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A review of twentieth-century history would be incomplete without reference to Germany. During the past century, Germany was involved in two world wars. Following its defeat in World War II, its division into East and West became a major symbol of the larger division of the postwar world, just as its reunification in 1990 served as a symbol of the cold war’s end. Today, as the major power in the European Union, it is poised to be a leader in the twenty-first century. The United States, too, has powerful his torical ties to Germany. Germans represent the nation’s largest single ethnic group and many traits of American culture can be traced to German roots. The Protestant Reformation, for example, began in Germany, and many other “American” characteristics—from words in our vocabulary (angst, kindergarten, sauerkraut), to what and how we eat, to the idea that sparked the Interstate Highway System—have German origins.

Germany’s population is the largest in Europe (excluding Russia) and its economy is the continent’s most powerful. Roughly one of every seven Europeans is German. Economically, the country is Europe’s leader in industry, trade, and services. The country was one of the first on mainland Europe to actively participate in the Industrial Revolution, after its spread from the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century. Two centuries later, it also played a key role in the formation of the European Union (EU). Germany is located in the heart of Europe. To the west it borders the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. To the south lie Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic, to the east is Poland, and to the north Denmark. The North European Plain, which includes the densely populated northern third of Germany, has been a route for human migration and a battlefield for roving armies since ancient times. European countries are often thought of as being very old, but modern Germany is younger than the United States. The German Empire was created in 1871 as a union of more than 30 smaller states. Because each state had its own capital, Germany today has many large cities scattered throughout the country; although the current capital city, Berlin, is the country’s largest urban center. Twice during the twentieth century, Germany tried to expand outward from its central location to take control of its neighbors by force. World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945) were the greatest conflicts of the century. On both occasions, the late entry of the United States into these wars in 1917 and 1941 tipped the scales against Germany. Unable to fight a war on two fronts, Germany was pushed back, losing some of its original territory in both wars.