

There were many smaller states in the Empire, but not Austria. The rulers were called Kaisers or "German Emperors", but they did not call themselves "Emperors of Germany". The biggest state in the new German Empire was Prussia. The treaty of unification of Germany was made in Versailles after Germany won the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. During this time Prussia founded the North German Confederation. In 1866 Prussia won the war against Austria and their allies. It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first Reich (this word means empire). West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (inf. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (inf. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. īefore it was called Germany, it was called Germania. After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world. In March 2021, Germany had a population of 83.1 million people, the largest in Europe (excluding Russia). Most of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic.

To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German). Germany ( German: Deutschland, pronounced ( listen)), officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( Bundesrepublik Deutschland), is a country in Central Europe.
