GERMANY

Village built along a single street (Strassendorf); Stolberg, Germany. officially Federal Republic of Germany, German Deutschland or Bundesrepublik Deutschland country of north-central Europe traversing the continent's main physical divisions, from the outer ranges of the Alps, northward across the varied country of the Central German Uplands, and then across the North German Plain, or Lowlands. It is bounded at its extreme north on the Jutland Peninsula by Denmark. East and west of the peninsula, the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) and North Sea coasts, respectively, complete the northern border. To the west, Germany borders on The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg; to the southwest, on France. It shares its entire southern boundary with Switzerland and Austria. In the southeast, the border with the Czech Republic corresponds to an earlier boundary of 1918, renewed by treaty in 1945. The easternmost frontier adjoins Poland along the northward course of the Neisse River and subsequently the Oder to the Baltic Sea, with a westward deviation in the north to exclude the former German port city of Stettin (Polish: Szczecin) and the Oder mouth. This border reflects the loss of Germany's eastern territories mandated in the Potsdam agreement among the victorious World War II Allies and reaffirmed by subsequent governments. Of historical, if no longer political, importance is the long internal boundary that for 40 years partitioned Germany into two nations. It was based on the lines of demarcation agreed upon at the Yalta Conference of 1945, separating the then-Soviet occupation zone of Germany from the zones occupied by the Western allies, on which territory West Germany subsequently emerged. On the East German side, this boundary was, until the fall of the communist government in 1989, marked by defenses in depth designed to prevent the escape of the population. The 185 square miles (480 square kilometres) of the island of West Berlin were similarly ringed from 1961 to 1989 by the Berlin Wall running through the city and a heavily guarded wire-mesh fence in the areas abutting the East German countryside. The city declined in national and international significance until the events of 198990 restored a united Berlin as the capital of a united Germany. In June 1991 the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin. The republic has a maximum north-south extent of about 520 miles (840 kilometres), between latitudes 47 and 55 N, and an east-west maximum (across the middle of the country) of about 385 miles (620 kilometres), between longitudes 6 and 15 E. It has an area of 137,828 square miles (356,973 square kilometres). The constitution of the republic, adopted in 1949, gives most government powers to its constituent Lnder (states), which at the time of unification numbered 11 (including West Berlin, which, however, had the special status of a Land without voting rights) but which grew to 16 (including the reunited Berlin) upon the accession of East Germany; only matters of undoubted importance for the nation as a whole, such as defense and foreign affairs, are reserved to the federal government. At both the state and federal levels, parliamentary democracy prevails. The Federal Republic has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957. During the four decades of partition, the Federal Republic concluded a number of agreements with the U.S.S.R. and East Germany, which it supported to some extent economically in return for various concessions with regard to access to Berlin and humanitarian matters. West Germany's rapid economic recovery in the 1950s (Wirtschaftswunder, or economic miracle) brought it into a leading position among the world's economic powers, a position that it has subsequently maintained. Reunion with the eastern territories, while constituting a huge financial burden at the outset, was expected eventually to strengthen this standing. The constituent states, including those delineated in the former eastern sector in 1990, follow the historic lines of the political divisions of the former Reich. They enjoy considerable political autonomy within the federative structure, especially in such areas as education, finance, and law enforcement. Each has its own equivalent of a prime minister, a parliament or diet, and provincial ministries. Their strong voice in the upper levels of the federal government is unique among Western republics. The largest of the states is Bavaria (Bayern), the richest is Baden-Wrttemberg, and the most populous is North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). In the extreme north lies Schleswig-Holstein, south of which is Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The ancient free Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen rank as states in their own right. Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and Hesse (Hessen) cover the central area of the republic; the Saarland is a pocket in the southwestern corner of the Pflzer Mountains (Pflzerwald). Five states, in addition to that of Berlin, were formed in 1990 from the territory of the former Democratic Republic: Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) in the north; Brandenburg (surrounding Berlin) in the east; Saxony (Sachsen) south of Brandenburg and bordering on the northwestern Czech Republic; Thuringia (Thringen) between Saxony and Hesse; and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) between Brandenburg and Lower Saxony. They are small in comparison with most of the states of the original Federal Republic. Historically, the German peoples have been characterized by almost perpetual political disunity and fluctuating boundaries in their central European position. The Treaty of Versailles, at the end of World War I, established a string of states, notably Poland and Czechoslovakia, at the expense of former Reich or Austrian territory, containing substantial German-speaking minorities. Germany's defeat in 1945 was even more devastating for the German-speaking peoples. The Soviet Union and Poland occupied nearly a quarter of Germany's former territory, and they proceeded to expel most of the German-speaking populations. At the same time, German minorities were expelled from some of the post-Versailles successor states, notably Czechoslovakia. In a brutal fashion, therefore, the frontiers of post-1945 Germany came to be largely coincident with the distribution of German-speaking people; only Austria, Liechtenstein, and German-speaking Switzerland remained outside. Thomas Henry Elkins George Hall Kirby For detailed coverage of the city of Berlin, see the article Berlin. officially Federal Republic of Germany, German Deutschland, or Bundesrepublik Deutschland major country of north-central Europe. Germany is bordered by nine countries: Denmark to the north, the Czech Republic and Poland to the east, Switzerland and Austria to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands to the west. It has two northern coastal boundaries: one eastward from Denmark on the Baltic Sea and a second westward from Denmark along the North Sea. The official capital is Berlin. Area 137,830 square miles (356,978 square km). Pop. (1996 est.) 81,891,000. Additional reading Geography Walter Laqueur, Germany Today: A Personal Report (1985), is a survey work on former West Germany. Other general works include Karl Rmer (ed.), Facts About Germany: The Federal Republic of Germany, 6th rev. ed. (1988); and Richard F. Nyrop (ed.), Federal Republic of Germany: A Country Study, 2nd ed. (1982). For a massive, comprehensive, and authoritative geographic survey, see W. Tietze et al. (eds.), Geographie Deutschlands: Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Staat, Natur, Wirtschaft (1990). Human geography is discussed in M.T. Wild, West Germany: A Geography of Its People (1979); Luigi Barzini, The Impossible Europeans (1983), discussing the nation in the context of the European federation; and George Bailey, Germans: The Biography of an Obsession, enlarged and updated ed. (1991). The West German economy is treated in Helmut Bhme, An Introduction to the Social and Economic History of Germany (1978; originally published in German, 6th ed., 1976); S.F. Frowen, A.S. Courakis, and M.H. Miller (comps.), Monetary Policy and Economic Activity in West Germany (1977); Jeremy Leaman, The Political Economy of West Germany, 194585 (1988); Grant Kirkpatrick, Employment, Growth, and Economic Policy (1987); M.T. Wild (ed.), Urban and Rural Change in West Germany (1983); and German Yearbook on Business History.The administrative and political structure of former West Germany is treated in Peter J. Katzenstein, Policy and Politics in West Germany: The Growth of a Semi-Sovereign State (1987); Marion Dnhoff, Foe into Friend: The Makers of the New Germany from Konrad Adenauer to Helmut Schmidt (1982; originally published in German, 1981); and Ian Derbyshire, Politics in West Germany: From Schmidt to Kohl (1987). Political parties are discussed in Gordon Smith, Democracy in Western Germany: Parties and Politics in the Federal Republic, 3rd ed. (1986); Elim Papadakis, The Green Movement in West Germany (1984); and Charlene Spretnak and Fritjof Capra, Green Politics, rev. ed. (1986). Charles Burdick, Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, and Winfried Kudszus (eds.), Contemporary Germany: Politics and Culture (1984); and Arthur Hearnden, Education, Culture, and Politics in West Germany (1976), are broad surveys. Intellectual life, arts, and culture are discussed in Gordon A. Craig, The Germans (1982); Gary D. Stark and Bede Karl Lackner (eds.), Essays on Culture and Society in Modern Germany (1982); K. Stuart Parkes, Writers and Politics in West Germany (1986); and John Sandford, The New German Cinema (1980).Comprehensive works on former East Germany include Stephen R. Burant (ed.), East Germany: A Country Study, 3rd ed. (1988); Hartmut Zimmerman (ed.), DDR Handbuch, 3rd ed. (1985), which was published in West Germany; Karl Eckart, DDR, 3rd. ed. (1989), also published in West Germany, and Deutsche Demokratische Republik: Handbuch, 2nd ed. (1984), published in East Germany. See also H. Kohl, J. Marcinek, and B. Nitz, Geography of the German Democratic Republic (1986; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1980); and Alfred Zimm (ed.), Berlin (Ost) und sein Umland, 3rd rev. ed. (1990). Human geography is presented in Henry Krisch, The German Democratic Republic: The Search for Identity (1985); and Timothy Garton Ash, Und willst du nicht mein Bruder sein . . . : Die DDR heute (1982), a book of broad observations focusing on particular cities and localities. Eberhard Schneider, The G.D.R.: The History, Politics, Economy, and Society of East Germany (1978; originally published in German, 1975); David Childs, The GDR: Moscow's German Ally, 2nd ed. (1988); and David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, and Marilyn Rueschmeyer (eds.), East Germany in Comparative Perspective (1989), cover a broad spectrum of topics. See also Information G.D.R.: The Comprehensive and Authoritative Reference Source of the German Democratic Republic, 2 vol. (1989), compiled by the GDR Academy of Sciences. Economic policies and conditions are explored in Ian Jeffries and Manfred Melzer (eds.), The East German Economy (1987); and GDR and Eastern Europe: A Handbook (1989; originally published in German, 1981).The administrative, political, and social structure of former East Germany is studied in Mike Dennis, German Democratic Republic: Politics, Economics, and Society (1988); C. Bradley Scharf, Politics and Change in East Germany: An Evaluation of Socialist Democracy (1984); and G.E. Edwards, GDR Society and Social Institutions: Facts and Figures (1985). A survey of intellectual life and popular culture is found in Cultural Life in the GDR: Review and Current Trends (1982), produced by Panorama DDR in the series First-Hand Information.A large number of works tend to compare the two former states or to treat them together. T.H. Elkins, Germany, 3rd ed. (1972); and Roy E.H. Mellor, The Two Germanies: A Modern Geography (1978), are two such treatments. T.H. Elkins, Berlin: The Spatial Structure of a Divided City (1988), deals with both sides of the wall. Terence Prittie, My Germans, 19331983 (1983), explores social life and customs and national characteristics; as do John Ardagh, Germany and the Germans: An Anatomy of Society Today (1987); and Harry G. Shaffer, Women in the Two Germanies: A Comparative Study of a Socialist and a Non-Socialist Society (1981). For the economy, see Alan Mayhew, Rural Settlement and Farming in Germany (1973), a historical study of land use; Herbert Wilkens, The Two German Economies: A Comparison Between the National Product of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, rev. ed. (1981; originally published in German, 1976); and, for later and up-to-date developments, Leslie Lipschitz and Donogh McDonald (eds.), German Unification: Economic Issues (1990); and the three periodicals Country Profile: Germany (annual), Country Report: Germany (quarterly), and OECD Economic Surveys: Germany (annual). Relations between the two countries are the subject of Lawrence L. Whetten, Germany East and West: Conflicts, Collaboration, and Confrontation (1980); and Ernest D. Plock, The Basic Treaty and the Evolution of East-West German Relations (1986). German literature and culture are looked at in Lowell A. Bangerter, German Writing Since 1945: A Critical Survey (1988); and Marion Adams (ed.), The German Tradition: Aspects of Art and Thought in the German-Speaking Countries (1971). Comparative histories include Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., The Two Germanies Since 1945 (1987), the only dual history; Alfred Grosser, Germany in Our Time: A Political History of the Postwar Years (1971; originally published in French, 1970); and V.R. Berghahn, Modern Germany: Society, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (1987). The continuity of national history through pervading attachment to the local place is the idea of Celia Applegate, A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (1990). The question of reunification is explored in Renata Frisch-Bournazel, Confronting the German Question: Germans on the East-West Divide (1988; originally published in German, 1986); and Ronald A. Francisco and Richard L. Merritt, Berlin Between Two Worlds (1986). George Hall Kirby Thomas Henry Elkins George Hall Kirby Thomas Henry Elkins History Ancient Germany A good, well-illustrated general account of the early period is given in Herbert Schutz, The Prehistory of Germanic Europe (1983). Tim Cornell and John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World (1982), clarifies with maps and illustrations the social and economic background of Roman-German interaction. Other useful analyses of the early period include E.A. Thompson, The Early Germans (1965); Rolf Hachmann, The Germanic Peoples (1971; originally published in German, 1971); and Malcolm Todd, The Northern Barbarians, 100 BCAD 300, rev. ed. (1987). A comprehensive study of the later period is Lucien Musset, The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe, AD 400600 (1975; originally published in French, 1965). Individual peoples are discussed in Edward James, The Franks (1988); and James Campbell, Eric John, and Patrick Wormald, The Anglo-Saxons (1982). Peter John Heather Merovingians and Carolingians Patrick J. Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World (1988), examines the period from the perspective of the unity of late antiquity. A general survey of Carolingian Europe, with an emphasis on cultural history, is presented in Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751987 (1983). Frankish society, its politics, religion, and ecclesiastical organization, are discussed in J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-Haired Kings, and Other Studies in Frankish History (1962, reprinted 1982), and The Frankish Church (1983). Important essays on early German and Frankish society are collected in Timothy Reuter (ed.), The Medieval Nobility: Studies on the Ruling Classes of France and Germany from the Sixth to the Twelfth Century (1979). Patrick J. Geary Medieval Germany to 1250 G. Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, 3rd ed. (1988), is a good analysis of medieval German history. General surveys include Karl Hampe, Germany Under the Salian and Hohenstaufen Emperors (1973; originally published in German, 12th ed., 1968), an important and well-organized, though old-fashioned, narrative history; Horst Fuhrmann, Germany in the High Middle Ages, c. 10501200 (1986; originally published in German, 2nd ed., 1983), covering such fundamentals as economy and cultural horizons; and Alfred Haverkamp, Medieval Germany, 10561273 (1988; originally published in German, 1984), providing an informative though mainly German bibliography. On the 10th and early 11th centuries, see Josef Fleckenstein, Early Medieval Germany (1978; originally published in German, 1974). K.J. Leyser, Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society: Ottonian Saxony (1979, reprinted 1989), explores the main forces of development of the Saxon empire and its society from 900 to 1024. The same author's Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours, 9001250 (1982), studies warfare, the nobility, and German-Byzantine and German-English relations. See also his Crisis of Medieval Germany, in Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 69 (1983), pp. 410443, on the Saxon rising of 1073. Benjamin Arnold, German Knighthood, 10501300 (1985), is a fine study of knights and ministeriales. Comprehensive surveys of the 11th13th centuries include Friedrich Prinz, Grundlagen und Anfnge, Deutschland bis 1056 (1985); and Hagen Keller, Zwischen regionaler Begrenzung und universalem Horizont: Deutschland im Imperium der Salier und Staufer, 1024 bis 1250 (1986). K.J. Leyser From 1250 to 1493 Joachim Leuschner, Germany in the Late Middle Ages (1980; originally published in German, 1975), provides a basic introduction to political history, which should be supplemented by the more complex F.R.H. Du Boulay, Germany in the Later Middle Ages (1983); and by Lawrence G. Duggan, Representative Assemblies, German, in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol. 10 (1988), pp. 328334. On regional and local developments, see F.L. Carsten, The Origins of Prussia (1954, reprinted 1981), and Princes and Parliaments in Germany, from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century (1959, reprinted 1963); Otto Brunner, Land und Herrschaft: Grundfragen der territorialen Verfassungsgeschichte sterreichs im Mittelalter, 5th ed. (1965, reprinted 1984); Henry J. Cohn, The Government of the Rhine Palatinate in the Fifteenth Century (1965); Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa (1970; originally published in French, 1964); Lawrence G. Duggan, Bishop and Chapter: The Governance of the Bishopric of Speyer to 1552 (1978); and Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Turning Swiss: Cities and Empire, 14501550 (1985). Useful documentary sources are collected in the first, and studies in the second, of the following: Gerald Strauss (ed.), Manifestations of Discontent in Germany on the Eve of the Reformation (1971), and Pre-reformation Germany (1972). Hermann Kellenbenz, Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeshichte, vol. 1: Von den Anfngen bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (1977), surveys economic history. For cultural history, see Willy Andreas, Deutschland vor der Reformation: Eine Zeitenwende, 7th ed. (1972); and the more up-to-date Hans-Friedrich Rosenfeld and Hellmut Rosenfeld, Deutsche Kultur im Sptmittelalter 12501500 (1978). A fine overview of intellectual life is found in the collection of Gerhart Hoffmeister (ed.), The Renaissance and Reformation in Germany (1977); and on the extraordinary flowering of German sculpture there are two masterly works by Michael Baxandall, South German Sculpture, 14801530 (1974), and The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany (1980). Lawrence G. Duggan From 1493 to c. 1760 Hajo Holborn, A History of Modern Germany: The Reformation (1959, reprinted 1982), provides a comprehensive general account, with emphasis on political events. A.G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (1974), explores the main features of German society around 1500 through the analysis of the widespread influence of Luther. Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil (1989, originally published in German, 1982), is a psychologically compelling biography of the reformer. Peter Blickle. The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants' War from a New Perspective (1981; originally published in German, 1975), stresses the common grievances that brought peasants and the urban poor together in what the author sees as the revolution of the common man. Karl Brandi, The Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and of a World-Empire (1939, reissued 1980; originally published in German, 1937), presents Charles V as the protagonist of an ambitious plan to make the medieval idea of empire work in the early modern period. James A. Vann and Steven W. Rowan (eds.), The Old Reich: Essays on German Political Institutions, 14951806 (1974), illustrates the successes and failures of the empire as a constitutional system. Merry E. Wiesner, Working Women in Renaissance Germany (1986), offers a pioneering examination of the changing situation of women engaged in trades and professions between 1500 and 1600. Geoffrey Parker (ed.), The Thirty Years' War (1984), surveys the military, political, social, and cultural aspects of the war. John G. Gagliardo, Reich and Nation: The Holy Roman Empire as Idea and Reality, 17631806 (1980), is an examination of the empire's efforts and failure to survive in the age of the French Revolution. R.J.W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 15501700: An Interpretation (1979, reprinted 1984), analyzes the events leading to the construction of the Austrian empire in central and eastern Europe. Mack Walker, German Home Towns: Community, State, and General Estate, 16481871 (1971), presents a vivid picture of the development of the small and middle-sized German town as a distinct political and cultural environment. Rudolf Vierhaus, Germany in the Age of Absolutism (1988; originally published in German, 1978), discusses the German principalities in the aftermath of the wars against Louis XIV. Gerald Strauss From c. 1760 to 1871 For a good account of central Europe during the period of the Enlightenment, see Henri Brunschwig, Enlightenment and Romanticism in Eighteenth- Century Prussia (1974; originally published in French, 1947), an interpretive socioeconomic history; and C.B.A. Behrens, Society, Government, and the Enlightenment: The Experiences of Eighteenth-Century France and Prussia (1985), a comparative history of the events and developments that led to revolution in France and stabilization in Germany. Hans Rosenberg, Bureaucracy, Aristocracy, and Autocracy (1958), describes the nature of authority. The transformation of civic ideals is the theme of Friedrich Meinecke, Cosmopolitanism and the National State (1970; originally published in German, 1908); his The Age of German Liberation, 17951815 (1977; originally published in German, 1906), is an excellent concise political history of the Prussian state and the main figures of the period. The prevailing attitudes in the Holy Roman Empire toward the fall of the ancien rgime are examined by G.P. Gooch, Germany and the French Revolution (1920, reprinted 1966). T.C.W. Blanning, The French Revolution in Germany: Occupation and Resistance in the Rhineland, 17921802 (1983), is a reexamination of this period of German history from new positions. Reinhold Aris, History of Political Thought in Germany from 1789 to 1815 (1936, reprinted 1965); and Eugene N. Anderson, Nationalism and the Cultural Crisis in Prussia, 18061815 (1939, reprinted 1966), depict the intellectual effects of the French hegemony. For political developments, see H.A.L. Fisher, Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship: Germany (1903, reprinted 1969); and Guy S. Ford, Stein and the Era of Reform in Prussia, 18071815 (1922, reissued 1965). Enno Kraehe, Metternich's German Policy, 2 vol. (196383), describes the War of Liberation; while Harold G. Nicolson, The Congress of Vienna (1946, reprinted 1974), deals with the reconstruction of Europe. For the period of the German Confederation, see the vigorous but opinionated account by Heinrich G. von Treitschke, History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, 7 vol. (191519, reissued 1968; originally published in German, 5 vol., 187989). Theodore S. Hamerow, Restoration, Revolution, Reaction (1958, reprinted 1966), stresses the connection between politics and economics. John H. Clapham, The Economic Development of France and Germany, 18151914, 4th ed. (1936, reprinted 1968); and William O. Henderson, The Zollverein, 3rd ed. (1984), examine the transformation of the economy of central Europe. Veit Valentin, 1848: Chapters of German History (1940, reprinted 1965; originally published in German, 1930), emphasizes the political events of the revolution; Werner E. Mosse, The European Powers and the German Question, 184871 (1958, reprinted 1981), looks at the diplomatic aspects. The achievement of national unification is described from the Prussian point of view by Heinrich von Sybel, The Founding of the German Empire by William I, 7 vol. (189098, reprinted 1968; originally published in German, 188995); while Heinrich Friedjung, The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany, 18591866 (1935, reprinted 1966; originally published in German, 10th ed., 2 vol., 191617), looks at it from the Austrian side. Eugene N. Anderson, The Social and Political Conflict in Prussia, 18581864 (1954, reissued 1976), deals with the constitutional struggle in the Hohenzollern kingdom. Otto Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany: The Period of Unification, 18151871 (1963, reprinted 1971); and Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire, 3rd ed. (1968), portray the architect of the new Germany and his impact on the European balance of power. The origins of the Franco-German War are traced in Hermann Oncken, Napoleon III and the Rhine: The Origin of the War of 18701871 (1928, reissued 1967; originally published in German, 1926). The intellectual life of 18th- and 19th-century Germany is discussed in Herman Glaser (ed.), The German Mind of the Nineteenth Century: A Literary and Historical Anthology (1981). Theodore S. Hamerow From 1871 to 1918 General historical surveys include Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire, 18711918 (1985; originally published in German, 5th ed., 1983), stressing the continuity between the empire and the Nazi era; and David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany (1984), emphasizing the similarities between German modernization and that of other European nations and the importance of industrial capitalism rather than the Junker elite in supporting the authoritarian character of the German Empire. Political analyses are presented in Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Windthorst: A Political Biography (1981), a major study of the Roman Catholic party leader and of Catholic politics; Richard J. Evans (ed.), Society and Politics in Wilhelmine Germany (1978), a collection of essays on local politics; Lothar Gall, Bismarck, the White Revolutionary, 2 vol. (1986; originally published in German, 1980), a study of Bismarck's influence on imperial politics; and James J. Sheehan, German Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century (1978, reprinted 1983), an excellent analysis of the activities of the two liberal parties on the local and national levels, with emphasis on their growing acceptance of the empire.Foreign relations are studied in Lamar Cecil, The German Diplomatic Service, 18711914 (1976), a careful look at the background and education of the German diplomatic corps before World War I; V.R. Berghahn, Germany and the Approach of War in 1914 (1973), a thorough account of German foreign policy, especially the influence of the navy and army; Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 18601914 (1980), an exhaustive work on the growing antagonism that led the countries to opposite sides in World War I; and Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (1967; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1964), a pioneering study of the culpability of German elites in the outbreak of World War I, stressing the continuity between the two world wars.Economic developments of the period are surveyed in Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichrder, and the Building of the German Empire (1977, reprinted 1987), an excellent study, based on archival sources, of the role of Bismarck and his banker in the economy; Kenneth D. Barkin, The Controversy Over German Industrialization, 18901902 (1970), a discussion of the politico-economic debate on whether Germany should industrialize or remain a primarily agricultural country; and Gerald D. Feldman, Army, Industry, and Labor in Germany, 19141918 (1966), a thorough study of the changes in the German economy during the four years of World War I.Cultural and social issues are addressed in Fritz Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology (1961, reprinted with a new preface, 1974), a study of intellectuals' disenchantment with modern industrial society and their hopes for a spiritual revolution. The history of German socialism is detailed in Gary P. Steenson, Not One Man! Not One Penny!: German Social Democracy, 18631914 (1981), a comprehensive treatment of the Social Democratic Party from its origins to the war; Vernon L. Lidtke, The Outlawed Party: Social Democracy in Germany, 18781890 (1966), an important study of the 12 years the party was banned; and Jrgen Kocka, Facing Total War: German Society, 19141918 (1984; originally published in German, 1973), an examination of the effects of World War I on different social groups. Kenneth Barkin From 1918 to 1945 A sophisticated, though somewhat dated, survey of modern German history is found in Hajo Holborn, A History of Modern Germany: 18401945 (1969, reprinted 1982). Dietrich Orlow, A History of Modern Germany: 1871 to Present (1987), offers a good look at the difficult century through which Germany has just passed. A.J. Ryder, The German Revolution of 1918: A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt (1967), treats both the democratic and revolutionary socialists in 1918 and 1919 along with their conflicting visions for change. Vol. 3 of H.W.V. Temperley (ed.), A History of the Peace Conference of Paris, 6 vol. (192024, reissued 1969), provides useful commentary and documentation on the peace settlement as related to Germany, with the text of the Treaty of Versailles in its entirety. An analysis of the peace settlement that emphasizes the fear of Bolshevik expansion as a factor shaping the various treaties is found in Arno J. Mayer, Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking: Containment and Counterrevolution at Versailles, 19181919 (1967). A still unsurpassed account of political developments in Germany during the period is S. William Halperin, Germany Tried Democracy: A Political History of the Reich from 1918 to 1933 (1946, reissued 1965). A stimulating introduction to the brilliance of intellectual and cultural creativity in Germany during the 1920s is provided in Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968, reprinted 1981). Otto Friedrich, Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (1972, reprinted 1986), is a highly readable discussion of the cultural and intellectual capital of Germany, heavily based upon interviews with important figures of the period. The best introduction to Nazism still is Alan Bullock, Hitler, a Study in Tyranny, rev. ed. (1962). A comprehensive study of National Socialism emphasizing the totalitarian nature of the regime is available in Karl Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism (1970; originally published in German, 1969). A useful companion to this work is Martin Broszat, The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich (1981; originally published in German, 1969), which focuses upon the chaotic inefficiency the author believes characterized the Nazi political structure. The standard work on Nazi foreign policy is Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe, 193336 (1970, reprinted 1983), and The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Starting World War II, 19371939 (1980). One of the best single-volume treatments of World War II is Peter Calvocoressi and Guy Wint, Total War: The Causes and Courses of the Second World War, 2nd rev. ed. (1989). Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, rev. ed., 3 vol. (1985), remains the standard and most comprehensive study of the efforts by the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish people. German civilian life during the war is explored in Earl R. Beck, Under the Bombs: The German Home Front, 19421945 (1986). Karl A. Schleunes After 1945 For a succinct survey of the history of both German states, see especially Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., The Two Germanies Since 1945 (1987). A more detailed account of West Germany's development is presented in Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress, A History of West Germany, 2 vol. (1989). Peter H. Merkl, The Origin of the West German Republic (1963, reprinted 1982), focuses on West Germany's beginnings; and Roger Morgan, The United States and West Germany, 19451973: A Study in Alliance Politics (1974), treats its relations with the United States. The Christian Democratic Union is the focus of Arnold J. Heidenheimer, Adenauer and the CDU: The Rise of the Leader and the Integration of the Party (1960); and Geoffrey Pridham, Christian Democracy in Western Germany: The CDU/CSU in Government and Opposition, 19451976 (1977). On East Germany, Martin McCauley, The German Democratic Republic Since 1945 (1983), is a comprehensive survey. Other analyses include Gregory W. Sandford, From Hitler to Ulbricht: The Communist Reconstruction of East Germany, 194546 (1983); Carola Stern, Ulbricht: A Political Biography (1965; originally published in German, 1963); Arnulf Baring, Uprising in East Germany: June 17, 1953 (1972; originally published in German, 2nd ed., 1965); and David Childs (ed.), Honecker's Germany (1985). The Federal Republic's new eastern policy of the 1970s is analyzed in William E. Griffith, The Ostpolitik of the Federal Republic of Germany (1978); and the East German response to it in A. James McAdams, East Germany and Detente: Building Authority After the Wall (1985). Henry Ashby Turner, Jr. Administration and social conditions The structure and authority of Germany's government is derived from the Grundgesetz, or Basic Law, which went into force on May 23, 1949, after formal consent to the establishment of the Federal Republic (known as West Germany) had been given by the military governments of the Western occupying powers and upon the assent of the parliaments of the Lnder (states) to form the Bund (federation). West Germany then comprised 11 states and West Berlin, which was given the special status of a state without voting rights. The capital was located in the small university town of Bonn, as an obviously provisional solution. Virtually simultaneously, on Oct. 7, 1949, the Soviet Zone of Occupation was transformed into a separate, nominally sovereign nation (if under Soviet hegemony), known formally as the German Democratic Republic (and popularly as East Germany). The five federal states (Lnder) within the Soviet zone were abolished and reorganized into 15 administrative districts (Bezirke), of which the Soviet Sector of Berlin was the capital. In the case of West Germany, full sovereignty was achieved only gradually: many powers and prerogatives, including those of direct intervention, were retained by the Western powers and devolved to the Federal Republic only as it was able to grow in economic and political stability and to be integrated into the Western community of nations. The tripartite offices of military governor were replaced upon the creation of the Federal Republic by those of high commissioners, and upon its achievement of full sovereignty on May 5, 1955, the high commissioners became ambassadors accredited to the president of the republic. The Democratic Republic regarded its separation from the rest of Germany as complete, but the Federal Republic regarded East Germany as an illegally constituted state, until the doctrine of two German states in one German nation was developed in the 1970s. A sequence of gradual rapprochements between the two governments helped regularize the anomalous situation, especially concerning travel, transportation, and the status of West Berlin as an exclave of the Federal Republic. During the process of unification, East Germany, as a condition for integration into the Federal Republic, reconstituted the five former historic states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. As states of the united Germany, they have adopted administrative, judicial, educational, and social structures parallel and analogous to those in the states of former West Germany. East and West Berlin were reunited, forming a state by itself. Because the former East Germany de jure had petitioned to be integrated into the existing Federal Republic and de facto was thoroughly bankrupt and prostrate politically and economically, it entered the German Federal Republic without any bargaining power whatsoever. All changes and adaptations were thus completely on the terms set by Bonn, with few legal concessions allowed for the transitional period. With the achievement of unification on Oct. 3, 1990, all remaining vestiges of the Federal Republic's qualified status as a sovereign nation were voided. No longer, for example, was Berlin still technically occupied territory, with the ultimate authority vested in the military governors. The very choice of the term Grundgesetz, or Basic Law, had purposely been chosen in 1949 to stop short of implying a permanent constitution (Verfassung), the promulgation and signing of which remains a final formal step in Germany's long progression to complete and unrestricted sovereignty. In the days of the empire, German society was among the most intricately hierarchical in all Europe. The social upheaval of two major wars and economic change, though loosening this rigidity, left the basic class structurewith certain notable exceptionsessentially intact. Present-day German society is no longer plagued by class consciousness, but a sense of one's station in life is implicitly understood. Education still commands a greater awe in Germany than in many countries; the professor is held in an esteem incomprehensible to foreigners, and the title doctor is an all-but-essential credential for advancement not only in the upper echelons of the professions and the civil service, where a certain erudition is not inappropriate, but alsoeven more baffling to outsidersin the ranks of business. The older authoritarianism, however, especially after the social upheaval of the 1960s and '70s, was greatly tempered by a healthy skepticism toward those who formerly simply by virtue of their title and position could command respect and obedience. As in other advanced nations, the basis of power has passed to the technical and managerial meritocracy. By the time of unification in 1990, society and social conditions in western Germany had come in close harmony with those of its western European neighbours, while the inhabitants of former East Germany, after 40 years of one of the most rigid of Marxist-Leninist regimes, had grown radically apart from their kinsmen in the West. Collectivism and suppression of individual initiative in return for assured employment and provision of the basic requirements of life free or at low cost had produced a society antithetical to that in the West. Government The Basic Law has many affinities with the constitutions in the Anglo-American democracies and its predecessor, the Weimar Constitution (upon which it drew heavily). The parliamentary form of government incorporated many features of the British system, but, since West Germany, unlike Great Britain, was to be a federation, many political structures were drawn from the models of the United States and other federative governments. In reaction to the unitary state of the Nazi era, the Basic Law gave the states considerable autonomy, much of which has been eroded by constitutional amendments, fiscal developments, and a political insistence on uniform living co