Ethnic divisions: primarily German; small Danish and Slavic minorities
Principal language: German
Principal religions: Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 37%, unaffiliated or other 18%
Rank of affluence among U.N. members: 14/183
Europe's biggest, most powerful nation, Germany has been at the uncomfortable center of European politics since Otto von Bismarck oversaw its unification in 1871. Seemingly overnight, city-states that had squabbled for centuries became a powerful force--technologically, commercially, imperially.
Tensions led to the almost accidental flare-up of World War I. When Germany lost, the vengeful Allies imposed a humiliating peace treaty that led to vast inflation and social turmoil. Capitalizing on popular anger, a deranged, anti-Semitic agitator named Adolph Hitler managed to seize power, launch a world war, and institute the genocidal extermination of German Jews and other minorities.
When Germany lost a second time, the winning nations (the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) agreed to split it into four national occupation zones. Moscow controlled the eastern zone, while the three western zones were bound together (and to their western neighbors) by a series of rebuilding programs, defense treaties, and economic pacts.
West Germany rebuilt its war-torn cities and became an industrial behemoth. Indeed, it became so rich that when Communism fell in 1990, most West Germans believed that they could easily absorb the "easties." Instead the eastern economy collapsed, and the west couldn't prop it up--leading to the kind of nationalist discontent that Germany's neighbors have learned to fear.
At the same time, the country faces ecological limits. The east has some of the world's worst pollution, and the west has acid rain and water contamination. Once again Germany is in the spotlight as Europe regroups for the 21st century.
