Germany has more people than any country in Europe， not counting R Industry has made Germany It is the dominant economic power in E Its factories make steel， cars， cameras， chemicals， and machines of every Yet Germany lay in ruins in 1945， after its defeat in World War II Facts About Germany Official name Federal Republic of Germany Capital Berlin Official language German Population 82，400，000 people Rank among countries in population 14th Major cities Berlin， Hamburg， Munich Area 138，000 square miles357，000 square kilometers Rank among countries in area 62nd Highest point Zugspitze9，718 feet/2，962 meters Currency Euro GERMANY’S LANDGermany lies at the heart of E Berlin is its capital and largest Other European countries border Germany on all But the country has a seacoast to the north， where it meets the Baltic Sea and the North S Hamburg， a city near the North Sea， is Germany’s major Low-lying plains spread over northern G This is a largely agricultural The plains rise to rolling hills in central G Frankfurt is a manufacturing and business center in central G Frankfurters (hot dogs) are named after a sausage made in F Rivers have carved valleys in the The Rhine， a major river of Europe， flows through western G Boats on the Rhine carry freight and Scenic countryside， picturesque towns， and old castles lie along the R To the south， Germany extends into the A The Bavarian Alps， as Germany’s mountains are called， include some spectacular scenery and a fairytale The castle was built for Louis II of Bavaria， who is sometimes called Mad King L The Black Forest—a dense evergreen forest—is in southwestern G It’s a favorite spot for Munich is the largest city in southern G Every October， people come to Munich for the O At this lively festival， they drink the beer for which southern Germany is Expressways—known as autobahns—run through Germany and link German Parts of the autobahn have no speed People can drive as fast as they Yet there are few The road is well designed， and most of the cars are German They are examples of fine German WORLD WAR IIOne of the most destructive dictators the world has ever known ruled Germany from 1933 to His name was Adolf Hitler， and he led the Nazi P Hitler rose to power after Germany’s defeat in World War I (1914-1918) He promised to make Germany great again， and he set out to conquer Germany’s In 1939， Hitler invaded Poland， starting World War II The war was long and costly， and Germany DIVIDED AND UNITEDAfter World War II， Germany was divided into two countries: East Germany and West G East Germany had a Communist government and took orders from the Soviet U West Germany became a democracy that received support from the United States and other Western The boundary between East Germany and West Germany ran through B East Germany put up barbed wire along the A concrete wall divided B The Berlin Wall kept East Germans from leaving their country for the wealthier West G With the fall of Communism in 1989， the wall came It was a joyous occasion for Germans on both The two Germanys were reunited in CENTURIES OF DIVISIONGermany has known little unity throughout its Until 1871， the land now known as Germany consisted of many small Prussia in the north was the most powerful of these Prussia’s prime minister， Otto von Bismarck， led efforts to unite the In 1871， they came together to form the German E Prussia’s king， William I， was crowned emperor of GGERMAN CULTUREGermany has produced great thinkers， composers， and Johannes Gutenberg， for example， invented the printing press around He made it possible to publish Afterward， more and more people learned to A German priest， Martin Luther， broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in The Protestant churches all grew out of the movement Luther German thinkers such as Immanuel Kant， G W F Hegel， and Friedrich Nietzsche wrote key books of western The list of German composers contains many of the great names of classical George Frideric Handel， Johann Sebastian Bach， Johannes Brahms， Ludwig van Beethoven， Robert Schumann， and Richard Wagner—all were G Albrecht Dürer is Germany’s most important
