Germany

From The D Archives

Germany (German: Deutschland IPA: [ˈdɔɪtʃland]), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (help·info), IPA: [ˈbʊndəsrepubliːk ˈdɔɪtʃland]), is a country in Western-Central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, on the south by Austria and Switzerland, and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic of sixteen states (Bundesländer). The country previously consisted of several sovereign states with their own history, culture, and religious affiliation. Germany was first unified as a nation-state amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It has the largest population and largest economy of all EU member states. As a modern great power, Germany has the world's third largest economy (after the United States of America and Japan), is the world's largest exporter of goods, and the world's second largest importer of goods. Germany currently holds the rotating presidencies of both the EU and the G8.