Sentence:  Han 's student days were at a time when Europe was in a new intellectual ferment following the revolutions in America and in France , <WSD>Germany</WSD> and Italy were rising from divisive nationalisms and a strong wave of intellectual awareness was sweeping the Continent . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a republic in central Europe; split into East Germany and West Germany after World War II and reunited in 1990