List of former national capitals
Europe -- Western Europe
Table:
Old capital city

Country

Today a part of

From

Until

Change, reason

Vienna

Austrian Empire

Austria

1806

1867

became capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Vienna

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria

1867

1918

became capital of the Republic of Austria after Empire collapsed

Tournai

Francia

Belgium

431

486

Under kings Childeric I and Clovis I, Tournai was the capital of the Frankish empire. In the year 486, Clovis moved the centre of power to Paris, as a result, the Low Countries region ceased to be the political centre of the Frankish empire.

Kelmis

Neutral Moresnet

Belgium

1816

1919

Moresnet annexed by Belgium

Vichy

France, State of

France

1940

1944

capital of Vichy France régime, defeated by Allies

Aachen

Carolingian Empire

Germany

800

814

became capital of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus and Emperor of the Carolingian Empire

Karlsruhe

Baden, Grand Duchy of

Germany

1771

1918

Baden became part of the German Empire in 1871, and lost sovereignty fully in 1918. Karlsruhe remained the capital of the German state of Baden until 1945.

Munich

Bavaria, Kingdom of

Germany

14th century

1918

Bavaria became part of the German Empire in 1871, and lost sovereignty fully in 1918. Munich remains the capital of the German state of Bavaria.

Braunschweig
(Brunswick)

Brunswick, Duchy of

Germany

1815

1918

Brunswick became part of the German Empire in 1871, and lost sovereignty fully in 1918. Braunschweig remained the capital of the German Free State of Brunswick until 1946 when it became part of the German state of Lower Saxony.

Frankfurt

Rhine, Confederation of the

Germany

1806

1815

Confederation dissolved

Frankfurt

German Confederation

Germany

1815

1866

German Confederation dissolved

Berlin

German Empire

Germany

1871

1918

Berlin

Germany (Weimar Republic)

Germany

1919

1933

Berlin

Germany (Nazi Germany)

Germany

1933

1945

Separation of Germany into occupation zones for the Allied powers

Bonn

Germany, West

Germany

1949

1990

Moved to Berlin after re-unification of Germany. Bonn retained as the German seat of government until 1999.

East Berlin

Germany, East

Germany

1949

1990

East Berlin and West Berlin merged to form reunified Berlin, country ceased to exist after reunification of Germany

Hanover

Hanover, Kingdom of

Germany

1814

1866

Hanover annexed by Prussia, became capital of the Prussian Province of Hanover, currently the capital of the German state of Lower Saxony

Darmstadt

Hesse-Darmstadt, Landgraviate of, Hesse, Grand Duchy of

Germany

1567

1918

Hesse-Darmstadt became part of the German Empire in 1871, and lost sovereignty fully in 1918. Darmstadt remained the capital of the German People's State of Hesse until 1945.

Kassel

Hesse-Darmstadt, Landgraviate of, Hesse-Kassel, Landgraviate of, Hesse, Electorate of

Germany

1277

1866

Hesse-Kassel annexed by Prussia in 1866; Kassel became capital of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau

Wiesbaden

Nassau, Duchy of

Germany

1816

1866

Nassau annexed by Prussia, currently the capital of the German state of Hesse

Considering the given table and the context paragraphs listed below.

Give the answer to the question: What is the population of the city that was the capital of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1815 ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Do not introduce information beyond the provided sources.

Vienna ( /viˈɛnə/ ( listen ) ; German : Wien [ viːn ] ( listen ) ) is the national capital , largest city , and one of nine states of Austria . Vienna is Austria 's most populous city , with about 1.9 million inhabitants ( 2.6 million within the metropolitan area , nearly one third of the country 's population ) , and its cultural , economic , and political centre . It is the 6th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union . Until the beginning of the 20th century , it was the largest German-speaking city in the world , and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I , the city had 2 million inhabitants . Today , it is the second-largest German-speaking city after Berlin . Vienna is host to many major international organizations , including the United Nations , OPEC , and the OSCE . The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of Czechia , Slovakia , and Hungary . These regions work together in a European Centrope border region . Along with nearby Bratislava , Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants . In 2001 , the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In July 2017 it was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger . Additionally to being known as the City of Music due to its musical legacy , Vienna is also said to be the City of Dreams , because of it being home to the world 's first psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud .
The Austrian Empire ( Austrian German : Kaiserthum Oesterreich , modern spelling Kaisertum Österreich ) was a Central European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867 , created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs . During its existence , it was the third most populous empire after the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom in Europe . Along with Prussia , it was one of the two major powers of the German Confederation . Geographically , it was the third largest empire in Europe after the Russian Empire and the First French Empire ( 621,538 square kilometres ; 239,977 sq mi ) . Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire , it partially overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the latter 's dissolution in 1806 . The Kingdom of Hungary - as Regnum Independens - was administered by its own institutions separately from the rest of the empire . After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 , the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was adopted , joining together the Kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria to form Austria-Hungary .
Austria ( /ˈɒstriə/ ( listen ) , /ˈɔːs-/ ; German : Österreich [ ˈøːstɐʁaɪ̯ç ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Republic of Austria ( German : Republik Österreich , listen ( help·info ) ) , is a landlocked East Alpine country in the southern part of Central Europe . It is composed of nine federated states ( Bundesländer ) , one of which is Vienna , Austria 's capital and its largest city . It is bordered by Germany to the northwest , Czech Republic to the north , Slovakia to the northeast , Hungary to the east , Slovenia and Italy to the south , and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west . Austria occupies an area of 83,879 km2 ( 32,386 sq mi ) and has a population of nearly 9 million people . While German is the country 's official language , many Austrians communicate informally in a variety of Bavarian dialects . Austria initially emerged as a margraviate around 976 and developed into a duchy and archduchy . In the 16th century , Austria started serving as the heart of the Habsburg Monarchy and the junior branch of the House of Habsburg - one of the most influential royal dynasties in history . As an archduchy , it was a major component and administrative centre of the Holy Roman Empire . Early in the 19th century , Austria established its own empire , which became a great power and the leading force of the German Confederation but pursued its own course independently of the other German states . Following the Austro-Prussian War and the compromise with Hungary , the Dual Monarchy was established . Austria was involved in World War I under Emperor Franz Joseph following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand , the presumptive successor to the Austro-Hungarian throne . After the defeat and the dissolution of the Monarchy , the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed with the intent of the union with Germany , which eventually failed because of the Allied Powers and the state remained unrecognized .
Austria-Hungary , often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy , was a constitutional monarchy in Central and Eastern Europe between 1867 and 1918 . It was formed when the Austrian Empire adopted a new constitution ; as a result Austria ( Cisleithania ) and Hungary ( Transleithania ) were placed on equal footing . It dissolved when its member states proclaimed sovereignty and independence following the First World War . The union was established by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 on 30 March 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War . It consisted of two monarchies ( Austria and Hungary ) , and one autonomous region : the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown , which negotiated the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement in 1868 . It was ruled by the House of Habsburg , and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy . Following the 1867 reforms , the Austrian and Hungarian states were co-equal in power . Foreign and military affairs came under joint oversight , but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states . Austria-Hungary was a multinational state and one of Europe 's major powers at the time . Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire , at 621,538 km2 ( 239,977 sq mi ) , and the third-most populous ( after Russia and the German Empire ) . The Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world , after the United States , Germany , and the United Kingdom . Austria-Hungary also became the world 's third largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances , electric industrial appliances and power generation apparatus for power plants , after the United States and the German Empire .
Austria-Hungary , often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy , was a constitutional monarchy in Central and Eastern Europe between 1867 and 1918 . It was formed when the Austrian Empire adopted a new constitution ; as a result Austria ( Cisleithania ) and Hungary ( Transleithania ) were placed on equal footing . It dissolved when its member states proclaimed sovereignty and independence following the First World War . The union was established by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 on 30 March 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War . It consisted of two monarchies ( Austria and Hungary ) , and one autonomous region : the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown , which negotiated the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement in 1868 . It was ruled by the House of Habsburg , and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy . Following the 1867 reforms , the Austrian and Hungarian states were co-equal in power . Foreign and military affairs came under joint oversight , but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states . Austria-Hungary was a multinational state and one of Europe 's major powers at the time . Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire , at 621,538 km2 ( 239,977 sq mi ) , and the third-most populous ( after Russia and the German Empire ) . The Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world , after the United States , Germany , and the United Kingdom . Austria-Hungary also became the world 's third largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances , electric industrial appliances and power generation apparatus for power plants , after the United States and the German Empire .
Tournai ( /tʊərˈneɪ/ toor-NAY , French : [ tuʁnɛ ] ; Picard : Tornai ( and Walloon : Tornè ) Walloon : [ tɔʀ . 'nɛ ] ( listen ) ; Latin : Tornacum ) , known in Dutch as Doornik and historically as Dornick in English , is a Walloon municipality of Belgium , 85 kilometres ( 53 miles ) southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt . In the province of Hainaut , Tournai is part of Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai , which had 2,155,161 residents in 2008 . Tournai is one of the oldest cities in Belgium and has played an important role in the country 's cultural history . It was the first capital of the Frankish Empire , with Clovis I being born here .
Francia , also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( Latin : Regnum Francorum ) , or Frankish Empire , was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe . It was ruled by the Franks during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . It is the predecessor of the modern states of France and Germany . After the Treaty of Verdun in 843 , West Francia became the predecessor of France , and East Francia became that of Germany . Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era before its partition in 843 . The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Maas rivers in the north . After a period where small kingdoms inter-acted with the remaining Gallo-Roman institutions to their south , a single kingdom uniting them was founded by Clovis I who was crowned King of the Franks in 496 . His dynasty , the Merovingian dynasty , was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty . Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of Herstal , Charles Martel , Pepin the Short , Charlemagne , and Louis the Pious - father , son , grandson , great-grandson and great-great-grandson - the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire was secured by the early 9th century , by this point dubbed as the Carolingian Empire . During the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties the Frankish realm was one large kingdom polity subdivided into several smaller kingdoms , often effectively independent . The geography and number of subkingdoms varied over time , but a basic split between eastern and western domains persisted . The eastern kingdom was initially called Austrasia , centred on the Rhine and Meuse , and expanding eastwards into central Europe .
Belgium , [ A ] officially the Kingdom of Belgium , is a country in Western Europe . It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north , Germany to the east , Luxembourg to the southeast , France to the southwest , and the North Sea to the northwest . It covers an area of 30,689 km2 ( 11,849 sq mi ) and has a population of more than 11.5 million , making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe , with a density of 376 per square kilometre ( 970/sq mi ) . The capital and largest city is Brussels ; other major cities are Antwerp , Ghent , Charleroi and Liège . The sovereign state is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system . Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds . It is divided into three highly autonomous regions : the Flemish Region in the north , Wallonia in the south , and the Brussels-Capital Region . Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region , as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita . Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities : the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community , which constitutes about 60 percent of the population , and the French-speaking Community , which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians . A small German-speaking Community , numbering around one percent , exists in the East Cantons . The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual ( French and Dutch ) , although French is the dominant language . Belgium 's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance , made up of six different governments .
Childeric I ( /ˈkɪldərɪk/ ; French : Childéric ; Latin : Childericus ; reconstructed Frankish : *Hildirīk ; c. 437 - 481 AD ) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty , described as a King ( Latin Rex ) , both on his Roman-style seal ring , which was buried with him , and in fragmentary later records of his life . He was father of Clovis I , who acquired lordship over all or most Frankish kingdoms , and a significant part of Roman Gaul .
Clovis ( Latin : Chlodovechus ; reconstructed Frankish : *Hlōdowig ; c. 466 - 27 November 511 ) was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler , changing the form of leadership from a group of royal chieftains to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs . He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty , which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries . Clovis succeeding his father , Childeric I , as a king of Salian Franks within the Roman empire in 481 , and eventually came to rule an area extending from what is now the southern Netherlands to northern France , corresponding in Roman terms to Gallia Belgica ( northern Gaul ) . At the Battle of Soissons ( 486 ) he took full control of a rump state of the Western Roman Empire there which had been controlled by Syagrius . By the time of his death in either 511 or 513 , he had also conquered smaller Frankish kingdoms towards the northeast , the Alemanni to the east , and Visigothic kingdom of Aquitania to the south . Clovis is important in the historiography of France as the first king of what would become France . Clovis is also significant due to his conversion to Catholicism in 496 , largely at the behest of his wife , Clotilde , who would later be venerated as a saint for this act , celebrated today in both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church . Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508 . The adoption by Clovis of Catholicism ( as opposed to the Arianism of most other Germanic tribes ) led to widespread conversion among the Frankish peoples , to religious unification across what is now modern-day France , Belgium and Germany , and three centuries later to Charlemagne 's alliance with the Bishop of Rome and in the middle of the 10th century under Otto I the Great to the consequent birth of the early Holy Roman Empire .
Kelmis ( French : La Calamine ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège , named for the historical deposits of calamine ( zinc ore ) nearby . As of 2011 [ update ] , the population was 10,881 ; the area is 18.1 square kilometres ( 7.0 sq mi ) and the population density is 601.2 inhabitants per square kilometre ( 1,557/sq mi ) . The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities : Kelmis proper , Hergenrath , and Neu-Moresnet . The territory around the Vieille Montagne zinc mine in Kelmis was a neutral condominium of the Netherlands and Prussia ( later Belgium and Germany ) from 1816 to 1919 as Neutral Moresnet , with the Mayor of Kelmis being nominated by two commissioners from the neighbouring countries . Although there were attempts by locals at making it evolve into a fully independent microstate , all of them were thwarted and it remained under double-sovereignty and neutrality until its eventual annexation by Belgium after World War I . In the nineteenth century a Low Dietsch dialect was spoken in Kelmis . Today Kelmis is : German speaking has facilities for French speaking and one of the nine municipalities of the German - speaking Community of Belgium .
Neutral Moresnet ( French pronunciation : ​ [ mɔ.ʁɛ.nɛ ] ) was a small Belgian-Prussian condominium in central-western Europe that existed from 1816 to 1920 and was jointly administered by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( Belgium after its independence in 1830 ) and the Kingdom of Prussia . After 1830 , the territory 's northernmost border point at Vaalserberg connected it to a quadripoint shared additionally with the Dutch Province of Limburg , the Prussian Rhine Province , and the Belgian Province of Liège . Today it is known as the Three-Country Point , being the meeting place of the borders of Belgium , Germany , and the Netherlands . During the First World War , Neutral Moresnet was annexed by Germany , although the allies did not recognise the annexation . The Armistice between France and Germany in November 1918 forced Germany to withdraw from Belgium and Neutral Moresnet . A year later , the Treaty of Versailles awarded Neutral Moresnet to Belgium , effective 10 January 1920 , when the territory was annexed by Belgium to become the municipality of Kelmis . The area is especially of interest to Esperantists because of initiatives in the early 20th century to found an Esperanto - speaking state , named Amikejo ( lit . Place of Friendship ) , on the territory of Neutral Moresnet . During World War II , Kelmis and the surrounding area was again annexed by Germany and had its name reversed to Moresnet , but the territory was returned to Belgium in 1944 .
Vichy ( Occitan : Vichèi , Vichèir , or Vichier ) is a city in the Allier department of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France , in the historic province of Bourbonnais . It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the seat of government of Vichy France from 1940 to 1944 . The term Vichyste indicated collaboration with the Vichy regime , often carrying a pejorative connotation .
Vichy France ( French : Régime de Vichy ) is the common name of the French State ( État français ) headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II . Evacuated from Paris to Vichy in the unoccupied Free Zone ( zone libre ) in the southern part of metropolitan France which included French Algeria , it remained responsible for the civil administration of France as well as the French colonial empire . From 1940 to 1942 , while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of all of France except for Alsace-Lorraine , the Germans and Italians militarily occupied northern and south-eastern France . While Paris remained the de jure capital of France , the government chose to relocate to the town of Vichy , 360 km ( 220 mi ) to the south in the zone libre , which thus became the de facto capital of the French State . Following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942 , southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy to protect the Mediterranean coastline . Petain 's government remained in Vichy as the nominal government of France , albeit one that collaborated with Nazi Germany from November 1942 onwards . The government at Vichy remained there until late 1944 , when it lost its de facto authority due to the Allied invasion of France and the government was compelled to relocate to the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany , where it continued to exist on paper until the end of hostilities in Europe . After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun , Marshal Pétain 's cabinet agreed to end the war and signed an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940 . On 10 July , the Third Republic was effectively dissolved as Pétain was granted full powers by the National Assembly . At Vichy , Pétain established an authoritarian government that reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy , calling for National Regeneration , with central planning a key feature . Labour unions came under tight government control . Conservative Catholics became prominent and clerical input in schools resumed .
France ( French : [ fʁɑ̃s ] ( listen ) ) , officially the French Republic ( French : République française , pronounced [ ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ( listen ) ) , is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . [ XIII ] The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . It is bordered by Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast , Switzerland and Italy to the east , and Andorra and Spain to the south . The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . The country 's 18 integral regions ( five of which are situated overseas ) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres ( 248,573 sq mi ) and a total population of 67.02 million ( as of July 2019 [ update ] ) . France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban areas include Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lille and Nice . France , including its overseas territories , has the most number of time zones of any country , with a total of 12 . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . Rome annexed the area in 51 BC , holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476 , who formed the Kingdom of Francia . The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into East Francia , Middle Francia and West Francia . West Francia , which became the Kingdom of France in 987 , emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , following its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337-1453 ) .
Vichy France ( French : Régime de Vichy ) is the common name of the French State ( État français ) headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II . Evacuated from Paris to Vichy in the unoccupied Free Zone ( zone libre ) in the southern part of metropolitan France which included French Algeria , it remained responsible for the civil administration of France as well as the French colonial empire . From 1940 to 1942 , while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of all of France except for Alsace-Lorraine , the Germans and Italians militarily occupied northern and south-eastern France . While Paris remained the de jure capital of France , the government chose to relocate to the town of Vichy , 360 km ( 220 mi ) to the south in the zone libre , which thus became the de facto capital of the French State . Following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942 , southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy to protect the Mediterranean coastline . Petain 's government remained in Vichy as the nominal government of France , albeit one that collaborated with Nazi Germany from November 1942 onwards . The government at Vichy remained there until late 1944 , when it lost its de facto authority due to the Allied invasion of France and the government was compelled to relocate to the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany , where it continued to exist on paper until the end of hostilities in Europe . After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun , Marshal Pétain 's cabinet agreed to end the war and signed an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940 . On 10 July , the Third Republic was effectively dissolved as Pétain was granted full powers by the National Assembly . At Vichy , Pétain established an authoritarian government that reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy , calling for National Regeneration , with central planning a key feature . Labour unions came under tight government control . Conservative Catholics became prominent and clerical input in schools resumed .
Aachen ( /ˈɑːxən/ , German : [ ˈʔaːxn̩ ] ( listen ) ; Kölsch : Oche [ ˈɔːxə ] ) , also known as Bad Aachen ( Aachen Spa ) , in French and English as Aix-la-Chapelle , [ a ] in Italian as Aquisgrana , and in Latin as Aquæ Granni , is a spa and border city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . Aachen developed from a Roman settlement and spa , subsequently becoming the preferred medieval Imperial residence of Charlemagne , and , from 936 to 1531 , the place where 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned Kings of the Germans . Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany , located near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands , 61 km ( 38 mi ) west south west of Cologne in a former coal-mining area . One of Germany 's leading institutes of higher education in technology , the RWTH Aachen University , is located in the city . [ b ] Aachen 's industries include science , engineering and information technology . In 2009 , Aachen was ranked eighth among cities in Germany for innovation .
The Carolingian Empire ( 800-888 ) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the early Middle Ages . It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty , which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lombards in Italy from 774 . In 800 , the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in an effort to revive the Roman Empire in the west . The Carolingian Empire is considered the first phase in the history of the Holy Roman Empire , which lasted until 1806 . After a civil war ( 840-843 ) following the death of Emperor Louis the Pious , the empire was divided into autonomous kingdoms , with one king still recognised as emperor , but with little authority outside his own kingdom . The unity of the empire and the hereditary right of the Carolingians continued to be acknowledged . In 884 , Charles the Fat reunited all the Carolingian kingdoms for the last time , but he died in 888 and the empire immediately split up . With the only remaining legitimate male of the dynasty a child , the nobility elected regional kings from outside the dynasty or , in the case of the eastern kingdom , an illegitimate Carolingian . The illegitimate line continued to rule in the east until 911 , while in the western kingdom the legitimate Carolingian dynasty was restored in 898 and ruled until 987 with an interruption from 922 to 936 . The size of the empire at its inception was around 1,112,000 square kilometres ( 429,000 sq mi ) , with a population of between 10 and 20 million people . Its heartland was Francia , the land between the Loire and the Rhine , where its symbolic capital , Aachen , was located . In the south it crossed the Pyrenees and bordered the Emirate of Córdoba and , after 824 , the Kingdom of Pamplona ; to the north it bordered the kingdom of the Danes ; to the west it had a short land border with Brittany , which was later reduced to a tributary ; and to the east it had a long border with the Slavs and the Avars , who were eventually defeated and their land incorporated into the empire .
Germany ( German : Deutschland , German pronunciation : [ ˈdɔʏtʃlant ] ) , constitutionally the Federal Republic of Germany ( German : Bundesrepublik Deutschland , listen ( help·info ) ) , [ f ] is a country in Central and Western Europe . It borders Denmark to the north , Poland and the Czech Republic to the east , Austria and Switzerland to the south , France to the southwest , and Luxembourg , Belgium , and the Netherlands to the west . Germany includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres ( 137,988 sq mi ) , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With 83 million inhabitants , it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia , the most populous state lying entirely in Europe , as well as the most populous member state of the European Union . Germany is a very decentralised country . Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin , while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country 's busiest airport . Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity . A region named Germania was documented before AD 100 . Beginning in the 10th century , German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire . During the 16th century , northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation . After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire , the German Confederation was formed in 1815 . The German revolutions of 1848-49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights .
Charlemagne ( English : /ˈʃɑːrləmeɪn , ˌʃɑːrləˈmeɪn/ ; French : [ ʃaʁləmaɲ ] ) or Charles the Great [ a ] ( 2 April 748 [ b ] - 28 January 814 ) , numbered Charles I , was King of the Franks from 768 , King of the Lombards from 774 , and Emperor of the Romans from 800 . During the Early Middle Ages , he united the majority of western and central Europe . He was the first recognised emperor to rule from western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier . The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded is called the Carolingian Empire . He was later canonised by Antipope Paschal III . Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon , born before their canonical marriage . He became king in 768 following his father 's death , initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I. Carloman 's sudden death in December 771 under unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne the sole ruler of the Frankish Kingdom . He continued his father 's policy towards the papacy and became its protector , removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and leading an incursion into Muslim Spain . He campaigned against the Saxons to his east , Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden . He reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peter 's Basilica in Rome . Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe ( Pater Europae ) , as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empire and united parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish or Roman rule . His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance , a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church .
The Latin word imperator derives from the stem of the verb imperare , meaning 'to order , to command ' . It was originally employed as a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic . Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen . The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French : Empereür . The Roman emperors themselves generally based their authority on multiple titles and positions , rather than preferring any single title . Nevertheless , imperator was used relatively consistently as an element of a Roman ruler 's title throughout the principate and the dominate . In Latin , the feminine form of imperator is imperatrix .
Karlsruhe ( /ˈkɑːrlzruːə/ , also US : /ˈkɑːrls-/ , German : [ ˈkaʁlsˌʁuːə ] ( listen ) ; formerly spelled Carlsruhe ) is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart , and its 309,999 ( 2016 ) inhabitants make it the 21st largest city of Germany . On the right bank of the Rhine , the city lies near the French-German border , between the Mannheim/Ludwigshafen conurbation to the north , and the Strasbourg/Kehl conurbation to the south . It is the largest city of Baden , a region named after Hohenbaden Castle in the city of Baden-Baden . Karlsruhe is also the largest city in the South Franconian dialect area ( transitional dialects between Central and Upper German ) , the only other larger city in that area being Heilbronn . The city is the seat of the Federal Constitutional Court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ) , as well as of the Federal Court of Justice ( Bundesgerichtshof ) and the Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice ( Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof ) . Karlsruhe was the capital of the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach ( Durlach : 1565-1718 ; Karlsruhe : 1718-1771 ) , the Margraviate of Baden ( 1771-1803 ) , the Electorate of Baden ( 1803-1806 ) , the Grand Duchy of Baden ( 1806-1918 ) , and the Republic of Baden ( 1918-1945 ) . Its most remarkable building is Karlsruhe Palace , which was built in 1715 . There are nine institutions of higher education in the city , most notably the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( Karlsruher Institut für Technologie ) . Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport ( Flughafen Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden ) is the second-busiest airport of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart Airport , and the 17th-busiest airport of Germany . 2019 the UNESCO announced that Karlsruhe will join her network of Creative Cities as „ City of Media Arts .
The Grand Duchy of Baden ( German : Großherzogtum Baden ) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine . It existed between 1806 and 1918 . It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subsequently split into different lines , which were unified in 1771 . It then became the much-enlarged Grand Duchy of Baden through the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803-1806 and was a sovereign country until it joined the German Empire in 1871 , remaining a Grand Duchy until 1918 when it became part of the Weimar Republic as the Republic of Baden . Baden was bordered to the north by the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt ; to the west , along most of its length , by the river Rhine , which separated Baden from the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate and Alsace in modern France ; to the south by Switzerland ; and to the east by the Kingdom of Württemberg , the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Bavaria . After World War II , the French military government in 1945 created the state of Baden ( originally known as South Baden ) out of the southern half of the former Baden , with Freiburg as its capital . This portion of the former Baden was declared in its 1947 constitution to be the true successor of the old Baden . The northern half of the old Baden was combined with northern Württemberg , becoming part of the American military zone , and formed the state of Württemberg-Baden . Both Baden and Württemberg-Baden became states of West Germany upon its formation in 1949 . In 1952 Baden merged with Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern ( southern Württemberg and the former Prussian exclave of Hohenzollern ) to form Baden-Württemberg . This is the only merger of states that has taken place in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany . The unofficial anthem of Baden is called Badnerlied ( Song of the People of Baden ) and consists of four or five traditional verses .
Munich ( /ˈmjuːnɪk/ MEW-nik ; German : München [ ˈmʏnçn̩ ] ( listen ) ; Austro-Bavarian : Minga [ ˈmɪŋ ( ː ) ɐ ] ; Latin : Monachium ) is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria , the second most populous German federal state . With a population of around 1.5 million , it is the third-largest city in Germany , after Berlin and Hamburg , and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state , as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union . The city 's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people . Straddling the banks of the River Isar ( a tributary of the Danube ) north of the Bavarian Alps , it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria , while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany ( 4,500 people per km² ) . Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area , after the Austrian capital of Vienna , Munich was one of the host cities of the official tournament of the 2006 FIFA World Cup . The city is a global centre of art , science , technology , finance , publishing , culture , innovation , education , business , and tourism and enjoys a very high standard and quality of living , reaching first in Germany and third worldwide according to the 2018 Mercer survey , and being rated the world 's most liveable city by the Monocle 's Quality of Life Survey 2018 . According to the Globalization and World Rankings Research Institute Munich is considered an alpha-world city , as of 2015 [ update ] . Munich is a major international center of engineering , science , innovation , and research , exemplified by the presence of two research universities , a multitude of scientific institutions in the city and its surroundings , and world class technology and science museums like the Deutsches Museum and BMW Museum . Munich houses many multinational companies and its economy is based on high tech , automobiles , the service sector and creative industries , as well as IT , biotechnology , engineering and electronics among many others . The name of the city is derived from the Old/Middle High German term Munichen , meaning by the monks . It derives from the monks of the Benedictine order , who ran a monastery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich ; hence the monk depicted on the city 's coat of arms . Munich was first mentioned in 1158 .
The Kingdom of Bavaria ( German : Königreich Bayern ; Austro-Bavarian : Kinereich Bayern ) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918 . The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1805 as Maximilian I Joseph . The crown would go on being held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom came to an end in 1918 . Most of Bavaria 's present-day borders were established after 1814 with the Treaty of Paris , in which Bavaria ceded Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the Austrian Empire while receiving Aschaffenburg and Würzburg . With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871 , the kingdom became a federal state of the new Empire and was second in size , power , and wealth only to the leading state , the Kingdom of Prussia . In 1918 , Bavaria became a republic , and the kingdom was thus succeeded by the current Free State of Bavaria .
Braunschweig ( German pronunciation : [ ˈbʁaʊnʃvaɪk ] ( listen ) ; Low German : Brunswiek [ ˈbrɔˑnsviːk ] ) , also called Brunswick ( /ˈbrʌnzwɪk/ ) in English , is a city in Lower Saxony , Germany , north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker River which connects it to the North Sea via the Aller and Weser Rivers . In 2016 , it had a population of 250,704 . A powerful and influential centre of commerce in medieval Germany , Braunschweig was a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th until the 17th century . It was the capital city of three successive states : the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ( 1269-1432 , 1754-1807 , and 1813-1814 ) , the Duchy of Brunswick ( 1814-1918 ) , and the Free State of Brunswick ( 1918-1946 ) . Today , Braunschweig is the second-largest city in Lower Saxony and a major centre of scientific research and development .
The Duchy of Brunswick ( German : Herzogtum Braunschweig ) was a historical German state . Its capital was the city of Brunswick ( Braunschweig ) . It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 . In the course of the 19th-century history of Germany , the duchy was part of the German Confederation , the North German Confederation and from 1871 the German Empire . It was disestablished after the end of World War I , its territory incorporated into the Weimar Republic as the Free State of Brunswick .
The Free State of Brunswick ( German : Freistaat Braunschweig ) was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic . It was formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918-19 . Its capital was Braunschweig ( Brunswick ) .
Lower Saxony ( German : Niedersachsen [ ˈniːdɐzaksn̩ ] ( listen ) ; Low German : Neddersassen ) is a German state ( Land ) situated in northwestern Germany . It is the second-largest state by land area , with 47,624 km2 ( 18,388 sq mi ) , and fourth-largest in population ( 7.9 million ) among the 16 Länder federated as the Federal Republic of Germany . In rural areas , Northern Low Saxon ( a dialect of Low German ) and Saterland Frisian ( a variety of the Frisian language ) are still spoken , but the number of speakers is declining . Lower Saxony borders on ( from north and clockwise ) the North Sea , the states of Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Brandenburg , Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia , Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia , and the Netherlands ( Drenthe , Groningen and Overijssel ) . Furthermore , the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony , one being the city of Bremen , the other , its seaport city of Bremerhaven . In fact , Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland . The state 's principal cities include the state capital Hanover , Braunschweig ( Brunswick ) , Lüneburg , Osnabrück , Oldenburg , Hildesheim , Wolfenbüttel , Wolfsburg , and Göttingen . The northwestern area of Lower Saxony , which lies on the coast of the North Sea , is called East Frisia and the seven East Frisian Islands offshore are popular with tourists . In the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland , a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area , once dominated by inaccessible swamps . The northern half of Lower Saxony , also known as the North German Plains , is almost invariably flat except for the gentle hills around the Bremen geestland . Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands : the Weser Uplands and the Harz mountains . Between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills , a range of low ridges .
Frankfurt ( officially : Frankfurt am Main ( German : [ ˈfʁaŋkfʊʁt ʔam ˈmaɪn ] ( listen ) ; Hessian : Frangford am Maa ; lit . Frank ford on the [ a ] Main ) ) is a metropolis and the largest city of the German federal state of Hesse , and its 746,878 ( 2017 ) inhabitants make it the fifth-largest city in Germany . On the River Main ( a tributary of the Rhine ) , it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring city of Offenbach am Main , and its urban area has a population of 2.3 million . The city is at the centre of the larger Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region , which has a population of 5.5 million and is Germany 's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr Region . Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013 , the geographic centre of the EU is about 40 km ( 25 mi ) to the east of Frankfurt 's central business district . Like France and Franconia , the city is named after the Franks . Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area ( Franconian dialects ) , Frankfurt was one of the host cities of the official tournaments of the 1974 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup . Frankfurt was a city state , the Free City of Frankfurt , for nearly five centuries , and was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire , as a site of imperial coronations ; it lost its sovereignty upon the collapse of the empire in 1806 and then permanently in 1866 , when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia . It has been part of the federal state of Hesse since 1945 . Frankfurt is culturally , ethnically , and religiously diverse , with half of its population , and a majority of young people , having a migration background . A quarter of the population consists of foreign nationals , including many expatriates . Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce , culture , education , tourism and transportation .
The Confederation of the Rhine ( German : Rheinbund ; French : officially États confédérés du Rhin ( Confederated States of the Rhine ) , but in practice Confédération du Rhin ) was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire . It was formed initially from sixteen German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz . The Treaty of Pressburg , in effect , led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine , which lasted from 1806 to 1813 . The members of the confederation were German princes ( Fürsten ) formerly within the Holy Roman Empire . They were later joined by 19 others , altogether ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern frontier by providing a separation between France and the two largest German states , Prussia and Austria ( which also controlled substantial non-German lands to its north , east and south ) , to the east , which were not members of the Confederation of the Rhine .
The German Confederation ( German : Deutscher Bund ) was an association of 39 German-speaking states in Central Europe ( adding the mainly non-German speaking Kingdom of Bohemia and Duchy of Carniola ) , created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries and to replace the former Holy Roman Empire , which had been dissolved in 1806 . The German Confederation excluded German-speaking lands in the eastern portion of the Kingdom of Prussia ( East Prussia , West Prussia and Posen ) , the German cantons of Switzerland , and the French region of Alsace , which was predominantly German speaking . The Confederation was weakened by rivalry between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire , the German revolutions of 1848-49 , and the inability of its multiple members to compromise . In 1848 , revolutions by liberals and nationalists attempted to establish a unified German state with a progressive liberal constitution under the Frankfurt Convention . The ruling body , the Confederate Diet , was dissolved on 12 July 1848 , but was re-established in 1850 after failed efforts to replace it . The Confederation was finally dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Seven Weeks ' War over Austrian Empire in 1866 . The dispute over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia , leading to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867 , to which the eastern portions of the Kingdom of Prussia were added . A number of South German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation , which was renamed and proclaimed as the German Empire in 1871 for the now unified Germany ( aside from Austria ) with the Prussian king as emperor ( Kaiser ) after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 . Most historians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective , as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state . However , the Confederation was designed to be weak , as it served the interests of the European Great Powers , especially member states Austria and Prussia .
Berlin ( /bɜːrˈlɪn/ ; German : [ bɛʁˈliːn ] ( listen ) ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population . Its 3,748,148 ( 2018 ) inhabitants make it the most populous city proper of the European Union . The city is one of Germany 's 16 federal states . It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg , and contiguous with Potsdam , Brandenburg 's capital . The two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region , which is , with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km² , Germany 's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions . Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree , which flows into the River Havel ( a tributary of the River Elbe ) in the western borough of Spandau . Among the city 's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree , Havel , and Dahme rivers ( the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee ) . Due to its location in the European Plain , Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate . About one-third of the city 's area is composed of forests , parks , gardens , rivers , canals and lakes . The city lies in the Central German dialect area , the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects . First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes , Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg ( 1417-1701 ) , the Kingdom of Prussia ( 1701-1918 ) , the German Empire ( 1871-1918 ) , the Weimar Republic ( 1919-1933 ) , and the Third Reich ( 1933-1945 ) . Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world .
The German Empire ( German : Deutsches Kaiserreich , officially Deutsches Reich ) , sometimes referred to as Imperial Germany , was the German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in 1918 . It was founded on 1 January 1871 when the south German states , except for Austria , joined the North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introduced the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I , King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern . Berlin remained its capital , and Otto , Prince of Bismarck , Minister-President of Prussia became Chancellor , the head of government . As these events occurred , the Prussian-led North German Confederation and its southern German allies were still engaged in the Franco-Prussian War . The German Empire consisted of 26 states , most of them ruled by royal families . They included four kingdoms , six grand duchies , five duchies ( six before 1876 ) , seven principalities , three free Hanseatic cities , and one imperial territory . Although Prussia was one of several kingdoms in the realm , it contained about two thirds of Germany 's population and territory . Prussian dominance had also been established constitutionally . After 1850 , the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized , with particular strengths in coal , iron ( and later steel ) , chemicals , and railways . In 1871 , Germany had a population of 41 million people ; by 1913 , this had increased to 68 million . A heavily rural collection of states in 1815 , the now united Germany became predominantly urban . During its 47 years of existence , the German Empire was an industrial , technological , and scientific giant , gaining more Nobel Prizes in science than any other country .
The Weimar Republic ( German : Weimarer Republik [ ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk ] ( listen ) ) is an unofficial historical designation for the German state from 1918 to 1933 . The name derives from the city of Weimar , where its constitutional assembly first took place . The official name of the republic remained Deutsches Reich ( German Reich ) unchanged from 1871 , because of the German tradition of substates . Although commonly translated as German Empire , the word Reich here better translates as realm , in that the term does not necessarily have monarchical connotations in itself . The Reich was changed from a constitutional monarchy into a republic . In English , the country was usually known simply as Germany . Germany became a de facto republic on 9 November 1918 when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the German and Prussian thrones with no agreement made on a succession by his son Crown Prince Wilhelm , and became a de jure republic in February 1919 when the position of President of Germany was created . A national assembly was convened in Weimar , where a new constitution for Germany was written and adopted on 11 August 1919 . In its fourteen years , the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems , including hyperinflation , political extremism ( with contending paramilitaries ) as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War . Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong especially on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed and submitted to the treaty . The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations ( by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan ) . Under the Locarno Treaties , Germany accepted the western borders of the country by abandoning irredentist claims on France and Belgium , but continued to dispute the eastern borders and sought to persuade Austria to join Germany as one of Germany 's states .
Nazi Germany is the common English name for Germany between 1933 and 1945 , when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) controlled the country through a dictatorship . Under Hitler 's rule , Germany became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government . The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich ( German Reich ) until 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich ( Greater German Reich ) from 1943 to 1945 . Nazi Germany is also known as the Third Reich ( Drittes Reich ) , meaning Third Realm or Third Empire , the first two being the Holy Roman Empire ( 800-1806 ) and the German Empire ( 1871-1918 ) . The Nazi regime ended after the Allies defeated Germany in May 1945 , ending World War II in Europe . Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic , Paul von Hindenburg , on 30 January 1933 . The NSDAP then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power . Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934 and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the offices and powers of the Chancellery and Presidency . A national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer ( leader ) of Germany . All power was centralised in Hitler 's person and his word became the highest law . The government was not a coordinated , co-operating body , but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitler 's favour . In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy .
Upon defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II , the victorious Allies asserted joint authority and sovereignty over 'Germany as a whole ' , defined as all territories of the former German Reich west of the Oder-Neisse line , having declared the destruction of Nazi Germany at the death of Adolf Hitler ( see 1945 Berlin Declaration ) . The four powers divided 'Germany as a whole ' into four occupation zones for administrative purposes , under the United States , United Kingdom , France and the Soviet Union respectively ; creating what became collectively known as Allied-occupied Germany ( German : Alliierten-besetztes Deutschland ) . This division was ratified at the Potsdam Conference ( 17 July to 2 August 1945 ) . [ not verified in body ] The four zones were as agreed in February 1945 by the United States , United Kingdom and Soviet Union meeting at the Yalta Conference ; setting aside an earlier division into three zones ( excluding France ) proposed by the London Protocol . At Potsdam , the United States , United Kingdom and the Soviet Union approved the detachment from 'Germany as a whole ' of the German eastern territories east of the Oder-Neisse line ; with the exact line of the boundary to be determined at a final German Peace Treaty . This treaty was expected to confirm the shifting westward of Poland 's borders , as the United Kingdom and the United States committed themselves to support in any future peace treaty the permanent incorporation of former eastern German territories into Poland and the Soviet Union . From March 1945 to July 1945 , these former eastern territories of Germany had been administered under Soviet military occupation authorities , but following the Potsdam Conference they were handed over to Soviet and Polish civilian administrations and ceased to constitute part of Allied-occupied Germany . In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe , United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation , in some places by as much as 320 km ( 200 miles ) . The so-called line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities , mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border , was temporary . After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone , U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945 . Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American , British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin , which occurred at roughly the same time ( July 1945 ) , although the need for intelligence gathering ( see Operation Paperclip ) may also have been a factor .
The Federal City of Bonn ( German pronunciation : [ bɔn ] ( listen ) ) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia , with a population of over 300,000 . About 24 km ( 15 mi ) south-southeast of Cologne , Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region , Germany 's largest metropolitan area , with over 11 million inhabitants . It is famously known as the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven in 1770 . He spent his childhood and teenage years in Bonn . Founded in the 1st century BC as a Roman settlement , Bonn is one of Germany 's oldest cities . From 1597 to 1794 , Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne , and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne . From 1949 to 1990 , Bonn was the capital of West Germany , and Germany 's present constitution , the Basic Law , was declared in the city in 1949 . The era when Bonn served as the capital of West Germany is referred to by historians as the Bonn Republic . From 1990 to 1999 , Bonn served as the seat of government - but no longer capital - of reunited Germany . Because of a political compromise following the reunification , the German federal government maintains a substantial presence in Bonn . Roughly a third of all ministerial jobs are located in Bonn as of 2019 [ update ] , and the city is considered a second , unofficial , capital of the country . Bonn is the secondary seat of the President , the Chancellor , the Bundesrat and the primary seat of six federal government ministries and twenty federal authorities .
West Germany was the informal name for the Federal Republic of Germany , a country in Western Europe , in the period between its formation on 23 May 1949 and German reunification on 3 October 1990 . During this Cold War period , the western portion of Germany was part of the Western Bloc . The Federal Republic was created during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , established from eleven states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States , the United Kingdom and France . Its ( provisional ) capital was the city of Bonn . The Cold War era West Germany is also retrospectively designated the Bonn Republic . At the onset of the Cold War , Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs . Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories , the Saarland and a divided Berlin . Initially , the Federal Republic of Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany , considering itself to be the sole democratically reorganised continuation of the 1871-1945 German Reich . It took the line that the German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) was an illegally constituted puppet state . Though the GDR did hold regular elections , these were neither free nor fair . From the West German perspective , the GDR was therefore illegitimate . Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952 , and the Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957 .
German reunification ( German : Deutsche Wiedervereinigung ) was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic ( GDR , colloquially East Germany ; German : Deutsche Demokratische Republik/DDR ) became part of the Federal Republic of Germany ( FRG , colloquially West Germany ; German : Bundesrepublik Deutschland/BRD ) to form the reunited nation of Germany , as provided by Article 23 of the FRG 's then constitution ( Grundgesetz ) . The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity ( German : Deutsche Einheit ) , celebrated each year on 3 October as German Unity Day ( German : Tag der deutschen Einheit ) . Berlin was reunited into a single city , and was once again designated as the capital of united Germany . The East German government started to falter in May 1989 , when the removal of Hungary 's border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain . It caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary . The Peaceful Revolution , a series of protests by East Germans , led to the GDR 's first free elections on 18 March 1990 , and to the negotiations between the GDR and FRG that culminated in a Unification Treaty . Other negotiations between the GDR and FRG and the four occupying powers produced the so-called Two Plus Four Treaty ( Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany ) granting full sovereignty to a unified German state , whose two parts were previously bound by a number of limitations stemming from their post-World War II status as occupied regions . The 1945 Potsdam Agreement had specified that a full peace treaty concluding World War II , including the exact delimitation of Germany 's postwar boundaries , required to be accepted by the Government of Germany when a government adequate for the purpose is established . The Federal Republic had always maintained that no such government could be said to have been established until East and West Germany had been united within a free democratic state ; but in 1990 a range of opinions continued to be maintained over whether a unified West Germany , East Germany , and Berlin could be said to represent Germany as a whole for this purpose . The key question was whether a Germany that remained bounded to the east by the Oder-Neisse line could act as a united Germany in signing the peace treaty without qualification . Under the Two Plus Four Treaty both the Federal Republic and the Democratic Republic committed themselves and their unified continuation to the principle that their joint pre-1990 boundaries constituted the entire territory that could be claimed by a Government of Germany , and hence that there were no further lands outside those boundaries that were parts of Germany as a whole . The post-1990 united Germany is not a successor state , but an enlarged continuation of the former West Germany .
East Berlin was the capital city of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990 . Formally , it was the Soviet sector of Berlin , established in 1945 . The American , British , and French sectors were known as West Berlin . From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989 , East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall . The Western Allied powers did not recognise East Berlin as the GDR 's capital , nor the GDR 's authority to govern East Berlin . On 3 October 1990 , the day Germany was officially reunified , East and West Berlin formally reunited as the city of Berlin .
East Germany , officially the German Democratic Republic ( GDR ; German : Deutsche Demokratische Republik [ ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʁaːtɪʃə ʁepuˈbliːk ] , DDR ) , was a state that existed from 1949 to 1990 , the period when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War . Commonly described as a communist state in English usage , it described itself as a socialist workers ' and peasants ' state . It consisted of territory that was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the end of World War II - the Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement , bounded on the east by the Oder-Neisse line . The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it ; as a result , West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR . The German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet zone , while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones . East Germany was a satellite state of the Soviet Union . Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948 , and the GDR began to function as a state on 7 October 1949 . However , Soviet forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War . Until 1989 , the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party ( SED ) , though other parties nominally participated in its alliance organisation , the National Front . The SED made the teaching of Marxism-Leninism and the Russian language compulsory in schools . The economy was centrally planned and increasingly state-owned . Prices of housing , basic goods and services were set by central government planners rather than rising and falling through supply and demand ; and were heavily subsidised .
West Berlin ( German : Berlin ( West ) or colloquially West-Berlin ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War . There was no specific date on which the sectors of Berlin occupied by the Western Allies became West Berlin , but 1949 is widely accepted as the year in which the name was adopted . West Berlin aligned itself politically with the Federal Republic of Germany ( called the Bonn Republic by historians ) and was directly or indirectly represented in its federal institutions . West Berlin was formally controlled by the Western Allies and was entirely surrounded by the Soviet-controlled East Berlin and East Germany . West Berlin had great symbolic significance during the Cold War , as it was widely considered by westerners as an island of freedom . It was heavily subsidised by West Germany as a showcase of the West . A wealthy city , West Berlin was noted for its distinctly cosmopolitan character , and as a centre of education , research and culture . With about two million inhabitants , West Berlin had the largest population of any city in Germany during the Cold War era . West Berlin was 100 miles ( 161 kilometres ) east and north of the Inner German border and only accessible by land from West Germany by narrow rail and highway corridors . It consisted of the American , British , and French occupation sectors established in 1945 . The Berlin Wall , built in 1961 , physically separated West Berlin from its East Berlin and East German surroundings until it fell in 1989 . On 3 October 1990 , the day Germany was officially reunified , East and West Berlin formally reunited as the city of Berlin .
Hanover or Hannover ( /ˈhænoʊvər , -nəv-/ ; German : Hannover [ haˈnoːfɐ ] ( listen ) ; Low German : Hannober ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony . Its 535,061 ( 2017 ) inhabitants make it the thirteenth-largest city in Germany as well as the third-largest city in Northern Germany after Hamburg and Bremen . The city lies at the confluence of the River Leine ( progression : Aller→ Weser→ North Sea ) and its tributary Ihme , in the south of the North German Plain , and is the largest city in the Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region . It is the fifth-largest city in the Low German dialect area after Hamburg , Dortmund , Essen and Bremen . Before it became the capital of Lower Saxony in 1946 Hanover was the capital of the Principality of Calenberg ( 1636-1692 ) , the Electorate of Hanover ( 1692-1814 ) , the Kingdom of Hanover ( 1814-1866 ) , the Province of Hanover of the Kingdom of Prussia ( 1868-1918 ) , the Province of Hanover of the Free State of Prussia ( 1918-1946 ) and of the State of Hanover ( 1946 ) . From 1714 to 1837 Hanover was by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , under their title of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg ( later described as the Elector of Hanover ) . The city is a major crossing point of railway lines and motorways ( Autobahnen ) , connecting European main lines in both the east-west ( Berlin-Ruhr area/Düsseldorf/Cologne ) and north-south ( Hamburg-Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Munich ) directions . Hannover Airport lies north of the city , in Langenhagen , and is Germany 's ninth-busiest airport . The city 's most notable institutes of higher education are the Hannover Medical School with its university hospital ( Klinikum der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover ) and the Leibniz University Hannover . The Hanover fairground , owing to numerous extensions , especially for the Expo 2000 , is the largest in the world . Hanover hosts annual commercial trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair and up to 2018 the CeBIT . The IAA Commercial Vehicles show takes place every two years .
The Kingdom of Hanover ( German : Königreich Hannover ) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna , with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era . It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover ( known formally as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg ) , and joined 38 other sovereign states in the German Confederation in June 1815 . The kingdom was ruled by the House of Hanover , a cadet branch of the House of Welf , in personal union with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland since 1714 . Since its monarch resided in London , a viceroy ( usually a younger member of the British Royal Family ) handled the administration of the Kingdom of Hanover . The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 upon the accession of Queen Victoria because females could not inherit the Hanoverian throne , so her uncle became the ruler of Hanover . Hanover backed the losing side in the Austro-Prussian War and was conquered by Prussia in 1866 , subsequently becoming a Prussian province . Along with the rest of Prussia , Hanover became part of the German Empire upon unification in January 1871 . Briefly revived as the State of Hanover in 1946 , the state was subsequently merged with some smaller states to form the current state of Lower Saxony in West Germany , later Germany .
Prussia ( /ˈprʌʃə/ ; German : Preußen , pronounced [ ˈpʁɔʏsn̩ ] ( listen ) , Old Prussian : Prūsa or Prūsija ) was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centered on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea . It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947 . For centuries , the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia , successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army . Prussia , with its capital first in Königsberg and then , in 1701 , in Berlin , decisively shaped the history of Germany . In 1871 , most German states ( notably excluding Austria and Switzerland ) united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership . In November 1918 , the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918-19 . The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic - the Free State of Prussia , a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933 . From 1933 , Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup , when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state . With the end of the Nazi regime , in 1945 , the division of Germany into Allied occupation zones and the separation of its territories east of the Oder-Neisse line , which were incorporated into Poland and the Soviet Union , the State of Prussia ceased to exist de facto . Prussia existed de jure until its formal abolition by the Allied Control Council Enactment No . 46 of 25 February 1947 . The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians ; in the 13th century , the Teutonic Knights - an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders - conquered the lands inhabited by them .
The Province of Hanover ( German : Provinz Hannover ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946 . During the Austro-Prussian War , the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position , along with some other member states of the German Confederation . After Hanover voted in favour of mobilising confederation troops against Prussia on 14 June 1866 , Prussia saw this as a just cause for declaring war ; the Kingdom of Hanover was soon dissolved and annexed by Prussia . The private wealth of the dethroned House of Hanover was then used by Otto von Bismarck to finance his continuing efforts against Ludwig II of Bavaria . In 1946 , the British military administration recreated the State of Hanover based on the former Kingdom of Hanover ; but within the year , at the instigation of the German leadership , it was merged into the new state ( Bundesland ) of Lower Saxony - along with the states of Oldenburg , Brunswick , and Schaumburg-Lippe - with the city of Hanover as the capital of this new state .
Darmstadt ( /ˈdɑːrmstæt/ , also UK : /-ʃtæt/ , US : /-stɑːt , -ʃtɑːt/ , German : [ ˈdaʁmʃtat ] ( listen ) ) is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany , located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area ( Frankfurt Metropolitan Region ) . Darmstadt had a population of around 157,437 at the end of 2016 . The Darmstadt Larger Urban Zone has 430,993 inhabitants . Darmstadt holds the official title City of Science ( German : Wissenschaftsstadt ) as it is a major centre of scientific institutions , universities , and high-technology companies . The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ( EUMETSAT ) and the European Space Operations Centre ( ESOC ) are located in Darmstadt , as well as GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research , where several chemical elements such as bohrium ( 1981 ) , meitnerium ( 1982 ) , hassium ( 1984 ) , darmstadtium ( 1994 ) , roentgenium ( 1994 ) , and copernicium ( 1996 ) were discovered . The existence of the following elements were also confirmed at GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research : nihonium ( 2012 ) , flerovium ( 2009 ) , moscovium ( 2012 ) , livermorium ( 2010 ) , and tennessine ( 2012 ) . The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research ( FAIR ) is an international accelerator facility under construction . Darmstadt is also the seat of the world 's oldest pharmaceutical company , Merck , which is the city 's largest employer .
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt ( German : Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt ) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire , ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse . It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Landgrave Philip I . The residence of the landgraves was in Darmstadt , hence the name . As a result of the Napoleonic Wars , the landgraviate was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Hesse following the Empire 's dissolution in 1806 .
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein ) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 ( the period of German mediatization ) to the end of the German Empire in 1918 . The grand duchy originally formed on the basis of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen ) . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 , it changed its name in 1816 to distinguish itself from the Electorate of Hesse , which had formed from neighboring Hesse-Kassel . Colloquially , the grand duchy continued to be known by its former name of Hesse-Darmstadt . It joined the German Empire in 1871 and became a republic after German defeat in World War I in 1918 .
The People 's State of Hesse ( German : Volksstaat Hessen ) was the name of the German state of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1918 until 1945 .
Kassel ( German pronunciation : [ ˈkasl̩ ] ( listen ) ; in Germany , spelled Cassel until 1928 ) is a city located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse , Germany . It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 200,507 inhabitants in December 2015 . The former capital of the state of Hesse-Kassel has many palaces and parks , including the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe , which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Kassel is also known for the documenta exhibitions of contemporary art . Kassel has a public university with 25,000 students ( 2018 ) and a multicultural population ( 39% of the citizens in 2017 had a migration background ) .
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel ( German : Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel ) , spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence , [ a ] was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor . The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon the death of Philip I , Landgrave of Hesse . His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half of the Landgraviate and the capital of Kassel . The other sons received the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg , the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt . During the Napoleonic reorganisation of the Empire in 1803 , the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to an Electorate and Landgrave William IX became an Imperial Elector . Many members of the Hesse-Kassel House served in the Danish military gaining high ranks and power in the Oldenburg realm due to the fact that many Landgraves were married to Danish princesses . Members of the family who are known to have served Denmark-Norway include Prince Frederik of Hesse-Kassel , Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel , and Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel . It was later occupied by French troops and became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia , a French satellite state . The Electorate of Hesse was restored at the end of the Napoleonic Wars , though by that time there was no longer an emperor to elect .
The Electorate of Hesse ( German : Kurfürstentum Hessen ) , also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen , was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon . When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806 , its prince , William I , chose to retain the title of Elector , even though there was no longer an Emperor to elect . In 1807 , with the Treaties of Tilsit , the area was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia , but in 1814 , the Congress of Vienna restored the electorate . The state was the only electorate within the German Confederation . It consisted of several detached territories to the north of Frankfurt , which survived until the state was annexed by Prussia in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War . It comprised a total land area of 3,699 square miles ( 9,580 km2 ) , and its population in 1864 was 745,063 .
The Province of Hesse-Nassau ( German : Provinz Hessen-Nassau ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918 , then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944 . Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel ( or Hesse-Cassel ) , the Duchy of Nassau , the Free City of Frankfurt , areas gained from the Kingdom of Bavaria , and areas gained from the Grand Duchy of Hesse ( including part of the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg from Hesse-Darmstadt ; ) . These regions were combined to form the province Hesse-Nassau in 1868 with its capital in Kassel and redivided into two administrative regions : Kassel and Wiesbaden . The largest part of the province surrounded the province of Upper Hesse in the People 's State of Hesse . On 1 April 1929 , the Free State of Waldeck became a part of Hesse-Nassau after a popular vote and became part of the Kassel administrative region . In 1935 , the Nazi government abolished ( de facto ) all states , so the provinces held little meaning . In 1944 , Hesse-Nassau was split into the provinces of Kurhessen ( capital in Kassel ) and Nassau ( capital in Wiesbaden ) . In 1945 , after the end of World War II , these two provinces were merged and combined with the neighbouring Hesse-Darmstadt to form the northern and western part of the newly founded state of Hesse . Parts of Nassau were also moved into the Rhineland-Palatinate .
Wiesbaden ( German pronunciation : [ ˈviːsˌbaːdn̩ ] ( listen ) ) is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse . As of January 2018 [ update ] , it had 289,544 inhabitants , plus approximately 19,000 United States citizens ( mostly associated with the United States Army ) . The Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx . 560,000 people . The city , together with nearby Frankfurt am Main , Darmstadt , and Mainz , is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region , a metropolitan area with a combined population of about 5.8 million people . Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe . Its name translates to meadow baths , a reference to its famed hot springs . It is also internationally famous for its architecture and climate - it is also called the Nice of the North in reference to the city in France . At one time , Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs . As of 2008 [ update ] , fourteen of the springs are still flowing . In 1970 , the town hosted the tenth Hessentag Landesfest ( English : Hessian Day , a state festival ) . The city is considered the tenth richest in Germany ( 2014 ) boasting 110.3% of the national average gross domestic product in 2017 .
The Duchy of Nassau ( German : Herzogtum Nassau ) was an independent state between 1806 and 1866 , located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse . It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the German Confederation . Its ruling dynasty , now extinct , was the House of Nassau . The duchy was named for its historical core city , Nassau , although Wiesbaden rather than Nassau was its capital . In 1865 , the Duchy of Nassau had 465,636 inhabitants . After being occupied and annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War , it was incorporated into the Province of Hesse-Nassau . The area today is a geographical and historical region , Nassau , and Nassau is also the name of the Nassau Nature Park within the borders of the former duchy . Today , the Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses Duke of Nassau as his secondary title ( of pretense ) , and Prince or Princess of Nassau is used as a title of pretense by other members of the grand ducal family . Nassau is also part of the name of the Dutch royal family , which styles itself Orange-Nassau .
Hesse ( /hɛs/ , also US : /ˈhɛsə , ˈhɛsi/ , Hessian dialect : [ ˈhɛzə ] ) or Hessia ( UK : /ˈhɛsiə/ , US : /ˈhɛʃə/ ; German : Hessen [ ˈhɛsn̩ ] ( listen ) ) , officially the State of Hesse ( German : Land Hessen ) , is a parliamentary republic in western Europe and , with just over six million inhabitants , a member state of the Federal Republic of Germany as of 1949 . Its capital city is Wiesbaden , the largest metropolitan area is Frankfurt am Main . As a cultural region , Hesse also includes the area known as Rhenish Hesse ( Rheinhessen ) in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate .