedom in the World 2006 - Free; political rights and civil liberties both rated 1 (the highest score available)
• Reporters Without Borders#Worldwide press freedom index - 18th freest in the world at 4.00
• List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita - 17th highest in the world at International dollar30,579
• List of countries by Human Development Index - 20th highest in the world at 0.930
• List of countries by income equality - 14th most equal income at 28.3 (Gini index)
• List of countries by literacy rate - Equal 1st with 99.9 %
• List of countries by unemployment rate - 80th lowest with 10.60 %
• Corruption Perceptions Index - 16th lowest with a rating of 8.2
• Index of Economic Freedom - Equal 19th freest with a rating of 1.96

Health rankings

• List of countries and territories by fertility rate - 171st most fertile country with a rating of 1.39 per woman
• List of countries by birth rate - 192nd most births per capita at 8.33 per 1000 people
• List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) - 11th least infant deaths with a rating of 4.16 per 1000 births
• List of countries by death rate - 55th highest with a rating of 10.55 deaths per 1000 people
• List of countries by life expectancy - 23rd highest with 78.80 years
• List of countries by suicide rate - 28th highest with 20.4 for men, 7.0 for women and 13.5 total

Other rankings

• List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita - 34th highest with 9.8 metric tons per capita
• List of countries by electricity consumption - 7th highest with 510,400,000,000 kWh
• Broadband Internet access worldwide#Broadband subscribers in OECD countries - 18th highest with 13.0 %
• Beer consumption by country - 3rd largest with 115.8 L per capita

FIFA World Cup

Germany was home of the 2006 FIFA world cup. These world championship football tournament was the centre of attention for millions of people worlwide from June to July.

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Germany
• East Germany
• Foreign relations of Germany
• German federal election, 2005
• 2006 FIFA World Cup
• German model
• Historical Eastern Germany
• List of English exonyms for German toponyms
• List of Germans
• Districts of Germany
• List of cities in Germany
• List of Germans - German people
• List of political parties in Germany
• List of universities in Germany
• Major power#Germany
• Names for Germany
• Nuclear power phase-out
• Scouting in Germany
• Security issues in Germany
• Taxation in Germany
• Tourism in Germany
• Transportation in Germany
• West Germany
• German-Japanese relations
• Sino-German cooperation.
•   

References

External links

• Deutschland.de — Official German portal
• German Embassy News Portal for the US
• History of Germany: Primary Documents
• Travel to Germany - by Wikitravel.org
• Facts about Germany — by the German Federal Foreign Office
• A manual for Germany — by the German Government Representative for Migration, Refugees and Integration
• Destatis.de — Federal Statistical Office Germany (in English)
• The Germans explained and Take it from a German - Essays about German ideosyncrasies, from Der Spiegel.
• Apply in Germany (pdf)
• Find out about Germany- by the German Education Server
• Webcams in Germany
• Photos of Germany in Google Earth

Further reading

• Jean Edward Smith,  Germany Beyond The Wall: People, Politics, and Prosperity , Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1969.
• Jean Edward Smith,  Lucius D. Clay: An American Life , New York: Henry, Holt, & Company, 1990.
• Jean Edward Smith,  The Defense Of Berlin , Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1963.
• Jean Edward Smith,  The Papers Of Lucius D. Clay , 2 Vols., Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1974.
• George Donaldson,  Germany: A Complete History. , New York: Gotham Books, 1985.
• Hajo Holborn.  A MODERN HISTORY OF GERMANY ; Princeton University Press;
•   'Volume I: The Reformation  '; 1959/1982; LCC 82-0126 ::: ISBN 0-691-05357-X (Hardcover).
  :: ISBN 0-691-00795-0 (Softcover).
•   'Volume II: 1648-1840  '; 1964/1982; LCC 82-0126 ::: ISBN 0-691-05358-8 (Hardcover).
  :: ISBN 0-691-00796-9 (Softcover).
•   'Volume III: 1840-1945  '; 1969/1982; LCC 82-0126 ::: ISBN 0-691-05359-6 (Hardcover).
  :: ISBN 0-691-00797-7 (Softcover).
  
  This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Germany" (click for full Wikipedia text) Hide