noautocat	yes
Native name
Conventional long name	Federal Republic of Germany
National motto	''Unity and Justice and Freedom''
National anthem	''The Song of the Germans''
Common name	West Germany
Continent	Europe
Region	Germany
Country	Germany
Status	Federation
Era	Cold War
Year start	1949
Year end	1990
Date start	23 May
Date end	3 October
P1	Allied-occupied Germany
Flag p1	Flag of Germany (1946-1949).svg
P2	Saar (protectorate)
Flag p2	Flag of Saar.svg
S1	Germany
Flag s1	Flag of Germany.svg
Image coat	Coat of Arms of Germany.svg
Common languages	German
Capital	Bonn
Largest city	Hamburg
Government type	Federal Parliamentary republic
Leader1	Theodor Heuss
Year leader1	1949–1959
Leader2	Heinrich Lübke
Year leader2	1959–1969
Leader3	Gustav Heinemann
Year leader3	1969–1974
Leader4	Walter Scheel
Year leader4	1974–1979
Leader5	Karl Carstens
Year leader5	1979–1984
Leader6	Richard von Weizsäcker
Year leader6	1984–reunification (continued as President of the unified country until 1994)
Leader7	Roman Herzog
Year leader7	1994–1999
Leader8	Johannes Rau
Year leader8	1999–2004
Leader9	Horst Köhler
Year leader9	2004–
Title deputy	Chancellor
Deputy1	Konrad Adenauer
Year deputy1	1949–1963
Deputy2	Ludwig Erhard
Year deputy2	1963–1966
Deputy3	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Year deputy3	1966–1969
Deputy4	Willy Brandt
Year deputy4	1969–1974
Deputy5	Helmut Schmidt
Year deputy5	1974–1982
Deputy6	Helmut Kohl
Year deputy6	1982–reunification (continued as Chancellor of the unified country until 1998)
Legislature	Bundestag
Stat area1	248577
Stat pop1	63254000
Stat year1	1990
Gdp ppp year	1990
Gdp	$946 billion
Gdp rank	4th
Event start	Established
Event end	Reunification 1990
Currency	Deutsche Mark (DM)in Saarland: French franc and Saar franc January 1957 till July 1959
Currency code	DEM
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Cctld	.de
Calling code	49
States	10 }}

West Germany () is the common English, but not official name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG () in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. This period, during which Germany and Berlin were divided, ended when communist East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the eleven states of the Federal Republic of Germany. The enlarged Federal Republic of Germany with sixteen states (known simply as "Germany") is thus the continuation of the pre-1990 Federal Republic of Germany.

The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France (the "Western Zones"). The city of Bonn was its provisional capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone (the East Zone, or ''Ostzone'') was held by the Soviet Union. The parts of this zone lying east of the Oder-Neisse were ''de facto'' annexed by the Soviet Union and communist Poland; the remaining central part around Berlin became the communist German Democratic Republic (abbreviated GDR; in German ''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'' or ''DDR'') with its ''de facto'' capital in East Berlin. As a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interwar democratic Weimar Republic.

At the onset of the Cold War, Germany (and, indeed, Europe) was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was ''de facto'' divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, considering itself to be the democratically reorganised continuation of the German Reich. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted state. The GDR did hold regular elections, but these were not free and fair; from the West German perspective the GDR was thus a puppet state of the Soviets and therefore illegitimate.

Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, and the Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957. In addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial ''de facto'' 11th state. While legally not part of the Federal Republic of Germany, as Berlin was under the control of the Allied Control Council, West Berlin aligned itself politically with West Germany and was directly or indirectly represented in its federal institutions.

Relations with the Soviet bloc improved during the era of ‘Neue Ostpolitik’ around 1970, and West Germany began taking the line of "two German states within one German nation", but formally maintained the exclusive mandate. It recognised the GDR as a ''de facto'' government within a single German nation that in turn was represented ''de jure'' by the West German state alone. East Germany, as before, recognised the existence of two German countries ''de jure'', and the West as both ''de facto'' and ''de jure'' foreign country. Federal Republic and GDR agreed that none of them can speak in the name of the other one.

The foundation for the influential position held by Germany today was laid during the ''Wirtschaftswunder'' (economic miracle) of the 1950s when West Germany rose from the massive destruction wrought by World War II to become the world's third largest economy. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for a full alignment with the West rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union. When the G6/G8 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well.

With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, there was a rapid move towards German reunification. East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states (''Länder'') were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin, which ended its special status and formed an additional ''Land''. They formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16. The expanded Federal Republic, now known simply as Germany in the English language, retained its political culture and continued its existing memberships in international organisations, as well as its Western foreign policy alignment and affiliation to Western alliances like the European Union and NATO.

Naming conventions

The official name of West Germany, adopted in 1949 and unchanged since, is ''Bundesrepublik Deutschland'' (Federal Republic of Germany). Its abbreviation "BRD", even though not official, used to be common usage in Western publications until about the late 1960s. Also in some Western states sometimes corresponding native abbreviations reached some frequency, such as the French language ''RFA''.

In East Germany usage the terms ''Westdeutschland'' (West[ern] Germany) or ''westdeutsche Bundesrepublik'' (West German Federal Republic) were preferred during the 1950s and 1960s. This changed especially once East Germany considered West Germans and West Berliners foreigners under its second constitution in 1968 abandoning the idea of a single German nation formerly upheld in East and West Germany alike. Starting in East German Neues Deutschland the initialism ''BRD'' (FRG) for the ''Federal Republic of Germany'' prevailed beginning in the early 1970s, while East German official sources adopted that initialism as the standard expression in 1973, followed by the usage of respective native abbreviations in all of the Eastern Bloc.

In reaction to this move, in 1965 the Federal Minister of All-German Affairs issued the ''Directives for the appellation of Germany'' recommending avoiding the initialism. On 31 May 1974 the heads of German federal and state governments recommended to always use the full name in official publications. From then on West German sources began to avoid the abbreviated form, except left leaning sources who started to embrace it. In November 1979 the federal government informed the Bundestag that the West German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF had agreed to refuse to use the initialism.

The different usages were so ingrained that one could deduce a person's or source's political leaning from the name used for West Germany.

Meanwhile the colloquial term "West Germany" or its equivalents were used in many other languages. "Westdeutschland" was also a widespread colloquial form used in German speaking countries, usually without political overtones.

History

After World War II, leaders from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union held the Yalta Conference where future arrangements with post-war Europe and actions to be made against Japan in the Pacific were negotiated. The conference came to the agreement to split Germany into four occupation zones—the French Zone in the far west, the British Zone in the northwest, the American Zone in the south, and the Soviet Zone in the east. It then was not the intention to split Germany, only to designate zones of administration.

Former German areas east of the rivers Oder and Neisse were put under Polish administration, and millions of Germans were expelled from there, to be replaced by Poles. (With the Soviet Union likewise taking a big bite from eastern Poland and East Prussia) In 1946–1949, the first three zones were combined in steps. First the British and American zones were combined into the quasi-state of Bizonia, then only months afterward the French zone was included into Trizonia. At the same time, new federal states (''Länder'') were formed in the Allied zones, replacing the pre-war states.

In 1949, with the continuation and aggravation of the Cold War (witness the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49), the two German states that were originated in the Western Allied and the Soviet Zones became known internationally as West Germany and East Germany. Commonly known in English as East Germany, the former Soviet Occupation Zone, became the ''German Democratic Republic'' or ''GDR''. From 3 October 1990, after the reformation of the GDR's ''Länder'', the East German states joined the Federal Republic.

NATO membership

The Federal Republic of Germany, founded on 23 May 1949, was declared "fully sovereign" on 5 May 1955. The former occupying Western troops remained on the ground, now as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which West Germany joined on 9 May 1955, promising to rearm itself soon.

West Germany became a focus of the Cold War with its juxtaposition to East Germany, a member of the subsequently founded Warsaw Pact. The former capital, Berlin, had been divided into four sectors, with the Western Allies joining their sectors to form West Berlin, while the Soviets held East Berlin. West Berlin was completely surrounded by East German territory and had suffered a Soviet blockade in 1948–1949 which had been overcome by the Berlin airlift.

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 led to U.S. calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend Western Europe from the perceived Soviet threat. Germany's partners in the Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a European Defence Community (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) would cooperate in the EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces.

Though the EDC treaty was signed (May 1952), it never entered into force. France's Gaullists rejected it on the grounds that it threatened national sovereignty, and when the French National Assembly refused to ratify it (August 1954), the treaty died. The French Gaullists and communists had killed the French government's proposal. Other means then had to be found to allow West German rearmament. In response, at the London and Paris Conferences, the Brussels Treaty was modified to include West Germany, and to form the Western European Union (WEU). West Germany was to be permitted to rearm, an idea which was rejected by many Germans, and have full sovereign control of its military, called the Bundeswehr; the WEU would however regulate the size of the armed forces permitted to each of its member states. Also, the German constitution prohibited any military action except in case of an external attack against Germany or its allies (''Bündnisfall''). Also, Germans could reject military service on grounds of conscience, and serve for civil purposes instead.

The three Western Allies retained occupation powers in Berlin and certain responsibilities for Germany as a whole. Under the new arrangements, the Allies stationed troops within West Germany for NATO defense, pursuant to stationing and status-of-forces agreements. With the exception of 55,000 French troops, Allied forces were under NATO's joint defense command. (France withdrew from the collective military command structure of NATO in 1966.)

Reunification

The official German reunification ceremony on 3 October 1990 was held at the Reichstag building, including Chancellor Helmut Kohl, President Richard von Weizsäcker, former Chancellor Willy Brandt and many others. One day later, the parliament of the united Germany would assemble in an act of symbolism in the Reichstag building.

However, at that time, the role of Berlin had not yet been decided upon. Only after a fierce debate, considered by many as one of the most memorable sessions of parliament, the Bundestag concluded on 20 June 1991, with quite a slim majority, that both government and parliament should move to Berlin from Bonn.

West German economic miracle

The West German Wirtschaftswunder (English: "economic miracle", coined by ''The Times'' of London in 1950), was partly due to the economic aid provided by the United States and the Marshall Plan, but mainly due to the currency reform of 1948 which replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutsche Mark as legal tender, halting rampant inflation. The Allied dismantling of the West German coal and steel industry finally ended in 1950.

In addition to the physical obstacles that had to be overcome for the German economic recovery (see the Morgenthau Plan) there were also intellectual challenges. The Allies confiscated intellectual privileges of huge value, such as all German patents, both in Germany and abroad, and used them to strengthen their own industrial competitiveness by licensing them to Allied companies. Meanwhile some of the best German researchers were being put to work in the Soviet Union and in the U.S.

Contrary to popular belief, the Marshall Plan, which was extended to include the newly formed West Germany in 1949, was not the main force behind the Wirtschaftswunder. Had that been the case, other countries such as Great Britain and France (which both received higher economic assistance from the plan than Germany) should have experienced the same phenomenon. In fact, the amount of monetary aid (which was in the form of loans) received by Germany through the Marshall Plan was far overshadowed by the amount the Germans had to pay back as war reparations and by the charges the Allies exacted from the Germans for the ongoing cost of occupation (about $2.4 billion per year). In 1953 it was decided that Germany was to repay $1.1 billion of the aid it had received. The last repayment was made in June 1971.

The Korean war (1950–1953) led to a worldwide increased demand for goods, and the resulting shortage helped overcome lingering resistance to the purchase of German products. At the time Germany had a large pool of skilled and cheap labour, partly as a result of the deportations and migrations which affected up to 16.5 million Germans. This helped Germany to more than double the value of its exports during the war. Apart from these factors, hard work and long hours at full capacity among the population and in the late 1950s and 1960s extra labour supplied by thousands of ''Gastarbeiter'' ("guest workers") provided a vital base for the economic upturn. This would have implications later on for successive German governments as they tried to assimilate this group of workers.

From the late 1950s onwards, West Germany had one of the strongest economies in the world, almost as strong as before the Second World War. The East German economy showed a certain growth, but not as much as in West Germany, partly because of continued reparations to the USSR in terms of resources.

In 1952 West Germany became part of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve into the European Union. On 5 May 1955 West Germany was declared "fully sovereign". The British, French and U.S. militaries remained in the country, just as the Soviet Army remained in East Germany. Four days after becoming "fully sovereign" in 1955, West Germany joined NATO. The U.S. retained an especially strong presence in West Germany, acting as a deterrent in case of a Soviet invasion. In 1976 West Germany became one of the founding nations of the Group of Six (G6). In 1973, West Germany which was home to roughly 1.26% of the world's population featured the world's fourth largest GDP of 944 billion (5.9% of the world total). In 1987 the FRG held a 7.4% share of total world production.

Position towards East Germany

The official position of West Germany concerning East Germany was that the West German government was the only democratically elected and therefore the only legitimate representative of the German people. According to the Hallstein Doctrine, any country (with the exception of the USSR) that recognised the authorities of the German Democratic Republic would not have diplomatic relations with West Germany.

In the early 1970s, Willy Brandt's policy of "Neue Ostpolitik" led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. The Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (December 1972) helped to normalise relations between East and West Germany and led to both German states joining the United Nations. The Hallstein Doctrine was abolished.

The West German Constitution (''Grundgesetz''/"Basic Law") provided two articles for the unification with other parts of Germany:

Article 23 provided the possibility for other parts of Germany to join the Federal Republic (under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany).

Article 146 provided the possibility for unification of all parts of Germany under a new constitution.

After the peaceful revolution of 1989 in East Germany, the first freely elected East German parliament decided in June 1990 that the ''Länder'' soon to be reestablished would join the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the (West) German Basic Law (''Grundgesetz''). This made a quick unification possible. In July/August 1990 the East German parliament enacted a law for the reestablishment of ''Länder'' on the territory of the German Democratic Republic.

The two German states entered into a currency and customs union in July 1990, and on 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic dissolved and the then reestablished five East German ''Länder'' (as well as a unified Berlin) joined the Federal Republic of Germany, bringing an end to the East-West divide.

Politics

Political life in West Germany was remarkably stable and orderly. The Adenauer era (1949–63) was followed by a brief period under Ludwig Erhard (1963–66) who, in turn, was replaced by Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966–69). All governments between 1949 and 1966 were formed by the united caucus of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), either alone or in coalition with the smaller Free Democratic Party (FDP) or other rightwing parties.

Kiesinger's 1966–69 "Grand Coalition" was between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). This was important for the introduction of new emergency acts—the Grand Coalition gave the ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required to see them in. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a state of emergency.

Leading up to the passing of the laws, there was fierce opposition to them, above all by the FDP, the rising German student movement, a group calling itself Notstand der Demokratie ("Democracy in a State of Emergency") and the labour unions. Demonstrations and protests grew in number, and in 1967 the student Benno Ohnesorg was shot in the head by a policeman. The press, especially the tabloid ''Bild-Zeitung'' newspaper, launched a vast campaign against the protesters and in 1968, believed by some as a result, there was an attempted assassination of one of the top members of the German socialist students' union, Rudi Dutschke.

By 1958 a stronger desire to confront the Nazi past had come into being. In the 1960s environmentalism and anti-nationalism became fundamental values among left-wing Germans. As a result in 1979 the Greens were able to reach the 5% minimum required to obtain parliamentary seats in the Bremen state election, and with the foundation of the national party in 1980 developed into one of the most politically successful green movements in the world.

Another result of the unrest in the 1960s was the founding of the Red Army Faction (RAF) which was active from 1968, carrying out a succession of terrorist attacks in West Germany during the 1970s. Even in the 1990s attacks were still being committed under the name "RAF". The last action took place in 1993 and in 1998 the group announced it was giving up its activities.

In the 1969 election, the SPD gained enough votes to form a coalition government with the FDP. SPD leader and Chancellor Willy Brandt remained head of government until May 1974, when he resigned after the Guillaume Affair, in which a senior member of his staff was uncovered as a spy for the East German intelligence service, the Stasi. However the affair is widely considered to have been merely a trigger for Brandt's resignation, not a fundamental cause. Instead, Brandt, dogged by scandal relating to serial adultery, and struggling with alcohol and depression as well as the economic fallout of the 1973 oil crisis, almost seems simply to have had enough. As Brandt himself later said, "I was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the process going on at the time."

Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt (SPD) then formed a government, continuing the SPD-FDP coalition. He served as Chancellor from 1974 to 1982. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a leading FDP official, was Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister in the same years. Schmidt, a strong supporter of the European Community (EC) and the Atlantic alliance, emphasized his commitment to "the political unification of Europe in partnership with the USA".

The goals of SPD and FDP however drifted apart in the late 1970s and early 1980s. On October 1, 1982, the FDP joined forces with the CDU/CSU to elect CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl as Chancellor in a Constructive Vote of No Confidence. Following national elections in March 1983, Kohl emerged in firm control of both the government and the CDU. The CDU/CSU fell just short of an absolute majority, because of the entry into the Bundestag of the Greens, who received 5.6% of the vote.

In January 1987, the Kohl-Genscher government was returned to office, but the FDP and the Greens gained at the expense of the larger parties. The Social Democrats concluded that not only were the Greens unlikely to form a coalition, but also that such a coalition would be far from a majority. Neither condition changed until 1998.

Culture

Culture in general

In many aspects, German culture continued in spite of the dictatorship and wartime. Old and new forms coexisted next to each other, and the American influence, already strong in the 1920s, grew.

Sport

In the 20th century association football became the largest sport in Germany. The Germany national football team, established in 1908, continued its tradition based in the Federal Republic of Germany, winning the 1954 FIFA World Cup in a stunning upset dubbed the miracle of Bern. Earlier, the German team was not considered part of the international top. The 1974 FIFA World Cup was held in West German cities and West Berlin. After having been beaten by their East German counterparts in the first round, the team of the German Football Association won the cup again, defeating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final. With the process of unification in full swing in the summer of 1990, the Germans won a third World Cup, with players that had been capped for East Germany not yet permitted to contribute. European championships have been won too, in 1972 and 1980.

After both Olympic Games of 1936 had been held in Germany, Munich was selected to host the 1972 Summer Olympics. These were also the first summer games in which the East Germans showed up with the separate flag and anthem of the GDR. Since the 1950s, Germany at the Olympics had been represented by a united team led by the pre-war German NOC officials as the IOC had denied East German demands for a separate team.

As in 1957, when the Saarland acceded, East German sport organisations ceased to exist in late 1990 as their subdivisions and their members joined their Western counterparts. Thus, the present German organisations and teams in football, Olympics and elsewhere are identical to those which informally had been called "West German" before 1991, with the only differences being enlarged membership, and a different name used by some foreigners. These organisations and teams in turn had mostly continued the traditions of those representing Germany before the Second World War and even the First World War, thus having a century-old continuity despite political changes. On the other hand, the separate East German teams and organisations had been founded in the 1950s; they were an episode lasting less than four decades, yet quite successful in that time.

Literary scene

Besides the interest in the older generation of writers, new authors emerged on the background of the experiences of war and after war period. Wolfgang Borchert, a former soldier who died young in 1947, is one of the best known representants of the Trümmerliteratur. Heinrich Böll is considered an observer of the young Federal Republic from the 1950s to the 1970s, and caused some political controversies because of his increasingly critical view on society.

Life in general

During the 40 years of separation some divergence occurred in the cultural life of the two parts of the severed nation. Both West Germany and East Germany followed along traditional paths of the common German culture, but West Germany, being obviously more affected by influences from western Europe and North America, became more cosmopolitan. Conversely, East Germany, while remaining more conservative than West Germany in its adherence to some aspects of the received tradition, was strongly moulded by the dictates of a state socialist ideology of predominantly Soviet inspiration. On the non-political level, East Germany was also influenced by the Eastern Bloc's Slavic cultures that manifested in art, culinary scene, and sports. Nevertheless, young East Germans were also fascinated by Western and particularly American culture, which they had a degree of access to in a variety of ways, not least through West German television and radio, whose broadcasts reached many parts of the country.

For the majority of Germans in present-day Germany who lived in pre-reunification West Germany, there is minimal change in daily life stemming from German reunification as the reunified country is essentially West Germany incorporating East Germany on a West German base. In contrast, for East Germans the scale of change has been sweeping in all aspects of life from that before ''die Wende''. Although movements like Ostalgia exist attempting to celebrate and preserve parts of the GDR culture, since reunification the former East Germany has been converging towards the western part of the country in most parts of daily life.

Geographical distribution of government

In West Germany, most of the political agencies and buildings were located in Bonn, while the German Stock Market was located in Frankfurt am Main, which became the economic center. The judicial branch of both the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and the highest Court of Appeals, were located in Karlsruhe.

The West German government was known to be much more decentralised than its state socialist East German counterpart, the former being a federal state and the latter a unitary one. Whilst East Germany was divided into 15 administrative districts (''Bezirke'') which were merely local branches of the national government, West Germany was divided into states (''Länder'') with independently elected state parliaments and control of the Bundesrat, the second legislative chamber of the Federal Government.

Present geographical and political terminology

Today, Northrhine-Westphalia is often considered to be western Germany in geographical terms. When distinguishing between former West Germany and former East Germany as parts of present-day unified Germany, it has become most common to refer to the ''Alte Bundesländer'' (old states) and the ''Neue Bundesländer'' (new states), although ''Westdeutschland'' and ''Ostdeutschland'' are still heard as well.

See also

German reunification

Petersberg Agreement

Bonn–Paris conventions

East Germany

References

Category:Divided regions Category:Anti-communism in Germany Category:States and territories established in 1949 Category:Former polities of the Cold War Category:Political history of Germany Category:Contemporary German history Category:Borders of Germany Germany, West

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Native name
Conventional long name	Federal Republic of Germany
Common name	Germany
National anthem	File:National anthem of Germany - U.S. Army 1st Armored Division Band.oggThe third stanza of ''The Song of the Germans''
Image coat	Coat of Arms of Germany.svg
Map caption
Official languages	German
Demonym	German
Capital	Berlin
Largest city	capital
Government type	Federal parliamentary republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Christian Wulff (CDU)
Leader title2	Chancellor
Leader name2	Angela Merkel (CDU)
Leader title3	President of the Bundestag
Leader name3	Norbert Lammert (CDU)
Leader title4	President of the Bundesrat
Leader name4	Hannelore Kraft (SPD)
Sovereignty type	Formation
Established event1	Holy Roman Empire
Established date1	2 February 962
Established event2	Unification
Established date2	18 January 1871
Established event3	Federal Republic
Established date3	23 May 1949
Established event4	Reunification
Established date4	3 October 1990
Accessioneudate	25 March 1957
Euseats	99
Area km2	357,021
Area sq mi	137,847
Area rank	63rd
Area magnitude	1 E11
Percent water	2.416
Population estimate	81,799,600
Population estimate year	2010
Population estimate rank	15th
Population estimate rank	15th
Population density km2	229
Population density sq mi	593
Population density rank	55th
Gdp ppp year	2011
Gdp ppp	$3.089 trillion
Gdp ppp rank	5th
Gdp ppp per capita	$37,935
Gdp ppp per capita rank	18th
Gdp nominal	$3.628 trillion
Gdp nominal rank	4th
Gdp nominal year	2011
Gdp nominal per capita	$44,555
Gdp nominal per capita rank	19th
Hdi year	2011
Hdi	0.905
Hdi rank	9th
Hdi category	very high
Gini	27
Gini year	2006
Gini category	low
Currency	Euro (€)(2002 – present)
Currency code	EUR
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Drives on	right
Cctld	.de
Calling code	49
Iso 3166-1 alpha2	DE
Iso 3166-1 alpha3	DEU
Iso 3166-1 numeric	?
Alt sport code	GER
Vehicle code	D
Aircraft code	D
Footnote1	Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany and Frisian are officially recognised by the ECRML.
Footnote2	Before 2002: Deutsche Mark (DEM).
Footnote3	Also .eu, shared with European Union member states. }}

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany (, ), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.

A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Age, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, with the rising of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Versailles Treaty. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and the Second World War. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.

Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the EU in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area and since 1999 a member of the eurozone. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, the OECD and the Council of Europe, and took a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011–2012 term.

It has the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. The country has developed a very high standard of living and a comprehensive system of social security. Germany has been the home of many influential scientists and inventors, and is known for its cultural and political history.

==Etymology== The English word ''Germany'' derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. In other languages it has various names.

The German term ''Deutschland'' (originally ''diutisciu land'', "the German lands") is derived from ''deutsch'', descended from Old High German ''diutisc'' "popular" (i. e., belonging to the ''diot'' or ''diota'' "people"; originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants). This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *''þiudiskaz'' "popular" (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), derived from *''þeudō'', descended from Proto-Indo-European *''tewtéh₂-'' "people".

History

Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire

The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age or the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south, east and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Under Augustus, the Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus began to invade Germania (an area extending roughly from the Rhine to the Ural Mountains). In AD 9, three Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius. By AD 100, when Tacitus wrote ''Germania'', Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany; Austria, southern Bavaria and the western Rhineland, however, were Roman provinces.

In the 3rd century a number of large West Germanic tribes emerged: Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisii, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved further south-west. Simultaneously several large tribes formed in what is now Germany and displaced the smaller Germanic tribes. Large areas (known since the Merovingian period as Austrasia) were occupied by the Franks, and Northern Germany was ruled by the Saxons and Slavs.

Holy Roman Empire

On 25 December 800, Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire, which was divided in 843. The Holy Roman Empire resulted from the eastern portion of this division. Its territory stretched from the Eider River in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919–1024), several major duchies were consolidated, and the German king was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of these regions in 962. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy.

Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), the German princes increased their influence further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs, preceding German settlement in these areas and further east ''(Ostsiedlung)''. Northern German towns grew prosperous as members of the Hanseatic League. Starting with the Great Famine in 1315, then the Black Death of 1348–50, the population of Germany plummeted. The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors who ruled some of the most powerful principalities and archbishoprics.

Martin Luther publicised his 95 Theses in 1517, challenging the Roman Catholic Church and initiating the Protestant Reformation. A separate Lutheran church became the official religion in many German states after 1530. Religious conflict led to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated German lands. The population of the German states was reduced by about 30%. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended religious warfare among the German states, but the empire was ''de facto'' divided into numerous independent principalities. From 1740 onwards, dualism between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1806, the ''Imperium'' was overrun and dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.

German Confederation and Empire

Following the fall of Napoleon I of France, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 and founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Disagreement with restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Metternich. The ''Zollverein'', a tariff union, furthered economic unity in the German states. National and liberal ideals of the French Revolution gained increasing support among many, especially young, Germans. In the light of a series of revolutionary movements in Europe, which established a republic in France, intellectuals and commoners started the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of Emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, leading to a temporary setback for the movement.

Conflict between King William I of Prussia and the increasingly liberal parliament erupted over military reforms in 1862, and the king appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck successfully waged war on Denmark in 1864. Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Federation (Norddeutscher Bund) and to exclude Austria, formerly the leading German state, from the federation's affairs. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was proclaimed 1871 in Versailles, uniting all scattered parts of Germany except Austria (, or "Lesser Germany"). With almost two thirds of its territory and population, Prussia was the dominating constituent of the new state; the Hohenzollern King of Prussia ruled as its concurrent Emperor, and Berlin became its capital. In the period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as Chancellor of Germany under Emperor William I secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances, isolating France by diplomatic means, and avoiding war. Under Wilhelm II, however, Germany, like other European powers, took an imperialistic course leading to friction with neighbouring countries. As a result of the Berlin Conference in 1884 Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South-West Africa, Togo, and Cameroon. Most alliances in which Germany had previously been involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country.

The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 triggered World War I. Germany, as part of the Central Powers, suffered defeat against the Allies in one of the bloodiest conflicts of all time. An estimated two million German soldiers died in World War I. The German Revolution broke out in November 1918, and Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. An armistice ended the war on 11 November, and Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. The treaty was perceived in Germany as a humiliating continuation of the war, and is often cited as an influence in the rise of Nazism.

Weimar Republic and Third Reich

At the beginning of the German Revolution in November 1918, Germany was declared a republic. However, the struggle for power continued, with radical-left communists seizing power in Bavaria. The revolution came to an end on 11 August 1919, when the Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert. Suffering from the Great Depression, the harsh peace conditions dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, and a long succession of unstable governments, Germans increasingly lacked identification with the government. This was exacerbated by a widespread right-wing , or stab-in-the-back myth, which argued that Germany had lost World War I because of those who wanted to overthrow the government. The Weimar government was accused of betraying Germany by signing the Versailles Treaty. By 1932, the German Communist Party and the Nazi Party controlled the majority of parliament, fuelled by discontent with the Weimar government. After a series of unsuccessful cabinets, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. On 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building went up in flames, and a consequent emergency decree abrogated basic citizens' rights. An Enabling Act passed in parliament gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power. Only the Social Democratic Party voted against it, while Communist MPs had already been imprisoned. Using his powers to crush any actual or potential resistance, Hitler established a centralised totalitarian state within months. Industry was revitalised with a focus on military rearmament.

In 1935, Germany reacquired control of the Saar and in 1936 military control of the Rhineland, both of which had been lost in the Treaty of Versailles. In 1938 and 1939, Austria and Czechoslovakia were brought under German control and the invasion of Poland was prepared through the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and Operation Himmler. On 1 September 1939 the German Wehrmacht launched a blitzkrieg on Poland, which was swiftly occupied by Germany and by the Soviet Red Army. The UK and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. As the war progressed, Germany and its allies quickly gained control of much of continental Europe though plans to occupy the United Kingdom failed. On 22 June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and invaded the Soviet Union. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor led Germany to declare war on the United States. The Battle of Stalingrad forced the German army to retreat on the Eastern front. In September 1943, Germany's ally Italy surrendered, and German troops were forced to defend an additional front in Italy. D-Day opened a Western front, as Allied forces advanced towards German territory. On 8 May 1945, the German armed forces surrendered after the Red Army occupied Berlin.

In what later became known as The Holocaust, the Third Reich regime had enacted policies directly subjugating many dissidents and minorities. Millions of people were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, including a sizeable number of Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Poles and other Slavs, including Soviet POWs, people with mental and/or physical disabilities, homosexuals, and members of the political opposition. World War II was responsible for more than 40 million dead in Europe. The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals were held after World War II. The war casualties for Germany are estimated at 5.3 million German soldiers millions of German civilians; and losing the war resulted in large territorial losses; the expulsion of about 15 million Germans from the eastern areas of Germany and other countries; mass rape of German women; and the destruction of multiple major cities.

East and West Germany

After the surrender of Germany, the remaining German territory and Berlin were partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the ''Federal Republic of Germany'' (''Bundesrepublik Deutschland''); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the ''German Democratic Republic'' (''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'', or DDR). They were informally known as "West Germany" and "East Germany". East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was an artificial and temporary ''status quo''.

West Germany, established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy", was allied with the United States, the UK and France. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s (). West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957. East Germany was an Eastern bloc state under political and military control by the USSR via the latter's occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Though East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members (''Politbüro'') of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), supported by the Stasi, an immense secret service, and a variety of sub-organisations controlling every aspect of society. A Soviet-style command economy was set up; the GDR later became a Comecon state. While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged constant threat of a West German invasion, many of her citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to stop East Germans from escaping to West Germany, became a symbol of the Cold War.

Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the early 1970s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's . In summer 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open the borders, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. The East German authorities unexpectedly eased the border restrictions, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West; originally intended to help retain East Germany as a state, the opening of the border actually led to an acceleration of the ''Wende'' reform process. This culminated in the ''Two Plus Four Treaty'' a year later on 12 September 1990, under which the four occupying powers renounced their rights under the Instrument of Surrender, and Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR (new states or "neue Länder").

Berlin Republic and the EU

Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act, adopted on 10 March 1994, Berlin once again became the capital of the reunified Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a ''Bundesstadt'' (federal city) retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of the government was completed in 1999. Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union and NATO. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent a force of German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban. These deployments were controversial since, after the war, Germany was bound by domestic law only to deploy troops for defence roles. In 2005, Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany as the leader of a grand coalition.

Geography

Germany is in Western and Central Europe, bordering Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west, and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. It lies mostly between latitudes 47° and 55° N (the tip of Sylt is just north of 55°), and longitudes 5° and 16° E. The territory covers , consisting of of land and of water. It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 62nd largest in the world.

Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at ) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the north-west and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the north-east. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: Wilstermarsch at below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Glaciers are found in the Alpine region, but are experiencing deglaciation. Significant natural resources are iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land and water.

Climate

Most of Germany has a temperate seasonal climate in which humid westerly winds predominate. The climate is moderated by the North Atlantic Drift, the northern extension of the Gulf Stream. This warmer water affects the areas bordering the North Sea; consequently in the north-west and the north the climate is oceanic. Rainfall occurs year-round, especially in the summer. Winters are mild and summers tend to be cool, though temperatures can exceed .

The east has a more continental climate; winters can be very cold and summers very warm, and long dry periods are frequent. Central and southern Germany are transition regions which vary from moderately oceanic to continental. In addition to the maritime and continental climates that predominate over most of the country, the Alpine regions in the extreme south and, to a lesser degree, some areas of the Central German Uplands have a mountain climate, characterised by lower temperatures and greater precipitation.

Biodiversity

The territory of Germany can be subdivided into two ecoregions: European-Mediterranean montane mixed forests and Northeast-Atlantic shelf marine. As of 2008 the majority of Germany is covered by either arable land (34%) or forest and woodland (30.1%); only 13.4% of the area consists of permanent pastures, 11.8% is covered by settlements and streets.

Plants and animals are those generally common to middle Europe. Beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute one third of the forests; conifers are increasing as a result of reforestation. Spruce and fir trees predominate in the upper mountains, while pine and larch are found in sandy soil. There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Wild animals include deer, wild boar, mouflon, fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of beavers.

The national parks in Germany include the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Lower Oder Valley National Park, the Harz National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park and the Bavarian Forest National Park. More than 400 registered zoos and animal parks operate in Germany, which is believed to be the largest number in any country. The Zoologische Garten Berlin is the oldest zoo in Germany and presents the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.

Politics

Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitutional document known as the ''Grundgesetz'' (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of parliament; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity.

The president, currently Christian Wulff, is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the ''Bundesversammlung'' (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the ''Bundestag'' and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the ''Bundestagspräsident'' (President of the ''Bundestag''), who is elected by the ''Bundestag'' and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the Chancellor, who is appointed by the ''Bundespräsident'' after being elected by the ''Bundestag''.

The chancellor, currently Angela Merkel, is the head of government and exercises executive power, similar to the role of a Prime Minister in other parliamentary democracies. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the ''Bundestag'' (Federal Diet) and ''Bundesrat'' (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The ''Bundestag'' is elected through direct elections, by proportional representation (mixed-member). The members of the ''Bundesrat'' represent the governments of the sixteen federated states and are members of the state cabinets.

Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany with all chancellors hitherto being member of either party. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party (which has had members in the ''Bundestag'' since 1949) and the Alliance '90/The Greens (which has controlled seats in parliament since 1983) have also played important roles.

Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. The ''Bundesverfassungsgericht'' (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. Germany's supreme court system, called ''Oberste Gerichtshöfe des Bundes'', is specialised: for civil and criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice, and for other affairs the courts are the Federal Labour Court, the Federal Social Court, the Federal Finance Court and the Federal Administrative Court. The ''Völkerstrafgesetzbuch'' regulates the consequences of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, and gives German courts universal jurisdiction in some circumstances. Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the ''Strafgesetzbuch'' and the ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' respectively. The German penal system is aimed towards rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the general public. Except for petty crimes, which are tried before a single professional judge, and serious political crimes, all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which lay judges ('''') sit side by side with professional judges.

Constituent states

Germany comprises sixteen states that are collectively referred to as ''Länder''. Each state has its own state constitution and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. Due to differences in size and population the subdivision of these states varies, especially between city states (''Stadtstaaten'') and states with larger territories (''Flächenländer''). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (''Regierungsbezirke''). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 districts (''Kreise'') on municipal level, these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.

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Foreign relations

Germany has a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad and maintains relations with more than 190 countries. As of 2011 it is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union (providing 20%) and the third largest contributor to the UN (providing 8%). Germany is a member of NATO, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the G8, the G20, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has played a leading role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France since the end of World War II. Germany seeks to advance the creation of a more unified European political, defence, and security apparatus.

The development policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is an independent area of German foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It is the world's third biggest aid donor after the United States and France.

During the Cold War, Germany's partition by the Iron Curtain made it a symbol of East-West tensions and a political battleground in Europe. However, Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik was a key factor in the ''détente'' of the 1970s. In 1999, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government defined a new basis for German foreign policy by taking part in the NATO decisions surrounding the Kosovo War and by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II. The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies. The 1948 Marshall Plan and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's vocal opposition to the Iraq War suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German-American relations. The two countries are also economically interdependent: 8.8% of German exports are U.S.-bound and 6.6% of German imports originate from the U.S.

Military

Germany's military, the ''Bundeswehr'', is organized in ''Heer'' (Army), ''Marine'' (Navy), ''Luftwaffe'' (Air Force), ''Zentraler Sanitätsdienst'' (Central Medical Services) and ''Streitkräftebasis'' (Joint Support Service) branches. As of 2005, military spending was an estimated 1.5% of the country's GDP, that is position 99 in a ranking of all countries; absolutely, German military expenditure is the eighth-highest in the world. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence. If Germany went to war, which according to the constitution is allowed only for defensive purposes, the Chancellor would become commander in chief of the ''Bundeswehr''.

the Bundeswehr employs 188,000 professional soldiers, 31,000 18–25 year-old conscripts who serve for at least six months. The German government plans to reduce the number of soldiers to 170,000 professionals and up to 15,000 short-time volunteers (''voluntary military service''). Reservists are available to the Armed Forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad, a new reserve concept of their future strength and functions was announced 2011. , the German military had about 6,900 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 4,900 Bundeswehr troops in the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, 1,150 German soldiers in Kosovo, and 300 troops with UNIFIL in Lebanon.

Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, and conscripts served six-month tours of duty; conscientious objectors could instead opt for an equal length of ''Zivildienst'' (civilian service), or a six-year commitment to (voluntary) emergency services like a fire department or the Red Cross. On 1 July 2011 conscription was officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service. Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction, but they are not subject to conscription. There are presently some 17,500 women on active duty and a number of female reservists.

Economy

Germany has a social market economy with a highly qualified labour force, a large capital stock, a low level of corruption, and a high level of innovation. It has the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth largest by nominal GDP in the world, and the fifth largest by PPP in 2009. The service sector contributes approximately 71% of the total GDP, industry 28%, and agriculture 0.9%. The average national unemployment rate in 2010 was about 7.5%. First estimates indicate a 3.6% increase in the price-adjusted GDP for 2010, following a 4.7% drop in 2009.

Germany is a founding member of the EU, the G8 and the G20, and was the world's largest exporter from 2003 to 2008. In 2009 it remained the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. Most of the country's exports are in engineering, especially machinery, automobiles, chemical goods and metals. Germany is a leading producer of wind turbines and solar-power technology. Annual trade fairs and congresses are held in cities throughout Germany.

Germany is an advocate of closer European economic and political integration. Its commercial policies are increasingly determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. Germany introduced the common European currency, the euro, on 1 January 2002. Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank. Two decades after German reunification, standards of living and per capita incomes remain significantly higher in the states of the former West Germany than in the former East. The modernisation and integration of the eastern German economy is a long-term process scheduled to last until the year 2019, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $80 billion. In January 2009 the German government approved a €50 billion economic stimulus plan to protect several sectors from a downturn and a subsequent rise in unemployment rates.

Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2010, the Fortune Global 500, 37 are headquartered in Germany. 30 Germany-based companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index. Well-known global brands are Mercedes-Benz, BMW, SAP, Siemens, Volkswagen, Adidas, Audi, Allianz, Porsche, and Nivea. Germany is recognised for its specialised small and medium enterprises. Around 1,000 of these companies are global market leaders in their segment and are labelled hidden champions.

The list includes the largest companies by turnover in 2009. Unranked are the largest bank and the largest insurance company in 2007:

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style="text-align:center;"	Rank	Name||	Headquarters	Revenue(Mil. €)	Profit(Mil. €)	Employees(World)
1	Volkswagen AG ||	Wolfsburg	108,897	4,120	329,305
2	Daimler AG ||	Stuttgart	99,399	3,985	272,382
3	Siemens AG ||	Munich/Berlin	72,488	3,806	398,200
4	E.ON AG ||	Düsseldorf	68,731	7,204	87,815
5	Metro AG ||	Düsseldorf	64,337	825	242,378
6	Deutsche Post AG ||	Bonn	63,512	1,389	475,100
7	Deutsche Telekom AG ||	Bonn	62,516	569	241,426
8	BASF	BASF SE |>style="text-align:left;"| Ludwigshafen ||	57,951	4,065	95,175
9	BMW AG ||	Munich	56,018	3,126	107,539
10	ThyssenKrupp AG ||	Essen/Duisburg	51,723	2,102	191,350

Infrastructure

With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub. This is reflected in its dense and modern transport networks. The motorway (Autobahn) network ranks as the third largest worldwide in length. Germany has established a polycentric network of high-speed trains. The InterCityExpress or ''ICE'' network of the Deutsche Bahn serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries. The largest German airports are Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, both hubs of Lufthansa, while Air Berlin has hubs at Berlin Tegel and Düsseldorf. Other major airports include Berlin Schönefeld, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Leipzig/Halle. Both airports in Berlin will be consolidated at a site adjacent to Berlin Schönefeld, which will become Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2012.

, Germany was the world's sixth largest consumer of energy, and 60% of its primary energy was imported. Government policy promotes energy conservation and renewable energy. Energy efficiency has been improving since the early 1970s; the government aims to meet the country's electricity demands using only renewable sources by 2050. In 2010, energy sources were: oil (33.7%); coal, including lignite (22.9%); natural gas (21.8%); nuclear (10.8%); hydro-electric and wind power (1.5%); and other renewable sources (7.9%). In 2000, the government and the nuclear power industry agreed to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2021. Germany is committed to the Kyoto protocol and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, recycling, and the use of renewable energy, and supports sustainable development at a global level. The German government has initiated wide-ranging emission reduction activities and the country's overall emissions are falling. Nevertheless the country's greenhouse gas emissions were the highest in the EU as of 2007.

Science and technology

Germany's achievements in sciences have been significant, and research and development efforts form an integral part of the economy. The Nobel Prize has been awarded to 103 German laureates. For most of the 20th century, German laureates had more awards than those of any other nation, especially in the sciences (physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine).

The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics, which Werner Heisenberg and Max Born developed further. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays and was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Numerous mathematicians were born in Germany, including Carl Friedrich Gauss, David Hilbert, Bernhard Riemann, Gottfried Leibniz, Karl Weierstrass, Hermann Weyl and Felix Klein. Research institutions in Germany include the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association and the Fraunhofer Society. The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is granted to ten scientists and academics every year. With a maximum of €2.5 million per award it is one of highest endowed research prizes in the world.

Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers, such as Johannes Gutenberg, credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger, the creator of the Geiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first fully automatic digital computer. German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Gottlieb Daimler, Rudolf Diesel, Hugo Junkers and Karl Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology. Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun developed the first space rocket and later on was a prominent member of NASA and developed the Saturn V Moon rocket, which paved the way for the success of the US Apollo program. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's work in the domain of electromagnetic radiation was pivotal to the development of modern telecommunication.

Germany is also one of the leading countries in developing and using green technologies. Companies specializing in green technology have an estimated turnover of 200€ billion. Especially the expertise in engineering, science and research of Germany is eminently respectable. The lead markets of Germany's green technology industry are power generation, sustainable mobility, material efficiency, energy efficiency, waste management and recycling, sustainable water management.

Demographics

With its estimated population of 81.8 million in January 2010, Germany is the most populous country in the European Union and ranks as the 15th most populous country in the world. Its population density stands at 229.4 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Germany at birth is 79.9 years. The fertility rate of 1.4 children per mother, or 7.9 births per 1000 inhabitants in 2009, is one of the lowest in the world. Since the 1990s, Germany's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate. The Federal Statistical Office of Germany forecast that the population will shrink to between 65 and 70 million by 2060 (depending on the level of net migration).

German nationals make up 91% of the population of Germany. As of 2009, about seven million foreign citizens were registered in Germany, and 19% of the country's residents were of foreign or partially foreign descent (including persons descending or partially descending from ethnic German repatriates), 96% of whom lived in Western Germany or Berlin. The United Nations Population Fund lists Germany as host to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 10 million of all 191 million migrants. As a consequence of restrictions to Germany's formerly rather unrestricted laws on asylum and immigration, the number of immigrants seeking asylum or claiming German ethnicity (mostly from the former Soviet Union) has been declining steadily since 2000. In 2009, 20% of the population had immigrant roots, the highest since 1945. , the largest national group was from Turkey (2.5 million), followed by Italy (776,000) and Poland (687,000). About 3 million "Aussiedler"—ethnic Germans, mainly from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union—have resettled in Germany since 1987.

Germany has a number of large cities. The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11.5 million as of 2006), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, and Bochum.

Religion

Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with around 51.5 million adherents (62.8%) in 2008, of which 30.0% are Catholics and 29.9% are Protestants, belonging to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD); the remainder consists of small denominations (each less than 0.5% of the German population). Protestantism is concentrated in the north and east and [[Roman Catholicism in Germany|Roman Catholicism]] is concentrated in the south and west; 1.6% of the country's overall population declare themselves Orthodox Christians.

The second largest religion is Islam with an estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%), followed by Buddhism with 250,000 and Judaism with around 200,000 adherents (0.3%); Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents. Of the roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites and other denominations. Germany has Europe's third largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom). Approximately 50% of the Buddhists in Germany are Asian immigrants. Germans with no stated religious adherence make up 34.1% of the population, especially in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas.

Languages

German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian; they are officially protected by the ECRML. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian; 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two languages other than their own.

Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Low German, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch). German is written using the Latin alphabet. German dialects, traditional local varieties traced back to the Germanic tribes, are distinguished from varieties of standard German by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax.

Education

Over 99% of Germans age 15 and above are estimated to be able to read and write. However, a growing number of inhabitants are functionally illiterate. Responsibility for educational oversight in Germany lies primarily with the individual federated states. Since the 1960s, a reform movement attempted to unify secondary education in a ''Gesamtschule'' (comprehensive school); several West German states later simplified their school system to two or three tiers. A system of apprenticeship called ''Duale Ausbildung'' ("dual education") allows pupils in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run vocational school.

Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years. Primary education usually lasts for four years and public schools are not stratified at this stage. In contrast, secondary education includes three traditional types of schools focused on different levels of academic ability: the ''Gymnasium'' enrols the most gifted children and prepares students for university studies; the ''Realschule'' for intermediate students lasts six years; the ''Hauptschule'' prepares pupils for vocational education.

The general entrance requirement for university is Abitur, a qualification normally based on continuous assessment during the last few years at school and final examinations; however there are a number of exceptions, and precise requirements vary, depending on the state, the university and the subject. Germany's universities are recognised internationally; in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 2008, six of the top 100 universities in the world are in Germany, and 18 of the top 200. Nearly all German universities are public institutions, charging tuition fees of €50–500 per semester for each student.

Health

Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating back to Otto von Bismarck's Social legislation in 1883. Currently the population is covered by a basic health insurance plan provided by statute. According to the World Health Organization, Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2005. In 2005, Germany spent 11% of its GDP on health care. Germany ranked 20th in the world in life expectancy with 77 years for men and 82 years for women, and it had a very low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 live births).

, the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 42%, followed by malignant tumours, at 25%. , about 82,000 Germans had been infected with HIV/AIDS and 26,000 had died from the disease (cumulatively, since 1982). According to a 2005 survey, 27% of German adults are smokers. A 2007 study shows Germany has the highest number of overweight people in Europe.

Culture

From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called ''Das Land der Dichter und Denker'' (the land of poets and thinkers). The federated states are in charge of the cultural institutions. There are 240 subsidised theatres, hundreds of symphonic orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries spread in Germany. These cultural opportunities are enjoyed by many: there are over 91 million German museum visits every year; annually, 20 million go to theatres and operas; 3.6 million per year listen to the symphonic orchestras. The UNESCO inscribed 33 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.

Germany has established a high level of gender equality, promotes disability rights, and is legally and socially tolerant towards homosexuals. Gays and lesbians can legally adopt their partner's biological children, and civil unions have been permitted since 2001. Germany has also changed its attitude towards immigrants; since the mid-1990s, the government and the majority of Germans have begun to acknowledge that controlled immigration should be allowed based on qualification standards. Germany has been named the world's second most valued nation among 50 countries in 2010. A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011.

Arts

! align=center	Ludwig van Beethoven	! align=center

Numerous German painters have enjoyed international prestige through their work in diverse artistic styles. Matthias Grünewald, and Albrecht Dürer were important artists of the Renaissance, Caspar David Friedrich of Romanticism, and Max Ernst of Surrealism. Architectural contributions from Germany include the [[Carolingian architecture">Carolingian and Ottonian styles, which were precursors of Romanesque. The region later became the site of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque art. Germany was particularly important in the early modern movement, especially through the Bauhaus movement founded by Walter Gropius. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century. He conceived of the glass façade skyscraper.

German music includes works by some of the world's most well-known classical music composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, and Richard Wagner. As of 2008, Germany is the fourth largest music market in the world and has influenced popular music through artists such as Kraftwerk, Alphaville, Boney M., Nena, Nico, Nina Hagen, Scorpions, Die Toten Hosen, Tokio Hotel, Rammstein, and Paul van Dyk.

Literature and philosophy

German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Well-known German authors include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. The collections of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm popularised German folklore on an international level. Influential authors of the 20th century include Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass. German-speaking book publishers produce some 700 million books every year, with about 80,000 titles, nearly 60,000 of them new. Germany comes third in quantity of books published, after the English-speaking book market and the People's Republic of China. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years.

German philosophy is historically significant. Gottfried Leibniz's contributions to rationalism; the establishment of classical German idealism by Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling; Arthur Schopenhauer's composition of metaphysical pessimism; the formulation of communist theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Friedrich Nietzsche's development of perspectivism; Gottlob Frege's contributions to the dawn of analytic philosophy; Martin Heidegger's works on Being; and the development of the Frankfurt school by Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas have been particularly influential. In the 21st century Germany has contributed to the development of contemporary analytic philosophy in continental Europe, along with France, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries.

Media

German cinema dates back to the earliest years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky, which was particularly influential with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Director Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'' (1927) is referred to as the first modern science-fiction film. In 1930 the Austrian-American Josef von Sternberg directed ''The Blue Angel'', the first major German sound film. During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder put West German cinema on the international stage. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every other year in Berlin, home of the European Film Academy (EFA); the Berlin Film Festival, held annually since 1951, is one of the world's foremost film festivals.

More recently, films such as ''Good Bye Lenin!'' (2003), ''Gegen die Wand (Head-on)'' (2004), ''Der Untergang (Downfall)'' (2004), and ''Der Baader Meinhof Komplex'' (2008) have had international success. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film went to the German production ''Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum)'' in 1979, to ''Nowhere in Africa'' in 2002, and to ''Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)'' in 2007. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with some 34 million TV households. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, with a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels.

Cuisine

German cuisine varies from region to region. The southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia, for instance, share a culinary culture with Switzerland and Austria. In all regions, meat is often eaten in sausage form. Organic food has gained a market share of ca. 2%, and is expected to increase further. Although wine is becoming more popular in many parts of Germany, the national alcoholic drink is beer. German beer consumption per person is declining, but at 116 litres annually it is still among the highest in the world. The Michelin guide has awarded nine restaurants in Germany three stars, the highest designation, while 15 more received two stars. German restaurants have become the world's second-most decorated after France.

Sports

Twenty-seven million Germans are members of a sports club and an additional twelve million pursue sports individually. Association football is the most popular sport. With more than 6.3 million official members, the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund'') is the largest sports organisation of its kind worldwide. The Bundesliga attracts the second highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world.

The German national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and the UEFA European Football Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996. Germany hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1974 and 2006 and the UEFA European Football Championship in 1988. Among the most well-known footballers are Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, and Oliver Kahn. Other popular spectator sports include handball, volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, and tennis.

Germany is one of the leading motor sports countries in the world. Constructors like BMW and Mercedes are prominent manufacturers in motor sport. Additionally, Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an annual endurance race held in France, 16 times, and Audi has won it 9 times. Formula One driver Michael Schumacher has set many motor sport records during his career, having won more Formula One World Drivers' Championships and more Formula One races than any other driver; he is one of the highest paid sportsmen in history.

Historically, German sportsmen have been successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count, combining East and West German medals. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Germany finished fifth in the medal count, while in the 2006 Winter Olympics they finished first. Germany has hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice, in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972. The Winter Olympic Games took place in Germany once in 1936 in the twin towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen.

See also

References

;Work cited

External links

deutschland.de – Official Germany portal (non-profit)

Official site of German Chancellor

Deutsche Welle – Germany's international broadcaster

Germany at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

Facts about Germany – by the German Federal Foreign Office

Destatis.de – Federal Statistical Office Germany

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Category:Alpine countries Category:Countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean Category:Countries bordering the Baltic Sea Category:European countries Category:Federal countries Category:G8 nations Category:G20 nations Category:German-speaking countries Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of NATO Category:Member states of the European Union Category:Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean Category:States and territories established in 1871 Category:Western Europe Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Henning Wehn (born 10 April 1974 in Hagen) is a German stand-up comedian based in London.

Career

Since October 2003 Wehn has been self-styled the "German Comedy Ambassador in London". After beginning his career as "warm-up act" to various comedians in London, he now has his own act on the British comedy circuit.

He was a regular guest on the British comedy television programme ''FAQ U'' (on Channel 4), produced by Endemol; and has appeared on the BBC Radio 5 Live radio show ''Fighting Talk'', where he is "in it, to win it", and on BBC Radio 4's ''The Unbelievable Truth'' and Radio 4's "Act your Age". Occasionally he is a guest of BBC Radio 4's ''Now Show'' and ''The News Quiz''. In Germany, he is a comedian on local radio station Antenne Münster.

Wehn's act plays upon the British stereotype of Germans, such as the German's supposed efficiency and punctuality (he often goes on stage wearing a stopwatch around his neck) and lack of sense of humour. A large part of his routine is based around comprehensively analyzing and explaining his punchlines and jokes in the smallest detail.

CD and DVDs

In 2004 Wehn released material on a CD under the title ''What happened there...''.

There are also two DVDs available: ''Four World Cups And One World Pope'' and ''1000 Years Of German Humour''.

Awards

Hackney Empire 2005 - New act of the Year

Bracknell Comedy Festival 2004 - Best New Act Winner

York Comedy festival 2004 - Best New Act (runner up)

Bonn Comedy festival 2008 - Best Foreign Act (3rd place)

References

External links

Official website of Henning Wehn

Detailed article in the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' newspaper (German)

Detailed article in the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' newspaper (google translation from German)

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:German comedians Category:German expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:People from Hagen

de:Henning Wehn

name	Alexander Perls
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Alexander Perls Rousmaniere
alias	009 Sound SystemAalborg Soundtracks
born	May 11, 1976
genre	Electronic music, trance, Progressive trance, Electro house, house
occupation	MusicianMusic producer
years active	1998–present
label	Track One Recordings
website	Official site
notable instruments	}}

Alexander Perls is a musician and record producer. His notable projects include 009 Sound System, whose songs are entirely written, performed, and produced by Perls.

Perls' songs are known for their mix of electronic, trance and controversial religious related lyrics, which listeners have alternately interpreted as the work of a Christian, or a work of an atheist.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Perls is the grandson of Klaus Perls, the German art dealer, nephew of Nick Perls, the founder of Yazoo Recordings, and nephew of John Rousmaniere, the author, and great-grand-nephew of Albert Hamilton Gordon.

While studying as an exchange student at University College London in 1997, Perls worked with the post-rock collective Piano Magic. Following Perls' graduation from Oberlin College in 1998, he worked briefly for the Barbara Gladstone Gallery, a leading contemporary art dealership in New York, and then settled into a career as songwriter and music producer.

Between 2000 and 2008, Perls primarily wrote and recorded songs for other dance music producers, including well-known artists such as David Guetta, Paul van Dyk, Ian Carey, ATB, and Robert M. first in New York City, and after 2006, in Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2003 he was one of the members of the electronic music duo CIRC, which released one album and several singles and remixes.

In 2011, Track One Recordings opened a remix competition for Perls' well known productions Dreamscape and Born To Be Wasted.

Discography

Annex Trax, Vol. 1

:3. Maximalist (Short Edit) :4. Storm (Short Edit) :11. The Drive (Short Edit) :12. Storm (Short Edit) :14. Storm (Long Edit) :15. Maximalist (Long Edit) :16. Recombination :17. Can't Be Sure :18. Heaven's Never Gonna Be Like This (Short Edit)

009 Sound System (2008)

#Beat of the Moment #Dreamscape #The Dark Empire #The Hero Waits #Database #Holiday (So High) #Sonia #Sweet Mary (Talks to You) #The Pull #Transfiguration #Radio Station #Of Latter Days (Circ) #Maximalist #Storm #The Drive #Solo #Killer with a thousand faces #Space and Time

Singles

Wings and Time (2009)

Trinity (2009)

Within a Single (2009)

When You're Young (2011)

Dream We Knew (2011)

Powerstation (2011)

Wings (extended edit) (2011)

EP

Holy Ghost (2008)

#Holy Ghost #Number Two #Shine On

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:1976 births