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Lua error: Cannot create process: proc_open(/dev/null): Failed to open stream: Operation not permitted Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Austria and Switzerland as well as having northern coasts on the North Sea and Baltic Sea. It is an imperialist state in NATO, the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous and influential member state of the European Union.
History
Medieval history
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Unification and German Empire
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Weimar Republic
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Nazi Germany
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West Germany
After the defeat of Axis forces during the Second World War, Germany was divided into four zones occupied by the Soviet Union, USA, France and Great Britain. At the Yalta Conference in early 1945, they agreed to make all of Germany pay $10 billion reparations to the USSR. The USA violated this agreement in May 1946 and only let the USSR take reparations from the east.[1]
In 1946, Hesse (part of the US zone) held a referendum on nationalizing banks and essential industries. 62% voted in favor for the first vote and 72% did the second time. In British-occupied North Rhine-Westphalia, a majority also voted to expropriate the ruling class. The occupying powers vetoed the results of these referendums.[2]:14–5
In 1948, France, the UK, and the USA merged their occupation zones to form West Germany. The Soviet Union then tried to blockade West Berlin to make it pay reparations, but the USA broke the blockade with an airlift.[1] The USA wrote the constitution of West Germany, which was never approved by voters. The constitution refused to recognize the GDR as a legitimate country.[3]:114
In 1952, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer rejected a Soviet offer for reunification.[2]:17
In November 1951, the Adenauer government instituted legal proceedings aimed at outlawing the Communist Party of Germany. Organizations such as the Free German Youth League, the Democratic Women’s League, the Kulturbund, and the Peace Committee were persecuted by the state.[4]
Annexation of the GDR
In December 1989, the West pressured the GDR into adopting a 3:1 exchange rate between the Eastern and Western currencies even though the eastern mark had a much higher purchasing power for basic consumer goods. Westerners flowed into the GDR and plundered the country by buying commodities for less than 10% of their normal prices using the new exchange rate.
The majority of East Germans only began to support unification in 1990, when Westerners had dropped the GDR's standard of living by more than two-thirds by shopping there with the 3:1 exchange rate. At this time, they still wanted a left-wing government. Western conservatives promised to establish a 1:1 exchange rate if bourgeois parties won the GDR's elections, leading those parties to narrowly win the 1990 elections and impose a capitalist counterrevolution.[3]:149–50
Russo-Ukrainian conflict
Germany joined NATO's sanctions regime against Russia during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict, and have supplied billions of dollars to support Ukraine.[5] Despite promises early in the war that they would not send tanks, eventually acquiesced to demands to supply Ukraine with Leopard and Leopard II tanks.[6]
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he would more than double Germany's military budget, putting it on track to become the third largest military in the world.[7] The German government banned displaying the Soviet flag, flown by the liberators during the Second World War, and allowed the use of the Ukrainian flag, which was only used by Nazi collaborators during the war.[8]
As a consequence of the sanctions regime against Russia, and particularly because of the country's refusal to buy relatively cheap Russian natural gas via pipelines and the 26 September Nord Stream explosion, the German economy has fallen into a prolonged economic stagnation and recession.[9] The German GDP was expected to shrink by 0.6% in 2023 as industry and private consumption remained muted due to high energy costs and interest rates.[10] One third of Germany's industrial companies are planning to, or are in the process of moving their facilities abroad.[11]
Economy
The vast amount of social programs in Germany are largely sustained off economic exploitation of less developed parts of Europe, with German finance capital having a large amount of influence over the European banking system, the eurozone, and the euro. Furthermore, the German economy, along with the other highly developed economies of Western Europe, are able to benefit greatly as a result of human capital flight from other areas in Europe, particularly the former Yugoslavia and Balkans,[12][13][14][15] which is one of the primary goals of the European Union, that being the unfettered transportation of capital.[16]
Soon after the FRG was founded, the power of monopoly corporations in the countries was strengthened. In the year 1954, 72 percent of the metallurgical industry was dominated by eight firms, 82 percent of the coal industry by fifteen companies, and 75 percent of the electrical engineering industry by only two companies (namely AEG and Siemens).[4]
As of 2023, Germany is the sixth largest producer of motor vehicles in the world[17]; in 1977, it was the third largest.[4]
Politics
The far-right Alternative for Germany received 11% of the vote in the 2019 German elections, and is polling at 20% as of early 2024.[18]
Since 2015, the AfD has become openly racist and anti-Semitic and many of its leaders promote Nazi concepts. They also deny climate change[19] and are Germany's biggest supporters of Israel.[20]
Lack of democracy
Unlike the later formed DDR, the West German constitution was passed without ratification of citizens and a thorough denazification policy was not implemented.
Candidates for elections were chosen by rich bureaucrats, and write-in votes were not allowed.[3]:122–3
Neo-Nazism
The majority of officials in the West German Justice Ministry were former members of the Nazi Party. 34 out of 170 officials had been members of the Sturmabteilung Nazi paramilitary. In 1957, there were more senior officials who were former Nazis than there had been during Hitler's rule. Between 1949 and 1980, 54% of Interior Ministry staffers had been Nazis and 8% had been in the Nazi Interior Ministry led by Heinrich Himmler.[21]
The Bundeskriminalamt, or Federal Criminal Police Office, was mostly staffed by "supporters and willing servants of the regime" according to Jörg Ziercke, who was its chief commissioner from 2004 to 2014. The BKA continued to persecute Romani people and as late as 1967 characterized them as a criminally inclined race while using a Nazi-era slur in their official manual.[22]
The neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany was founded in 1964 and grew from 473 to 50,000 members in 1969. It held sixty seats in the legislatures of eight German states. In 1968, West Germany appointed General Albert Schnez to commander-and-chief of the Bundeswehr. Schnez had joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and was a colonel in the Nazi army.[23]
Infrastructure
Energy
The German economy is highly dependent on fossil fuel.[24] Renewable energy has plateaued in the last decade at 15% of total consumption.[25] Germany shut down its last nuclear power plant in 2023.[26]
Demographics
Culture
References
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- ↑ Lua error: Cannot create process: proc_open(/dev/null): Failed to open stream: Operation not permitted