Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG abbreviated, sometimes mistranslated as "West Germany" 4), German Deutschland (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [bʊn.dəs.ʁe.pu.ˌbliːk dɔʏtʃ. Lant] pronunciation of the title in its original version Listen and abbreviated BRD), is a country in Central Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east by Austria and Switzerland in the south, and by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands in the west. With about 81 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous country in the European Union and the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest economy. She is also a founding member of the European Union. After the United States, Germany is the second destination of the most popular migration in world5.

Initially, there is a Gothic word meaning Thiuda people. He as an adjective Thiudisk. Thiudisk was transformed into Theodischus by the Romans, then Teudischus. Thiudisk became Diutisca old German to reach Deutsch in modern German or Scandinavian languages ​​Tysk (hence Tyskland). Old French, Latin Theodiscus gave Thodesche and Teutonic.

The modern French preferred the German word derived from Latin Alamanni designating the people of Alamans6. This also applies, for example, Portuguese (Alemão), Spanish or Castilian (Aleman) and Catalan (Alemanys). Italian he has retained in its original Latin adjective Tedesco to say Allemand7.

Germany in English refers to the Germans and Saksa Finnish and Estonian refers to the Saxons.

In languages ​​of the Slavic peoples, the name refers to the Niemen River (Nemetskii, in Russian) that separated the Germanic tribes, or the adjective meaning "dumb".

Chinese written language is the "Land of Virtue" (德国), partly for phonetic reasons.

Long dominated by Austria as part of the Holy Roman Empire (from 962 to 1806) and of the German Confederation (1815 to 1866) in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the various German states were united in a state dominated by Prussia, thus giving birth to the modern unified Germany, also called Second Reich or Wilhelminian Reich. The German defeat following the First World War in 1918 brought about the advent of the Republic, and in 1933 that of the Third Reich, which collapsed in 1945 in defeat spawned by World War II. First occupied by the armed forces of the conquerors, Germany was divided into two parts in 1949, which formed the Federal Republic of Germany (known as "West Germany") and the German Democratic Republic (the "Germany East "). Reunification took place on 3 October 1990, eleven months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which marked the reunification popular. In 1990, its capital becomes Berlin.

Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen states (Bundesländer - Official German Länder). The country has long been established in several states more or less autonomous, aware of their own history, culture and religious affiliation. She is a member of the Council of Europe since 1950, NATO since 1955, and the UN since 1973, founding member of the European Union (1957), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ), the eurozone and the Schengen area, it is part of the Group of eight (G8) and Group of Twenty (G20).

Germany is a major economic power, Europe's largest. Currently, she is ranked fourth largest economy in the traditional monetary criteria behind the United States, China and Japan (or fifth depending on the calculation of gross domestic product in purchasing power parity). Germany is also the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods in the world.

Germany, which became one of the major political powers in Europe entered the First World War on the side of Austria-Hungary (1914) and attempts to invade France. After the first attacks, the war is moving towards a long, slow war of position in the trenches, killing one side or the other. It ends in 1918 with the defeat of Germany and the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II should abdicate because of the German Revolution in November 1918 when the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was held responsible for the war and ordered to pay very heavy repairs, especially as the Germans blew up the casings of 18 of the 19 northern French mining companies during the war and flooded the galleries

From 1991 to 2000, DM 150 billion was invested each year in East Germany but failed to leave the area of the crisis, but in-depth reforms are undertaken in both parts of Germany in the years 1990 to encourage the country to be more competitive, especially the pension system in Germany. From 1998 to fall 2005, the German government led by Gerhard Schröder of the SPD (Social Democratic Party). Ecologists Greens party participating in a coalition government. After the parliamentary elections of 2005, the Christian Democratic Chancellor Angela Merkel heads a based on a "grand coalition" that includes this time the CDU (and its Bavarian branch CSU) and SPD government. Since 2009, the same Angela Merkel is head of a "black-yellow" coalition between the CDU and the liberal FDP before forming a new "grand coalition" after the federal election in 2013.

In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a former archbishop of Munich, and the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was elected as Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict XVI is the first German pope since Benedict XI, who reigned in the thirteenth century.