Germany

Germany unified twice—in 1871 through Prussian military victory, and in 1990 through peaceful revolution—and both times transformed Europe. The first unification created an industrial powerhouse that challenged British dominance and sparked two world wars; the second reunited a nation divided for 45 years by the Cold War's defining border.

For centuries, "Germany" was a geographic expression rather than a state. The Holy Roman Empire (962-1806) was a decentralized patchwork of kingdoms, duchies, and free cities loosely united under an elected emperor. Napoleon's conquests dissolved this structure; the subsequent German Confederation (1815-1866) remained fragmented among 39 states. Prussia and Austria competed for leadership; the majority of Germans lived in small territories with limited political rights.

Otto von Bismarck, Prussia's minister-president from 1862, unified Germany through three calculated wars. Denmark (1864) secured Schleswig-Holstein; Austria (1866) established Prussian dominance in German affairs; France (1870-71) completed the process. On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles—deliberate humiliation of defeated France—German princes proclaimed Wilhelm I as German Emperor. The new Reich comprised 25 states, with Prussia controlling three-fifths of territory and population.

The empire industrialized with explosive speed. By 1914, Germany was second only to the United States in industrial output, leading in chemicals, electrical equipment, and steel. This economic power, combined with nationalist ambition and militarism, produced the catastrophes of the 20th century. World War I killed 2 million Germans; the Versailles Treaty imposed punishing reparations and territorial losses. The Weimar Republic struggled with hyperinflation, political extremism, and the Great Depression. Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime (1933-1945) led Germany into World War II, perpetrated the Holocaust, and brought total defeat—cities bombed to rubble, the nation occupied and divided.

The Cold War partition created two Germanys with radically different systems. The Federal Republic (West Germany) rebuilt through the Marshall Plan, developed a social market economy, and became the anchor of European integration. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) followed Soviet-style central planning, suppressed dissent through the Stasi secret police, and built the Berlin Wall (1961) to stop population flight. By the 1980s, West Germany was Europe's largest economy; East Germany lagged far behind.

Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms triggered collapse. Hungary's May 1989 decision to open its Austrian border allowed East Germans to flee westward. Mass protests in Leipzig and other cities—the Peaceful Revolution—escalated through autumn. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Economic and monetary union came on July 1, 1990; political reunification followed on October 3. The process cost trillions of euros in transfers from west to east; eastern regions still lag in productivity and wages three decades later.

Today, Germany is the EU's largest economy and fourth-largest globally. Manufacturing—especially automobiles, machinery, and chemicals—remains central. But the automotive industry's electric vehicle transition challenges the industrial model; energy dependence on Russian gas, exposed by Ukraine invasion, required emergency restructuring. The 2025 economic outlook shows stagnation after years of modest growth.

Through 2026, Germany faces questions about its European leadership role, industrial competitiveness, and capacity to absorb the costs of its energy transition and defense commitments. Twice-unified and twice-recovered from catastrophe, Germany's future depends on whether adaptation can match the scale of disruption ahead.