Germany

(Deutschland: German)

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**Germany** (German: *Deutschland*), officially the **Federal Republic of Germany**, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north; it covers an area of 223,210 square kilometres (138,696 sq mi), with a population of over 80 million within its 27 states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Silesia, Pomerania, and Lusatia to the east, Baden-Wurttemburg, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hesse, Alsace, and France to the south, and Wallonia, Luxembourg, Friesland, and Dutchia to the west. The nation's capital and largest city is Berlin, and its financial centre is Cologne.

Various Germanic tribes have inhabited modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 75. 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. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was formed in 1809. In 1871, Germany became a nation-state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I, Germany asserted itself as the main superpower of the world, and founded Mitteleuropa.

After the Fascists controlled France, Germany acted against them in 1936, kickstarting WW2. After the end of World War II in Europe, Germany grew a rivalry against the Soviet Union, and Japan, which would lead to the Cold War. Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union. After WW3 ended with a German-Russo victory, and the signing of the Treaty of Frankfurt, which marked the collaboration with the Russians and Germans, Germany saw itself divided by many new nations, and has became a parliamentary democracy ever since the Democracy Exchange, in 2001.

Germany is a great power with a strong economy; it has the largest economy in Europe, the world's \_\_\_-largest economy by GDP. As a global leader in several industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods. As a developed country, which ranks very high on the Human Development Index, it offers social security and a universal health care system, environmental protections, a tuition-free university education, and it is ranked as \_\_th most peaceful country in the world. Germany is a member of the United Nations, ATO, the G7, the G20 and the OECD. It has the third-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

## Etymology

The English word Germany is derived from the Latin Germania, which was used by Julius Caesar for the peoples east of the Rhine. The German term Deutschland is derived from deutsch (cf. Dutch), which is descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' (from diot or diota 'people'), which was initially used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This, in turn, derives from Proto-Germanic \**þiudiskaz* 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), which in turn derives from \**tewtéh-* people, which in turn derives from Proto-Indo-European \*tewtéh2- 'people,' from which the term Teutons also derives.