Wikijunior:Europe/Germany
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Germany is a large country in northern and central Europe. It shares borders with Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands and Belgium. The capital city is Berlin. Other big cities are Munich, Hamburg and Cologne.
Contents |
[edit] Germany's History
In ancient times it was inhabited by German Tribes. However, during the Roman Empires expansion under Julius Caesar and others that followed him, much of current day Germany was occupied by the Romans. This very much displeased them and, after being also attacked by Huns from the east, they pretty much invaded Rome to flea from them. This caused the downfall of the Roman Empire, and leading in to the Dark Ages of Europe. During this time Germany was a number of small states. Then, during the 8th century it was captured under Charlemagne of France. After Charlemagne's death in 814, his land was divided up, and Modern Day Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire, that contained much of Central Europe. Although many events shrank the Holy Roman Empire, it was only completely destroyed in 1806/07 after being overrun by Napoleon Bonaparte from France. After his defeat, Germany was united in the German Confederation, a lose collection of states that maintained some autonomy, or self rule. Prussia, one of the largest of these states managed to unify the majority of German states in the Northern German Confederation, a far more strong union, as well as limit foreign influence on other German states from other powers. Finally, in 1871, the entirety of Germany was unified in a land that stretched from modern day France to modern day Russia. It was one of the Central powers of World War I that started and eventually lost the war. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which took much of their land, limited their rights on the world stage significantly, and put large fines on them that strained the economy. All of these made it easy for Adolf Hitler to promote Nationalism and lead to his rise in 1933. In 1938, he occupied the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia and in 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting of World War II. Germany, yet again, lost and was divided up between the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the Allied Powers. Much military stain occurred as both sides expected imminent war, however it never did. In 1989/90, Germany was reunified in its current state little before the USSR fell in 1991.
[edit] Germany's Geography
[edit] Germany's People
Germany is a country of about 82 million people, the majority of who speak German as their first language.
[edit] Germany's Sights
Berlin remains a very popular destination for tourists because of its nightlife and the history of what was two cities before 1989.
