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History Of Germany (1990–present)
Since 1990, Germany spans the period following German reunification, when West Germany and East Germany were reunited after being divided during the Cold War. It is referred to by historians as the Berlin Republic (''Berliner Republik''), or as the Third German Republic. This time period is also determined by the ongoing process of the "inner reunification" of the formerly divided country. Economics Stagnation in 1990s After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a wave of optimism for a more positive future swept across Germany, but that future proved difficult to realize. Western Germany invested over two trillion marks in the rehabilitation of the former East Germany, helping it to transition to a market economy and cleaning up the environmental degradation. By 2011 the results were mixed, with slow economic development in the East, in sharp contrast to the rapid economic growth in both west and southern Germany. Unemployment was much higher in the East, often over 15%. Economists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutschlandlied
The "", officially titled "", is a German poem written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben . A popular song which was made for the cause of creating a unified German state, it was adopted in its entirety in 1922 by the Weimar Republic, replacing the de facto anthem " Heil dir im Siegerkranz". The first stanza of "Deutschlandlied" was used alongside the " Horst-Wessel-Lied" during the Nazi regime from 1933 until the end of World War II. On the proclamation of the German Federal Republic, the entirety of the song was still the official anthem, though only the 3rd verse was sung. Since 1991 and the subsequent Reunification of Germany, the third verse is the national anthem, though the 1st and 2nd verses are sometimes performed accidentally. Its phrase "" ('Unity and Justice and Freedom') is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins. The music is derived from that of " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Von Weizsäcker
Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobility, he took his first public offices in the Protestant Church in Germany. A member of the CDU since 1954, Weizsäcker was elected as a member of parliament at the 1969 elections. He continued to hold a mandate as a member of the Bundestag until he became Governing Mayor of West Berlin, following the 1981 state elections. In 1984, Weizsäcker was elected as President of the Federal Republic of Germany and was re-elected in 1989 for a second term. As yet, he and Theodor Heuss are the only two Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany who have served two complete five-year-terms. On 3 October 1990, during his second term as president, the reorganized five states of the German Democratic Republic and East Berlin joined the Federal Rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group Of Soviet Forces In Germany
The Western Group of Forces (WGF), previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG) and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG), were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany was formed after the end of World War II in Europe from units of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. The group helped suppress the East German uprising of 1953. After the end of occupation functions in 1954 the group was renamed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. The group represented Soviet interests in East Germany during the Cold War. Before changes in Soviet foreign policy during the early 1990s, the group shifted to a more offensive role and in 1989 became the Western Group of Forces. Russian forces remained in the eastern part of Germany after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification until 1994. History The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces, Germany was formed after the end of World War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty On The Final Settlement With Respect To Germany
The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (), more commonly referred to as the Two Plus Four Agreement (), is an international agreement that allowed the reunification of Germany in October 1990. It was negotiated in 1990 between the 'two', the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in addition to the Four Powers which had occupied Germany at the end of World War II in Europe: France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The treaty supplanted the 1945 Potsdam Agreement: in it, the Four Powers renounced all rights they had held with regard to Germany, allowing for its reunification as a fully sovereign state the following year. Additionally, the two German states agreed to reconfirm the existing border with Poland in the German–Polish Border Treaty, accepting that German territory post-reunification would consist only of what was presently administered by West and East Germany—renouncing explicitly any possi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basic Law For The Federal Republic Of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved by the occupying western Allies of World War II on 12 May. It was termed "Basic Law" (, ) to indicate that it was a provisional piece of legislation pending the reunification of Germany. However, when reunification took place in 1990, the Basic Law was retained as the definitive constitution of reunified Germany. Its original field of application ()—that is, the states that were initially included in the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany—consisted of the three Western Allies' zones of occupation, but at the insistence of the Western Allies, formally excluded West Berlin. In 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Two Plus Four Agreement between the two parts of Germany and all four Allies stipulated the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Germany
The concept of Germany as a distinct region in Central Europe can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as ''Germania'', thus distinguishing it from Gaul. The victory of the Cherusci, Germanic tribes in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9) prevented annexation by the Roman Empire, although the Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior were established along the Rhine. Following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other West Germanic languages, West Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes. When the Francia, Frankish Empire was divided among Charles the Great's heirs in 843, the eastern part became East Francia, and later Kingdom of Germany. In 962, Otto I became the first Holy Roman Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state. During the High Middle Ages, the Hanseatic League, dominated by German port cities, established itself along the Baltic Sea, Baltic and North Seas. The gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the German Bundesrat, Bundesrat. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag (Weimar Republic), Reichstag. The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their conscience. As of the current 21st Bundestag, 21st legislative period, the Bundestag has a fixed number of 630 members. The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines First-past-the-post voting for co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesrat Of Germany
The German Bundesrat (, ) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen ''States of Germany, Länder'' (federated states) of Germany at the federal level (German: ''Bundesebene''). The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. Its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn. The Bundesrat legislates alongside the Bundestag. The Bundesrat consists of members appointed by state governments and the Bundestag consists of representatives directly elected by the German people. Certain laws and all constitutional changes need the consent of both houses. For its somewhat similar function, the Bundesrat is sometimes (controversially) described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the United States Senate, the Senate of Canada, Canadian Senate, Australian Senate, and the House of Lords, British House of Lords. The name "Bundesrat" was used by similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Merz
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition (Germany), Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025. Merz was born in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany. He joined the Young Union in 1972. After finishing law school in 1985, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before entering full-time politics in 1989 when he was elected to the European Parliament. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU. He was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2000, the same year as Angela Merkel was elected chairwoman of the CDU, and at the time they were chief rivals for the lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As chancellor, he led a coalition government of the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens. Since leaving public office, Schröder has worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream AG, Rosneft, and Gazprom. Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he was Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Replacing the longest-ruling chancellor in modern German history, Helmut Kohl (CDU), in the 1998 German federal election, 1998 federal election, he tried to address unemployment and poverty with the Agenda 2010 labour market reform, which increased Hartz IV, welfare benefits. Together with French president Jacques Chirac, in 2003, he did not join the Coalition of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl’s 16-year tenure is the longest in German post-war history, and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany. Born in Ludwigshafen to a Catholic Church, Catholic family, Kohl joined the CDU in 1946 at the age of 16. He earned a PhD in history at Heidelberg University in 1958 and worked as a business executive before becoming a full-time politician. He was elected as the youngest member of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate, Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1959 and from 1969 to 1976 was Minister-president, minister president of the Rhineland-Palatinate state. Viewed during the 1960s and the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chancellor Of Germany
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the President of Germany, federal president and without debate (Article 63 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, German Constitution). During a state of defence declared by the Bundestag the chancellor also assumes the position of commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr. List of chancellors of Germany, Ten people (nine men and one woman) have served as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the first being Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. (Another 26 men had served as "Reich chancellors" of the previous German Empire from 1871 to 1945.) The current officeholder is Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
