The Country history
Germany is probably most remembered for Adolf Hitler's activities leading to World War II, and the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. World War II left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945.
With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany), a member of the Western bloc under the leadership of the United States; and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany), part of the Eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union. West Germany developed into a democratic capitalist state like its Western neighbours; East Germany had imposed on it the Soviet Union's communist dictatorship and command economy.
The year of 1989 was a historical landmark for the Germans because Berlin Wall was dismantled and Germany reunited. The country saw many political changes in the following years and Germany joined the NATO allies in the military conflict in Kosovo in 1999. As a founding country, Germany had a main role in the constructions of the European Union.
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