The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was in turn transformed into the semi-presidential Weimar Republic. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815.įormal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state commenced on 18 August 1866 with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia-led North German Confederation later transformed in 1871 into the German Empire.

During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100.

Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. Settlement in what is now Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Its 16 constituent states have a total population of over 84 million, cover a combined area of 357,600 km 2 (138,100 sq mi) and are bordered by Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in the western region of Central Europe.

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