Germany
was a confederation of Germanic nations that occupied
both shores of the Rhin river and seems to have been formed
towards the times of Marco Aurelio. They were overcome
by Claudius the Gothic in 269, by Probo in 276 and by
Juliano in 355 and 360. They tried to settle down in the
Gaul, but they were defeated in 496 in the battle of Tolbiac.
It is only with Carlomagno, who grouped the tribes who
populated the territory at the beginning of the 9th century,
that can be spoken properly of Germany as a country.
In the course of the Middle Ages it divided again until
962 when Otto the Great founded the Sacred Roman Germanic
Empire. Diverse dynasties ruled the country, from the
House of Saxony, in 1024, to the houses of Franconia and
Hohenstaufen. The position of the princes went strengthening
until the point of being they those who elected the king,
from where comes the denomination whereupon they were
known: electors. Their importance increased with the Habsburgs,
who strengthen their position by suitable marriage politics.
The Empire arrived at its maximum splendor with the coronation
of Charles V, from the House of Austria. This height lasted
until the Reformation, that brought with it the Thirty
Years War (1618) and the succession to the throne of Spain
war (1701), that dismantle the Empire, added to the problems
derived from the French Revolution.
In 1806, the emperor of Austria resigned the imperial
crown, being created then the Rhin Confederation (1806-1813),
to which followed in 1815 the Germanic Confederation.
In 1871, by the Treaty of Versailles the German Empire
was reconstructed, moving the capital from Vienna to Berlin.
The first sovereign was William I of Prussia, and Bismarck
his first chancellor. Germany became a great industrial
and military power, waking up the distrusts of France
and England that culminated with the outbreak of World
War I (1914-1918) with disastrous results for Germany.
The emperor William II was forced to abdicate and the
Weimar Republic (1919) was proclaimed. The humiliating
conditions that the Treaty of Versailles imposed to Germany
were, among others, the causes by which, in 1933, legislative
elections gave the triumph and the power to the National
Socialist Party, led by Adolph Hitler whom, being named
chancellor of the III Reich, developed a unique military
and racist party with searches of territorial expansion.
That gave place to the beginning of World War II (1939-1945),
which finished with a new defeat for Germany and cause
its division in agreement with the occupant countries
of its territory.
The first chancellor after the war was Adenauer, reelected
in 1954. The same year were signed in Paris international
agreements about the end of the occupation of the German
Federal Republic, with the withdrawn of American, French
and English troops of the country. With France, it was
reached a definitive agreement in 1956 on the Saar, by
virtue of what the F.R.G. recovered the political sovereignty
on the territory, and in 1957, after the agreements signed
in Rome for the creation of the Common Market, established
the obligatory military service and created the new German
Army. When the Demochristian Union lost the parliamentary
majority, Adenauer had to yield the position to the vice
chancellor and Economy minister Ludwig Erhard, who stayed
until November of 1966, moment when it was substituted
by doctor Kiesinger. The Social Democrat Willy Brandt
entered as vice-chancellor and in 1969, was chosen Chancellor
by the Deputy Chamber of Bonn. In September of 1973, the
F.R.G. was admitted in the UN. An year later Brandt resigned
and was replaced by Helmut Schmidt.
Since the Berlin Wall fall in 1989 and the unification
of the two Germanys in 1990, the country has ratified
its condition of first European power and true motor of
the Continent economy and the consolidation of the European
Union. It is also a natural bridge towards East Europe
as much economically as culturally.
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