Location: Europe

Area: 357,021 sq km
Population: 82.39 million
Capital City: Berlin
People: Predominantly Caucasian, with a significant Turkish minority. Germany has also absorbed many refugees from the former Yugoslavia.
Language: German
Religion: 34% Protestant, 34% Catholic, 4% Muslim, 28% unaffiliated or other. There are about 74,000 Jews (the pre-Holocaust figure was over half a million).
Government: Federal republic

GDP: US$2.16 trillion
GDP per capita: US$26,200
Annual Growth: 2.7%
Inflation: 1%
Major Industries: Motor vehicles, engineering, chemicals, iron, steel, coal, electronics, environmental technology, food, clothing
Major Trading Partners: EU (esp. France, Netherlands, Italy, UK, Belgium/Luxembourg, ), USA, Japan
Member of EU: Yes

Economic summary GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $2.271 trillion; per capita $27,600. Real growth rate: –0.1%. Inflation: 0.9%. Unemployment: 10.7%. Arable land: 34%. Agriculture: potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry. Labor force: 41.9 million (2001); industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8%, services 63.8% (1999). Industries: among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages; shipbuilding; textiles. Natural resources: iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land. Exports: $696.9 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles. Imports: $585 billion (f.o.b., 2003 est.): machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals. Major trading partners: France, U.S., UK, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, China.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 50.9 million (March 2001); mobile cellular: 55.3 million (June 2001). Radio broadcast stations: AM 51, FM 767, shortwave 4 (1998). Radios: 77.8 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 51.4 million (1998). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 200 (2001). Internet users: 32.1 million (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 45,514 km including at least 21,000 km electrified (2002). Highways: total: 230,735 km; paved: 230,735 km (including 11,515 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2002). Waterways: 7,500 km (1999); major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea. Ports and harbors: Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart. Airports: 551 (2002).

Geography

Located in central Europe, Germany is made up of the North German Plain, the Central German Uplands (Mittelgebirge), and the Southern German Highlands. The Bavarian plateau in the southwest averages 1,600 ft (488 m) above sea level, but it reaches 9,721 ft (2,962 m) in the Zugspitze Mountains, the highest point in the country. Germany's major rivers are the Danube, the Elbe, the Oder, the Weser, and the Rhine. Germany is about the size of Montana.

Government

Federal republic.

History

The Celts are believed to have been the first inhabitants of Germany. They were followed by German tribes at the end of the 2nd century B.C. German invasions destroyed the declining Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. One of the tribes, the Franks, attained supremacy in western Europe under Charlemagne, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), Charlemagne's lands east of the Rhine were ceded to the German Prince Louis. Additional territory acquired by the Treaty of Mersen (870) gave Germany approximately the area it maintained throughout the Middle Ages. For several centuries after Otto the Great was crowned king in 936, German rulers were also usually heads of the Holy Roman Empire.

By the 14th century, the Holy Roman Empire was little more than a loose federation of the German princes who elected the Holy Roman emperor. In 1438, Albert of Hapsburg became emperor, and for the next several centuries the Hapsburg line ruled the Holy Roman Empire until its decline in 1806. Relations between state and church were changed by the Reformation, which began with Martin Luther's 95 theses, and came to a head in 1547, when Charles V scattered the forces of the Protestant League at Mühlberg. The Counter Reformation followed. A dispute over the succession to the Bohemian throne brought on the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated Germany and left the empire divided into hundreds of small principalities virtually independent of the emperor.

Meanwhile, Prussia was developing into a state of considerable strength. Frederick the Great (1740–1786) reorganized the Prussian army and defeated Maria Theresa of Austria in a struggle over Silesia. After the defeat of Napoléon at Waterloo (1815), the struggle between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany continued, reaching its climax in the defeat of Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866) and the formation of the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation (1867). The architect of this new German unity was Otto von Bismarck, a conservative, monarchist, and militaristic Prussian prime minister. He unified all of Germany in a series of three wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870–1871). On Jan. 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The North German Confederation, created in 1867, was abolished, and the Second German Reich, consisting of the North and South German states, was born. With a powerful army, an efficient bureaucracy, and a loyal bourgeoisie, Chancellor Bismarck consolidated a powerful centralized state.

Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and embarked upon a “New Course,” stressing an intensified colonialism and a powerful navy. His chaotic foreign policy culminated in the diplomatic isolation of Germany and the disastrous defeat in World War I (1914–1918). The Second German Empire collapsed following the defeat of the German armies in 1918, the naval mutiny at Kiel, and the flight of the kaiser to the Netherlands. The Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann, crushed the communists and established a moderate state, known as the Weimar Republic, with Ebert as president. President Ebert died on Feb. 28, 1925, and on April 26, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was elected president. The mass of Germans regarded the Weimar Republic as a child of defeat, imposed upon a Germany whose legitimate aspirations to world leadership had been thwarted by a world conspiracy. Added to this were a crippling currency debacle, a tremendous burden of reparations, and acute economic distress.

Adolf Hitler, an Austrian war veteran and a fanatical nationalist, fanned discontent by promising a Greater Germany, abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, restoration of Germany's lost colonies, and the destruction of the Jews, whom he scapegoated as the reason for Germany's downfall and depressed economy. When the Social Democrats and the Communists refused to combine against the Nazi threat, President von Hindenburg made Hitler the chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933. With the death of von Hindenburg on Aug. 2, 1934, Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles and began full-scale rearmament. In 1935, he withdrew Germany from the League of Nations, and the next year he reoccupied the Rhineland and signed the Anti-Comintern pact with Japan, at the same time strengthening relations with Italy. Austria was annexed in March 1938. By the Munich agreement in Sept. 1938, he gained the Czech Sudetenland, and in violation of this agreement he completed the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. His invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, precipitated World War II.

Hitler established death camps to carry out “the final solution to the Jewish question.” By the end of the war, Hitler's Holocaust had killed 6 million Jews, as well as Gypsies, homosexuals, Communists, the handicapped, and others not fitting the Aryan ideal. After some dazzling initial successes in 1939–1942, Germany surrendered unconditionally to Allied and Soviet military commanders on May 8, 1945. On June 5 the four-nation Allied Control Council became the de facto government of Germany.

(For details of World War II and of the Holocaust, see Headline History, World War II.)

At the Berlin (or Potsdam) Conference (July 17–Aug. 2, 1945) President Truman, Premier Stalin, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee of Britain set forth the guiding principles of the Allied Control Council: Germany's complete disarmament and demilitarization, destruction of its war potential, rigid control of industry, and decentralization of the political and economic structure. Pending final determination of territorial questions at a peace conference, the three victors agreed to the ultimate transfer of the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and its adjacent area to the USSR and to the administration by Poland of former German territories lying generally east of the Oder-Neisse Line. For purposes of control, Germany was divided into four national occupation zones.

The Western powers were unable to agree with the USSR on any fundamental issues. Work of the Allied Control Council was hamstrung by repeated Soviet vetoes; and finally, on March 20, 1948, Russia walked out of the Council. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain had taken steps to merge their zones economically (Bizone); on May 31, 1948, the U.S., Britain, France, and the Benelux countries agreed to set up a German state comprising the three Western zones. The USSR reacted by clamping a blockade on all ground communications between the Western zones and West Berlin, an enclave in the Soviet zone. The Western Allies countered by organizing a gigantic airlift to fly supplies into the beleaguered city. The USSR was finally forced to lift the blockade on May 12, 1949.

The Federal Republic of Germany was proclaimed on May 23, 1949, with its capital at Bonn. In free elections, West German voters gave a majority in the Constituent Assembly to the Christian Democrats, with the Social Democrats largely making up the opposition. Konrad Adenauer became chancellor, and Theodor Heuss of the Free Democrats was elected first president.

The East German states adopted a more centralized constitution for the Democratic Republic of Germany, put into effect on Oct. 7, 1949. The USSR thereupon dissolved its occupation zone but Soviet troops remained. The Western Allies declared that the East German Republic was a Soviet creation undertaken without self-determination and refused to recognize it. Soviet forces created a state controlled by the secret police with a single party, the Socialist Unity (Communist) Party.

Agreements in Paris in 1954 giving the Federal Republic full independence and complete sovereignty came into force on May 5, 1955. Under the agreement, West Germany and Italy became members of the Brussels treaty organization created in 1948 and renamed the Western European Union. West Germany also became a member of NATO. In 1955, the USSR recognized the Federal Republic. The Saar territory, under an agreement between France and West Germany, held a plebiscite and despite economic links to France, elected to rejoin West Germany on Jan. 1, 1957.

The division between West Germany and East Germany was intensified when the Communists erected the Berlin Wall in 1961. In 1968, the East German Communist leader, Walter Ulbricht, imposed restrictions on West German movements into West Berlin. The Soviet-bloc invasion of Czechoslovakia in Aug. 1968 added to the tension. West Germany signed a treaty with Poland in 1970, renouncing force and setting Poland's western border as the Oder-Neisse Line. It subsequently resumed formal relations with Czechoslovakia in a pact that “voided” the Munich treaty that gave Nazi Germany the Sudetenland. By 1973, normal relations were established between East and West Germany and the two states entered the United Nations.

West German chancellor Willy Brandt, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize for his foreign policies, was forced to resign in 1974 when an East German spy was discovered to be one of his top staff members. Succeeding him was a moderate Social Democrat, Helmut Schmidt. Schmidt staunchly backed U.S. military strategy in Europe, staking his political fate on placing U.S. nuclear missiles in Germany unless the Soviet Union reduced its arsenal of intermediate missiles. He also strongly opposed nuclear freeze proposals.

Helmut Kohl of the Christian Democrat Party became chancellor in 1982. An economic upswing in 1986 led to Kohl's reelection. The fall of the Communist government in East Germany left only Soviet objections to German reunification to be dealt with. On the night of Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened, making reunification all but inevitable. In July 1990, Kohl asked Soviet leader Gorbachev to drop his objections in exchange for financial aid from (West) Germany. Gorbachev agreed, and on Oct. 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic and Germany became a united and sovereign state for the first time since 1945.

A reunited Berlin serves as the official capital of unified Germany, although the government would continue to have administrative functions in Bonn during the 12-year transition period. The issues of the cost of reunification and the modernization of the former East Germany were serious considerations facing the reunified nation.

In its most important election in decades, on Sept. 27, 1998, Germans chose Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder as chancellor over Christian Democrat incumbent Helmut Kohl, ending a 16-year-long rule that oversaw the reunification of Germany and symbolized the end of the cold war in Europe. A centrist, Schröder campaigned for “the new middle” and promised to rectify Germany's high unemployment rate of 10.6%.

Tension between the old-style left-wing and the more probusiness pragmatists within Schröder's government came to a head with the abrupt resignation of Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine in March 1999, who was also chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party. Lafontaine's plans to raise taxes on industry and raise German wages—already nearly the highest in the world—went against the more centrist policies of Schröder. Hans Eichel was chosen to become the next finance minister.

Germany joined the other NATO allies in the military conflict in Kosovo in 1999. Before the Kosovo crisis, Germans had not participated in an armed conflict since World War II. Germany agreed to take 40,000 Kosovar refugees, the most of any NATO country.

In Dec. 1999, former chancellor Helmut Kohl and other high officials in the Christian Democrat Party (CDU) admitted accepting tens of millions of dollars in illegal donations during the 1980s and 1990s. The enormity of the scandal led to the virtual dismemberment of the CDU in early 2000, a party that had long been a stable conservative force in German politics.

In July 2000, Schröder managed to pass significant tax reforms that would lower the top income-tax rate from 51% to 42% by 2005. He also eliminated the capital gains tax on companies selling shares in other companies, a measure that was expected to spur mergers. In May 2001, the German Parliament authorized the payment of $4.4 billion in compensation to 1.2 million surviving Nazi-era slave laborers.

Schröder was narrowly reelected in Sept. 2002, defeating conservative businessman Edmund Stoiber. Schröder's Social Democrats and coalition partner, the Greens, won a razor-thin majority in Parliament. Schröder's deft handling of Germany's catastrophic floods in August and his tough stance against U.S. plans for a preemptive attack on Iraq buoyed him in the weeks leading up to the election. Germany's continued reluctance to support the U.S.'s call for military action against Iraq severely strained its relations with Washington.

Germany's recession continued in 2003—for the previous three years Europe's biggest economy had the lowest growth rate among EU countries. In Aug. 2003, Schröder unfurled an ambitious fiscal reform package, and called his proposal “the most significant set of structural reforms in the social history of Germany.” The reforms reduced some of the benefits of Germany's generous social welfare system, including national health insurance and unemployment compensation.

Attractions

Berlin

Of strategic importance since it first straddled the Spree River in the 13th century, Berlin went on to hog centre stage in the turbulent twentieth. Today the city, restored as the nation's capital, is the focus of a mammoth project of reunification and the barometer of Germany's moods.

Berlin is a veritable motherlode for lovers of art, architecture and artefacts. Its great clusters of museums will keep the most dedicated culture addict happy. The layers of the city's history, from war and violent division to imperial fancy, exist in fascinating proximity to its dynamic present.

Frankfurt

Frankfurt is often seen only as a transit hub or a business centre, but it's so much more. It boasts Germany's most spectacular skyline, mirrored in the Main River, and Europe's tallest office building. It's also the country's most international town; more than a quarter of its citizens are foreign.

Flâneurs get the best view of Frankfurt. Luckily most of its obvious attractions are located around the city centre. Invest in a 'Museumsufer' ticket (available at museums) and spend a couple of days cruising Frankfurt's galleries and museums at a fraction of their individual prices.

Lübeck

Lübeck is a glorious medieval town that's earned its place on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Although it's easily accessible from Hamburg, Lübeck is off the main tourist trails and can be a quiet alternative to the more spectacular attractions further south. The altstadt (old town) was heavily bombed in WWII but has been sensitively rebuilt and the town's stately charm is apparent today.

Munich

Munich, rivalled only by Berlin as Germany's most popular destination, is a city that enjoys contradicting itself. Don an ironic Lederhosen and head down to the capital of Bavaria, where cutesy folk traditions rub shoulders with BMWs, haute cuisine and high-minded sophistication.

Munich is a compact city, but you could easily spend several weeks exploring its museums, architectural treasures and idyllic surrounds. The Altstadt (old town) is a pleasure to stroll around, with its grand avenues and spacious squares that recall the glory of Bavaria's monarchy.

Rhine Valley

Here are dramatic landscapes with fertile vineyards clinging to steep hills, numerous imposing castles and dreamy wine villages. Every village has at least one wine festival per year, with the most famous being the Rhine in Flames series of festivals, when water, lighting and fireworks are combined to spectacular effect.

Weimar

Best known abroad as the birthplace of the ill-fated Weimar Republic, this small city is a cultural pilgrimage site for Germans. It was the epicentre of the country's Age of Enlightenment and home to such intellectual and creative giants as Goethe, Bach, Schiller, Liszt, Nietzsche, Kandinsky and Klee, to name a few.

Culture

Unsurprisingly for a country whose land has so often been at history's crux, the moods and preoccupations of Germany's people are reflected in a rich artistic heritage: from the claustrophobic beauty of its cathedrals to classical films from the silent era of cinema, from the most influential philosophers (try Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Marx for starters) to some of the world's great physicists (Einstein and Planck), from the cream of classical composers (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel and Wagner) to contemporary industrial-grunge music and Krautrock, from the genius of Goethe to the revolutionary theatre of Brecht, Germany has it all. The scope of German art is such that it could be the focus of an entire visit.

Arguably the finest artist Germany has produced, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a poet, dramatist, painter, scientist and philosopher. His greatest work, the drama Faust, is a masterful epic of all that went before him, as the archetypal human strives for meaning. The ghost of Goethe inhabits the soul of Germany. A steadfast commitment to excellence in artistry persists in more recent forms, with Germany a notable producer of excellent and challenging cinema from Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, among others.

Germany has been endowed with many exceptional visual artists. The gothic sculpture of Peter Vischer and his sons, the renaissance portraiture of Albrecht Dürer and the baroque architecture of Balthasar Neumann are all magnificent examples in their fields. In more recent times, Max Ernst's surreal concoctions, Helmut Newton's controversial photographs and Joseph Beuys' eccentric installations have reflected the German love of riding the cutting edge. Germany's musuems and galleries are second to none.

Germany's artistic diet, rich though it is, has nothing on its food. This is traditionally a meat-and-potatoes kind of country. Though vegetarian and health-conscious restaurants are starting to sprout, it's best to stop counting calories and cholesterol levels while in Germany. The assault begins with a good German breakfast: rolls, jam, cheese, cold meats, hard-boiled egg and coffee or tea. To be fair, many Germans have switched to lighter breakfasts like cornflakes or muesli, but visitors can still be served the traditional cut meat and jam. Lunch is the main meal of the day, but breakfast is so big you'd be forgiven for just picking up a midday bratwurst from the ubiquitous Imbiss (takeaway-food stand). Dinner is allegedly a lighter meal, but this can still mean a plate full of sausages and dumplings. (Light eaters may want to opt for international cuisine from Germany's immigrant communities.) Beer is the national beverage and it's one cultural phenomenon that must be adequately explored. The beer is excellent and relatively cheap. Each region and brewery produces beer with a distinctive taste and body. Impromptu visits to small breweries are better than adding your bulk to the already crowded festivals like Munich's Oktoberfest. In winter, you can experience the glorious haze induced by Glühwein, a hot, spicy mulled wine guaranteed to take the chill away.

Germany's classical music tradition is one of its greatest sources of pride. This is the country that produced Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Handel and Wagner, amongst others. That's not to say that the musical menu is all Valkyries and vespers. The seminal German band Kraftwerk practically invented electronic music, and Berlin is known for its flourishing techno scene. Of course, being Germany, the darker genres of thrash, industrial and metal are also popular.

Despite their penchant for continual improvement and modernisation, upholding cultural traditions is dear to the German heart. Many hunters still wear green, master chimney sweeps get around in pitch-black suits and top hats, some Bavarian women don the Dirndl (skirt and blouse), while their menfolk occasionally find suitable occasions to wear typical Bavarian Lederhosen (leather shorts), a Loden (short jacket) and felt hat. In everyday life, Germans are fairly formal, although more so in the Protestant-dominated north than the beer-swilling south. In eastern Germany many older people are relatively unused to tourists, so it's best to err towards deference. Except with very close friends, older Germans still use Herr and Frau in daily discussion. The transition from the formal Sie address to the informal du is generally mutually agreed and sealed with a toast and a handshake. You don't have to worry so much with people under about 40; in fact, exaggerated politeness will probably be laughed off as beginner's Deutsch.

Environment

The lowlands in the north of Germany stretch from the Netherlands to Poland, skimming southern Denmark where it bridges the North and Baltic seas. The industrialised central belt cinches Belgium and Luxembourg to the Czech Republic's western prong. The Rhine and Main Rivers, long crucial for inland shipping, power through the troughs and gorges which cut through the Central Uplands. To the south, the Danube River drains the Bavarian highlands from the Black Forest, near the French and Swiss borders, to Munich. The southern reaches of the Bavarian Alps give way to Austria.

German forests – studded with beech, oak, birch, chestnut (mostly the nonedible horse-chestnut variety), lime, maple and ash trees – are beautiful places to escape the madding crowds and relax. Mixed deciduous forest carpets river valleys at lower altitudes, and coniferous species grow thicker as you ascend. Waldfrüchte (berries) are particularly colourful and, for the most part, poisonous. The same applies to mushrooms, which are essential for the development of healthy root systems in trees, especially in deciduous forests. Chanterelle (Pfifferlinge) mushrooms are one of the seasonal culinary delights.

Alpine regions burst with wildflowers – orchids, cyclamen, gentians, pulsatilla, alpine roses, edelweiss and buttercups. Meadow species colour spring and summer, and great care is taken these days not to cut pastures until plants have seeded. Visitors should stick to paths, especially in alpine areas and coastal dunes where ecosystems are fragile. In late August, heather blossom is the particular lure of Lüneburg Heath, northeast of Hanover.

The pesky but sociable racoon, a common non-native, scoots about eastern Germany, and soon lets hikers know if it has been disturbed with its shrill whistle-like sound. Beavers can be found beavering around wetlands near the Elbe River.

In the Alps, the alpine marmot inhabits the area below the tree line, while the wild goat lives in the area above. The snow hare, whose fur is white in winter, is fairly common in this neck of the woods, as is the chamois, which also populates pockets of the Black Forest, the Swabian Alps and Elbsandsteingebirge (south of Dresden). A rare but wonderful Alpine treat for birdwatchers with patience is the sighting of a golden eagle – Berchtesgaden National Park staff might be able to help you spot one. The jay, with its darting flight patterns and calls imitating other species, is easy to sight in the foothills; look for flashes of blue on its wings.

Lynx died out in Germany in the 19th century. They were reintroduced in the 1980s, only to be illegally hunted to extinction again. Today, a few populate the Bavarian Forest national park, although chances of seeing one in the wild are virtually zero. They have also been sighted in upland regions of eastern Germany. The wild cat, another indigenous feline, has returned to forest regions, including the Harz Mountains. Wild cats often breed with domestic cats, making it hard for the untrained eye to distinguish between the two.

Seals on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts are common, especially on sandbanks in northern Germany's Wattenmeer. The Wattenmeer also lures migratory birdlife, particularly from March to May and from August to October when several species stopover to feed on the region's rich marine life. Summertime sandpipers can be identified by their rust-brown back and dark stripes on a white breast, while the shelduck has a green head, a broad white stripe around the neck and a red beak. Marsh geese and eider are other frequent visitors.

Sea eagles, practically extinct in western Germany, are becoming more plentiful in eastern Germany, as are falcons, white storks and cranes. The east of the country also sees wolves, which regularly cross the Oder River from Poland, and European moose, which occasionally appear on moors and in mixed forests. Forests everywhere provide a habitat for a wide variety of songbirds, as well as woodpeckers.

With reunification, eastern Germany’s original (pre-1952) states (Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) were reestablished. These are often called neue Bundesländer (new states). Berlin became a separate city-state. The alte Bundesländer (old states) are Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein.