{"id":2540,"date":"2017-07-31T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T16:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofworld.com\/answers\/?p=2540"},"modified":"2018-12-21T08:35:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T12:35:17","slug":"when-was-germany-established","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofworld.com\/answers\/geography\/when-was-germany-established\/","title":{"rendered":"When was the country of Germany established?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Map<\/a>Historically, Germany has come together economically, and then politically as a nation, been torn apart, and come together again. The most important dates associated with Germany emerging as a nation, is the formation of the German Empire in 1871. And then in 1991, when East and West Germany reunited as the independent nation we have today.<\/p>\n

The medieval period<\/h3>\n

During the medieval period, the region was embroiled in countless conflicts among local rulers. The \u2018Reformation,\u2019 led to religious divisions among the German people that escalated to military strife and violence in the \u2018Thirty Years War,\u2019 in Europe from 1618 to 1648. When the Peace of Westphalia ended the war, it resulted in the German speaking Europe being divided into hundreds of states. In the next half century, the demand for German unification grew.<\/p>\n

German Confederation was formed in 1815<\/h3>\n

After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the\u00a0German Confederation was formed in 1815. It was an association of 39 German\u00a0states\u00a0in\u00a0Central Europe, created by the\u00a0\u2018Congress of Vienna,\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking\u00a0countries. Efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of\u00a0Zollverein,<\/em>\u00a0or a\u00a0customs union.\u00a0But in the late 1840s, popular discontent in the German Confederation turned into a revolution. The bourgeois King, Louis-Philippe\u2019s regime was overthrown by an insurrection in Paris, in 1848. This sparked sympathetic revolutions against the government of the German Confederation. Consequently, liberals were appointed to the state ministries, and civic reforms were introduced. But the highlight was the attempt to achieve political unification through a national assembly representing all of Germany.<\/p>\n

Revolution of 1848<\/h3>\n

The revolution of 1848, saw the dream of German unification coming close, but it couldn\u2019t be realized because of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. The monarch was offered the crown of a unified Germany but it got rejected to maintain the status quo. Otto von Bismarck, a conservative Prussian statesman, saw this as an opportunity to realize the pre-eminence of Prussia over Austria and Germany and pushed the cause of German unification.<\/p>\n

Prussia of 1850, encompassed modern day Lithuania through central Germany. German lands around the Rhine River in the west were also controlled by Prussia. The task at hand for Bismarck, was to bring under Prussian control the small provinces lying between Denmark and Switzerland, if he wanted to see the German Empire come together.<\/p>\n

France declared war on Prussia<\/h3>\n

In July 1870, France declared war on Prussia, and fighting began in the Alsace-Lorraine area. With the defeat of France, Alsace-Lorraine was transferred to Germany, and Prussia declared the establishment of the German Empire in January 1871. A host of liberal and regional political groups opposed Prussia’s dominance over the country, but to no avail, hence, Prussia dominated the German Empire until the end of WW I, in 1918.<\/p>\n

Germany entered World War I, looking at a larger Germany, with Belgium and Poland as vassal states, and colonies in Africa. Its defeat foretold the end of the German Empire. The Treaty of Versailles imposed heavy burden on Germany, including the loss of territory, financial reparations, and a diminished military. From 1919 to 1933, the Weimar Republic was established in Germany that provided a parliamentary democracy. But it was a disappointment as far as promising democracy was concerned. Ultimately, it was destroyed by Adolf Hitler, who became the Chancellor in 1933, and with the passing of the Enabling Act, the Nazi Era began.<\/p>\n

Hitler\u2019s regime<\/h3>\n

Very soon, Hitler\u2019s regime was converted into a totalitarian regime, and rearmament was high priority. The government launched economic renewal schemes and the persecution of Jews began. On September 1st<\/sup>, 1939, Germany\u00a0invaded Poland, marking the beginning of\u00a0World War II. Germany surrendered in 1945, as the Western Allies emerged victorious.<\/p>\n

After World War II, Germany and the city of Berlin, were divided into four occupational zones, controlled by the British, French, Americans, and the Soviets. In the zones occupied by the\u00a0United States,\u00a0United Kingdom, and\u00a0France,\u00a0the Federal Republic of Germany was established on May 24th, 1949. Following this announcement, the Soviets acted quickly, and in October 1949, formally announced the German Democratic Republic or East Germany.<\/p>\n

For 41 years, East and West Germany served as a symbol of the polarized world, the Eastern Bloc that had the Soviet Union and its satellite states, and the Western Bloc with the United States and its NATO allies. This \u2018Cold War\u2019 continued until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Following this, East and West Germany were finally able to reunited into one independent nation\u2026the Germany that we see today.<\/p>\n