How long has germany been around

Germany is defeated and becomes a republic. Berlin Wall is torn down. Meet the neighbours: Life in Germany. German Euroscepticism - a milder variety. Germany in figures. German economic strength: The secrets of success. What is Germany's vision for Europe? Germany marks 50 years since Wall. BBC Languages - Germany. German government. Federal Republic of Germany Capital: Berlin. Image source, Getty Images. Germany has a lively newspaper scene, based on regional centres but read nationwide.

Read full media profile. Germany's parliament is housed in the historic Reichstag building in the capital Berlin. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November marked a pivotal moment in Germany's modern history.

Throughout the German states revolutionaries advocated for freedom of the press, a national militia, a national German parliament, and trial by jury. Other ideas that were championed during the heady days of were the abolition of privilege of the aristocracy, the creation of constitutions in several of the German states, a more fair system of taxation, and freedom of religion.

On May 18, , the German National Assembly met at Frankfurt am Main, representing the first assembly to be freely elected by the German people. Yet, despite the election of an imperial vice regent Reichsverweser , the government was flawed from the beginning by its lack of a strong executive power. By the autumn of the revolution disintegrated and hope of fully unifying the German states was extinguished for the time being. The next attempt at German unification, a successful one, was undertaken by Otto von Bismarc k, the Prime Minister of Prussia.

German unification was achieved by the force of Prussia, and enforced from the top-down, meaning that it was not an organic movement that was fully supported and spread by the popular classes but instead was a product of Prussian royal policies.

The first war of German unification was the Danish War, begun over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Bismarck allied with Austria to fight the Danes in a war to protect the interests of Holstein, a member of the German Confederation. This brief war fought over the course of mere weeks pitted Prussia and her allies against Austria and other German states.

Prussia won and directly annexed some of the German states that had sided with Austria such as Hanover and Nassau.

In an act of leniency, Prussia allowed some of the larger Austrian allies to maintain their independence, such as Baden and Bavaria. In Bismarck created the North German Confederation, a union of the northern German states under the hegemony of Prussia.

Several other German states joined, and the North German Confederation served as a model for the future German Empire. The third and final act of German unification was the Franco-Prussian War of , orchestrated by Bismarck to draw the western German states into alliance with the North German Confederation. From this point forward, foreign policy of the German Empire was made in Berlin, with the German Kaiser who was also the King of Prussia accrediting ambassadors of foreign nations.

Relations were severed when the U. Middleto n informed U. Minister to Prussia Andrew J. Minister to the German Federal Parliament at Frankfurt, and presented his credentials on September 13, However, the failure of this first experiment of German unification led to the U. Donelson resumed his previous appointment as U.

Minister to Prussia. Seward that he had attended the opening of the North German Parliament. The meter foot column is topped by the sculptural group of the Roman gods Jupiter and Ganymede. The Merovingian king, Clovis , converted to Christianity and ruled over the Franks. He made Aachen the Frankish capital. Over the next few centuries the territory that is now Germany was divided up into many separate duchies, kingdoms and principalities.

Bismarck and German Unification After Napoleon had humiliated Brandenburg-Prussia with conquering French troops, Prussia was spurred to become stronger. The French were driven out in Two years later at the Congress of Vienna, Germany was organized into 35 confederated states. But this fragmented situation would change as the industrial revolution brought about change all across Europe. After the failure of the French and German liberal revolutions of , Otto von Bismarck took the stage in Prussia.

He was an old-guard military man whose goal was to unify Germany, with Prussia in the lead. Bismarck began by waging war against Denmark and Austria to gain Schleswig-Holstein in To be continued….