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Germany, [e] officially the Federal Republic of Germany, [f] is a country in Central Europe.It lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km 2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of the European Union.
After losing World War I, Germany fell under the control of Adolf Hitler, who started World War II. After losing World War II, Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany, each on opposite sides in the Cold War. In October 1990, after the Cold War ended, the country was reunified under Christian Democratic Union (CDU) chancellor ...
By 1900, Germany was the dominant power on the European continent and its rapidly expanding industry had surpassed Britain's while provoking it in a naval arms race. Germany led the Central Powers in World War I, but was defeated, partly occupied, forced to pay war reparations, and stripped of its colonies and significant territory along its ...
Germany has the second-most borders of any European country, after Russia. It shares borders with nine countries: Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Switzerland (its only non- EU neighbor) and Austria in the south, France in the southwest and Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the west.
Germany is a very decentralized country. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. In 1871, Germany became a nation-state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
German is the official language of six countries, all of which lie in central and western Europe. These countries (with the addition of South Tyrol of Italy) also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum (German language area).
The territorial evolution of Germany in this article include all changes in the modern territory of Germany from its unification making it a country on 1 January 1871 to the present although the history of "Germany" as a territorial polity concept and the history of the ethnic Germans are much longer and much more complex.
The terminology for "Germany", the "German states" and "Germans" is complicated by the unusual history of Germany over the last 2000 years. This can cause confusion in German and English, as well in other languages. While the notion of Germans and Germany is older, it is only since 1871 that there has been a nation-state of Germany.