Germany, formally the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of over 83 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and largest city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.
German is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a co-official language of Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as a national language in Namibia. German is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German, Luxembourgish, Scots, and Yiddish. It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group, such as Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language after English.
The German Empire or the Imperial State of Germany, also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Kaiserreich, the Second Reich, as well as simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic.
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, was a state that existed from 1949 to 1990 in middle Germany as part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". Its territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the end of World War II—the Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder-Neisse line. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it and West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR. Most scholars and academics describe the GDR as a dictatorship and as totalitarian.
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe.
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. In a total war directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the only two uses of nuclear weapons in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, a majority being civilians. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides, starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of the Axis defeat, Germany and Japan were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders.
Deutsche Welle, sometimes abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in English, German, Spanish, and Arabic. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, meaning that content is intended to be independent of government influence. DW is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Hannover Re is a reinsurance company based in Hannover, Germany. It is the third-largest reinsurance group in the world, with a gross premium of around €24 billion. Founded in 1966, Hannover Re transacts all lines of property & casualty and life & health reinsurance and has a network of over 170 subsidiaries, branches and representative offices on all five continents with a total staff of more than 3,000. The Group's German business is written by the subsidiary E+S Rück.
Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, that is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team are currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Eintracht have won the German championship once, the DFB-Pokal five times, the UEFA Europa League twice and finished as runner-up in the European Cup once. The team was one of the founding members of the Bundesliga at its inception and has spent a total of 53 seasons in the top division, thus making them the seventh longest participating club in the highest tier of the league.
Leinefelde-Worbis is a town in the district of Eichsfeld, in northwestern Thuringia, Germany. The town was formed on March 16, 2004, from the former independent towns Leinefelde and Worbis along with the municipalities of Breitenbach and Wintzingerode. In July 2018 the former municipality of Hundeshagen, and in January 2019 Kallmerode was merged into Leinefelde-Worbis. The population before the amalgamation was 14,387 for Leinefelde, 5,541 for Worbis, 1,021 for Breitenbach and 614 for Wintzingerode. The 10 parts of Leinefelde-Worbis are Leinefelde, Worbis, Breitenbach, Kirchohmfeld, Birkungen, Beuren, Hundeshagen, Kaltohmfeld, Wintzingrode, Kallmerode and Breitenholz.
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then assuming the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. Referred to by contemporaries as the "Great War", its belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting also expanding into the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, an estimated 9 million people were killed in combat, while over 5 million civilians died from military occupation, bombardment, hunger, and disease. Millions of additional deaths resulted from genocides within the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.
The Wheel of Mainz or Mainzer Rad, in German, was the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz and thus also of the Electorate of Mainz (Kurmainz), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel with six spokes on a red background. The wheel can also be found in stonemasons' carvings and similar objects. Currently, the City of Mainz uses a double wheel connected by a silver cross.
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland.
The von Westernhagen are a German noble family.
Friedewald is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany, directly east of Bad Hersfeld.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The Imperial Palace at Gelnhausen, in German also called the Kaiserpfalz Gelnhausen, Pfalz Gelnhausen or Barbarossaburg, is located on the Kinzig river – originally on an island –, in the town of Gelnhausen, Hesse, Germany.
The Eichbach, also called Eiche, is a river of Thuringia, Germany.
Eichsfeld I is an electoral constituency represented in the Landtag of Thuringia. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 1. It comprises the western part of the district of Eichsfeld, including its capital Heilbad Heiligenstadt.
