German History

Julius Caesar first distinguished the area east of the Rhine as Germania. In the High Middle Ages, Martin Luther led the Reformation against the Church and this gave rise to a separate Lutheran Church in Germany. The Industrial Revolution modernized Germany and gave rise to a Socialist Movement. In 1871, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony were unified under the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

World War I
Germany led the Central Powers against Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States. Defeated Germany had to pay war reparations by the Treaty of Versailles and it lost Poland and Alsace-Lorraine. The German Revolution in 191819 deposed the emperor and the Weimar Republic was formed.

Herr Hitler
The failure of the Weimar Republic was the main cause for Hitlers rise to power. On 30 January, 1933, Hitler was made the Chancellor of Germany, succeeding President Hindenburg. Hitler was given unparalleled powers in legislative and executive branches of the government. The Nazi Party was the only political party allowed to operate in Germany. All other political competition was killed.

The Holocaust
One of Hitler's central and most controversial ideologies was the concept of racial hygiene. Between 1939 and 1945, the SS systematically killed 1114 million people, including about six million Jews. Many victims of the Holocaust were gassed to death, whereas others died of starvation or disease while working as slave labourers.

World War II
In 1938, Hitler entered into an alliance with Japan and severed all connections with China. Hitler wanted to unify Germany with Poland and on 1 September, 1939, and Britain and France declared war on Germany and World War II commenced. The end of World War II commenced in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviets but failed.

Beginning of the end

After Japans attack on Pearl Harbour, Hitler was at war with the US, UK and the Soviets. By 1943, with the invasion of Sicily, Mussolini surrendered to the Allies. Throughout 1944, the Red Army was pushing the German troops back from Soviet Russia. On 30 April, 1945, Hitler committed suicide in a bunker with the Red Army bombing the area. On 2 May, 1945, Germany surrendered in Berlin and World War II came to an end.

The Cold War

Germany was divided into two halves east and west. The eastern part was known as the German Democratic Republic and the west was known as the Federal Republic of Germany. The Berlin Wall separated the world into eastern communists and western democrats. In 1989, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Berlin Wall demolished which led to the re-unification of Germany.

Recent History
From 2005 to 2009, Germany was ruled by a grand coalition led by the CDU's Angela Merkel as chancellor. Since the 2009 elections, Merkel has headed the CDU. Germany was one of the main supporters of admitting many East European countries to the EU. France, Russia and Japan backed Germany in its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Germany did fairly well in the 2008 economic recession and also financed Greece during its economic crisis in 2010.